Over the past few hours, Pittsburgh’s North Shore has taken on the trappings of a game day deep in the heart of football season. Traffic was stop and go coming into the city, T station platforms were crammed, tailgaters were already hard at work cooking in parking lots and folks were toting coolers atop their shoulders.
But it wasn’t a Steelers-Ravens clash at center stage drawing the throngs to Heinz Field on this steamy Saturday; it was the resumption of the storied Pitt-Penn State rivalry that had taken a 16-year break before getting back to business today.
And it wasn’t occurring at midday or during prime time; festivities kicked off early this morning, with streets entering the North Shore clogged, parking lots filling and tailgaters hard at work on making breakfast — perhaps accompanied by Mimosas or Bloody Marys — by 8 a.