Let’s start things off with the annual, “Western Pennsylvania high school talent is still awesome” story that is expected as high school football is getting underway (at least it has already in Ohio).

High school football returns Friday night, when bright stadium lights signal the start of a new season.

According to WPIAL veteran coaches such as Art Walker Sr., the lights also illuminate the pride associated with the teams.

“High school football here is unique,” said Walker, who won five WPIAL championships at Mt. Lebanon and one at Shady Side Academy during his head-coaching career. “And I’m not even sure it can be explained.”

Exactly where Pennsylvania ranks among top recruiting hotspots such as Florida, California, Texas, Louisiana, Ohio and Georgia, is open to debate.

“We’re probably sixth in the country,” said Earl Ceh, a former head coach at Bellevue, Fox Chapel and North Hills. “But we sure have a lot of great talent.”

With a lot of the top talent in Western PA either already committed elsewhere (Dorian Bell) or taking their time on a decision (Dan Mason), there are other players that are waiting or hoping to get an offer.

Monte Ashby at East Allegheny is a running back in the LaRod Stephens-Howling mode looking to get noticed. For attention, I guess, the article tries to make the comaprison to Noel Devine but he just doesn’t have that kind of speed.

Ashby said he’s been contacted by about 15 Division I football programs, including Pitt and Temple, but he hasn’t received any major scholarship offers yet.

“This will be a big season for me, and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.

Edwards said it’s tempting to keep coming up with new ways to use Ashby in the Wildcats’ offense.

He’s around 5-8 and 165-170 pounds. Scout.com gives him 2-stars and Rivals.com has him unstarred. ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. has a slightly mixed but generally positive review of his potential (Insider subs).

With that said, Ashby’s smooth movement skills and great elusiveness could create good mismatches in space if he lands in a spread offense. Good change-of-pace runner and a definite sleeper in this running back class. Needs to continue polishing up his receiving skills to offer scat-back potential.

Now, this offensive lineman has offers from UConn, Minnesota, UCF and Temple but is looking for a bigger program and closer to home.

Bishop Carroll offensive guard Steve Greene made a name for himself last season when he was named to The Associated Press Class A First Team all-state football team.

…

“Right now it’s pretty open. I still have a lot of time to decide,” Greene said. “I don’t want to rush my decision. I just want to make sure I make the right choice. I’m hoping that early in the season I can perform well and get a couple more scholarship offers. I’m hoping somebody closer like Pitt, Maryland or Virginia [makes an offer].”

When college coaches are looking at video of Greene, they see a strong, dominating and no frills lineman who will dominate most of the time.

“He’s just a pure brute blocker,” [Bishop Carroll coach Craig] Sponsky said. “He’s an old-school tough kid. He certainly needs some work technique-wise. He knows that. He wants to improve. He’s a solid kid who wants to improve.”

Both Scout.com and Rivals.com has him as a 3-star offensive guard. Nationally, Scout.com lists him as the 46th best OG and Rivals puts him at #40. Bob Lichtenfels at Scout.com ranks him as the 33d best recruit in Pennsylvania. Rivals.com puts him preseason in PA at #17. While PantherLair says #38. ESPN/Scouts, Inc. likes him well enough as an average to slightly above average offensive lineman.

Greene is a dependable offensive guard that plays hard. He is a little undersized but should grow and become stronger by the time he is a freshman in college. Consistent with footwork; rarely oversteps on the base block. Gets off the ball quickly and gets good body position on the defender but needs to play more physical. … Needs to kick step back with more urgency in order to get into power position in case of the bull rush and to pick up stunts. Greene can develop into a solid offensive guard if he plays more physical.

It has to be assumed that some of the college coaches are waiting to see something else if Pitt, Maryland and Virginia are only showing interest but not offering yet.

Meanwhile, a couple high school kids who have committed to Pitt are looking for big years to prove things.

With only five career receptions at Liberty High School and a scholarship to play collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh, Devin Street feels like he has some questions to answer this season.

“Definitely, I have something to prove,” Street, the supremely-talented Hurricanes senior, said.

“No one has really seen me play yet and they wonder how I got the scholarship offer. I’ve gotten some negative comments … it’s a little frustrating. But I plan on showing everybody what I can do.”

The 6-foot-4, 180-pounder is a workout warrior. He ran a 4.4 40-yard dash at Pittsburgh’s football camp earlier this summer and impressed the Panthers’ coaches enough to earn a scholarship offer, even with the modest statistics and the limited playing time at wideout. Street accepted almost immediately with a verbal commitment.

“No, I wasn’t surprised they offered,” he said. “I had a lot of other offers — Rutgers, Boston College, Connecticut and North Carolina State. The Pitt coaches didn’t care about stats or ratings or rankings; they know I can play.”

And locally, Will Clarke is excited for this year and having a scholarship taken care of.

The senior has been more aggressive than in past seasons. In fact, the coach said he actually was fearful that Clarke might hurt himself while flying around the ball during Oklahoma drills at the start of camp.

But there is another major difference with Clarke, and it’s actually a good thing. He will spend his college years playing football at a Division I university.

Clarke verbally committed to Pitt, and he is expected to become the first Allderdice football player to play for a BCS school since former Pitt and NFL great Curtis Martin (1991-94).

Also a tight end, Clarke is rated by Rivals.com as a two-star recruit, but his coach thinks he’s only getting better.

“He’s coming off of the ball quicker this camp,” Schmidt said. “He’s shedding blocks better than he has in the past. I think he’s having an excellent camp. We’re really impressed.”

With less than a week to go, everybody at every levelis ready for football.

The basketball summer league in Pittsburgh is over. If you actually care about the outcomes, the team that included Gary McGhee won. Yet, despite finishing with 20 points (including 11-14 on FTs) and 8 rebounds, McGhee knows reality.

“It was something fun to do for the summer time,” McGhee said. “Everyone came out, and had some fun. Sometimes there’s not a whole lot of defense, but it was a good experience.”

What’s good is that Pitt’s primary 3 — Fields, Young and Blair — were listed on the first team squad and more importantly 2 of the newcomers — Gibbs and Miller — made the all-rookie group. The Pitt players were taking it serious enough to go hard and compete. They thankfully didn’t get hurt, this sort of thing can only help team chemistry.

Overall, for basketball in Pittsburgh area, this has been big. Robert Morris is trying to build to mid-major consistency.

“We’ve realized that every step, starting with this summer league, will pay off,” Green said. “This summer league, going against (players from) the Big East and … Atlantic 10, it will help.”

This isn’t fundamental basketball. There are few set plays and little format. Referees’ whistles are rarely heard, and defense “isn’t what I or (Pitt coach) Jamie Dixon or (Duquesne coach) Ron Everhart would like it to be,” Rice said. But it’s a huge step toward improvement. The Robert Morris players will continue their education on toughness and teamwork, and get a first-hand look at how larger programs operate.

“It’s great they’re playing in this league,” Rice said. “They’ll find some bad habits, like shot selection, but when they play at Pitt or Duquesne or West Virginia, those guys won’t take us for granted.”

Duquesne also benefited from playing in the summer league. Even WVU found it valuable to encourage their players to drive up twice a week to compete.

Alex Ruoff has the fading remnants of a sizeable shiner under his left eye. The cause?

“Those guys in Pittsburgh,” West Virginia’s senior guard said, “think they’re pretty tough.”

Well, aren’t you the guy with the black eye? Still, that only adds to the rivalry and makes the competition in the summer league better.

The fact that there has been coverage of the summer league by multiple news outlets, beyond a cursory article explaining how it is underway. Add in that the sportsplex was always packed for these games shows just how much interest and a surge in popularity college basketball is having in the region.

It started with Pitt becoming a quality basketball program and has helped raise the other programs in the area. Mountaineer and Dukes fans probably don’t want to admit this, but the best things for their programs is Pitt to continue to have success. It raises the profile of the sport in the region, and encourages the other schools to try and keep up.

If you have a Terrible Towel lying around the house somewhere and you’ll be at tonight’s game against Cincinnati:

The University of Pittsburgh is encouraging all fans attending tonight’s Pitt-Cincinnati men’s basketball game at the Petersen Events Center to bring a “Terrible Towel” in honor of broadcasting icon Myron Cope, a 1951 graduate of Pitt who passed away today at the age of 79.

Cope, the longtime analyst voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers, was the creator of The Terrible Towel in 1975. Cope also served one season (1983) as color analyst for Panthers football, working alongside future Steelers partner Bill Hillgrove.

Pitt and Cincinnati will tip at 7:30 p.m.

Link is here.

On Friday night I made the trek five minute drive to North Allegheny HS for the WPIAL basketball playoff game between McKeesport and Upper St. Clair. Why go? The answer is not too easy to miss on the court — 6′ 11″ center Zeke Marshall. There’s tall people and then there’s tall people; he’s tall. According to Scout.com, Marshall (currently a junior, class of 2009, 3 stars) has an offer from Pitt as well as Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Akron, with interest from a few other schools. If the kid has an offer to play at Pitt and he’s right in my backyard, I figured I’d take a look at him.

Of course, I am in no way a scout. I have, however, enough common sense and seen enough basketball to make a few observations on basic skills. First off, as soon as you see him you’re going to notice a lack of real bulk and muscle. He’s tall but also skinny. Offense and defense are two different worlds for Marshall.

On offense, he has trouble really getting good position and lacks the strength to make a strong move to the basket. With the ball, he looks clumsy and sometimes forgets he’s so much taller than his opponent — where he could hold the ball up high and get an uncontested shot, he brings the ball low and makes himself smaller.

Defensively, he’s solid. He blocks shots well and his timing and coordination seems improved when going for the blocks. He can grab rebounds and has better hands than Aaron Gray but nowhere as good as DeJuan Blair. Again, he doesn’t have enough strength to completely hold off other big players and he’s not quick enough to close out on a shooter, even on short shots from the foul line.

He’s definitely a project for Jamie Dixon if he ends up at Pitt and I’m not sure how well he can stack up with very good big men in the Big East. Not to be harsh on a high school kid, just doing my best as a creepy guy who monitors every move a recruit makes. In reality, isn’t that what high school scouts are?

As pointed out a few months ago on a West Virginia blog (talk about an oxymoron) and recently discussed again over at Panther Rants, The University of South Florida is actually not in Southern Florida. Places such as Miami and Fort Lauderdale are in the southern part of the state, while Tampa Bay is in the middle of the state. Very nonsensical.

Back on October 18, I admitted my man-crush on Matt Grothe. That was back when I was on the USF bandwagon, but after a few losses I decided to jump off. Now they’re playing Pitt and I’m officially done with them.

A huge factor in Staurday’s game won’t be the players but the weather and field conditions. Even though they’re not from South Florida, Tampa is still a bit warmer than Pittsburgh, and any help we can get from cold weather will be helpful. Weather.com claims Saturday will see temperatures in the low 40’s with a very small chance of precipitation. The other huge factor is the condition of the actual field. Tomorrow are the WPIAL Championship games at Heinz Field, which means four games on Friday before Pitt’s noon game on Saturday. They’re going to re-sod the field for the Steelers’ Monday nighter but Pitt will be playing on mud that’s spray painted green to look like grass.

A few other notes:

— The Cowboys and Jets play at 4:00 this afternoon which means a lot of Darelle Revis covering Terrell Owens…but T.O. doesn’t know who Revis is (Fanhouse).

— Things are crazy in Louisville. First, the rumors of coach Steve Kragthorpe leaving were confirmed until he called a press conference to say he’s committed to UL. Usually when coaches say they’re staying at a school the fans are happy — not this time.

— Pitt hoops plays 4-0 Duquesne in the City Game on December 5. The team has reached enough credibility to have their own blog, Dukes Court.

— The Post-Gazette’s annual Fabulous 22 came out today. Familiar names include Pryor, Nix, Saddler, Baldwin, and Williams.

— My picks for the WPIAL games tomorrow: AAAA — Gateway, AAA — Thomas Jefferson, AA — Jeannette, A — Serra.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, everyone.

Pittsburgh’s favorite pro hoops team, the one and only Pittsburgh Xplosion, have signed former Pitt star Carl Krauser. Krauser played over in Germany last year but will now experience “The X”, of which I wrote about at Mondesi’s House back in January.

Much of the story on the team’s website talks about Krauser’s accomplishments and how excited they are to have him.

“We are very happy and excited to have a guy of his caliber on our team,” head coach Carlos Knox said. “We are very excited to have him contribute both in the community and on the court.”

Krauser became the first Panther in school history to surpass 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, and 500 assists. For his career, Krauser finished ninth on the school’s all-time scoring list (1,642 points), fourth in assists (568), and eighth in steals (190). He averaged 13 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 126 games.

The Xplosion picked Krauser in the sixth round of the 2006 CBA College Draft. Teams own the CBA rights of their draft choices for two seasons.

Other former Panthers on the roster include Antonio Graves and John DeGroat. The season opener is Friday night at the Petersen Events Center. Be ready for Krauser mania — or maybe not.

Glad I got that TE’s post off when I did, because the house lost power for almost 24 hours. Plenty of townships are in a state of emergency because of the rain/wind/other natural disasters. I was going to go over to McKnight Road until I saw on KDKA that it was covered in a foot or two of water — ugh. Hopefully all of you readers out there in the Pittsburgh area are doing well after an ugly day.

Another place that knows a little too much about rain and wind damage is the City of New Orleans, Tyler Palko’s new home. Palko, who turned 24 yesterday, is going to have an opportunity to take some big steps towards the Saints’ third-string QB job. Once Drew Brees plays the first quarter, Palko will be next in line to play against the Buffalo Bills’ defense tonight.

He’s going to get a lot more playing time than he did against the Steelers on Sunday — it’s expected that he’ll play deep into the second half.

“I just want to know what I have with a player, and the only way I can do that is play him,” Payton said. “I’m anxious to see his development, his progressions, his ball security, how he handles his decision-making and seeing if we can move the ball while he’s in there.”

He knows what he has to work with in order to impress the coaches.

“It’s exciting, but your window of opportunity is very small,” Palko said. “So you have got to make the most of it when you get your chances. . . . Here (at camp), you’re kind of like an afterthought. You have to continue to have the mentality of getting reps and stealing reps — watching Drew and Jamie, really taking from that.”

On Sunday, Palko was 4-for-8 for 53 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception. He also almost got teammate Robert Meachem killed while leading him over the middle with a pass.

Buried in the news piece about the Big East basketball schedule was something that really bothered me.

The Duke game is tentatively Pitt’s only neutral-site game, but that could change as Pitt officials are working with Duquesne to get the annual City Game moved from the Palumbo Center to Mellon Arena.

If the two sides can reach an agreement on moving the game, it would mark the first time the game was played at a neutral site since 2001. That marked the end of a run of 12 consecutive City Games that were played at Mellon Arena.

Nooooo!!!!

I absolutely hated Pitt games at the Civic Arena. Horribly removed from the action. It literally sucked the life out of basketball games there. Now Pitt wants to bring that atmosphere back even for one game? Don’t they remember how lousy it was?
I get that playing at the Palumbo Center isn’t exactly lucrative for Pitt. That the small gym is cramped and doesn’t produce much revenue for Pitt. It’s good that the school hasn’t gone Penn State and canceled the game or even demanded a 2-for-1. This is just a bad idea.
The Civic Arena creates all sorts of annoyances and inconveniences. From having to figure out the re-accommodating of season ticket holders and the resentments it would cause when the seats suck because of the bad sight lines and detached feel. To the smaller turnout by the students.

Some blog-related basketball stuff that I’m going to do at once, because in it’s own way it ties together. Or, at least I’m going to force the effin’ mess to somehow go one after the other.

Earlier in the week I mentioned that I helped put together the FanHouse way too early BlogPoll, there seems to be a case that Georgetown is being underrated by being placed at #6 by the Unsilent Majority — a welcome addition to the FanHouse, Pitt loyalist and part of the outstanding Kissing Suzy Kolber Blog. Considering the preseason poll will be revisited, there is plenty of time for revision.

What does that have to do with Pitt other than getting a plug in for my other work and another blog? Not much but it does bring up the subject of basketball and a new Pittsburgh-centric blog wonders about the ‘Burgh and basketball. Naturally, Pitt is very important to the matter.

In fact, the fan base is strong enough to honestly say that aside from Super Bowl victories and motorcycle crashes, I have likely heard as much talk show debate concerning Aaron Gray and Carl Krauser in the past five years as I have heard on any other topic. Outside of Ben Roethlisberger, I think it is safe to say that the most controversial figure in Pittsburgh this past year has been Aaron Gray. Endless sports columns and radio call-ins implored him to assert his large frame and stop missing three-foot put-backs. Similarly, Krauser appeared to be holding the team and the city hostage with his break-neck pace of play and streaky shooting – a polarizing figure, to say the least. With Sidney Crosby and David Littlefield, there is only so much room for debate on their performances. With Pitt basketball, there seems to always be a debate that the city grapples with every winter.

The discussion is more about the lack of support/passion for basketball, but with a hopeful eye to the future. Especially as high school basketball and the players seems to be improving in Western PA. I would at least posit that with Pitt basketball doing so well right now, it increases the appeal and the willingness of athletes in the area to play more. That the talent is beginning to shine 5-7 years after Pitt basketball became relevant once more reminds me of the fact that the last time there was any crop of quality HS basketball players in the ‘Burgh — like Danny Fortson — came around lag after Pitt basketball had hit a major national upswing. Correlation does not mean causation, but it’s worth considering.

That brings things to another factor that will only improve and increase the interest in basketball in Western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Pro-Am Summer League. Last year there was a bit of stuff about it and I noted it because of the role Coach Dixon played in helping to make it happen. That isn’t to diminish the job of the real guy who has put it together and has it thriving, John Giammarco. The Big East Basketball Blog has an interview with Mr. Giammarco. Read the whole article, but I’ll excerpt this.

NBE Blogger: Both Pittsburgh and West Virginia red-shirted multiple players last season, after seeing these players in your league this year or last, who should the Big East fans keep an eye on for next year?

JG: All the red-shirts have played well this summer from the action I have watched. Gilbert Brown is an exciting athlete who really gets in the air and plays above the rim.

NBE Blogger: Pittsburgh has a large incoming class of newcomers, regarded as their best new class in the Howland/Dixon tenure, who do you feel looks to be the most ‘Big East ready’ and who looks to be the someone down the road to emerge in time in typical Pitt fashion?

JG: From what I see, Gary McGhee has held his own in the league and will continue to get better and better. Brad Wannamaker looks like he can be a contributor in 2007 as well. Jamie Dixon has built such a good program at Pitt.

Pitt has put itself in a position to help build basketball back in the area and benefit directly right now. I mention this every time with the summer basketball, and I’ll keep doing it. Coach Dixon deserves a lot of credit for helping this happen. Yes it will help him right now and hopefully for a long time at Pitt, but no other coach before him at Pitt ever did it and lent his support (to the extent that the NCAA lets him).

Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop, a marketing major, is getting plenty of valuable experience this summer. Having to market and promote such a bad team, he gets plenty of work in as a Pirates intern. At least it sounds like he does a good job.

He heard about the internship from someone in the Pitt athletic department who knew someone who worked for the Pirates. But he landed the internship through good interviews, not because he was an athlete.

“He doesn’t have that aura about him at all,” said Chris Serkoch, who is the Pirates’ manager of special events and McKillop’s boss.

“He takes initiative. I didn’t know he was a football player at first.”

For home games, McKillop arrives several hours before game time to help with various office duties, pregame activities and in-game promotional functions.

One night he found that only three of the four costumes were filled for the Pittsburgh Pierogi Race, so at 6-2, 245 pounds, he managed to fit himself in the Cheese Chester Costume.

Secondly, I went to the walkout (or lack thereof) on Saturday night. I got up and walked, and my recap of it all is here. I got to the park right when the gates opened and was there to see the ceremonial first pitches that weren’t the real first pitch done right before game time. One of those was thrown out by wide receiver Derek Kinder.

More photographic evidence after the jump.

(more…)

The Kane Foundation, which helps people in assisted living, is having a fairly unusual auction: neckties of notable and well-known people.

Your bid benefits the Kane Foundation, helping the residents at our four county-run assisted living facilities. The staff and residents appreciate your generosity.

One of the people who have signed a necktie for the auction is football coach Dave Wannstedt, who’s tie is currently being bid for at $14. The winning bid also gets a caricature of the person who the tie is from. The full effect looks something like this:

I know you want that.

(Link via Mondesi’s House)

I look forward to this story in the next alumni e-mail.

A former defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Raiders and the Cleveland Browns pleaded guilty yesterday to helping his live-in girlfriend run a high-end prostitution ring out of his parents’ Monroeville home.

Three other defendants face charges this month in connection with the prostitution and drug ring investigators say was run by the ball player’s girlfriend, Amy Schifano.

After kissing his mother and hustling his parents out of the courtroom, a subdued John Robert “Buck” Buczkowski, 43, stepped forward and pleaded to two counts of promoting prostitution, six counts of possessing and dealing cocaine, and one count each of participating in a corrupt organization, conspiracy, dealing in the proceeds of an illegal activity and illegal use of a cell phone.

He faced a sentence of 43¹/₂ to 87 years had he gone to trial. Instead, he agreed to testify against his co-defendants if they proceed to trial.

After a short-lived career in the NFL, the former Gateway and University of Pittsburgh football star bought the Gold Rush restaurant and bar in Monroeville and ran it with his parents.

The girlfriend seems to have been a real go-getter. She seemed to be the brains and facing the most charges. Buck apparently was the muscle.

I didn’t believe it then, or now. No, not the charges, the claim that this was a high-end prostitution ring. Out of Monroeville? For around $200/appointment? Talk about the affordable prices in Pittsburgh.

Saw some great news on Steelers.com the other day. Forget that the Steelers will be wearing some throwback unis this year or got a creepy new mascot. No, I’m talking about a little nugget buried inside of the festivities this year.

The 75^th Season Celebration theme will also be reflected at each of the following Steelers annual events:

Men’s Fantasy Camp (Saint Vincent College) – Friday, June 1 – Sunday, June 3
Women’s Training Camp (Saint Vincent College) – Late July
Hall of Fame Game – Sunday, August 5, Canton, Ohio
Kickoff Luncheon – Wednesday, August 29
The 2007 Rib Fest – Thursday, August 30 – Monday, September 3
Pittsburgh Steelers 5k Race and Fun Run – Sunday, September 2
The Pittsburgh Steelers Fashion Show – Friday, October 5

Whoa. You see that? RIB FEST!

Honestly, I look forward to eating great ribs before the season opener each year almost as much as the game itself. Anyone else with me on that one?

Reminder that I will be doing a segment or two on The Sports Contraption with Dave Dameshek tonight on 93.7 The Zone. It should be sometime after 7:30. As of this time, Dave’s wife has not gone into labor. The appearance will be live, but hopefully with a bit of a 9 second delay in case I release an expletive deleted. Yes, I tend to keep it clean on the blog, but as my friends can attest, I am not nearly so good in conversation.

Dave’s even got his own entry on Wikipedia where you will learn about his extensive relationship with Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla projects.

I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully I won’t provide too many dead air moments or um and ah too much.

I’ll be making my Pittsburgh radio debut tomorrow on the Dave Dameshek Sports Contraption on 93.7 The Zone. Yes, that’s right. Despite doing this for 3 and 3/4 years, this will be the first time a radio show will be speaking to me. That sure keeps the old ego in check.

You can listen on the internet, but you have to do a free, short registration (so do that early). The only thing that might cancel the appearance will be if his wife finally goes into labor. She is apparently due any time, so…

The show is new (as is the whole program format) and Dameshek has been active in reaching out to the Pittsburgh sports bloggers. On Monday he had the guy behind Mondesishouse.com on for a couple segments. It’s a smart approach in that it gets some different people on the radio who pay close attention to Pittsburgh sports giving some different views. Not to mention create some positive vibes with the online community and more promotion for the show (such as this post).

As you can expect the discussion will be on Pitt, though I’m sure other things may creep into it.