THANKS FOR EVERYTHING WRITERS, READERS AND COMMENTERS. AFTER EIGHT YEARS THE PLUG HAS BEEN PULLED ON THE PITT POV.

PLEASE SEE THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE DESCRIBING HOW TO GET AN ACCOUNT AND DISCUSS PITT SPORTS AND OTHER ISSUES ON DISCORD. IT IS A GREAT VENUE TO KEEP THE CONVERSATIONS GOING.

AGAIN, PLEASE ACCEPT MY HEARTFELT GRATITUDE FOR WHAT ALL OF YOU HAVE DONE TO MAKE THIS SO MUCH FUN OVER THE YEARS AND ESPECIALLY FOR KEEPING YOUR COMMENTS WITHIN THE STANDARDS SET TO MAKE THIS BLOG ONE OF INTELLIGENT AND CIVIL DISCUSSIONS.

REED KOHBERGER

This is from Vonteegoway in reference to using the new “Pitt Discourse” site.

To Start: Click on the Invite Link: https://discord.gg/nZwPr4vJPs If you have a discord account already, then you just need to go to the site and log in.

If you don’t have one yet then you need to create an account. You will need to verify that account with either a phone number or email address.

IMPORTANT: Do not use the invite link as a way to navigate to the site after you’ve done it the first time. You could end up creating multiple accounts and that can get confusing and eventually cause you to get locked out.

In your browser, go to discord.com/download and download discord for your computer/tablet/phone.

You can install it on as many devices as you wish. Just be sure to just open the app and log in with your discord account. Again, do not re-use the invite link.

From there, you can open the app on any of your devices and you should see a sidebar with any servers that your account has access to. You should see one graphic picture with the “Pitt” words (borrowed from the Pitt POV) — it’s called Pitt Discourse. Click on it if it’s not already selected.

You should land in the Welcome channel where you will be welcomed by the server with an option to wave (fun, right?)

From there, you should see Pitt Discourse in the column to the right of the servers available along with all of the channels available in the server.

Some other items:

Announcements: A read-only channel where relevant announcements like Public Service Announcements (PSAs), channel or server modifications, or new articles that have been posted.

Help: When you need some help, check here. If you don’t see what you need, just ask in this channel and someone will assist you as soon as possible.

Requests-and-suggestions: Help make this server better with your requests and suggestions. Changes have already happened based on your input.

Pitt basketball, Pitt football, Pitt volleyball channels: chat about each of the sports in the appropriate channel. The “Off-Topic” page will be for most anything else.

Rules: Be respectful and civil. There will be no tolerance for hate-speech, name-calling, or bullying others. This includes those on the site and of people in general.

Thanks everyone for getting the “Pitt Discourse” site of to a flying start and to those who read this and aren’t registered with us yet…get on here!

Vonteegoway

Editor’s Note: Vonteegoway is hosting new Pitt Discourse site this as a favor to Pitt fans. Please remember that I started the POV after I retired so I had no real work-related obligations but that isn’t the case with Vonteegoway. So, there are going to be problems with it at first; slip ups, technical glitches, etc. so he might not get to troubleshoot things right away due to other issues going on.

Stick with it – at this posting there are already 92+ (!) Pitt fans registered and that number grows each day. The look of the site may be confusing at first especially as opposed to this WordPress site, but after my registering on Discourse and using it I honestly think it will be at least as much enjoyable as the POV if not even a bunch more. There are certainly much more things that can be done by commenters on there.

Again, Vonteegoway is taking on this task and we should respect that if we hit some potholes along the way (after all it is about PGH!).

Finally, Vonteegoway is keeping the same standards of use in place as the POV had; no crude swearing, politics, religion, sexual stuff, personal insults, etc. Make his life easier and the Pitt Discourse site more pleasant by keeping this in mind while posting or commenting. Those civility standards worked very well on the POV and will do so on Discourse also…

Reed

Folks, a long time reader and commenter, “Voice of Reason” or “VoR” as we know him, asked me if I would post this as a favor to him. Here it is. I’ll be doing one last post in a few days to close out the blog. In the meantime…

An Open Letter to Reed Kohberger:

I don’t know you personally, Reed.  Most others on the POV don’t either.  But most of us who faithfully follow the POV know what a good and dedicated man you are, how you have sacrificed for family and country, and have suffered through some painful events in your life.  To continue to support the POV, and to serve as the head of this group for so long has been a great service to the university and to Pitt followers across the globe.  How many other sites routinely have bloggers checking in from Europe and around the world?  Your dedication to Pitt athletics has kept many alums and fans linked to the university, and it is very much appreciated.

As with many others on this site, we are tied to a past time that was the golden era of Pitt sports.  The younger generations haven’t experienced these wonderful times and may not share our same desires for a return to the glory days.  We have watched as power and greed have combined to ruin college sports as they existed in the past.  We saw the inevitable inequity among colleges grow as the universities with 100,000 seat stadiums have attempted to outspend and even cheat their way to national championships. 

Money is apparently not enough for some colleges such as Tennessee and Michigan as they cheat to gain an even greater advantage over the competition.  These painful episodes only add to the frustration and discouraging resentment that you and many of us feel, when we see that our own university is rightfully not willing to cheat or inclined to step up and compete with these arrogant, so called institutions of higher learning.

You have paid your dues over the years, and can justifiably feel that you have done what you can do to maintain interest in Pitt sports and bring Pitt back to those bygone glory years.  Without getting political, it is clear for us old timers to see that, like a majority of major universities, Pitt is not inclined to compete in this unequal, corrupted arena of purchased championships.  We are running out of years to return to the Majors and Sherrill eras in our lifetimes. Our alums, athletes and other beneficiaries of past winning programs are seemingly not willing to make the necessary financial commitments to return Pitt to its glory days, and the Athletics Department seems unwilling or unable to provide the leadership needed to do so.

So as you decide to step away as our Founder and Spiritual Leader, my only request is that you continue to honor us with your thoughts and comments from time to time as we reminisce about past glory days and plead for future sanity to return to college sports.  I’m sure many POVers agree that your efforts will always be appreciated, and will be the foundation for any future success we may have on future sites highlighting Pitt sports.

All the best,

VoiceofReason

Pitt (22-10) vs #1 seed and 9th ranked UNC (26-6) 7:00 PM on ESPN Friday 3/15

KenPom – Pitt 41 UNC 9

NET – Pitt 45 UNC 9

Pitt played an ACC game disguised as a Big East game yesterday vs a Wake Forest team determined to be physical and the refs let ‘em play. Pitt won by 12 and the UFC match was a Pitt TKO ….An upset indeed.

Today if Pitt wins, it will truly be an upset. Vegas Line opens at UNC -7.5.

UNC beat Pitt at Pitt by thirteen at the Pete in January by beating up and posting up Pitt’s young guards.

Here’s what Pitt is facing. UNC leads the ACC in scoring at 82 pts per game and rebounding at 42 boards a game.

Baycot at 6’11 is the ACC leading big man. I think RJ Davis (ACC 2024 Player of the year) is the best guard in the country.

UNC is coming off a total route of FSU and goes eight to nine deep off the bench vs Pitt’s seven.It looks on paper lol a lopsided UNC win but I don’t think so…

This is a different Pitt team, more tough and more seasoned than UNC faced earlier this year. UNC hasn’t really played more than seven close games all season. Most have been easy routs.

Pitt needs to come out strong and muscle them from the opening tip. Bub again is the key. He needs to guard Davis and lose the nerves from yesterday.

Baycot can be very lazy under the basket. Not enough words to laud Leggett from yesterday.

In the movie Hoosiers, Coach tells his team that in tournament play, you don’t look to the next game til you’ve finished the one in front of you!

But boy, if we can just get past UNC I think the ACC title is ours. Does NCST UVA or BC scare you??

I think our Pitt Panthers step up, play great inspired passionate basketball and upset UNC!!

I think Pitt has made the tourney now but why Leave any doubt!!

H2P!

Dan72