Bored

Now I can die happy...full version of Super Bowl XXIII. For injury lovers, the gruseome Tim Krumrie broken ankle is in part 2. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

I'd vote Jeter over Ortiz at the moment. People forget Ortiz has had to make up a lot ground after a very pedestrian May put him well behind the other top candidates. If he keeps hitting like he has the last month and a half he'll probably emerge as the legit winner of the MVP but as things stand right now the race is hardly over no matter what ESPN tells you. Let us also not forget about Manny Ramirez. There's a serious argument for him but he's just being tossed aside.

For the first time this year I actually had to give more than a second of thought for who would take the #1 spot in the N.L. MVP race. As the Cardinals have slumped so has Albert Pujols and Carlos Beltran has now tied him for the M.L. lead in Win Shares. Pujols hangs on to the top spot for now but we now finally have a race. Chase Utley is hot, David Wright is not, and Ryan Howard makes his first appearance of the year. #10 Ryan Howard, Phillies .294/.378/.625, 78 RC, .308 EQA, 41.0 VORP, 17 Win Shares #9 Nick Johnson, Nationals .294/.425/.521, 82 RC, .317 EQA, 39.1 VORP, 19 Win Shares #8 David Wright, Mets .308/.383/.545, 86 RC, .302 EQA, 37.1 VORP, 20 Win Shares #7 Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks 175 ERA+, 4.31 K/BB, 1.14 WHIP, 58.3 VORP, 17 Win Shares #6 Chase Utley, Phillies .328/.390/.557, 86 RC, .301 EQA, 52.7 VORP, 21 Win Shares #5 Alfonso Soriano, Nationals .290/.362/.594, 93 RC, .304 EQA, 43.0 VORP, 23 Win Shares #4 Miguel Cabrera, Marlins .326/.422/.547, 90 RC, .319 EQA, 47.4 VORP, 21 Win Shares #3 Lance Berkman, Astros .322/.411/.621, 96 RC, .324 EQA, 46.7 VORP, 24 Win Shares #2 Carlos Beltran, Mets .284/.388/.626, 93 RC, .318 EQA. 52.0 VORP, 27 Win Shares #1 Albert Pujols, Cardinals .319/.428/.684, 98 RC, .344 EQA, 56.3 VORP, 27 Win Shares Hey did you hear the news? David Ortiz has won the American League Most Valuable Player award. ESPN told me so. All kidding aside after not even being on my radar until recently Ortiz has made a big jump on my imaginary ballot and if he keeps this up he could even possibly grab the top spot by the end of the year, but for the moment he's still not even the Red Sox MVP in my view. Travis Hafner has grabbed the top spot back but it wasn't without reservations and I gave consideration to everyone in the top 4 this week for the #1 spot. Carlos Guillen and Justin Morneau both make their first appearance in the Top 10. #10 Vernon Wells, Blue Jays .319/.382/.597, 79 RC, .314 EQA, 52.3 VORP, 17 Win Shares #9 Jason Giambi, Yankees .249/.407/.578, 82 RC, .322 EQA, 35.3 VORP, 18 Win Shares #8 Justin Morneau, Twins .323/.378/.605, 85 RC, .313 EQA, 41.9 VORP, 19 Win Shares #7 Carlos Guillen, Tigers .307/.389/.511, 75 RC, .304 EQA, 42.0 VORP, 20 Win Shares #6 David Ortiz, Red Sox .291/.395/.627, 90 RC, .324 EQA, 51.3 VORP, 19 Win Shares #5 Jim Thome, White Sox .298/.417/.627, 91 RC, .332 EQA, 49.5 VORP, 19 Win Shares #4 Manny Ramirez, Red Sox .319/.429/.633, 91 RC, .338 EQA, 52.7 VORP, 22 Win Shares #3 Derek Jeter, Yankees .350/.425/.487, 88 RC, .317 EQA, 54.9 VORP, 22 Win Shares #2 Joe Mauer, Twins .365/.446/.525, 75 RC, .328 EQA, 52.8 VORP, 22 Win Shares #1 Travis Hafner, Indians .306/.430/.641, 103 RC, .348 EQA, 62.4 VORP, 19 Win Shares

Yes, as in if the season ended today.

ESPN/Fox Games MONDAY Cleveland (Paul Byrd) at Boston (David Wells), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY Philadelphia (Brett Myers) at St. Louis (Jeff Weaver), 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN THURSDAY Toronto (Shaun Marcum) at N.Y. Yankees (Randy Johnson), 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ESPN Cleveland (Jake Westbrook) at Boston (Josh Beckett), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN2 SATURDAY Philadelphia at N.Y. Mets, 1:00 PM EST Atlanta at Cincinnati, 1:00 PM EST Oakland at Seattle, 1:00 PM PST Texas at L.A. Angels, 1:00 PM PST SUNDAY Philadelphi at N.Y. Mets, 8:00/5:00 PM

This week the Phillies traded Bobby Abreu for some magic beans and Chase Utley was the talk of baseball with his assault on Joe DiMaggio’s consecutive hitting streak record, so the Phillies are having the best week ever! Oh Utley’s streak ended last night…but hey at least they got rid of Lazy Abreu. You know what rhymes with Abreu? Poo. That’s the kind of hard hitting analysis that you can also get from the TWiB thread. So with the Phillies in the news the past week I figured might as well make them the next WTG? feature and the subject will be the Fightins’ from 1995. The Phillies that year stormed out of the gate after the delayed start to the season, winning 23 of their first 31 games. After beating the Cardinals 5-3 on June 25th they were 37-18, the best record in the National League with a 4 ½ game lead over the Braves in the East. Two weeks later at the All-Star Break they would be 4 ½ games behind the Braves. The Phillies lost 17 out of 20 games after June 25th and by August 10th they were under .500 after capping an eight game losing streak. After hitting rock bottom less than a week later the Phillies showed signs of life going through a stretch where they won 10 of 12 games and grabbed the Wild Card lead. But it turned out to be one big tease to a young Al Keiper as the Phillies would lose 21 of their last 31 games, finishing six games under .500. Several injuries to key players and a punchless line-up that had a MLB worst 94 homeruns were too much for the Phillies to overcome. C: Darren Daulton (.249/.359/.401, 12.8 VORP, 12 Win Shares) – Daulton tore knee ligaments in a game against the Dodgers on August 25th which was just about when the Phillies started their collapse after taking the Wild Card lead. That would be the last game he would ever play at catcher. He only played five games the following season and was traded to the Marlins midseason in 1997 where he would pick up a World Series before retiring. It was also in 1997 when Daulton began to fucking nuts. 1B: Gregg Jefferies (.306/.349/.448, 14.7 VORP, 10 Win Shares) – Jefferies spent the first half of the year in left field and then the second at first after Dave Hollins was traded to Boston. After two very good years in St. Louis it had appeared that he might start living up to the hype he received as a prospect for the Mets but it never happened with the Phillies. They traded him a waiver deal to the Angels in 1998 and then spent two seasons as a part time player with the Tigers. 2B: Mickey Morandini (.283/.350/.417, 21.2 VORP, 17 Win Shares) – Morandini was one of six Phillies to make the All-Star team based on their hot start that was fading by the break. After a down year in 1997 he was traded to the Cubs for Doug Glanville and would have a career year in 1998. Too bad for him it wasn’t a contract year so wasn’t in a position to cash in on it and fell off a cliff after that. He signed with the Expos before 2000 but never played a game with them as he was reacquired by the Phillies before the season started. He would be traded in a waiver deal to the Blue Jays. He’d be re-signed by the Jays after the season but did not make the club for 2001. 3B: Charlie Hayes (.276/.340/.406, 10.5 VORP, 13 Win Shares) – This was second go around with the Phillies for Hayes, which would be the first of three times he’d return to a team he used to play for. He signed with the Pirates after the season who would trade him at the waiver deadline to the Yankees where he lucked out and got to catch the final out of the World Series without doing anything else of note. Yankees traded him after 1997 to the Giants where he’d spend two seasons. Spent 2000 with the Brewers and then signed with the Astros who released him midseason in 2001. SS: Kevin Stocker (.218/.304/.274, -7.4 VORP, 8 Win Shares) – Stocker pretty much pissed away all good feelings about him when he was an important midseason season call up for the Phillies during their 1993 championship season. Was traded after 1997 to the expansion Devil Rays for Mr. Poo which set the tone for the future the of the D-Rays franchise. They released him during the 2000 season and was picked up by the Angels to finish his career. LF/RF: Jim Eisenreich (.316/.375/.464, 22.3 VORP, 13 Win Shares) – As a kid I was never an autograph seeker but one of the few autographs I ever got was Jim Eisenreich in 1992 when he was with the Royals and I’m not really sure why. The Phillies had nine different players make 20 or more starts in the outfield in ’95 with Eisenreich leading the way with 90 total starts, the majority in right. Signed with Marlins after 1996 where he picked up a World Series ring. Traded to the Dodgers midseason in 1998 in the monster Mike Piazza/Gary Sheffield deal but Eisenreich was washed up and it would be his last stop. CF: Andy Van Slyke (.243/.333/.350, 2.4 VORP, 3 Win Shares) – Phillies stats only, acquired in June due to Lenny Dykstra’s injury problems. Van Slyke had hit the career wall the year before and it wasn’t getting any better this year which would be his last. CF: Lenny Dykstra (.264/.353/.354, 2.9 VORP, 8 Win Shares) – Dykstra was pretty much crippled at this point by knee and back problems, he played in only 62 games. Many thought his career was finished at this point and they were almost right as he tried to gut it out the following year but only lasted 40 games although with decent numbers (.261/.387/.418). Missed all of 1997 and tried to make a comeback in ’98 but was injured again in Spring Training, then officially retiring. RF: Mark Whiten (.269/.365/.481, 10.8 VORP, 9 Win Shares) – Phillies stats only, acquired for Dave Hollins from the Red Sox in July. Whiten only played in 60 games for the Phillies yet he tied for the team lead in homeruns with 11. The well traveled Whiten would be released during the following season then picked up by Atlanta who would trade him a couple of months later to Seattle. Spent 1997 with the Yankees and then had a second stint with the Indians for one full season and a couple of cameo appearances the following two years. Rotation Paul Quantrill (92 ERA+, 13.5 VORP, 7 Win Shares) – This was Quantrill’s only full year as a starting pitcher and it’s not hard to see why. Traded after the season to Toronto and was in their rotation at the start of the year but was removed from it by midseason. It’d be the following year he’d begin a nice run as one of the better middle relievers in the game. With the Jays thru 2001 before being traded to the Dodgers with Cesar Izturis. Signed with the Yankees after 2003 but unfortunately for them he started to suck at that point and gave up the game winning homerun to THE GREATEST CLUTCHIEST HITTER WHOEVER CLUTCHED WHO ISN’T DEREK JETER in Game 4 of the ALCS that year that sparked the Red Sox comeback. Yankees traded him midseason in 2005 to the Padres who would release him in August and was picked up by the Marlins to finish the season. Announced his retirement last March. Tyler Green (81 ERA+, 5.2 VORP, 5 Win Shares) – The former much hyped first round pick, Green’s MLB future was already bleak at this point with major arm problems although he was, believe it or not, selected to the All-Star team. He went into the break with a 2.75 ERA but those arm problems popped up again soon after. Just a hunch Jim Fregosi having him throw three complete games in a span of five starts might not have helped his situation. Spent two more injury plagued years and then was out of the Majors. Mike Mimbs (104 ERA+, 18.3 VORP, 8 Win Shares) – Mimbs was a 26 year old rookie who posted a decent ERA despite walking 75 batters in 136 2/3 innings pitched. Not surprisingly a man with that kind of command didn’t last long in the Majors, last appearing in 1997. Curt Schilling (121 ERA+, 22.8 VORP, 8 Win Shares) – Schilling’s sock wasn’t bloody and wasn’t red yet but I’m sure he was just as annoying as he is today. Wait, wait Curt just IM’d me and he’s insisting typing his own profile as he wants to mention how great his 9/11 speech was, talk about steroids, and I’m sure throw in his opinion on the war in Lebanon because god damnit the world is waiting for Curt’s opinion on any every subject because he said so. Well not on my watch Schilling! Go verbally masturbate yourself some more on the SOSH boards. Closer: Heathcliff Slocumb (149 ERA+, 15.2 VORP, 11 Win Shares) – This was Slocumb’s first year as a closer and hey he managed a good ERA despite a 1.51 WHIP. Traded to the Red Sox after the season and again got by on giving up tons of baserunners but not a lot of runs. In 1997 though all those baserunners finally started touching homeplate more often but he at this point he was a PVC~ so the bullpen starved Mariners traded prospects Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe for him in a deadline deal. Remember kids trading prospects for mediocre relievers never ends well. Signed with the Orioles in 1998 who released him a month into the season and was picked up by the Cardinals. Traded the Padres in another deadline deal in 2000 and they released him during the offseason.

From Deadspin who got from a Longhorns' fan site.

Clean hit for Utley in his last at bat so forget any controversy.

Except that it was Iowa who was #3 but I guess typed Penn State as a reflex.

Rest of the conference media polls. SEC East 1. Florida (49) 2. Georgia (42) 3. Tennessee (9) 4. South Carolina (4) 5. Kentucky 6. Vanderbilt West 1. Auburn (87) 2. LSU (12) 3. Alabama (5) 4. Arkansas 5. Mississippi 6. Mississippi State Big Ten 1. Ohio State 2. Michigan 3. Penn State The Big Ten only announces the top three. Lame. MAC West 1. Northern Illinois (39) 2. Toledo (10) 3. Western Michigan (1) 4. Central Michigan 5. Ball State 6. Eastern Michigan East 1. Akron (35) 2. Miami Univ. (11) 3. Bowling Green (2) 4. Ohio (2) 5. Kent State 6. Buffalo Don't think Conference USA does one.

Deadspin posted the story of Mike Tirico's sexual harrassment case that got him suspeneded in 1992. http://www.deadspin.com/sports/top/here-ar...week-191242.php

Fixed. If anyone sees any other typos let me know.

Double post

Here's the rest of the regular season schedule. Remember the conference championship games will be played over two weekends after Week 12. Because of that I had to move some late season real life match-ups into the middle of the season. Week 2 Miami vs. Alabama FIU vs. Auburn Minnesota vs. Florida Virginia vs. Kentucky Maryland vs. LSU UTEP vs. South Carolina Buffalo vs. Tennessee Oregon State vs. Boise State USC vs. Florida State Connecticut vs. Georgia Tech Oklahoma vs. Hawaii Stanford vs. San Jose State Oregon vs. Kent State Arizona State vs. Miami of Ohio Temple vs. Michigan Texas vs. Ohio State Notre Dame vs. Penn State Syracuse vs. San Diego State Texas A&M vs. UCLA Rutgers vs. Kansas State Week 3 Texas A&M vs. Boise State Hawaii vs. Florida State San Jose State vs. Georgia Tech Kansas State vs. Maryland Penn State vs. Miami Stanford vs. Virginia Oregon State vs. Buffalo Miami of Ohio vs. Kent State Notre Dame vs. Michigan Temple vs. Minnesota Rutgers vs. Ohio State Alabama vs. Arizona State Oklahoma vs. Oregon USC vs. San Diego State FIU vs. UCLA UTEP vs. Connecticut South Carolina vs. Syracuse LSU vs. Auburn Tennessee vs. Florida Texas vs. Kentucky Week 4 Auburn vs. Buffalo Michigan vs. Kent State Syracuse vs. Miami of Ohio Stanford vs. Minnesota Penn State vs. Ohio State Texas A&M vs. Temple Arizona State vs. Kent State Oregon State vs. Notre Dame Tennessee vs. Oregon LSU vs. San Diego State Florida State vs. UCLA Oklahoma vs. USC Miami vs. Connecticut San Jose State vs. Rutgers UTEP vs. Texas South Carolina vs. Alabama Kentucky vs. Florida Maryland vs. FIU Hawaii vs. Boise State Virginia vs. Georgia Tech Week 5 Oregon vs. Arizona State Connecticut vs. Notre Dame Temple vs. Oregon State San Jose State vs. San Diego State UCLA vs. Stanford Kentucky vs. USC Kent State vs. Kansas State Buffalo vs. Oklahoma Penn State vs. Rutgers Florida State vs. Syracuse LSU vs. Texas FIU vs. Texas A&M Hawaii vs. UTEP Florida vs. Alabama South Carolina vs. Auburn Miami vs. Tennessee Maryland vs. Boise State Ohio State vs. Virginia Minnesota vs. Michigan Georgia Tech vs. Miami of Ohio Week 6 Michigan vs. Connecticut Syracuse vs. Kansas State Texas vs. Oklahoma Auburn vs. Rutgers Virginia vs. Texas A&M Alabama vs. UTEP LSU vs. Florida FIU vs. Tennessee South Carolina vs. Kentucky Florida State vs. Boise State Maryland vs. Georgia Tech Miami of Ohio vs. Hawaii San Jose State vs. Miami Ohio State vs. Buffalo Temple vs. Kansas State Penn State vs. Minnesota San Diego State vs. Arizona State Stanford vs. Notre Dame Oregon State vs. Oregon USC vs. UCLA Week 7 Alabama vs. Kent State Auburn vs. Florida Miami vs. FIU LSU vs. Kentucky South Carolina vs. Temple Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech Boise State vs. Notre Dame Florida State vs. San Jose State Oregon State vs. Hawaii Virginia vs. Maryland Buffalo vs. Miami of Ohio Michigan vs. Penn State Minnesota vs. Kansas State Ohio State vs. San Diego State Arizona State vs. USC Oregon vs. UCLA Stanford vs. Syracuse Connecticut vs. Texas A&M Oklahoma vs. UTEP Rutgers vs. Texas Week 8 Boise State vs. Virginia Florida State vs. Georgia Tech Miami vs. Hawaii Maryland vs. San Jose State Buffalo vs. Penn State Kent State vs. Ohio State Miami of Ohio vs. Temple Michigan vs. USC Minnesota vs. Oklahoma Arizona State vs. Stanford Notre Dame vs. UCLA Oregon vs. Kansas State Oregon State vs. San Diego State Connecticut vs. Texas Rutgers vs. Texas A&M Syracuse vs. UTEP Alabama vs. Tennessee Kentucky vs. Auburn Florida vs. FIU LSU vs. South Carolina Week 9 Buffalo vs. UCLA Penn State vs. Kent State Michigan vs. Miami of Ohio Minnesota vs. Ohio State LSU vs. Temple Arizona State vs. Kentucky Notre Dame vs. San Diego State Boise State vs. Oregon USC vs. Oregon State Stanford vs. Auburn Connecticut vs. Rutgers Kansas Sate vs. Texas A&M Oklahoma vs. Syracuse Texas vs. San Jose State UTEP vs. Florida Alabama vs. FIU South Carolina vs. Tennessee Florida State vs. Maryland Georgia Tech vs. Miami Virginia vs. Hawaii Week 10 Arizona State vs. Oregon State Oregon vs. Notre Dame UCLA vs. San Diego State Stanford vs. USC Kansas State vs. Connecticut Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma UTEP vs. Rutgers Texas vs. Syracuse Alabama vs. Kentucky Auburn vs. Penn State Florida vs. San Jose State FIU vs. South Carolina LSU vs. Tennessee Boise State vs. Miami Florida State vs. Virginia Michigan vs. Georgia Tech Maryland vs. Hawaii Buffalo vs. Kent State Minnesota vs. Miami of Ohio Ohio State vs. Temple Week 11 Connecticut vs. Oklahoma Texas vs. Kansas State Rutgers vs. Syracuse UTEP vs. Texas A&M Alabama vs. LSU Auburn vs. Tennessee Florida vs. South Carolina FIU vs. Kentucky Boise State vs. San Jose State Florida State vs. Minnesota Georgia Tech vs. Hawaii Maryland vs. Miami Virginia vs. Kent State Buffalo vs. Michigan Penn State vs. Temple Ohio State vs. Miami of Ohio Arizona State vs. Notre Dame Oregon vs. USC Oregon State vs. UCLA San Diego State vs. Stanford Week 12 Alabama vs. Auburn LSU vs. FIU Syracuse vs. Connecticut Texas A&M vs. Texas Miami vs. Virginia Georgia Tech vs. Boise State Ohio State vs. Michigan South Carolina vs. Kent State Penn State vs. Miami of Ohio Florida State vs. Florida San Jose State vs. Hawaii USC vs. Notre Dame Stanford vs. Oregon State Maryland vs. Temple Tennessee vs. Kentucky UCLA vs. Arizona State Rutgers vs. Oklahoma Buffalo vs. Minnesota San Diego State vs. Oregon UTEP vs. Kansas State

Now we'll know what it's like to smell like God

Kind of an odd find, someone posted the entire game to the '85 Bears season opener against the Bucs, a surprisingly competitive game. Part 8 and 9 have the CBS halftime show as well so you'll see some old highlights in there. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

Oh boy it's that magical time of year where your favorite team will trade it's top prospect for a 5th starter or a mediocre middle reliever. Because you can never have enough pitching, dontcha know? ESPN/Fox Games Monday Yankees (Randy Johnson) at Rangers (Kevin Millwood), 7:00/4:00 PM ESPN Wednesday Tigers (Justin Verlander) at Indians (C.C. Sabathia), Noon/9:00 AM ESPN Yankees (Jaret Wright) at Rangers (John Rheinecker), 8:00/5:00 PM ESPN Thursday Cardinals (Jeff Weaver) at Cubs (Neifi Perez), 8:00/5:00 PM ESPN Saturday Mets at Braves, 1:00 PM EST, Fox Angels at Red Sox, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, Fox Nationals at Dodgers, 4:00/1:00 PM, Fox Cardinals at Cubs, 3:00 CST, Fox Sunday Angels at Red Sox, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

I grew up a in town with an oddly high percentage of Mormons so ya I got sick of them, so none in my contest! Mormon girls were awfully cute though. Edit: Hey kkk, you want kotz's spot? Week 1 Schedule #3 Syracuse vs. #4 Texas A&M #2 LSU vs. #9 Penn State #7 Ohio State vs. #8 South Carolina #5 Miami vs. #10 Florida State #1 Alabama vs. Hawaii #6 Georgia Tech vs. Notre Dame San Jose State vs. Virginia USC vs. Tennessee Stanford vs. Oregon Maryland vs. Arizona State UCLA vs. Rutgers Auburn vs. Connecticut Buffalo vs. Temple Boise State vs. Florida San Diego State vs. UTEP FIU vs. Miami of Ohio Kent State vs. Minnesota Oklahoma vs. Kansas State Oregon State vs. Texas Michigan vs. Kentucky

Phillies three-phase business plan: 1. Trade Bobby Abreu 2. ??? 3. Profit!

"Wrong Hole" Buster is reporting a tentative deal with the Yankees is in place which would include Cory Lidle.

1975 World Series Game 4 - Red Sox 5, Reds 4 (boxcore and play account) -The Cincinnati crowd audibly groans when starter Fred Norman gets behind 2-0 to the first batter of the game. Man, tough crowd. -The announcers throughout the series have been talking about the possibility of Rico Petrocelli retiring after the Series. He’d retire after the following season. -Announcers do a promo for the reunion of Simon & Garfunkle on Saturday Night Live that week. -The video quality is very good for the first six innings and then in the 7th goes to shit. It’s such a dramatic change that for a second it almost seems like it’s a completely different game. -They show Luis Tiant’s wife a few times and she’s waving some giant noise maker and the announcers say she does it for every game during the entire game. Now why didn’t the crowd around her rise up and slay her, I have no idea. -In the 9th inning Tony Kubek thinks Tiant is at almost 200 pitches. Errr not quite. He did throw 163 pitches which is a lot of fucking pitches. Given his shutout in Game 1 and another complete game victory here he was definitely the MVP of the series so far. He even has a couple hits and runs scored in the series although he was just a .164 career hitter. 1979 World Series Game 4 - Orioles 9, Pirates 6 (boxscore and play account) -Once again no network graphics for this game which is getting annoying. This game was played on a Saturday so they run a bunch of college football scores during the game which would have been kind of neat to see, if only to me. Cosell seems more excited about reciting the scores to the college games than this game itself. -They hype the Red River Shootout game which was to follow the telecast of Game 4. Texas beat Oklahoma 16-7, the Sooners only loss of that season. -It’s mentioned that the Pirates and Tim Foli have agreed on a new five-year contract. He’d spend just two years of the contract there as he was traded to the Angels after 1981. In Game 3 and this game the Pirates fans do a “Foli, Foli, Foli” chant. I’m not aware if Tim ever lost part of his ear during a game or landed on some thumbtacks while diving for a groundball. -In this series and the ’75 Series there are several check swings that in today’s game would always be called strikes that are almost always called balls here. There must have been some rule change or evolutionary change in how umps call check swings in the last 30 years. In the Orioles huge 8th inning Doug DeCinces checks his swing on a two strike pitch that 99.9% of the time would been called a strike in today’s game but is called a ball here without question. He would draw a walk and be followed by pinch hit doubles by John Lowenstein and Terry Crowley. 1986 World Series Game 4 - Mets 6, Red Sox 2 (boxscore and play account) -A potential great storyline never happened in this series as Tom Seaver would have been the Game 4 starter here for the Red Sox but an ankle injury caused him to miss playoffs. Jerry McNamara decides to go with Al Nipper and his 5.38 ERA here instead of having Bruce Hurst on three days rest. Nipper was solid in this game though and the Red Sox missed several opportunities against Ron Darling who didn’t give up an earned run in his first two starts. -The crack researchers at NBC note that Danny Heep, who was at DH for the Mets, is the first DH in World Series history with the initials DH. God I hope that doesn’t end up on his tombstone. -Lenny Dykstra’s homerun in the 7th goes off Dwight Evans glove. They compare it to Dave Henderson’s play in Game 5 of the ACLS where a Bobby Grich flyball went out of his glove and over the wall for a homerun but this wasn’t nearly as bad. Evans had it on his webbing and it would have been a snow cone job if he caught it. If he timed his jump better he would have had it. -Classic series or not, the last three games haven’t been very competitive.

A few days old but I love the headline Also like the quote from Bobby Bowden about his players who have guns for "hunting purposes" register them with the coaching staff.

Gammons would come up with plenty of rumors that went no where either. I'm fairly certain ESPN encourages/forces their "insiders" to report their rumors as near done deals. Throw enough shit against the wall and eventually one will stick, then they can act like they had a big scoop.

So ya I'm cutting off sign ups after today. Unless there is a surprise new sign up today I've now set up the conferences which I will post tommorrow.

***SIGN UPS ARE CLOSED*** College Football is still two months away but it’s not too early to start a sign up thread. Welcome to Season 3 of the Bored’s College Football Pick ‘Em Contest and the stakes have never been higher. My goal this year is to get 40 people in the contest and have five conferences of eight teams. That may end up being a little over ambitious as after have 32 teams the first season I was only able to increase it to 34 teams last year. But I’ve decided to make things a little more interesting. Now the veteran’s of the contest already know that the winner of the Bored Bowl gets $50 cash from my own pocket (Vern Gagne won in 2004, AlwaysPissedOff won in 2005) and that will be no different this year. Now though I’m putting out a new challenge: If someone manages to go undefeated through the contest, that person will win $100 cash. The only other change this year will be regarding the conference championship games. The problem I’ve run into that is that during Conference Championship Week in college football there are only a handful of games that week. Because of that this season I’ve decided to combine the Thanksgiving weekend games with the conference championship week games into the conference championship games in the contest. So now the regular season will be 12 games instead of 13 games. Now for anyone new who is interested in signing up here’s a summary of how the contest works. -Each week you will be matched up against another person’s team and you will pick a winner for 14 to 16 games that I have selected from the college football schedule that week. Obviously the person who makes the most correct picks wins the match-up. Ties are settled with answers you make to two tiebreaker questions. -After a week is completed I post the Bored Championship Series Top 10. The formula for how the rankings are put together are very basic. There are three factors: 1) Win/Loss record 2) Correct Pick % 3) Correct Pick % Against (aka Strength of Schedule). Win/loss record and correct pick % are weighted evenly at 45% of your ranking and “strength of schedule” makes up 10% of your ranking. -There will typically two deadlines for making picks, one for a Thursday or Friday game and then a final deadline for the Saturday games. If you miss the first deadline you can still make picks for the Saturday games but you obviously get no points for the Thursday/Friday games. If you do not make your picks by the Saturday deadline you will be issued replacement picks. You will be given the picks of the team ranked one spot below you in the BCS rankings. You are allowed to use replacement picks only once during the season and still be eligible to win the contest, although you can still participate in bowl games. You will not be eligible to win the $100 undefeated prize if you use replacement picks at any point in the season. -Conference championship games are a match-up of the 1st and 2nd place teams in each conference. The winner of each game automatically qualifies for a BCS bowl. -The #1 and #2 ranked teams in the BCS face off in the Bored Bowl to determine the winner of the contest. There are seven (at least) other bowl games to which teams can qualify for. The winners of those games will have the option of renaming their bowl game for the following year. Speaking of changing your bowl game name, here were the posters who won last year’s bowl games. If you want to change the name of your bowl game, please PM the name you choose. APO you can select the sponsor for the Bored Bowl. Bored Bowl: AlwaysPissedOff Traditional Bowl presented by Adam & Eve’s Anal Lube: Kingofthe909 Jack Osbourne’s Oxycotton Bowl: Secret Agent Lucky Strikes Cigarettes Tar Bowl: teke184 Out Magazine Bowl: Cuban Linx Meow Mix XNXX.com Pussy Bowl: iggymcfly KFC PETA Bowl: MarvinisaLunatic Ex-Lax Toilet Bowl: SilverPhoenix Alabama – AlwaysPissedOff Arizona State – Spicy McHaggis Auburn – Agent of Oblivion Boise State - bravesfan Buffalo - Carnival Connecticut – SilverPhoenix Florida International – Vitamin X Florida State - Kingofthe909 Georgia Tech – iggymcfly Hawaii – Will Scarlet Kent State – JHawk LSU – teke184 Maryland – MarvinisaLunatic Miami – Spaceman Spiff Minnesota – Vern Gagne Notre Dame – Lando Griffin Ohio State – Gert T Oregon - nogoodnick Penn State – therealworldschampion Rutgers – the pinjockey San Diego State – The Last Samurai San Jose State – Agent Bond34 South Carolina – Cuban Linx Stanford – Bored Syracuse – CanadianChris Tennessee – Art Sandusky Texas A&M – Secret Agent UCLA – phoenixrising USC – Cartman UTEP - Angel Grace Blue Virginia – Edwin MacPhisto New Sign Ups BYU - kkktookmybabyaway (if needed) Florida - Urban Warfare Kansas State - Loaded Glove Kentucky - Danville Wrestling Miami of Ohio - Hawk 34 Michigan - Jimbo Oklahoma - Vampiro69 Oregon State - Princess Leena Temple - Ortonsault Texas - UTBroward