10-08-2018

The Pitt News

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | October 8, 2018 | Volume 109 | Issue 36

PORT AUTHORITY REROUTES IN EAST END

HOME SWEET HOMECOMING

Jon Moss

For The Pitt News Port Authority’s plans to create a faster, more consistent and more reliable bus service between the East End and downtown Pittsburgh came to a screeching halt in May 2017 after it received public backlash for including service cuts to some routes.

Following community debate, including several town halls and active participation from advocacy groups, a new, shinier, proposal for a Bus Rapid Transit system has been rolled out.

The proposal, created jointly with the City of Pittsburgh, the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, entails adding bus-only lanes throughout Oakland with fewer stops to speed up transportation. The URA, on behalf of Port Authority, applied for approximately $98 million in capital investment grants from the Federal Transit Administration to cover half of the expected budget of $195 million on Sept. 7.

Construction is expected to begin late next year and finish in late 2021.

Under the plan, the 61A, 61B, 61C, 71B and P3 routes will be redesigned, with 25 new electric buses on the roads and 81 new high-tech bus stations added across the City. Also, the 61D, 71A, 71C and 71D will turn around on Craft Avenue to head to the East End without going Downtown or Uptown.

Jim Ritchie, the Port Authority’s chief communications officer, said in an email the BRT branch routes will maintain largely the same schedule once the plan has been rolled out.

“The frequencies of these routes will operate similarly to today’s schedules, generally every 15 minutes during peak periods and 20 to 45 min-

Oluwatobi “Tobi” Ajimoko and Davis Weaver were crowned Homecoming Queen and King at the Panthers’ Saturday afternoon homecoming game against Syracuse. Bader Abdulmajeed | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

PPC lights up Homecoming Mario Cattabiani III Staff Writer

Neon-colored lasers painted intricate, shifting figures — a face, then a horse, then a person dancing — against an ethereal canvas of fog. Fireworks exploded with thunderous booms. Pop hits like Jackie Chan by Post Malone and The Village People’s YMCA blared from massive speakers.

This year’s Homecoming Laser & Fireworks Show, organized by the Pitt Program Council, wowed a crowd of student, alumni and Pittsburgh residents Friday night. The show, one of Pitt’s annual Homecoming Weekend events, featured Zambelli Fireworks from New Castle that turned the night sky above and around See Port Authority on page 3 the Cathedral of Learning into a carnival

of lights and sounds.

Behind the scenes, PPC spent nearly 24 hours preparing for the event, which lasted less than half an hour. PPC would not comment on how much the event cost overall.

Paul Wilson, the head technician for Zambelli Fireworks, worked with a staff of seven to get the 50 slats of fireworks set up and ready for the show.

“It definitely takes a team to get this done, especially when there is no room for error,” Wilson said.

Zambelli Fireworks worked alongside three other companies and dozens of volunteers to pull off the event, shutting down Bigelow Boulevard all day Friday and Roberto Clemente Drive and Schenley Drive when it was time for the show.

Firemen stood on surrounding rooftops

while the fireworks boomed that evening just in case of a wayward ember, according to Assistant Director of the PPC Tom Misuraca.

Misuraca has been bringing events like the Homecoming Laser & Fireworks show to Pitt for more than 30 years. Leading up to the event, he and the PPC began constructing the Bigelow Boulevard stage at 6 p.m. Thursday. About 20 members of the PPC worked until 11 p.m. along with Hughie’s Event Production crew, which stayed until 3 a.m. Friday morning.

Brian Riani, Audio Technician at Hughies Event Production with regional offices in Pittsburgh, was ready for the long hours that it would take to create the show.

“At the end, we will probably have See Homecoming on page 3

News

Black Action Society celebrates 50 years

Madeline Gavatorta Staff Writer

Fifty years ago, several black Pitt students — all members of the Black Action Society — locked themselves in the University Computer Center for seven hours until former Chancellor Wesley Posvar agreed to their demands, including increasing efforts to recruit black students and to provide them with more financial aid.

“I am dissatisfied with the progress myself,” Posvar said in an article about the incident. “We have made commitments on various occasions. We are going to continue our efforts for them.”

The African American Alumni Council Sankofa Homecoming 2018 celebrated those efforts and the formation of the Black Action Society Saturday night with the theme, “Blue, Gold and Black: Fifty Years of Pride, Progress and Partnership.”

Sankofa — a word derived from West African languages meaning “going back to where one started” — was a central theme of the night. AAAC President Nicole Walker Parks spoke further on the word’s meaning.

“We must go back and gather the best of our past so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward,” Parks said. “We must look in the rearview mirror of our past to fetch the front view of our future.”

Students, alumni and faculty alike honored 50 years of progress with keynote speaker Chancellor Patrick Gallagher.

The Black Action Society at Pitt was newly founded when those students protested in the University Computer Center in 1968. Among the groups’ demands were recognition for holidays such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the death of Malcolm X and an established institution for black students.

At the event reflecting on the five decades since that protest, Gallagher commented on the current state of race relations during his keynote address.

“In 2008, with the Obama administration, when Washington was celebrating the election of our first black president and we were holding discussions about whether we were entering a post-racial period,” Gallagher said. “It seems naive now.”

Gallagher discussed the progress Pitt has made thus far, mentioning this year’s incoming class is the most diverse and academically accomplished class Pitt has ever admitted. He also noted the increasing diversity of the engineering and nursing departments.

“We are trying hard and we are doing a lot of things,”

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The front page of The Pitt News on Jan. 16, 1969, details an agreement between Black Action Society and the University for improved treatment of students of color. The photo (top) shows police preventing black students from entering the Cathedral. University Archives, University Library System Gallagher said. “We’ve made every search for every senior position in the University a full and open national competition and made the formation of a diverse and extraordinarily qualified school a top priority.”

The banquet honored Dean of the Swanson School of Engineering James Martin ll and Dean of Education Valerie Kinloch, the first black deans of their respective schools.

The AAAC also raised $27,053.52 for the AAAC Endowed Scholarship Fund from alumni donors.

The event came together with the direction of former ACCC President Linda Wharton Boyd chaired the banquet and discussed the money awarded to black students such as funding for study abroad and book awards. She said black students help improve the world.

“When you know better, you do better,” Boyd said.

Dawson Winston, a first-year mechanical engineering

October 8, 2018

major and AAAC scholarship recipient, said he’s grateful for the scholarship and wants to help other who have helped him. Winston also expressed interest in Pitt’s black history.

“It tells me where I came from and actually I’ll always be thankful and blessed,” Winston said. “I think also it’s a good, constant reminder [that] people fought to come here, sacrificed a lot, so if I feel like giving up or switching majors it’s also like they had it way harder than I ever will have it so it’s a good reminder.”

Morgan Ottley, a sophomore neuroscience major, came to the banquet as a guest of Tony and Lark Fountain. The Fountains are donors to the AAAC scholarship that Ottley won and invited her to the dinner with them. She’s also an intern for BAS. Like Winston, she spoke about giving back to institutions and people who have given to her.

“I personally chose to attend because I wanted to meet [the Fountains],” Ottley said. “These are the people who are making it possible for me to continue my education here at Pitt.”

Boyd talked about the appreciation Ottley and Winston felt for their scholarship and how that value is at the center of what AAAC does and is about.

“It’s a core value,” Boyd said. “We always give back and pay it forward … because there are so many people who have died, who prayed and who have cried for us to get an education so we have to bring others along. My education is only as good as I can help somebody else and pull them up and once we keep pulling each other up, we will always remain up.”

Ottley dedicates her free time to activism for issues that affect the black community and interning with BAS, and she said this issue is one of the closest that she advocates for.

“I feel as though it’s important because it’s in me, it’s my being. These are my people,” Ottley said. “These are the people I come from. These are my heros, these are the people who are other people’s heroes. These are the leaders who have created the places and the spaces for me to thrive.”

Ottley also discussed the legacy of BAS and AAAC as people who paved the way for her to be successful, but they are mortal just like everyone.

“They aren’t going to be here forever, so there’s going to need to be a group that needs to step up and take their place,” Ottley said. “And I feel as though if I don’t feel that is important then there is not going to be a group to take their place. That’s going to be the end and then know the history of what we’ve done here at Pitt. That’s why it’s important to me.”

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Homecoming, pg. 1 spent 24 hours to set up the 25-minute show. There’s a lot that goes into this,” he said six hours before the first firework pierced the sky.

On the day of the event at 9:30 a.m, Zambelli Fireworks, with three rental trucks full of equipment, cruised into Mazeroski Field. Over the next few hours, the outfield of the baseball field would turn into the home of over 1,500 firework shells.

These were not your average backyard Fourth of July fireworks. These were 3-inch wide, grapefruit-sized shells loaded into shatter-proof launching pipes — all synced by computer and choreographed to fire in unison with the lasers and music.

To better understand the technology behind the show, Riani put the audio system in simple terms.

“The sound system is basically like a very large home stereo,” he said.

The average watts in a home stereo is 150. The wattage of a single amp at the Homecoming show, 6,500. With 16 amps

Port Authority, pg. 1 utes off peak, 7 days a week, for 22 hours a day,” he said.

He added that BRT buses on Forbes and Fifth avenues will arrive every three and a half minutes during peak periods.

BRT buses will make stops at 11 different streets in Oakland along Forbes and Fifth avenues. Stops will be implemented at the corners of Craft Avenue, Bigelow Boulevard and Craig Street on Forbes Avenue, and the corners of Robinson Street, Atwood Street and Craig Street on Fifth Avenue among others.

The plan includes two 120-foot-long “transit centers,” twice the size of a usual BRT stop, serving as core, high-volume stations in the BRT system. These will serve as transfer points for the routes that will no longer go Downtown.

Other bus routes passing through Oakland will exclusively use the BRT bus-only lanes and only stop at the more limited number of BRT bus stations.

However, according to the Port Authority, these routes’ post-BRT stopping patterns are not set in stone.

“As this is an operational decision this

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used in the production of the show, the listeners experienced over 104,000 watts of power.

The audio wasn’t the only state of the art technology in the show. Lightwave International, a stage lighting equipment supplier in Washington County provided its proprietary laser machine, the Phenom, adding to up to a total of 44 lasers.

Mike Dunn, the show programmer, described these lasers as the first of their kind.

“These Phenom lasers are the first lasers that are 100 percent safe to the human eye. They are made to scan the crowd, creating a multitude of shapes, colors, and patterns,” he said.

Much of the credit for the successful event belongs to the PPC, according to Riani.

“Pitt Program Council is a huge help,” he said. “They put in a lot of labor behind the scenes to make sure this happens.”

For PPC’s Misuraca, the best part of the show wasn’t the lasers, or the fireworks or the music. It’s the crowd’s reaction to the fireworks.

“Truth be told,” he said, “my favorite part is watching the people watch it.” could change based on traffic modeling and projections for the project,” Ritchie said.

The City will also reconstruct major roads in order for BRT buses to move more efficiently and to accommodate increased bike traffic in the area. One lane on both Forbes and Fifth avenues in Downtown, Uptown and Oakland will be a dedicated bus lane, leaving only two of the current three lanes for regular traffic.

The existing contraflow bus-only lane on Fifth Avenue will become a new two-way bike path.

BikePGH, a local advocacy group making streets and communities more biking- and walking- accessible, is eager for construction to begin.

“It’s key that bike infrastructure is included in the BRT plan,” Bill Boerer, the group’s advocacy director, said. “The BRT bike lane plan will help bring it all together, creating a seamless and intuitive route.”

Pittsburghers for Public Transit, a local grassroots organization advocating for access to safe, affordable and environmentally-sustainable transit across Pittsburgh, has also expressed support for the plan’s current iteration.

Find the full story online at

pittnews.com

October 8, 2018

3

Opinions

EXPAND, DON’T REVISE,

from the editorial board

Kavanaugh hearings betrayed America’s trust of judicial system

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in red states defecting from the party’s position.

And Kavanaugh’s appointment has been the most contentious of all. The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh by a two-vote margin, the smallest margin since 1881, when Stanley Matthews, a former classmate of President Rutherford Hayes, was confirmed by a single vote.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation is also a perfect example of the inequality between what the majority of the population believes and what decisions our representatives are making on our behalf. U.S. citizens had been torn on Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court since his nomination in July. Real Clear Politics surveyed public opinion of Kavanaugh, and respondents opposed his confirmation in late September by 12 points.

And according to an article published by The Washington Post on Saturday, Kavanaugh will be the first justice in the history of the United States to be confirmed by senators representing the minority of the country. He was selected by a president who lost the popular vote in the 2016 election, and confirmed by a majority in the Senate that doesn’t represent the majority of the country.

Current members of the Supreme Court will influence the laws of our country for at least the next generation — this is an important decision that should represent the beliefs of all Americans. When we vote for the president and senators, we expect their decisions on lifetime appointments to represent the good of all people.

Republican senators did not do their due diligence when confirming Kavanaugh.

Their spectacle was a partisan front that put party before the people they are supposed to represent.

Kelly Loftus

For The Pitt News Today, shops, schools and offices across the country will close to commemorate the man who initiated history’s longest genocidal campaign — the Western colonization, slaughter and forced assimilation of Indigenous populations.

Despite many cities and states recognizing this horror in recent years and nixing Columbus Day, some places still celebrate it — Cleveland is throwing its 66th Columbus Day Parade today. But at this point, there’s no excuse for anyone to maintain such festivities — it’s common knowledge that Christopher Columbus was a violent racist.

The extent of both his racism and violence is still widely unrecognized by the American school system. Students are only allowed to see the final product of revisionist history, made unrealistically beautiful thanks to some tactical airbrushing and heavy editing. It is as rich with negationism as it is with the righteous tales of grandiose white men.

While recent nationwide acknowledgment of Columbus’ atrocities indicates that there is hope for

October 8, 2018

America yet, it’s hardly enough to create substantial change. And we need substantial change to the standard history curriculum, change that addresses the negative actions of important historical figures.

The Columbus narrative is just one of many selective historical accounts perpetuated in America. Textbooks gloss over the fact that many of the founding fathers owned slaves. The Trail of Tears is reduced to mere paragraphs, its perpetrator, President Andrew Jackson, given a metaphorical slap on the wrist rather than being charged with mass murder. And like Columbus, Jackson’s prejudicefueled Maria Heines | STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

Justice Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court on Saturday. And citizens, angered by the rapid Senate confirmation hearings, have rightfully met his confirmation with protest.

Republican senators may as well have entirely ignored the several accusations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. They limited the investigations of the allegations in both time and scope — the Senate gave the FBI a week and prevented them from interviewing one of the accusers.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation adds to a growing pile of evidence that the federal government does not serve the people it is supposed to represent. Republican senators took Americans hostage, silencing the voices of millions of citizens who expressed their concern.

If past Supreme Court confirmations serve as any precedent, the Supreme Court should be an institution that unanimously represents the people, regardless of party. The Senate frequently confirmed Supreme Court nominees prior to former-President George W. Bush’s almost unanimously, and outliers tended to hold more extreme than moderate views.

Senate hearings are supposed to be nonpartisan too. And to a large extent, they have been. Kavanaugh’s hearing was the first time that partisanship was on full display — Kavanaugh himself said that the allegations were a result of “pent-up anger about President Trump.”

Much has changed recently. After Mitch McConnell and other Republican senators refused to consider Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court during the Obama administration, the process has become markedly more partisan. Associate Justice Gorsuch’s confirmation results split roughly down party lines, with only some Democrats

COLUMBUS’ HISTORY

See Columbus on page 5

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Columbus, pg. 4 brutality is honored and currently immortalized in the form of the $20 bill.

This one-sided history isn’t limited to historical figures, either. While high school history textbooks devote multiple chapters to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and the World Wars, they do not treat other less successful wars and foreign interventions with the same depth. For instance, texts entirely overlook the atrocities that the American military inflicted upon the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. On their part, colleges and universities work to diversify students’ thinking with courses focusing on lesser-known aspects of history and the histories of other countries entirely, especially non-Western ones. In the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, students must satisfy international culture and non-Western requirements as part of the core curriculum.

Courses include studies of African, Latin American, Middle Eastern,

Slavic and Asian culture, language and politics with professors who specialize in each region.

Unfortunately for many students, the first time they may encounter another view of the world different from traditional American teaching happens when they enter higher education — if they choose to attend. Colleges and universities are simply able to offer a wider variety of classes than primary and secondary schools.

But all levels of education are capable of broadening the scope of the historical perspective introduced to students. There is room to elaborate on the more shameful parts of the country’s past that are hardly mentioned.

This minimized history doesn’t just cause ignorance — it perpetuates a false sense of superiority for privileged groups. Given the often discriminatory way in which American history is presented, nationalist fanatics are even more likely to become racially charged and unconsciously manipulated by systematic racism interwoven in textbooks and politics.

Pride in one’s country is not inher-

ently bad. There are certainly many elements of the American story that are admirable, and the fundamental ideals on which the country was built inspire a patriotism deep in the bones of many Americans. And though these ideals originally had many limitations, they constantly evolve with changing popular beliefs to be more inclusive.

But we can understand the realities of the past without compromising this pride. Doing so is imperative to both the present and future.

Many panic at the idea of revising history. In an article from 2017, Ken Blackwell, former Cincinnati mayor and United Nations ambassador, argues, “[Many historical figures] fare poorly when subjected to modern scrutiny … If the Left has its way, few Americans of note would survive the resulting historical jihad.” But we shouldn’t get our star-spangled briefs in a twist. Columbus et al. would still be in the books, along with all of their wrongdoings.

Steps toward accepting America’s truth have been made, at least unofficially. Some cities, like Seattle, have

embraced Indigenous Peoples’ Day as a replacement for Columbus Day in an attempt to redirect a day of national remembrance to a more deserving recipient. And then-Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced the intention to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill in 2016.

Since then, the Trump administration has delayed the release of the bill, which was originally scheduled to be issued in 2020. Now the Treasury Department estimates that it will be available in 2026.

The slow but steady transition toward a more comprehensive understanding of American history is an encouraging indication that traditionalist American society can change and grow despite centuries of white-washing and unacknowledged oppression.

Redefining the way that the country looks at history doesn’t mean forgetting — it means remembering more.

The story didn’t end when Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. It’s time for America to own up to its past so it make amends and look toward its future.

The Pitt News SuDoku 10/8/18 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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October 8, 2018

5

Sports

Weekend Recap pittnews.com

3 takeaways from Pitt’s OT Homecoming win Trent Leonard Sports Editor

Pitt’s football team notched a much-needed win Saturday, beating out the Syracuse Orange 44-37 in an overtime thriller at Heinz Field. The homecoming victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Panthers, bringing their record to an even 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the ACC. It was a pivotal win for the Panthers at a time when they needed such a performance to silence the naysayers. Now officially halfway through the season, it’s becoming clearer what we can expect to see from Pitt on a weekly basis. Here’s what Saturday’s game revealed about the team.

Ollison and Hall are the entire offense The Panthers found themselves trailing 37-34 with 5:53 left in the game, facing a 75-yard drive to take the lead or tie. Common football ideology would dictate that a gun-slinging quarterback lead his team down the field, playing the role of hero with clutch completions and poise in the face of pressure.

But by that point in the game, head coach Pat Narduzzi made the decision to just give up on the passing game entirely. And for good reason — sophomore quarterback Kenny Pickett finished with a pedestrian 11 completions on 20 attempts for 137 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Instead of even trying to feign any sort of passing attack, the team finally made the decision to fully embrace the beastly senior running back tandem of Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall. Pitt ran the ball on 11 straight plays, with eight carries for Ollison and three for Hall. Even facing a fourth-and-three with the game on the line, Pitt’s coaching staff didn’t stray from the formula. They dialed up a handoff to Ollison, who scrapped his way to the first-down marker. The methodical, hard-nosed drive culminated 10 plays later when sophomore kicker Alex Kessman made a 45-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.

Ollison and Hall continued to carry the team in overtime, once again running the ball every single play. Hall scored from three yards out for the deciding touchdown — his second of the day — and rushed for 107 yards on 17 carries.

Remarkably, that was the lesser performance in Pitt’s backfield, with Ollison rushing 24 times for

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Pitt’s defensive line celebrates redshirt sophomore Terran Coleman’s overtime interception against Syracuse Saturday afternoon.

Bader Abdulmajeed | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER 192 yards and a touchdown.

It was a monster day for the duo, who willed the team to victory with their Herculean efforts.

However, it overshadowed what has become a worrying trend — the lack of production in the passing game. After Saturday, the Panthers now rank 13th out of 14 ACC teams with a paltry 149.2 passing yards per game.

Pickett was hailed as the team’s savior after leading Pitt to a major upset over undefeated Miami last year. But this season, he’s largely failed to meet expectations. Pickett has yet to throw for more than 200 yards in a game this season, and his 149.2 yards per game ranks above only the lowly Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who essentially don’t pass at all.

Pickett certainly can’t take all the blame for the poor numbers — offensive coordinator Shawn Watson runs a highly conservative offense that doesn’t allow throwers to thrive, and the play of the Panthers’ offensive line has been subpar, with Pickett often lacking sufficient time and space to make quality throws. Regardless of who’s to blame, 149.2 passing yards per game simply isn’t going to cut it against quality teams.

So for now, Ollison and Hall will continue to shoulder the load of Pitt’s offense. If Saturday’s game was any indication, the two could be in for a very heavy workload, with the opportunity to post some gaudy numbers. That style may work against average teams like Syracuse, but don’t expect the Panthers to compete with the big dogs if

they can’t move the ball through the air.

Kessman is good at kicking Before Saturday’s game, it wasn’t quite clear if Alex Kessman was good at kicking footballs through the uprights. Kessman made 11 of his 19 attempts in 2017 for an iffy 58 percent conversion rate, although he showed big-leg potential with a 56-yard make. This season, Kessman had only made one of his two attempted field goals.

But on Saturday, Kessman showed the world that he is, indeed, good at kicking. Very good, as it turns out.

The sophomore broke out in a big way, setting the record for longest field goal at Heinz Field by drilling a 54-yarder in the second quarter. That record stood for about 15 minutes, as Kessman one-upped himself by making a 55-yarder on the Panthers’ ensuing possession. Even more impressive was the fact that both kicks came during a rainstorm that would later cause a weather delay.

Those field goals kept Pitt in the game, but Kessman’s biggest kick of the day came at the end of regulation. The Panthers trailed 37-34, and drove to the edge of Kessman’s field goal range to set up a 45-yard attempt. With the game on the line, Kessman stepped up and sent the gametying attempt through the uprights for his third make of the day, all coming from 45 yards or more.

The Panthers would go on to win in overtime, and along with Ollison and Hall, Kessman was the biggest reason why. He checked off all the

October 8, 2018

boxes you want to see in a kicker: A strong leg, clutch ability and consistency.

Pitt better hope that Saturday’s performance was more than just an anomaly, because if Kessman plays this way throughout the rest of the season then he could be a dangerous weapon on a largely anemic offense. It’s rare to find a competent kicker at the college level, but the Panthers may have that rare commodity.

Pitt is not a defensive team Entering the season, most media outlets — including The Pitt News — predicted that Pitt’s defense was due for an improved year. After all, the unit was bringing back nine returning starters from 2017, with a core of senior talent including last season’s leading tackler, linebacker Oluwaseun Idowu.

Through six games in 2018, it seems safe to say that we were wrong. The Panthers’ defense has been a sieve, allowing an average of 38 points per game. That ranks 110th in the nation out of 130 teams.

It was more of the same versus Syracuse, with Pitt allowing 37 points and emerging with the win thanks to a few freak kicks from Kessman.

It looks like this is the sort of production we can expect to see from the defense on a weekly basis, as they’ve now let four of their six opponents score 37 points or more.

The problem is, unlike most teams that allow that many points, Pitt doesn’t possess the offensive prowess to win in a shootout. They rank 82nd in scoring offense with 24.6 points per game, and with the aforementioned lack of passing game, the Panthers are not equipped to come back when they face a deficit. That means the defense absolutely must improve in the second half of the season if Pitt wants to be competitive.

Some might make the excuse that the Panthers’ defensive numbers are skewed because they had to face some of the best offenses in college football, including top teams like Penn State and Central Florida. However, things won’t get any easier during the next six games, as the team faces No. 5 Notre Dame next and No. 16 Miami in the season finale, both on the road. If the Panthers can’t stop teams from scoring at will, it’s going to be a long season for Pitt fans.

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A ‘SUPER SHOW-DOWN’ CONFUSES ROLES OF WWE WOMEN Lynch explained on TV why she decided to attack her Unfortunately. friend Flair prior to SSD. This could, realistically, be a cookie-cutter skirmish Staff Writer But in true WWE fashion, the company had to go — Flair and Lynch put on wrestling clinics with their At WWE’s Super Show-Down event Saturday at technical abilities and in-ring chemistry. But McMa- against that decision once again at the most recent Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Austrahon’s infatuation with making Flair his poster girl face pay-per-view. Seriously, this feud is flip-flopping these lia, Charlotte Flair beat WWE Smackdown Women’s for the women’s division — which surely has nothing to women’s heel-face dynamics more than the Big Show Champion Becky Lynch in a singles match via disqualido with her long blonde locks, piercing eyes and beau- did up through 2015. fication. Since the win was not obtained by pinfall or At SSD, WWE painted Flair as the true underdog tiful fake boobs — means that Lynch has to be the “bad submission, Lynch retained the title and walked out of face that’s climbing a mountain to Australia still the champ. achieve victory — which couldn’t This feud has been hot since it be farther from the truth, as she had started, with Lynch being the crowdbeen Smackdown Women’s Chamfavorite underdog and Flair being pion for a record combined 175 days one of the best pure athletes in all during her two reigns — and Lynch of WWE today — yes, that includes as the despicable crowd-defacing the men’s division too. But the way heel. this feud has been built doesn’t make The match seemed evenly battled sense to the multi-talented women throughout, with both women hitinvolved in it. ting big risky moves and getting near Lynch won the Smackdown Wompinfalls. Eventually, though, Lynch en’s title from real-life best friend had had enough, grabbed her title Flair at the Hell in a Cell pay-perbelt and tried to leave the match. view in September to the delight of Flair brought Lynch back into the the fans, as she only had one previous ring, putting her into her signature — and unsatisfying — title run back figure-eight leg lock, all but securing in September 2016. She lost that title her victory. in December to Alexa Bliss and then But of course, Lynch had to be a went on a long losing streak while heel and whack Flair in the midseccontinuing to be a fan-favorite. tion with her title belt, disqualifying Leading up to SSD, Lynch went on herself immediately per the match’s a long-awaited winning streak, which rules. By default, that led to Flair concerned fans, since that is usually winning the match, but since titles a consolation prize for superstars can’t change hands on a disqualificawho weren’t cut out to hold titles in tion, Lynch retained the belt. the eyes of CEO Vince McMahon.

The end of the match saw Lynch While this actually led to success for hitting Flair with her finishing move, Lynch, as she beat the female face of the Bex-ploder, a type of suplex, outthe company in Flair for her prize, it Charlotte Flair (right) kicks Bayley during WrestleMania 33 on April 2, 2017 at Campside the ring with the champ standcame at the expense of an apparent ing World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. Stephen M. Dowell | ORLANDO SENTINEL | TNS ing tall to crowd cheers. After SSD, heel turn.

WWE announced that Lynch and Based on personas alone, Lynch is meant to be a Flair would face off again for the Smackdown Women’s guy” in this situation. pure babyface and Flair needs to be a heel. Flair’s arroShe even went so far as to cut a promo asking fans title this week on Tuesday night Smackdown, with the gant tendencies and wrestling style, along with her ties if they had really been behind her the whole time. The stipulation that if Lynch gets disqualified, Flair will to (in)famous father Ric Flair — coined “The Dirtiest truth was that they were, and fans took to Twitter to win the title.

Player in the Game” — simply leads to fans’ pleasure Surely this feud must be going on as WWE is leadexpress their love for the Irish Lass Kicker. Lynch then in booing her week after week. Sure, her high-flying acknowledged that she knew that she was better than ing up to its inaugural women-only pay-per-view moves are cool and warrant cheers, but that doesn’t all the other women in the locker room, which prompt- called Evolution on Oct. 28. We will see in three weeks mean that she should be a crowd-pleasing diva. ed Flair to come out, crying to Lynch that she ruined if one of these women is still standing over the other Lynch, on the other hand, always seems to be the the friendship over a simple title belt. Lynch beat Flair at that time, or if the two can reconcile their differunderdog. It’s super exciting every time she gets a win ences for the heavily predicted Four Horsewomen — of down, which the crowd loved. because fans normally don’t know when her next one Wait no, that won’t work. WWE went so far as to WWE and MMA — feud. will be, and her victories lead to huge cheers from the WWE Evolution airs Sunday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m. from go back on its own beliefs, presenting both ladies as crowd no matter what city she’s in. having valid points and trying to erase Lynch’s heel sta- the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, and will But let’s face it, the Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair tus. Fumbling for excuses for her heel-ish tendencies, feature current and past female WWE superstars. feud will never be a typical heel versus face situation.

Alexa Marzina

pittnews.com

October 8, 2018

7

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