At some point, Tino Sunseri will just decide not to speak about anything, ever. It just is not worth it for him.

Ever since Fraud Graham fled, Sunseri has avoided taking even the smallest pot shots at the guy. This, despite, being the public whipping boy for Graham (and most Pitt fans) all of last year. He showed incredible restraint, and just seemed happy to put the whole season behind him.

Finally, though, he said something.

Asked to compare coach Paul Chryst’s offense to what Graham installed last year, Sunseri said, “It compares from a high school offense to a pro-style college offense.”

He also contrasted the various complexities that players must learn this season.

“Last year, there weren’t a lot of plays, there weren’t lot of different formations, there weren’t a lot of different motions,” he said. “This offense, it’s coming from making sure you understand shifts and motions and making sure you understand different routes and converting versus different coverages. Guys had to make sure they got in their playbooks, which they did.”

Reminded of the absence of much fanfare this season, Sunseri said Chryst’s approach is different.

“I feel like Coach Chryst has done a great job of just going to work,” he said. “You know what I mean? He’s not here to do shows. He’s not here (to hang) signs. He’s not here to make people laugh or giggle. He’s here to win football games.”

I have some mixed feelings here.

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After a few years of skipping Midnight Madness activities in favor of more family friendly fare, Pitt is bringing it back and with some flair.

Pitt plans on making a statement in its final season in the Big East by resuming its traditional role under Jamie Dixon as a title contender after last season’s NCAA miss. To tipoff the campaign, the Panthers are doing something out of the box for the more maligned Panthers by hosting a Midnight Madness event — outside. The unique event will be a part of the school’s 225-year anniversary celebration. The men’s and women’s teams will play on a wooden outdoor floor, near the Pitt Union. Lights, bleachers and a video board will be brought in for the free event that should begin after a fireworks display at 9:15 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12. If the weather doesn’t cooperate then the teams will go inside at the Petersen Events Center.

It also, just happens to be Homecoming weekend.

Yes, the whole playing outdoors is a bit of a gimmick — whether on an aircraft carrier or on a New Years Day hockey game. Still, this seems like a great idea. Not to mention being set right in the middle of campus.

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Yes, even this site is not immune to the changing forces that have swirled around college athletics.

Okay, so it’s really just some new contributors on the site. Still, with the loss of Pitt Script Blog to the SBN borg outpost, Cardiac Hill. It could be viewed — with enough to drink — as the Pitt Blog Expansion Wars of 2012. Or something else.

Chris Gates is a Pittsburgh native, loves Pitt athletics, and has spent the past year working at 93.7 The Fan. Among the things he did there was blogging. He’s just moved across the country to work at Oregon State as the Web/Interactive Media Coordinator for RecSports, but he still wants to write and talk Pitt. Happily he took me up on an offer to continue doing so here. You can also follow Chris on Twitter. Oh, and he just loves to here Kent State jokes. Can’t get enough of them.

Once upon a time, there was a blogspot blog that focused on Pitt recruiting. Then it got deleted by the person who had it. So others, slightly less serious, brought the place back and opted to have some fun. For a while all was well. But then the incident. A trauma that changed things.

They were never quite the same after the horrible incident known as the 2008 Sun Bowl. Even after the rehab from the mental trauma, the strain proved too much for them. They could never quite recover and generate content with any consistency. Which was a shame since they had some good stuff. A few of them want to try again, but without the pressure of needing to do it on a regular basis. So, now they will try to bring the funny here when so motivated. You can find at least one of them skulking about on twitter as well.

Finally, the mystery* known only as Dan. He’s the new guy. He’s a student at Pitt. Lifelong fan. He’s been in contact with me over the summer and wants to give the blogging thing a go.

*”Mystery” being a relative term. I’ve vetted him to my satisfaction that this won’t be a Sarah Phillips thing. As I’m not sure how much of his actual background he wants to share, however, there’s not much more to tell you about him.

Just one more reason to make sure to glance at the byline under the post title before you angrily complain about (or even compliment) the person who wrote something.