I can’t stop thinking about the Tennessee-Schiano stuff. It has been absolutely fascinating in so many ways. Whether seeing the stuff play out like an alternate dimension Pitt-Stallings hire. To the media aspect. To use of a highly questionable narrative to torpedo the hire. So much stuff is there.

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Bit of hyperbole, but this has been quite the holiday weekend.

Friday, Pitt upsets Miami.

Saturday, Pitt basketball beats Lehigh and even showed that it is taking some steps to becoming a team.

Sunday. Oh, Sunday. The coaching carousel went beyond tilt-a-whirl. It went Michael Bay explosions crazy. The damn thing spun off its axis and went ripping through the whole amusement park.

It was the effing Silver Streak ripping through Chicago (for those of you old enough to remember this one).

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A few weeks ago, there was an article talking about holidays in terms of handling them as a parent. It was superficially amusing, especially in terms of the male/female dynamic in coping. But Thanksgiving stuck with me, because it is the most food-centric. And by food-centric, I mean preparing dishes. Kitchen and prep time. Most of the others can be faked, and/or unless you live in a warm weather climate can be done on a grill — which sets up a better division of labor for the adults.

Which again sets up that male/female dynamic of cooking vs. grilling. Unless, you are like me, who handles both because my wife can’t cook to save a dying man’s life. She pretty much gave up after serving me a hockey puck (it was supposed to be a boneless chicken breast that she tried to roast in the oven(?)) as part of my birthday dinner during our first year of dating. She can handle baking, because it involves very specific instructions and no room for improvisation, but not  anything that involves margins. But I digress.

The point is,  for me, Thanksgiving is a hell of a lot of stress. Mainly leading up to it. Planning the menu. Figuring out what I need. Going out to get it (total Bill Parcells on this aspect). Thanksgiving is fine. I’ll happily work in the kitchen all day preparing the meal, drinking wine and whiskey. Letting people float in and out to talk, asking insincerely if they can help (I make the kids serve as prep cooks with peeling and cutting, so they don’t get out of earning the meal).

But everything leading up to it while squeezing in the crunch of work with a short week. FTS. I really should take the week off and make it easy on myself.

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9:30 pm, ESPN3– It’s WatchESPN.

I’m not sure I’m emotionally ready for this.

This past Saturday was rough enough. And for all the the supposed acceptance of Pitt not being anything close to a good basketball team this year. For already seeing them lose to a team coached by Ed DeChellis. For losing to Montana, while this other team won by 13. And now to be a 10 point underdog to Penn State?

You’re asking a lot of me.

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12:20, ACC Network (very limited)/ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN.

Be interesting to see what kind of crowd shows up at Lane Stadium, following a disappointing loss that officially eliminated the Hokies from repeating as ACC Coastal champs. The weather is going to be in the upper 40s and very gray. Rain is supposed to hold off until the evening. And the dreaded noon-ish start.

It’s also Senior Day and the last home game of the season to counter the reasons not to show. Plus, you know, the Hokies have been a pretty good team.

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Haven’t done one of these in ages.

Joey Coogan from The Key Play — your best source for VT news and analysis — reached out to do a Q&A ahead of this weekend’s game. My responses to his questions came out yesterday.

Like Pitt, the Hokies are coming off a frustrating and disappointing loss. In their case, to Georgia Tech. Both shared “honorable mention” in last week’s Misery Index.

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Phew. That nightmare scenario is done within the first week of the season.

Pitt finally notched its first win in basketball last night. I would go with some cliche about how it wasn’t pretty, but let’s face it. Nothing about this season is going to be pretty.

I missed the first half (apparently this was a good thing), where Pitt continued to show no awareness on defense and left shooters on the perimeter alone. To the tune of UCSB going 8-15 on 3s.

The lack of defense on the perimeter coupled with no fear of the frontcourt defending the rim has led to an all-hands-on-deck approach. Redshirts be damned.

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7pm ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN

Aw, hell I don’t know.

UC-Santa Barbara is in the Big West. They went 6-22 last year and fired their head coach. Joe Pasternack is now the guy. Pasternack had been the head coach at the University of New Orleans. Succeeding some guy named Buzz Williams. UNO folded their basketball program in 2011, and Pasternack became an assistant at Arizona under Sean Miller. He was also the associate head coach there.

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I’m glad Justin took to venting before I could. I’m still not over that loss from last week, but I’m not in a dark, angry place. Now it’s just a dark, bitter place.

Pitt prepares for a visit to Blacksburg to face a team with fans almost as pissed off as we are over an inexcusable loss. A ranked Hokie team that claims that opening game win over West Virginia and… that’s it?

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Oh, boy.

That new team smell wore off real fast.

83-78 in OT. In front of a home crowd just north of 3,000.

The backcourt of Montana — their admitted strength — just destroyed Pitt. All game long. On offense. Forcing turnovers.

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7pm radio or ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN

Feeling better. Very low key weekend of nursing being sick to maximum sympathy; and to be left alone with sports on TV all weekend.

Let’s start with a lookback on the opening loss at Navy.

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9:00 CBSSN (it’s a real channel, dammit).

I’m sick. Have that whole mucous running down the back of my scratchy throat, stuffed nose, bloated head feeling. It’s probably just a cold that has been long overdue.

And yet…

There was this game yesterday…

I’m not saying that Pitt’s performance last night against UNC is responsible. I’m the the first to say that correlation does not equal causation. I’m just not willing to rule it out either.

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Hi everyone! Long time no see. I wish I had more time to write these days but unfortunately I lack the time to put the thought into things that I prefer to write. I still haven’t finished Stranger Things season 2. There’s not going to be a lot of deep thought here, just frustration.

I had a feeling heading into this season that it was a transition year. Pitt lost a lot of talent on offense and the defense was still going to be a work in progress. Matt Canada left, forcing the offense into their 3rd coordinator in 3 years. Narduzzi did a good job with his first two picks so I gave him the benefit of the doubt on Shawn Watson. But it was clear the offense would take a step back no matter what. (more…)

7:30, ESPN.

Nippy, clear Thursday night.

North Carolina hasn’t had much going right with its quarterbacks and injuries. Out of nowhere, a week-and-a-half ago, they nearly upset Miami. So, there’s always the possibility.

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3-8.

That’s Pitt’s historical record against UNC.

0-4.

That’s Pitt’s record against UNC since joining the ACC.

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