If no one agrees with me that reed is dismissive and sometimes obnoxious in his replies to comments he disagrees with, then I will simply pass on reading his posts. I have no intention of ruining anyone’s enjoyment. I was trying to point out that I notice a very harsh tone towards those who disagree with him. Also, and it is not just this thread, I find that he always counters any positive comment about Pitt with at least one negagive. It is great if he loves Navy’s tradition. Every proud American should. But I am also proud of our tradition at Pitt. That doesn’t mean there is no room for criticism. But there are times where no criticism is required. Carry on reed, it appears as though you will not be fired.

I remember those old wooden bleachers. I also remember the bees that would hover around them. I don’t know if they were nesting in the wood or if they were attracted to all the rum and cokes that were spilled over them every Saturday.

Rum and Coke definitely was the drink of choice. Bring a pint and buy a coke. Don’t remember much after that, just the long lines at the john.

Man, I wish Ohio was the Pacific Ocean so I wouldn’t have to drive so far to the beach…(and other impossible things to have…like an OCS…)

Now if only I’d married that gal in high school back in 1967….

GC. One of my favorite things as a freshman at Pitt other than drinking beer at Quinques, was going into Forbes post 7 th inning. If you knew an usher you could get in for pre game batting practice and fielding practice. Watching Clemente with his back to the right field wall throw line drives to home, Maz picking up hard grounders at 2nd on the worst infield in MLB with ease. Sitting w Roy Face and learning a grip for my only out pitch, a fork ball… Precious and timeless.

Seeing fans enter in coats and ties. Cigar smoke and boiling hot dog smells. As Blessed to have those experiences as those at Pitt Stadium. Going to Pitt was easily the best experience of my life because it afforded so many other experiences. God I love Pitt!

Many memories in this post. I remember rum and coke as the easiest drink in Pitt Stadium because of the ease of sneaking in a pint. Dan72 – I also have fond memories of Forbes Field. My father, as a minister, got a free pass to sit in the bleachers. He’s take me to games as a kid then leave early. I’d take public transport home to Shadyside as young as 9 years old – no one in their right mind would allow their kid to do that now but back then it was no problem. Kudos to Reed for all the time spent on Blather – much appreciated whether we agree or not all the time. That would be boring….

GC, I didn’t type that we don’t get donations and you responded that we do well. How much do we get in comparison to the typical top 25 football programs? I don’t know the answer seriously.

What I do know is the strategic efforts at the top 25 programs to keep their alumni engaged and a lot of that focuses on getting them to go to games on campus. The game day experience on campus helps recruiting and keeps alumni engaged with their campus. We can never have a true battle of the bands as the team walks to the stadium.

The next thing you will see is alumni keeping their email accounts for life. What better way to keep an alumni engaged, than remind them every time they get an email where they came from. For years, administrations thought it was too expensive to maintain…until they actually studied it. Thinking evolves, hopefully. Engagement = cash.

50,000 on campus visits 6-7 times per year would be great. Fans spend cash at a lot of university owned properties. Whoever has thrown $500M for a stadium and $100M for maintenance needs to re-think those numbers. Definitely not even close. One of my offices sits in a 100k capacity stadium and I know the annual maintenance budget for the entire stadium because of the rent I pay to office there. Depending on repairs and maintenance needs, it is less than $10m. I can also tell you that there are tours of the facility every single day that bring folks on to campus. It is used every day to engage alumni. It is used for commencements, a few concerts, dinners, recruiting, receptions lacrosse, high school games, administrative offices,etc. The list goes on and on…Ohhh, and it used to be the home for the highest gpa students to live there. So the argument that it is for football only is equally misinformed, sorry. Mixed use is more appropriate. Did I mention an outreach in suites for private partnerships? Another great revenue driver that gets sponsors on campus and keeps corporate involvement strong.

Again, I wouldn’t say this is a now priority for Pitt. What I am saying is that it needs to be considered if you want to be a part of the college athletic “arms race”. Heinz Field is not a Pitt brand, it is a Steeler brand.

I get all the arguments against the stadium too. I just don’t bury my head and discard things because of the way the wind is blowing. Can we talk about 2017 recruiting yet?

PS – I too think Reed does a great job and am appreciative of his efforts. I don’t always agree with him or most all of the contributors. That is what makes this site great. Respectful discussion. It just sometimes comes off differently because it is typed words instead of spoken. Typical of email. I think you all are great….even upitt!

@dhuff..excellent post

Pittfaninenemyterritory…Reed writes well researched lengthy articles ,spendscountless hours traveling from Maryland to watch our team practice and he has contacts around the program… His articles stimulate the juices of the Blatherite brethren.. That’s what makes this so enjoyable … Disagreements, rebuttals, beat downs are part of the enjoyment . Thanks for posting

Damn – lost another reader!

Cheerleading ain’t my style enemyterritory, for that you need to visit Pitt LiveWire.

I’m surprised at the number of Blatherites who have stated they haven’t visited Pitt’s campus since they graduated. I make it a point to get down there every time I drive up to PGH – whether it’s to have a drink in one of the bars, have dinner, go the the CoL or Student Union or just to hang out in the green areas of the campus.

If I ever move back to the city i’ll buy a place in Oakland or Shadyside just to be close to Pitt and CMU for the educational and cultural offerings the two schools present.

I urge everyone who hasn’t been there to take a few hours and walk around – it is truly a vibrant and beautiful urban campus. Pitt’s policy of re-use of the historical Beaux-Arts bldgs is fantastic and they have gotten national nad international recognition for doing so.

As far as the OCS issue – wbb is correct in that if Pitt builds any stadium at all it will not be in Oakland… but somewhere outside of populated areas. point to consider here is that wherever Pitt does build one it will actually be “on-campus” in that Pitt will own, operate and control the land it sits on.

Reed – I enjoy your writings and audios regarding Pitt FB. We all have critics – don’t let them slow you down.

It appears that Jamie’s road to improvement just got tougher as the ACC released their next two seasons of schedules:

The Pitt men’s basketball team will play home and away games against Louisville, Syracuse, North Carolina and Virginia in 2016-17, the ACC announced Friday.

In 2017-18, the Panthers will play home and away against Louisville, Syracuse, Miami and Duke.

Ouch!!

All other ACC teams will be played once in that season.

Recruit better players or get pounded to the basement…

If this season keeps heading downward, the Peterson Events Center may get a new nickname -> RE-PETE (as in the downward spiral continues to repeat itself).

Pitt will eventually need to consider a facility but not now. As to recruiting, Narduzzi did an amazing job. Simply put he brought in better talent than anyone since Gottfried. Hamlin is a big time recruit ala Whitehead. he is that good. Add in Miller and Coleman and Garner and man that is exception DB talent. The linebackers are top notch. Really the DL recruiting is off the charts. Offense was not in that class, but there are three or four exceptional gets as well. Hill, Williams, Flowers and the QB are big time talents. They represent the kind of talent that we all hoped for with Narduzzi. Things are heading up for sure and Pitt football will be a great story next year.

Yeti, Yes Pitt Stadium had the track around the field. There was a wall above the track, much like the wall at the Pete, that allows the students in the Zoo to stand and not obstruct the sight lines of the fans behind them. Because the wall was higher the players on the sidelines or on the track did not obstruct the view of the playing field. You could be seated low or in the corners of the end zone and see the game well. My favorite seats were between the 30s up high. You were still close enough to see the action and nearer than you would be at Heinz Field. The highest eats provided the best view and would no higher than the Reserve level of Heinz Field. When I was in high school, Pitt will give free end zone tickets to high school football coaches for their players and we would get to see the games. No big screen TVs in those days but it was a great venue for watching football.

1) Why would anyone think that an OCS will embellish attendance? Students make up a small percentage of the overall attendance and an OCS would provide a small marginal increase of them. Otherwise, traveling in and out Oakland to a game could be a major turnoff for area fans who are not as passionate as most of us here are .. especially when the game is on TV.

Once again, the highest attendance figures are at Heinz, not at Pitt Stadium

2) It would not just cost $500M to build a stadium in Oakland … but probably as much as 3 times the cost. You have to buy properties, raze buildings, landscape and create some type of passage way to the stadium. Costs would be prohibitive.

Why do so many of you afraid of reality?

Dan72, Quinques, pronounced Chee chees, meatballs and cheese in a bowl, and the best sandwiches in town. We were probably there at the same time. Drank beer as a freshman too.

He left when Forbes Field closed. I believe he reopened on rt. 19 north of Wexford. Always wanted to stop to see him.

dhuffdaddy, I don’t deny the positive aspects of having an OCS. But unfortunately the obstacles are overwhelming right now and for the immediate future and I fear will get even more difficult as time goes by. It won’t even be a part of the Athletic departments 10 year strategic plan.

“There’s a program within a few hours of here that had one more win, and you’d have thought they were playing for a national championship. That’s why our expectations are so much higher.”
—-J Franklin

I hope he and his lack-of-coaching stick around for years and years.
H2P

I also do not see any value in Pitt owning it’s own stadium if it is not in walking distance of the campus. I have seen three “plans” floating around. The Panther Hollow, The top of the Hill, and one on the western edge of Oakland/Lower Hill.

I don’t consider Hazelwood “on campus” unless we do what WVU did and create a second campus with a transportation system.

Of all of them, I think long term the “Top of the Hill” makes the most sense. Most of our athletic facilities are there and land in that area would be the least expensive to acquire.

It is a tough walk, but at least you can see the campus from there. It would take a massive effort to create any type of transportation in and out of the area, and would have to be part of a major redevelopment plan, as would any stadium plan.

I just don’t see any of it happening, for a long, long time if ever.

Franklin is really taking his eye off the ball if Pitt is his major concern. I guess he has already given up on beating the Big Two.

Hey, isn’t there a big game today? Maybe it’s time for a huge upset? Probably not.

wbb, There isn’t going to be a new stadium. It’s not economically feasible. Winning puts fannies in the seats! Narduzzi and his staff have to recruit well. Winning football solves a lot of problems. I remember Chuck Noll’s first season he was 1 and 13. The Steelers were considered a hopeless franchise. The more success you build the more you build your following. This Pitt staff is off to a good start. This year’s recruiting class is creating excitement about Pitt football. Things are moving in a positive direction.

Franklin is a putz. He’s more of the talker and a salesman than a head coach. Yes, he recruits well, but I haven’t seen anything on the field that tells me he’s a good coach. I’ll take Narduzzi any day over Franklin.

“Quinques, pronounced Chee chees, meatballs and cheese in a bowl, and the best sandwiches in town. We were probably there at the same time. Drank beer as a freshman too.”

My only friend tells the story about, when he was a senior, Cheech asked him “How many years have you been at Pitt…6?”

At some point we have to accept that we are not a campus sitting out in the middle of nowhere like most of the schools that have on campus stadiums.
We are positioned in the thick of an urban setting and on a steep hill to boot!!!
May be time to face the facts……………

gc – Big as in Duke vs #7 UVA? 4:30pm today.

There is a game tomorrow when Pitt faces #9 UNC in Charlotte.

My bad, I though our game was today

BigB suggested a solution to the OCS land acquisition. As the years go by, the expansion of Pitt’s campus will continue. It will only be a matter of time until Schenley Park becomes a target for Pitt’s additional expansion. A well formulated city planner concept could satisfy maintaining a parkland environment for areas not conducive to building, like Panther Hollow, while utilizing the current golf course area for campus expansion. This location would be ideal for a master plan that could incorporate a master planned multi use OCS, offices, student functional venues with an extensive under ground parking facility. Access to the campus with an exclusive exit off the Parkway East would be easily accomplished and there you have your OCS. Maybe a reality 20 years from now, but it will take that long to get it accomplished. It’s a vision that is rational however when you start planning in the long term. Welcome to Pitt’s future “East Campus”.
And to seriously reply to Dan72’s rhetorical question, actually yes, I can be much more condescending, it seems to be a natural gift that I have, however I try my best to keep this gift check since I realize that it is one of the more abrasive characteristics of an already sandpaper like personality.

This is what the smaller schools are up against then they recruit against the O$U’s, Alabama’s & Michigans of the world….

link to my.xfinity.com

Pitt already plays in a world class football stadium. Why spend a billion dollars to have an on campus stadium? What is the cost benefit of such a cash outlay? Given that Pitt can’t fill Heinz Field on game day, what makes one believe that spending a billion dollars will create more fan support? If Pitt wants to fill Heinz Field on game day, lower the ticket price and eliminate the seat “tax.”

Several years ago, Arthur Blank sold Falcons season tickets for $150 for their 10 home games. It worked, the stadium was full on game day. Then he raised prices and people dropped their season tickets. Bottom line, a ticket is only worth what somewhat is willing to pay.

Building an on campus stadium just for football is a huge waste of money. I’d rather see a new computer center or science facility on Pitt’s campus. After all, what is college for?

I’m totally in favor of Pitt playing in a close to the campus location. Doesn’t have to be directly on the campus, but no more than 3 miles (as the crow flies) from the Oakland athletic facilities.

Sorry Dr Tom, but Schenley Park will always be Schenley Park. Chance of Pitt, CMU or Private Enterprise taking it over, ZERO! Far less than Pitt getting it’s own stadium. Kind of like Yankee Stadium moving to Central Park, never happen.

Marietta …. or 4 miles as the Ppanther prowls

For a near to campus location the South Side has some land and further up the river near Beck’s Run Rd too, but it may need another bridge built, and it would only be used for 6 home games. There are no bowl games, and even concerts would have competition from Heinz, PNC Park, etc.

It’s just not feasible IMO. When Pitt Stadium was built the NFL wasn’t even popular.

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!!!!!!!

“I have not yet begun to fight” JPJ C’mon.

Daily Double, you would have been right in the thick of it!!!!!!!

Well, great job by Sarah, wearing her Pitt proudly!!!

Finished third in final Jeopardy, kind of a misnomer though,

she actually finished third out of 10’s of thousands!!

Great job Sarah! Hail to Pitt!!

Seats were removed from Pitt Stadium to meet City fire code which required more aisles be added to address evacuation concerns if a fire broke out.

Marietta Mike, now a billion. Good grief! Look, it’s not that expensive. Secondly, the idea is not to get more fannies in the seats by going OC. Last I heard, the strategic plan is not to grow the student body by 10k, so why build more buildings?

The dental school will want $40M for new digs and the law school too. It is an arms race in academia…and it is an arms race in athletics. But we are quick to point out the flaws with athletics. Please, Steve Pederson could not be smarter than 105 other AD’s, Presidents, Board of Trustees and Executives in Advancement. Say it isn’t so!

Maybe GTech should play in the Falcons stadium. Seriously, Would you think that is a good idea or would it ruin traditions and history on the gtech campus? The idea is to keep the engagement with the students and alumni to your campus. You can’t see the campus from the athletic front door here.

Line on tomorrow’s 1pm loss… NC by 11

Heinz Field is world class???? LOL. Heinz is a shit hole. Go to any of the other Major NCAA Stadiums or NFL stadiums. Heinz is a cheap version of the rooney’s. Even the Poloulas designers thought it was shit. I would know.

Who said Basketball is hitting a speedbump??? You Dixon lovers are funny. He has shit the bed for 5 years and makes 3M a year. A speedbump? A speedbump is a one year fluke or losing 3 in a row.

Populous

Forget Schenley Park. First of all it is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. It was donated/sold to the city on the condition that it be used for parks or education.

The process of getting past both of those obstacles would be so politically painful that no sane Pitt trustee would pursue it.

well, John died last year but maybe Gertrude will be inspired when fellow Erie native James Conner overcomes cancer and makes All-American this year .. and bequeaths her fortune to build a new stadium. I’m OK with ‘The Gert’

It is a matter of time before technology overcomes things we use now. Libraries, post offices, even classrooms will be gone. Who knows. It may happen after we are gone but it will happen. Will athletics continue to generate big bucks or will everything be virtual.

Forgot to mention that I doubt bars will ever disappear although there will be virtual bars.

wbb:
People won’t “move on” regarding the stadium issue because Pitt is one of a very small number of schools playing major college football in a rented stadium.

In short, you and your ilk need to get over it.

The stadium issue, like playing WVU, continues to be raised by bloggers because many fans respond.

Sellout Heinz consistently and you won’t have to hear about the OCS so much.

Wow still discussing the OCS forty-eight hours later. Somethings never die. The only way Pitt will have its own stadium is if the Steelers agree to have their games in it. Didn’t they used to play at Pitt Stadium?

Seriously if Pitt continues expanding as an institution, creating a dual campus would be the way to go with fast mass transit between the two campuses. (Think elevated trains instead of subways.) There remain many parts of the greater Pittsburgh area that are still struggling financially that would embrace this second campus.

There Pitt could relocate all its athletics, training, student parking, etc. Several of the major schools within the university could also be relocated there to free up Oakland for the remaining schools. The OCS and the new fusion training reactor would fit perfectly on this second campus. This could be planned out in advance if the Steelers ever announce they are abandoning the North Side for a parts unknown as has been theorized above.

It came to like divine inspiration . The perfect solution.

Pitt buys the Northside campus of CCAC, renames it Pitt North Campus. Heinz Field instantly becomes our OCS.

Problem solved.

Or…Pitt buys point park u. Renames it the dahntahn campus. Heinz is our OCS.

Brilliant, right?

Brilliant solution Dinosaur! Saves lots of money as the second campus already exists. Only have to connect the two with an elevated train or monorail.

Interesting article in the P-G on our #1 WR for 2016:

Dontez Ford, still with NFL aspirations as a Pitt wideout with another year to play, seems headed for grad school.

I hope he sticks around and grad school will be at Pitt…

Joesph Uchebo having a big year according to SB Nation – Cardiac Hill:

Charlotte has played some bigger programs, including Miami, Syracuse, Georgetown, Washington, and Michigan, and Uchebo has excelled in those games, too. Against those teams, he’s still averaging a double double, with more than 11 points and 11 rebounds per game. In fact, his 11.6 boards against those programs is even slightly better than his overall average (11.5), which included lesser teams. His numbers are basically parallels of his season averages so Uchebo is producing against the better teams as well.

Another reason for his success could be playing time. He could barely sniff the court here at Pitt with the Panthers forced to rely upon Michael Young at center as Uchebo struggled. But more playing time (he’s averaging 27 minutes per game) has equaled more success.

Say it isn’t so Joe…more playing time equals more success? Really, is that all it would have taken?

Erie -Wasn’t his time here limited by his bad knees? He limped up and down the court most of the time.

Maybe he found a more cooperative pharmacist.

Dinosaur – you may have cracked the code to Joe’s success…

That wasn’t going to happen at Pitt. It couldn’t have been the coaching, right?

Tony, The ‘people of my ilk’ includes the university’s president, which I’m sure also reflects the Pitt admin and ‘many of the people of that ilk’

Further, my ilk don’t really like the idea of playing in a rented stadium … but we do accept reality …. unlike ‘the people of your ilk’

Not sure this article has been posted yet. Good read on our Florida recruits:

link to pittsburghpostgame.com

wbb, had to look it up.

link to urbandictionary.com

Not very nice.

I estimated a billion dollars to build a new Pitt stadium because of the total expense to build a 500 million dollar stadium in an urban setting. There are also fixed costs of maintaining a stadium. Additionally, stadium parking will cost millions to build and maintain. Given the land needed to build a stadium with parking facilities, where in Oakland, can the stadium be built? Just buying up properties to build the stadium will be very expensive.

GT has the oldest college football stadium in FBS, built in 1909 and was renovated many times. When the stadium was recently updated, the students demanded that class and study rooms be built adjacent to the stadium. If you have been to Bobby Dodd Stadium you will notice the private suites in the south and west stands. These private suites double as study rooms and class rooms to allow students to have a quiet place to study and meet. Even if Pitt did build a facility like Bobby Dodd it would be very expensive.
Pitt made the decision to raze Pitt Stadium because it and Fitzgerald Field House needed major renovations. We know the history… I don’t see Pitt shelling out megabucks for a football team unless there is a cost benefit to its student body. Perhaps a new Pitt stadium can incorporate class and study rooms to justify the cost but I don’t foresee this happening.

Perhaps someday the Steelers organization and Pitt may build an ultra-modern facility like the one being built in Atlanta. This stadium will be domed as a multi-function year-round facility. I think Pittsburgh may end-up going the way of Atlanta in building a new multi-purpose facility but it will be well past most of us Blatherites’ time on this earth. It’s just my humble opinion of course. Hail to Pitt!
P.S. Compared to the Dallas stadium and the new Falcons stadium set to open in 2017, Heinz field may seem like a shit hole. But ultra-modern stadiums don’t win games. On campus college stadiums are nice and convenient for students and alumni. Pitt had its stadium but had no vision for renovating Pitt stadium. In hindsight, Pitt’s chancellor should have been more futuristic in his thinking, but…

Sorry for some the typo errors, etc. on above post. Typing on iPhone is and adventure as many Blatherites may well be aware.

As an aside, because GT wants to fill their televised basketball games in Hank McCamish Pavilion a/k/a Alexander Memorial Coliseum, it gives free tickets to “friends” and contributing alumni to key, men’s and women’s games, including free parking. I’m going to see Tech play ND next Saturday courtesy of GT. Do any Blatherites see Pitt management being this generous?

gc, we have commented a large handful of times where Florida rejects can be quite impactful, and certainly have a history of it at Pitt. I’m very glad the new staff is rekindling the connection.

I can see both Camp and Miller seeing a lot of PT this year … in fact Miller may be the reason that the guy he verbaled with at the same time, Hill, will see more action on offense.

It was a great job in FL, especially the last minute additions. Nice to see a pundit say all those great things. Conklin and Harley paying early dividends. Love Miller’s size. Not sure I would call any of the “rejects”. Hope that Weaver makes Harbaugh look stupid though.

Rewatched the Centerstage interview with Curtis Martin, what an amazing story.

Larry Fitz at Pebble Beach.

Feeling depressed that we have to play in a “shithole”. lol

AT least it’s our $hithole, lol…

Well pittpt, it’s not really ours….

I guess that’s true, dhuff…

The record attendance was for a couple of simple reasons.

1. Everyone wanted to see the best WR in college football dominate. He was worth the price of admission (I know a lot of current season ticket holders who converted to Pitt fans because they fell in love with Fitz).

2. 03 was Coach Harri’s most talented team and should have won the Big East but underachieved and sealed his fate for the long walk. The home schedule that year was a good one.

3. Contrary to the three yards and a cloud of dust theory of the Western half of the state, The casual fan (aka fickle season ticket holder) likes to see the ball throw more than 10 yards in the air down the field.