S.H.A.T.

Once again the Annual SHAT Golf Outing helped to launch SHAT Heads into a party frenzy as the 5^th Annual event was held at Village Green Golf Course in Hickory, PA. Do you hear that Lindenwood? FU!

This year’s event was the best yet, as Marty Connelly, Mike Speca, Ron Bauer, Bob Spray and Pat Thompson coordinated the event with the help of Village Green’s Kevin Ringling. Not even bad weather could slow down the partying as 22 Foursomes hit the course after a fine breakfast buffet. Soon afterwards, the new SHAT cooler bags were being stuffed with ice and beers and the event was on.

During the event, Stacey Shrettner and her friend April, scooted around the course snapping photos of all of the foursomes for post event handouts.

The Spray Brother/Bob Strauss foursome brought home the title with an impressive (- 10) score. This despite Tom Spray’s breaking of his 3 & 8 irons earlier in the day. The Dan Marino #13 Trophy came down to a chip off between the Ben Speca Foursome, Joe Speeler Foursome and Steve Speca foursom. Penn State lover, Ken Rindt, delivered the winning chip for the Ben Speca foursome despite being heckled by all of his Pitt fan buddies.

Not only did all of the attendees walk out winners with sweet SHAT Cooler Bags, SHAT Golf Towels, a finely crafted wood keepsake frame with a photo of their foursome in it and a nice buzz, the event also raised about $9000 for the Make a Wish Foundation of Western Pa. Thanks to all who donated their $ & time for the event.

The offseason for Pitt Football was an eventful one. Gone was idiot coach Walt Harris and the bulk of his staff. Arriving was ex-Pitt star and NFL coach, Dave Wannstedt, who brought with him instant enthusiasm that seemed to be missing under the Harris regime. Expectations were high for a team that had severely overachieved the previous season and finished with an 8-4 record and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl where they really had no business being.

Expectations as always, were high for the 2005 season SHAT Tailgate scene as well. I should have known what we were in for the when I went to pick up the opening day tailgate t-shirts. As I walked into the print shop on that Friday afternoon to pick up the (80) It’s Wann-SHAT Time shirts, I knew it was going to be a disastrous season. The shopkeeper proudly held up the last shirt as he was pulling it off the press and said “What do you think”? My response should have been “Great, if I ordered It’s WANNA-SHAT Time! Shirts”. Whoops, a small typo on his part. Luckily he’s a good dude and went right to work to reprint them. They were still ready in time for the next day. Thanks to John Galovich for the fine artwork of Wanny kicking Walt out the Heinz Field exit. Props to Bob Spray for coming up with the It’s WANN-SHAT Time idea too. Good play on words.

The opening day tailgate against Notre Dame was all that you could ask for, great weather, giant Immenso cigars provided by Kurt Bruner, tons of beer and mixed drinks and of course, the traditional insane amount of beef in many different flavors (Hawaiian, Japanese, Italian, etc) from the ultimate tailgating chef, Bob Gable. Bob had extra motivation for this game as he is an avid Notre Dame Hater and it showed in his opening tailgate performance. He and Jack Tomino raised their game to another level for this onea as the beef just kept flying off the grill into happy mouths. Gareth Evans claimed early SHAT-Head of the Week honors by hurling in the parking lot during the tailgate.

The atmosphere in the building was tremendous as night games usually are. Pitt helped to build on this atmosphere by pulling out all the stops by bringing back a plethora of old Pitt stars to help usher in the new era. Among those in attendance: Mike Ditka, Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett, Bill Maas and Chris Doleman. Pitt quickly marched down the field and scored early on a Palko to Greg Lee touchdown pass sending the crowd into a frenzy. Unfortunately that would be the end of the fun for the evening. Notre Dame dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage and went on to an easy 42-21 victory. Not quite the way everyone was hoping the season would start, but the lack on talent on the OL and DL were magnified just as it was in the Fiesta Bowl last season. This team didn’t emphasize recruiting linemen for 8 straight years and it shows.

The following week led to a mini SHAT roadtrip in Athens, Ohio as the Panthers took on the Ohio U Bobcats in what was supposed to be a Friday night laugher. Instead Ron Bauer, John Lucci, Gareth Evans, Dan Blocher, Pat Thompson, Mike Goldstrom, Kevin Kappeler and Stacey Schrettner got to witness one of the most embarrassing losses in Pitt history as they dropped this one in overtime, 16-10. It all started off so well with some quality F. Paterno photo opportunities and a Larod Stephens-Howling opening kickoff return for a td, but it all went south from there. Give this place credit though, they know how to party and they must have some kind of rule about only letting hot chicks attend this university. They were all sweet!

Week # 3 had J.P. Betsill, Gerry Delon and Mike Naumuk heading for Lincoln, Nebraska as the Panthers took on the Cornhuskers. Once again, disappointment was the final outcome of this one. Stephens-Howling had an excellent day running the ball, Pitt’s D held the Cornboys to a mere touchdown but Greg Lee’s terrible decision to cut across field after he was behind the defense on a play that he should have scored on led to him being tackled and Pitt coming away with no points as their special teams failed them here and 2 other times in this game including a blocked field goal try at the gun as they fell short 7-6.

Week #4 brought Division 1-AA power Youngstown State to Heinz Field. This was a fine tailgate of Pittsburgh Bulk, Kilbo, Primanti Style sandwiches, and Imperial Whiskey (Really smooth stuff). The drink of the day, The Dirty Tuxedo was one of the most popular D.O.T.Ds that we’ve ever had. A poor showing in Section 137 that day led to many missing the Panthers wearing their throw-back uniforms with script Pitt helmets for this game. The Panthers went on to pummel the hapless Penguins 41-0 for their first victory of the season.

Week #5 brought another Friday night game on ESPN. This time the opponent was Rutgers and once again, the outcome was not good for Pitt. They fell behind badly in the first half much to the dismay of John Lucci and Gareth Evans who made the trek to stay with John’s cousin Ange. Ange was late in picking them up at the airport as he had stopped by a local pub to get a head start on the evening’s festivities, then he took them bar hopping and had no idea how to get to Rutgers. By the time they arrived in the stadium, it was 27-0 at the half with Rutgers leading. Pitt made a game of it in the second half, but they lost once again 37-29 dropping their record to 1-4. A nightmare road trip for two SHAT-Heads.

Game #6 was the “much anticipated” River City Rivalry with the Cincinnati Bearcats. (This made up rivalry is even gayer than the Land Grant Trophy battle between PSU – Michigan State). This was an interesting tailgate. Attendance was low but Bob unveiled a new theme - Fry Fest. Everything was cooked in the turkey fryer. Fish sandwiches, shrimp, wings, fries, twinkies and oreos. All of these items when fried up are very good for your arteries. Everything was a hit. Plus the shot of the day wasn’t some nasty booze like normal, this time we were treated to Corazan Tequila. Good stuff. The drink of the day was enjoyed by one person a bit too much that day. Bob Spray took the D.O.T.D - Battered Blue Bobcat straight to the face and never recovered. He was a late tailgate casualty and never made it in to the game. Years from now he’ll regret missing the Panthers winning the monstrous River Boat Trophy with a thrilling 38-20 victory. The excitement in the stadium was incredible. (That’s sarcasm in case you were wondering).

Week #7 brought the South Florida Bulls back to town for the first time since the infamous 2001 meeting in which the Panthers managed to lose to a team that had barely started into playing a full Division 1-A schedule. It was one of the worst losses in Pitt’s history (until losing to Ohio U this year). Pitt would go on to a 31-17 victory after falling behind 10-0 in this one. Tyler Palko had a solid game going 15 for 21 and factoring in on all 4 Pitt touchdowns. This was the annual Steak & Shrimp game. Big Lar once again took care of the cooking duties giving Bob & Jack a well deserved day off from the grills. Bob did manage to mandate that we drink Calvados as the shot of the day. This was much against PT’s ban on French goods, but the Chef said to get it, so I did. (Under protest though). Zim Zaunick picked up SHAT-Head of the Week honors for this one after hurling up the Calvados shot. (His body knew better than to accept that French Crap). He quickly bounced back afterwards to enjoy the full tailgate experience for the day.

Week #8 was Major Meat Bulk Day. Unfortunately it wasn’t Major Opponent Day on the field. Holy crap does Syracuse suck now and so does the 2005 home schedule. Not only do the politically correct named Orange have uniforms that are uglier than PSU (I never thought anyone could actually top those, but they managed to do it), but they have absolutely zero talent on that team - and on top of it all, the ‘Cuse was up against the Hamkey, now relegated to as Gable calls it, “A glorified hunk of meat”. The Hamkey is nolonger saved for major opponents. This was due to a two game losing streak compliments of Walt Harris. It has worked wonders against Rutgers and now SU since being served up against Big East Bottom Feeders. Pitt fell behind 10-0 again before rolling to a 34-17 win. Ex-Pitt great Mark May was honored at halftime for being inducted into the NCAA College Football Hall of Fame. This ceremony was viewed by about 50 fans..

Nice job Panther fans. L Scott Thompson picked up SHAT-Head of the Week honors for staying sober as part of his Operation See U2 plan. U2 was playing @ Mellon Arena later that evening.

Week #9 was another weeknight road game against Louisville. Nobody attended this one. JP, Gerry and Mike sold their tickets for this one on Ebay long before it happened. Good move. In what was to epitomize this season, Terrell Allen fumbled the opening kickoff for a touchdown and then proceeded to return the following kickoff back for a touchdown. But of course, he had to get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting on his score. Good move genius. He was removed from the team shortly after this game. Pitt hung with Louisville but Greg Lee’s dropped passes stopped a couple of drives in the third quarter and Louisville ran away with it late. They also piled it on late, so this could lead to some interesting future matchups with the Cards down the line.

Week #10 brought us to the conclusion of the 2005 home schedule. Gable rolled out the finely put together Italian Day feast to finish it out. We also got to pound some homemade Tomino red-wine. Excellent. Awards day was a quick one. Pretty lame attendance for many this year, made the commish’s job easy. Dan Blocher continued his amazing string of 8 consecutive seasons without missing a game. Kurt Bruner, Tom Spray, Pat Thompson (7 years) and Ron Bauer (5 years) continued to string along impressive streaks as well. Brian Kappeler brought along the beer pong table to add some bonus drinking game action to the tailgate. Another nice day weather wise, but another morgue like atmosphere in Heinz Field. Pitt produced possibly the most boring shutout ever. Darrell Revis’ FG block that was returned for a td by Josh Lay was the only real highlight in this one. Can’t wait for real opponents in 2006 at home. Kevin Dowd’s girlfriend Terri picked up the last available SHAT-Head of the Week award for 2005 with a sleep through the first half performance in the upper deck. She recovered nicely for the post game tailgate to accept her trophy.

Week #11’s matchup @ WVU was no dessert for anyone following their giant Thanksgiving dinner feasts. The Queers ran for 400+ yards in this one as the Panthers somehow hung around in this game until the 4^th quarter despite the obvious difference in speed between the two programs. Coach Wannstedt summed it up best when he proclaimed at halftme – “we have to run faster.” This loss brought an end to a very disappointing season - one that had too much hype and expectation attached to it. With a top 10 ranked recruiting class this offseason, Wannstedt has shown that he is not willing to accept mediocrity for the Pitt program and is laying the foundation to make sure that we don’t have to watch much more mediocre football going forward. Cheers to that.

The 2006 schedule lends itself to some very entertaining games with home matchups against Virginia, Michigan State, West Virginia and Louisville. Not that we need anymore reason for tailgating but the better the opponent, the better the atmosphere. Opening day against Virginia will be a first for SHAT and Lot #22, a live band is scheduled to perform. Broken Bone, an upcoming local hard rock band featuring Char Valley Alum Andy Quinn on lead guitar will be performing live to kick off the 2006 season against Virginia. It should be a great night.

Be sure to mark August 26^th on your calendars for the SHAT Golf Outing if you’re a duffer. (Same course - Village Green). If not we’ll see you on September 2^nd at the first tailgate.