Bored

The game is Glendale, AZ at the University of Phoenix Stadium as part of an Arizona State hosted event.

Poor ACC. After a wild, unpredictable season for the conference they end up with the same match-up of former Big East teams from last season that couldn't fill half a stadium. The conference moved the championship game to Tampa this year so we'll see if that helps at all. And here are my bowl projections which I know you were all dying to know. Network/Basic Cable Schedule THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN FRIDAY MAC Championship: Buffalo vs. #12 Ball State, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 SATURDAY Navy vs. Army, Noon/9:00 AM, CBS #23 Pittsburgh at Connecticut, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN Conference USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2 ACC Championship: #17 Boston College vs. #25 Virginia Tech, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ABC Washington at California, 3:00 PM/Noon, FSN SEC Championship: #1 Alabama vs. #4 Florida, 4:00/1:00 PM, CBS Division II Semifinal: North Alabama at Northwest Missouri State, 4:00/1:00 PM, ESPN2 #5 USC at UCLA, 4:30/1:30 PM, ABC Big XII Championship: #20 Missouri vs. #2 Oklahoma, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC Arizona State at Arizona, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN South Florida at West Virginia, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 #13 Cincinnati at Hawaii, 11:30/8:30 PM, ESPN2 Digital Cable/Satellite/GamePlan Schedule SATURDAY Division II Semifinal: Minnesota-Duluth at California (PA), Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN Classic FCS Quarterfinal: Richmond at Appalachian State, Noon/9:00 AM, GP FCS Quarterfinal: Weber State at Montana, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, GP FCS Quarterfinal: Villanova at James Madison, 3:30/12:30 PM, GP Arkansas State at Troy, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP FCS Quarterfinal: New Hampshire at Northern Iowa, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP All Other Division I-A Games WEDNESDAY Middle Tennessee at Louisiana-Lafayette, ESPN360 SATURDAY Western Kentucky at FIU

Arizona upsets Gonzaga 69-64. Big regional doubleheader on CBS next Saturday. I'll post the coverage map, if I can find one. Full TV Schedule for Week of 12/15 - 12/21 Network/Basic Cable Schedule TUESDAY South Florida at Vanderbilt, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN2 #24 Marquette vs. #16 Tennessee, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY UNC Asheville at #6 Duke, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN2 Siena at #3 Pittsburgh, 9:30/6:30 PM, ESPN2 THURSDAY Mississippi State at Cincinnati, 6:30/3:30 PM, ESPN2 Evansville at #1 North Carolina, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN #9 Louisville vs. Mississippi, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY #6 Duke vs. #7 Xavier, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, CBS* #19 Michigan State vs. #5 Texas, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, CBS* #9 Louisville vs. Minnesota, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, FSN Temple at Kansas, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, ESPN2 Arizona at UNLV, 3:00 PM/Noon, Versus #2 Connecticut vs. #8 Gonzaga, 4:00/1:00 PM, CBS* #23 Davidson vs. #13 Purdue, 4:00/1:00 PM, CBS* BYU vs. #20 Arizona State, 4:30/1:30 PM, FSN #11 Syracuse at #23 Memphis, 6:00/3:00 PM, ESPN VCU vs. #4 Oklahoma, 10:00/7:00 PM, ESPN2 SUNDAY #3 Pittsburgh at Florida State, 5:30/2:30 PM, FSN #25 Clemson at Miami, 7:45/4:45 PM, FSN

Greg Vaughn, Left Fielder Milwaukee Brewers 1989-1996 San Diego Padres 1996-1998 Cincinnati Reds 1999 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2000-2002 Colorado Rockies 2003 Awards 1998 NL Silver Slugger - OF All-Star Selections: 4 (1993, 1996, 1998, 2001) League Leader None Career Ranks Homeruns: 73rd Best Performance September 7, 1999 - Cincinnati at Chicago (Game 2 of DH) Hits three homeruns against the Cubs. Hall of Fame Stats Gray Ink: Batting - 22 (928) (Average HOFer ≈ 144) HOF Standards: Batting - 25.0 (418) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Batting - 50.0 (368) (Likely HOFer > 100) Similar Batters in HOF: None Top 10 Similar Batters: Jeromy Burnitz, Ron Gant, Rocky Colavito, Roy Sievers, Andruw Jones, Darryl Strawberry, David Justice, Greg Luzinski, Dave Kingman, Jack Clark Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3) 1989: 6/1.1 1990: 10/1.3 1991: 20/8.4 1992: 16/6.4 1993: 22/6.7 1994: 9/4.9 1995: 5/1.2 1996: 17/6.3 1997: 8/1.8 1998: 30/10.6 1999: 24/7.2 2000: 16/5.1 2001: 15/3.8 2002: 1/0.6 2003: 1/0.4 Career Win Shares: 199 Career WARP3: 65.3 My Stupid Opinion Vaughn was your prototypical low batting average slugger. His one really standout year in 1998 was of course completely overshadowed by a couple of other sluggers who's names escape me at the moment. Really nothing special about him outside of his power.

Auburn will hire Iowa State's head coach Gene Chizik as their new head coach. Really? That's the best they could come up with? And that was fun end to the Richmond/Northern Iowa game.

Phillies have signed Raul Ibanez to a 3-year, $30 million deal. So I guess not having any interest in keeping Pat Burrell had nothing to do with possibly upgrading their defense in left field.

Robothal is reporting the three-way trade that brings that Putz to the Mets is a done deal.

Gino Torretta over Garrison Hearst and Marshall Faulk. 'Nuff said. News of note, Florida's offensive coordinator Dan Mullen has been named Mississippi State's new head coach.

First off we need to name the 10th bowl game. I only got one PM'd suggestion and the rest are blatantly stolen from EDSBS.com. I'll only vote if I have to break a tie. As a reminder the way the conference championships work is that they will be played over the next two weeks with a total of 20 games to make picks for. There will be 13 games this week and then next Sunday I'll post the final 7 games plus the tiebreak questions. Please note that all of your picks must be sent to me by PM. I am skipping the Thanksgiving game since it's terrible match-up but there will be three games on Friday to makes picks for. I will be traveling this year for the holiday but I should have internet connection. Just letting you know in case there is a delay in me posting your picks. Finally if you haven't already, check the Week 13 thread for the bowl picture. There is a lot at stake over the next two weeks beyond just the Bored Bowl. Week 14 - Part 1 Deadline: Friday, November 28th, Noon EST/9:00 AM PST Edit: Double asterisk means I received the Part 2 picks. Week 14 Match-ups Big MAC Conference Championship #3 Nebraska** (Mecca, 10-3) vs. #6 Ball State* (Vampiro69, 9-4) - GAME OF THE WEEK(S) Western Atlantic Conference Championship #1 N.C. State** (AboveAverage484, 10-3) vs. Boston College** (HarleyQuinn, 7-6) Pac-8 Conference Championship #2 Arizona** (UZI Suicide, 10-3) vs. Notre Dame** (KingPK, 8-5) Big Eight Conference Championship Syracuse** (CanadianChris, 8-5) vs. San Diego State** (Anti Hero, 6-7) Southeastern Seven Conference Championship Kentucky** (Danville Wrestling, 8-5) vs. Florida** (Urban Warfare, 6-7) Week 14 Games to Make Picks For - Part 1 FRIDAY West Virginia at Pittsburgh LSU at Arkansas UCLA at Arizona State SATURDAY Georgia Tech at Georgia South Carolina at Clemson Miami at N.C. State Florida at Florida State Maryland at Boston College Houston at Rice Kentucky at Tennessee Oregon at Oregon State Vanderbilt at Wake Forest Oklahoma at Oklahoma State

Since this thread is still going strong not going to bother creating another for the bowls until next week. But here's the TV schedule for the upcoming weekend for the divisions that have playoffs. FRIDAY FCS Semi-Final: Montana at James Madison, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 SATURDAY Division II Championship: Northwest Missouri State vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ESPN2 SWAC Championship: Jackson State vs. Grambling State, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, ESPN Classic FCS Semi-Final: Richmond at Northern Iowa, 4:00/1:00 PM, ESPN And here's a quick summary of the individual coaches ballots for the final Coaches' Poll from collegebcs.com.

You called it. Gordon was the only player elected from either ballot. Santo came closest on the post-'43 ballot but actually received fewer votes than he did in 2007.

Holdovers Harold Baines Bert Blyleven Andre Dawson Tommy John (final year) Don Mattingly Mark McGwire Jack Morris Dale Murphy Dave Parker Tim Raines Jim Rice (final year) Lee Smith Alan Trammell Newcomers Jay Bell David Cone Ron Gant Mark Grace Rickey Henderson Jesse Orosco Dan Plesac Greg Vaughn Mo Vaughn Matt Williams

CBS begins their coverage of the college basketball season on Saturday. Outside of Texas/Villanova in the Jimmy V Classic, not much going on this week. Full TV Schedule for Week of 12/8 - 12/14 Network & Basic Cable Schedule TUESDAY #23 Davidson vs. West Virginia, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN #6 Texas vs. #15 Villanova, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN WEDNESDAY TCU at Indiana, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 THURSDAY St. John's at #15 Villanova, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 SATURDAY #8 Tennessee at Temple, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN #17 Memphis at #19 Georgetown, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, CBS Massachusetts vs. #25 Kansas, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, ESPN Indiana at Kentucky, 4:00/1:00 PM, CBS Utah at #5 Oklahoma, 4:00/1:00 PM, ESPN2 Mississippi at New Mexico, 4:00/1:00 PM, Versus Oral Roberts at #1 North Carolina, 6:00/3:00 PM, ESPN2 #10 Xavier at Cincinnati, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 SUNDAY Wright State at #11 Wake Forest, 4:00/1:00 PM, FSN #4 Gonzaga vs. Arizona, 6:00/3:00 PM, FSN

OMG Independence Bowl CONTROVERSY~! http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/1070 SHENANIGANS!

There's not going to be a split champion, it's not even a remote possibility. If Texas was ahead of Oklahoma in the AP poll then there would be a chance but they aren't and it doesn't matter what they do against Ohio State. The winner of the MNC game will be the unanimous MNC.

BREAKING NEWS ON BOWL GAMES YOU DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT -It seemed to be a forgone conclusion that Louisiana-Lafayette would be invited to the Independence Bowl to set up an all-Louisiana match-up but there is a report that Northern Illinois has been invited instead. -Also being reported that Florida Atlantic will indeed be invited to the Motor City Bowl.

I find it amusing that the Poinsettia Bowl is going to end up with the best match-up according to the BCS rankings among the non-BCS bowls and both teams are ranked higher than the teams that will play in the Orange Bowl.

OMG NOT BEFORE THE OFFICIAL BCS SELECTION SHOW!!! Yes, they are reliable. Here's the rest. 11. TCU 12. Cincinnati 13. Oklahoma State 14. Georgia Tech 15. Georgia 16. BYU 17. Oregon 18. Michigan State 19. Virginia Tech 20. Pittsburgh 21. Missouri 22. Ball State 23. Northwestern 24. Boston College 25. Mississippi

Almost everything is official except the aforementioned three at large bids. The Poinsettia Bowl is holding off on the Boise State announcement with incredibly slim chance that the Fiesta Bowl officials heart's grow three times larger in the next hour and invite Boise over Ohio State. Considering the Big Ten invites have been handed out already just a hunch they've all been told that Ohio State is going to the Fiesta. For the at large bids the primary speculation is N.C. State to the PapaJohns.com, Western Michigan to the Texas Bowl, and Florida Atlantic to the Motor City Bowl. I know you are all better for knowing this. Edit: N.C. State has officially been invited to the PapaJohns.com which puts Western Michigan in the Texas Bowl by default as there obviously won't be two MAC teams in the Motor City Bowl.

Edit: Everything is official...I think. Congressional: Navy vs. Wake Forest New Mexico: Colorado State vs. Fresno State St. Petersburg: South Florida vs. Memphis Las Vegas: BYU vs. Arizona New Orleans: Troy vs. Southern Miss Poinsettia: TCU vs. Boise State Hawaii: Hawaii vs. Notre Dame Motor City: Central Michigan vs. Florida Atlantic Meineke Car Care: West Virginia vs. North Carolina Champs Sports: Florida State vs. Wisconsin Emerald: California vs. Miami Independence: Louisiana Tech vs. Northern Illinois PapaJohns.com: Rutgers vs. N.C. State Alamo: Missouri vs. Northwestern Humanitarian: Nevada vs. Maryland Holiday: Oregon vs. Oklahoma State Texas: Rice vs. Western Michigan Armed Forces: Air Force vs. Houston Sun: Oregon State vs. Pittsburgh Music City: Vanderbilt vs. Boston College Insight: Minnesota vs. Kansas Chick-Fil-A: Georgia Tech vs. LSU Outback: Iowa vs. South Carolina Gator: Nebraska vs. Clemson Capital One: Michigan State vs. Georgia Rose: Penn State vs. USC Orange: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech Cotton: Texas Tech vs. Mississippi Liberty: East Carolina vs. Kentucky Sugar: Alabama vs. Utah International: Buffalo vs. Connecticut Fiesta: Texas vs. Ohio State GMAC: Tulsa vs. Ball State BCS: Oklahoma vs. Florida

Sorry Broward, after all that the latest report is Notre Dame is heading to the Hawaii Bowl. A big reason appears to be the fact that the Texas Bowl is one of the two bowl games that is televised by the NFL Network and Irish fans would throw a fit if they were unable to see the game. The Texas Bowl options are now either N.C. State or Western Michigan.

Western Kentucky is in a two year transitional period from I-AA to I-A and that's why they aren't currently in a conference. They officially will be a member of I-A in 2009 and will join the Sun Belt Conference. Bowl eligible means what it means. A school is eligible to be invited to a bowl game but not guaranteed one. With them expanding to 34 bowl games there was some concern there would be 68 eligible teams but they ended up with 72 eligible teams. The only rule in place about who gets left home is if a conference is down to it's final bowl bid or if there is only one at-large bid left, a 7+ win team must be invited over a 6 win team. With the current state of the economy I won't be surprised if a handful bowl games go belly up after this season.

By a landslide the AIG Bailout Bowl is the name of the 10th bowl game. Kudos to KingPK for coming up with the name. Bowls Bored Bowl: N.C. State vs. Arizona Sugar Cereal Bowl presented by Count Chocula: Ball State vs. Syracuse Don't Taze Me Bowl!: Nebraska vs. Kentucky Gamestop.com Early Reservation Bowl: Tennessee vs. Ohio State Covers.com Degenerate Bowl: Miami of Ohio vs. Georgia Tech KFC PETA Bowl: LSU vs. Notre Dame I Used To Fuck Guys Like You In Prison Football Classic: Alabama vs. Virginia Main Loon Restaurant China Bowl: Minnesota vs. Arizona State K-Mart Blue Light Special Bowl: South Carolina vs. Fresno State AIG Bailout Bowl: Indiana vs. Boston College

Well no point in drubbing up some fake drama as based on the results we know who will meet in the Bored Bowl. Congratulations to AboveAverage484 and UZI Suicide who will play for the right to take $50 from me. Final Bored Championship Series Rankings 1. N.C. State - AboveAverage484 1.9 2. Arizona - UZI Suicide 3.1 3. Nebraska - Mecca 3.5 4. Miami of Ohio - Hawk 34 4.0 5. Ball State - Vampiro69 4.05 6. Georgia Tech - iggymcfly 4.3 7. Tennessee - Canadian Brandon 9.7 8. Syracuse - CanadianChris 9.95 9. Alabama - AlwaysPissedOff 10.15 10. Virginia - Edwin MacPhisto 10.3 Other Receiving Votes: Kentucky (Danville Wrestling), LSU (teke184), Ohio State (Gert T), South Carolina (Cuban Linx)

Week 14 Results #6 Ball State (Vampiro69) 13, #3 Nebraska (Mecca) 13; Vampiro wins by tiebreak #1 N.C. State (AboveAverage484) 12, Boston College (HarleyQuinn) 10 #2 Arizona (UZI Suicide) 13, Notre Dame (KingPK) 11 Syracuse (CanadianChris) 12, San Diego State (Das Wunderkind) 12; Chris wins by tiebreak Kentucky (Danville Wrestling) 12, Florida (Urban Warfare) 11