Hi everyone! Long time no see. I wish I had more time to write these days but unfortunately I lack the time to put the thought into things that I prefer to write. I still haven’t finished Stranger Things season 2. There’s not going to be a lot of deep thought here, just frustration.

I had a feeling heading into this season that it was a transition year. Pitt lost a lot of talent on offense and the defense was still going to be a work in progress. Matt Canada left, forcing the offense into their 3rd coordinator in 3 years. Narduzzi did a good job with his first two picks so I gave him the benefit of the doubt on Shawn Watson. But it was clear the offense would take a step back no matter what. (more…)

Before I get to the meat of this article I would like to reiterate something I have passed along on here a few times since I started writing for the Blather all those many moons ago. After you read it, then get into the article itself, you’ll see the connection.

I’ve been asked many times on here, on the message boards, in person at tailgates, at special Pitt events and functions and at the games, something on these lines ‘Why do you think you are qualified to write a blog and why should we care about what you have to say’.

My response to that has always been pretty consistent in replying ‘Because I’m a fan like you, I have extensive historical ties to the university and actually there is no concrete reason why you should care about my stuff at all’ – or something to that effect.

Those ‘historical ties’ go back to 1908 when my grandfather on my Dad’s side helped the growing Western University of Pennsylvania Medical school become The University of Pittsburgh’s Medical school and stayed on as a staff instructor and professor.

(more…)

Here are the latest Team and Individual statistics for Pitt through the Iowa Game.

The Narduzzi Era at Pitt began yesterday and Pitt came out with a 45-37 win against the tough and persistent Youngstown State Penguins in front of 49,969 mostly yellow-painted fans.  Here are the official game stats in case you are wondering how what happened came about.

There is good news and bad news coming out of this ballgame.  Here are the highlights so that you can see some of each type of play we had Saturday:

(more…)

In the most timely news to hit the street and anger Pitt football fans our young DE Rori Blair made a monumental mistake when he chose to smoke reefer and treat the parkway like he was in the Hot Metal Bridge 500 race qualifying rounds.  From The P-G this morning:

State police wrote in a criminal complaint that a trooper working near the Fort Pitt Bridge clocked Blair, 20, of Upper St. Clair, driving at 117 mph in a 55-mph zone March 15. That trooper pulled the car over in a left lane on Fifth Avenue in Oakland and “detected a strong odor of marijuana emitting from his breath and about his person as he spoke along with blood shot glassy eyes,” police wrote.

Police took Blair to UPMC Mercy for a blood test, which came back positive for cannabinoids, police said. They charged Blair via summons Monday with driving under the influence, driving at an unsafe speed and other violations.

(more…)

Yesterday we had a discussion on The Blather regarding WR Tyler Boyd being dropped off the Biletnikoff Award watch list because of his arrest and it’s circumstances.  The fact that he hasn’t been convicted or anything yet was raised as a counter to that decision. However, the Award committee has separate criteria/standards/rules that they are applying here, just like a university or any other formal institution.  As such they don’t have to wait or even care about a conviction.

Being legally convicted of some transgression are a civil and/or criminal judiciary matter, not a non-legal institutional one.  The difference is that universities and their football programs apply discipline and sanctions as they see fit.  Hence we have suspensions and even dismissals which are based on internal and NCAA rules and not the local criminal laws.

There is a solid basis in the award committee making this decision, as the criteria is pretty straight forward:

5. The candidate must display leadership and self discipline; and he must have a significant, positive impact on his team’s success.

(more…)

It has been a crazy day. I woke up to text messages, Facebook posts, and tweets that all say Chryst is gone. While this is still the likely scenario, there’s a tinge of hope. Let’s go over some facts of what we know:

1. Chryst is a candidate for the Wisconsin job and at worst the leader for the job. Most reports indicate the job is his if he accepts if he hasn’t already.
2. Wisconsin cannot formally announce a hire until Wednesday due to some legal job posting rule, so no formal announcement can occur until then.
3. Chryst met with Chancellor Gallagher and only Gallagher today. Pederson was not a party in this meeting.
4. Chryst attended practice today with the team and a meeting was held before. At this meeting he did not tell the team he was leaving.
5. Jordan Whitehead said he’s still committed to Pitt. This isn’t relevant to any of the above other than THANK YOU BABY JESUS!!!

Take all of that in. What could it all mean? (more…)

It was painfully obvious to anyone watching yesterday that the defense was woefully unprepared for Georgia Tech’s offense.  Even disregarding points and blaming it on turnovers, 612 yards of total offense is so high no amount of expletives can come close to calming the justifiable anger. I’ve defended Matt House a lot this season and the narrative right now is that Pitt’s defense had high ratings due to inferior competition. Let’s explore the stats there to see how close Pitt came to holding opposing offenses to their season average. (more…)

There’s a scene in Oscar-snubbed film “The Replacements” where Coach McGinty (played by Gene Hackman) asks his NFL replacement players what they’re most afraid of. After some typical responses, QB Shane Falco (played by the enigmatic Keanu Reeves) hits the nail on the head:

Quicksand (more…)

Bad news for Chas everyone. I finally found the incriminating photos he has of me and was able to break free of the virtual shackles that go along with someone owning a picture of you in a speedo. Just kidding, no human being, my wife included, could even look at that picture long enough to consider using it as blackmail. Not that one exists (thankfully).

As I’m sure many of you have noticed, I’m writing for Pitt247 now. A friend introduced me to Greg Croft, the site publisher, and there was mutual interest in me joining the team. I’ll still be here from time to time, but less frequently. I’m very sad to leave. Chas has been a phenomenal benefit to me as a writer not only in helping me improve my craft, but by giving me the platform to get my name out there. If Chas is interested in taking on a new writer, you won’t find anyone more willing to let you express your thoughts without any interference. If he ever edited anything, it was probably to fix a stupid mistake I made.

Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks for listening to my rambling over the past year or so!

You have to do this don’t you. I know, you have been the most maligned QB at Pitt since Matt Lytle. I know you probably don’t have the greatest memories of Pitt and the fans. I can’t even blame you for that.

I also know you love your family. And they come first. Have to respect that. But why? Why? Why be the tone deaf, clueless asshole?

College football is back! Can't wait to see @vsunseri3 and My Dads Seminoles do there things! #RollTide3 #FearTheSpear #Famiglia

— Tino Sunseri (@sunseri12) August 31, 2013

I suppose he is who he is. But really, given the history on twitter. Keep it to yourself.

I would like to hope this is not as bad as it looks, but it probably is.

Officers arrested Jovani Chappel, 25, about 1:30 p.m. after police spotted him sitting on the front porch of a home in the 5000 block of Lytle Street in Hazelwood, Pittsburgh police major crimes unit Lt. Kevin Kraus said.

Police went to the PNC Bank branch in the 4300 block of Murray Avenue in Greenfield about 10:40 a.m.

Lt. Kraus said a masked robber threatened the tellers with a gun, although it was not immediately clear if the tellers actually spotted one.

The robber hopped over the counter and took cash from several of the tellers’ drawers and then got into a car and drove away, police said.

A witness noted the license plate and gave it to police, who tracked it to Mr. Chappel’s girlfriend’s home in the 5100 block of Blair Street, Lt. Kraus said.

Members of the SWAT team surrounded the house and searched it and a few other homes in the area this morning, only to discover that Mr. Chappel was not there.

Officers found him sitting on the front porch of a home about two block away, on Lytle Street, about 1:30 p.m. It was not immediately clear what connection, if any, he had to that home.

Lt. Kraus said police were taking Mr. Chappel to the bureau’s North Side headquarters for questioning this afternoon and expect to charge him with robbery.

I’m setting the bar low, but I guess I would have thought anyone who graduated from Pitt would have been smart enough not to drive a getaway car with easily identifiable and traceable plates. Guess not.

Pitt officials have announced that Tra’Von Chapman has been dismissed from the program. In essence: he’s gone, never coming back. We can debate endlessly over this decision, but the call came all the way from the top: Chancellor Nordenberg. (more…)

Good lawyer, probably a bit of overdoing it on the number of charges, and a clean past help.

Back in May, Carl Krauser had a bit of trouble with the police. You may recall the laundry list of charges: escape, carrying a loaded weapon, possession of a small amount of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, public drunkenness and driving with a suspended license.

The escape, public drunkenness and driving with a suspended license charges were all dropped. That left the drug and weapon charges. The outcome? Two years of ARD.

Krauser, 31, of New York City, was approved for the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program Tuesday by Judge Kim Tesla. If participants successfully complete ARD, they can petition court officials to have their record expunged.

Court records show that Krauser will be on ARD for two years on charges of having firearms not to be carried without a license, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

As a first time offender, he was eligible for the program. That strikes me as a pretty good lawyer to be able to get him ARD when it involves an unlicensed, loaded firearm.

Obviously a huge burden off of Krauser. He had to give up his passport while the case was pending. That meant no way for him to sign an overseas contract with his legal status up in the air. Now, he can return to playing professional basketball in Europe or Asia.

So it can be a felony to pull a fire alarm when there is no emergency in New York? Good to know. Dion Lewis found that out by actions.

While staying at the Albany Hampton Inn, Dion and his brother Lamar went out for a good Saturday night, returning around 4 am Sunday. Unfortunately Lewis either left his key card in the room or lost it at one of Abany’s many hotspots. This left the Lewis boys stuck outside their hotel. Not even able to get into the lobby. Apparently they eventually got in and then…

Either Dion or Lamar Lewis then pulled the hotel’s fire alarm, waking dozens of patrons and prompting emergency crews to visit the hotel, police said.

Both brothers were charged with falsely reporting a fire, a felony, and misdemeanor reckless endangerment.

The felony is a class E felony. New York’s lowest grade of felony. Still that allows the story to be “Eagles and former Pitt player charged with felony!!!”

Extra kicker, part of why Lewis was in town was to speak to the Troy Boys and Girls Club, “where he was expected to talk to roughly 100 kids about ‘the value of working to the best of their abilities both on and off the playing field.’ ” Needless to say, the event was canceled.

(more…)