Surely we can’t be talking about the same Todd Graham are we?  Sadly, we are, and we’re not just talking about a football coach, we’re talking about a classless human to boot.  Todd Graham did what I feel to be the incredibly most disrespectful thing he could do when leaving Pitt for another school.  It’s not that he left, he was going to do it eventually, it’s that he left without even saying a proper and respectable reason.

Hell, he couldn’t even say his intentions face to face to HIS PLAYERS. He fired off a “press release” TEXT to his remaining staff, the AD, and the players.  Read below:

“I have resigned my position at Pitt in the best interest of my family to pursue the head coaching position at Arizona State,” Graham said in a text message sent to players on the Pittsburgh team. “Coaching there has always been a dream of ours and we have family there. The timing of the circumstances have prohibited me from telling you this directly. I now am on my way to Tempe to continue those discussions. God Bless. Coach Graham.”

Unreal.  What an absolute stunner in the face of everything this guy preached.  It’s no surprise though honestly the way he bolted Pitt, as he did Rice and Tulsa.  I just think it’s more surprising that a team who is slightly better than Pitt thinks they’re improving with a coach like Graham.

So what are the Arizona State officials saying about this?

“What we sought in a football coach was someone who would be in it for the long term at Arizona State, who would build and guide a program that would be competitive in the Pac-12 and on a national level year after year after year, who would communicate and connect with the community, and represent our University with honor. In Todd Graham we have that person,” said Arizona State President Dr. Michael Crow in a statement.

I’m pretty much positive that’s what everyone said at Pitt this year, what everyone said at Temple before that, and even Rice before that.  The man is selling snake oil, he’s no good, and to hell talking about respect.  These past six hours have shown all you need to know from a person like Todd Graham.  A low-class turd.

EDIT: Thanks to ‘That Guy’ for the correction below.  

Todd Graham and his wife flying to Arizona State...

I’ll also never forget the freak out that Ryan Doumit had when Nate the Great was traded and held a candle light vigil for him.  It’s safe to say now that the entire situation was overblown.  Comments were said, Nate was over hyped, and things fell into place(not that the Pirates were better with or without him).

The reality now is that Nate McLouth is back, signing for 1 year at 1.75 million.  It’s all but clear now that barring injury, he’s nothing more than a bench player for the Pirates with an actual outfield.  Andrew Mccutchen, Jose Tabata, and Alex Presley(still relatively unknown commodity) are all roaming the outfield now, there simply is no room for McLouth otherwise, unless Presley or Tabata fail and they decide to platoon McLouth with either or.

I won’t say that I’m opposed to this move, and I in no way angry about this signing, as he’s really the only Pirate I can remember that took advantage of the short wall and can be consistent in hitting for power.  Who knows, maybe he can even gain his consistency back and the Pirates are in a better situation they were in today and not yesterday.

The only real negative is that it’s still just an unknown, and I feel that we’re more likely to get the bust that was McLouth for the past two years and not the McLouth the Pirates had before the trade.  Time will tell I suppose.

You see, originally when I started this thing, I wanted to see what the best practices for SEO where and working out and testing various strategies to see what could and couldn’t help.  Pittsburgh in the most minimal sense has been great for this strategy.   As I’ve been able to drill down to incredibly detailed and labeled search key words over the past year or so and see what kind of audience I can target.

So while originally I did this all for work related purposes, in the end it became nothing more than work.  Somewhere along the line I fell out of favor and found it a chore to post things and try various things.  Doing a routine totally sapped my energy to produce any kind of original writing or find anything interesting to give to the readers.

So this is where I am today.  I’ve decided that I’m going to go back to doing this for what I enjoy, and that’s Pittsburgh.  I feel that I’ve gathered enough information on here to figure out what works and doesn’t work.  In the mean time, I’m working on my portfolio, and a new tech/web/seo blog dedicated to the things I’ve learned on this site, as well as my other personal sites.

So while I’m going to go back to working on other things, I’m going to just solely focus on fun and enjoyment here.  Things are going to change, and I think will be way more exciting dealing with Pittsburgh and what this great city has to offer.  So stay tuned!

“There are more deficient bridges in our metropolitan areas than there are McDonald’s restaurants in the entire country,” said James Corless, the organization’s director. “These metropolitan-area bridges are most costly and difficult to fix, but they also are the most urgent, because they carry such a large share of the nation’s people and goods.”

That quote alone is stunning, because there are a ton of McDonald’s everywhere.  I don’t know, I seriously thought it was already common knowledge that we’d have the worst bridges around.  Call me crazy, but I do remember a report back when that one bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, and I just swear they had a report saying that there were a ton of bridges in Pittsburgh that were sub-par to deficient.

“The dangerous state of our bridges is a problem that is not going away. Most of the nation’s bridges were designed to last 50 years, and today, roughly a third are already 50 years or older, and the average age of bridges nationally is 42 years,” Mr. Corless said.

Really though, who didn’t see this kind of situation coming? Nothing ever lasts forever, and why were these vital life lines ignored? It’s almost a shock, especially here, that we’re considered the city of bridges.

Quotes from this article: http://post-gazette.com/pg/11292/1183104-147.stm#ixzz1bEEiCnyV

My only real gripe with anything slated as #Occupy, is that I feel that it’s not been given a direct voice from specific people spearheading the “Operation Occupy.”  I just feel that without a direct voice, people are protesting, but can’t all be heard as one.

Some of the confusion stems from the nature of the movement itself. Members have agreed in general to oppose what they view as corporate greed, but individuals are free to promote their own causes as well, a common trend among quickly growing, leaderless movements.

This quote is taken from the Post-Gazette’s report and I am inclined to completely agree.  While I understand the right to give everyone their voice, there are parties getting involved looking to promote their own issues as well as the direct goal of these protests.

That makes it skewed, and the voices become many, and not just one large collective assault on the masses.

Asked how he promotes the group’s message when there are so many different causes, Michael Lawson, who is overseeing Occupy Pittsburgh’s hospitality efforts, said with a smile that there’s “no easy answer, especially when there are a lot of people with a lot of different opinions.”

Across the nation, Occupy Wall Street spinoffs have prided themselves on their efforts to be all-inclusive.

“Because the original group on Wall Street calls itself a leaderless movement … there is all of the potential for people to bring their own signs and make their own demands,” said Michael Kazin, a Georgetown University professor who studies social movements. “It is a carnival of activists.”

Low and behold, I don’t think you will find a ton of people who disagree with the assessment. I am a supporter, I think big business and big government work hand in hand to monopolize and give for their own, rather than the people that make it so.

Who knows though, as this is a totally random post, I just hope that the collective voice finds its way, and at least changes something to make someone’s life a bit easier.

http://www.ptei.org/interior.php?pageID=289

The good thing however is that it seems most if not all of the Steelers accept what happen, admitting to the fact that they got flat-out beat.  Ben Roethlisberger was in a quote giving mood about the game played against the Ravens:

“I was talking to coach [Dick] LeBeau, and we used our mulligan on the first tee,” Roethlisberger said. “We take our penalty stroke and we have 17 more holes to birdie.

“We just didn’t come together, and I didn’t play well. I think we’re all entitled to a bad day now and then, and we move on.”

Well, I sure as hell hope so. Seeing uninspired football going into week 2 is going to be incredibly alarming. I think overall that’s the single most thing I was frustrated about. Seeing them look uninspired or totally care free as they got run up and down the field. It was just awkward, and it wasn’t what I’ve come to expect from the Steelers.

The bad day talk is very legitimate, and I’m not going to nail them to the cross for that one game. Which is why I look forward to the Seahawks match up, and in a way, I feel bad for the Seahawks.

One thing Roethlisberger promised to change against the Seattle Seahawks is the use of the no-huddle offense. The Steelers did not show it in Baltimore; they will Sunday in Heinz Field, he vowed.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure of that. We need to. We didn’t do it at all the last game. We kind of throw a lot of things out the window when you’re getting killed like that. I know people are probably making a big deal that we didn’t run the ball enough. I think we’ll see [the no-huddle] this week.”

Good, this is one thing that they don’t do enough, and that they barely did it against the Ravens was frustrating. Also, while you’re at running the no huddle, keep throwing to Heath Miller(feel like I have to say this every year). It’s sad that arguably one of the best overall tight ends in the game doesn’t get hardly any touches.

This weekend will be filled with great friends and good food.  Now if only we could pick up a good win against a very beatable team, it will be perfect.  I’m so happy that football(and soon to be hockey) are back.

It’s time that I focus my efforts into trying to make this site better, via a re-design, and a fresh new attitude on what’s going on with Pittsburgh.  I feel that it’s failed to me on a personal level, as I had no direction when I started writing about Pittsburgh with the creation of this blog.  I suppose it’s never had a clear direction, as I was just reaching beyond my territory and had no clue how to do some things.

What I’d eventually like to do, is gather like-minded people who are deeply involved with the city, and get them to send a few articles so I could grow the community in a way that it could reach different groups and demographics.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just writing to write, but I do know one thing.  For this site, changes are coming.

What is Google Offers?  

Google Offers is the direct competition to Groupon.  For the people who know what Groupon is great, for those that don’t, check it out.  Groupon and Google Offers are internet based promotion programs built for companies to give away daily deals and offer the consumer with something special.  It’s just another form of advertising, because as far as I’m concerned, Groupon is not for me.

Google Offers looks to be about the same way, they offer nearly the same services, same ideas, same theories, it’s just under the Google brand.

The Google Offers website to subscribe to Pittsburgh deals can be found here: Google Offers Pittsburgh

If you’re interested in how it got it’s start, why it’s opening up to Pittsburgh at an early time, check out the article the Post Gazette published: It’s interesting because this article talks about the team that created it here in Pittsburgh. I’m a huge Google guy(cheap plug to my Google+ profile), so anything they’re doing here, is usually great for all involved.

PITTSBURGH, July 25 2011–Pittsburgh Opera is proud to present Jackie Evancho—11-year-old “America’s Got Talent” runner up and Richland Township native—on Sunday, October 16, at 5:30 PM at the Benedum Center. Starting today, individual tickets are on sale for the popular singer’s first live concert in her hometown of Pittsburgh.

Tickets can be purchased by calling (412) 456-6666, visiting www.pittsburghopera.org on the web, or visiting the Theater Square box office in person at 665 Penn Avenue.

Between her stint on the “America’s Got Talent” concert tour and bestselling holiday album, Ms. Evancho was 2010’s top-selling debut artist. She is now on the road promoting her new album “Dream with Me,” which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 when it was released in June. Evancho’s whirlwind media tour has included performances on “Oprah,” “The Tonight Show,” “The View,” and “Piers Morgan Tonight” but that doesn’t mean she has forgotten her Pittsburgh roots.

For her Pittsburgh performance, Evancho will be performing a number of hits from her new album “Dream With Me,” including “O Mio Babbino Caro” and “When You Wish Upon a Star” to name a few.  To round out her performance, Evancho will be accompanied by the Pittsburgh Opera’s resident artists, orchestra, and chorus, with music director Anthony Walker directing. The family-friendly show is sure to appeal to fans of all ages.

So check it out, I’ve heard great things about Jackie and she’s worth a see at the Opera!