[Editor Note: I apologize for the photos not showing up. I’m having similar problems. It’s very frustrating. Simply put, I haven’t acquainted myself well enough at the moment with all the FTP uploading stuff I should have learned. In an attempt to get the photos up and published, after spending a chunk of time editing and tweaking them, I tried to short-cut and upload them onto one of my Yahoo! accounts. From there I just attempted to directly link them. It appeared to work at first in the editor space, but on the blog itself: not so much. It probably wouldn’t take me long to learn (I’m told), but I have been very time crunched the last couple weeks. So until I make the time to learn FileZilla, the best I can offer at the moment is a direct link to where the photos are stored on Yahoo! Photos. I have them all set for public access, so you should be able to see all photos here. The problem is solved. Keith W. called me to suggest PhotoBucket.com, which allows free uploading of photos and provides a URL so you can post them to a blog. I’ve gone back to part 1 and 2 and changed the photo links. Thanks, Keith.]
Part 1 was here.
The first hour or so of Fan Fest was for autographs. Lots of deep lines. I’ve never been that big on that sort of thing, so I just wandered around snapping more pictures. The Seniors were all set up right as you came into the open end of the stadium (Gate A).
The rest of the players were in the stadium concourse. Specifically, in the “Great Hall.”
104.7 had a live show from 6-7 there. Naturally they had various interviews taking place. The first interview was with Coach Wannstedt. While he was waiting to go on the air, an impromptu autograph session broke out. Coach Wannstedt was obliging and friendly, talking with people while signing anything. All the while he is about to go on the air and do a radio interview. The band is playing right next to the radio set-up, in the enclosed concourse area. I was feeling sensory overload and I was just sitting there watching with some ear buds in place to hear the actual radio broadcast and muffle the band a little. I don’t know how you can take doing that without snapping at some point.More photos to follow below the fold
The radio interview was disconcerting to watch. They had it on a few second delay, so what I was hearing did not match up to the watching the interview some 50 feet away. After doing the radio for a good 15 minutes, Coach Wannstedt then had to take off to the Fox Sports Pittsburgh set-up for an interview with Stan Savran.
Things got a little awkward when Savran tried to start a sing-along of Barry Manilow tunes.
Other media and interviews were going on, pulling players away at various times.
And anytime a player would be going from an interview, even back to his spot to sign autographs, they would be approached by people to get more autographs and well-wishers. The players too, were obliging and polite, despite being swarmed.
Then it was time to have a practice on the field. For me, this was the cool part as I was able to get onto the field. Big thanks to Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations, E.J. Borghetti, for inviting me on the field. E.J. and the rest of the Pitt staff were running around everywhere trying to keep everything running smoothly, and keeping the media-types happy and able to do their job. Yet another job I could never do, friendly and facilitating. Always being nice to people no matter what kind of a-holes they are.
I did my best to stay out of the way while being on the sidelines. Take a few pictures of the practice and try not to eavesdrop on the beat reporters and guys from Scout.com and Rivals.com (honest).The players all disappeared to get into practice gear.
That’s Bill Stull in the red jersey who came running into then jumping on top of others.
The practices were all non-contact. There were the 7-on-7, linemen going 1-on-1, red zone drills and special teams — mainly kicking.
It did take a surreal quality to it all.
It was hard to get much of a feel for how the team looked. I appreciate a little more why coaches express frustration about not being able to get the players in pads and do contact drills and practice all the time. The offense didn’t look particularly sharp, but what is expected when they have been doing media and public appearances for the previous 2 hours or so.
Watching the players on the field, at eye-level reinforced how big and fast these kids are. Darrell Strong caught a pass and turned up field along the sideline near where I was standing. The pounding of the feet on the ground from Strong and the guys in pursuit was surprisingly loud. There was a flight instinct that I had to resist diving out of the way, even though they weren’t really that close to me. Definitely not in the danger that you see the occasional professional photographers on the sidelines of games face at times.
As for what I saw from the kicking competition. Oh boy. Coach Wannstedt will definitely be looking to expend a scholarship on a kicker for the 2007 recruiting class. Trust me.
Neither Lee or Hutchins did anything to change the view that field goals will be bordering on random occurences.
Practice wrapped up, the players went down the tunnel and people were cleared out of the place.
Returning to my car I found that Panther Digest (Scout.com) had plastered all the cars in the lot with flyers promoting their site. Is that really effective? Does anyone really look at those things. I never trust the restaurants that do that.
