Pat Thompson sat with his friends on the hard bleachers at Pitt Stadium that Thursday night in 1997, when his downtrodden Panthers took what he described as their first step out of the "dark era" by upsetting the Miami Hurricanes. "We were kind of the Pitt diehards that never gave up," said Thompson, 39, of Pennsbury Village. "We said, 'We have to start something up. It looks like they might be decent again.' " The South Hills Association of Tailgaters -- or SHAT -- was born. The group, whose followers call themselves SHAT-Heads -- no joke -- enters its 10th season tomorrow, when Pitt plays Eastern Michigan at 6 p.m. at Heinz Field. Of course, the SHAT-Heads get started much earlier, at 1 p.m. in Lot 22 at the corner of Ridge and Allegheny avenues. About 100 people are expected, a far cry from the 17 members the group had in its first year. "As this built, when we started off, it was basically 'Buy some fast food, Kentucky Fried Chicken buckets, hoagie rings, nothing real crazy food-wise,' " Thompson said. Times have changed. Hoagie rings have given way to burgers and dogs, and then some. Among the items on tomorrow's menu: maple-sugar smoked turkey stuffed with sausage, maple-sugar smoked sirloin-tip roast, grilled Old Bay pork loin, fried chicken, hamburgers, sausage and hot dogs. There's also a wooden bar with a CO2 system for kegs that has hinges, allowing partygoers to easily collapse it at day's end. And a band -- Brokenbone -- will play from 2-5 p.m. "It just keeps growing and growing and growing," said Darin McHenry, 33, of Ambridge, Beaver County, a SHAT-Head for five years. "Every year we keep doing more." The tailgate has become as important as the game. Maybe more. "The majority of the people who come buy tickets because they like tailgating," Thompson said. "We've made it such an event, people care about the outcome (of the game), but most of them are there because of this. "Every year we always say, 'I don't know how we're going to top this.' " Somehow, they always do. "It's pretty huge," McHenry said. "A Pitt ticket is the best ticket in town." Or at least admission to a SHAT tailgate. Additional Information:

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