Sorry this took so long, but I’ve been ill with some kind of stomach virus – this is my second day off of work.

Anyway, I start by giving the Hoopies kudos for both their dance team and cheerleaders.
The cheerleaders were clad in mid-riff exposing tank tops, and all of them seemed quite fit. They did a lot of pyramid type formations as opposed to dancing and tumbling, but they still looked good.
The dance team also had exposed mid-riffs; they were clad in tight, form fitting leggings and tops. They actually seemed like they could DANCE, with a lot of sexy strip club moves and floor sprawling. I prefer Pitt’s dance style to this, but it was alright with me – and they were in a lot better shape than Pitt’s dance team.

Now on to the game: the Coliseum was packed with over 14,000 fans. Quite a few of them were Pitt fans, but it was overwhelmingly pro-WVU. There was a taped message from Jerry West played over the PA (he couldn’t be there because of his demanding schedule – bullshit, I say) congratulating WVU on 100 years of b-ball. At halftime, they trotted out many past hoops stars, some of whom played in the 1940’s.

Our seats were in the corner, upper level – although the layout makes it seem like one seemless tier. They older guy next to me was into the game – he couldn’t bring himself to swear, though. A lot of grandfatherly non-curse words like “for Pete’s sake” and “shoot” and “darn it” were thrown about. The fact that he was not-swearing so much was good news for Pitt. Still WVU was in the game almost the whole time – closing to within 3 points VERY late in the game.

I’m not sure if it is because it is basketball, or perhaps a totally different crowd goes to these games, but the hostility to Pitt did not measure up to the football crowd. Sure, some kids were saying the usual “shit on Pitt” and “Pitt cheated” on the way out of the game. But the animosity wasn’t there – similarly, this win was not enough payback for losing at football. Perhaps beating Syracuse at b-ball is better, since they care about b-ball more, but we need to beat WVU in football to get our mojo back. This was nice, though.

I’m still impressed with Pitt’s ability to shoot foul shots. And you got’a love Krauser.