No game for Pitt, but their next opponent is playing Virginia Tech gets to see about how healthy they can make their offense look against North Carolina. This is the ACC Game of the week, so if you want to track it down, here’s the list of affiliates for the game.
Otherwise it’s just a day to sit back with the beverage of your choice (growler of Southern Tier’s Unearthly is my pick this weekend).
Another topic. This article from WSJ.com about how plenty of schools are struggling with getting and keeping their student population to attend the football games. Anecdotal stories from Georgia.
As it turns out, Georgia students left empty 39% of their designated sections of Sanford Stadium over the last four seasons, according to school records of student-ticket scans. Despite their allocation of about 18,000 seats, the number of students at games between 2009 and 2012 never exceeded 15,000.
Winning isn’t even necessarily a solution. The average student crowd to see last year’s Georgia team—which finished the season ranked No. 5—was almost 6,000 short of maximum capacity. Even at Alabama, 32% of student seats went unused by students between 2009 and 2012, when the Crimson Tide won three national championships. Alabama coach Nick Saban wrote a flattering letter last week in the student paper to recruit students back.
Georgia officials have been so concerned by student attendance that they reassigned 2,000 seats previously reserved for students to young alumni before this season. “It was a significant hole, and it was very noticeable,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said. “It was way too obvious.”
I don’t see it as a generational thing — shorter attention span is mentioned. To me it seems to reflect the greater issue of fans attending live games in general. It becomes a comparative hassle to go to the game. Fight the traffic. Deal with the weather. All the extra costs. Contrast that with the comfort and ease of sitting at home with your own food, drink and a nice HDTV.
Attendance will always be related to the entertainment value and competition for the entertainment dollar.
That’s why west coast teams always struggle. There is too much to do. A major factor for Pitt is you have the Steelers, Penquins and Pirates, along with other cultural events.
People only have so much time and money. What else is there to do in and around state college or morgantown? Up to recently their product was more entertaining as well.
Let’s face it, the way we’ve played recently, an HDTV, and your stocked refrigerator are pretty appealing, especially in bad weather. Plus when the team is out of it by halftime, you can go cut the grass or rake the leaves.
It’s also easier to get in 18 holes and make it to the TV, than the NorthSide.
What is the entertainment competition like in Tuscaloosa AL, Knoxville TN or Ann Arbor MI?
Besides we got a big rubber duck.
anyways, I am 18 and from all the stories I hear from my grandparents and older gentlemen, I wish I live back in those days. sure, people weren’t nearly as tolerant, but they also weren’t soft little babies like we have today. back then, if you had a problem with somebody you fought and it was done. now there are lawsuits and tattletailing and just a bunch of unnecessary bs. have you guys ever seen the movie demolition man? that’s the future we are headed towards. all technology is designed to make things easier for people. before we know it we will have machines to ties our own shoes and wipe our own asses for us and people will basically become blobs of skin and bone that know only how to push a button rather than to think and do things for themselves. maybe this is a radical opinion but I truly believe it.
I wish I lived in a time where I could wake up, go out with friends, and not come home until the middle of the night when I was too tired to do anything else. you just cant do that now
There is absolutely no need at all for a US citizen to own an assault rifle – none – yet everyone of the mass shooting have that in common. Common handguns serve no purpose whatsoever other than a means to commit a crime. Self defense is certainly a lawful right and that is the ONLY reason a handgun should be sold or bought… along with concrete and detailed requirements of ownership.
I think there should be stricter laws on the books, Federal laws if necessary, and they need to be strictly enforced. NYC has really cracked down with mandatory jail sentences for both the use of a gun during a crime (even just carrying it while committing the crime) and unlawful possession of a firearm. Their murder rate dropped dramatically when that was done and they now have one of the lowest murder rates in the country. Hey, if a huge entity like NYC can do this it can be done across the nation.
Just look at what the State of New York did with Plaxico Burress and he shot only himself…
Gun owners should be held responsible for the life of the firearm unless legally sold to an authorized buyer.
Parents whose children are killed when playing with a gun should be held legally responsible. Start sending irresponsible gun owning parents to jail, even for a short time, and the gun safe sales would skyrocket.
Gun safety classes with real and detailed qualifications – just like a drivers license – need to be on the books and enforced.
Bottom line is f*ck the NRA, seriously. They are the most blatantly irresponsible lobbing group known to mankind. The US needs to take an actual hard look at where we are with this and make draconian cause and effect laws that restrict this “anyone should be able to buy and carry anything they want whenever they want” stance the NRA advocates.
Again, when you look at the US murder rate as compared to there countries we are so far ahead of any other country it is like we are a third world country where tribes are killing each other. It is no coincidence that every police union in the country advocates stricter gun laws.
We need to treat murder by guns just as what it truly is – a national security threat. There are ways to allow law abiding citizens to own guns AND make the country safer for everyone. We as a people just need to man up and do it.
I also am not against gun ownership. My dad, an Army vet, was also a hunter and had a rifle and shot gun, but get this … I didn’t even know he owned a handgun until after he died, and we found it safely hidden.
What happened in Connecticut in large part was the fault of the shooter’s mother, an NRA advocate who flaunted her weaponry in front of her mentally challenged son and as a result suffered the ultimate consequence … trouble is so did many innocent others including all of the children.
Tech has a defense that’s actually very impressive. We thought Virginias d was good but then they gave up 48 points to Ball State at home.
I just have a feeling Savage is going to be getting hit all night in Blacksburg and it could be ugly
When I was a student, you could bring a small flask of rum or brandy. Or you could bring a skin of wine.
No frisking. No searches. No patdowns.
A necessary libation from ’64 – ’68. Guaranteed to numb your body and spirit.
Early line
Pitt
Va. Tech -9
No NCLS game is scheduled Sunday so the Steelers win at Jets will not be a TV BB conflict.
Michigan has no problem drawing 100k+ to sit sardine-like on seriously uncomfortable bleachers, knees in your back, the nearest restroom a half a stadium away. Ironically, the few empty seats were all in the student section. I assume they were still out tailgating with the other 100+ surrounding the stadium.
Not comparing Pitt game day to Michigan, but…the most obvious difference is that every UM home game is the #1 sporting event in the state. The Tigers are in the playoffs, the Lions are decent, the Wings season just started, MSU and all 42 of the Directional Michigans who play in the MAC were all in action, and for most Michiganite’s, all of that was a distant second to a UM game vs. a mediocre conference opponent.
I guess that’s what decades of winning does – the games are multi-generational family events, corporate events, party central. They are just too important to miss.
You guys who said Michigan fans were cool were spot on. None of the bravado of Ohio St. fans, or the dorkiness of Pedo Staters.
I do find it curious though that “assault rifles” are only called that when citizens own them…but when cops and the military have them they’re called just called rifles. Funny how semantics works…
Comment by Reed 10.06.13 @ 10:19 am
Seriously Reed come on. I don’t even own any guns or rifles at ALL. But I know that the big bad assault rifle the media loves to scare ppl with is all a bunch of BS.
You can ONLY legally buy a semi-automatic rifle (assault of otherwise) or handgun in America.
For those of you that need educated, semi-automatic means you have to keep pulling the trigger to fire one round, AT A TIME.
Meaning, NO GUN legally purchased in America can be a fully Automatic rifle or Assault rifle and another other type of fireman. Fully Automatic means you only pull the trigger once and hold it and it keeps on firing.
Holding a history degree, only bad things happen, when guns are taken away from a populace thruout history.
What we have in America, is several problems, we have a thug life violent culture glorified by the movies, TV & music and video games. And then you mix that with millions of kids and adults on Psychotropic drugs. Duh what don’t ppl get !
Americans have ALWAYS owned firearms, it’s part of the constitution, for a reason. The difference now is my above paragraph as opposed to past generations owning firearms.
And I’m shocked that anyone from Taylor-Alderdice would want an all powerful gov’t in place, with the spying capabilities and control mechanisms that far out dwarf those of Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia taking away American’s rights to defend themselves.
Furthermore, we all know or should know, even if there is a total gun ban (as there is in Chicago, DC & NYC(Chicago is the murder capital of the world)), CRIMINALS WILL ALWAYS FIND WAYS TO OBTAIN FIREARMS(just as they do in Chicago, DC & NYC). And then we would be totally defenseless.
Not a very smart idea at all !
“The twist in the Pew study is that Americans appear quite ignorant of these happy developments. Indeed, most Americans believe falsely that gun violence has increased. “Despite the attention to gun violence in recent months”, the authors of the Pew study write, “most Americans are unaware that gun crime is markedly lower than it was two decades ago.”
Here’s the article from a left-leaning magazine, certainly no friend of firearms.
Your comments on our constitution much less so…. they are political opinion… your opinion… and out of line here. plenty of places to go rant your views on other websites about the NRA.
I thought this site was called “pittblather”?
H2P
Comment by wbb 10.06.13 @ 12:12 pm
No.. what happened in Conn. was due to the dismantling of the America’s Mental institutions.
Adam Lanza should have been in a mental institute, not at home playing Call of Duty, 18 hours a day on Psychotropic drugs. No job, no school, no direction in life. Just prescriptive drugs, violent first person shooter video games and two parents who didn’t know what to do with him. (of course an absent father)
Va Tech is very hard to figure out.
Didn’t exactly dismantle a very below average North Carolina team who go tore up the week before by East Carolina, who only won by a mere touchdown this week against Middle Tennessee State after scoring 53 on UNC. UNC had a ton of yards(almost 400 yards, against Va Tech especially in passing(almost 300 yds). A couple interceptions killed any UNC chances to win late, as Va Tech only had about 70 yards on offense in the 2nd half, after building up a 21-7 halftime lead.
Va Tech also had all kinds of trouble with Marshall in Blacksburg, finally winning in 3 Overtimes, 29-21 and struggled to beat the aforementioned East Carolina 15-10.
I believe if PITT’s defense plays as good as did against UVA, we can win this game. Naturally we have to minimize any turnovers and actually protect the QB this time.
Va TEch can be had !!!
HTP !
VeV !
Let’s Go Bucs ! (1 more to beat St.Lewie)
EMel – Regarding your Taylor Allderdice mention; have you forgotten, or perhaps never knew, that I was part of that Big, Bad gov’t you talk about for 33 years? I finished out my career working as a frequent liaison officer in a DHS agency for both the Hill and the Pentagon and I know full well the capabilities the Feds have in surveillance and intelligence, although what that has to do with the previous conversation I can’t tell. Personally, I’m not as outraged with the recent news as some are because there is a whole different world from capabilities to actual usage (and yes, I know it is abused sometime which I disagree with).
I will wholeheartedly agree with you regarding the defunding and closure of the mental institutions, mostly in the 1980s. That was a negative act against society IMO and resulted in a huge jump in homeless people who weren’t getting any of the help they needed or that society in general needed to deal with the problem.
I also know first hand and very personally what the medical/mental health system today does with even involuntarily committed persons. Over a beer I’ll tell you sometime; it is enough to make you sick.
To do so again is a loss IMO as VT has the ability to put big numbers up on offense themselves. It is a problem if our running game can’t get going again and the VT defense can tee off against Savage.
It’s not the gun ownership … it’s the freakin attitude!
Occaisionally, yes, and they get shot down (no pun intended) immediately by most of the posters.
Keep your political opinion to yourself, it’s only your opinion, you’re not right just because it’s your opinion, and no one wants to hear about it on here.
On the occaision that someone has said something political, most of the time, it might be a smart alec remark, or a sentence or two.
Not a diatribe like yours.
You have great football comments, keep it that way.
Zanna / Randall / Uchebo* (not yet cleared)
Young / Artis
Patterson / Johnson
Wright / Jones
Robinson / Newkirk
Look forward to it brother. And yes I had completely forgotten you had worked in Gov’t.
@wbb we probably agree on many points, so I’ll leave it at that.
And if Uchebo isn’t cleared I can see why Jamie might REALLY be considering running/uptempo.
Maybe/possibly/I’ll still wait to see it ! lol
With that starting lineup, where do the buckets come from? None of those guys have proven to be legit scorers, particularly in the half court.
Newkirk and Johnson have unique skills. They need to step up and earn starters minutes. Pitt needs someone to extend the opponents defense and knock down threes, Johnson. They also need someone who can beat an opponent off the dribble and breakdown the d, Newkirk.
