** Like most here on the Lair (I suspect), I’m a fairly big baseball fan. And for many, many years, I’ve spent summers posting about Pitt Hoops because it was already clear by May that a full Pirate season would be tough to endure.
** But the last two and a half Bucco years have been much better, of course. And without a doubt, so far, this season has been the best of the three. I try to watch as many games as I can, and among them I’ve enjoyed all the big moments the current season has provided.
** And what’s been so exciting about this season is that there have been so many moments of incredible excitement that have compelled fans to scream out loud for joy.
** Over and over on Root Sports, they continue to play a highlight that was the inspiration for this post tonight … hearing and seeing Greg Brown’s call of Andrew McCutchen’s two run home run at the bottom of the 14th inning on 12:30 am of July 12th to give the Bucs a 6-5 win over the Cards.
** At this particular moment, I was sitting happily with a beer in my man cave as Andrew launched his dinger. And when it cleared the PNC Park Center Field wall, I bellowed barbaric yawp of excitement so loud that I woke the sleeping house two floors above me. I have no regrets. It was awesome.
** I’m not exaggerating. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Again. It was awesome.
** This got me thinking about the Pitt Basketball moments that have moved me to similar extremes over the past decade or two. I’m ready to talk about several, and I hope my thoughts tonight will inspire my fellow posters to share some similar stories of extreme emotional outbursts and exclamations prompted by Pitt Sports over the last 15 years or so.
** I’m first drawn to the heroics of a certain Levance Fields who could provide many entries on a list such this. The first comes from his three at Boston Garden to put the Panthers in the lead over Xavier in the 1-4 seed matchup of that years’ Madness. My response to his three was to simply scream so loudly “OHHH!!” while violently high five-ing my wife and four year old son, who really had no idea what was going on.
** The next Levance entry comes, of course, from my seats of Madison Square Garden about a year earlier. I’d be lying if I said that I screamed out loud when Lee hit that glorious shot against the Dukies. But the truth is that most of us we were all already standing on our feet, waiting for something exciting when that happened. While I wasn’t prepared for a three, most of us Pitt weren’t shocked. So when the shot went down, our focus then went to Duke’s rebuttal. When that yielded nothing, that’s when the pandemonium started.
** It wasn’t a reaction of the moment like McCutcheon, but all the way out of the Garden, I keep yelling “LEVANCE &#*@i&G FIELDS!!” So maybe that counts.
** It’s worth offering two other game ending miracles. The first was Ashton’s 28 footer to beat Providence, and the other was Ron Ramon’s famous three pointer to down the Hoopies two years earlier. While both were great shots that deserved exciting high fives, neither came out of the blue. In fact, few were truly rejoicing when Ashton hit his bomb to beat the Friars. In fact, there was actually more relief that we didn’t lose to Providence. As far as Ronald’s beauty? Well, it was indeed a beauty but not quite a McCutchen shocker.
** I can think of two in-game Panther hoops moments that do come close to that Andrew level for me. The first happened in the famous 3OT game against WVU in 2010. The Panthers were down five with about 30 seconds to go when Tray hit a runner, then a Panther steal eventually led to an Ashton three to tie. I know I kept screaming, “We Tied It! We Tied It! We TiedIt!!” Then called my wife on my cell and screamed: “We Tied It! We Tied It! We TiedIt!!”
** I can only think of one in-game moment to surpass that, and that is from the glorious 2009 UConn game at the Pete. When Levance tossed the Ally-Oop to Sam for that highlight moment, I screamed at the top of my lungs as I launched to me feet. But my immediate excitement also caused an equally immediate moment of light headedness and dizziness, which prompted my wife to grab me to keep me from falling into the row in front of me.
** Before I get to my final hoops “McCutchen Moment” I’ll slip over to my favorite Football moment of equal proportion. It’s a moment that any Pitt Football fan over 40 knows well. But allow me to set an unusual stage for my experience.
** First, I was age 15 watching the game on a 13 inch black and white TV sitting above our busted 24 inch color at the time. Second, also noteworthy was the fact that my Father was working a funky 3am –to 11 am shift at the time, and was trying angrily to get some sleep. In fact, a few times earlier in the evening, our rejoicing awoke him much to his rage.
** But as we know, with 36 seconds left in the game, Mr. Marino hit Mr. Brown with a winning bomb. I can assure you that my Mother, Sister and I all joined in the most quiet, subtly exuberant, living room celebration in the history of Pitt Football.
** But getting back to Pitt hoops, it was only two years ago that the Panthers trailed at Clemson by 5 with less than ten seconds to go. But then Lamar hit a three, then knocked lose an inbounds pass to Josh who hit a two to tie that left me to scream “OH MY GAWD” as loud as possible for about 15 straight seconds. It scared the hell out of my 7 year old son. In my life, I can’t recall ever screaming louder or that long.
** By no means was this Clemson game the biggest Panther comeback. But by my emotional outburst, perhaps the one I expected the least.
** Anyway, I’m sure my fellow Panther fans can share their own stories of emotional outbursts from Panther sports success. In the middle of this super Pirates Summer, I hope you’ll take a few moments to share your own.
** But the last two and a half Bucco years have been much better, of course. And without a doubt, so far, this season has been the best of the three. I try to watch as many games as I can, and among them I’ve enjoyed all the big moments the current season has provided.
** And what’s been so exciting about this season is that there have been so many moments of incredible excitement that have compelled fans to scream out loud for joy.
** Over and over on Root Sports, they continue to play a highlight that was the inspiration for this post tonight … hearing and seeing Greg Brown’s call of Andrew McCutchen’s two run home run at the bottom of the 14th inning on 12:30 am of July 12th to give the Bucs a 6-5 win over the Cards.
** At this particular moment, I was sitting happily with a beer in my man cave as Andrew launched his dinger. And when it cleared the PNC Park Center Field wall, I bellowed barbaric yawp of excitement so loud that I woke the sleeping house two floors above me. I have no regrets. It was awesome.
** I’m not exaggerating. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Again. It was awesome.
** This got me thinking about the Pitt Basketball moments that have moved me to similar extremes over the past decade or two. I’m ready to talk about several, and I hope my thoughts tonight will inspire my fellow posters to share some similar stories of extreme emotional outbursts and exclamations prompted by Pitt Sports over the last 15 years or so.
** I’m first drawn to the heroics of a certain Levance Fields who could provide many entries on a list such this. The first comes from his three at Boston Garden to put the Panthers in the lead over Xavier in the 1-4 seed matchup of that years’ Madness. My response to his three was to simply scream so loudly “OHHH!!” while violently high five-ing my wife and four year old son, who really had no idea what was going on.
** The next Levance entry comes, of course, from my seats of Madison Square Garden about a year earlier. I’d be lying if I said that I screamed out loud when Lee hit that glorious shot against the Dukies. But the truth is that most of us we were all already standing on our feet, waiting for something exciting when that happened. While I wasn’t prepared for a three, most of us Pitt weren’t shocked. So when the shot went down, our focus then went to Duke’s rebuttal. When that yielded nothing, that’s when the pandemonium started.
** It wasn’t a reaction of the moment like McCutcheon, but all the way out of the Garden, I keep yelling “LEVANCE &#*@i&G FIELDS!!” So maybe that counts.
** It’s worth offering two other game ending miracles. The first was Ashton’s 28 footer to beat Providence, and the other was Ron Ramon’s famous three pointer to down the Hoopies two years earlier. While both were great shots that deserved exciting high fives, neither came out of the blue. In fact, few were truly rejoicing when Ashton hit his bomb to beat the Friars. In fact, there was actually more relief that we didn’t lose to Providence. As far as Ronald’s beauty? Well, it was indeed a beauty but not quite a McCutchen shocker.
** I can think of two in-game Panther hoops moments that do come close to that Andrew level for me. The first happened in the famous 3OT game against WVU in 2010. The Panthers were down five with about 30 seconds to go when Tray hit a runner, then a Panther steal eventually led to an Ashton three to tie. I know I kept screaming, “We Tied It! We Tied It! We TiedIt!!” Then called my wife on my cell and screamed: “We Tied It! We Tied It! We TiedIt!!”
** I can only think of one in-game moment to surpass that, and that is from the glorious 2009 UConn game at the Pete. When Levance tossed the Ally-Oop to Sam for that highlight moment, I screamed at the top of my lungs as I launched to me feet. But my immediate excitement also caused an equally immediate moment of light headedness and dizziness, which prompted my wife to grab me to keep me from falling into the row in front of me.
** Before I get to my final hoops “McCutchen Moment” I’ll slip over to my favorite Football moment of equal proportion. It’s a moment that any Pitt Football fan over 40 knows well. But allow me to set an unusual stage for my experience.
** First, I was age 15 watching the game on a 13 inch black and white TV sitting above our busted 24 inch color at the time. Second, also noteworthy was the fact that my Father was working a funky 3am –to 11 am shift at the time, and was trying angrily to get some sleep. In fact, a few times earlier in the evening, our rejoicing awoke him much to his rage.
** But as we know, with 36 seconds left in the game, Mr. Marino hit Mr. Brown with a winning bomb. I can assure you that my Mother, Sister and I all joined in the most quiet, subtly exuberant, living room celebration in the history of Pitt Football.
** But getting back to Pitt hoops, it was only two years ago that the Panthers trailed at Clemson by 5 with less than ten seconds to go. But then Lamar hit a three, then knocked lose an inbounds pass to Josh who hit a two to tie that left me to scream “OH MY GAWD” as loud as possible for about 15 straight seconds. It scared the hell out of my 7 year old son. In my life, I can’t recall ever screaming louder or that long.
** By no means was this Clemson game the biggest Panther comeback. But by my emotional outburst, perhaps the one I expected the least.
** Anyway, I’m sure my fellow Panther fans can share their own stories of emotional outbursts from Panther sports success. In the middle of this super Pirates Summer, I hope you’ll take a few moments to share your own.
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