Bored

MLB: Eliminate the DH. It's an obsolete rule that was meant to increase offense when pitching dominated the game. An influx of great young pitchers the last few years has curbed offense a bit but it's never going to revert back to the way it was in the late 60's and early 70's. The DH simply isn't needed anymore and having two different rules for both leagues is silly. -Eliminate the Wild Card and go back to the two division format. Second place teams should not being winning the World Series, period. Oh and if they must have the extra round of the playoffs they should make it a seven game series. -Put in an age rule for the Rookie of the Year similar to the rule in the NHL. All-Stars coming from Japan are not rookies. -Elevate the Hank Aaron award to a real award voted by the writers rather than a p.r. award. The award's purpose is to give it to the best offensive player in their league (not necessarily the most valuable) but hardly anyone knows about it because Selig never intended to be anything more than a p.r. move. If it was made into a legit award maybe we wouldn't have had to deal with this A-Rod nonsense in recent years with the MVP voting. -Public flogging of Bud Selig with Brewer fans getting the first shot at him. I wouldn't go around extorting cities into giving millionaire and billionaire owners new stadiums. NBA: High school graduates can't turn pro for two years. Most NBA game's are completely unwatchable now and part of it is the dellution of the talent pool by having players come in too early. LeBron James was a very rare case but even I'd contend part of the reason he's been so succesful is the league simply isn't as strong as it was when Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant came in the league, both who struggled their rookie seasons. Also everyone talks about James but no one talks about the six other high school players who haven't done anything this year in the league. -Increase scoring...some how. Games where both teams score in the 70's is not NBA basketball. It's so sad that it's become a rarity where both teams in a game score over 100 when just 15 years ago it was the norm. NFL: A mass overhaul of the salary cap. Roster turnover every offseason is just becoming a joke and parity is getting out of hand. It should be made easier for team's to retain their own players as the cap is just too unforgiving. I'm almost in favor of just getting rid of the salary cap. -15 yard penalties for celebrations after catching a 10-yard pass and making a simple fucking tackle. Celebrating touchdowns is fine, when your winning at least, but celebrating doing your fucking job on fairly insignificant plays is a joke. Automatic ejections also for these idiots who celebrate making a tackle on special teams.

The A's do have Justin Duchscherer to deal since he's out of options and there simply isn't a spot for him on the opening day roster it appers. I'm sure that would interest the Indians but I don't know if I want that headcase on the A's. In other news...damnit MY BOY~ Nick Johnson is on the DL once again. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb...4news&fext=.jsp Edit: Well what do you know, according to Fox Sports the A's are interested in Bradley along with the Dodgers, Pirates, and Rangers. http://www.foxsports.com/content/view?contentId=2285640

Or the A's in 1929! Oh glancing at the preview again probably should have mentioned Jason Schmidt's elbow being a huge question mark for the Giants as he's starting the year on the DL. Thing is in that division 84 wins might win it and the Giants can do that as long as Bonds is upright. There is truly only one bad team I think in the Rockies but the other four just scream barely above .500 baseball to me. Unless one team in the division has a bunch of guys have career years it should be long, brutal finish to see who wins it.

I was actually giving some serious consideration about submitting a baseball column to the site and maybe doing one on a regular basis but then thought "nah, Al will do one." Oddly enough, I got an email defending the Mariners. Maybe it was the man himself!

Just an idea I thought could be interesting is to have the baseball fans of the board write a preview for the favorite team for the upcoming season. It can be a lengthy player-by-player breakdown of your team or it can just be a couple of paragraphs about your team's chances. Should be a fun read to see how oppimistic/dellusional or pessimistic everyone is about their team this season. I'll have a preview of my A's posted hopefully by the weekend.

That'd be 2 am local time for me but I am up every morning at 4:30 am now so guess I'll catch the end of the game unless it's a quick one.

The A's are denying the reports Ellis is out for the year but they are notoriously secretive about player injuries. They are going to wait another two weeks for another MRI on his shoulder. Whatever happens, offensively it has little effect on the team as Ellis isn't much with the bat and would have been batting 9th in the order but defensively he's emerged as one of the best at his position. German is shaky with the glove, Menechino has zero range, and don't know enough about Scutaro defensively.

I'm in 2nd place and have three of the four Final Four teams but because of choking Stanford I can't finish higher than 8th.

Anyone know when Yahoo will let you put players on the DL? The season starts in two days and I have Mark Prior and Jason Bay to put on the DL so I can pick some player's up in ther absence but still can't do it.

Peter Gammons is reporting that A's second baseman Mark Ellis now out for the year. The MRI results aren't out till tommorrow so this could be Gammons doing his usual bullshit speculation. I pray Esteban German or Marco Scutaro get off to a good start to keep Frank Menechino out of the fucking line-up. He's simply the most hated player on the A's by the fans mainly for being Jason Giambi's fluffer.

A's second baseman Mark Ellis seperated his shoulder today and is out 6-8 weeks. He can't hit worth a lick but it will be hard to replace his defense. Regular back-up Frank Menechino is also hurt and his sorry ass will hopefully not make the team. 4-A players Esteban German and Marco Scutaro will be filling in for Ellis.

Sarcasm is obviously lost on this person.

Here's a story that should shock no one except maybe Bud Selig. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...rts/8266970.htm

Mark Prior is starting the year on the DL. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1766682

Thank you Kentucky for losing so Stanford isn't the only choking #1 seed going down in the first weekend. I actually had Kentucky being upset in the 2nd round but by Washington.

My tournament viewing has ended for this year pretty much. Oh well at least baseball season starts pretty soon. *remembers he's an A's fan...chokes self*

Gee with a 13 point lead with nine minutes left I started to relax and actually thought Stanford would win a 2nd round game for once. WHAT WAS I THINKING?????????????????????????????????? FUCK YOU STANFORD THE BIGGEST FUCKING CHOKE ARTISTS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSE Stanford don't fucking choke again!!!!!!!!!

There is a legit argument that they should have been a #3 seed but no lower. Let's face the fact they didn't beat an RPI Top 50 team all year. After today they will finish the year 0-3 against the RPI Top 50. Them complaining about being disrespected officially goes out the door now as they got a high seed, playing in a friendly enviroment, and got smacked around by a #10 seed.

UAB 102, Washington 100. Now THAT is a basketball score bitches. God damn that's better than the average NBA game now.

If you want slow down basketball with 55-50 scores in college and 70-65 scores in the NBA then be my guest. I should clarify by saying some defense (gambling, pressure defense to force turnovers for easy baskets) and teams that actually know how to run a fast break. I love a great pitcher's duel in baseball, can apperciate a defensive struggle in football, but basketball needs to be wide open. Go watch some 80's NBA on ESPN Classic and you'll see real basketball not this over coached, walk it up the floor every posessesion crap. 53-51 Washington at the half.

Trot Nixon is out until May and Nomar Garciaparra might miss opening day. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1763192

I guess I should be excited about Pacific since I live in the city where the school is located but I honestly can't name one player on the team. Washington/UAB game is great. All offense, no defense. The way basketball should be. Damn outside shot that both team get to 100 at the current pace.

Have to wonder if Lute Olsen is starting to lose it as Arizona sees their incredibly dissapointing season end already. That team had as much talent as anyone in the country but Lute could never get them to play together this year. Dayton/DePaul going to double overtime.

Final Four: Stanford, Duke, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State. Finals: Stanford over Oklahoma State. Yes I'm biased. Damn wish I could blow off work the next two days to just gorge myself on college basketball.