The 2007 Pitt Football Media Guide has been released and is available to download.

Get reading.

The PittBlather site has been up and posting for a year today. Disturbingly, that means a little obligatory self-congratulations and reflection. It seems to be a blogospheric thing where you point out the anniversary of not getting sick of continually posting and updating your blog. I am a bit of a traditionalist.

It’s safe to say this has been a 12 month period of tremendous upheaval and change on so many levels for me. From the new site, becoming an editor/blogger for FanHouse at AOL, a house fire, Dennis joining the ‘Blather, new son, heart issues for the infant, frightening veneer of credibility being attached to me, some new opportunities and possibilities that appear to be opening up for me.

There’s a reason I don’t like to get reflective. There’s been a lot of s**t the last year and I honestly hadn’t thought much about all of it in one period until I started writing this. Yeesh.

So much of the good has happened because of this blog. It really is stunning. I owe everyone who comments or just reads a great deal. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it, even if this has been a labor of love.

One of the big things I’m very happy about is still not needing a registration system for comments. That’s something I just don’t like having to do on other sites, and hated the idea of having to do it here. Thankfully between the spam filters, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of you don’t put me in a position where I have to consider it, the commenting system remains in place. Only 3 bans in the 12 month period is completely in the tolerable area.

The blog since the move to its own site last August has steadily increased in popularity. For the year, the site has averaged over 1,000 unique visitors a day. Most encouraging is that the past two months — some of the deadest times for college sports has seen the 2nd and 4th most hits this year. To actually see more hits in the summer than during the seasons is something (or it could just be reflective of how disappointed and depressed everyone was over the football team). When the blog first started, it was a shock when the hit count went over 100 for the day.

Here’s hoping for a football and basketball season that actually exceed expectations. Thanks once more to everyone.

He’ll get another chance — next year.

Fields has been suspended for the football season for violating team policy, Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt announced Tuesday.

“Although we have suspended Elijah for the season, he will remain part of our program and practice,” Wannstedt said in a statement. “We will continue to demand that he work hard on the field and in the classroom so that he can be an important part of our program’s future.”

Of course, that depends on Fields actually showing up and working. Something that it seems he has shown little commitment to actually doing.

He has some incredible talent. He flashed it in the spring where he missed a series of practices, had a brief suspension and still looked phenomenal in the Blue-Gold game. He doesn’t seem to care about the rest — academics, practice, conditioning, the future.
This suspension has been rumored all summer. Heck, Orson at EDSBS was probably hinting at it earlier yesterday (item #6).

Pitt seems to be all they can to help the kid. If he doesn’t want the help and the opportunity, though, there’s not much to be done.

I’m guessing Safety becomes a bigger priority in recruiting at this point.