I'd like to thank Ben, Derek, Dave and the rest of the incredible staff at Bloguin who rescued me from Wordpress hell and gave me an opportunity and fantastic platform to develop and grow this site. I doubt I'd still be writing if it wasn't for their deep know-how and expertise. Bloguin is a fantastic company - our decision to leave has nothing to do with Bloguin, but only with our desire to share the daily workload with a few more writers. Please be sure to keep reading Bloguin's superb Pittsburgh sports blogs, who certainly need no plugs here, and their college football blog Crystal Ball Run should remain one of your daily reads.

Thank you to Pitt's great beat writers, Paul Zeise, Jerry DiPaola, Ray Fittipaldo, John Grupp, Chris Peak and Matt Steinbrink. Also, thank you to the high school sports guys Mike White and Ken Gorman. This has never been a "trash the local beat writer" sort of blog. That's partially because of our personalities here, but mostly because Pitt athletics has been fortunate to have so many good journalists covering it. We couldn't operate without your hard work.

Thank you to EJ Borghetti, Mendy Nestor, Greg Hotchkiss, Pat Bostick and rest of the Pitt Athletic Department for your support.

Thank you to Chas at Pitt Blather for the support and inspiration over the years. How he's maintained an independent blog as almost the sole contributor for the majority of a decade, I'll never know.

Thank you to Josh Verlin, Brian Batko and the crew at Panther Sports Network for their contributions to the site.

Thank you to the Oakland Zoo, leadership and membership, current and past, local and long-distance, for always making us feel welcomed.

And finally, thank you, the readers. Thank you for laughing at the bad jokes, for arguing, for pointing out when we were wrong, for making this site what it is today. I hope many of you will follow us over to Cardiac Hill.

On behalf of Anthony and Bryan, we're signing off.

It's been a wild few years.

Hail to Pitt.

Why are we writing about this?  Well, you see, we at the Fighting Wannstaches have a thing for facial hair...and Davis has an eyebrow like no other (yes, I made that singular on purpose).

This past Wednesday, the news broke that Davis is filing the paperwork with the US Patent and Trademark office in regards to his unibrow.

In anticipation of his imminent rise to national stardom, Davis trademarked the phrases "Raise the Brow" and "Fear the Brow." Widely expected to be drafted by the New Orleans Hornets in Thursday's draft, Davis said he saw profit potential in leaving his eyebrows connected.

Those are not the only phrases that Davis has filed to trademark.  A search of the USPTO database for the phrase "Anthony Marshon Davis" has revealed that five standard character marks (trademarks of phrases, not of a particular logo or design) were filed by Davis in early June.  The five phrases consist of:

• Anthony Davis
• AD23
• Fear The Brow
• Raise The Brown
• Brow Down

The most entertaining part of these trademarks is the descriptions for what the phrases can be used for.  Each phrase is filed to be used in sporting and cultural activities, training (a self help book maybe? "Making millions playing basketball: How to pick up women with a unibrow"), charity and community services ("Young Unibrowed Children Association of America"), water bottles, lunch boxes, paper napkins, wrapping paper, colognes, after shaves, skin lotions, amongst many others.  

I can see it now, kids will be ecstatic to take these to school:

Women will flock to the skin care counter at Macy's:

And the look of joy on your child's face when they see this under the Christmas Tree:

At least Davis filed for the trademarks before the clothing vendor in Oakland by the union trademarked it as his own.

Even with Army All-American Chad Voytik on his way to Oakland in just a few months, Pitt still desperately needed to add a quarterback for fall 2013. Today, Paul Chryst got a big one with Kent, Ohio's Tra'Von Chapman.

Chapman is a four-star player according to Rivals and Scout and a three-star by ESPN and 247. Because he committed to Pitt, he's entitled to be referred to by his highest evaluation according to the Pitt Commitment Corollary,* and will be referred to as a four-star from here on out.

The 6'2" signal-caller picked Pitt over BCS offers from Cincinnati, Wisconsin, Boston College, Arizona, Northwestern and Minnesota. Not exactly a murder's row, but Pitt also had to fend off Kent State, where his father is the wide receivers coach.

Chapman is coming off a fantastic junior campaign in which he led his team to their first ever playoff win on the heels of a 10-2 season. Chapman threw for over 2,200 yards with a 64% completion percentage with 26 touchdowns and a 6.5:1 touchdown to interception ratio. He added nearly 700 yards and eight touchdowns with his legs.

ESPN evaluates him as a pass-first, run-second threat from the pocket (via):

Chapman is a highly productive dual-threat quarterback that takes pride in clearly being a passer first, runner second. He is athletic and very consistent in his overall methods. We are not convinced he is quite as tall as his listed height, but he is well built and looks like a wide receiver. He is a shotgun, spread player that is extremely good on the move and a consistently productive deep ball passer. Possesses good arm strength and flashes the ability to put some heat on his throws if he needs to. Has extremely quick feet, stays active and does a nice job of creating passing windows with his mobility. He has adequate pocket presence, consistently buys second chances and appears comfortable throwing on the run. Sets up quickly and while he shows a little bit of a wind-up in his release, he does deliver the ball with confidence and authority and the ball jumps off his hand when his feet are set and he steps into his throws. He is capable of altering his motion to get the ball off if pressured, off balance or on the run to either side. Shows very good zip and ball speed to make some impressive throws to intermediate zones--especially between the numbers. He is very accurate in the deep passing game. Needs to be on time to drive the ball vertically as he does not have an elite arm. Drops the ball in over coverage very well. Chapman can be deliberate in his motion and wind-up just a bit which hinders the ability for the ball to just pop off his hand. As athletic as he is, he does not have blazing speed. He is quicker than fast. A very decisive runner with good lateral agility and the ability to make people miss. Is an excellent fit for the zone read scheme. Chapman is a very good player that will likely receive mid-major and BCS level offers when it is all said and done.

With Chapman in the fold, Pitt's post-Sunseri quarterback situation should be pretty set. Even with minimal contributions expected from Mark Myers and Trey Anderson, Pitt will have senior Tom Savage (probably), redshirt freshman or sophomore Chad Voytik and freshman Tra'von Chapman. And if all goes as planned, they'll still have 2014 commit Chandler Kincade waiting in the wings. Chapman will bring a different element to that group with his athleticism, even if he still is a throw-first quarterback.

Highlight and combine videos after the jump.

*I made that up right now.

<<---------------------------->>

This past weekend, former Pitt cornerback and two-time All BIG EAST selection Aaron Berry was arrested under the suspicion of driving under the influence in Harrisburg.  Why "under the suspicion"?  Well, because Berry refused to take a breathalizer test.  It's not like he was swerving all over the road and hitting parked cars or anything.  Oh wait...

According to a source, Berry was driving near the Hilton Harrisburg Hotel early Saturday morning when the car he was driving struck other parked vehicles. 

Berry allegedly exited his car and began to walk away from the scene.   A witness followed him and called the police.

Berry was arrested by Officer Duane Pyles at 4:45am and transported to the Harrisburg Police Department booking center.  

According to a source, Berry was not cooperative when asked for personal information during the booking process and also refused to submit to a breathalyzer test. 

This continues a series of bad decisions by the Detroit Lions over the past few weeks.  Running back Mikel Leshoure was arrested on two seperate occasions for marijuana-related incidents (for which he was suspended two games) and defensive tackle Nick Fairley was also arrested for a DUI over Memorial Day weekend.

I guess it is not a good offseason to be a Lions fan...actually is that ever a good time?

(thanks to @rys1324 for the heads up)

It began with a few seemingly random tweets in May and now it's confirmed - Tom Savage has indeed transferred to Pitt and will be eligible to play in 2013 (via the Trib):

He did not return a call from the Tribune-Review on Sunday, but he did join his new teammates at an informal dinner/get-together in advance of the start of the university’s second summer session Monday.

Savage, 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, won’t be eligible until ‘13 after sitting out the upcoming season as a transfer. Savage is permitted to participate in every practice and meeting with the quarterbacks, missing only the games.

Savage will likely compete for the starting job in 2013 with then second year QB Chad Voytik and (hopefully) true freshman Tra'Von Chapman who is expected to commit to Pitt on July 1.

It's been a while since Tom Savage played in a college game - he had to sit out last year when he transferred from Rutgers to Arizona - but the former four-star QB showed a lot of promise as a freshman at Rutgers. If nothing else, he'll provide solid depth and will compete with two unknown commodities at QB. The bottom line is that Pitt's quarterback situation in 2013 is much better because of this transfer.

Hail to Pitt!

"Girls, yes there are plenty of them."

For a variety of different reasons, @PittScript, @VictoryLights, and I have decided that it was in our best interests, and our readers' best interests, to join forces with Cardiac Hill, the Pitt blog over at SB Nation.  We would like to thank all of those over at Bloguin who have helped us make the Pitt Script Blog what it is today, and a special thanks to Anson at Cardiac Hill for his willingness to put up with our crap going forward.

The move will officially take place on Monday, July 2nd.  In the mean time, we are going to tiddy up a few lose ends over here.  This should give you all plenty of time to make sure to update your RSS feed subscriptions, to follow Cardiac Hill at @PittPantherBlog on Twitter, and to like Cardiac Hill of Facebook.

See yinz guys on the flip side.  Hail to Pitt!

Dorian Johnson became the 12th member of the Nittany Lions' recruiting class for 2013, according to recruiting websites.

Johnson, from Belle Vernon, Pa., has been on campus many times, but visited with his family this weekend. He planned to stay close to home and chose Penn State over Pittsburgh. He lives about three hours from State College.

Among his other offers were Alabama, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

Just absolutely brutal for Pitt. Either a four- or five-star offensive line prospect depending on your preference on recruiting services. Because he picked Penn State, he'll hereby be referred to as a four-star - I'm sure he's devastated.

There's really no way to understate how bad this loss is for Pitt. Here's a local, elite guy at a position of tremendous need that the staff just happens to be known for developing into NFL first round picks. Pitt signed just one lineman each of the last two classes and currently only has one on board for 2013. The Panthers had reportedly been in the lead and many observers are shocked that he didn't pull the trigger for Pitt.

And that it happened this weekend hurts just a little more (via the Trib):

“(The Sandusky case) didn’t have anything to do with my decision at all,” Johnson said. “I like that the new staff and the football program is going in a new direction.”

Johnson said he ultimately picked Penn State over Pitt, which he visited a dozen times, despite a strong relationship with Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph, a Belle Vernon alum.

“I was comfortable with both schools and their coaching staffs,” Johnson said. “I like Penn State’s campus and felt like I would get a good education. You’re playing big-time football.”

Oof. I don't think he meant anything by the "big-time football" comment, but that certainly twists the dagger in the psyche of Pitt fans.

That being said, this is no time to panic. Pitt's had the worst two years or so in recent memory, of course there were going to be repercussions. Having roughly 30 head coaches in 30 months doesn't really lend itself to the relationship building necessary for effective recruiting.

After the surprise commitment of Corey Clement, there was a lot to feel good about in Pitt recruiting. Pitt had just snagged a very good running back, four-star QB Tra'Von Chapman seemed like a lock and Dorian Johnson seemed to be all but signed.

Amazing how things change in one weekend.

[Thomas Jefferson Coach Bill] Cherpak said new coach Paul Chryst and his staff have done a great job reconnecting and putting out the welcome mat.

"We didn't come to this camp last year for obvious reasons," Cherpak said, referring to departed coach Todd Graham. "[Pitt director of operations] Chris LaSala does an amazing job of setting this up and organizing it, and the staff now makes us all feel so welcome.

"It was like a second home, and it is starting to get back to that way after the disaster from last year. This staff has made a place where people are going to love coming down here and being here. And Chryst has made it clear he wants [high school coaches] to be a part of things and give him input again. So it is a welcome change."

The whole debacle is really looking better and better for Pitt.