OT: Pitt in Ultimate Frisbee tourney

[raleighpanther]

The national championship of Ultimate are being held in Raleigh this weekend, and Pitt is in the tournament. I went up and watched the games today -- I have a friend who is a coach for NC State, and has been working on me getting more interested in the sport, and invited me up to the games. Pitt lost the first game, but then won the next three, and looked pretty good. The quarters, semis and final will be played tomorrow. I learned that Pitt has a reputation for having a nastier edge to them than other teams. Glad to hear it.

A lot of Pitt fans were there, and they were pretty active and supportive of the team. Pitt's best player, Trent Dillon, is a top candidate for the Callahan award, which is the national MVP honor. I got to talk to him, and asked him about their uniforms. They have a capitalized, block PITT in italics on their jersey, that doesn't look like anything you've seen before. I asked if they were going to get new unis with the script next year. He said they were starting to battle to make it happen, but that there are restrictions. They can't use Pitt's logo or the official team fonts because its a club team sport.

For a team that has won two recent national titles, and will try for a third tomorrow, it would be great if they allowed to wear the script.

Anyway, I hear that the semis and finals will be on WatchESPN, and there is a chance Pitt will be playing, in case you want to watch.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Ultimate, played at that level, can be fun to watch. This is the highest intercollegiate level of the sport, and its status is not unlike the early years of any emerging sport (say 1800s foot ball and basket ball) except it is actually nationally organized. And Pitt is a national power with paid coaches, engages in recruiting, and even has a little self-raised scholarship money.

Pitt's last national championship ultimate team wore the official block Pitt of the athletic department and then our AD made them change...which is absolutely moronic. All these clubs (and there are a few other club national powers at Pitt like women's lax) should be wearing the official logos because they honor Pitt in their dedication and representation of the university and it just makes sense from a branding perspective (some of these like Ultimate have a decent following). If I was them, I'd just ignore the AD...which doesn't pay attention to them nor provide any funding anyway. If I was the AD, I'd set up a system to review and sanction the use of school logos in clubs like ultimate that truly deserve to wear them.

 

[raleighpanther]

Thanks for info Paco. Can always rely on you for solid inside info.
Its interesting that Pitt would put restrictions on the Ultimate team, one, because its so successful and two, because it doesn't compete with a varsity. My son plays on the club soccer team at Northwestern, and he told me last night that they have the NU logo on their unis.
It would be understandable if NU put some restriction on their club soccer unis and didn’t allow the official logo (which they don’t) since they have a varsity soccer team, wanting to avoid confusion about which team is which.
But for Ultimate, there is no varsity squad, so all the more reason to allow full branding on the club team, so long as the team doesn’t become an embarrassment to the school in some way.

Not surprising to hear that Peterson was responsible for the current situation. Hopefully, Barnes will see the light and make the change. As I mentioned, Dillon told me they were petitioning to get the script next year, but he didn’t indicate a lot of optimism.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Most schools' club teams use official logos with no issue. Pitt isn't singeling out ultimate, this has been an idiotic university-wide policy trying to control their school's trademarks, which they have to do, but this takes it way too far. Pitt also prevents regional campuses' teams from using them (a policy that is sometimes ignored). Pitt is terrible at branding... always has been.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Pitt vs Oregon tonight in the Final Four

8:00 ESPN3

 

[CrazyPaco]

Pitt's Trent Dillon wins the national player of the year award.

 

[PhPanther1]

Is he any good at KanJam?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Its Pitt vs Minnesota in the semi. Not Pitt vs Oregon. Starts at 10:30 on ESPN3. Winner plays Harvard for the National Championship tomorrow.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Pitt lost 14-13. My son and I watched almost the entire game (not live as it was on too late). He absolutely loved it and I gotta say there are plenty of sports less exciting to watch. Looks like a fun sport to play and really not bad to watch. Seemed like a lot of the schools close to Minnesota stuck around to root for them and there was a lot of crowd noise, chants, etc.

 

[QuitCallingMeWanny]

Pitt lost 14-13. My son and I watched almost the entire game (not live as it was on too late). He absolutely loved it and I gotta say there are plenty of sports less exciting to watch. Looks like a fun sport to play and really not bad to watch. Seemed like a lot of the schools close to Minnesota stuck around to root for them and there was a lot of crowd noise, chants, etc.

I am not sure what is more shocking, Pitt losing or the fact that there is a spawn of SeanMillerFan.........How do you find the time to put your ACC Network schedule together?

 

[HailtoPitt]

Pitt's last national championship ultimate team wore the official block Pitt of the athletic department and then our AD made them change...which is absolutely moronic.

STEVE!