Gorman Pitt catcher has last laugh

Kevan Smith can only chuckle when he hears people say that thebest quarterback on Pitt's campus spends his days squatting behindhome plate instead of taking snaps under center.Selected to the All-Big East baseball team this week for thesecond consecutive season, this time unanimously, the 6-foot-4,240-pound quarterback-turned-catcher has the look of a major-leagueprospect. Smith is batting a Big East-best .407 with 11 home runsand 56 RBI ? including three solo shots in the first two games ofthe Big East tournament ? while showing off his "plus-plus" armstrength and athleticism.The fifth-year senior from Seneca Valley has no regrets aboutsigning with Pitt for football, even if the decision tobypass baseball out of high school probably cost him a six-figuresigning bonus. Former Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt mightfeel differently, as his handling of quarterbacks contributed tohis eventual firing."I'll think about it ? I was supposed to be a top-five-rounderin baseball ? and wonder what could have been," Smith said by phoneThursday from the Big East tourney in Clearwater, Fla. "But I gotto play football and use that scholarship toget an education and then play baseball. It probably cost me somemoney, but having my (marketing) degree will help down theroad."This is what Smith envisioned when he switched sports midwaythrough his college career, not that it didn'tcome without setbacks. Football got off to a promisingstart against Grambling in 2007, when he passed for the most yards(202) in a starting debut by a Pitt freshman ? including DanMarino.That game was the high point. Smith soon saw his starting statusslip away, along with a perfectly placed pass. At Michigan Statethe following week, Smith threw two interceptions ? one a pick-six? and watched wide receiver Oderick Turner drop his throw for thego-ahead touchdown.The low point didn't come until the next season.Wannstedt told Smith he would start for the injured Bill Stullat Notre Dame, and Smith took the majority of first-teamrepetitions in practice. When the Panthers arrived in South Bend,however, Pat Bostick got the starting nod ? only to use Smith onthe second series, which started at the Irish 20. On first down, hethrew incomplete. On second down, Pitt ran the wildcat with LeSeanMcCoy. On third down, Smith was sacked.Pitt settled for a field goal, and Smith never saw the fieldagain."That was the turn," said Smith, who had only started 12 gamesat Seneca Valley because of a broken wrist his junior year. "When(the coaches) did that to me ? had me starting the whole week, thenhad me play only two plays ? that showed they had no confidence inme."By the time Wannstedt demoted Smith to fourth string and askedhim to change positions after the season,tera gold, Smith was contemplating adifferent move. It was the same one made a quarter-century earlierby Chris Jelic, the former Mt. Lebanon quarterback who also playedcatcher at Pitt and was drafted in the second round by the KansasCity Royals in 1985.Where Tino Sunseri struggled in his first season as starter lastfall, Smith developed into a star under baseball coach Joe Jordano.He ranked among the Big East leaders in hits, runs, doubles,triples, RBI and on-base and slugging percentage this spring."That's what scouts like about me," said Smith, who also had 10stolen bases. "They see more power in my swing, a lot of upside inmy talent. ... Every guy says I have top-five or top-10-roundtalent, but I'm a senior and don't have a lot of leverage."What Smith does have is the experience of starting at two major-college sports, of knowing that hehas faced adversity and overcome it. Those are things that won'tshow up in scouting reports but do when he looks in the mirror.That's where Kevan Smith has the last laugh.

My focus is on the process

This was my 13th SXSW and this was the most thought and heart-provoking panel I’ve done yet for me personally. The room was almost completely “old timers” (we’re not actually that old, just on the web) and so we wentera goldt pretty deep, eventually ending up in a place that made me question whether or not money itself would change. WIl we really need it if we fluidly make together and continue the current vector of open making? How will we make it if not?

The audio podcastof the conversation. I’d embed it if SXSW would make that possible.

Since the web began we’ve been talking about artists having a career without a label and going directly to fans. We finally have examples of this wotera goldrking, so what does it look like? I sat down with successful collaborating indie artists: Allee Willis (September, Boogie Wonderland, The Colour Purple, Theme from Friends over 50 million albums sold), Mary Jo Pehl (actor, Mystery Science Theatre 3000, writer RIfftrax, NPR) and Kenyatta Cheese (Know Your Meme) and the super smart room formerly known as the “audience.”

The Net links almost every form of artistic making, so it makes sense that we’re in an era of increrift platinumasing collaboration and creation in many forms. We discussed how limitations and openness serve us in an era of “personal brands” and how to deal with rights, friendship and creating the best space in which to collaborate. We dug into their collaborative process in making social experiences, music, video and comedy and find out how they’ve succeeded creatively and in every other way.

Highlights that stuck with me (as I recollect them. Not direct quotes):

•My name isrift gold Kenyatta Cheese and I am of the web.

• I don’t feel that I can own anything anymore – Kenyatta

• When AOL and MySpace came along I was so upset. But I learned to get over it. It’s ego. You have to let that go to create. The web keeps encouraging you to let go of ego – early social network creator Allee WIllis

•My focus is on the process – Allee WIllis

•What do you really need money for? Will the culture

•This conversation had a major impact on my personal themerift gold that came out of this SXSW: the difference between celebrity and software culture. Post forthcoming.

How do you know someone is a good collaborator for you? Do you think of “everyone/audience” as collaborators and if so what made that thinking happen for