Here’s the good thing about a good-old, beatdown. There are no what ifs. No, “Well if only..” Nope. All of them together would just have added up to a closer loss then what happened. Pitt was dominated from start to finish.

To be honest, I was mostly over the game within five minutes after exiting the stadium. I didn’t bother hanging around for the press conference. There wasn’t much to dwell on as far as the game itself.

The team, season, program? Yeah, those are legit questions. Perhaps even a source of angst. But not on that day. It was one of those games, you just need to walk away from as quickly as possible.

Some of that is just me. I had a great weekend, and that colors the perspective. When I started going back for games nearly 20 years ago, a large part of it at the time had as much to do with the social side. My friends and I were five years or so out of undergrad. We had careers starting, post-grad work, starting families, moving away. The games were as much about us staying in-touch, connecting and just having a little fun.

It can be tougher as we all get older. Family, work, life in general. Things that come up. Not having near the amount of time. Hell, just being older and not having the same energy we once had.

But this was a good weekend. Some of us came out on Friday night. Had a good time out in Pittsburgh. A little less stress Saturday morning without having to get up at 6 am to get moving and drive the 2+ hours. Good times with even more friends in the morning for tailgating. Then staying longer then I should have on Saturday evening. Not quite ready to leave.

There was nothing particularly amazing that happened during the weekend. No moment that particularly stands out or will be a boring story we remind each other of in future years. Just the camaraderie and a general warm feeling that carries over for a while. To spend that time with friends of 25 years, is a reminder of why I am lucky and why I love coming back to the ‘Burgh. And my appreciation for those friendships made all those years ago at Pitt.

Okay, sentimentality is finished.

God, what a bleeping disaster.

From start to finish. On-the-field execution to the little extras that popped up on the broadcast.

Honestly, though, the shots of fans sleeping/passed out in the stands at the end. The still image of the reminder to students that if you stayed to the end, free (non-alcoholic) beverages on the ride back to Oakland. (Which I feel obliged to point out has been standard for Pitt games. And as an aside, because so few students — rightfully — did not stay until the end of that debacle, meant that the people in charge of distributing the beverages were handing them out to any passer-byes after the game. Mountain Dew Spiked Lemonade if you were wondering.)

That is just amusing. Yes, they will show up repeatedly by fans of upcoming opponents. And there’s a good chance it will be used for years to come. Just like the celebrating Beamer of a missed Wake Forest field goal to end regulation in a 0-0 tie. It’s a classic.

So what? Those sort of things happen everywhere, to nearly every program. A team gets beaten fiercely. Embarrassingly. The stadium empties out and some that remain are either too drunk or get bored and fall asleep. Hell, these days, the stands in Miami looks that way in half their games, even when they are winning. If you really feel those things showing up on TV for one game are the things that will doom recruiting; and/or is going make Pitt a laughingstock forever. Well, then, you are being myopic, humorless, and simply looking for reasons of doom and gloom.

Those are part of the distractions. The things that