Push practice was scheduled to start this week, but just as teams were charging up their flashlight batteries and telling their new drivers that it’s “actually kind of fun,” Sweepstakes had to put a hold on things.

Apparently, the city has decided to take a closer look at the late night road-closing permits this year and they’re not sure they like what they see.  The issue is that the road closure is informal during push practice and cars are allowed to come and go as needed – relying on students to keep everything safe and orderly.  This has obviously been the system for years and years without any problems, but tradition is apparently not always persuasive if you are in the business of road closure permit issuing.  This long-standing compromise of semi-closed roads isn’t ideal for teams or for the poor grad students leaving campus after midnight, but it’s a very functional compromise.  We can’t do without push practice, and I doubt everyone else would be happy with fully closed roads 5 nights a week.  Sweepstakes is working hard with the school, CMU & Pittsburgh police, and the city to get everyone comfortable with a plan.  I really hope that all parties can find a non-bureaucratic solution that doesn’t require additional expenses for sweepstakes and logistical headaches for teams.

Sweepstakes chair Chris Shellhamer notified teams today that push practice would hopefully begin after spring break (11 days from now), but that that would be the soonest it is likely to be sorted out.  We’ll keep you updated here.