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Updates -Vampiro69 has defeated Mecca by tiebreak to win the Big MAC Championship. -AboveAverage484 has clinched the WAC Championship as HarelyQuin would lose out on the tiebreak. -CanadianChris has defeated Porter by tiebreak to win the Big Eight Championship. Porter is eliminated from bowl consideration so all 7 win teams are now assured a bowl game. Only one undecided is the Pac-8. UZI has a one point lead but KingPK owns the tiebreak so their match-up will be decided by the ASU/Arizona game.

Jesse Orosco, Relief Pitcher New York Mets 1979-1987 Los Angeles Dodgers 1988, 2001-2002 Cleveland Indians 1989-1991 Milwaukee Brewers 1992-1994 Baltimore Orioles 1995-1999 St. Louis Cardinals 2000 San Diego Padres 2003 New York Yankees 2003 Minnesota Twins 2003 Awards None All-Star Selections: 2 (1983, 1984) League Leader Games: 1995 Career Ranks Games: 1st Saves: 69th ERA+: 62nd K/9: 23rd H/9: 24th Best Performance October 27, 1986 - Boston at New York (N) In Game 7 of the '86 World Series, comes in the 8th inning with none out after a Dwight Evans' two-run double off Roger McDowell pulls the Red Sox with a run. Orosco strands the tying run at 2nd by retiring Rich Gedman, Dave Henderson, and Don Baylor in order and then pitches a perfect 9th to clinch the championship for the Mets. Hall of Fame Stats Black Ink: Pitching - 1 (822) (Average HOFer ≈ 40) Gray Ink: Pitching - 17 (1143) (Average HOFer ≈ 185) HOF Standards: Pitching - 13.0 (589) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Pitching - 62.0 (199) (Likely HOFer > 100) Similar Pitchers in HOF: None Top 10 Similar Pitchers: Tug McGraw, Don McMahon, Gary Lavelle, John Hiller, Dan Plesac, Kent Tekulve, Darold Knowles, Mike Timlin, Mike Stanton, Ron Perranoski Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3) 1979: 0/0.4 1981: 2/0.9 1982: 9/4.5 1983: 20/8.0 1984: 17/6.3 1985: 10/4.5 1986: 13/5.4 1987: 5/2.3 1988: 6/2.0 1989: 10/4.1 1990: 3/1.8 1991: 3/1.4 1992: 3/1.4 1993: 7/3.4 1994: 2/1.0 1995: 6/2.9 1996: 6/2.3 1997: 7/3.5 1998: 7/2.9 1999: 1/0.6 2000: 0/0.0 2001: 1/0.5 2002: 3/1.0 2003: 0/-0.2 Career Win Shares: 141 Career WARP3: 60.9 My Stupid Opinion I have to say it's remarkable a player from the 19th century is a first time nominee on the writer's ballot. Okay not quite, but Orosco and Rickey Henderson will be the last players to make their MLB debut in the 1970s and be a first timer on the ballot. Orosco is purely on the ballot due to his longevity and his career games pitched record might stand for a while but obviously he's not a HOF.

If the Hall of Fame decided to have RICKEY~ wear a Yankees cap on his plaque then I will have no other choice but to burn down Cooperstown. And I'm not just talking about the HOF, but the whole damn town! There's no chance he goes in with any other cap than the A's. I've been sifting through some of RICKEY's~ best games and this game might be the ultimate RICKEY~ game. Four plate appearances, four walks, four runs, five stolen bases.

A's out of running for SS Furcal Well, poop. Bobby Crosby's Reign of Terror continues.

I'd lay good money Turner Gill won't be the coach of Buffalo by the time they play their bowl game.

Bowwwwwwwwwwllllllllllllllllllllllllllllssssssssssss...sorry if any of these were already covered today: -Fresno State to the New Mexico Bowl -California to the Emerald Bowl (contingent on USC beating UCLA) -Kansas to the Insight Bowl

Actually no, Rutgers flogging of Louisville tonight has wrapped up the ESS EEE 7 title for Danville Wrestling. That also eliminated Urban Warfare from bowl consideration which is good news for those teams on the bubble.

Texans - 24 points Baltimore Chicago Minnesota Green Bay Indianapolis Atlanta Philadelphia Tennessee Miami Denver N.Y. Jets Arizona Pittsburgh Seattle Tampa Bay

You were not eligible for postseason play due to the illegal recruiting violations of the school's former coach.

No, I believe those teams both have 5 wins so it wouldn't matter. A bowl is only forced to take a team before ND if they have 7 wins. I think ND will be fine even if both of those teams win. A UL loss would probably helpmore, since ND is part of the BE's bowl selections. If Rutgers beats Louisville, Notre Dame will get have to an at large bid which appears to be the Texas Bowl. If Louisville beats Rutgers, Notre Dame will likely be invited to the Sun Bowl. The reason this is is because if Rutgers gets their 7th win, the Sun Bowl has to take a Big East team over Notre Dame. If Rutgers loses, there will only be four 7 win teams in the conference for five available slots thus the Sun Bowl can then pass on a Big East team in favor of Notre Dame. Arizona State winning won't hurt Notre Dame but will hurt an eligible non-BCS conference team as the Pac-10 will have enough eligible teams to fill the Hawaii Bowl bid.

Amazingly Mecca and Vampiro69 did not differ on a single game for both weeks. Boston College - HarleyQuinn THURSDAY Louisville SATURDAY Pittsburgh C-USA Championship: Tulsa ACC Championship: Boston College SEC Championship: Alabama Big XII Championship: Oklahoma Arizona State Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 64 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 84 N.C. State - AboveAverage484 THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 51 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 106 Nebraska - Mecca THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game?62 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma?105 Ball State - Vampiro69 THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College(in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 107

San Diego State - Das Wunderkind THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 67 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 109 Syracuse - CanadianChris THURSDAY Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh Tulsa Boston College Florida Oklahoma Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 106 Notre Dame - KingPK THURSDAY Rutgers SATURDAY Connecticut Tulsa Boston College Florida Oklahoma Arizona State Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 89 Arizona - UZI Suicide THURSDAY Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh C-USA Championship: Tulsa ACC Championship: Boston College SEC Championship: Florida Big XII Championship: Oklahoma Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 59 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 90

Florida - Urban Warfare THURSDAY Louisville SATURDAY Pittsburgh C-USA Championship: East Carolina ACC Championship: Virginia Tech SEC Championship: Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 88 Kentucky - Danville Wrestling THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 54 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 100

One more, Louisiana Tech is going to the Independence Bowl. The Ball State to Humanitarian Bowl talks were all officially killed today and it appears very likely that Boise Sate will be going to the Poinsettia Bowl to play TCU so forget about the all undefeated match-up.

The shortstop carousel is about to begin as there's a report that Khalil Greene will be traded to the Cardinals for two minor leaguers and Edgar Renteria is about to sign a two-year deal with the Giants. Wouldn't be surprised if the A's ink Rafael Furcal any day now.

I could have sworn I saw the Week 14 thread posted last night and now it's gone.

Dan Plesac, Relief Pitcher Milwaukee Brewers 1986-1992 Chicago Cubs 1993-1994 Pittsburgh Pirates 1995-1996 Toronto Blue Jays 1997-1999, 2001-2002 Arizona Diamondbacks 1999-2000 Philadelphia Phillies 2002-2003 Awards None All-Star Selections: 3 (1987, 1988, 1989) League Leader None Career Ranks Games: 6th Saves: 59th K/9: 10th K/BB: 61st Best Performance April 25, 1990 - Kansas City at Milwaukee Comes in with the bases loaded, none out in the 8th inning with a 1-0 lead and George Brett coming up. Brett pops out and then Willie Wilson grounds into an inning ending double play. Plesac retires the side in order in the 9th. Hall of Fame Stats Gray Ink: Pitching - 17 (1143) (Average HOFer ≈ 185) HOF Standards: Pitching - 8.0 (981) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Pitching - 54.0 (231) (Likely HOFer > 100) Similar Pitchers in HOF: None Top 10 Similar Pitchers: Mike Jackson, Mike Timlin, Mike Stanton, Willie Hernandez, Dave LaRoche, Darold Knowles, Craig Lefferts, Roger McDowell, Paul Assenmacher, Roberto Hernandez Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3) 1986: 13/6.4 1987: 14/6.2 1988: 10/4.1 1989: 11/5.5 1990: 6/3.1 1991: 4/2.0 1992: 6/2.8 1993: 3/0.8 1994: 2/1.3 1995: 6/3.2 1996: 8/3.2 1997: 5/2.2 1998: 7/2.4 1999: 2/1.2 2000: 4/1.7 2001: 5/3.2 2002: 3/1.7 2003: 4/1.4 Career Win Shares: 113 Career WARP3: 52.5 My Stupid Opinion Along with Jesse Orosco, I'm pretty sure Plesac is the first pitcher to make the HOF ballot who was primarily a middle reliever. Closers are gaining more acceptance when it comes to HOF voting but just a hunch we are way off from LOOGYs gaining enshrinement. Maybe if they open a middle reliever wing of the HOF Plesac would be worthy of consideration but for the real HOF he's no where close.

People forget that before Carroll arrived at USC, the premier program of the Pac-10 was Washington. But I'm sure Leech is just using it as leverage to get himself a raise at Tech that gets him to elite $3 million+/year salary level of college football coaches. Bowl news: Georgia Tech is going to TBFKA the Peach Bowl and in a bit of surprise the Gator Bowl is inviting Clemson over Florida State.

Worth noting that next Monday the Veteran's Committee results will be announced. It's split into two categories, Post-1943 and Pre-1943. Post-1943 Dick Allen Gil Hodges Jim Kaat Tony Oliva Al Oliver Vada Pinson Ron Santo Luis Tiant Joe Torre (career as a player only) Maury Wills Pre-1943 Bill Dahlen Wes Ferrell Joe Gordon Sherry Magee Carl Mays Allie Reynolds Vern Stephens Mickey Vernon Bucky Walters Deacon White

I don't know why anyone does bowl projections as they are almost impossible to predict until the final week of the season, which is why I wait that long. Now I normally cheat and peak at other bowl projections or Google various local newspapers to see where schools are likely going to end up but this time it's almost total guess work. Note I'm going under the assumption Oklahoma will finish #2 in the BCS when they are released in a couple of hours. Also I'm making the prediction that the WAC allows Boise State to accept an at large invite from the Motor City Bowl since the conference has enough eligible teams to fill their four bids to set up an all undefeated match-up against Ball State. Edited due to blogger stupidity. Congressional: Navy vs. Maryland New Mexico: Colorado State vs. Louisiana Tech St. Petersburg: South Florida vs. Memphis Las Vegas: BYU vs. Arizona New Orleans: Troy vs. Southern Miss Poinsettia: TCU vs. Fresno State Hawaii: Hawaii vs. Central Michigan Motor City: Ball State vs. Boise State Meineke Car Care: Wake Forest vs. Pittsburgh Champs Sports: Virginia Tech vs. Wisconsin Emerald: California vs. Miami Independence: Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Notre Dame PapaJohns.com: Rutgers vs. Arkansas State Alamo: Missouri vs. Northwestern Humanitarian: Nevada vs. Clemson Holiday: Oregon vs. Oklahoma State Texas: Rice vs. N.C. State Armed Forces: Air Force vs. Houston Sun: Oregon State vs. West Virginia Music City: Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina Insight: Minnesota vs. Kansas Chick-Fil-A: Georgia Tech vs. LSU Outback: Iowa vs. South Carolina Gator: Nebraska vs. Florida State Capital One: Michigan State vs. Georgia Rose: Penn State vs. USC Orange: Cincinnati vs. Boston College Cotton: Texas Tech vs. Mississippi Liberty: Tulsa vs. Kentucky Sugar: Alabama vs. Ohio State International: Buffalo vs. Connecticut Fiesta: Texas vs. Utah GMAC: East Carolina vs. Western Michigan BCS: Oklahoma vs. Florida

I just realized I completely forgot about N.C. State becoming bowl eligible. So stick them in the Texas Bowl, Central Michigan in the Hawaii Bowl, and Northern Illinois staying home.

It's pretty much a given the Fiesta Bowl will take a Big XII team just like the Sugar Bowl will take an SEC team as replacements for losing out on the conference champ. Barring UCLA upsetting USC, the only real thing in doubt about the BCS match-ups is whether the Fiesta Bowl with it's second pick will pass on Utah in favor Ohio State which would send the Utes to the Sugar Bowl. Boise State isn't getting invited, period. I will add that I like the idea of a Utah/Ohio State Fiesta Bowl and SEC #2/Big XII #2 in the Sugar Bowl as I think it would create better match-ups than the alternatives but not going to happen.

I'm always happy with the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is announced as it means content for my blog! I'll be doing profiles on each the first year nominees over the next few weeks but before I get to what I wanted to talk about in this entry, here are links to old profiles I did for the returnees on this year's ballot listed in order of where they finished in the voting last year. 1. Jim Rice 72.2% (15th and final year) 2. Andre Dawson 65.9% (8th) 3. Bert Blyleven 61.9% (12th) 4. Lee Smith 43.3% (7th) 5. Jack Morris 42.9% (10th) 6. Tommy John 29.1% (15th and final year) 7. Tim Raines 24.3% (2nd) 8. Mark McGwire 23.6% (3rd) 9. Alan Trammell 18.2% (8th) 10. Don Mattingly 15.8% (9th) 11. Dave Parker 15.1% (13th) 12. Dale Murphy 13.8% (11th) 13. Harold Baines 5.2% (3rd) If a player played ten seasons in the Majors they are eligible for nomination on the baseball writer's ballot but believe it or not there actually is a screening process for the HOF ballot. I always find it interesting to see what players didn't make the cut and originally thought about making brief comments on each player but there were more players than I expected so this is just going to be a random list. Whole lot of back up catchers and middle relievers but there's a few decent players in there. Mike Bordick John Burkett Omar Daal Joe Girardi Mark Guthrie Joey Hamilton Bill Haselman Darren Holmes Trenidad Hubbard Todd Hundley Brian L Hunter Felix Jose Chad Kreuter Graeme Lloyd Keith Lockhart Albie Lopez Pat Mahomes Al Martin Orlando Merced Charles Nagy Denny Neagle Troy O'Leary Lance Painter Craig Paquette Tom Prince Jeff Reboulet Rick Reed Rich Rodriguez Terry Shumpert Luis Sojo Dave Veres Matt Walbeck Mike Williams Kevin Young

Maryland hosts Michigan on Wednesday but it's on ESPNU and the other games is Iowa/BC on Tuesday also on ESPNU. N.C. State is the only team not participating due to them finished last in the ACC this past season.

Since the Big XII South three-way tie predicament has already been talked about ad nauseam, I thought I'd quickly rundown the conference/divisional races that are still undecided. The one exception is the Sun Belt conference as I couldn't find anywhere on their website that explains there three-way tiebreak rules. I guess they figure no one gives a shit and they are probably right. And I'm here to attest that the Big XII's three-way tiebreak rules are better than the Pac-10 and MAC. ACC Atlantic -Boston College will clinch division if they beat Maryland. -Florida State will clinch division if Maryland beats Boston College. ACC Coastal -Virginia Tech will clinch division if they beat Virginia -Georgia Tech will clinch division if Virginia beats Virginia Tech Big East -Cincinnati will clinch conference title if they beat Syracuse. -West Virginia will clinch conference title if they beat Pitt and South Florida (12/6) and Syracuse beats Cincinnati Conference USA West -Houston will clinch division if they beat Rice. -Tulsa will clinch division if they beat Marshall and Rice beats Houston. -Rice will clinch division if they beat Houston and Marshall beats Tulsa. MAC West -Ball State will clinch division if they beat Western Michigan. -Central Michigan will clinch division if they beat Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan beats Ball State. -Western Michigan will clinch division if they beat Ball State and Eastern Michigan beats Central Michigan. Pac-10 -Oregon State will clinch Rose Bowl bid if they beat Oregon OR if UCLA beats USC (12/6). -USC will clinch Rose Bowl bid if they beat UCLA (12/6) and Oregon beats Oregon State. Network/Basic Cable Schedule TUESDAY Western Michigan at #15 Ball State, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN2 THURSDAY Texas A&M at #2 Texas, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN FRIDAY West Virginia at #25 Pittsburgh, Noon/9:00 AM, ABC LSU at Arkansas, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, CBS Fresno State at #9 Boise State, 6:00/3:00 PM, ESPN2 UCLA at Arizona State, 9:30/6:30 PM, ESPN2 SATURDAY #22 Georgia Tech at #11 Georgia, Noon/9:00 AM, CBS Virginia at Virginia Tech, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN South Carolina at Clemson, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2 Kansas vs. #13 Missouri, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, FSN Grambling vs. Southern, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, NBC Auburn at #1 Alabama, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBS #4 Florida at #20 Florida State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2* Maryland at #21 Boston College, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2* Baylor at #7 Texas Tech, 3:30/12:30 PM, Versus Kentucky at Tennessee, 6:30/3:30 PM, ESPN2 #23 Oregon at #17 Oregon State, 7:00/4:00 PM, Versus #3 Oklahoma at #12 Oklahoma State, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC Notre Dame at #5 USC, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN Digital Cable/Satellite/GamePlan Schedule TUESDAY Navy at Northern Illinois, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN Classic FRIDAY Ohio at Miami of Ohio, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, ESPNU Mississippi State at Mississippi, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, Raycom/GP UTEP at East Carolina, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, CBSCS Kent State at Buffalo, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, GP Bowling Green at Toledo, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPN Classic SATURDAY FCS Playoffs First Round: South Carolina State at Appalachian State, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU Miami at N.C. State, Noon/9:00 AM, Raycom/GP Syracuse at #16 Cincinnati, Noon/9:00 AM, GP Nevada at Louisiana Tech, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, GP New Mexico State at Utah State, 3:00 PM/Noon, GP North Carolina at Duke, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPNU Houston at Rice, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBSCS Vanderbilt at Wake Forest, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPNU Washington State at Hawaii, 11:00/8:00 PM, GP All Other Division I-A Games FRIDAY Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan Akron at Temple SATURDAY UAB at UCF Arkansas State at North Texas Southern Miss at SMU Tulane at Memphis Tulsa at Marshall FIU at Florida Atlantic