Inevitably, the trip into Pittsburgh led to wrong turns and confusion and we ended up eating at the old Pittsburgh standby Primanti Brothers after searching for a parking spot for 20 minutes. The streets of Pittsburgh, especially around the PPG buildings, are not necessarily the most inviting areas to park a vehicle. I'm sure the people hanging out in the streets after dark are very nice and friendly...but, I'm always a little concerned.
Leaving Primanti, we only had 30 minutes before tipoff and no idea how to get to the Petersen Events Center. I knew it was in Oakland and that you had to head to Monroeville...but it was purely luck that we actually found Oakland. Then finding the Events Center and parking proved to be a chore. We drove all over the campus of Pittsburgh without any signs pointing to the arena. We found what we believed to be the building but couldn't actually find a sign or somewhere to park. Ten minutes before tip, we found parking at UPMC and made it into the arena before the start of the game. Whew...what luck.
So, we find our ways to the seats before tipoff and a capacity crowd of probably 200 silently await the tip. Looked like a funeral in the place really. Pittsnogle tipped and lost, of course, and now was time for good ol' CBA basketball. In an attempt to enliven the otherwise silent crowd, we began a chants and whatnot. A few people in front of us joined in the fun. Most did not. Pittsnogle actually played defense in the first quarter and had two blocks. That was the highlight of Pittsnogle's defensive play.
The yelling during free throw attempts apparently annoyed some late-comers who sat in front of us...finally a little girl, no older than 10, turned around and asked Wes to please quit yelling. It was apparently hurting her ears. So, we resolved at that point to move at halftime. There was some empty seats across the stadium that were much closer to the court and there were 5 Pitt fans on the other side that were joining in our chants, so we figured we could join them and our voices would resonate even more through the otherwise morgue-like atmosphere. The Explosion held an 8-point lead at the half and it looked like a certain Pittsburgh victory.After a quick visit to Dippin' Dots and a lost spoon, we were on the other side of the arena but didn't make it all the way down to our Pitt fans. So, we sat towards the home basket for the 3rd quarter. It was rather uneventful except for the fact that the Explorers were making a comeback and Pittsnogle picked up his 4th foul (they play NBA rules so it is 6 before he is ejected). We tried yelling but we were too far from the visitor's basket so we moved again before the 4th quarter to be with our Pitt brethren.
So, we basically yelled through the entire 4th quarter...and, being completely unobjective, I think we were pretty loud and were annoying some of the fans around us. Wes picked out a poor player on the Explorers team, #38 Eric Strand, to heckle. Strand ignored us but the folks sitting around us found it rather humorous as he yelled "Hey, 38, you suck!" "Errrriiicccc, errrriiccc" chants followed. And I think we got in Eric's head...he started missing freethrows and it appeared the Explosion would win...they were up by 3 and were inbounding the ball with 7-seconds remaining.
But, alas, it wasn't meant to be. The inbound came to Pittsnogle who bobbled the ball and an Explorers player made a 3-pointer sending the game into overtime. And, by this time, we just wanted the game to end. Through overtime, the Explorers slowly pulled away. We continued to heckle poor Eric as he shot freethrows. He finally broke with the lead secure and laughed. I doubt he has been heckled much during his time with the CBA. Just glad we didn't get Artest'd after the game. Explorers win 111-106 or something like that. Pittsnogle had 28-points but played little to no defense following the first quarter.
After the game, 3 Explosion players stayed and signed autographs. After about 20-minutes, Pittsnogle emerged from the locker room and I heard another Explosion player make a derogatory remark about him...apparently, he's a bit of a jerk (since he is the "star" of the team). We had him sign his hat...which we determined was probably a waste of a good hat. Even though we were decked out in our West Virginia apparel, he didn't really acknowledge anyone. He didn't want to be there, obviously. But we also saw Mama and Baby Pittsnogle. I am certain he has a trailer outside the Petersen Events Center that he lives in. Surely he doesn't drive to Martinsburg every night. But who knows.
The University of South Florida basketball team showed up to do their walk-through because they played Pitt on Sunday. We watched them shoot for a bit and then went back to the entrance and had pictures taken with our heads in the Panther that Pitt has on their wall. I'm awaiting the pictures...
The trip home was rather uneventful I guess. I was tired and hoarse and ready for bed. All in all, it was fun. I won't buy VIP tickets again though because there's like 200 people there and no one is paying any attention to where your tickets are. It's a pretty sad display. The crowd was boring but I think we added some life. And the Explosion are pretty horrible. But, hey, it was an entertaining evening in which Kevin Pittsnogle was involved...how can you beat that?
No comments:
Post a Comment