Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin held a press conference yesterday and discussed many topics including Alan Faneca’s contract as well as the upcoming draft. Revis is nowhere near a lock to stay in Pittsburgh but the possibility is definitely there.

“He’s got a nice combination of size and speed, and he’s a young guy. You would imagine there’s a lot of football in front of him,” Tomlin said of the Aliquippa native, who declared for the draft after his junior season at Pitt. “He seems to have his head on straight and he’s a sharp young man, so he has a lot of things that are attractive about him.”

The Steelers don’t have a ton of places where they need to bring in a new player (and were probably one of the best 8-8 teams in NFL history) but positions like cornerback and linebacker might be in for some change. Look for both Revis and PSU’s Paul Posluszny to be very possible choices.

I also have a feeling Revis would love the opportunity to stay home and move to the locker room down the hall from Pitt’s.

Everyone knows that Mike Cruz backed off his verbal and there are plenty of factors that you can sit back and say, “Okay, I can sort of see where he’s coming from.” Maybe it was that we were pretty set at the tight end position, or that we’d switch him to another position, or that his mom doesn’t want him at a city school. This was not what I was expecting to hear from him though.

“It was kind of an 80-20 thing,” Cruz said, “80 percent wanting to keep my options open and 20 percent seeing that they really don’t have a great fan base.”

What kind of idiot says that kind of thing? Having it in your mind is one thing, maybe saying that to your parents in a closed meeting is in there too, but to publicly say that? Even if he ends up recommitting here, I’ll always remember that comment.

Also, saying we “don’t have a great fan base” based on the fact that not a ton of people showed up for a scrimmage doesn’t sound very intelligent to me. That same afternoon there happened to be a Penguins playoff game that I’m sure people would have rather stayed home (out of the rain/cold) to watch. LeSean McCoy seemed to think we had a good enough fan base to commit after seeing fans at the Pete for College Gameday, but obviously Cruz wasn’t pleased enough with what he saw.

Breaking news: Pitt and Penn State fans dislike one another. I’ve sometimes heard over the last few years that it’s a “dead rivalry” and that a ton of people don’t really care. Personally, I’ve always wanted to see the annual football game make a return and things I’ve read this week have opened my eyes to see that I’m not the only one and there is still bad blood. It’s too bad this is all being played out by fans and not players on the field, but it’s still happening whether you’re for the return of the game (100% of the Pitt fans and half of the PSU fans) or not (the other 50% of the PSU fans).

The first time in a while that I really started to think about the rivalry was with this post on Mondesi’s House. It wasn’t actually the post as much as the comments, where Adam (a convicted PSU homer) had this to say in response to “Things That Annoy You About Sports”.

Pitt fans who think Penn State is afraid of them. Honestly, Penn State doesn’t need Pitt to generate buzz. There will be 105,000 asses in seats to watch TEMPLE. So c’mon, admit you need us, and admit that Joe was right in going to the Big 10 and move on. Come to Beaver Stadium twice to every one time we go to Pitt and everything will be ok. Otherwise, quit taking pot shots at JoePa on natinal television on what is supposed to be your biggest rivalry game (on a Thursday night no less, can anyone take that seriously?). And remember, your sour grapes go no furthur east than maybe Johnstown. No one else cares the Pitt doesnt play Penn State. We are busy winning.

Oh, the fire was definitely started with that. I’ll save his very first comment of Pitt fans thinking PSU is afraid of us for later in this post. The rest is easy to pick apart though.

It is more than easy enough to cram that many people in a stadium a few times a month for four months when you live in the middle of no where. This is Happy Valley, not New York City. There is nothing to do in central Pennsylvania other than count down the days to the next Penn State home game. Let’s look at that in comparison to the city of Pittsburgh, where on any given Saturday there are many more choices of things to do instead of see a college football game. I’m not saying the Pitt’s excuse for low attendance, but saying how great Penn State’s attendance is in comparison to our’s is absurd.

Adam also makes a great point — in favor of the Panthers. I forget where I read this, but someone made the point that Penn State is a state school, while the University of Pittsburgh represents a city.

Population of Pittsburgh and surrounding metro areas: 2,358,695
Population of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: 12,281,054

So tell me, which is easier to draw fans?

Ending his comment saying, “We are busy winning” had to have been made by someone who very recently jumped on the Penn State bandwagon. Obviously someone has forgotten that PSU’s record from 2000-2003 was 22-26. Busy winning, indeed.

But wait, this all extends into basketball too.

As for the basketball team, did you notice PSU isnt on the Pitt schedule this year? why? because last year we didnt have a losng record. 15-15. Apparantly thats too goo a record for Jamie Dixon to deal with. as soon as we become remotely competitive, we are taken off the schedule. funny dont you think?

Yes, Adam, because Dixon is the guy who has total control of the schedule. I also wasn’t aware that schedules were made after each season. Oh wait, they’re not. Too bad that 15-15 record was a fluke; this year’s PSU hoops record was 11-19 with all of 2 wins in the Big Ten.

That’s just one little fan though, albeit one uninformed fan. The debate was brought up yet again at Mondesi’s House with this post. More of the same babble going on — it all died down for a while though.

Then I gave you a story from Penn State’s student newspaper, The Daily Collegian. Many of the comments were what you’d expect: anti-Penn State, calling Paterno names, and all around hatred toward Happy Valley. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking some of the exact same things some people wrote. We had one brave State fan who naturally went with the name “JoePa”.

And Nick, if it’s Penn State’s loss that the alleged rivalry not be renewed, why does this issue eat at Pitt fans so much? –JoePa

I don’t know, JoePa, if the story appeared in “The Daily Collegian” then there must be a fair number of PSU fans that care a little. –Nick in State College

Not the first time Mr. Paterno has been wrong. I think that’s why some Penn State fans aren’t quick to want to see this rivalry start back up. Paterno is looked to as a god by PSU fans, and if a god doesn’t want to see this game get played then neither will his followers. Those followers are also the same ones who called for him to retire after the 2004 season, saying things like, “He’s too old!” I guess he’s not too old to ruin a great rivalry though.

A few days later, that post was then relayed to the masses over at the AOL Fanhouse by Brian Grummell. Grummell says maybe Penn State should join the Big East or go Independent, and while even I can agree with PSU fans that they won’t go Independent, they have nothing special going for them in the Big Ten. No one considers them a real rival while they’d like to think they have something going with Ohio State and Michigan State.

Penn State fans always say how they don’t care about Pitt when they need to take a look at themselves first. Ohio State is too busy playing in the most important games of the decade against Michigan to consider PSU even a mini-rival. Just because you play Michigan State for trophy doesn’t mean that constitutes a rivalry either. In Big Ten basketball, Penn State is dirt.

Meanwhile, Pitt has a solid group of rivals. Sure, West Virginia has beaten us up the last couple years but that doesn’t automatically take away it’s rivalry status, at least judging by the “conversations” that Pitt and WVU fans had during last year’s Backyard Brawl. In basketball, we’re building rivalry games with teams like Marquette, UConn, and a WVU team lead by Bob Huggins.

The last place where we saw this come up in the last week was Black Shoe Diaries. Other than taking a shot at some of our commenters (” Well hey, Pitt fans. At least you’ll always have your dignity.”), there wasn’t anything too special in the post. One thing that did stand out to me was that PSU shouldn’t leave the Big Ten because of “the opportunity to be highly ranked and in the running for the BCS every two or three years.” Well if you guys are as good as you think and the Big East is as bad as you’d have everyone think then wouldn’t you be able to come over here and go undefeated, be ranked Top 10 all the time, and earn the BCS bid every year?

The comments were full of great stuff though. There were a few Pitt fans who comment here that made their point over there.

Now listen, I can’t argue with the results we’ve seen from the last few Pitt football teams. I also don’t consider Pitt to be a top college football program right now and I’m not sure if they’ll ever get over the hump into that top group. I’m have realistic enough thoughts to see this. I do, however, think that sometimes Penn State fans, while they’re busy putting our program down, over-inflate their own program. Remember when the author over there said the Lions were “in the running for the BCS every two or three years.” I’ll let Stuart take it form there.

If by “in the running for the BCS every two or three years,” you mean you’ve made 1 BCS bowl game EVER, then yes, you are in the running. Every 2-3 years would mean you’ve been in 3 to 5 by now. I’m sure math is not a strong suit for you.

That’s not even close to the best comment I saw though. In response to a Pitt fan’s remark, we get this gem.

“So, until you actually win a game against us this decade IN ANY SPORT, remember you are winless against Pitt and will be for the foreseeable future.”

Before you go spouting off maybe you should look first – I prefer wrestling over basketball any day of the week.

Wrestling
PSU-Pittsburgh W 26-19 2005
PSU-Pittsburgh W 28-15 2004

So how many million people out there filled out there brackets for this year’s basketball tournament? How about this year’s wresting tournament? How much money was wagered on each? I laughed out loud when I read that.

Penn State always tries to make excuses about how they don’t care about their basketball team, but this has to be the worst one I’ve heard. At least say you’d rather spend your money on making that stupid ice cream rather than trying to convince us more people care about college wrestling then hoops.

Anyways, remember when Adam said Penn State isn’t afraid of us in that Mondesi’s House post?

A commenter at the Penn State blog gave us the exact reason Paterno won’t schedule us.

The bottom line is we don’t need this rivalry. We’ll get our guaranteed win elsewhere.

It would be horrible to lose a team like Pitt, wouldn’t it? Penn State fans will call us a second tier program, however they know it’s not out of the question that we could be them. How do you avoid that? Don’t play them.

I don’t want to talk money, TV deals, or any of that garbage. In the end, Penn State and Pitt can both live without playing this game. I want to see this game for the fans, for rivalry, for tradition, and for history. By the way, the next time someone tells you a Pitt-Penn State rivalry is dead or doesn’t exist, have them read this post. Have them read the mud slinging that goes on at varioud blogs and websites. Have them recall the last time they didn’t root against any PSU team in any PSU sport (or vice versa for you Happy Valley folks) and then have them tell you it’s dead.

Since this world could use a lot more good people, and the people running the Oakland Zoo seem to be those good people, I figured I could pass this along to any students (or anyone else I suppose) who perhaps want to help:

Tomorrow (April 10) we will be joining former Panther, Charles Small, for a clothing drive. We will be collecting clothes and taking them to a local homeless shelter. Also, following the clothing drive we will be going to the homeless shelter to serve dinner to the people there.

We will be collecting at the following locations:

William Pitt Union 9 – 4

Sutherland Lobby 9 – 12

Towers Lobby 9 – 12

It’s great to see student organizations, especially ones connected to our sports teams, getting involved with the community.

Don’t think I forgot about our Pitt Blather bracket poll. With Florida winning last night’s National Championship game (ughhh…would’ve rather seen the Buckeyes win), our final results have become…well, they’ve become finalized.

This year’s winner is Jamie H. Woo!

Second place goes to JoePa’s Assassin, who is also up for the “bracket name of the year” award.

And rounding out the top five (actually it’s six) are Send it In Jerome, steeltrace, PITT fan (now that’s a clever name!), and Lee in State College.

Congrats to Jamie H. and the rest of our top five. I wish I had some sort of prize for you.

I’m out of here for Spring Break, back next Monday in time for the Pirates’ home opener. Hopefully by the time I’m back, Billy Donovan and John Beilien (but especially Donovan) make their decisions so I won’t need to hear any more about it.

The games have gotten underway. A couple hours or so until tip. I’m not ready to start the open thread, but here are just a few more stories — quick hitter — to read if you need to pass the time.

Seth Davis at SI.com went with UCLA. I’m not shocked. Look, Pitt hasn’t won in this round. It’s a generally safe bet to go with that trend. Add in that it’s against UCLA, and there is no reason for most pundits to pick Pitt.

The whole getting past the Sweet 16 issue.

UCLA will try to get Aaron Afflalo going early. He’s struggled lately, but isn’t concerned. Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News, however, is.

Oh, you bet it’s missing. It’s missing almost three-fourths of the time lately. A 39.5 percent 3-point shooter heading into the final weekend of the regular season, he is at 27.6 percent over the past five games. He does not look as confident in his shot, and this has had a devastating effect on the Bruins’ offense. They had a 3-2 record in that stretch, and, perhaps even more foreboding, averaged 59.4 points.

The Bruins’ attack depends on Afflalo being a force. The Bruins are not making it out of California if he struggles in these next two games. Presuming there are two more games. It’ll be hard for UCLA to beat Pittsburgh without a significant Afflalo contribution.

It would be nice to keep him down and struggling.

Some are disappointed with the second year output of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
Washington Post story on Dixon-Howland.

Nebraska (and former Pitt) AD Steve Pederson will be pulling for Pitt and recalls the recruiting of Jamie Dixon to come on as an assistant.

Former Stanford and Golden State Warrior HC Mike Montgomery picks UCLA for the game (shocking, I know).

The question is, can you get it all worked out in four days of preparation? If people don’t have the skills to make those kinds of plays against a defense as intense as UCLA’s, you’re not going to learn it in a week.

Now, I would guess that same game plan is also what Pitt runs. I think the key for UCLA is Collison. He creates off the dribble. If Pitt controls Collison, and Afflalo and Shipp don’t have good games, then UCLA is in trouble. They’re not going to score enough points to win.

But I’m going to pick UCLA because, if nothing else, they might do what they do better. Also, the Bruins are at home, so to speak. Every UCLA alum I know is trying to get tickets.

No kidding. It’s in the state and under 350 miles from LA.

A friend of mine, Tim Z. (who sometimes comments here), submitted an interesting question to the Post-Gazette basketball Q&A and ended up getting it printed on page two of Sunday’s sports section.

Q: If the Penguins get a new arena here in Pittsburgh, assuming it reaches the seating requirement, would Pitt be able to play NCAA tournament games there? I believe Duquesne would have to be the host, but is it possible?

Tim Z., Pittsburgh

FITTIPALDO: Pitt played at Mellon Arena in 2002 when Duquesne was the host school, so I believe it could happen again that way. Of course, Pitt would have to finish as a high enough seed for the NCAA selection committee to award Pitt with two games so close to home.

I didn’t go when it was previously hosted here but I’d do everything in my power to get to it if they played here in the future (meaning 2010 and beyond).

Speaking of tourney games in the city, I went to three of the four women’s NCAA tourney games yesterday and had a good deal of fun with the exception of suffering North Carolina trample over Prairie View. Nice win for Pitt over James Madison late last night. I’ll be there tomorrow night when Pitt plays #1 seed Tennessee. Fans did a great job of supporting the team and I expect it to continue.

Andy Lee could continue his career at Heinz Field with the Steelers.

The Steelers have signed free agent punter Andy Lee to an offer sheet, agent Eddie Edwards confirmed today.

Lee, who played collegiately at Pitt, was a sixth-round draft choice of the San Francisco 49ers in 2004. Last season he averaged 44.8 yards per punt (gross) to rank sixth in the NFC and seventh in the NFL.

First off, I’m not fully sure what an offer sheet is. Pro sports financial type terms confuse me. I can barely explain Restricted Free Agency so “offer sheet” is way out of my range. Thankfully none of that has infiltrated college athletics.

Lee’s average is fairly better than what the Steelers have seen from Chris Gardocki. Gardocki has never had a punt blocked in his career but I might be able to pull that off too if I didn’t spend time trying to actually get a good punt off. I wouldn’t mind seeing Lee compete for the job in training camp against Gardocki and Mike Barr who probably should have got the punting spot in 2006.

As soon as I saw this I figured I’d pass it along. I doubt there’s any better way to start your morning.

Thursday, March 1st – 10pm
Peter’s Pub (116 Oakland Ave.)
21+ over, $3 Cover***
LADIES NIGHT – $1 drinks All Night***
EVERYONE- $5 Bud Light Pitchers

With Performances by…The Sole Vibe
Da Button Pusha
Solid Ground Entertainment
Pitt Basketball Star, Keith “KB” Benjamin
…additional Music by WPTS 92.1fm DJ Karazmatik

That’s Keith Benjamin — oops, I mean “KB” — performing live tonight. Tonight!

Somebody definitely needs to file a report from tonight’s “show”.

(Hat tip: Mondesi’s House)

(Honestly, if you go, please send something to dennis.pittblather@gmail.com afterwards.)

A nasty paper cut is going to make typing this take twice as long as it should, but the news of celebrity sightings at the Pete have to be mentioned. Monday’s game saw Dallas Mavericks owner and possible Pens/Pirates owner (we all know this’ll never happen) sitting court side. Word has it he might actually be interested in purchasing Pitt and maybe even moving the school to Dallas.

New Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was also there Monday, following Bill Cowher’s steps in attending. Other notable people who have been to the Pete in the last 5 years: Jeff Reed, Jerome Bettis (to support ND mostly), Franco Harris, Mel Blount, Mark Malone, Kordell Stewart, Joey Porter, Hines Ward, Marc Bulger, Dave Littlefield, the late Mayor Bob O’Connor, current Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, Gov. Ed Rendell, gubernatorial candidate and ex-Steeler Lynn Swann, Penguins owner Mario Lemieux, Pirates CEO Kevin McClatchy and Alex Trebek.

Then we get this quote from Jeff Long.

As Pitt athletic director Jeff Long said of his facility, “It has become the place to be in the cold, winter months in Pittsburgh.”

Pitt basketball might be the place for the stars but for most regular people it’s hard to get a ticket. The hottest ticket in town might be a Pitt game if you like to make a donation on top of your season ticket expenses (or if you’re a celebrity) but to be honest, most people would rather go to a Penguins game than try to find a way into the Pete. With the student rush tickets for Pens games (generally a very good ticket for only $20), more people would say the Igloo is the place to be.

That’s not a big deal though. It’s the fact that Pitt is willing to screw “real” fans who actually care about weather they win or lose in order to bring in big names who don’t really care about the game.

Looking at the actual product on the court though…

I think this is where we miss Krauser. Not his skill set (Fields has filled in much better than most would have ever guessed) but the actual kind of person he was. Monday night, Louisville was able to get pumped up for that game. You can go ahead and say the Cards needed it but it’s not like Pitt has already clinched the Big East regular season title and can afford to lose the rest of their games. Krauser would have been able to bring some life to a team last night that was dead.

Perhaps it’s that Levance feels too young to step up and be vocal. Maybe he’s just naturally not a loud guy. The fact is we really don’t have anyone who can get the emotions going before and during the game.

The outcome may never be in doubt, but the game could be tougher than expected against the Robert Morris Colonials.

Coach Mark Schmidt’s Colonials are 4-0 and return an experienced team for the game against Pitt.

“I’m glad that Robert Morris is so good this year,” Dixon said. “They’re 4-0, and we’re familiar with their guys, and it’s great to see Mark doing so well and to see them playing so well this early in the season.

“They have two road wins, and I don’t think anybody in the country has two road wins at this point in the year, so to do that is very impressive. And when you look at their guys, it’s amazing how much they’ve improved.”

Pitt has beaten RMU all 25 previous times. The players are more familiar with one another than ever thanks to playing in the Pittsburgh summer league this past season.

The Colonials are led by Senior Forward A.J. Jackson, who has been the NEC player of the week for the second straight week. The two road wins came at Marshall and Maine.

The game is going to be shown locally on FSN-Pittsburgh, ESPN Regional and FullCourt subscription tomorrow at 7:30. Game Notes (PDF).

It’s active in Oakland. The Pitt stores are busy. I’m just getting this out at Panera to relax for a few minutes. Maybe walk around and soak things in for a bit. I love this campus.

There’s a defiinite buzz right now. People are trying to get things done. Clear the decks as it were, to free up the day for football.
It’s an absolutely gorgeous day. Almost makes me wish the game was at noon. Ah, it should still be a nice evening. Perfect day for football. Any and all talk about the game can go here.

A couple pieces on some verbals for Pitt’s 2007 recruiting class.

When you are a WPIAL football player who is headed to Pitt, often, the focus is on you.

That is where Thomas Jefferson senior Dom DeCicco is right now.

DeCicco has given a verbal commitment to coach Dave Wannstedt’s program and the ongoing renewal of Panthers football.

That said, DeCicco, 6 feet 3, 205 pounds, knows that the focus is on him this season when he lines up at quarterback, returns kicks, plays a little receiver and also defensive back for the Jaguars.

“You kind of feel like you have to show what you can do all the time,” DeCicco said. “You know that there are a lot of local Pitt fans interested in what you are doing and how you are playing. I think it is a little bit of you having to show those Pitt fans that you deserved the scholarship that coach Wannstedt gave you.”

DeCicco has been living up to the hype as the best player on the top ranked team in the WPIAL Class AAA rankings and the PIAA. Tomorrow, Thomas Jefferson plays Keystone Oaks. A team with two other players who have verballed to Pitt, Chris Jacobson and Myles Caragein.

By now, just about everyone who follows high school and college football closely is familiar with Chris Jacobson.

They know that he attends Keystone Oaks High School, that he gave a verbal commitment to Pitt earlier this year before other colleges could even sniff him out, and that the 6-foot-3, 290-pound guard has been invited to the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

…

Four hundred of the game’s best high school players were nominated to play, including Keystone Oaks’ Myles Caragein. It was announced on Friday prior to KO’s game with Elizabeth Forward that Jacobson had been invited; Caragein still has a shot, according to Kamberis.

You can put absolutely no stock in this. Just a gut feeling that could be totally wrong, but I think Pitt should be getting some more recruiting announcements in the next week or so.

Okay, folks. Tomorrow I’m heading to Pittsburgh for the FanFest. Just look for the short, bald guy lugging a laptop and a camera. I’m sure I’ll stand out.

I’m hoping to get in early. Maybe get to the campus if I have time. I plan to stay overnight then leave some time in the late morning for a special trip down to Morgantown.

I need to find some places with free wi-fi, so I can squeeze in a little blogging when time permits. Specifically on the North Side, South Side and in Oakland. I know the Beehive offers it on the South Side. In Oakland there’s Panera and I think Kiva Han. I just like to have options. Anyone know of some other places?

Also, if I end up with a late start, I may just go straight to the North Side and avoid the later traffic issues. So if there’s anyplaces on the North Side with free wi-fi let me know. Right now, it seems the city is blanketed by a pay-to-use company. Admittedly I’m tempted to pay the $5 just so I can have a beer and post at Penn Brewery before fan fest.