The Pit

BBS door game which had its own terminal with graphics and music and all sorts of other great bells and whistles! which essentially chronicled the ascent of a gladiator (you, the player) froma loincloth-weilding slave to a hero and beyond. Notable for its user battles and monsters which could pulp even the toughest player.

"The pit" is also the name for the midday center of activity at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This depressed, bowl-shaped area is often used by student organizations to advertise. It is also home to the notorious, proselytizing Pit Preacher.

In the Greater Boston Area, "the pit" usually referes to a specific place in Harvard Square, in the People's Republic of Cambridge (aka just Cambridge).

As you exit the subway station (from one side), the stairs come to a landing. About 15 feet ahead is another set of stairs, going up about 3 or 4 steps. This set of stairs wraps around the entire enclosure (except for a ramp to allow handicap access - this is the People's Republic of Cambridge afterall). This comprises "The Pit". It is outdoors, it is small. There are people (often called "pit kids" for lack of a better term) who hang out there.

As far as I can tell - they just sit there all day. They are almost exclusivly white, teenagers. I would guess with an average range of 14 to 20. They tend to look like a standard band of what you might classify as "punk" - at least as far as I am able to tell.

The Pit is the main bar in the UBC Student Union building. It has the distinction of being named by David Suzuki, while he was working as a professor at UBC back in the 60's. Apparently, he called it "the Pit" because of the bar's proposed location in the bowels of the student union building.

As an interesting aside, when the AMS built a bistro across from the Pit a few years ago, they decided to name it the Pendulum. Personally, having eating establishments named the Pit and the Pendulum in my student union building doesn't exactly strike that warm fuzzy chord in my heart.

The Pit is also the nickname of University of New Mexico's University Arena. The Pit is widely regarded as one of the loudest college basketball arenas in the nation, and gives the host Lobos a big homecourt advantage.

The court is actually 37 feet underground (thus the name "The Pit")

The arena hosted the 1983 NCAA men's basketball Final Four, which culminated in North Carolina State beating Houston on a dunk as time expired, regarded by many as one of the best championship games in history.

The capacity of the arena is 18,018, including standing room only (according to GoLobos.com)

The pit can refer to the auxiliary percussion section of some high school or college-level marching bands.

The Pit vs. Band/Colorguard

The players in pit do not march.
They do not learn drill at band camp.
They do not play for six hours in the pouring rain.

This is because:
Grand marimbas are nearly impossible to march.
Drill is for those who can pick up their instruments.
Water can damage the chimes and xylophones.

(The band/colorguard only seem to notice that the pit doesn't march and therefore envy the pit players.)

Members of The Pit

In higher levels of marching bands, the pit can be an impressive ensemble of talented percussionists who have spent crazy hours practicing and mastering every instrument of the pit from the triangle to the bass drum to the vibraphones.

In many high school marching bands, the pit consists of a few percussionists as well as players of unmarchable instruments (bassoon, english horn, stringed instruments, etc.)