Tag Archives: Pitt football

Friday Insider: PNC Park plus? 42

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

A weekly feature aimed at rounding up a whole lot of odds and ends from a whole lot of time spent around our local sports teams …

• Maybe it’s seeing all these sellouts this year — 12 now — but the Pirates have placed at least some thought into the concept of expanding PNC Park, I’ve been told by a very high-ranking executive. It’s barely even preliminary, but all processes start somewhere.

The catch, of course, is that PNC sits on the most finite of footprints, bordered by three streets and one river. Three sides are impossible to expand, and the river option would never happen because, as the executive told me, the view of Downtown is such an integral part of the stadium experience. Good for them on that count.

So what’s left?

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Tuesday Twenty Qs: Full transcript 77

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Welcome to Tuesday Twenty Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 1 p.m.

The format is simple: Use the comments below to submit an entry, no more than one per person. Submit them anytime you want. I’ll pick from those to get the thing rolling. I’ll then keep monitoring new entries, even as the session is ongoing, to cover follow-ups or updates.

As always, all topics are on the table. Really, anything at all.

UPDATE 1 p.m.: OK, here we go …

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Morning Java: Ranting, raving and radio 49

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Morning, Lunatics …

• The Monday column is about Tyler Boyd, the latest in line at Pitt to reach NFL stardom … without winning at Pitt? He hopes to break the pattern.

• Also on that topic, here’s the podcast of my one-on-one interview with Pitt two-way stud James Conner for 105.9 the X yesterday. The kid is quality.

• This was the opening rant about the Andrew McCutchen matter.

• I’ll be back on that station today, 3-6 p.m., filling in for Mark Madden, then I’ll head over to PNC Park to see our city’s long-lost baseball team. Or what’s left of it.

• Before any of that, we’ll do our Tuesday Twenty Qs feature right here. The post will go up at 11 a.m. As soon as you see it, feel free to leave an entry in the comments. One per person, please.

• Thanks, as always, for reading. And for your support of the site.

Column: Pitt needs more than just NFL stars 29

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Somewhere between seeing the new Sports Illustrated with LeSean McCoy of the Eagles on the regional cover, or hearing on NFL Network that the Rams’ defensive coaches are describing Aaron Donald as a specimen unlike any they’ve witnessed in two decades, or reading that Tom Savage might become the Texans’ backup QB, or catching up on the latest regarding Larry Fitzgerald, Darrelle Revis, Jabaal Sheard, Devin Street and others … it’s easily reinforced that there’s this immense incongruity between the caliber of player the Pitt football program produces and the caliber of team.

And it borders, in all candor, on the bizarre.

I mean, explain, please, how a program can land the occasional world-class player — and that category comfortably fits McCoy, Fitzgerald, Revis and now Donald — but can barely survive .500 on an annual basis because of its perpetually inferior supporting casts?

How does that happen?

Wait, better question: Will it happen yet again with Tyler Boyd?

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Morning Java: Handball doesn’t need intent 191

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

LATROBE, Pa. — Morning, Lunatics …

• The Sunday column is about Markus Wheaton, the man facing more pressure than anyone at Saint Vincent College right now. Be sure to click the video link in there for my full interview after yesterday’s practice.

• Pitt’s football camp opens this morning, so I’ll be over on the South Side for that, then file the Monday column on that topic.

• The goal is to have that column written and filed before going back on the air at 105.9 the X. I’ll be the host again today 3-6 p.m., filling in for Mark Madden.

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Friday Insider: Deadline, dead weight, Orpik, Boyd 226

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DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Introducing a weekly feature aimed at rounding up a whole lot of odds and ends from a whole lot of time spent around our local sports teams …

• The Pirates’ primary target yesterday at the trade deadline was David Price, I’m told, and it wasn’t even close. Jon Lester talks with Boston were preliminary at best, and it was clear there wasn’t a match. Price was different. Those pressed into the final hour and almost reached fruition. The breaking point was the usual: The Pirates weren’t offering the right combo of present and future that the Rays sought. The Rays are in a weird place, pretty much out of it and yet winning like crazy over the past two weeks. Andrew Friedman didn’t want to just pull the rug out from under the current group.

• Name most commonly discussed was that of Starling Marte.

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