And I’m somewhat amused.

As you can expect when a NASCAR driver is involved in non-NASCAR model, she will be taller than him (look at the picture).

The four-time NASCAR champion plans to marry Belgian model and actress Ingrid Vandebosch.

The two started dating in 2004 and appeared together in the movie Taxi, in which Vandebosch played a bank robber and Gordon made an uncredited cameo appearance at her invitation.

…

Vandebosch has also dated actor Bruce Willis and former Baltimore Oriole Brady Anderson.

And yet, she is only 5’7″.

Her “acting career” is a total of two movies. The aforementioned Taxi (don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten that classic Fallon-Latifah team-up) where she played “Third Robber” (as a supposed Brazilian no less).

Her other acting credit was in the underrated flick (straight to DVD?) Going Greek for her understated role as “Beautiful Girl” in 2001. There is not even an entry for her on the Celebrity Nude Data Base, telling you all you need to know about the quality of that movie.

Really, a European engaged to a NASCAR driver? Isn’t that embarrassing for her to her friends and relatives back in Belgium. Not even a Formula 1 driver.

I’m not saying high glossy covers and lots of photos are bad. I’m just suggesting that it can be a bit of a warning as to the overall content. Okay, done with the commentary as to the overall product offering.

Lindy’s is one of the earliest publications to come out, and produces its team previews by hiring local beat writers. Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette provides the Pitt write-up — presumably a freelance gig. I don’t think this is a bad thing. They actually know the team, its strengths and weaknesses and might be more accurate with information. On the other hand, there’s little value in reading a summary of stuff you’ve already read from him before.

One of the things Lindy’s has in this year’s preview is an “All-American Team for the Past 25 Years” (p. 11). They place one first-teamer and a second-teamer from Pitt. Offensive lineman, Jimbo Covert (1982) on the 1st team and WR Larry Fitzgerald on the 2nd team. As previously noted, Lindy’s has a couple Pitt players on its All-American Squad for 2006. Darrelle Revis, 1st Team DB and H.B. Blades, 2nd Team LB (p. 33).

Lindy’s does the individual position ranking and so you see them placing Tyler Palko as the 15th best QB (p. 34); Darrelle Revis is the 2nd best DB in the country (p. 42); Adam Graessle is considered the 9th best Punter (p. 44); and H.B. Blades is listed as the 2nd best LB in the country (p. 41).

Each of the lists is accompanied by a profile article on one player. The Linebacker list has a story on Blades (written by Zeise). As you would expect, there’s a bit of talk regarding his bloodlines. Lindy’s also partners with NFLDraftScout.com for some content to list the top draftable players. They list Blades at #17 (p. 61). Right now, the site lists Blades as the best ILB for the 2007 draft.

They also provide their opinion on leading candidates for the various CFB awards. They put Revis at #9 on the list for the Bronko Nagurski award (p. 62).

Lindy’s does a “complete” ranking from 1-119, and places Pitt at #51 and 4th best in the Big East (p. 26). On the Big East preview pages (pp. 148-9), the predicted finish is WVU, L’ville, Rut, Pitt, USF, UConn, Cinci and ‘Cuse. Blades is picked as the BE Pre-Season Defensive Player of the Year.

On the All-Big East squad, Revis and Blades are 1st team defense. John Simonitis and Mike McGlynn (OLs) make the 2nd team offense. Adam Graessle is 2nd team Punter. Showing the need for a fact checker or something, Tez Morris is also included on the second team. He, um, graduated. Here’s a hint. The Pitt roster page, isn’t updated until sometime in July. Add a year.

As for the Pitt preview page (p. 153), well as I said it’s Zeise, so you should have something of an idea. He sees the team as going anywhere from 5-7 to 7-5 and he focuses on the line play. He thinks the offensive line should be better but the defensive line is the big problem.

Okay, this seems very unlikely. I just don’t see the NCAA having the stones to do it. But, this would be an astounding event (no #@$%^*& permalink, but look under the entry for June 25, 12:15pm).

A league source with intimate knowledge of the applicable NCAA regulations tells us that Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis might have rendered quarterback Brady Quinn and other incoming seniors ineligible if, as we previously have reported, Weis has directed the seniors with designs on pro football to pick their agents before the start of the 2006 season.

Rule 12.3.1 of the NCAA bylaws states that “[a]n individual shall be ineligible for participation in an intercollegiate sport if he or she ever has agreed (orally or in writing) to be represented by an agent for the purpose of marketing his or her athletics ability or reputation in that sport.” Rule 12.3.1.1 elaborates on the general principle set forth in Rule 12.3.1: “An individual shall be ineligible per Bylaw 12.3.1 if he or she enters into a verbal or written agreement with an agent for representation in future professional sports negotiations that are to take place after the individual has completed his or her eligibility in that sport.”

It has been well-publicized that Quinn and his family have already been whittling down the potential agents to hire after the ’06 season. Nor has there been any hiding that Weis has at least encouraged Quinn to take care of some of this business early to eliminate distractions.

Quinn, a senior, is not allowed to sign with an agent until his eligibility is exhausted. But, per NCAA rules, the family can interview prospective representatives.

Team Quinn is roughly defined as Slates, another uncle Scott Bender, described as a venture capitalist, and Quinn’s parents Ty and Robin. Oh, and of course Brady, who will make the final decision.
…
Understandably, coach Charlie Weis has had a big influence on the process. It is in his best interest to eliminate distractions before the season. Notre Dame is expected to be ranked in the preseason top 10.

“I don’t think Coach Weis would mind me saying it …” Slates said. “(He wants to) make sure that Brady doesn’t get a guy that makes the process about the agent.

“At least we can narrow it down so at least we can tell everyone else to bug off. Coach Weis wants Brady to focus so he’s not getting calls from Joe Schmo agent.”

Weis already has addressed all of his draft-eligible players.

“Obviously they have a resource which they didn’t have before,” Weis said of himself.

Now, there is nothing right now out there. Not at the WWLS, not at SI.com, not even at DeadSpin, EDSBS or even Blue Gray Sky. So I am very hesitant to say this is going anywhere or is a legit rumor. Still, this at least has a whiff of Savior Weis trying to run his program a little too much like the NFL club and ignoring/missing a big rule.

Additionally, as I said at the beginning, I don’t think the NCAA would pull the trigger on declaring top players from Notre Dame ineligible this season. They would probably look the other way while whispering sternly in their ear not to do it again.

UPDATE: CollegeFootballResource posted on this yesterday and doesn’t think much of this for scandal potential either.

These are the preseason mags I’ve taken time to view.

Lindy’s
Athlon
Street & Smith’s
The Sporting News
The Gold Sheet
Phil Steele’s

Your best bet, so to speak, is still Phil Steele’s College Football Preview. Sure he’s heavy on the self-promotion and the tiny font. But it really is the best of the bunch overall. Here’s the site to go to for reviews of the magazines themselves for overall evaluation.

The one thing consistent in all of them is the last two teams in the Big East. All of them pick Cinci for 7th and Syracuse for 8th in the Big East. Amazingly, there is at least one mag that doesn’t pick WVU for 1st.

Just about all of the college football preview mags are on the racks. Few people will actually buy each and every one of them. And let’s face it, all we really want to see is where Pitt is and how they feel about the team. And going into this year, you can scan that info in just a few minutes of paging through each

Now, I didn’t go out and buy all of them. Instead, while on a couple coffee-fueled binges at the local B&N I took down some notes on all of the mags on the rack as they pertained to Pitt.

In case you haven’t noticed, news is bordering on totally absent these days. That’s making daily posting a bit more difficult. So, it’s time to get into some real white noise.

Over the next week or two — however frequently I get to it — I’ll be posting my notes on the various preview mags.

If anyone really cares, the Big 33 game will be played against Ohio for at least one more year. There had been talk of changing the opponent back to Maryland, but that doesn’t appear to be the case any longer.

Everyone has their favorite theory as to why athletes get in trouble or screw-up. This despite mandatory preparatory seminars from the pro leagues for rookies and compliance classes in college. Pitt has an interesting and probably quite valuable speaker talk to its football players.

When Dave Wannstedt was looking for a multi-purpose speaker for Pitt’s football players this spring to augment the school’s compliance programs, he went with Ralph Cindrich. A former Pitt and NFL player, a current agent, Cindrich has perspective across the spectrum.

Whether he’s talking with college players, or giving advice to his clients, Cindrich knows the message is not always taken to heart.

“Lots of times,” he said.

Cindrich also believes the explosion of media coverage has led to more reportage on the foibles and legal missteps of young athletes. Here he sounds like Penn State’s Paterno, who in the past has expressed nostalgia for the days when, if a Penn State player ran afoul of the law, “I would go down (to the police station) and take him home. Then I would kick him in the rear and run him until his tongue dragged.”

But Cindrich sees the proliferation of legal problems for athletes as more than a case of additional media messengers.

“It’s the age we live in and the scrutiny athletes are under, along with the fact that a lot of these individuals are different than old-school players,” he said.

Wannstedt also sees more than one explanation.

“I would agree everything is magnified because the sports networks have grown and talk radio and the Internet,” he said. “I also think there are more guys leaving early.”

To some degree, I happen to think (hey, I said everyone has their own theory) there isn’t that much difference between then and now except we find out about a lot more than it used to be. There was a lot more opportunity, ability and chances to keep things quiet or covered-up.

Personally, I’m glad that it’s not so easily shoved aside. Not just for the comedy value, but because when a program or organization starts covering things up it’s hard to stop when the big stuff hits. The impulse is to still think you can still hide it, that it isn’t so bad. Then everything comes out. Think Colorado football for the last few years as an example.

I’m sure almost all of you already know that Gino Gradkowski verballed to WVU. That means, like his brother Bruce, he can later make Pitt’s world more difficult.

Gradkowski, a 6-foot-3, 285-pound offensive lineman, drove to Morgantown on Saturday to tell West Virginia coaches that he was picking the Mountaineers over Pitt.

“I liked the college atmosphere better at West Virginia,” Gradkowski said. “I had a gut feeling that I should be a Mountaineer, so I went with it.”

…

Gradkowski has cousins playing receiver at both Pitt (Joe DelSardo) and West Virginia (Carmen Connolly). Making Gradkowski’s choice even more difficult is that he developed relationships at both programs.

“Both schools were great situations for me,” Gradkowski said. “It was hard to make a choice. Both coaching staffs were great, and I knew I had a good situation no matter where I went. That was the hardest part, having to say no to one of them.”

The biggest difference from last year to this year is that Pitt is facing fiercer competition for the local kids. Last season, it almost seemed as if the other schools were completely caught off guard by how aggressive and quickly Pitt pursued and secured verbals. Not this year.

Yesterday, the Mountaineers finely (and wisely) locked up their head coach Rich Rodriguez for a few more years.

Negotiations for the extension between Rodriguez and West Virginia officials reportedly had stalled over Rodriguez’s request for a raise for his assistants, a promise for facilities improvements and a break from a $2 million buyout clause.

He got an increase in the compensation pool for his staff, although it is not known if it matches the $50,000 per man he wanted. The university also announced plans to renovate Milan Puskar Center, including the study center and locker rooms, dependent on fundraising.

It’s not known whether the Mountaineers lightened the buyout figure, although Rodriguez has long maintained he wants to remain at West Virginia for the balance of his career.

The issue of the buyout isn’t about leaving WVU, it’s about leveraging a bigger raise the next time they opt to renegotiate. With a high buyout, it is less likely another school will come in to make an offer that he couldn’t refuse. That reduces the competition for his services.

The extension puts him about 3rd in the Big East coaches pay.

West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez extinguished a host of rumors, including one that he was moving up the list to eventually replace Bobby Bowden at Florida State, by signing a three-year contract extension Saturday that will pay him at least $1 million a year.

Rodriguez earned about $850,000 in total compensation last season, including $185,000 in incentive bonuses.

Rodriguez’s new package still leaves him slightly behind Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who is expected to earn about $1.1 million entering his second season in the Big East.

…

West Virginia officials confirmed yesterday that Rodriguez signed the extension through the 2012 season. He will receive an additional $100,000 in deferred salary that will be paid in 2011, if Rodriguez remains the Mountaineers’ coach.

Rodriguez’s extension still contains a base salary of $150,000, but he also is guaranteed $850,000 in promotional income through Mountaineer Athletic Club appearances and television, radio, Internet and endorsements. The contract includes increases each year, Mountaineers officials said.

The contract also includes incentives for additional income through graduation rates, team grade-point averages, bowl appearances, Big East championships, season-ticket sales and summer camps, Pastilong said.

The top salary in the Big East is Bobby Petrino at Louisville pulling in nearly $1.4 million.

Rivals.com offers its own revised really early advanced pre-season top-25 basketball rankings.

The voters all faced one big question: Just how much of a difference can one player choosing to stay in school make on a team? If the player is Aaron Gray and the school is Pittsburgh the answer is a tremendous one.

Thanks to Gray’s decision to pull out of the draft on deadline day the Panthers jumped from No. 16 to No. 7. Gray emerged as one of the best big men in the Big East and many felt he was the piece that could lead the Panthers on a deep postseason run.

…

7. Pittsburgh (90) 25-8
Could Aaron Gray mean the difference between contending for a league title and an NCAA title? We think so. The 7-foot center who averaged a double-double last season announced he was taking his name out of the draft just minutes before the withdrawl deadline. The decision led every voter to place the Panthers in his top 10. The Panthers lose star guard Carl Krauser, but three other starters are back and promising power forward Sam Young is poised for a breakout year.

Pre-season top-10 is looking like a lock going into the season. Coach Dixon is going to have to be working hard to keep the kids from reading too much of their own clippings it would seem.

Tom Luginbill for ESPN.com looks teams (Insider subs.) that need big years on the field and teams on the rise with regards to recruiting. He finds Pitt somewhere in the middle of those classifications. As he lists them as part of “Other Notables” (with Penn St.).

Pittsburgh: Are the Panthers for real? Was the 2006 class a fluke? Well, the bottom line is that if coach Dave Wannstedt and his staff proved anything, it is that they can do a fantastic job of recruiting locally.

They dominated in the state of Pennsylvania, with top prospects like tight end Nate Byham (Franklin), wide receiver Dorin Dickerson (Imperial-West Allegany) and defensive tackle Jason Pinkston (Pittsburgh-Baldwin). It was a strong and deep class across the board and a great way to start the Wannstedt tenure.

The 2007 class of early commitments stands at three, and all are Pennsylvania kids. Headlined by quarterback Pat Bostick (Lancaster-Manheim Township), the class so far is entirely on the offensive side of the ball.

The question many fans have is whether Wannstedt can get it done on the sideline. A repeat of last season’s disastrous start will not help in recruiting over the long haul. If Pitt gets back on track in terms of win-loss record in 2006, expect another impressive class in 2007.

I don’t think Pitt has to have a monster year (yet). Progress, though, has to be made. Not just in terms of wins and losses. The team has to actually look like one. Competency in the game plan and the execution at a minimum. Even in several of the wins last season, it often seemed more on the greater incompetency of the opposing team (Syracuse) or lesser talent (Cinci).

Via Fanblogs, I read that it looks like the SEC will be next to get their own channel.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive says the league is interested in forming its own television network, an “SEC Channel” similar to the one the Big Ten has planned.

“There is an ego element to having your name on a channel,” Slive said.

The commissioner said the conference is looking into establishing a channel when the league’s television contracts expire in 2009.

“I think you’re going to find the concept of the channel has been on the drawing board for most of the conferences,” Slive told The Birmingham News in a story Thursday. “The question is really one of timing, when your own contract comes to terms so you can find out the market place.”
…
As the SEC enters TV negotiations with CBS, ESPN and Lincoln Financial Sports, it will explore the league channel option, Slive said.

“It has to be part of the overall discussion of television so you’re dealing with all your inventory,” Slive said. “We haven’t decided to do it. You need to evaluate all those relationships and whether or not in that mix it makes sense to add an SEC Channel.”

[Emphasis added.]

That chilled my bones. While the Big East has yet to announce much of the terms of its deal with the mouse channel, I have this sinking feeling that the Big East locked itself out of being able to start its own channel until the next contract — some time in 2013.

That would likely make the Big East one of the last BCS conferences to go to having its own channel. This despite the Mountain West making plans for such more than a year ago and the Big 11 rumors were swirling even while the Big East was negotiating its new deal. This is the sort of thing I mentioned a couple days ago.

I believe that Commissioner Mike Tranghese has some serious questions to answer about how he sees the marketing and growth of the league in terms of media exposure and avenues.

On his ESPN.com blog, Bruce Feldman has been passing some of the downtime by compiling some of his favorite college t-shirts (Insider Subs.).

I searched for the most clever — and the added bonus of biting humor helped. But some rules applied: it had to be clean enough for me to run here and unique to the school or its rival. There are plenty of witty “seven things you’d never hear a (college x) fan say,” or “a good (logo of our team), bad (logo of one of our rivals) and an ugly (caricature of one of our rivals’ coaches),” but my reasoning was, if it was part of some cottage industry where you could just substitute any school in, it wasn’t making the cut.

His top 3 were: Catholics vs. Convicts, Fat Phil Loves to Squeal and Ron Zook For Frat House President.

He comes back to the topic again today with a couple others while going into his mailbag.

Two others that I was tempted to use for that list: “The Rich Brooks Farewell Tour” (which listed the 2005 Kentucky schedule) and “I can’t Hackett” (created by the Pittsburgh fans in regards to their former coach Paul Hackett, although I think that one probably would’ve been a big seller in Los Angeles a few years back too.)

[Emphasis added.]

Very occasional poster, now just with the random comment to complain about what I write, Lee, still takes great pride in the fact that he was part of the group in Tower C to hang Christmas lights to spell out “Fire Hackett” from their windows.

So I took this screenshot from today’s SI.com NCAA Basketball page. I’ve mentioned the article that is linked to Gray’s picture earlier in the week.

It’s the photo itself that caught my eye. Talk about pulling one from the archive/stock photos. That picture is from the 2004-05 season. Specifically, the February 28, 2005 beating Pitt administered to BC in Chestnut Hill. The sixth straight win over those Eagles and 10 out of 11.

I mention this in part to gleefully recollect that game, including seeing Doug Flutie in the stands seeing his team crushed and humiliated. Also, just because it seemed like a very odd photo to pull.

CollegeHoops.net has a multi-article bit on the Big East recruiting classes for 2006. Top-5, 6-10 and 11-16.

Pitt’s Jamie Dixon is set for the 06-07 ledger as he added a pair of recruits in 6-6, 190-pound Gilbert Brown of South Kent Prep. in Conn. and 6-9 center Austin Wallace from LaSalle Academy in the Bronx. Dixon also adds impact recruit Mike Cook from East Carolina. The Panthers are deep and talented along the front line as both of their recruits will have to work extremely hard for many minutes. Brown is a Top 100 player who could player at a 3-guard or power forward position.

I’m a little surprised they put Pitt’s class way down at #12. Somehow Mick Cronin and Cinci is at #7. It may be that the discussion is as much about the expected impact as it is the recruits themselves. Cinci is leaning heavily on JUCOs considering how late they got in the recruiting situation and how much they lost from the team. Their recruiting class is expected to have an immediate impact. Pitt has a deep team that with the exception of Cook, will make it difficult to get much playing time.

Or I could just be rationalizing.

I love how the NCAA decides to deal with the idea of rampant texting and recruiting.

An NCAA committee has advice for coaches who are using text-messaging as a recruiting tool: SLO DWN.

The NCAA recommended legislation Friday that would limit text messaging between coaches and recruits, a practice that has become popular because it skirts the NCAA’s limit on phone calls.

The Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet’s recommendations would limit text-messaging to between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. during the week and between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekends.

I get that the idea is to limit the amount of text messages that can be sent by limiting the time frame in which they can be sent.

Unfortunately, the legislation is being written by those who apparently never even totally comprehended e-mail service. The loophole should be obvious.

I send and receive maybe one or two text messages a month, and even I can see the “drafts” category on my cell. How hard is it for a coach to simply write a ton of text messages during the day to various recruits maybe leave a final letter off of each to claim that the message wasn’t completed until after 4 pm? Then when the designated hour arrives, simply “finish” the text message and send (making sure the time stamp reflects the time sent not written).

Heck, for the top recruits you could draft several and dole them out every hour on the hour or so. There are services to let you send text messages from a computer. Heck, if you know the recruit’s cell service, you can go to that company’s website and send them the text messages.

Back to the drawing board.

No, picking the Ducks of Oregon to be underrated going into this season can not be blamed on some subliminal programming from their unis. Looking at the four models for this year only prevokes annoyance and a desire for their failure.