Pitt has announced it’s 2003-2004 basketball schedule. It features a high profile, neutral site game at the beginning against Alabama (RPI #38) and a home game against Georgia(RPI #5, but wracked with scandal and transferred players). Aside from that the non-conference schedule features powerhouses St. Francis (PA) (RPI 221), Robert Morris (RPI 284), Albany (Albany 294), Duquesne (RPI 243), Penn St. (RPI 202), Youngstown St. (RPI 280), New Hampshire (RPI 309), William & Mary (RPI 265); and a bizarre holiday tournament hosted by Pitt — Murray St. (RPI 135, but not actually scheduled to play Pitt), Florida St. (RPI 81), Wagner (RPI 103), Eastern Michigan (RPI 205) and Chicago St. (RPI 314).

RPI from the 2002-2003 season out of 327 schools.

Now the Big East schedule actually looks difficult because the new 16 game season means playing 10 of the teams only once, but 3 teams twice. The 3 teams Pitt will be facing twice are: UConn, Notre Dame and Syracuse.

Now Pitt has had really easy non-con b-ball schedules for a while, and it hurt them 2 years ago in the seeding for the NCAA tournament. Last year, despite being a Top 10 team, the strength of schedule (SOS) for Pitt was only 56. It doesn’t look, judging by the non-con, that the SOS will be that much better. So to read this from Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon in the press release, just makes me roll my eyes.

“By far, it’s the most difficult schedule we will play in my five years here,” Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon said. “The Big East will again pose a tremendous challenge. I’m excited about our non-conference schedule as well. We’re bringing in teams from three of the major conferences — the ACC, SEC and Big 10. I doubt there are many schools nationwide who can say that.”

You’re not exactly facing in Duke, Florida and Michigan St.

So let’s keep the schedule in perspective. The doubters of Pitt will have every right to point at the schedule once again before conference play begins and ask “But whou have they played?”

Yesterday, ESPN reported that “super prospect” wide receiver John Peyton of Dade City-Pasco, Florida decided to play football at Pitt — spurning offers from LSU, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Auburn.

I’m not going to pretend that I know much about Mr. Peyton beyond this. All I know is that he’s automatically cool for choosing Pitt. More importantly, I know that I continue to be impressed with Walt (quarterback genius) Harris’s ability to recruit in the face of all the uncertainty surrounding the Big East Football Conference. I mean, you just KNOW that LSU, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Auburn surely brought up the Big East’s turmoil to Mr. Peyton.

Of course, beating out programs as prominent as LSU, Georgia Tech, and Auburn for a kid’s services is pretty impressive in its own right.

Hail to the Quarterback Genius’s Recruiting

As a long suffering Pirate fan, I was pleased to note that ESPN rated PNC Park as the best ballpark in major league baseball.

I agree 100%. Granted, I have only seen games in PNC, Wrigley, Fenway and Three Rivers Stadium (I’ve seen the outside of Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, Jacobs Field, Comiskey Park, Riverfront Stadium and The Vet, but that doesn’t count), as well as minor league parks including Johnstown’s Point Stadium, Blair County Ballpark (Altoona Curve) and the old home of the Durham Bulls, so my basis for comparison isn’t as solid as others’. Still, PNC is a magnificent ballpark. Everything but the home team on the field is first rate.

What does this have to do with Pitt Football? Good question.
Really, I just wanted to spread the love for Pittsburgh. But now that I’ve thought about it, this article reminds me of how disappointed I am in Heinz Field. (Rant coming about now…)

The Rooneys (who own the Steelers, for those of you living on Mars for the last 60 years) had just as good an opportunity to build a palace of a football stadium as the Pirates did with PNC Park. But NO! Clearly, Heinz Field was built for one reason – luxury and club boxes, and the high ticket prices that come with them.

Sure, compared to Three Rivers, there are more seats on the sidelines and fewer in the endzones, and the seats are generally closer to the field (except for the upper upper deck). The seats are bigger, and there are more bathrooms, and let’s not forget the Coca-Cola great hall. (Naturally, these things are all improvements over Pitt Stadium as well, but that is another rant entirely).

For the regular fan, though, Heinz Field could have been so much better. Ingress and egress is actually worse – three gates instead of four, and only two escalators for the peasantry. Getting to the 500 level at Heinz Field is worse than climbing up Cardiac Hill.
The scoreboard? They forgot to put the score on the board! They have to insert a graphic into the instant replay. There is no out of town scoreboard, and the mini-boards that hang on each sideline just above the club seats have such small lettering you can barely read them.
Far fewer seats are under cover – not as big a deal for baseball, since games are cancelled for bad weather, but for a winter sport like football, Three Rivers did have some [rotection.

And the cup holders? The don’t hold any beverage holding device that is sold in that stadium.
Not bottles, not paper cups with pop, or plastic beer cups (Steeler games only). They might as well not have bothered – we would have a little more room for our feet without them.

The whole design of the stadium – with the 500 level being so high – is to accomidate the big money seats at mid level.

So, was tearing down Three Rivers necessary? Hell no. Sure, the Pirates needed PNC Park. Without it, I’m sure they would be losing real money instead of pretending to lose money.
The Steelers didn’t need it at all. They only added 6,000 more seats (Three Rivers capacity was 59,000). The Rooneys needed an excuse to charge fans more money, so they figured the only way to justify it was to build a new stadium. If they had doubled the price for luxury boxes at Three Rivers, people and businesses here would have paid. All they had to do was declare a certain section “preferred” seating and people would have paid – that’s how much Pittsburgh fans love the Steelers. But they couldn’t let the Pirates have something without getting it themselves. They had to have their new stadium. And the irony of it is – they could have done it so much better (without even costing that much more).

Sure, maybe the Rooneys were right to be cheap – they knew that Steeler fans would still come no matter how the stadium was, and they would pay an arm and a leg to do so. But wouldn’t it be nice to have two great stadiums? Especially after all we had to pay in taxes to get them? Especially since we (meaning Pitt) had to sacrifice our on-campus stadium.

Sure, there were a lot of problems with Pitt Stadium, but at least it was Pitt’s. Someday, Pitt will be home again…
But I digress.

Let me be clear about my feelings on the new co-branded, content splitting Fox Sports/Sporting News websites. Who the f**k got drunk and high when this was approved?

The whole system is keeping both foxsports.com and sportingnews.com urls, but you never actually know when you will be shifting from one to the other. The most immediate and noticeable effect — the reduction of interesting content on team pages. There’s a lot more reliance on the Fox junk. This means video and crap from the local Fox Sports affiliate.

The whole thing seems harder to navigate and in a moment of sheer, inspired brilliance, you still have separate sign-ins for the Fox Sports and the Sporting News sites. Great, work.

The first game of the season also means shaking the cobwebs and rust loose for tailgating. None of us have Steeler season tickets, so there was no exhibition season to start working on our preparation and get everything organized. So, there is a lot of false starts and hitches. A good example would be Pat after we got to the lot, and set up the table and some chairs. He cracked open his beer and put it in the cup holder in the arm of the chair — one of those metal and nylon ones that you stuff into a nylon sack — only to realize the rest of us had set up on the other side of the table and cars. So, he lifts the chair in the air and lets it collapse inward to carry it around the table and car. He hears a sloshing sound above his head and tips the chair to peak — sploosh! His beer had popped out of the holder into the seat, the beer pooling, then pouring right onto him. Simple first game jitters. We’re sure he’ll be better as the season goes on.

Now one of the aspects of tailgating in the city, are the people who come by. Rather than just drunk fans, we get panhandlers, peddlers and bit players. People looking to hit up the drunks one way or the other. So, we’ve settled in and are talking — Pat’s using ice to clean his chair — when a guy rides up on a mountain bike, pops off it, and plops himself amongst us.

Before we can even react he has thrown down three cards face up on the ground. 10 of Spades, 10 of Clubs and the 10 of Hearts. He wants to do a little 3 Card Monty! Keep in mind that our tailgating crew has a large contingent of lawyers who work or worked for the Public Defenders Office. The guy starts his patter. He starts sweeping up the well worn, length-wise folded cards then throwing them down with practiced ease trying to get us interested. Trying to get us to put a little action on it. One of our group — “Timmy Gates” starts talking with him a little, letting him do his spiel. Free entertainment.

Our new friend, looks at him and says, “You look familiar. Do I know you?”

Timmy responds, “I may have represented you at some point.”

Pause, then, “Oh, s**t! Gates!”

You can’t make this stuff up. He still took Timmy for about $25.

Well, what can I say. A convincing win. Either Pitt’s offense is a lot better than I thought, or Kent St. is even worse than I believed. Last week, Kent St. won against Akron in a shootout — 52-48. Even if Akron also sucks, any team that could put up that many points has to have some weapons and will at least be able to score and cover the spread of 29 to 30. Not even close in a 43-3 rout.

Did you ever wonder what local coverage is for patsy teams? I mean the teams that are bad, will almost always be bad, and their athletic department’s budget is based on being paid 6 figures just to do a roadie to be beaten up. Teams like Louisiana Tech, Akron, McNeese St. and Kent St. Here’s a sample.

Kent State’s 15 minutes lasted exactly that long.

After a quarter of level-headed football, it looked as if the Golden Flashes were genuinely going to put together some sort of upset bid against Pittsburgh on Saturday night at Heinz Field.

Then it came unraveled mentally and physically — and did so quickly. It was as if the two parties seemed all too happy to settle into the anticipated roles and the Panthers ended up getting some fun for their $300,000 in a 43-3 victory.

Honest reporting. Got to love it.

Speaking of honest reporting, the Rod Rutherford misdemeanor assault charge is still fodder. Actually, Harris’s handling of it is more the issue. Either he should have benched Rutherford or played him, period. His half-ass “punishment” of not letting him play the 1st quarter was idiocy.

Of course, as we’ve been saying, this is not a major incident regarding Rutherford, but that won’t stop some from trying to make it bigger. Take this from the Palm Beach Post who seems to link Adrian McPherson (the disgraced former Florida State QB who bet on games and may have bet on/against his own team) with Marcus Vick and Rutherford.

Rutherford was charged with kicking out a car window and assaulting a 19-year-old woman outside a nightclub early Monday. Vick, the younger brother of Michael, was one of two Hokies suspended this week after violating unspecified team policies.

While Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer held out Vick the entire game, Pitt’s Walt Harris showed a silly little incident like punching a woman and displaying a violent temper isn’t going to get in the way of a football game.

Harris believed the way to penalize his quarterback was to sit him… for the first quarter of the season opener against Kent State. Rutherford threw four touchdown passes in a 43-3 victory after being “punished.” Rutherford should have been sitting on the sidelines for Saturday’s game and probably a few more.

Punched? Violent temper? The alleged assault was that he grabbed her arm, through an open window leading her to strike her head on the inside of the car. There was never a punch. Of course that would interfere with a good story.

Nice to see that reporters are looking closely at the facts.

Back to the game. The dark cloud, was that it is clear that Getsy is a tremendous drop-off from Rutherford. Getsy got the start (because they still hope to be able to redshirt Palko) and it was ugly. Getsy was 0-4 passing in the 1st quarter, and 3-11 overall with some mop-up duty. The stats show Rutherford to be the key. This worries the hell out of me. As I’ve said, before, one of Harris’s weaknesses is his focus on one of his QBs to the exclusion and bad development of the others. Looks like the trend is continuing. Or Pitt better blow out Toledo and Ball State early to give Getsy lots of mop up time.

Last Tuesday, I briefly discussed the three games of this past week that most interested me as a Pitt fan. Then, I picked those games against the spread. I went 1-2, dropping my season record to 4-3. What went wrong, well…

Jeez, Penn State… You Really DO Suck
(Boston College 27, PSU 14) The sad thing is, I don’t enjoy watching Penn State getting beat — even by a 10 point underdog — nearly as much as I used to. For one thing, it’s getting old. Second, I’m afraid that if they lose too often, they’ll let Paterno go before he has a chance to pull a Woody Hayes incident and scar that program’s tradition forever. Plus, if they let Joe go now — before he runs Penn State football too far into the ground — it will be much less work for his successors to rebuild it.

…not that I didn’t enjoy Penn State’s loss a little…

After watching this game, the only thing that seems more laughable than my picking Penn State to cover the spread is my reason for doing so: I liked Penn State’s offensive line and secondary. Saturday afternoon, both of these alleged advantages were especially pathetic. The offensive line had quarterback Zack Mills running for his life all day — so much so that the kid who was once supposed to be the next Kerry Collins got benched in favor of his much more mobile backup, Michael Robinson. Meanwhile, the secondary got torched for 206 total yards in the first quarter alone.

Really, Penn State’s defense in general was pathetic. They had literally no pass rush, even when they were blitzing. They repeatedly couldn’t make simple tackles, and allowed Boston College to run the ball down their throat.

We all knew that this was going to be a rebuilding year for Penn State, and I went so far as to say in August that this might be their worst team in decades. But I never suspected that they could be this bad.

Of course, part of the problem was that I never suspected that Boston College (and the Wake Forest team that upset them the previous week) could be that good. But then again, I often don’t give Big East teams enough credit.

Who Are You and What Did You Do With My Panthers?
(Pitt 43, Kent State 3) I didn’t think that our Panthers would cover this week because (1) 30.5 points is a @#%*@! of a spread, (2) starting quarterback Rod Rutherford’s legal troubles would be a distraction, and most importantly, (3) Pitt NEVER, EVER, starts the season strong.

And on our first three possessions, my prediction seemed dead on as redshirt-freshman quarterback Luke Getsy proved largely ineffective. But then, Walt Harris, quarterback genius, gave up the moral high ground and put in the legally embattled Rutherford. And Kent State’s wheels just fell off. Of course, Kent State’s decision to use one-on-one coverage on Larry Fitzgerald all damn day didn’t help.

On one hand, I’m sure that Neil Rudel and his ilk will have a field day with Walt Harris’s (quarterback genius) decision to play Rutherford. On the other hand, Rod hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. Besides, didn’t Joe Paterno play accused rapist Anwar Phillips in the Captial One Bowl, only to have Phillips exonerated last month?

Perhaps this team will be the one that breaks the mold of Panther football that we longtime fans with our deeply entrenched pessimism hold dear.

Fire Ron Zook Now
(Miami of Florida 38, Florida of Florida 33) How the hell do you let your archrival out of a 23 point hole? It’s freakish games like this one, with no defense apparently on the field, that make me pray that I never have to relocate to the pancake-flat, insect-riddled, high-crime sauna of a state that is America’s Wang. You suck, Florida. And by that, I mean the whole damn state.

But you, Florida Gators, especially suck. If I were Brock Berlin, I would have given you the Gator chomp salute too. I hope you enjoyed every humiliating moment of it. I don’t root for you bastards very often, but when I do, I expect you to at least try past halftime.

By the way, I picked this game right.

Hail to Well Done Hebrew National Hot Dogs Dropped At Least Six Freakin’ Times on the Ridge Avenue Parking Lot

Doesn’t anyone in the world of “journalism” use the word “alleged” anymore?

While ESPN is picking up articles from the AP which do not include statements from Rutherford’s attorney, our local newspapers did.

Clearly there are two sides to every story. In this instance, the national media is only bothering to report what the alleged victim is claiming.

RR admits that he smashed out the window of a car that contained three women, two of which he went to HS with. The “victim”, according to RR, threw a glass at RR after he exchanged phone numbers with her, then paid a little too much attention to his former classmate. It was in response to the glass being hurled at RR that he used his forearm to break the car window.
His attorney insists he has a wound on his forearm that is consistent with this version, not the version which alleges he used his foot to kick out the window. According to RR’s lawyer, Jim Wymard, the indecent assault allegation is not in the original police report.

If witnesses can verify RR’s side of the story, perhaps the veracity of this victim will not hold up in court.

As someone who has personally represented unnamed Pitt athletes in court, I can tell you that “victims” often have dollar signs in their eyes when talking settlement, even if the athlete in question has yet to sign a pro contract. Perhaps this alleged victim demanded more money that RR’s family was able to produce? Hell, the kid did grow up in Northview Heights, which is a low income public housing community on Pittsburgh’s North Side. I wonder if that will ever be reported in the papers.

So, anyway, our QB is in the doghouse, and yet I still can’t help but feel o.k. about my beloved Panthers. Why? Becuase they don’t have to run around in those god-awful “Mellow Yellow Ligtning/Hunter Safety Gear” uniforms. Is Oregon punishing their players?

(When did I get this catty? I think I gotta go look at some Salma Hayek pictures to get some of my machismo back.)

Here’s a debate topic: Charcol or propane, which serves football fans’ needs better? Discuss…

P.S. Hey Chas, I finally posted, yeah?

P.P.S. Even more impressive, I’m doing this sober!

OK, Chas and Pat (see his comment under here), should I start to get worried now?

PITTSBURGH — Pitt quarterback Rod Rutherford was charged Friday with kicking out a car window and assaulting a woman outside a nightclub.

Rutherford forced his way into the car early Monday after she refused his advances, police said. Rutherford got out of the car and grabbed the 19-year-old woman through a partially opened window, causing her to strike her head and face, police said Friday. As the woman drove away, Rutherford kicked out a window, police said. Two passengers in the car were not injured.

Rutherford was charged with indecent assault, simple assault and criminal mischief. He has disputed the woman’s account, saying she threw a glass at him in the parking lot.

So, Pat, now that we’ve moved past criminal mischief — the likely limit of this case that you suggested — to indecent assault and simple assault, should I start to worry about Rod Rutherford’s career at Pitt?

Admittedly, criminal charges of assaulting women are nowhere near as serious in the twisted world of college football as NCAA rules violations are. So I would be surprised if Rod Rutherford’s problem goes anywhere near as far as Maurice Clarett’s case has. But you never know. Either way, I wouldn’t get too smug about Ohio State’s troubles, Chas.

All I know is that this is not what Pitt needed on the eve of its most important season in 20 years.

For years now, the regular presence of The Penn State Football Story on Fox Sports Pittsburgh’s television lineup has bothered me. Penn State is certainly entitled to produce its own propagan… er… television show about its own football team. And Fox Sports Pittsburgh is certainly entitled to air said show on a regular basis, especially if a lot of Penn State fans watch it.

What bothers me, of course, is that Pitt has no equivalent to The Penn State Football Story — either on Fox Sports Pittsburgh or on any other network that I know of. This is probably more Pitt’s fault than anybody else’s. And I’m not even sure if Pitt has a production department capable of producing such a show.

But what I do know is that now West Virginia University has placed both shows and games on Fox Sports Pittsburgh under the guise of MSN (the Mountaineers Sports Network… did Bill Gates forget to trademark that or something?). I watched a genuinely good show on the West Virginia/Wisconsin game Tuesday afternoon.

But the last damn straw was what came on next. A well produced show dedicated to the intercollegiate affairs of Lehigh University. That’s right, Pitt fans. We’re getting beat for air time on our own hometown network by a tiny school in… heck, where the hell is Lehigh? Bethlehem? Allentown? Easton? I honestly don’t know and definitely don’t care. Worse yet, Fox Sports Pittsburgh will show all eleven of Lehigh’s football games this fall.

Will somebody in Pitt’s P.R. department do something on camera for Fox Sports Pittsburgh, please? Heck, hide a camera in the men’s room for all I care. Just make sure that there’s a Pitt logo somewhere in the background.

And I said to take Kent State and the points on Tuesday.

Hail to As Many Jokes about May 4, 1970, as We Pitt Fans Can Cook Up This Saturday

When Jim Brown first appointed himself as the spokesperson for Maurice Clarett and his family, I remember wondering why so many football fans in Ohio grimaced and groaned. Now I’m beginning to understand why.

“I think Mr. Geiger wants to start a revolution. He’s acting like a slave-master,” Brown said Thursday night. “If Andy Geiger wants to act like God, than this ball game is over.”

I’m pretty sure that all Slave-Master Geiger (OSU’s Athletic Director) wants is for your “client” to stop changing his story so that Ohio State can finally propose a fair punishment for him to the NCAA. Slave-Master Geiger didn’t make Maurice accept that 2001 Monte Carlo packed full of goodies. Slave-Master Geiger didn’t make him lie to the police when said goodies were stolen. Slave-Master Geiger didn’t make him lie to the NCAA when they understandably asked why Maurice had so many goodies to steal. And Slave-Master Geiger hasn’t made Maurice change his story several times since.

Geiger, one of the most respected ADs in college sports, is merely trying to run the largest college athletic department in the United States in accordance with the NCAA’s very strict regulations. He is certainly in a position of authority over Maurice Clarett, and that position certainly requires Geiger to ask some questions and propose some penalties. But that doesn’t mean that Geiger either thinks or is acting like he is God or an antebellum slave master. For one thing, he’s entirely too much of a nerd to pull that off.

It’s interesting that Jim Brown, of all people, would go so quickly to the race card. Brown certainly did see enough real racism in the 1960s and in his admirable gang-related work since. You’d think that he’d be fairly careful about playing the race card now, but whatever. I wonder if Brown thinks that any of this is Maurice Clarett’s fault.

By the way, Brown’s assertion — made yesterday — that Ohio State is making Maurice Clarett a scapegoat to protect others is particularly laughable. Maurice is too intelligent, well-spoken, self-assertive, and high-profile to be a decent scapegoat candidate. Besides, what else does Ohio State have to hide? No other Buckeyes were caught with free cars, and the academic fraud charge was an apparent dead end.

So why is anybody even listening to this paranoid, washed-up crackpot? Because the public is genuinely interested in this case, Jim Brown is talking, and Andy Geiger and Ohio State aren’t saying crap. That much is Geiger’s fault. Say something already. What did the NCAA accuse Clarett of? Does Ohio State agree with all of those accusations? I mean, defend yourself and your university, dammit. You were just called a slave-master, fer chrissakes.

And, of course, the scariest part of all of this is that now Clarett seems to want to challenge the NFL’s early entry rule. This threatens the entire college football landscape as we know it. Clarett’s past actions embarrass me as an Ohio State alumnus. Clarett’s proposed actions terrify me as a Ohio State fan, a Pitt fan, and a college football fan in general.

Hail to Slave-Master Harris’s Suspending Rutherford

Here are the “Official” Tailgating Policies from ALCO Parking, the evil corporation that manages the lots around Heinz Field. For those who are interested, we are in lot Green 22 at the corner of Ridge and Allegheny Avenues.

1) Extra Spaces will not be sold in the North Shore Lots, one space per vehicle. Tailgating is to be contained to paid space only.
[does this mean no hanging around on the grass beside the lot?]

2) Anyone intending to park a Motor Home, RV, Camper or Oversized Vehilce in a Reserved lot must have TWO(2) Reserved Parking Tickets and park within two spaces.

3) Public Parking (Non-Reserved) around Heinz Field and PNC Park will be very limited. The following are alternate parking sites:
– Allegheny Center Garage
– North Shore Garage
– Sixth & Penn Garage
– 11 Stanwix Street
– Third Avenue Garage
– Ninth & Penn Garage
– Smithfield/Liberty Garage
– Strip District lots
– PPG Garage

4) City police will patrol all reserved lots around the stadium to keep the aisles clear and enforce regulations. City police have also requested that Reserved Parking Tickets must be displayed hanging from the rearview mirror upon approaching the North Shore and remain on your vehicle while you are in the lot.

5) Open fires, other than cooking grills, will not be permitted in any of the lots. No tents, beach umbrellas or awnings from campers are permitted.

6) Parking lots will open five (5) hours prior to game time. Cars will not be permitted to sit in front of the entrance to the lot prior to lot opening.

For rates and directions visit www.alcoparking.com

What really gets my goat is rule #5. Sure, no bonfires – I can understand that one. But no tents? Not even an awning from a camper? What’s the reasoning behind that one?
Does this call for civil disobedience?

On the up side, we pay only $42 per season (per pass), while Steeler fans pay $288 per pass. That is more than we pay for the tickets themselves!

Anyone who has been tailgating for even a couple of years can see a steady, progressive change in the manner in which they tailgate. Part of it is experience, part of it is the people and number of people in your group, and of course preparing for the weather. This is my 6th season of Pitt tailgates. Pat is the group’s master, as he has been a loyal attendee of games through all his schooling at Pitt and after graduating.

[Editor Note: I may have some of the timeline a little screwed up, I’m working from memory, such as it is.]

I went in with Pat for season tickets in ’98. At the time, I was working in Youngstown, Ohio; so it was only a little more than an hour’s drive into Pittsburgh. We suffered through a brutal 2-9 season — the worst, watching them blow a lead to Rutgers (or was it Temple) in a cold, rainy October. I think it was the first and only time, Pat was ever convinced to leave a Pitt game before the bitter end. This was still at the late, old Pitt Stadium, right on campus. Our parking lot, was actually a parking garage, that had a partially open deck. It was not a problem to get a good spot on the deck. It was a great location, overlooking “The Hill.” You look down on all the people (well, given the condition of the program at the time it wasn’t a lot of people) heading up to the stadium. The tailgating was very basic. Maybe bring a grill and do some dogs; and just drink beer. More often, though, just stop down at Uncle Sam’s for a cheesesteak to eat in the lot; or even drink and have lunch at one of the bars. Still, by the end of the season, Pat and I had the set-up and breakdown of the chairs, table and grill down cold.

The following year, we added Lee and some of the group started making it for some games. Everyone had to make an appearance by the end of the season — the last at Pitt Stadium. We still hit Uncle Sam’s at least once — because of time issues, but we were doing more grilling, and preferring it. Scoring the “wake-up” became a point of pride between Lee and I.

2000 was when everything changed. Pitt would play a season at the late Three Rivers Stadium, before moving nextdoor into Heinz Field. The true meaning of this, was that Pitt would be playing its football games off-campus. A move I had genuine doubts as to what it would mean for the fans. How would the students handle going across town to see the games? Would the students be willing to go across town for games? How would the fans handle the loss of intimacy that Pitt Stadium provided? Most importantly, how would the tailgating change? We had to bring all of the stuff. There were no restaurants nearby that wouldn’t be packed or absolutely suck. The plus side, was that the new lot had more space. Our group was now 6 plus 2 affiliates. Pat, Lee, Shawn, John, Harlan and myself. Lee still had his underpowered pick-up that made loading and unloading for tailgating a cinch. Meeting beforehand in the South Side, going to the nearby grocery store for the grill materials and then the beer distributor. We actually started using a cooler to keep the beer and food cold — The Harlan Memorial Cooler. By the end of the season, we had two coolers. Harlan ran the grill and even cleaned it with military precision. Lines were defined, crossed and obliterated. Yuengling Lager became the “official” beer of our tailgating. Official/unofficial decisions were made as to tailgating guests.

2001. Peaks and valleys. The team got off to a horrible start– I hate the spread offense. That loss to USF still haunts me. Our seats were not as good as we hoped. And they moved the majority of the starting times to 1 pm. Our group was at double digits. We made attempts to protect ourselves from the sun, by getting a freestanding canopy, but the parking lot fascists wouldn’t let us use it (and no, Lee, you are not getting your portion back). Hebrew National Beef Franks became the “official” hot dog.

2002. Harlan left us for employment and partying in Georgia, but the cooler remained. Otherwise, our numbers remained the same. To compensate for the 1pm start times, we started making assignments on what to bring in advance, and expected everyone to have them when we met. More parking passes were purchased to accommodate those who might have to leave early or arrive late because of the new x-factor: newborns. An unofficial ban on children at our tailgates was instigated.

2003. Who knows.

The move to Heinz Field has worked for a lot of fans and alumni, because they have more room to tailgate. We show up roughly 2-3 hours before kick-off. The lots were barely half-filled in 2000. Last year, we were having trouble getting decent spots. This year, may be worse for parking since the season is sold out — but I don’t doubt part of it is that Pitt fans finally are having room to really tailgate rather than just be in parking garages.

Why this retrospective on tailgating? I started thinking about it after reading this article (subs. req’d) that focused mainly on NFL Tailgating:

Last year, before Houston Texans’ football games, Hector Galvan hung out in the parking lot with a few friends and a charcoal grill. And this year? He’s spent nearly $10,000 converting an old mail truck into a tailgating mobile, with wall-to-wall AstroTurf and a special grill-fridge combo. He’s inviting not only dozens of friends to every game — but clients, too.

“It’s a great way to mix business and pleasure,” says the Houston contractor.

The future of tailgating is here — and it looks a lot like big business. With the NFL season kicking off next week, everyone from food conglomerates to camping suppliers is trying to get a piece of these ballooning pregame affairs. Coleman, which introduced its first tailgating grill last year, now has nine products in its RoadTrip line. A catalog just for this set, American Tailgater, features tailgate flags, tailgate tents, even a gas-powered margarita blender ($355). There are training camps by Ragu (hosted by John Madden) and parking-lot contests by Jack Daniels. The NFL itself says it sells $100 million a year of tailgating merchandise, including keg-shape grills. “Tailgating, Inc.” has become so big, some folks are buying $75 scalped passes — just for a parking space.

There is nothing new about tailgaters throwing fancier bashes, of course. But what’s surprising is how quickly this has become its own industry, driven by corporations partying in the parking lot and vendors discovering the market’s big-spending potential. A survey sponsored by Coca-Cola last season showed 41% of tailgaters spend more than $500 a season on food and supplies — while Ragu found more than half prefer the party to the actual game. In all, those in the business estimate up to one-quarter of the 16.9 million people who attend NFL games are tailgaters, with some teams, such as the Houston Texans, saying it’s closer to 40%.

The $500 figure seems low, unless they mean per person. I guess I’m not surprised by how it has become it’s own industry. It seems more like the surprise is how quickly the bigger companies caught on to the popularity.

The change hasn’t come without controversy. Some cities have complained about public drunkenness and mountains of postgame trash, while teams stand to lose concession revenue as more people eat outside. But even then, the response has been, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. The Buffalo Bills provide showers and changing rooms in the parking lot, while the Denver Broncos go so far as to pick a “most valuable tailgater” each home game. And in Houston, the Texans send out a quarterly “Tailgating Times” newsletter, sponsor “Tailgating 101” classes at a local sporting-goods store — and run a Tailgate Village for big groups, starting at $95 a head. “It’s become as big as the game,” says NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.

Indeed, teams that years ago frowned on the events now view them as an added bonus to $50 tickets and a way to keep the fans coming, win or lose. It worked for Philadelphia Eagles fan Russ Stevenson, who’s already making plans for a December party in Miami (featuring two bands, 10 masseuses, a clown and an Elvis impersonator). He’s expecting about 1,500 of his closest friends to dine on barbecue, mahi mahi and conch fritters. “It’s going to be my best party yet,” says the advertising executive.

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh hasn’t caught on to this yet. Apparently they are still trying to be very restrictive at the lots (at least officially). Pat has the info.

Now, vendors are stepping in with gear that’s, well, a bit over-the-top. About a half-dozen companies make big grills that tailgaters can hook to the back of their rigs; for $3,500, Texan Tailgaters’ model also features a generator, fridge and TV. Too much hassle dealing with the trailer hitch? California customizer Galpin Motors has a pickup truck just for tailgating — with a huge grill, taps for two beer kegs, a blender and flip-down TV screen. (It seats six, and costs $70,000.) Overall, American Tailgater, a catalog and Web site offering more than 100 items from tailgate grills to BBQ neckties, says sales have nearly tripled in the last year.

Okay, I want that pickup.

Food companies are tackling this burgeoning industry, too, with special promotions and tailgating events. After it lost its spot as official NFL cola, Coca-Cola decided that getting out of the stadium might be good for business. Beginning last season, it set up its own tailgating area at Atlanta games, and it’s cosponsoring a contest to give away a Coke RV and tailgating kit. “We’re looking to do more,” says a company spokesman. Candy-maker Masterfoods USA, meanwhile, isn’t satisfied having the usual corporate suites: As part of its sponsorship of the NFL this season, it’s holding parties in a motor coach as well, complete with golf carts to haul clients around the parking lot. “It’s a more intimate setting,” says Scott Hudler, a marketing manager for the company. “You’re not missing the tailgating like you would in a suite.”
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For the NFL, all of this has been a love-hate affair. Teams like the old Houston Oilers didn’t allow tailgating, while even now some designate only a portion of the parking lot for pregame partying. And for teams that are run on a tight margin, concession sales are an important revenue center. The league itself admits that stadiums stand to lose food and beer sales to tailgaters — losses one economist, Smith College’s Andrew Zimbalist, estimates at as much as $750,000 a team annually. But teams and observers say the bashes help build loyal fans who pay in other ways, from boosting the league’s TV ratings to buying season tickets. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that tailgating helps ease local traffic, because fans start arriving as early as 6 a.m. and often drive home hours after the game.

The bigger question, though, is whether some companies might drop pricey corporate suites in favor of cheap seats and a party out front. Teams says suite sales are still strong, but so many companies are heading straight to the parking lot that there are even caterers specializing in corporate tailgate parties. (One, Showtime Motor Sports of Winston Salem, N.C., is holding 20 to 30 events this year at up to $10,000 a pop.) “It’s a business reception in a parking lot,” says Joe Cahn, who runs Tailgating.com. “They don’t have to worry about VIP parking, they don’t have to worry about spilling things on a rug.”

Exactly, says Gary Scher. The head of a Baltimore medical-sales company says he uses his Ravens tailgate parties to boost business, inviting doctors and hospital staff to get a personalized keg cup, free T-shirts and lots of food. Total cost: about $4,000 this season. Do people buy his products? “They know if they don’t, they won’t get invited to the next tailgate,” he says.

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this:

Though senior quarterback Rod Rutherford is expected to play in Pittsburgh’s opener Saturday against Kent State, he won’t be allowed to start because a dispute he was involved in violated team rules.

Coach Walt Harris said Rutherford will also be disciplined in other ways, but he wouldn’t give specific.

“From the information we have, he has engaged in behavior that is contrary to those expectations, our team rules and the responsibilities he assumes as a leader,” Harris said.

So, he won’t play the first series? Quarter? Half?

Take the points and Kent St. Last I saw, the line was Pitt -29. Wonder how much it moved after this announcement.