I’m away for the day and back on Monday, so don’t go too hard on me. Then again, boy, do I miss rivalries. If not for this sick burn — so sick I had to rush it to MedExpress — then this from Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp would be the sickest burn in a long time.

A&M chancellor Sharp on alcohol at events: “Our athletic program has not reached the point where we require the numbing effects of alcohol.”

— Gabe Bock (@GabeBock) June 18, 2015

Damn. Poor Texas. Fire coming from every direction, and the tenor of that take up against this bludgeoning of the athletic director makes you pity the Longhorns and skip past the fact Texas A&M is not all that … bowl wins against suspect Big 12 squads not withstanding. But when enemies square off, in any forum, you oooh and aaah over the biggest punches, never mind who’s winning the fight.

We pine for that sort of animosity, though. And I’m getting a feeling we’re a long, long way from getting Pitt back into our lives and restoring what the Backyard Brawl meant to us in our different roles in life.

A while back, we wondered how and when WVU and Pitt could play again. Our best guess was 2022. It’s still possible.

Pitt, Cincinnati agree to home/home series sources told @ESPN; Sept. 9, 2023 at Pitt, Sept. 7, 2024 at UC

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) June 17, 2015

This  is promising because 1) it’s farcical Pitt would work with Cincinnati before WVU and 2) Pitt is working on scheduling holes in that 2022 neighborhood. I know WVU wants to make this happen — “Without a doubt,” he said, “we’d love to reignite the Backyard Brawl.” — and I still think the Mountaineers would take a one-off neutral-site game at Heinz Field, and if a sponsor gets involved in that, some of the financial weight is off the Panthers.

So we think 2022 works because WVU has five Big 12 home games and can go on the road. The Panthers have room to work with,  as well, and home games are always welcome.

There’s a whisper lately about 2017, because both teams have room to make it work, but I still wonder about that. WVU’s playing four Big 12 home games and plays host to ECU in non-conference play and plays Virginia Tech at FedEx Field. It has to be in Morgantown for it to make any sense, and Pitt has room for a road game, but Pitt also plays at Penn State and at home against Oklahoma State. I doubt the Panthers add a road game against another Big 12 team. I suppose at WVU in 2017 and at Pitt in 2022 is possible.

That said, it seems imminent Shane Lyons and Pitt’s new AD meet soon and get this rivalry back on the field. If they want to insult one another a few times along the way, that’s fine by me.