Kaback: Bring Pitt football back to campus

Are you ready for some high-octane football?

Without inciting protests from the chemistry… Are you ready for some high-octane football?

Without inciting protests from the chemistry department about how hydrocarbons just don’t make great linebackers, I think we can all agree that football is welcome at Pitt. After a winter of discontent — filled with discarded fake moustaches and arrest warrants — the campus community could use something to bring us together.

Let’s face it: In the wake of recent budget cuts, there isn’t too much to get excited about. Yes, the revamped second floor of Sennott Square looks great, and those ridiculous blue markings on all of our trees appear to be fading away, but disasters, downgrades and deposed dictators just keep bringing me down. Seriously though, who thought smurfing the Cathedral lawn’s trees was a good idea?

Yet the changing leaves and cooling temperatures signal that good old Pitt football has begun. It’s time to board the bus, sit in traffic for an hour, choose between entering the stadium four hours early or tailgating indefinitely, watch a three-hour game, wait for a bus for an hour, sit in another hour of traffic and finally get home just in time for the victory lights to be turning off. That is, if we’re lucky.

Come to think of it, doesn’t that routine seem a little ridiculous? Why can’t Pitt have an on-campus stadium? I know it might get in the way of our “beautiful” blue-painted trees, but it’s time that a change was made.

We’re students, and we love our Saturdays. Yes, we could play in New Castle, Pa., and die-hard football fans would still show up. The problem is that the average student might not want to devote eight hours to a football game. So what if they come for “Sweet Caroline” and leave right afterward?

College football is about so much more than the game itself. For as much as ESPN follows every statistic and standing, the real joy can often be found off the field. It can be the first time that a freshman floor does something together. It can be a chance for old friends to reunite over some barbecue in a parking lot. It can be an excuse to quit worrying about a test or a roommate issue and just scream really loudly for an extended period of time.

For students, it’s the perfect way to come together as one school. I hate when sports get over-appreciated as much as the next guy, but this isn’t about giving athletes a free pass or treating them like royalty. This is about ensuring the average student has a love for this school, community and tradition. Just look around and see the pride that Pittsburghers have in their Steelers and how it brings everyone together.

As for alumni, it’s a perfect excuse to head back to campus. I can’t even say how many times I hear, “Oh, I make it to a football game or two every year, but I haven’t been back to Oakland in years.” Should their fond memories of college days be relived overlooking a casino? The Pitt community extends far beyond the current student body, but how can we come together if graduation is our last ever glance at the Cathedral? How do we allow Oakland to become a ghost town on football days?

Yet another reason that we need an on-campus stadium: I went with a friend who goes to West Virginia to the Backyard … well, it wasn’t too much of a Brawl this past year. As we were walking out of the stadium, he turned to me and asked, “So you guys take classes here?” All an outsider might ever see of Pitt is its football games. In other words, they won’t see Pitt at all. Although I would love to rip West Virginia apart, they got something right in locating their stadium on campus.

I’m cautiously optimistic about our current football season, our new head coach and our fresh philosophy. I hope we’ll be singing “Sweet Caroline” all the way to the top of the Big East Conference.

Unfortunately, even if we were to win a National Championship, something would be missing: the difference between college football and just plain football. I hope we stay out of off-the-field troubles and that we win them all, but I really wish we could do it on campus.