Stayed over night in Pittsburgh, some very convoluted traveling on Sunday and just being wiped combined to keep me from even turning on the computer last night.
Final home game, and a little something different. I got to watch the game from the press box. Thought it might be interesting to see what that experience was like. A huge thanks to Assistant Athletic Director E.J. Borghetti for being brave enough to make this possible.
Sure, I had to promise that I wouldn’t throw anything at Bob Smizik or anyone else in the media (though I would not make such a guarantee if Beano Cook was on hand), but I figured it was a reasonable compromise.
Naturally, it worked out that I would be sitting in an enclosed, climate-controlled environment when the weather was absolutely perfect. I sat through the rain and cold for Cinci and Syracuse, but for a game in mid-November it would be sunny and in the low-60s. Perfect.
Around 11 I entered the press entrance to Heinz Field and was immediately stopped by security. They searched my bag and did the pat down while another looked through a stack of envelopes to find my press pass. From there I took the elevator to the 4th floor. As I got off the elevator and started down the hall, there was E.J. striding quickly to catch the elevator — looking far skinnier than his bio picture would suggest. Naturally, I prevented him from catching the elevator by stopping him to introduce myself (and in response to my tactless remark regarding his appearance, he said he always drops pounds during the season).
Despite, obviously, needing to do numerous other things with less than an hour before kickoff, he stopped and took me down to the press box and then to the press lounge next to it while talking with me before dashing off once more.
The food in the press lounge was basic but quite good. The lounge itself is down at the Southwest corner of the stadium and has two glass walls looking outside the stadiums. There was a row of TVs against another TV. All turned to ABC, ESPN and the local stadium feed. Other TVs were positioned around the room. I sat down at an empty table with my back to the TV wall so I could people watch.
The press box itself is huge, as you would expect in an NFL stadium. There are 4 rows of seating on the home sideline that stretches from the endzone to around the 40 yardline. (The TV camera and broadcast boxes are around the 50.) The box can easily accommodate 150 or more people, with highspeed data ports and plugs for the laptops at each seat. The local/regular and major news press was grouped near the 40.
Right outside the press room and just before the lounge are the bathrooms. Maybe this is just something only fairly new parents notice, and maybe the bathrooms are used by other suites, but it struck me as odd and useless to have a baby-changing station in the press’ men’s room.
As befitting my status, I was around the 2 yardline. The press listed around me included Alle-Kiski Today, Latrobe Bulletin, Times Leader, Daily Mirror, Blairsville Dispatch, Progress News, Tyrone Daily News, The Sentinel and Vandergrift News. Much like the regular crowd, attendance was spotty. It looked like maybe 50-60 media folk in the box. At each seat, there was a nice folder containing the game program, depth charts (along with the officiating crew), both teams’ game notes and the Big East weekly report.
Also of note, sitting right in front of me were 2 NFL scouts. A scout from the Green Bay Packers and the Atlanta Falcons. During the course of the game, some media members would approach them and try to get them to say who they were scouting — they always answered vaguely. Based on what I saw — when they were using their binocs and writing things in their notepads — I would make an educated guess that among the Pitt players, they were watching Charles Spencer, Josh Lay and Tez Morris.
The TV monitors in the box were tuned to either the ESPN Regional or the stadium feeds.
Just before kickoff, they announce the various changes to the starting lineups, including Bonislawski getting the start at QB for UConn, which creates a low murmur of surprise. There is also the announcement that there is no “cheerleading” in the pressbox.
I pretty much blew it on the first play when Josh Lay gets called for pass interference. An involuntary, “what?” escapes. Strangely, that was where I had the most problem keeping my mouth in check. Penalties — though most of the press box seemed to react poorly to the personal foul on Tez Morris in the second quarter, and especially that phantom pass interference call against Darrelle Revis in the 4th.
Otherwise, while odd, I could keep from openly cheering or making much noise. An occasional fist pump or something, but not too outrageous. The whole press box feeling is just so disconnected. The stadium sound is muffled and almost felt like I wasn’t watching a live game.
Of course the very good thing about the press box — quarterly stats and play-by-sheets. After every quarter they print and distribute the cumulative stats and all the plays for the quarter. In the press box, there are 3 guys charting the plays by hand, and another guy inputting them onto a laptop. I’m not sure why they don’t make the quarterly stats and play-by-play materials available on the Pitt website (they do for basketball games), since they are compiled. Those are numbers I would love to be able to see more often. They provide better information than just the simple totals.
