Cahm Dahn

Yinzers, do yourselves a favor and log off of Social Media during training camp. Stop paying attention to every minute detail of camp. Not everything is the best thing ever, nor is everything that terrible.

Breathe in, breathe out.

And repeat!!!

Lets remember that the guys haven’t even put pads on yet, and are two weeks away from the first Preseason Game.

The ridiculousness doesn’t just conclude with the fanbase, it proceeds with the media. We got Andrew Filliponi of 93.7 The Fan going absolutely bananas over just about everything. I’d include a specific tweet of his, but there’s like a dozen of overly-dramatic tweets on his timeline.

Breathe in, breathe out.

And repeat!!!

Just because Kenny Pickett (20th Pick of the 1st Rd out of the University of Pittsburgh) isn’t included in the 7 Shots the first week of camp is NOT an indication of anything. He’ll get more repetitions as time in camp proceeds. He’s still learning the offense and catching up to the speed of the game.

Breathe in, breathe out.

And repeat!!!

Sure a guy like Pickens is having an absolutely fantastic week. But stop giving the guy a Yellow Jacket already. There’s been a plethora of guys that shined in t-shirts and shorts and didn’t do squat when the lights came on. I tend to think George Pickens will ultimately be a special player, but that’s based more on his productivity at Georgia.

This week is essentially two hand touch which is meant to ease players into camp. I’m seeing guys keeping tabs on yards passing ignoring the fact that a WR may, or may not, break tackles. It’s merely a guessing game.

The Quarterbacks are going to throw touchdowns and interceptions. It’s apart of the process of development. Even the best QB’s across the league are going to toss a few INT’s. Defensive players make plays too. I’m more concerned with the QB’s ability to make second or third reads and find open guys when their primary receiver wasn’t open, as opposed to forcing the ball.

The offensive line is going to have growing pains. Let’s give these guys a chance to gel as a unit and develop as individuals before we get overly critical. I’m not exactly enthused with this group as a whole, and wouldn’t mind seeing an addition towards the end of camp when other teams do salary dumps.

Again,

Breathe in, breathe out.

And repeat!!!

One thing I will say is that a day after signing Free Agent RB Jeremy McNichols, the Steelers worked out FA Jordan Howard. That’s a clear indication to me that Benny Snell’s days in Pittsburgh are likely numbered.

Calm down, relax and don’t forget to breathe.

A Painful Reminder (I have a mental illness)

This past week I had a horrible reminder of my mental illness. It wasn’t so much mental strife this time, but the physical pains from the self-neglect during my battles of depression.

A huge battle (within-the-battle) during a depression episode is really finding the urge to take showers, brush your teeth and other things that deal with daily hygiene. It is awful to think that I found more enthusiasm to go to a local bar, as opposed to basic daily responsibilities.

With my battles, I had to learn to find my underlying issue. If I didn’t step back and take care of the underlying issue, my depression cycle would’ve continued longer than it did. I remember a friend, that I met in phone war game, recommend that I write two letters to my mom; one good letter and one bad letter. After I wrote the letters, it literally broke my heart that the bad letter was longer than the good one. I put a ton of thought into both and really wanted to write more encouraging memories and thanking her. (I won’t touch on the negative things in this forum, because private matters are meant to be private).

It does feel good that I’ve tackled many of my issues, and likely will have to tackle many more (life evolves and has it’s twists and turns). I look forward to tackling them, with the help of my current support and future support.

I would like to help those that are dealing with mental illnesses of their own. I may not be a trained professional, but peer support is definitely important. Which is why I get involved in things like suicide prevention walks to raise money for suicide prevention. I’m also open to people that I meet regarding my mental illness from the start. If that’s red flags for them, I understand. But I also don’t want a future episode to come as a surprise to them as well. They need to know the potential of a future one is real, regardless of how much I’m trying to prevent one from happening. Fair is fair, as well as it’s a matter of respect.

Onto to what provoked such thoughts; my teeth are practically decaying, one-by-one. All last week I had mouth pain, until on Friday the pain was so unbearable that I had to call off work. My jaw was swollen from the toothache. I don’t know if it’s infected or not, but I’ll have to find out soon enough and get to a dentist. Self-care is still important; depression episode or not.

I’m not perfect, nor to I intend to be. I try to be the best person that I can possibly be. I had to learn that I can’t dwell on things that I can’t control; and I have to fix the things that I can control. And in this case, it’s fixing the teeth that I’ve neglected these past six years.

Pitt to the….

Where does the University of Pittsburgh stand in this world of calamitic change? The conference musical chairs is upon us and where does Pitt land when the music stops?

The answer to both is, “I don’t know!”

One can make an argument that Pitt will land on it’s feet; whilst at the same time; one can make an argument that Pitt will be left behind.

Pitt has a quality football brand with a rock solid history. Pitt has won Nine National Champions, a Heisman winner, several College Football Hall of Fame inductees, as well as several NFL Hall of Fame Inductees.

One must ask, is Pitt’s brand strong enough to watch a Pitt vs Michigan game with neither team being ranked and having losing seasons? People will turn in to watch Pitt vs Rutgers if both were in the Top 5. But brand strength and quality is really determined when teams are relatively struggling.

Take Notre Dame for instance; ND hasn’t won a major bowl in nearly thirty years; however; they’re deemed the richest prize in the realignment game (second to possibly the University of Texas). People are vested in Notre Dame, despite their lack of bowl success. They’re historically a Top 5 program with one of the largest fanbases in the United States.

The Pittsburgh media market is a top thirty media market in the country; however, the Big Ten Network already has coverage in Pittsburgh. Are there enough Pitt fans in the Pitt DMA to increase the ratings for games across the board on the network? That’s really a tough question to answer.

In relation to Oregon, Stanford and Cal, Pitt actually draws more fans to the home games than Stanford and Cal, and drew higher attendance against Wake Forest in the ACC Championship than Oregon drew against Utah in the PAC 12 Championship. So despite being touted for having poor fan-fair, Pitt is on par with it’s Big Ten expansion candidate peers from the west coast.

Now all of this doesn’t mean that Pitt is a great expansion candidate. Pitt compared to Texas, Notre Dame, Florida State or Clemson is just not even remotely in the same stratosphere; however, that’s also why those schools are mentioned first in these discussions. Pitt is likely that last, or next to last school in (if it is in), and our comparable schools are schools like Texas Christian University, Texas Tech, University of Louisville, University of Arizona, University of Colorado, Arizona State University, Baylor University and so on. Many of these could easily be included, while Pitt gets excluded.

The bulk of those are state flagships that carry new markets, and bring in fertile recruiting grounds. Western Pa is still a quality recruiting are, but it’s on the decline and schools like Michigan and Notre Dame already recruit WPA.

I don’t know if Pitt is 100% in or 100% out; it’s going to come down to which school sales itself the best. It’s going to be an interesting couple of days, weeks and months. There’s going to be plot-twists along the way.

Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show. The fireworks tonight on the fourth will not compare with the fireworks realignment will provide, especially in relation to the Pitt Panthers.

And yo, will someone FedEx me a Schneider’s Ice Tea for the show? Paweese!!!

The End Game; SEC/Big 10 Breakaway

So what’s next; what’s the end game?

It’s really looking grim if you’re the University of Arizona or University of Kansas or half of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Where it’s heading is incredible, but true.

We are going to see two super conferences of roughly twenty to twenty-four schools that ultimately break away from the NCAA.

They will have their own football playoffs; their own March Madness, their own College World Series; you get the point. The game is completely changing and will be leaving the bulk of D1 sports so far behind.

But perhaps this will be a good thing in a weird way. The Southeastern Conference and Big Ten conferences will more or less resemble semi-pro sports, and what’s left over will resemble more of what college athletics is supposed to look like.

This change will create two major March Madness tournaments. People are still going to watch the next tiered March Madness because there will be a lot of powers left over to make that watch worthwhile; think Georgetown University, University of Kansas, University of Arizona, Duke University, Syracuse University, University of Connecticut and Gonzaga University. Many seasons it will be argued whether, or not, this 2nd tier would’ve won against the SEC/B10 Champion.

As for football, it will look a little something like this for post-season. Big Ten Conference and Southeast Conference will each hold 6 or 8 team playoffs internally, then the winner of each playoff will compete in the national championship game.

This way each conference’s playoffs will be apart of their television deals with ESPN or FOX, and then the national championship game will likely rotate between the networks. This will lead to five or seven more games to each of their inventory, which will likely garner high television ratings.

Perhaps the SEC or Big 10 will send teams to bowls, perhaps they won’t. But surely the schools left behind in the NCAA will certainly carry on the bowl season tradition on ESPN. The names of the participants won’t be as flashy as the past, but ESPN will still sponsor the bowl season.

It’s unnerving; it’s unsettling; ultimately, it is what it is. I vehemently hate the current path this is going.

SuperDuper Conferences… WOOF

A breeze of change is in the air. The change isn’t summer getting into full swing; that change is college sports realignment.

It certainly feels like de je vu in the realm of conference realignment. People will talk about greed, the loss of rivalries, state legislators getting involved and a slew of other things. They’re not exactly wrong neither.

There are 100 year’s worth of traditions are being lost at the stroke of a pen. Many people can be to blame: whether it’s faulty conference commissioners, TV execs making business decisions, or schools just flat out looking to get paid.

Throughout the decades there has always been some form of conference realignment. But those changes weren’t solely based upon tv/streaming device deals that would make a school tens of millions more with a conference change.

University of Southern Cal, University of California Los Angeles, University of Oregon, University of Washington, and the University Notre Dame will all likely be making the move to the Big Ten Conference.

State legislators in both Oregon and Washington already stated that they’ll do whatever possible to keep Oregon State & Washington State (respectively) in the same conference as Oregon & Washington, per John Canzano. That’s not a fight that they’ll win; however, a fight that they can win is keeping the Oregon/Oregon St & Washington/Washington State rivalries intact. Zero conferences are going to want all four, and that’s unfortunately a sad reality.

Schools like University of Colorado, Iowa State University, University of Kansas, Oklahoma State University and others will hurt the most through this wave of change because they’re being reduced to a Tier 2 status. It’s going to hurt their exposure thus their ability to recruit; then there will be a loss of interest in their programs.

Rivalries and the very essence of regionalism is being lost in this wave of super conference building. That essence will never be regained. Penn State has been in the Big Ten for almost thirty years now, and still hasn’t really established a top rivalry yet. There’s rivalries of course, but none of those schools consider PSU their top rival. Perhaps they’ll finally find one with Notre Dame; however, ND will likely consider USC the bigger game.

It’s ultimately about greed, whilst players are only getting Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) from this. It’s practically unpaid labor, and it’s time to start paying the players; or better yet, start taxing athletic programs. You can’t call this nonsense a nonprofit when schools’ athletic programs will be bringing in $100M in television revenue on top of the revenue generated via ticket sales and merchandise sales.

Time to call this what it truly is: minor league football with college branding and likeness that’s being funded by television. I wonder what Walter Camp thinks about what college football has become?