The official notice has arrived, and our parking passes were shifted across Ridge Avenue to Green 23 (from Green 22). This will require us to walk an additional 500 feet or so to the stadium, but it has one positive note: TWO port-o-johns in the heart of the parking lot.
Due to the closure of at least one, if not two of the former Gold and Red lots (new building construction), parking has become much more limited. Spaces are allotted, as always, by priority points. We were required to rank our top three preferences, and we ended up with preference #2. This isn’t bad, especially when you take into account the fact that Pitt is raising the rates on the other lots, requiring additional donations to Team Pittsburgh for many lots (not the Green lots, thankfully).
I, and I suspect my compatriots, will miss Green 22. [Not nearly as much as we miss the Parran Hall lot on O’Hara and DeSoto Streets in Oakland, but that is another matter and another Stadium. ]
Green 22 has been our cars’ home before, during and after Pitt football games since the shift to Three Rivers, then Heinz Field. It has a nice strip of lawn between the parking spaces and Route 65, which provides extra tailgating space for those arriving early enough to park on that edge of the lot.
We have grown fond of our neighbors, and I recognized a sociological trend amongst the tailgaters in our lot – most have just about the same seniority as we do with the season tickets (it seems the ticket holders all graduated in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s, and began buying season tickets within a few years after graduating), as well as generosity (none of us are either able, or willing, to spring $1000 to Team Pittsburgh or the Athletic Fund to get into the Gold lots). I wonder if we will see the same faces over in Green 23? I suspect we will.
Quo vadis, SHAT? Will we meet again, portly and bearded men who nearly light themselves on fire at least two or three times a year (sometimes per game)?
One thing is for certain, the sanitary facilities will improve. Green 23 has TWO port-o-crappers in the lot, and they aren’t banished to one far corner of it, either. Green23 is more square shaped, while Green22 is a long, thin rectangle. The placement of the pissers in Green23 are much more convenient for excessive drinking – um, I mean conversation and fellowship, as it takes much less time to walk back and forth from the cars.
The commute will be virtually unchanged. The lot entrances are almost directly across Ridge Avenue from one another.
PS – on the subject of portable sanitary facilities; Chas and I attended the Pitt/Notre Dame game in South Bend three years ago, and were floored by the luxurious port-o-johns they fielded in the parking areas. I never thought I would see better, until Fourth of July Weekend, when I was at the Heinz family estate for a political function. Yes, the same function Dr. Cyril Wecht, JD, MD, JO was NOT invited to! (Had to get that one in there – I dedicate that to John).
I am a fequent volunteer as a motorcade driver when the Democratic presidential & VP candidates make big trips to Pittsburgh (I did several with Gore, one with Clinton, and now two with Kerry – extra local drivers are needed for the staff and press corps). Because “Rosemont” is secured when Kerry is on the property, us lowly drivers can mingle about the grounds, as opposed to staying hidden away with the staff and press vehicles as usual. This got us into the picnic, which was a 4th of July thing complete with plenty of Heinz condiments.
Well, after the picnic/photo op with JK and THK (Edwards wasn’t announced until the next morning), we had to wait around while the staff pow-wowed in the main house (there are two guest houses and a carriage house, in case you were wondering). We may have been allowed on the grounds, but not within 30 feet or so of the house itself. Nature eventually called, so I wandered to the three port-o-johns lined up near where the “press area” had been set aside earlier that day. They seemed very clean from the outside, with hardly any signs of wear or tear, or dents, etc. They even had “VIP” placards on them!
I go inside to take care of some business, and I am amazed at the luxury. A rather large mirror; a working sink (with actual fresh water); a toilet with a flush-petal on the lower left side (operated by your foot, so as to not soil one’s self with germs); a shelf WITH a cup holder; both toilet paper AND soft paper towels, along with anti-bacterial soap! This must be the kind of service that fans get at Augusta National during the Masters – this was no ordinary football game style port-o-john. The thing was nicer than my own bathroom, and almost as large!
Needless to say, Notre Dame is now #2 on the port-o-john quality list.
