See the picture up there next to my name? See it? A freshman-year Pat Mitsch, 18 years old,… See the picture up there next to my name? See it? A freshman-year Pat Mitsch, 18 years old, young, naive, happy, hopeful.

Well, the smile’s gone now.

I weathered the bad times. And there have been plenty. Football against Notre Dame in 2005 comes to mind. Michigan State last year does, too. So does Aaron Gray single-handedly getting Patrick O’Bryant drafted into the NBA. The Sun Bowl. Ugh.

This was supposed to be the payoff, when Pitt would give back to its embattled fans for years of disappointment and unmet expectations. A Final Four? A national championship, maybe? Would this be the year?

Of course not.

People always ask me what I think will happen in big Pitt games, and I can never give them a for-sure answer. I can’t say Pitt will definitely lose, because I want Pitt to win. But I can’t say Pitt will definitely win, because I just can’t see it happening.

Think of every big Pitt win over the last four years, and what have they meant? The two Connecticut wins this year? Sure, they were big. They were important. But which team is in the Final Four now? The 13-9 win over West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl two years ago? Huge. But was it for a Big East title? Was anything on the line for Pitt in that game?

I don’t want to believe that Pitt can’t win under pressure, ‘can’t win the big one,’ so to speak. But how am I ‘- how are we ‘- supposed to feel any differently when the one Pitt team that has the best shot to win something big bows out short yet again?

Did the hoops team give it their all? Probably. Could they have won the whole thing? Sure. But when it comes time to put up or shut up, Pitt shuts up. Every time.

So if you’re an underclassman ‘- freshman, sophomore, whatever ‘- best of luck in the coming years. Maybe Pitt will surprise you in a better way than it did for us.

But don’t get your hopes up.

– Well, I’ll do here what my friends and I did on Saturday when we bolted from Oakland for the Hofbrauhaus in the Southside Works. But when we get down there, who is in line in front of us? Perhaps the only person in Pittsburgh wearing Villanova gear. And it reminded me that I will see Scottie Reynolds making that floater during every NCAA Tournament for the rest of my life.

– Sorry, still a little bitter. OK, how about some light-hearted humor? Sounds good to me.

– Rankings (first place votes):

1. Hofbrauhaus (1) ‘- Things I loved: Being able to order the ‘Dunkel,’ the house band wearing authentic German hats and lederhosen and playing the Steelers Polka and leading the ‘Man Show’ toast, being encouraged to stand on the tables. Place is awesome.

2. ‘The Man Show’ ‘- Specifically the Wheel of Destiny and the Karl Malone skits.

3. Gus Johnson.

4. Samuel L. Jackson with silver hair in ‘Jumper.’

5. Oktoberfest ‘- Just once, I hope.

Dropped from the rankings: Anoop on ‘American Idol’ (Weak. Sauce.)

– Will Lady Gaga ever take off the wig?

– As much as I’m pumped about it, because I was so amped for the first one, I have this itching feeling that ‘Fast and Furious’ is really going to suck.

– Speaking of fantastic actors, I wonder if people cast actors and say, ‘Just be awful.’ Paul Walker, specifically. The guy was good in ‘Running Scared.’ Horrible in pretty much everything else.

– Horrible in everything: Hayden Christensen.

– Kennywood things that better be in ‘Adventureland:’ The double dip on the Jackrabbit where you fly out of your seat, the Kangaroo, the weird kids who ride the water rides like eight times in a row, a reference to the original Steel Phantom, the Potato Patch (duh) and the ski-lift in the parking lot. All that and I’ll be pleased.

– I need more Kenny Powers.

– Is it just me, or does Google think of everything?

– Speaking of which, you don’t hear of many inventors anymore, do you? Nobody invents anything because there is nothing new to invent. Everybody has already thought of everything there is to think of. Can you think of anything you could come up with that would get people to react the same way they did to the TV when it was first invented? If so, then you’re probably an inventor, in which case, I would be terribly wrong.

– In any case, I owe you a 10-second car.

E-mail Pat at [email protected].