Saturday, March 29, 2008

Quick Spring Update

Hey everyone, I thought I'd just pass along some news here before I head out to Charlotte tomorrow.

The John Bachman experiment at center is not going well. Originally he was on the first team and was having difficulty snapping to Billy Stull. Just as the Cat Basket predicted, Robb Houser was bumped up to the first team and there were far fewer problems.

One of the players doing well in the few days we have been practicing is Aundre Wright. He is absolutely killing people with his speed and making a big impact on the field. While he is going to be held back by the depth we have at Wr, he is really proving that he deserves a shot to see the field. I still believe Kinder/Turner will be the starting 1,2 but with Porter, Wright, and Baldwin all waiting right behind them, any flaws in their game must be quickly addressed or they could be out of a starting spot very quickly. Hopefully we will play the best players and don't let the player's year in school impact how much they play.

Pat Bostick is doing his best to make me lose my bet with Brian Ising. He is in very good shape, he has improved his footwork, he has added distance to his long bomb, and has been more impressive than expected in camp. He has worked on correcting his throwing motion, so as of right now you will see a modified version of how he passed last year. He hasn't lost the hitch completely, but it isn't as significant as it was last season.

Lastly, I spoke with one of the coaches who is ready to call Elijah Fields the best player on the team. Thats right, even better than McKillop, better than Shady, better than Romeus. The belief is that with Elijah's super-human ability we can use him (get ready to smile yinzers) as a Troy Polamalu type. He is a superb blitzer for a defensive back, he has great closing speed, and he has arguably the best hands of anyone in our secondary. He is the type of player that will really impact how teams prepare for us. This is the first time I can remember that we have had a superstar on the DLine (Romeus), Linebacker (McKillop), and Secondary (Fields).

It might only be due to the Pitt basketball season ending, but I'm getting very excited for the football season.

We should have our recording equipment by next week, so when I return from Charlotte, look for the regular podcast updates.

Lastly, I want to give mention to our Pitt Women's basketball team. They will tip off here in about 30 minutes. Agnus has done a great job in her short time here. Stevie P, when you get into the office on monday and read this I have 2 jobs for you to do. 1st, give Jamie Dixon a long extension with a super huge buy out. Secondly, do the same thing with Agnus.

~ DPJ ~

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Spring game and Pryor

Pitt has announced that the annual spring game will be held on April 19th at 6 p.m. I always enjoy going to the spring game mostly to see how the new starters will perform. If you remember at all from last year, the buzz was on Elijah Fields. Even during the start of camp Elijah was still practicing with the team and was arguably the best player on the field. This year, I'll be going again to see Elijah.....again, as well as the other players battling it out for starting positions. I think two things to keep an eye on are the incoming Juco players, Cross and Houser. Both have the opportunity to play a major role this season and this will be our first shot to see them on the field.

After weeks of waiting, and with no surprise ending, Terrelle Pryor announced he will be going to OSU. If Pitt couldn't have him, I was hoping that it was OSU that ended up with him. While he has had problems recently, he is a tremendous talent and I would hate to see a player like him go to UPS or Michigan. Now DickRod lost his star quarterback and wasn't able to land the gem to replace him. UPS and UM also have to deal with playing against him which will bring a smile to my face. I really doubt that he ever had an interest in PSU, and was probably just taking the visits there to please his father as well as the boosters who gave him certain things such as free dinners. I would have hated to see him go to UPS, but after watching JayPa ruin Morelli, I think it would have been possible for JayPa to ruin Pryor as well.

All in all, DickRod and UPS have to deal with this now for at least 3 years, so enjoy.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Podcast Link

Everybody please take a look at the links on the left-hand side of the page. We put a link up to the podcast's blog where you can download and stream the episodes. The podcast is submitted to ITunes once we get the approval and its on the site we will put a link for you to subscribe. The direct download from here will still be available as well. Thanks for listening and all the kind words last week and expect the new episode to get uploaded sometime soon.

Update 3/16-We are up in the Itunes store now. Look for the start of regular recording to come in the next week, all the equipment is arriving and we will be definitely doing something before the end of the week. Enjoy the day after one of the biggest nights in school history!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Pryor and Stevie P

Hello All!

I hope you have enjoyed the first Cat Basket podcast. We will be recording another one shortly and hopefully getting uploaded to several other sites.

For those of you who were able to catch the Pitt/Depaul basketball game yesterday, I'm sure you saw Stevie P sitting with Jason Jones and I. I had given Steve a Zoo shirt earlier and the season and he had promised to spend a game with the Zoo. Much to our surprise, our buddy in the athletics department, Chris Ferris, told us we would be having a special guest in the Zoo. It was fun being able to be with Steve for the game. We talked about all sorts of issues. He was clearly talking about football the most. He said that season ticket sales were ahead of where he expected them to be. He also is very excited about the new pre-game festivities that will be occurring on Robinson St. before the games. I guess that means the end of the awful Panther Zone at PNC Park. I think letting athletics run this event and making sure that the Pitt Program Council stays out of it will be the best way for the event to succeed. Sorry Tom Miserableaca, Stevie P is running the show and he won't deal with your garbage ideas.

The other big part of the game was that Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch was a guest of Dr. Jimmy Barber. Usually the only Steeler that he brings is Jeff Reed, but while ol' Skippy is out of town, Charlie was kind enough to come to the game. Many people came over to talk to Charlie (including everyone sitting in the front row courtside seats $$$). Two of the people who met him immediately was Coach Wannstedt and Chris Lasala. Do you think that might have been planned????

Anyways, stay tuned for our next podcast. We're in the process of getting interviews lined up (players, coaches, and friends of the program), but the next one should be focusing on the defensive side of the ball as well as other random topics that will be introduced by Jason Jones.

~ The One and Only ~

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

The Podcast

Here it is the First Ever Cat Basket Podcast. Give us some time and we will be able to figure out how to get everything setup smoother for the downloading of the podcast. For now enjoy Number 1.

Cat Basket Podcast #1