Sobeball.com

1-10-08

Jon Sobolewski

Sobeball.com

Lesean McCoy feels good to be a Pantha' (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Ever since December 1, 2007 the only thing that feels better than being a Pitt fan is being a gangsta, but maybe not this good or even this good because I'm not a giant tool. HOWEVAH, Pitt fans are currently riding a wave that not even two injuries, which should have been catastrophic, could derail. Pitt fans could easily be in the same position that Bushwick Bill found himself in on that fatal drunk night, except Pitt fans' girlfriends are looking for a reason to shoot them. Few fan bases have been kicked in the junk with a paper bag over their heads like Pitt fans, but ever since 13-9, "Damn it feels good to be a Pantha."

The bonanza of recruiting wealth that followed the victory made too many fans excited about 17 and 18 year old boys, but the perception change that accompanied the victory was supremely evident in those recruiting steals. Just to recap, since the defensive domination and refereeing ridiculousness the Panthers have locked in 13 recruits, including:

5-star DE/LB Shayne Hale (who picked the Panthers over OSU, Michigan, and about 70 other offers), 5-star WR Jonathan Baldwin (an Aliquippa, PA native, who selected Pitt over schools like USC, Michigan, and Florida), 4-star Ath/WR AJ Alexander (who was plucked out of Penn State's back yard and had originally pledged himself to Florida St.), 4-star DB Jarred Holley (who said Pitt is it over offers from Florida, Michigan, and Penn St.) and finally the kid that started it all, 5-7, but 4-star, jitterbug Cameron Saddler who shockingly tabbed the Panthers his choice (over Virginia, West Virginia, and Michigan).

The WVU win, combined with Saddler's dynamic personality, made Dave Wannstedt an even more lethal recruiter and following this past month's shocking success with recruits, he could be tabbed the best recruiter in the country.

As a Pitt fan, I probably shouldn't be surprised with the basketball squad knocking the bull-hoya out of Georgetown, but with my Panther fan roots being firmly planted in the 90s I still have a sense of awe with the team's current success. This is an idea quite hard for current Pitt fans to understand; they simply were not there during those lean years. Ralph Willard's running of the program into the ground and nearly into a jail cell was a macabre debacle. This is why I still hold Ben Howland up with such reverence, despite his suspicious exit from Pitt (although it did not cost the team in 2003). I will never blame Howland for taking the UCLA job and I would love to meet some of the LA times writers in an empty basement fight club style because they ripped the Howland hire and were so arrogant to even question who Howland was.

Part of me truly thought Dixon's run would only last as long as Howland's players and when he lost control of the team (particularly Carl Krauser and Chevy Troutman) in 2005. Call me pessimistic, but Pitt fans who made it through the 1990s and saw all the empty seats in the Fieldhouse back then know exactly what I mean. I honestly expected to go back to my lonely frustrated years cheering on Pitt and screaming at the crappy ESPN-regional broadcasts. The 2006 season gave me hope, particularly the Villanova win and 2007 was no surprise to me, although the Georgetown mauling really ruined my hopes for the team that year.

2008 though, now I felt great about 2008 once I witnessed how physically good the team looked. I knew it from day one, when Levance Fields lost some neck fat and his arms were cut. My first look at Dejuan Blair told me stud, not NBA stud, but college stud. If I ever have daughters I would certainly want him to breed with them. Rich guys in Dubai would pay hundreds of millions for him if he were a horse. Instead my grandkids will probably be pale-skinned accountants who come in as reserves on their high school teams and not dominating post presences who grab 20 boards in games that they foul out in. The past two NCAA tournaments clued me in on Sam Young as well, because he was the only player who could create his own offense in them and actually make something happen.

The Duke result was not shocking, but obviously the way Pitt got there was "Michael Jackson in a straight internet-porno with Jennifer Aniston performing the abba-cadabra" shocking. The Duke game turned me from deeming Dixon a highly suspect coach to wanting to play for him because his team just would not quit. I for one (with no disrespect to Mike Cook who from everything I've heard is a great guy who is so far from a glorified hip-hop thug hooper that you'd let him babysit your kids or date your sister) thought Pitt wouldn't miss him too much. I'm still not sure they miss him on the court, but for so many reasons I wish he was back out there. I viewed the Fields injury as catastrophic and rested our tournament hopes on the assumption that he would be back in time for the tourney and if we treaded water just enough to keep our heads afloat then Pitt would be ok.

Then the Panthers knocked off Georgetown. They crushed them. They walloped them. Then expectations changed. When Jamie Dixon rallied his troops and would not let them quit, he made his players believe. He made me believe.

So I won’t stop believing, I’m gonna hold onto this feeling.