The trip was far too short, but it’s not like the wife could take a second straight day off from work just so I could get a night in NYC drinking. That gave me a little less than 15 hours in NYC. It was hectic, busy, and a lot of time spent in airports waiting for flights — in fact I spent more time in airports coming and going than I did at Big East Media Day. Well worth it. If this post feels disjointed and without flow, then I am effectively conveying that day.

To explain. Volvo is a corporate sponsor for the Big East. Last year they did a “Biggest fan in the Big East” contest for the first time. They brought it back for this year. I was selected to be the Pitt representative and got this paid trip to Big East Media Day to help kick things off.

Sixteen of us, representing our school will be “competing” for the title which includes a return trip to NYC for the Big East Tournament and a new car. There will also be a donation to the scholarship fund of the winning fan’s school. We got to observe Big East Media Day, will get a couple tickets to a conference home game (TBD) later during the season, and shot some video talking about why we are the biggest fan.

The last, was more than a little awkward for me. Trying to concisely explain why I’m such a fan of Pitt almost seems silly when you get past the basics. I just am.

I didn’t grow up a Pitt fan. I wasn’t raised on the school or the teams. I chose the school for the education and grew into being a fan. For me, being a fan at Pitt is tied to more than simply the athletics. Much of it has to do with staying connected to not just the school but the friends I have from Pitt. Sharing, staying in touch and having the reasons to get together centered around Pitt. That is only part of it. The thing I know, is that I have become a bigger fan the longer I’ve been writing about Pitt. My affection for the school and the athletics have only deepened. And that’s because of all of you. All of you who have come here to read my ramblings. Who have left comments. Argued, debated minutiae. The interaction and passion on the site and — all too infrequently — opportunities to actually meet has only strengthened my feelings for Pitt. Even when the frustrations run high, and tempers a little higher. I simply can’t imagine not being a Pitt alum and fan. Thank you. All of you.

To win this thing, I will be needing everyone’s help in winning the contest and will be asking for that help over the course of the basketball season — especially when I have more details on certain particulars. I just know that it won’t be easy. The Notre Dame person mentioned that she already heard from her alumni group about doing what they can to help when needed. I’m sure others will get similar assistance.

Back to the events of yesterday. Almost all the representatives/contestants made it in for the day (only Rutgers, UConn and USF were lacking presence). As you would expect, after meeting some, groups form along lines of who you get along with best. Who you may have interacted in the past. The oddity was that I spent most of the day hanging out with the Providence and West Virginia guy.

That morning, rather than wait for cabs to try and get us the 8-10 blocks to the New York Athletic Club for Big East Media Day, the three of us opted to walk through the wind and drizzle.

Trying to come up with a good answer for when we would be asked why we are a fan of our team. Discarded answers included:

— Keep coming back for more even after every crushing disappointment.

— I still root for Providence despite the Keno Davis era.

— I’m from West Virginia… there’s nothing else (actually I think he used that).

— Who else but a fan would actually watch Big East football voluntarily?

— At least we aren’t DePaul.

— The alcohol helps.

Walking was probably faster in NYC on most days. When it was drizzling and miserable, and everyone taking cabs — even more so. We got there  before the rest, including our guide/handler/marketing guy. When we told the security at the door that we were here for Big East Media Day, he just sent us up to the 12th floor.

Naturally, we had no idea what to do once we got there. There were two open rooms — neither of which seemed like a place for us to go. One room was set up for taping interviews. The kind of coaches interviews that are broadcast all season long on the Big East network. In another room, all the players representing their schools were assembled. A group of SIDs were in the room keeping an eye on them. That left us hanging out in the hall watching coaches get off the elevator — including Coach Dixon.

After hanging out for a while, and it becoming very clear we didn’t belong on this floor we figured out that we should be elsewhere. Took an elevator down with Providence Head Coach Ed Cooley. Big guy. Friendly. We joined the others down where all the one-on-one media interviews would be. ESPN (Fran Fraschilla and Dana O’Neil), CBS Sports, SNY, and some others.

We were informed that during the media session, we were not permitted to actually ask questions of the players and coaches at Media Day. Disappointing, but that was understandable. As much as this was fun for us, this was a working day for the media. Last thing they would need would be snarkish questions or worse, a Chris Farley Show situation. More annoying was the ban on taking any pictures of the players or coaches. That was couched as an NCAA issue — which really made no sense — so it was more likely a rights management issue by the Big East.

Then it was heading up to the main ballroom to watch where the print and internet media would get to ask questions of the coaches and player reps. Not all the coaches at once. Groups of coaches would go down to take part in the video interviews. Coach Dixon was part of the first group doing one-on-one video interviews and  ended up spending a lot of time down there. He was one of the last to get back up to the ballroom.

The most popular — attracted the largest media horde — coaches as usual were Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun and Rick Pitino. By contrast, the DePaul contingent spent most of their time checking their phones.

Mike Brey wore his mock turtleneck as expected. Bob Huggins showed up wearing a real shirt and jacket. The overwhelming opinion was that he was going to show up in a track suit.

Pitt players on hand were the seniors — Ashton Gibbs, Nasir Robinson and Nick Rivers. With Coach Dixon not on hand for a good chunk of the time, Gibbs and Robinson ended up doing a good deal of interviews. You could see after a while, just how tired they were getting of answering questions — a lot of them the same ones. Nick Rivers, though, was pretty much all smiles the entire time.

When Dixon finally got there the media horde had almost exhausted their time with other coaches, so it did get crowded around him quickly. While I couldn’t ask questions, I was able to get close to the table and listen to Dixon answer questions. Some of what I got from listening:

— Effusive in praise for Ashton Gibbs. Spoke of how when he came to Pitt, he wasn’t a big time recruit and no one could have envisioned him being picked as a Big East preseason player of the year as a senior. It’s a credit to how hard he has worked to make himself a better player.

— Plenty of questions about realignment, moving to the ACC, when the move will happen, the impact on recruiting and such. To quickly summarize, Coach Dixon was not overly worried about when Pitt will go — since it isn’t something he can control — he will only worry about this season. Not a particularly big impact on recruiting since the ACC is an Eastern conference and that is where Pitt’s recruiting is primarily based. Plus with the move to the ACC, Pitt will still be playing in the East so the recruits shouldn’t be bothered. Most of the recruits Pitt goes after tend to be looking at Big East and ACC schools. Doesn’t see a big change with recruiting Philly, New York, New England and Baltimore/DC areas. About the only change is that there may be more of an opportunity to recruit some players from the Southeast as well — basically just small expansion of recruiting. No retrenching. Will still try to get the best players that fit what Pitt does. Dixon doesn’t seem overly worried about rivalry games and such. He says most of Pitt’s rivals in the Big East have grown because of the importance of the games — UConn, Syracuse, Louisville. Though, he did allow that he could see some sort of geographic-based rivalry develop with Maryland.

— When asked about being picked for 4th in the Big East and expected to be in or about the top-ten in preseason rankings, Dixon attributed that to the run of success Pitt has had — and the respect that Pitt has earned. He noted that in the past with the players lost from last season, this would be considered a young team, but now the expectations are now there for Pitt to still be successful. And that this is a good thing.

— When asked about his success as a coach, Dixon put it this way, “Good players make a good coach.”

— A member of the media asked Dixon about his success against Syracuse and why. The question was prefaced as having “owned Syracuse.” Dixon wouldn’t go there. He laughed, and clearly stated, “I would never say ‘owned’.”

Some bad timing had me miss the remarks to start the Media Day by Commissioner Marinatto. Probably for the best, as I’m not sure I could have held in some derisive snorts at some of what he was saying.

At the start of the media sessions, he too had a large crowd around him. While I don’t feel sympathy for the guy, I was fascinated watching him try to answer all the questions — entirely related to expansiopocolypse issues. He doesn’t have much of a poker face. He looked beleaguered, bemused, irritated, resigned and just plain beaten at various points when listening to and answering questions. He is in so far over his head, and the basic conflicts between the wants and needs of the football versus basketball schools only contributes to the perception of a clueless commissioner.

During the Big East football media day, I read and hear a lot about how casual and fun the set-up actually is. Between the clambake, the golf and everything, there is a real chance for much of the media and participants to interact and actually talk, beyond the designated media session and interview time. Big East basketball media day was all business. Get in, get out.

Lunch was a solid spread, but people were rushed. Reporters trying to gets some brief updates out, and drafting their stories for the next day’s paper. Coaches, players and assistant ADs checking their phones and watches for how soon they had to get going to catch the flight home. Not a lot of socialization. So when Truck Bryant and Kevin Jones sat down at the same table where I was, there was no small talk. People just needed some food and then get moving.

Half the players and coaches just skipped the Big East lunch and left. Maybe to catch a flight. Maybe to eat somewhere else. When you add in the overall instability of the conference coming into the day, it probably only heightened the sense among the coaches to treat this as strictly a business trip.