Saw this on another board-

13 ACC teams will have a Spring Game, 1 will not - LINK.

Pitt fans are say it is due to lack of interest and that they have lost too much money in the past on them. They have played at a local high school the past couple seasons.

To be fair, this seems to be something of a trend... Oklahoma State has also canned a "Spring Game," instead offering a final open-practice. The rationale is that a full practice is of more use than a scrimmage.

Not to mention that UC hasn't had a spring game for a couple of years due to weather and a variety of issues... But yeah, I laugh at Pitt fans.

Pitt strikes me as the type of school that always gives an attendance number about 5000 greater than they shoild

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(02-28-2014 03:38 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote:  Pitt strikes me as the type of school that always gives an attendance number about 5000 greater than they shoild

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5,000 would be generous.

(02-28-2014 04:43 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(02-28-2014 03:38 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote:  Pitt strikes me as the type of school that always gives an attendance number about 5000 greater than they shoild

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5,000 would be generous.

You mean generous for actual attendance, right?

(02-28-2014 03:38 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote:  Pitt strikes me as the type of school that always gives an attendance number about 5000 greater than they shoild

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It was a Thursday game a few years ago and they announced something like 40k for attendance, meanwhile you could count the fans while watching on tv, a few thousand max. But they got into the ACC so I guess the blatant bs paid off.

(02-28-2014 08:25 PM)BearcatMan Wrote:  

(02-28-2014 04:43 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(02-28-2014 03:38 PM)Cataclysmo Wrote:  Pitt strikes me as the type of school that always gives an attendance number about 5000 greater than they shoild

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5,000 would be generous.

You mean generous for actual attendance, right?

Yes they usually inflate their attendance by 10k or more. Like USF they get some locals corporations to buy a boatload of tickets each week and they go unused. However they count tickets sold not butts in the seat. It is all a big game to make their attendance look more impressive than what it is.

(02-28-2014 08:38 PM)apoe Wrote:  But they got into the ACC so I guess the blatant bs paid off.

Whatever it takes.

They might as well put cardboard cutouts up

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I like the idea of canceling the spring game. I'm sure I'm in the minority on this, but I think not having a spring game makes a lot of sense. Especially for schools like Pitt and UC. UC isnt gonna pull 25k+ for a spring game. I believe the highest we ever got was 10k and that was only during the BK years. Might as well keep it a regular open practice and get some more work in.

Folks know my view on spring games. I will travel across the country to watch my team play, but I might not watch a spring game if it was played in my back yard.

I'd go to a regular practice all day long and twice on Sundays but the cheesy spring game thing we tried to institute under BK had me wondering why I was even there.

(03-01-2014 11:11 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Folks know my view on spring games. I will travel across the country to watch my team play, but I might not watch a spring game if it was played in my back yard.

I'd go to a regular practice all day long and twice on Sundays but the cheesy spring game thing we tried to institute under BK had me wondering why I was even there.

I would agree the spring games under BK were cheesy but he packed the recruits in for them.

(03-01-2014 08:21 AM)Ragpicker Wrote:  

(02-28-2014 08:38 PM)apoe Wrote:  But they got into the ACC so I guess the blatant bs paid off.

Whatever it takes.

They still suck. That won't change.

What made BK's spring games any "cheesier" than others? Aside from relatively good weather and better than usual attendance for the event, I don't remember anything radically different from others.

If I recall Dantonio was the one who started the Red/Black Game or whatever it was called.

My recollection was the games were fine under Dantonio and BK. They were actual games. When Jones came in he did all kinds of crazy things with the formatting and he was the one who did cheesy stunts like going out in the crowd and having a kid draw up an offensive play.

The attendance for the Spring Games under Kelly were pretty good- this includes 2008 which would have been before we ever won the BE and went to a BCS Bowl. We used to bring in over 10K for this event. I know weather has sucked but I don't think we have brought anymore than a couple thousand the past few years.

(03-04-2014 08:28 AM)JackieTreehorn Wrote:  What made BK's spring games any "cheesier" than others? Aside from relatively good weather and better than usual attendance for the event, I don't remember anything radically different from others.

I remember 1 BK wrinkle; they passed out the signs with Run on 1 side and Pass on the other and was supposed to look into the stands for their input to play calling. Fans would hold up the Run sign or Pass.

And the silly interviews on the big screen and the corny promotions, et al. Felt like a high school pep rally to me. To each their own, however. I do stop by to watch a few practices a season.

(03-04-2014 08:50 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  If I recall Dantonio was the one who started the Red/Black Game or whatever it was called.

My recollection was the games were fine under Dantonio and BK. They were actual games. When Jones came in he did all kinds of crazy things with the formatting and he was the one who did cheesy stunts like going out in the crowd and having a kid draw up an offensive play.

The attendance for the Spring Games under Kelly were pretty good- this includes 2008 which would have been before we ever won the BE and went to a BCS Bowl. We used to bring in over 10K for this event. I know weather has sucked but I don't think we have brought anymore than a couple thousand the past few years.

It was in the Brian Kelly tenure that the game started being called "Bearcat Bowl." Kelly also worked it one year where everyone at the game got a two-sided Red/Green card and periodically they would say "Should Coach Kelly call a Run or a Pass Play?" and you were supposed to show "Red" for "Run" and "green" for "Pass." And supposedly they "counted" the Red and Green placards and that was supposed to determine the next play called...

First, everybody wants to call "PASS".... especially after the Mark Dantonio years... and Ben Mauk was the QB (he was appealing his medical issues at Wake Forrest in hopes of getting another season...) so that was basically a no-brainer. But it was ludicrous that somehow Kelly didn't have the next play worked out and that they were "counting" all the placards in the crowd...or even trying simply to get a "majority" count in the time allowed. It was stupid and cheesy... But my son loved it.

But Kelly DID start turning the whole Spring Game into more of a carnival atmosphere with inflatables and free hot-dogs...which got a lot of local kids to come out and be part of the fun. I thought that part was cool. A couple of times we came out several hours in advance of the game-time and just had fun out on the Sheakley Lawn, watched the band, etc... In the end, I thought it balanced out the cheesy factor nicely.