Sorry for the absence
June 1st, 2008 | by The Prowler |To those who are regular readers of Pitt Panther Prowl, I apologize for my absence lately. Over the last nine days I was in New Orleans on a mission trip so I haven’t had access to a computer. I guess this is the right time of year to take a trip because this is the time of year that nothing is really happening in college football and basketball. But I am back now and will be able to give some attention to what is going on in the Pitt sports world.
On the subject of the trip to New Orleans, there are two things I can say about it. First, New Orleans is a city that has largely been ignored since the months following Hurricane Katrina so most people don’t know what is happening there since the news cameras have left. Over 75% of the people have returned to the city and it is really coming back to life. At the same time, homes are still damaged significantly. People are still working to put their lives back together. For many of them, they can’t afford to do the work on their homes that needs done (thus the mission trip to help out). Primarily it is church organizations who are helping the people get their lives back together. The most impressive thing about it is that the people’s spirits remain high despite their troubles, and they are very welcoming to outsiders who come just to show support. When we got there, no one cared that we did work. The commonly repeated theme was simply, “Thank you for coming and for not forgetting about us.”
The second important thing about the trip was that I was able to convert a high school kid from Kansas into a Pitt Panther fan. This is no easy task considering KU just won the national championship in basketball. It may not be as significant as helping people trying to recover from a hurricane; but I am willing celebrate any conversion to Panther nation.
Anyway, thanks for hanging around even while it has been slow news time. Now that I am back in town, I will try to get some new updates in the next few days.