I repeat my feeling that Pitt was really, really foolish to count on the Big East to give them a game in the SEC/Big East Challenge. I don’t care what vibe they got from the conference. What assurances they thought they had. It was poor planning, and coupled with Big East incompetency entirely avoidable.

As such, they have been scrambling for a month to get a good (power conference with NCAA Tournament chances opponent) home game in a very specific window (right around the first weekend of December) of the non-con. Needless to say, it hasn’t gone so well. That leaves Pitt looking to find a mid-major of quality.

So, um, the Horizon Leauge, huh?

Pitt is still trying fill a major home date after not getting an expected home game in the Big East-SEC Challenge. The Panthers would be wise to lock in a home game with Horizon League favorite Valparaiso. There have been talks between the two and Pitt may not get a better RPI game on the nonconference home schedule.

I guess the upside is that Pitt probably wouldn’t have to give a return game.

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Not sure why a bunch of stuff chose to break just before Juy 4. It means more stuff piling up in the browser window. The expansiopocolypse stuff, once more, has been a big summer filler. And like so many big summer movies, much more hype than any substance.

The Big 12 expansion stuff ended up a lot like the Green Lantern movie.

Hyped blockbuster, but the story dragged.

Actors that just didn’t have the fit or energy for the movie.  Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively headlining a summer blockbuster=FSU and Clemson in the Big 12.

Bad storyline with motivations muddled and abandoned. The Big 12 wants back to 12. No, wait, they’re happy at 10 teams. They want FSU and are willing to take Clemson. No wait, it is ND they  want. FSU athletic department is broke, not broke, wants to move, internal disagreements, who knows.  Clemson coaches pooh-poohing the move while Clemson fans clamor to go… While in the Green Lantern movie, they tossed in and abandoned little storylines and characters so that you didn’t know the reasons for anything culminating with Sinestro abruptly putting on the yellow “fear” ring at the very end of the movie. This after seeing Parallelax defeated by green willpower and hope.

I’ll stop there because I’m heading off on a major digression before even beginning.

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Late on Tuesday, word came that Pitt had a new verbal. A kicker, to go with a punter who had also received a scholarship. Given that both such specialists for Pitt are seniors, it is not surprising that Coach Paul Chryst has been trying to find replacements for the positions. It’s somewhat surprising that he would use scholarships on both positions in the same year. Not wildly weird. Just mildly questionable to use two scholarships in one year on special teams.

Of course I’m burying the lead on the kicker recruit. Chris Blewitt. A name that has probably launched thousands of snickers. Headlines already written for the first time he misses a game-winning field goal. The fact is, with a last name like Blewitt, I’m hard pressed to come up with a spot in life or in sports where that wouldn’t be thrown back on him.

Middle management: “Hell of a presentation, Blewitt. You really lived up to your name.”

Anywhere on the football field. O-line missing an assignment, WR dropping a pass, DB getting burned…

Basketball: “Blewitt going to the rim for the easy lay-up– Oh! He missed! He really…”

Baseball, committing an error on the field or striking out in a key moment. Or worse, being a pitcher.

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