Steelers camp started, so Pirates season is over. Or at least we wish…

The Pirates’ Sept. 8 home game against the Chicago Cubs is being listed as a 3:55 p.m. nationally televised game for Fox on that network’s Web site.

Officially, though, the first pitch remains set for 7:05 p.m., as no one has informed the Pirates of a switch.

Although Fox has the right to shift a limited number of games for its national broadcasts, the Pirates can be expected to resist this one because the University of Pittsburgh has a noon football game against Grambling at noon that day at Heinz Field. That could wreak havoc not only with traffic but also with staffing, as the two North Shore stadiums employ many of the same service workers.

The first time I read that (from the P-G, by the way) I couldn’t get past the sentence, “a noon football game against Grambling at noon.” Once I made it through that though, I realized that if the Pirates are unable to get the time changed back to 7:05 then the entire date of the Pitt game could be in trouble.

I’m not certain how the decision works as to whether it will be kept at the time Fox wants or moved to a night game. Looking at the potential amount of room the Pirates have to make a case with, things don’t look too good: One of the worst records in the league (Cubs are fighting for the NL Central lead) and a TV market that is much smaller in comparison to Chicago.

You might remember that the start time of the Michigan State game last year had to be moved to noon because the Pirates have the parking lot priorities and lots need to be emptied 1.5 hours before the first pitch. With a 3:55 first pitch, lots need to be empty at 2:30, so we’d be looking at a 10:30 kickoff…or another Thursday night game.

To go along with the famous Grambling band coming to Pittsburgh, there is going to be a “Battle of the Marching Bands” at the Pete with high school bands from around the area. It is going to be held on September 7 — a Friday. As the message boarder says:

First of all, there aren’t going to be any decent high school marching bands at the event because THEY WILL ALL BE PERFORMING AT THEIR RESPECTIVE SCHOOLS’ FOOTBALL GAMES!!!!!!!!!

Perfect planning, as always.

On the front page of PittsburghPanthers.com is a link to the 2007 Football Commercial and in it we see what look like the jerseys we’ll be wearing this year. The following are screen shots from that commercial.

A view of the front with the block PITT letters bigger than I ever would have imagined, which I sort of like.

A view of the jersey front from farther back.

Helmets look to be the same as last year. The TV numbers are moved from the top of the shoulder to the side.

Numbers also look like the same as last year. Interesting to note that there are no names on the back. I’m pretty sure we’ll see them there by September 1, though. There was never any talk of names being removed and it’s possible that there simply wasn’t enough time to put names on between getting the jerseys and shooting the commercial.

Again, I’ve been told they would be officially unveiled on August 9th.

Two days ago the Des Moines Register published an article about Big Ten commish Jim Delany talking about possible expansion from 11 to 12 teams (link via USA Today). Since then it’s been a strong point of discussion on TV, in newspapers, and on blogs.

The expansion talks come with the upcoming release of the Big Ten Network. The network, which is scheduled to launch Aug. 30, could use another big-name university in a large television market to gain more exposure for the network and its sponsors.

So who could be that extra team? Obviously the first team that the conference will give significant attention to will be Notre Dame, but it’s more than likely that ND will quickly turn down the offer. A national TV deal, the ability to schedule whoever they want, and the fact that they can take the Big East’s bowl bids. As long as the Big East is getting a BCS bid then ND will gladly take it. Might as well cross the Irish off of the list of possibilities right now.

Then next tier of possible teams include Syracuse and Rutgers. Syracuse first: they allow the conference’s reach to extend to upstate New York. It’s a decent media market but wouldn’t get the attention of NYC residents. Plus they’re primarily a hoops school and the Big East, while not one of the top two or three football conferences, is one of the best for basketball.

What about Rutgers? They might feel as though if they add Rutgers they will gain a hold on New York City, the #1 US market, but that’s hardly true. Piscataway is over 40 miles from NYC and even after the RU football team has picked up a ton of hype, the NYC market barely notices. NYC is a pro sports town dominated by the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, and both NFL teams — not much room left for a college team, located a half hour away no less, to get attention.

The last tier of possibilities likely includes the following teams: Louisville, Missouri, your Pittsburgh Panthers, and maybe a handful of others. Louisville is a program that as a whole is on the rise…but they’re TV market isn’t all that appealing. It’s no secret that Missouri wants to join the Big Ten and adding them opens up the state of Missouri including possibly St. Louis. But what about Pitt? Well, what are the current B10 members saying about Pitt? One of the best college football bloggers (Brian Cook) on one of the best CFB blogs (MGoBlog) has this to say about the Panthers:

PROs: Geographic and academic fit. Also provides natural rival for Penn State. Football program has rich history; basketball program would be a fine addition.

CONs: Michigan and OSU are already raiding the hell out of the WPIAL. Adding Pitt opens no new recruiting grounds and only marginally raises interest in the Pittsburgh market. Their football fanbase would be amongst the worst in the conference.

Verdict: I guess. I would rather take a chance on Rutgers, personally.

Black Shoe Diaries has this to say…

2. Pitt – This isn’t the smartest choice for the Big Ten, but then this is my wish list. For all the crap I give Pitt around here, I want to see this rivalry played every year. Everyone does. Adding Pitt makes that happen.

But this doesn’t jive with Delany’s wish to expand the market for his new network. If it’s true he has an eye on the New York market, Pitt isn’t going to work.

Basically it comes down to this — the pros vs. the cons. We’re here in Pennsylvania, so we’re close enough for consideration. We have a long traditional rivalry going with PSU. As Brian says, we have a football program with a strong history and I don’t think things are going to be much worse than last season — things can really only go up. Our basketball team has been one of the best in the nation over the last 5 years and it doesn’t look like it’s going backwards any time soon. Pitt is also more than a two sport school. Many of our other sports are doing well, including a women’s hoops team on the rise. We have great facilities for football, basketball, and swimming, and with the planned renovations, the “Olympic sports” will have upgraded facilities as well.

That’s the good stuff…so what about the bad? Firstly, adding us doesn’t exactly open up a whole new market. Whether we like it or not, there’s a large contingent of Penn State folks here in Pittsburgh, so the Big Ten already has a portion of the city’s attention. We’re not in a recruiting area that hasn’t already been tapped into by Big Ten teams like they might get from a team like Missouri.

So what are the actual chances that we’d ever get seriously considered/invited? If I had to guess, I’d say the list looks like so (remember this is not who the B10 WANT, but the chance of it actually HAPPENING):

1. Rutgers
2. Missouri
3. Pitt

MGoBlog has the same three but instead has Pitt at #2 and Mizzou at #3. Black Shoe Diaries has Pitt at #2.

Say next year we do, in fact, have an offer extended to us. What’s our answer? Do we stay put in the Big East or take it? Personally I don’t know what I want us to do. Maybe we’ll just have to wait and cross that bridge when it comes, but the fact that we’re even in the consideration is interesting enough.

If you have Comcast On Demand, turn it on right now. There you’ll find a replay of Pitt vs. Providence from January 25, 1988. With Pitt holding a 6-5 lead and 15:24 left in the first half, we start the fast break. Jerome Lane gets the ball, winds up, slams it — broken backboard, glass everywhere, crowd goes nuts.

Here’s how: Your Town > Local Sports > Fox Sports Pittsburgh > Pitt Hoops

It’s the original broadcast with a few cutaways where FSN’s Rob King interviews former guard Jason Matthews. Watch it for yourself and you’ll enjoy it. You can also Pitt and UConn play for the 2003 Big East Championship with some commentary from Brandin Knight.

On the football side of the On Demand fun, you can watch the Blue-Gold game that happened back in the spring. I’ve yet to watch more than a few minutes of it but you might be able to gauge how a few more players look after watching it. From the On Demand main menu, go to Your Town > College Life > Pitt > Athletics. Your commentators for the game are FSN’s Marshall Harris as well as Foge Fazio.

Haven’t been home much the past week or two. Went down to Atlanta last week for the USA Volleyball Junior Olympics. Getting recruited by colleges for sports (although smaller [D-III] schools in my own personal case) is quite an experience. Today I just got back from Penn State (gasp!) for another volleyball trip. I spent enough time in Happy Valley to last me until I die. Talk about always looking for something to do, you talk about State College. No wonder they can attract 105,000 a few Saturdays every year for a football game.

Thankfully I didn’t miss anything too important, but we’re beginning to see the light at the end of the offseason tunnel. There are some points that need to be mentioned though.

Firstly, on tonight’s Sportscenter they did a segment on college football. The question: “Which team will have true freshmen making an impact?” The answer: your Pittsburgh Panthers. Most notably the fact that Pat Bostick could be our starting QB and that Dave Wannstedt feels comfortable starting a freshman in the Big East, even more so than he did starting a rookie in his NFL coaching days. Add in McCoy and a handful of others and we’re going to have a solid number of freshmen seeing action.

Wannstedt might have a player leaving him scholarship behind. Rumor has it that tight end Kyle Hubbard wants released from his scholarship and Wanny will allow it. Hubbard is a 3 star recruit from Lakewood, OH.

More football — the Washington Redskins signed H.B. Blades, their 4th 6th round pick. He’ll be set to go for training camp which begin next week. Football season is quickly approaching…

And if you want some very detailed coverage of some summer league hoops, read the comments posted by Stuart here.

Jamie Dixon will be on ESPN2’s Cold Pizza this morning. The show runs from 10 am until noon so I’m not sure what time he’ll actually come on and how long it’ll last but from the commercials I’ve seen during Mike & Mike (hooray for having the day off!) it looks like Dixon is the main guest on today’s show.

If Dixon says anything special, I’ll be sure to update this post with what it is. If/when they ask him about the Panthers, I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’ll keep his words positive. Just a thought…

Updates:

10:12 am — I guess I never realized how nice it is to have the WWLS cover the Big East. The amount of BET coverage we’re going to see in the next few days is going to be great and it’s already started on Cold Pizza. Jay Bilas says that Georgetown is the favorite to win the BET but if he had to pick another team, it would be Pitt. Dixon hasn’t been on yet but I’m home, I’m bored, and I feel like updating this at my leisure.

11:10 am — They went an hour without mentioning Dixon but rest assured, they just did a little promo for his appearence going into the commercial break.

11:17 am — Dixon finally appears and starts by saying it’s a new season and he believes the Big East can get 8 teams into the NCAA tournament. According to him, Gray definitely lost some rhythm by missing so many practices during his ankle injury but he’s back into the groove with the team.

The Cold Pizza host (already forgot his name…there’s a reason he hosts a show in the middle of the day on ESPN2) brings up free throwing shooting…and then asks Dixon to shot some foul shots on in his suit and tie on the 7 foot basketball hoop in the studio.

The first one he tries with one hand and hits the front of the rim. The second one is with two hands and he sinks it.

Lots of games worth watching today. I mean, aside from the Washington-Pitt game. Lots of games that matter for seeding and bubbles. This is ESPN’s bracketbuster weekend to add to the mid-major fun.
12pm (ESPN): Georgtown-‘Nova — Villanova beat the Hoyas in DC a month ago.

(Fox Pgh/ESPN Fullcourt): Penn St.-Wisconsin: Heh, heh-heh, heh

1pm (CBS): UCLA-Arizona: That #1 seeding and what should be a damn good game.

(ESPN Fullcourt): FSU-Virginia — Two ACC bubble teams

2pm (ESPN): Washington-Pitt.

2:30 pm (ESPN Fullcourt): Iowa-Michigan St. — Big 11 teams on the Bubble

3 pm (ESPNU): Holy Cross-Hofstra — I like any chance to boo Ralph Willard.

3:30 (ABC): UConn-Syracuse — and if you are lucky this will end up on the Full Court where you are instead and you can watch Texas A&M-Oklahoma.

4pm (ESPN2): Southern Illinois-Butler  — the highlight game of bracketbusters.

(various East coast based Fox Sports channels): Seton Hall-WVU — should be a slaughter, but a chance to scout Pitt’s next opponent.
6pm (ESPN): Memphis-Gonzaga — man this one has been harshed by Heytvelt’s suspension for dope and ‘shrooms

(ESPN2): Northern Iowa-Nevada — and this game sounded so good at the start of the season.

9pm (ESPN): UNC-BC — Let’s see, they didn’t show up at home against an inferior Duke team. Now it’s another big game at home. Gak.

(ESPNU): Louisville-Marquette — Marquette’s floundering and Louisville — well, anyways… Find a bar with a satellite because this will be the better game at this time.

First off, how about all of the Steelers fans out there take a moment and thank the scheduling gods that this game is not during an AFC Championship game that we happen to be playing in. Last year I missed the Pitt game to watch the Stillers. Luckily my choice is between Pitt-UL and the Texas-Oklahoma women’s game–a bit of an easier choice.

Next is an update on where former kicker David Abdul is at right now. The answer: kicking in an indoor football league. Commenter B.B. left the link to the Pittsburgh River Rats (who I didn’t know existed until about 15 minutes ago), and it’s good to see he’s in good shape after some health issues.

Now looking to a possible future Pitt Panther, Terrelle Pryor gets an article on SI.com which speaks of a comparison to NFL QB Vince Young. As Mondesi’s House mentions, though, Young was never a top football and basketball recruit.

Jeannette, Pa., quarterback Terrelle Pryor has been compared to Young because of his 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame, his ability to glide past players at top speed and his ability to simply dominate football games.

….

“I leave it up to people to make their own comparisons when they watch me play,” he said. “It’s a very nice comparison, but I haven’t done anything yet. I like to watch Vince Young and Troy Smith and the quarterbacks that can move around and do things, but I don’t compare myself to them.”

Pryor is so good he could be the next (and first) Terrelle Pryor. He still looks skinny on his 6-foot-6 frame, he’s getting faster and he’s learning how to play quarterback. The same raw athletic ability also comes out in basketball, where Pryor is ranked as a national top-25 player.

And finally, I leave you with how the Big East Tournament would look if the season ended right now, compliments of Card Chronicle.

If you need something to do after the West Virginia game (take note that it starts at 7:30, not the usual 7:00 weeknight time) then this might be something to tune in to.

Thought that Pitt football fans would find this interesting. Tonight on the Nightly Sports Call on Pittsburgh’s CW (10:35 PM/Channel 15/Comcast), they plan on doing a show dedicated to National Letter Of Intent Day and will concentrate heavily on Pitt’s Class of 2007. Someone from the show tells me that parts of the show will include live interviews with Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt, a live interview with Pitt’s #1 recruit QB Pat Bostick, interview with Pitt’s #1 local recruit offensive lineman Chris Jacobson and Mike White of the Post-Gazette will appear on the show.

The four teams directly behind us in the Big East standings (Marquette, Georgetown, WVU, and Louisville) are going to be gunning for us in the next few weeks in order to knock us off from the top of the standings.

If Pitt is going to win the Big East Conference regular-season championship for the second time in four seasons, the Panthers are going to have to travel the most difficult road of any other team in the conference.

No. 7 Pitt breezed through the first half of the conference schedule, with the only hiccup coming at home against Marquette. The Panthers have seven Big East games remaining, including five games against the four teams directly behind them in the Big East standings.

Every team we will play during the rest of the regular season (and don’t forget that non-con game against Washington) has a record of better than .500 and the team knows they are going to always be set up playing the top teams twice. Because of TV deals and Pitt’s great record over the past few years, we’re always going to be playing great teams and the Big East, even in a down year, is still an above average conference.

“It’s a fair trade,” Dixon said. “I really believe that. Our conference is built on television. One thing I like about our conference is we admit it. We’re very free to admit that. I think that’s why our conference has been the best conference over the years. Without question, the exposure has been great for our team, our program but most importantly our school.”

By the way, this is Rivalry Week for the WWL and the Pitt-West Virginia match up fits in nicely to that. With WVU graduating their entire team last year and a somewhat down year for them, ESPN has the game slotted on ESPN FullCourt which means FSN Pittsburgh for people in the ‘Burgh.

Went down to see the College Basketball Gameday broadcast today and sat in the first row of the upper seating. Saw myself on the tube a few times after coming home and reviewing it on my friend’s DVR. Overall it was very fun time this morning (and I was able to procure a few Rollabanas).

We also stayed down there to see the #23 women’s team end up losing. A loss to a 4 win team with the biggest crowd of the year in attendance…not a very clutch game by the ladies today.

The Georgetown game starts in about T-minus 3 1/2 hours and I think we’ve looked at that game about as much as we can and I really have nothing more to add.

Don’t look now but Virginia Tech, Big East defector, is about to upset the #1 ranked UNC Tarheels on ABC.

Enjoy the game tonight folks.

As previously and briefly mentioned, ESPN College Basketball Gameday will be at the Petersen Events Center for their weekly show on Saturday. It’s going to be a hell of a day down at the Pete and the athletic department website came out with a little more information today.

The University of Pittsburgh will host the popular ESPN College Basketball GameDay television show at the Petersen Events Center this Saturday, Jan. 13 prior to the Pitt-Georgetown men’s basketball game.

ESPN College Basketball GameDay activities begin at 11 a.m. with the live TV show originating from the Petersen Events Center floor. Admission is free and open to the public.

Sounds like a few Pitt related things will be shown as per ESPN’s focus; make them think they care about your team when, in reality, they don’t.

Segments of the show will include a live interview with Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon, a feature on Pitt senior center Aaron Gray, a live on-court demonstration by Bilas and a preview of the day’s top college basketball games along with predictions from Davis, Bilas and Phelps.

Jay Bilas? Live on court demo? Sweeeeeeet.

Following the broadcast will be the fifth annual “Pack the Pete” for the women’s game. Starting at 9:00 later that night, the men’s team tips off against Georgetown.

Last time I went to an ESPN show at Pitt, the football team ended up getting smacked around by Notre Dame. Not sure if I should risk a hoops victory for my own enjoyment.

Some random observations from the FOX pregame including Dave Wannstedt. IF you are interested in the Orange Bowl, I had to do a preview for the Orange Bowl, along with reasons why Louisville will win and why Wake will win.

— Coach Wannstedt offered Jimmy Johnson a position on his staff since there is an opening. I’d settle for Johnson as a consultant.

— Good observation that in college you have to do a better job of evaluating kids because of the scholarship limits, and projecting where they go. Nothing said about doing a good job in getting them to live up to that potential by the coaches.

— Talking about the Boise St.-Oklahoma game, Wannstedt tipped his cap to BSU for calling the plays. He did complain about how poorly Oklahoma’s defense reacted to the plays from BSU — especially the 2 point conversion. Promoting the read-and-react type defense. Uh, yeah.

— On Brian Brohm. Accuracy and decision making are his best traits according to Wannstedt. Johnson has a cut away to show film of Brohm evading Pitt’s, um, rush in the final game of the season. Johnson then pushed him about blitzing him and getting pressure on him to make bad throws or decisions. Wannstedt was visibly flustered by that — essentially conceding the lack of a Pitt pass rush. Bad scene, man.

Arnold Palmer plugging Wake Forest. Rick Pitino plugging Louisville. Advantage Nickalus.

— Wannstedt talks about what Louisville has to avoid screwing up special teams and protect Brohm from the pass rush (referencing the Rutgers game). Maybe some day we’ll have a pass rush.

Halftime:

— Wannstedt on L-ville, it’s the lack of big plays from the Cardinals. Actually, no disagreement. Not totally shocked by what Wake is doing to the Cardinals. This is the way the WF defense plays. They may be the only team I’ve seen this year actually pull off the “bend-but-don’t-break” defense. hmm. Maybe Wanny should consider the WF DC for a similar position at Pitt?
— On the second half, WF needs to get Skinner running and as a threat. Eh.

Saban has a press conference to announce his decision between the Dolphins and Alabama. I would have paid money if FOX had gone to a wide shot to see the expressions on Johnson and Wannstedt’s face rather then the close one on Rose.

I don’t have the energy tonight, I’m just going to pass this along with little more than a blog-esque raised eyebrow and eye-roll.

University of Pittsburgh head football coach Dave Wannstedt will provide guest analysis for FOX Sports’ television coverage of the FedEx Orange Bowl on Jan. 2, 2007, in Miami, Fla.

Wannstedt will join hosts Chris Rose and Jimmy Johnson for pregame, halftime and postgame coverage of the 2007 Orange Bowl matchup featuring ACC champion Wake Forest and Big East champion Louisville.

Well, um, maybe that will be something else to help with recruiting?

Nice.

The days of scrambling around Western Pennsylvania looking for a place to watch Pitt men’s basketball games are over. Starting with Duquesne on Wednesday, 22 of the Panthers’ 23 regular-season games are televised, either on CBS, Fox Sports Pittsburgh or ESPN. Only a couple of Pitt’s first eight games were on local TV. The only non-televised game the rest of the season is Florida A&M on Dec. 30.

According to the Pitt schedule, even that game is on FSN/ESPN regional.