Year 2000 saw the group expand from 14 to 22 season ticket holders (including: Ben Speca (Sr), Ben Speca (Jr), Steve Speca, Marty Connelly, Gerry Delon, John Bruner, Frank Verdecchia, Joe Smydo, Bob Spray and Mitch Ehlers) as the action moved to Three Rivers Stadium for a one year stop. This also led to learning new tailgating surroundings as we were moved to the Ridge Avenue lot in proximity of the new unnamed stadium. This parking placement was a snafu by the Pitt Ticket Office, but it actually ended up working to our advantage, as most of the main lot at Three Rivers became a construction parking lot for PNC Park. The new season saw the introduction of some more new ideas as the newly purchased pop-up tent quickly came into play on 3 of the first four home games. Perfect weather was the key to the 1999 season, but there was no way that was going to happen two straight seasons. (This is Pittsburgh that we’re talking about here). The tent provided plenty of shelter for all to stay dry under during a couple of massive rainstorms. The highlight of the year was the Penn State game that provided the largest tailgate in the group’s three year history. A head count revealed over 75 people in attendance at one point. The Hamkey was again in attendance along with a ton of other fine eats. The first ever Tailgate T-Shirts (designed by Scott Thompson) were distributed. The theme of the shirt being Joe-Pa in a coffin and the traditional P-E-N-N S-T SUCKS! chant printed on the back. More commemorative beers were distributed and the day was topped off with a 12-0 spanking of the hated Nittany Lions in what was the final installment of the Pitt-PSU rivalry (at least until Joe-Pa really is in a coffin). It was a beautiful scene to watch the couple of thousand PSU losers scurrying for the exits in the 4th quarter knowing that they had just gotten their asses handed to them. All with their heads down and not acting so smug like they were before the game, the pompous asses can live with the shutout until the next time we meet. Go throw marshmallows at each other in the parking lot. This game also led to a chance meeting of one of the all-time favorite SHAT-Heads, J.P “Jeep” Betsill and his girlfriend Kimbra Wagner. The Jeep was out peddling “Just Say No to Joe” T-shirts and came across the SHAT tailgate where we traded off t-shirts (can’t ever have enough anti-PSU shirts). A few weeks later following the BC game, the Jeep found his way back to the postgame tailgate and reintroduced himself. This is where we learned how hardcore of a Pitt fan he was, driving in from Harrisburg for every game. He said that the SHAT tailgate for the Penn State game was the best one around Three Rivers Stadium and wanted to know if he could sign up. No signature required, welcome aboard.

During the season, another Sam’s Club tailgating treat was discovered, as Taquitos were introduced to the group. These were a very popular item that will become a staple much like Bagel Bites have become. Other gambling activities that were introduced were the 50/50, First Touchdown Player Pool and Free Season Ticket Block Pool, won by Mr. Speca who also provided some fine food items (wings, sausage) along with helping Big Lar with the Steak & Shrimp grilling that is no longer an easy chore. It was entertaining to watch everyone assume small responsibilities when pulling into the parking lot, like putting up the flag & tent, setting up the gambling tables, etc. On opening day, the Bruner Boys introduced the flask holder built inside of sweet homemade Pitt hard helmets (a fine invention). Other notable items were the discovery of “Bobby Knight” or “Ted Turner” depending on which end of the rows you sat on. He is one and the same, a maniac who entertained us all year long with his antics. Beer-Man was also a classic with the kid’s diaper bag full of brewskies at every game. Can’t forget the first fisticuffs action either – We had a near go between Tom Spray and John Bruner in a classic ramp scuffle caused by the infamous K-Man, Block Pool incident. This scuffle was quickly stopped and all parties involved were soon laughing and drinking together back at the lot. The real pounding came during the final game against WVU at the hands of the Speca Brothers who unloaded on some punk-ass that pushed their dad at the top of the section. Bad move buddy. Better look around at your surroundings a bit more next time you want to pull that stunt. On the field, Pitt again improved their record to 7-5 and qualified for the Insight.com Bowl, which was attended by Ken & Heidi Gianella. Big things are expected for the 2001 season. More important for the tailgaters was that Bob Gable was attending games on a regular basis, continuing to amaze all who had a chance to tear into his always creative and amazingly tasty entrees. The announcement of becoming a full-time season ticket holder led to an instant promotion of full-time head-chef. Any championship football team always has a marquee QB to run the show. We had just signed the Joe Montana of cooks.

The off-season between the 2000 and 2001 seasons was a busy one. The Founding Fathers held a meeting and one of the action items that came out of the meeting was that we needed a name for the group. Mike Speca burned up many a brain cell while vacationing in Aruba before coming up with the catchy South Hills Association of Tailgaters or SHAT for short - One of the finest contributions ever made by a member. It was an instant hit. A banner was produced soon afterwards courtesy of One Day Signs in Robinson Twp. Mike Norcutt provided the artwork design. It hangs nicely on the unwanted fence that was erected above the wall in the Ridge Avenue lot.

The 2000 off-season also saw SHAT come into the electronic age as Ben Speca did a tremendous job in putting together the TalkingSHAT.com website. The site was both comical and informational at the same time. The website bulletin board soon came under attack from the Mon-Valley 66 Hotmail maniac and his Cane’s Fans posse. It led to some extremely colorful taunts, threats, etc, until it got a bit out of hand and had to be taken down for cooling off period. It ended up being Penn State man Nick Deiuliis disguising himself as a white-trash Miami fan. He had to claim the Cane’s since PSU is in serious decline and he wanted retaliation at SHAT for posting his picture in the SHAT Turd section of the website. He is ready for another round in 2002.

A new preseason tradition was also started as Marty Connelly and Mike Speca put together the first ever SHAT Golf Outing at Blackhawk golf course in Beaver Falls. Around 50 golfers looking to hack up a course and fill their bellies with beer and picnic eats, attended this event. The event came off flawlessly. The tournament was won by a bunch of semi-pros led by Peters Township’s own Chris Witte. Golf was followed by an excellent picnic at Chartiers Park with food catered by Mike Speca’s mother in law and the grill duties being handled by Big Ben Speca and Bill Gould. Prizes were dealt out to the victorious teams and skill prize winners and everyone left with some sort of door prize. An excellent job by Marty and Mike – a great time was had by all. Thanks to those who helped make this first annual event a huge success.

The dice cart, which was severely wounded due to abuse over the last few seasons, was rebuilt by Mark Thompson. John Bruner provided the funding for the materials while paying for his season tickets. No more cart leaning to one side due to a duct-taped on broken wheel.

The bandwagon was rolling as 12 new members (including: Aaron Kushner, Mike Goldstrom, George Goldstrom, Bill Gould, Mike Delon & Darin McHenry ) came on board to increase the enrollment to 34 fulltime season ticket holders. The group became members of Team Pittsburgh for the first time, guaranteeing good seats and remaining in the Green 22 parking lot. Section 137 became the new home of SHAT inside Heinz Field.

Bob Gable and his wife Lynn Ann as well as Jack Tomino came on board as our full-time tailgate entrée chefs. A series of themed tailgates were organized that included: Pittsburgh Bulk Day, Mexican Day, Italian Day, New Orleans Night, Steak & Shrimp Day and the now famous Hamkey Day. We were treated to Primaniti-Style sandwiches, Pierogies, Fried Steak, Hot Sausage (provided by Big Ben), Jambalaya, Fried Turkey, Tacos, Steak & Shrimp (Big Lar’s turn to step up to the grill), and last but not least, the magical powered Hamkey.

The traditional appetizers were on hand as well except for the opening game. The normally on the ball commissioner, Pat Thompson, managed to leave the bagel bites, taquitos and a few other snack foods in his oven. Luckily he turned the oven off before running out the door. This should have been taken as a sign of what was to come in a season that was expected to be highly successful for the 2001 Pitt Panthers.

The 2001 season proved to be a roller coaster of a season for the Panthers. Things started off well as Pitt eased to a Heinz Field opening night debut shutout victory over East Tennessee State. John Bruner again arrived with another new invention on opening day. This year it was the F. PATERNO jersey. He took an old-school Tom Barndt –Pitt jersey and had an F. PATERNO name plate attached to it. This would bring laughter from all who saw and understood it. Even Notre Dame fans in South Bend approved of it. (See -Everyone Hates Joe-Pa, not just Pitt fans).

 

The second game turned the Panthers on an ugly tailspin that lasted for a couple of painful weeks. For some reason, Walt Harris became infatuated with running a no-huddle, rotating quarterback system that led to nothing but confusion for his own team. This led to one of the most painful losses in the history of the football program as they dropped a brutal one to Division 1-A newcomer, South Florida, in 95-degree weather.

Pitt then proceeded to stumble to a 1-5 start losing to South Florida, Miami, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Boston College. People were streaming for the Heinz Field exits by halftime with regularity. It was not a pretty sight. Ken Gianella summed it up late in the game against Syracuse. Looking around at a near empty stadium, he asked, “Why leave early when you can wait until the end of the game to beat traffic?” After watching the team meltdown on both sides of the ball, Coach Walt Harris finally came to his senses and dropped the insane offense he was trying to pull off. Things instantly came together as the new pro-set offense took the field against VA-Tech. (Rumor has it that the Hamkey is responsible for the victory as it has now claimed ND, PSU and VA-Tech as its victims). The Panther proceeded to pummel the Hokies 38-7 and were on their way to wins over Rutgers, West Virginia and Alabama Birmingham in addition to an earlier victory over hapless Temple in front of ten fans that consisted of Bill Cosby and his family at Veteran’s Stadium in Philadelphia. A horrific 1-5 start ended up with five game winning streak to end the season and earn a berth in the Tangerine Bowl against North Carolina State. The Panthers would go on to handle (with Frank Verdecchia, Tom Spray and Pat Thompson in attendance) the Wolf Pack to gain their first bowl game victory since 1989 in the John Hancock Sun Bowl.

2001 also provided SHAT members their first chance to go on a sanctioned road trip. The trip was to South Bend, Indiana to watch the Panthers and Fighting Irish of Notre Dame go at it. It was a two-day event. We left on a hired Butler Motor Coach from Heidelberg, PA at noon on Friday, drank the entire way to Goshen, IN, spent a bunch of $ at the Double D’s Bar (No, it’s not a strip bar, just sounds like it) and then left Goshen in the morning for South Bend, a short drive away. Although the game was horrible, more QB fiascos and RJ English fumbling away the ball as he was walking uncontested into the end zone, it was a great experience. The atmosphere and campus of Notre Dame were tremendous. It was well worth the trip even though the Panthers came up short. Following the game, as the SHAT crew was loading back onto the bus, Pat Thompson chased down Athletic Director, Steve Pederson, outside the stadium to give him his two cents worth on Walt’s coaching antics. The trip home was pretty gruesome and the final leg turned into a three-hour ride of continuous Kenny G. Jokes.

One of the most impressive acts during the season was the perfect attendance award picked up by Ron Bauer. After attending numerous games during the 2000 season, he was determined to score perfect attendance in 2001. In order to make this happen he had to negotiate his way out of attending a wedding and then skipped the 20th anniversary of Westminster’s undefeated National Championship Reunion to make it to the Pitt game. This is the definition of a true SHAT-Head - Total dedication to the cause. Also having a cool wife (Teresa) helps. Ron was also recruiting future fulltime SHAT-Heads at a rapid pace as he got his brother in laws the Lucci Twins (Chuck and John) to the games on a regular basis.

All in all, the season, though it was a roller coaster ride, ended up being quite enjoyable. Great tailgates, a final record of 7-5, and a bowl victory made for an excellent season.