Bored

WOW. Just wow. Epic defensive meltdown by Furcal.

I notice Al hasn't posted much in this thread. Is he afraid of JINXING the Phillies?

Washington - Smues BYU Clemson Northwestern Iowa Wake Forest Georgia Ohio State Oklahoma Pittsburgh Stanford Kansas State Texas LSU Boston College Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Missouri/Texas game? 64 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will Michigan State's Javon Ringer have against Ohio State? 83 Minnesota - Vern Gagne THURSDAY BYU at TCU SATURDAY Georgia Tech at Clemson Purdue at Northwestern Wisconsin at Iowa Wake Forest at Maryland Vanderbilt at Georgia Ohio State at Michigan State Kansas at Oklahoma Pittsburgh at Navy Stanford at UCLA Kansas State at Colorado Missouri at Texas LSU at South Carolina Virginia Tech at Boston College Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Missouri/Texas game? 64 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will Michigan State's Javon Ringer have against Ohio State? 111

My Picks BYU Georgia Tech Purdue Wisconsin Wake Forest Georgia Ohio State Oklahoma Pittsburgh UCLA Colorado Texas LSU Boston College 66/159

And that's what I get for actually believing something ESPN.com printed. Okay best I can find is they changed it because middle of the week t.v. viewership is higher than Saturday night viewership. I suppose the theory would be that the more people they can get to watch Game 1 means more people will stick through the whole Series. But whatever, I could careless about ratings talk and if FOX execs are upset that they might not get the match-up they were hoping for. If it is Phillies/Rays, then the Bored T.V. Ratings will be the highest they've been for a World Series in over a decade.

They went with the middle of the week schedule because they don't want any games on Friday nights since it's the worst night of the week for t.v. ratings.

Okay I was wrong, the World Series will have no day off between Game 4 and 5. I guess I just assumed Selig would do something like that. Gm 1 National League @ American League Wed Oct. 22 TBD FOX tickets Gm 2 National League @ American League Thu Oct. 23 TBD FOX tickets Gm 3 American League @ National League Sat Oct. 25 TBD FOX tickets Gm 4 American League @ National League Sun Oct. 26 TBD FOX tickets Gm 5* American League @ National League Mon Oct. 27 TBD FOX tickets Gm 6* National League @ American League Wed Oct. 29 TBD FOX tickets Gm 7* National League @ American League Thu Oct. 30 TBD FOX

Tim McCarver's hatred for this man almost made me want to root for the Dodgers. Left Fielder Rankings 1. Manny Ramirez, Red Sox/Dodgers 33.4 Win Shares 83.5 VORP 10.8 WARP3 Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP +--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+ 2008 36 TOT 153 552 102 183 36 1 37 121 3 0 87 124 .332 .430 .601 164 332 0 4 24 11 17 2. Carlos Quentin, White Sox 3. Matt Holliday, Rockies 4. Jason Bay, Pirates/Red Sox 5. Ryan Braun, Brewers 6. Johnny Damon, Yankees 7. Raul Ibanez, Mariners 8. Carlos Lee, Astros 9. Adam Dunn, Reds/Diamondbacks 10. Dave DeJesus, Royals 11. Jack Cust, A's 12. Pat Burrell, Phillies 13. Alfonso Soriano, Cubs 14. Conor Jackson, Diamondbacks 15. Garret Anderson, Angels 16. Luke Scott, Orioles 17. Fred Lewis, Giants 18. Josh Willingham, Marlins 19. Delmon Young, Twins 20. Willie Harris, Nationals 21. Ben Francisco, Indians 22. Carl Crawford, Rays 23. Gregor Blanco, Braves Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP +--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+ 2008 24 ATL NL 144 430 52 108 14 4 1 38 13 5 74 99 .251 .366 .309 83 133 6 3 2 6 3 24. Chase Headley, Padres 25. Luis Gonzalez, Marlins 26. Adam Lind, Blue Jays 27. Juan Pierre, Dodgers 28. Emil Brown, A's 29. David Dellucci, Indians 30. Jay Payton, Orioles

Series ain't over yet. Trust me if Boston wins Game 5 everyone will be ready to say "HERE COME THE RED SOX!" And seriously fuck this lame NBA scheduling Selig and FOX put in as of last year. If they ain't traveling, they don't need a day off. It'll be even more annoying when it happens in the World Series, assuming it actually goes more than four games this time.

I'll always have a soft spot for Matt Stairs as he was part of the A's when they started to turn things around in '99 and it was always fun to watch him hit as the guy just puts everything into every swing. That was a BOMB.

God dammit Phillies, we don't need another sub-85 win team in the World Series.

Big XII Football Media Guide Scroll down to page 26 and you'll find the tiebreak rules. Head-to-head is indeed how a regular tie is broken and you have to get to step #5 on the three-way tiebreak rules before they go to the BCS rankings. Of course there could be a three-way tie if Oklahoma State beats Texas and then Oklahoma beats State, assuming that all three win all of their other games which you can't assume. Edit: And that's not mention Texas Tech could play in that scenario as well.

Since Ohio State/USC ended up being a dud, the new Game of the Century of the Decade of the Year of the Week is the annual Red River Rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma. Red River Shootout was such a better name for the game and I don't know why the decided to change it a few years ago but I'll just assume it's because Longhorns and Sooners fans like the shoot at each other or something. It's rare now to get a game this big to kick off a Saturday but I actually kinda prefer it that way. Not to be overlooked is another big game in the ESS EEE SEE as LSU takes on Florida. LSU can solidify themselves as one of the top contenders for the MNC while Florida can possibly play themselves back into the discussion with an impressive win. Being that it's LSU/Florida expect Les Miles to go for it on 4th down at least 67 times. Now if you are looking for a turn your brain off and just watch two teams light up the scoreboard for almost four hours type of game, then Oklahoma State/Missouri is for you. Both teams so far this year are averaging over 50 points a game and only Tulsa is scoring more per game than these two. I'm not a betting man and I have no idea what the over/under is for this game but um, bet the over. Network/Basic Cable Schedule TUESDAY Troy at Florida Atlantic, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 THURSDAY Clemson at #21 Wake Forest, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN FRIDAY Louisville at Memphis, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY #5 Texas vs. #1 Oklahoma, Noon/9:00 AM, ABC Minnesota at Illinois, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN Cornell at Harvard, Noon/9:00 AM, Versus Colorado at #16 Kansas, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, ESPN2 Nebraska at #7 Texas Tech, 3:00 PM/Noon, FSN Tennessee at #10 Georgia, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBS Purdue at #12 Ohio State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN* Notre Dame at #22 North Carolina, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN* Arizona State at #8 USC, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC* #23 Michigan State at Northwestern, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPN2 #4 LSU at #11 Florida, 8:00/5:00 PM, CBS #6 Penn State at Wisconsin, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN #17 Oklahoma State at #3 Missouri, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 UCLA at Oregon, 10:15/7:15 PM, FSN Digital Cable/Satellite/GamePlan Schedule THURSDAY Winston-Salem State at Florida A&M, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPNU UAB at Houston, 8:00/5:00 PM, CBSCS SATURDAY Syracuse at West Virginia, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU Iowa at Indiana, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* Toledo at Michigan, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* East Carolina at Virginia, Noon/9:00 AM, Raycom*/GP Rutgers at Cincinnati, Noon/9:00 AM, GP Duquense at Robert Morris, Noon/9:00 AM, FCS Pacific South Carolina at Kentucky, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, Raycom*/GP Fordham at Lehigh, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, FCS Atlantic Eastern Michigan at Army, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ESPN Classic #14 Utah at Wyoming, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, Mtn. Ohio at Kent State, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, GP #13 Vanderbilt at Mississippi State, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, GP Indiana State at Southern Illinois, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, FCS Central TCU at Colorado State, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBSCS UCF at Miami, 3:45/12:45 PM, ESPNU Miami of Ohio at Northern Illinois, 4:00/1:00 PM, GP New Mexico State at Nevada, 4;00/1:00 PM GP Arkansas at #20 Auburn, 5:00/2:00 PM, GP New Mexico at #9 BYU, 6:00/3:00 PM, Mtn. Washington State at Oregon State, 6:30/3:30 PM, FCS Pacific Iowa State at Baylor, 7:00/4:00 PM, FCS Central UL Monroe at Arkansas State, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP Sam Houston State at Central Arkansas, 7:00/4:00 PM, FCS Atlantic Utah State at San Jose State, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPNU #15 Boise State at Southern Miss, 8:00/5:00 PM, CBSCS Air Force at San Diego State, 9:30/6:30 PM, Mtn. Idaho at Fresno State, 10:00/7:00 PM, GP All Other Div. I-A Games Kansas State at Texas A&M Gardner-Webb at Georgia Tech Temple at Central Michigan Western Michigan at Buffalo Arizona at Stanford Bowling Green at Akron #25 Ball State at Western Kentucky UL Lafayette at North Texas Middle Tennessee at FIU Tulsa at SMU Tulane at UTEP Louisiana Tech at Hawaii

Unofficial BCS Top 14 (computer average in parenthesis) 1. Texas (1) 2. Alabama (2) 3. Penn State (5) 4. USC (7) 5. Texas Tech (9) 6. Oklahoma (11) 7. Oklahoma State (3) 8. Florida (14) 9. Utah (4) 10. Georgia (13) 11. Ohio State (10) 12. BYU (19) 13. Missouri (15) 14. Boise State (6) Official release will be this Sunday.

Is Hanley Ramirez the most underrated player in baseball right now? Of course playing for the Marlins doesn't help him. Shortstop Rankings 1. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins 32.5 Win Shares 80.7 VORP 10.9 WARP3 Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP +--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+ 2008 24 FLA NL 153 589 125 177 34 4 33 67 35 12 92 122 .301 .400 .540 148 318 0 4 9 8 5 2. Jose Reyes, Mets 3. Jimmy Rollins, Phillies 4. Stephen Drew, Diamondbacks 5. Jhonny Peralta, Indians 6. J.J. Hardy, Brewers 7. Cristian Guzman, Nationals 8. Michael Young, Rangers 9. Derek Jeter, Yankees 10. Mike Aviles, Royals 11. Orlando Cabrera, White Sox 12. Ryan Theriot, Cubs 13. Yunel Escobar, Braves 14. Miguel Tejada, Astros 15. Marco Scutaro, Blue Jays 16. Jason Bartlett, Rays 17. Nick Punto, Twins 18. Brendan Harris, Twins 19. Erick Aybar, Angels 20. Edgar Renteria, Tigers 21. Yuniesky Betancourt, Mariners 22. Maicer Izturis, Angels 23. Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies 24. David Eckstein, Blue Jays/Diamondbacks 25. Bobby Crosby, A's 26. Cesar Izturis, Cardinals 27. Jeff Keppinger, Reds 5.7 Win Shares 0.6 VORP 1.5 WARP3 Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP +--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+ 2008 28 CIN NL 121 459 45 122 24 2 3 43 3 1 30 24 .266 .310 .346 70 159 6 5 3 2 14 28. Jack Wilson, Pirates 29. Julio Lugo, Red Sox 30. Khalil Greene, Padres

Speaking of ouch, check out Cullen Harper's parting shots. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3641028 Just a hunch part of Harper's bitterness is due to him benched for the hilariously named Willy Korn.

Clemson has fired Tommy Bowden. Figured he'd make it through the season at least but they have been probably the biggest disappointment in the country.

MrRant and Obi Chris Kenobi are both on the chopping block this week. To remind you how it works, I will preassign possible replacement picks for both this week in case they no show again. If either does not submit picks by the first deadline I will assume they are out of the contest and their team will be put on "probation." I will not accept late picks from them. Here are the replacement pick assignments: Washington State - Vitamin X Georgia - Cartman Note when it comes to "probation" teams, the tiebreaks will apply. Week 7 Deadlines Deadline #1: Thursday, October 9th, 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST -Lose out on Thursday game. Deadline #2: Friday, October 10th, 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST -Lose out on Friday game. Deadline #3: Saturday, October 11th, Noon EST/9:00 AM PST -Replacement picks, can't win by tiebreak. Week 7 Match-ups #1 Miami of Ohio* PM (Hawk 34, 5-1) vs. #2 Nebraska* PM (Mecca, 6-0) - GAME OF THE WEEK #3 Ball State* PM (Vampiro69, 4-2) vs. Tulsa* (Will Scarlet, 1-5) #4 Georgia Tech* PM (iggymcfly, 4-2) vs. San Diego State* (Next USC #55, 3-3) #5 Alabama (AlwaysPissedOff, 4-2) vs. Boston College* (HarleyQuinn, 4-2) #6 Virginia (Edwin MacPhisto, 5-1) vs. Fresno State* (Agent Bond34, 5-1) #7 Arizona (UZI Suicide, 4-2) vs. Stanford* (Bored, 2-4) #8 LSU* PM (teke184, 4-2) vs. Florida* PM (Urban Warfare, 3-3) #9 Arizona State* (still fly, 6-0) vs. USC* (Cartman, 0-6) #10 Indiana* (Tzar Lysergic, 4-2) vs. Texas* (Broward83, 2-4) Kentucky* (Danville Wrestling, 4-2) vs. South Carolina* (Cuban Linx, 2-4) Minnesota* PM (Vern Gagne, 4-2) vs. Illinois* (The Monkey Man, 1-5) Ohio State (Gert T, 4-2) vs. Syracuse* PM (CanadianChris, 3-3) Rutgers* (the pinjockey, 3-3) vs. Washington* PM (Smues, 2-4) Tennessee* (Canadian Brandon, 4-2) vs. Georgia (Obi Chris Kenobi?, 0-6) N.C. State* PM (AboveAverage484, 3-3) vs. Buffalo* PM (Carnival, 3-3) Miami* (Spaceman Spiff, 3-3) vs. Washington State (MrRant?, 2-4) Navy* (MarvinisaLunatic, 3-3) vs. Boise State* (Vitamin X, 2-4) Michigan (MFer, 2-4) vs. UCLA* (phoenixrising, 3-3) Notre Dame* (KingPK, 3-3) vs. Florida State* (909, 1-5) UTEP* (Angel Grace Blue, 1-5) vs. Kent State* (JHawk, 1-5) Week 7 Games to Make Picks For THURSDAY Clemson at Wake Forest FRIDAY Louisville at Memphis SATURDAY Texas vs. Oklahoma (in Dallas) Iowa at Indiana Colorado at Kansas South Carolina at Kentucky Kansas State at Texas A&M Notre Dame at North Carolina Michigan State at Northwestern Arizona at Stanford Iowa State at Baylor LSU at Florida Penn State at Wisconsin Oklahoma State at Missouri Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Texas/Oklahoma game? Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Missouri's Chase Daniel have against Oklahoma State?

So I waited two weeks before doing my 2nd Pointless Top 25 because I wanted to do some hard research on all 119 I-A teams...or I just didn't feel like it last week. You make the call! Again I spend about ten minutes doing this so don't bother spending more than ten seconds reading it. 1. Texas 2. Alabama 3. Penn State 4. Oklahoma State 5. Oklahoma 6. Georgia 7. Missouri 8. Florida 9. Utah 10. BYU 11. USC 12. LSU 13. Texas Tech 14. Virginia Tech 15. Ohio State 16. North Carolina 17. California 18. Michigan State 19. Wake Forest 20. Boise State 21. Pittsburgh 22. South Florida 23. Kansas 24. Ball State 25. Tulsa

Sad thing is, for family reasons I do root for the Trojans against everyone except Stanford but I can understand why people are getting sick of them and constantly feel they are overrated. Them being ranked #4 in the Coaches' Poll and right back into the MNC picture is just hilarious.

WOW, ten point swing in the final second of the half in the Eagles/49ers game as David Akers has a long field goal attempt blocked and returned for a touchdown by the Niners to make it a one point game.

New Harris Poll (the other poll that counts) Oklahoma is #4, USC #5. Harris Poll Wackiness of the Week: Utah gets a 1st place vote and both Auburn & Michigan get 17 voting points each.

New Coaches' Poll Top 3 is as expected: Texas, Alabama, Penn State. But #4 is.... USC MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Mike Timlin did his job!

Definitely Missouri as LSU's win over Auburn means nothing at this point. What I'm interested to see is how far the voters bump Oklahoma State. They hadn't really played anyone before this week but now that they have a significant road win they should be in the Top 10. They certainly deserve to be there more than Texas Tech who we still have no idea if they are legit as they needed overtime to beat Nebraska today. Edit: And checking the schedule the Red Raiders play A&M next week so no chance to prove themselves there either.