teke184

Heh... New Orleans made out like bandits considering how little they gave up. Not that Snyder and Butler are going to be All World, but all they gave up was the rights to a guy who was drafted in 1997 by the Bulls and has shown no inclination to play ball in the US, ESPECIALLY with a team in the dumps like the Hornets.

I'd say the ACC will be the hardest to predict for two reasons: 1. There's a ton of talented teams in the mix (Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Boston College, NC State) 2. The added championship game could throw a monkey-wrench in the works if someone slips in and beats the expected champ, a la Kansas State vs. Oklahoma a few years back. The Big Ten has a bunch of good teams *but*, the way the schedules fall, one team appears to have the benefit of playing everyone BUT the other two power teams. Example- Purdue's Big Ten schedule is VERY easy... they don't have Ohio State or Michigan, and their game against Iowa is at Purdue. Their only question mark appears to be their game at Wisconsin. Also, Wisconsin doesn't play Ohio State and they've got Purdue, Michigan, and Iowa at Camp Randall. I'd say the Big East has the potential to be unpredictable, but that involves Louisville slipping and giving someone else the opportunity. Hell, look at last year when everyone thought West Virginia would go undefeated, taking the Big East's BCS bid, and they ended up losing about 3-4 games, at which point Pitt was able to snag the BCS big away from the departing Boston College thanks to a BIG assist by Syracuse. If Louisville and Pitt have early trouble, things could get interesting.

Yeah, I think you said that last year, too, and you didn't play like Tennessee... you ended up playing more like Vanderbilt. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> We weren't really focused last year. This year these kids came back with a lot of lessons learned and are really motivated to turn this into a winning football team. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> "Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the Prom Queen!" - John Mason, "The Rock"

ACC- Miami, if only because they always have such a load of talented players. I'd consider the Hokie Chokies if they didn't have Don Mexico, Ron's dumber younger brother, as their QB. Big (L)East- Louisville by default Big 12- Oklahoma, as Texas always chokes in big games Big 10- Iowa. They bring back the core of a team that gave LSU fits last year in the Capitol One bowl. Pac 10- USC by default SEC- LSU, as they have all the skill players they need and, supposedly, Miles has chosen the starting QB and will stick behind him. Title game- USC vs. Iowa USC is a given if they go undefeated. If there are a bunch of teams that are either undefeated or have one loss vying for the #2 slot, it'll go to the Big Ten team because the Oklahoma ass-whooping last year will have soured the voters on the Big 12, as well as the belief that the Big Ten teams play "tougher schedules" than the other conferences. (Not that I'd argue with Iowa getting the nod because I know they're tough, but most Big Ten teams tend to get overrated because of the "East Coast bias" and SEC teams not named Alabama or Florida get the "They didn't play anybody" label whenever they're in a multi-team race.)

Yeah, I think you said that last year, too, and you didn't play like Tennessee... you ended up playing more like Vanderbilt. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> BURN! Do me! Do me! Ummm.....you're going down little man! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Like I'm going to bother with your fucking Baylor Bears... Go back to getting ass-raped by USC.

Want to unlock Punch Out? Get a Pro Action Replay. I haven't heard of any other way to unlock it.

Yeah, I think you said that last year, too, and you didn't play like Tennessee... you ended up playing more like Vanderbilt.

True, true... Technically, it can be argued that he brought a minor across state lines for the purposes of having sex with her, so that makes it a violation of white slavery acts. The applicable federal act is, IIRC, the Mann Act, which is what Charlie Chaplin was either charged with or threatened with at one point because he really liked young poonani.

If I ever get a bigger house that will allow me to get more than about 3 cabinets, I'd consider doing what you do. My limitations, though, are mainly of the space and logisitcal variety at the moment. If I was able to get about 12 game cabinets in addition to my Ultracade, they'd probably be the following: 1. Tron 2. Sinistar 3. Track And Field 4. Neo Geo 6-ROM switcher (I'd get all the Metal Slug games as well as Super Spy, Bust A Move / Puzzle Bobble, Sengoku, Ghost Fighters, etc.) 5. Space Invaders or Space Invaders Deluxe 6. Super Punch-Out 7. Peter Pack-Rat (an obscure game by Atari) 8. Mortal Kombat or Mortal Kombat II 9. Satan's Hollow (an obscure shooter from the mid-80s by Midway) 10. Cloak & Dagger (Robotron-like spy game by Atari) 11. Star Wars (1980 color vector version) or Star Wars Trilogy (1997 version with Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi) 12. Any 1 of the following: X-Men, Spiderman, Captain America And The Avengers, Sunset Riders, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons, Aliens, Alien Vs. Predator, or The Punisher. (Pretty much any of the Konami 4-player games or one of the other licensed franchise games by Data East et all)

Mandarin is the most quotable... "See my pow-aaaah!!!" As for game cabinets, I have an Ultracade with the standard 80+ games as well as all the Williams / Midway / Atari games and Galaga, Pac-Man, and Ms. Pac Man, which are currently unavailable due to rights issues. I'd be more of an originalist on the arcade machines if I actually had the room to store more than one cabinet. I figure if I ever buy a vintage cabinet, it will HAVE to be Tron because that's my favorite game of all time. I mean, that's why I bought that god-awful Tron 2.0 for the GBA, as it came with the original Tron as well as Deadly Discs Of Tron.

How long until you can put together a season schedule? I want to see who I get to whup up on in OOC play since I already know I'm going to smear Dama and Kotz again in Big South play to retain my title.

"Nobody's trading... this ain't a goddamn city council meeting!"

Considering the rumors that Rowling may write an eighth book, this amount of plot being established in book 6 becomes more important. Harry Potter's to-do list, as of the end of book 6: 1. Graduate from Hogwarts 2. Kill Voldemort 2a. 2b. 3. 4. 5. Take down Bellatrix LeStrange for her murder of Sirius at the end of Order Of The Phoenix Of those, #1 will easily be accomplished but the rest all seem like they could be books to themselves. However, some combination of 3, 4, and 5 will probably be subplots to book seven. Oh, and Robfather, I doubt your theory.

I think the idea behind it is that he can't be with her while Voldemort still lives... however, once he's gone, he won't feel that he's endangering her by being with her.

Read the whole thing... While it was very good, it had the distinct "Matrix Reloaded" feel where it wasn't trying to be a good book as much as a lead-in to the final book. That made the final ending seem as if it was abrupt, as this was a true "to be continued" feel that Rowling only used once before, at the end of Goblet Of Fire.

*Plans on repeating as the OxyCotin Bowl champ in the 2005-2006 season*

I'd call him "Juventud" or "Juvy Juice" instead...

Bored, HarleyQuinn is going to pass on being in the contest this year, so that opens up an additional spot in the contest.

That's why I keep wondering... I'm glad that Bud put some beef into the drug-testing policy. But the whole idea that it's finding only minor leaguers, relievers of no "big deal", and bush-league hitters... I guess I'm one of those folks that won't be happy til they nail someone with a name that at least means something to me. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I keep thinking that the only reason these young guys keep getting popped is that they're the least likely to know how to mask these tests properly. I figure that an old hand like a Gary Sheffield would know how to cover up certain drugs if they'd been taking them since the late 80s / early 90s and are still in the league.

True dat. As an LSU fan, though, the caveat I have to give about this upcoming season is that no one's sure how everything will gel now that Les Miles is in and The Saban and almost all of his assistants are gone. Miles' teams have reputations for putting up a lot of offense so, if he can pick a quarterback and make them produce, it'll probably work out. If there's a lot of instability under center, it could make for a very frustrating year.

They're playing at A&M on 11/25... A loss that late in the year would blow a HUGE hole in their post-season plans.

I think Texas may start off as #2 but, as usual, they'll find some way to fuck it up. That's not limited to losing to Oklahoma, losing to Texas A&M, or losing to the Big 12 North champion, all of which have kept the Longhorns out of BCS bowls in the past.

I'm not sure exactly how things will work out now that the BCS is officially turned upside down, but LSU is less likely to get screwed than Auburn was. 1. LSU plays a stronger schedule than Auburn did last year. Taking out common SEC West opponents, the schedule differences are as follows: Auburn- Georgia Tech Ball State Western Kentucky South Carolina Kentucky Georgia LSU- North Texas State Arizona State Tennessee Vanderbilt Florida Appalachian State Arizona State and North Nexas State are better than Georgia Tech and Ball State. Western Kentucky and App State balance each other out. Tennessee, Florida, and Vandy outweigh South Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia. 2. LSU doesn't have the stink of extreme disappointment on them like Auburn had after their 2003-2004 underwhelming year. LSU, while they didn't go to a BCS game or finish in the Top 10 in 2004-2005, weren't predicted to win the National Championship then lose their first 2 games like Auburn did in 2003. LSU finished at 9-3, with the Auburn and Iowa losses being due to 1 blown play each. (Ronnie Prude got a leaping call against Auburn that let Auburn make another attempt at a blown PAT, leading to a 10-9 Auburn win. Prude also blew an assignment at the last second of an Iowa game, leading to a game-losing TD.) Conversely, Auburn finished at about 7-5 in 2003. To be fair, though, 3 of those losses were to a great Ole Miss team and to co-National Champions LSU and USC as well. Those losses, except for Ole Miss, weren't even close though. 3. Oklahoma's complete breakdown against USC last year means there's no consensus #2 pick going into the season. While Auburn never rose higher than #3 last year because consensus #1 and #2 picks USC and Oklahoma never lost, LSU's going to most likely enter the season as one of about 5 potential #2 teams and I doubt that most sportswriters will unanimously agree on who #2 should be.

I'm in, so bold me.