Well, this gets my curiosity up and running.

There is a myth going around in the Steel City that the Pittsburgh Panthers are getting commitments from 99 percent of the Western Pennsylvania high school football players that they go head-to-head with against West Virginia. According to one blogger, family ties to West Virginia University and other extenuating circumstances are the reasons the remaining one percent have chosen to jump over Dave Wannstedt’s wall.

To get another perspective, I recently asked a member of the WVU football staff just how many Western Pa players they have been able to lure away from Pitt since they took over in 2001. He counted at least seven players off the top of his head, and quickly added that there would be more to come.

Shall we take that apart for a moment? This is from what I know, a web only story. Yet hyperlinks to said blogger and the claims are non-exisitent.

As far as I’m aware there are only 2 bloggers who discuss Pitt recruiting. Yours truly and Chris Dokish. I don’t suppose Mr. Antonik would care to state which blogger is making that claim? Or would he prefer to keep it vague and not have to back it up?
Now last I checked, Dave Wannstedt started at Pitt in 2005. There has been only one complete recruiting class and it is part way through recruiting this year. So why would he ask an anonymous member of the WVU football staff about all the Western PA players they got to Morgantown since 2001? That is clearly an error, I mean, unless he’d like to distort the numbers or something.
Then there’s the less than subtle attempt to conflate going head-to-head with Pitt for a player with how many Western PA players they pull.

From what I see of the WVU 2005 recruiting class and who Pitt was recruiting, they got two. Wes Lyons and Eric Rodemoyer. So far this year, the only one they can claim is Gino Gradkowski
There is of course the most obvious reason for this sort of ignorance. He is a Hoopie.

Let me take another run at the ESPN-Big East deal. Frank the Tank, did a much better job than I did (and in less words) in partially explaining my displeasure at the deal. I have annoyance at how many of those “guaranteed” games will be weekday program fillers, while the news coverage has focused on the total number of games or the big jump for basketball. Let’s face it, though, the basketball side of the Big East is not a concern or really an issue as far as health, publicity and strength.

My main ire, though, is over the future distribution channel controls. The broadband and cellular offerings and content. Those will stay with ESPN. Understand, very clearly, the allure of having one’s own channel is not simply as some conference vanity project. By sticking with ESPN regional, Pitt has remained without control over the distribution and content of its own games. That means the Big East schools and the conference will not be able to offer streaming of the video of the games through their own sites. That will remain with ESPN and they will reap the money from it. Not to mention any other digital packaging that develops or evolves. Conferences with their own channels and control of their distribution will make more money.

For the Big 11, they can still offer games on the ESPN Gameplan or on a local station if they aren’t showing it on their channel or any of the Mouse stations. They have the control over it ultimately. They produced it. They own the production.

The Big Ten Channel will be available to satellite and cable distributors nationwide and will be available through the Internet, i-Pods, cell phones and other technologies, the league said.

That will be the same for all of the conferences that go to their own channel. They won’t be seen any less. They won’t get promoted by ESPN any less. They will however be bringing in more money in the long term as the technology keeps developing.

This is why all professional sports teams are now creating their own channel. They aren’t necessarily going to make any more money at first than if they had stayed contracted with the regional Fox Sports channel. After all, they have to now pay salaries and get ad revenue and all that fun stuff. It’s that they have full vertical control of the product — right down to distribution formats. It’s about long-term revenue creation.

The Big East loves to tout how it was the first to recognize the importance of cable and the dealings with ESPN. Unfortunately that is some 20+ years ago since the last time they were forward thinking about the media distribution. Now, they don’t look forward only react to the immediate situation.

A great little widget, that will be wildly overused in the next couple days in the blogosphere. Here’s some brief thoughts on who and what are “On Notice” for the Pitt game.

Send me your own submissions and I’ll post some of the best.

Hall of Fame Coach Don Nehlan spoke to WVU law students the other night. He was in total grumpy old man mode.

Coaches make too much money, too much pressure to win now and he discussed religion.

When the subject turned to the current state of college football, Nehlen did not hesitate to express his views. “The (current) drive to win at all costs scares me. Coaches making one or two million dollars a year scares me. That’s too much for a doggone coach.”

“It’s a game, and we’ve made it like a religion,” Nehlen continued. “If you look at the Southeastern Conference, I’m not sure it isn’t a religion.”

The role television has played in transforming the game into a business also worries Nehlen. “TV tells schools what to do and when to do it. We used to not play on Friday nights out of respect for high school football. Now we play on Fridays. It’s like biting the hand that feeds you. If you play on a Wednesday, the athletes miss class from traveling on Tuesday and on gameday, and we all know they’re not going on Thursday. But the NCAA says it’s all about academics. It’s not. It’s about money.”

Then he went on about the Big East — taking a rip at Louisville — and speaking near heresy.

“Say what you want, but it killed us to lose those teams,” Nehlen said in reference to Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College, each of which defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference since 2004.

“We’ll be playing a lot more Wednesday games unless something changes. South Florida doesn’t have their own stadium, and at Cincinnati games, the fans would rather talk about the start of basketball season.

“Louisville made their program go by taking Prop 48 guys. Now they can’t do that, and it won’t be long until they’re average again. That’s why we need Pittsburgh and Syracuse to rebound. They’re the only two (Big East) schools with national name recognition. I never thought I’d root for Pitt to get better, but we need them to give our league some prestige.“

[Emphasis added.]

Kind of funny to read anyone associated with WVU complain about schools taking academically questionable students. When the Big East voted this past year to refuse to accept academic non-qualifiers any longer, the Hoopies were one of two schools to vote against the measure.

That’s the frustrating thing about the Big East these days. We find ourselves kind of hoping that our bitter rivals do at least well enough to help the overall quality of the conference, and thus our status.

As previously noted, Charlie Taafe, is filling in this year for Bob Junko with on-the-field coaching duties (Assistant Head Coach). Taafe did a brief stint as head coach in the Canadian Football League. Apparently the rumors are he will return after this season.

The name of Charlie Taaffe, on a one-year consulting contract at Pitt, keeps popping up. When Desjardins arrived to work in the Montreal front office in 1999, Taaffe was the first head coach he worked with.

“Charlie would be the obvious person that people would connect me to,” Desjardins concedes. “He brings a lot of the attributes that I would look for in a head coach in terms of: discipline, to a point, but not pushing it; open communications; and knowing what he wants to do.

“He’s an offensive coach and I think ball control is important in this league, whether people think it is or not. You have to have a running game.

“So he’s an obvious choice. Is he the choice? Well , at the end of this season, a lot of things could happen with coaches in this league, and there are a lot of good assistants who will be available.”

One short-term benefit of hiring Taaffe would be that he’s not under contract to a CFL competitor and could get a significant jump on next season. On off-days from his University of Pittsburgh job, Taaffe could spend some time studying the Ticats.

[Emphasis added.] That would be with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

That did provide a little insight into the style of offense he likes. I think it’s safe to say that this year with Pitt, he will not be a voice agitating in Coach Wannstedt or OC Cavanaugh’s ear to open the game up with the deep ball.

Just to remind everyone, I am posting at AOL as well. So far, I have taken another shot at Paul Rhoads.

Pitt recruit (?) Herb Pope has transferred to Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, FL. – again

No wait, he hasn’t.

I have no idea.

You may remember last spring when all the Herb-Pope-J.O.-Straight-Drunky-Bear-Huggins stuff started popping up in newspapers, trustworthy blogs and not-so-trustworthy blogs.

Well, here we go — again.

Former Aliquippa High School star forward HERB POPE is now enrolled at Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, FL. The powerful prep school welcomed Pope with open arms, though they may be the only place to do so for awhile.

End of story right? Not so fast.

While the author of the story, Chris Dokish, is a friend of Pitt Blather and seems to have an in with Straight that newspaper writers don’t, there seems to be some holes in the report.

He gives us the news of Pope leaving, but never gives us a source or a quote. He moves onto other things, such as Pope being a royal prick; i.e. never making up his mind and starting fights in tournaments.

All the rumors began with a harmless quote in a Kentucky newspaper story that ran on Sunday. On Tuesday Jim Equels Jr. of the Beaver County Times didn’t see it as that harmless.

According to a story in Sunday’s Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, Pope has transferred to Arlington Country Day, a prep school in Jacksonville, Fla. The source of the information is Country Day coach Rex Morgan.

Morgan was discussing one of his players, A.J. Stewart, a potential Kentucky recruit, with Herald-Leader writer Jerry Tipton. Included in the story was the following:

Morgan’s team also has another, more highly regarded prospect in forward Herb Pope. Louisville, Pittsburgh, UConn and Kansas State are on his list.

Pope’s potential caused Morgan to make a telling slip of the tongue. “No question he has the tools to be on the next level,” the coach said before adding with a chuckle, “I mean the next next level.”

Pope was unable to be reached for comment Monday, nor was Morgan.

That’s it? How on earth does that imply Pope has transferred? All the coach is saying is that Pope has the ability to play in the NBA, which he does – the NBA tends to ignore personality.

Yesterday the BC Times ran a story with the following headline “Pope is officially out of Aliquippa.”

It appears likely that Herb Pope, one of the top basketball prospects in the nation, has left Aliquippa for Arlington Country Day, a prep school in Florida.

Pope, a 6-foot-9 forward, was not in school on Tuesday, the first day of classes at Aliquippa. Quips’ coach Marvin Emerson said it is his understanding that Pope would not be attending for his senior year.

“Supposedly, he’s gone,” Emerson said.

That’s a rather wishy-washy story to run after such a definitive headline.

Today we have another wrench thrown into the mix in the form of an Aunt.

On Wednesday, a woman called The Times, saying she was the biological aunt of Pope.

According to the woman, the basketball standout “will be in Aliquippa.”

“I have custody of him,” said the woman, who identified herself as Amy Smith. “He will be in Aliquippa. He is at a tournament in New York now. That’s all you need to know.”

Asked whether Pope was enrolled at Aliquippa, the caller said, “That’s all you need to know.”

Perhaps the angry aunt should have been a source in the earlier stories.

Of course, this whole mess has the larger more credible newspapers jumping on the bandwagon.

Classes started at Aliquippa yesterday, and Pope did not attend. Aliquippa basketball coach Marvin Emerson said he was told by one of Pope’s close friends that Pope is attending Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Fla.

My conclusion: No one has a clue. Regardless, I don’t want Pope at Pitt and I doubt Pitt does either. I’ll trust Dokish for now and assume Pope is gone. Stright probably knows more than he is letting on and may have told Dokish some of it off the record.

That’s just my speculation — everyone else is going it, why can’t I?

I’m glad they believe in themselves.

Four of those five players return, so the continuity is much better heading into this season. Some linemen said that alone should translate into a group that is more capable of both protecting quarterback Tyler Palko and opening running lanes for tailbacks.

“Last year was tough on all of us because we just didn’t get much of an opportunity to play together until later in the season and, by that time, we were already on our way to a losing record,” said center Joe Villani. “This year, we have four guys together already and, really, we just needed to work one new guy into the mix, which is much easier to do.”

Simonitis added, “We started camp this year ahead of, and I mean by a lot, where we ended last season. It is not even close. I really expect us to not just have a good year, but to be the strength of our offense.”

Part of me thinks that would be tremendous if true. The other part fears that if so, the rest of the offense would be in the gutter if this O-line were the strength of the offense.

As I keep repeating like some football Fox Mulder, I want to believe. It’s just that I’ve seen this O-line the last few years so I have a hard time being optimistic sight unseen. Especially with this returning O-line. Right now, the best I can muster is that I doubt that they will be worse.

The named team captains for the opener aren’t really a surprise: Tyler Palko and Steve Buches on the offense (What? No one from the O-line?) and H.B. Blades and Clint Sessions from the defense. All are seniors.

I don’t know why I felt my rear iris close when I read this.

Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said the top two priorities against Virginia are to stop the run and eliminate the deep play.

“They’re going to take their shots early and probably take their shots often to try to get easy scores and big scores,” Rhoads said, “so we have to protect against it.”

Why do I have the sense that DC Rhoads is more concerned about a deep ball from a 5th year QB who has never started throwing to a full crew of inexperienced WRs — and the only experienced and skilled WR will be covered by Darrelle Revis — then the run? Oh, that’s right, history.

While I’ve been happy to point out the many areas where Virginia looks to be weaker and has a lot of questions, there’s no getting around the fact that Pitt seems to have just as many issues.

“There are a lot of circumstances at receiver, so we’re not as deep as I would like to be at the position with guys that have played or with practice time,” Wannstedt said.

“Oderick Turner is going to be an outstanding player. He’s a redshirt freshman, but he’s going to grow up fast. And he’s going to make plays Saturday night.”

Pitt is just as young at running back. Sophomore LaRod Stephens-Howling returns as the starting tailback, but three freshmen — Shane Brooks, Kevin Collier and Dickerson are the backups. Sophomore Conredge Collins and redshirt junior Mark Yezovich are battling for the fullback spot.

“To LaRod’s credit, and our strength program, he’s about 10 pounds heavier than he was a year ago today,” Wannstedt said. “I believe he’s stronger, and he’s plenty tough enough. … But, will we spell him? Yes. … There’s no question that it’s going to be running back by committee.”

There are several other issues for Pitt. The placekicking is not settled due to a lingering hamstring injury to redshirt sophomore Conor Lee. A second walk-on, freshman Dan Hutchins, is battling for the starting spot.

Coach Wannstedt seems to really want to give the job to Lee, as he keeps holding the window open, but Lee’s hammy doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. Expect the choice of who kicks FGs to be a gametime decision.

It’s good that Mick Williams is back practicing with the team after his concussion. Personally, though, I would completely rule him out from playing for this week. Just as a precaution since he took quite a while to get better and also, the rotation at DT looks set at the moment. There’s no need to mess with it in the game itself.

Joe Clermond earning the starting gig at left defensive end was a mild surprise after the season he had last year.

“I told Joe, ‘A year ago, I wouldn’t have given you much of a chance to ever be a contributor here,’ ” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “He’s done a nice job, and he’ll be in the mix come Saturday night.”

A talk with defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads pointed Clermond in the right direction. Rhoads told Clermond the Panthers recruited him because of his speed and playmaking ability, then challenged him to return to form.

In the final three games of the 2004 season, Clermond had 19 tackles — two for loss — and a fumble recovery. That was a drastic difference from last season, when Clermond had 14 total tackles and two sacks in 10 games.

The 6-foot-3 Clermond helped his cause after dropping from 263 pounds to 237 in the offseason, eating more protein and less starch to maintain his weight while reducing his body fat. He concentrated on improving his conditioning, and his speed suddenly returned.

“I’m really proud of him,” defensive ends coach Charlie Partridge said. “He’s as healthy as he’s been at any point the last couple of years. That certainly has helped his progress. You’ve got to give the kid credit. He’s fought back from not playing well a year ago with high expectations on his shoulders at that time and has bounced back and had a really nice camp.”

It was enough to impress Wannstedt and unseat Chris McKillop as the starter. That move surprised even Clermond, who had not only dropped off the Panthers’ depth chart but off the radar altogether.

It helps Clermond that speed is something Coach Wannstedt really wants at every position. Losing the weight helped his speed and made a huge difference.

On the progress of defensive line:

I think if you look at our offensive and defensive line, on the offensive line, some guys have separated themselves from one group to the other. With the defensive line — and I think it’s going to turn out to be a real positive for us – (it’s) the competition. I kidded them because I told them that the first four guys off the bus were starting on the defensive line. We’re going to play a lot of guys. We’re going to play eight guys, maybe more – not just to play them, even though I like rotating guys to keep them fresh, but the competition is that close…

That was Coach Wannstedt last year prior to the start of the season.

Obviously, that was more than a little off. Coach Wannstedt has attributed last season’s missed expectations to the coaches not fully knowing what the players could do and players not being familiar with the system (please try to ignore the fact that all of the coaches on the defense were holdovers from the Harris regime, so you would think that they might have something of an idea about what that side of the ball could do).

“Are we further ahead from where we were a year ago?” Wannstedt asked rhetorically. “Yes. No question we are. How is that going to influence wins and losses? We’ll have to wait to the end of the year to see that. I believe our football team is where we need to be mentally and physically. We’ve had a good camp and our guys are ready to go.”

Wannstedt has been asked many other questions about his team this offseason, which isn’t surprising given its losing record a year ago. Up to this point, many of his answers have either been philosophical or speculative in nature. But the real answers about his team will start to be uncovered Saturday night when the season starts.

…

The Panthers are a fairly young team and have plenty of inexperienced players either starting or playing key reserve roles. Wannstedt has said throughout training camp that if ever he could use an exhibition game it is this season because it would give his younger players a chance to have a dress rehearsal before they are thrown into the fire.

But he does not expect a repeat of last year’s opener because this is his second season as coach and the players are more familiar with his system. He said the veterans will help the young players out and he has a better understanding of his players.

[Emphasis added.]

I’m not trying to hang Coach Wannstedt with his own words. It’s just that it all sounds good and I want to believe, but it only is so if the team wins. Simply put, Pitt and Wannstedt really need this season opener.

Honestly, I’m having something of a fear reaction as this first game gets closer. It’s making me a little more cynical and sarcastic. Something of a defensive reaction I would say to the fear of disappointment. Trying to temper the optimism that despite my best efforts has been trying to push forward. I hate that.

Let’s get to the embarrassing stuff. The WR who left for “personal reasons” in this case was code for criminal charges.

Former Virginia football player Theirrien “Bud” Davis faces a felony charge in Albemarle County. Davis, a reserve wide receiver in 2004 and ’05, was arrested March 28 and charged with stealing property — textbooks — worth at least $200 “with intent to sell or distribute,” Capt. Michael Coleman of the U.VA. police department said yesterday.

The incident allegedly occurred March 2 at the U.Va. book store. Coleman declined to disclose additional details.

…

Asked yesterday about Davis’ departure, Virginia coach Al Groh said, “This has been an issue that Bud’s been dealing with for awhile. We’ve been in conversation with him over a period of time, and I think we’ll just leave it as a personal issue . . . If it was a playing-time matter, he probably wouldn’t have withdrawn from school.”

You have to be amused about the recent line of Parcell coaching prodigies. They have all adopted this minimal information disclosure and engage in carefully crafted euphemisms that are just accepted when the team is winning and doing well (see Belichick in New England vs. his time in Cleveland). When the team is not meeting expectations or the columnists and writers run out of tolerance for it, it gets old and becomes a source of mocking.

OK, things are a little unsettled in C’ville. Five months ago, in fact, upon punting Ahmad Brooks, Vince Redd and Tony Franklin from the squad (Franklin has since been granted a pardon and plugged into the secondary), Groh allowed that U.Va. was in “a rebuilding circumstance” — rebuilding circumstance being Groh-ese for, umm, rebuilding.

With Davis gone, after being expected to be on the 2-deep and perhaps start — of course with a criminal charge pending since March that the football coaches apparently knew about, you have to wonder why they waited until now — the receiving corp now has a junior walk-on who has never caught a pass on the 2-deep. Starting will be Sophomore Kevin Ogletree.

Coaches and teammates have spoken highly of Ogletree’s ability. At 6-foot-2 and 186 pounds, he’s got the physical tools to be a playmaker. But he saw limited action as a true freshman last season. Five of his seven receptions last year came in a 51-3 win over Temple.

Groh said he isn’t sure what to expect of Ogletree in Saturday’s opener at Pittsburgh.

“Definitely, Kevin Ogletree has got to come in and prove himself,” said senior Fontel Mines, who starts at the other receiver spot.

Returning punts and kickoffs will be a Sophomore transfer from Hawaii, Andrew Pearman

Pearman, younger brother of former Virginia star Alvin Pearman, will return both punts and kickoffs. No one questions Pearman’s speed or elusiveness.

“We want to see if he can catch the ball,” Groh said.

I really hope the special teams coaches are reading this.

The other penchant of the Parcells coaching tree is trying to keep things secret. No matter how silly.

If you went by the depth chart, it would appear that junior Chris Gould will get the first shot at kicking field goals and extra points for the Cavaliers, with sophomore Ryan Weigand starting at punter.

Groh might have a different plan, but don’t try getting the answer before Saturday’s game. Gould remains an option at punter, a position he has held since late in the ’04 season.

“I probably have [decided on a punter],” Groh said, “but I don’t know that I have necessarily told anybody that.”

Brilliant.

There is still one receiver for Virginia who was expected to start and hasn’t been injured, kicked off the team or arrested. Frontel Mines looks to be lining up against Darrelle Revis.

In Virginia’s upset of No. 4 Florida State, Mines had a career-best five receptions for 49 yards. In the Cavaliers’ comeback win over Minnesota in the Music City Bowl, he caught four passes, including one for a TD late in the third quarter.

With his muscular frame (6-4, 220 pounds), Mines could almost pass for a tight end, and he’s an ideal complement to the sleeker, faster Williams (6-3, 196). Now, however, with Williams out indefinitely, Mines looks around the huddle and sees less-experienced receivers: juniors Emmanuel Byers and Theirrien Davis, sophomores Kevin Ogletree, Andrew Pearman and Maurice Covington.

“The receivers, we just got to embrace the challenge,” said Mines, who’s caught 41 passes for 481 yards and three TDs as a Cavalier. “We’ve got to be ready to step up and fill the void.”

Honestly, if there is a game where Pitt should have the safeties playing closer to the line to help on the run and bring pressure on the QB, this game has to be the one.

Finally, apparently Pitt isn’t the only team that has a leader on defense with great bloodlines that will generate glowing stories. The Cavs have Howie Long’s kid to fill that void.

The kicking situation for Virginia, like Pitt, has yet to be resolved.

The kicking positions “are right up on the same bar of importance with the other positions,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “The one guy I might want back more than anyone else is Connor Hughes.”

Hughes set a new standard for dependability at the placekicking position throughout his four years at Virginia. He made 83.5 percent of his career field goal attempts and set school records in points (332), field goals made (66) and extra points made (134). Of the 12 field goals of 50 yards or longer in Virginia history, Hughes kicked five of them. He was signed by the New Orleans Saints this summer but was released last week and is currently looking to catch on with another NFL squad.

Smith may have received less attention than Hughes but was equal in importance. Of his 66 kickoffs in 2005, 38 resulted in touchbacks and the average starting position for Virginia’s opponents was the 21-yard line, tied for the best mark in the ACC. He was picked in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers.

The Cavaliers will look to junior Chris “Beep” Gould and senior Noah Greenbaum to handle the kicking duties. Gould carried out the punting duties for Virginia the past two seasons, a role that may be filled by junior Ryan Weigand this year, depending on how the competition shakes out.

Gould was a reliable punter averaging 40 yds/punt. That they would move him to kicking duties and go with a guy who did no punting for them last year suggests they don’t have much else they can rely upon.

A junior receiver expected to be on the 2-deep for the Cavs left the school for personal reasons. This in addition to the loss of star WR Deyon Williams with a foot injury. Add in a new starting QB and RB, and a bunch of new personnel on the O-line and the Cavs could be as offensively questionable as Pitt.
Groh expects Pitt to be fired up with the honoring of the 1976 National Championship team.

Wannstedt said he’ll probably ask some of the Pitt legends to address the current team this weekend.

“It’s going to be great to have them in,” said Wannstedt, who has two degrees from Pitt and was a graduate assistant on the’76 team. “The timing is perfect, so it’ll be a good night.”

…

Saturday night’s game marks the start of Al Groh’s sixth season as coach at U.Va., where his record is 37-26. Groh expects a “a little more juice in the atmosphere” than usual at Heinz Field, where Pitt went 5-1 last season.

“It’s going to be center stage in Pittsburgh, a big dog-and-pony show,” Groh said. “All of that is going to make it very challenging for this team.”

And of course there is the coaching controversy of Al Groh hiring/promoting his son Mike to Offensive Coordinator. I don’t see why. Just think of the successful father-son HC-OC deals like Joe and Jay Paterno, Bobby and Jeff Bowden, Lou and Skip Holtz. Why would there be questions?

Well if you live in Charlottesville, you can go to the campus arena and watch the game — since few without a dish don’t get ESPNU.

Obviously that won’t help most people. So this might be of interest.

ESPN launched a new website Monday to package all the network’s college sports content.

ESPNU.com is designed to be a companion for the ESPNU television network, the company said.

It will include news, scores, columns, video and audio highlights, podcasts and the live streaming of games.

The streaming will include both live simulcasts of televised games and events that will be exclusive to the Internet, the company said.

[Emphasis added.]

Now, looking on the site, I couldn’t confirm that they will actually live stream the game on Saturday. For all we know, that is still a pending feature. The other thing to remember is that if they do, it will still be the somewhat less than smooth streaming if the prior previews I’ve watched of live game streaming on ESPN Gameplan and Fullcourt are any indication. Still, if it’s all there is, it’s better than nothing.

I’ve sold out.

I’m blogging for the man. Or in this case the media conglomerate.

AOL has hired me to write about Pitt — along with a slew of other college football bloggers — this season. The “official” launch of the AOL CFB Fanhouse Sportsblog was supposed to be yesterday, but it has been delayed until this coming Monday. Write now it is a big mash-up with the focus on the NFL (seems to be a popular place for ex-college players to go, might catch-on).

When the AOL CFB blog is up and fully running there will be it’s own place and you can even narrow it by the particular team or even place — meaning you can follow just Pitt or all Pittsburgh teams that are blogged on AOL. You should also be able to pay attention by conference, so you can follow the other Big East sellouts bloggers and their teams.

The clincher for me to do this wasn’t the money or more exposure. It was also being asked to be the lead blogger for the Big East. Meaning, I help keep an eye on things for the conference and talk with the other BE bloggers. I can be a bit of a control freak, so that appealed to me. Besides, it’s important for a Pitt guy to be one of the CFB bloggers with a modicum of influence (not that I’d abuse power and authority, much).

I’ve already been doing some posting, and you can find just my posts here if you want to limit to just me. As you can see, I’ve already done some posting. I am sorry not to have broken the news earlier, but AOL wanted this to be a soft launch initially and build up some content.

So what does that mean for this shiny new blog? Not much is changing. I will obviously be putting some posts over there, but this blog is not going anywhere. The AOL Blog is just for the season, not all year. Additionally, they want the posts somewhere between 100-400 words. So, unlike many of the posts here, they should be a little shorter.

Plus with Keith W. helping during the season, I think the impact will be minimal.

Remember last year when Herb Pope was apparently going to transfer to a prep school in Florida? Apparently it may be happening again, or the coach of that prep school is repeating himself.

Morgan’s team also has another, more highly regarded prospect in forward Herb Pope. Louisville, Pittsburgh, UConn and Kansas State are on his list.

Pope’s potential caused Morgan to make a telling slip of the tongue. “No question he has the tools to be on the next level,” the coach said before adding with a chuckle, “I mean the next next level.”

Now here’s where it gets interesting. No one knows again. Including his AAU Coach J.O. Stright.

The question of where Pope will spend his senior year should be answered soon, as school begins at Aliquippa today.

Aliquippa basketball coach Marvin Emerson was uncertain of Pope’s enrollment status, as was athletic director Mike Zmijanac.

“I honestly have no clue,” Zmijanac said. “I guess we’ll know by Wednesday.”

Pope’s AAU coach, J.O. Stright, said he has not seen or heard from Pope since sending him home from a tournament in Orlando after an on-court altercation.

“I know he looked at going there (Country Day) last year but didn’t pull the trigger,” Stright said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if he has (transferred).”

Rex Morgan also has plenty of close ties to Bob Huggins. Taking Stright at his word for the moment (and considering his willingness to flak for Pope and other players in the past, I’m actually willing to), it seems Pope has a little more independence from Stright and is still immature enough to not like being disciplined.
Regardless of his talent I think most Pitt fans are hoping to avoid this potential headache.

Well the news conference to announce it was “exclusive” ESPN360 content, so I didn’t see it. Here’s the media release from the Big East.

For football.

A minimum of 17 home games involving BIG EAST Conference teams will be televised on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2, including four Thursday night games and two Sunday night games on ESPN or ESPN2. In fact, this commitment represents the largest number of guaranteed appearances on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 in the history of BIG EAST Conference football.

At least one conference game will be a part of ESPN’s Saturday Prime Time package and two games – one on ABC or ESPN, the other on ESPN2 – will be on Championship Saturday in December.

In addition, ESPN Regional, the nation’s largest football regional network reaching more than 30 million homes, will broadcast nine games and will continue its Game of the Week package, which is syndicated throughout BIG EAST markets and beyond. Most games produced by ERT are also offered as part of the ESPN GamePlan pay subscription service.

Finally, the conference will also have a minimum of five home contests televised by ESPNU. The minimum number of football games involving BIG EAST teams on television increases further when taking into account appearances in non-conference away contests.

Now for basketball.

The BIG EAST will continue to be the only conference in the country to have each and every one of its men’s basketball tournament games televised by ESPN. There were record audiences for the 2006 BIG EAST Championship, including the final game, which was the highest-rated cable tournament final of the year (2.58).

In addition, ESPN Regional will carry a minimum of 80 games (66 conference and 14 home non-conference) and continue its weekend Game of the Week package, which reaches approximately 30 percent of the nation’s homes and has a total household reach of more than 30 million. Most games offered by ERT are also available nationally as part of ESPN Full Court, the pay subscription college basketball outer-market service.

…

Minimum 60 games on ESPN or ESPN2

• 49 regular season games – 41 conference and eight home non-conference
• 11 BIG EAST Championship games

110 additional regular season games broadcast on the remaining ESPN platforms

• 80 games on ESPN Regional (66 conference and 14 home non-conference)
• 30 conference games on ESPNU/ESPN360

Minimum of 10 conference or non-conference games on CBSThe above gives the BIG EAST a minimum grand total of 180 television games each year.

The BIG EAST will continue to be featured each week during the conference season on ESPN’s Big Monday. A new element to the agreement will allow ESPN to also feature a BIG EAST Conference match up on Thursday each week. The agreement also provides that each BIG EAST team have a minimum of 10 games telecast on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic or ERT.

Short-term (the next couple of years) very good for the Big East and its members. The money will be nice. Long-term, it puts the BE schools further behind the other schools in terms of growing revenue streams and control.

The agreement will also cover content to be provided on broadband and cellular services.

And guess who has the control?

The new contract extensions give ESPN, which is on the cutting edge of new media technology, the right to distribute its BIG EAST inventory on any new potential consumer-based platforms. “We will be on the crest of the wave of the future,” Tranghese said. “The BIG EAST is proud to allow ESPN to explore new ways to give the Conference even more national exposure through innovative technology.”

Thanks for giving that property away in this contract. ESPN controls the rights, content and control over the most important long-term media area.

That’s where the big growth areas and new revenue streams are. I know some of you think I’m being ridiculous about this, and my notes that Mountain West premiere’s its channel this week and that the SEC is planning its own cable channel along with the Big 11 in the next couple of years.

I asked this question back in June when the BE deal was first leaked.

It’s a real concern to me that this conference seems to lack any foresight or desire to try and see what is coming. All it seems to do is react and get into a defensive stance.

This next TV deal is supposed to be for a lot of money, and that’s great. But does it consider the distribution of content in other ways? Does it take into account possible broadband video and audio distribution, podcasts and whatever else is next? Or did it all get left in a vague terms that would require a lawsuit later to resolve actual ownership, distribution, fee rights and such?

At least part of it was answered. It’s not vague at all. Disney gets it all.

Pitt’s running into that now with its “Panther Access.” They are expecting $70/year subscriptions for people to get Internet radio broadcasts for football and basketball? ESPN won’t be giving away the internet TV rights to those things. They have their full court and gameplan packages to sell. But the SEC, Big 11 and Mountain West will all be able to do that. They’ll be able to offer conference and team packages for seasons online. They’ll be able to offer a download to watch the game later — an online TiVo.

Hell, guess what? The Big Sky conference is already doing it online. That’s right, the Big frickin’ Sky conference.

This season, the entire nine-school Big Sky Conference will webcast all football, basketball and volleyball games, using technology from Salt Lake City-based SportsCast Network LLC.

Fans will be able to choose which team’s audio feed to which to listen. Games will be archived and can be downloaded to portable devices like Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod.

“This is the future,” Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton said. “The fan will decide what they are going to watch and when they are going to watch it.”

Northern Arizona does TV broadcast of its games online, and the rest of the conference is following suit. The Ivy league is also doing it.

“We can produce our own television and reach, literally, the entire world on the Web, without having to go through the issues of, is there cable availability? Is there satellite availability? Is there advertising support?” said Jeff Orleans, commissioner of the Ivy League.

He expects most of the league’s sporting events will be online within seven years.

Seven years. Remarkable coincidence. That’s how long the BE contract with ESPN runs.

You know the ACC and Big 12 have been paying attention to these movements. They have their contracts coming up and they will follow suit.

By the time the BE contract comes up for renewal, all the other schools will already have established their channels and their broadband outlets. The BE, once again, will be reacting and playing catch-up.

For those of you who are thinking that the good thing is that the BE will become that much more important to ESPN and more games will be shown on the mouse family, no. They still have their TV deals and will show plenty of games. That’s why the BE will only have 17 games aired, with only a few guaranteed for non-weekdays. Not an encouraging sign.
It’s just that the other conferences will have more control over their content and the revenue from it. The BE football will continue to be used like the Mountain West was to fill programming on the weeknights.