Bored

I know no one cares but... STANFORD BEATS CAL!!!!!!!! THE AXE IS BACK WHERE IT BELONGS!

Ducks collapse is complete, ending the season on a three game losing streak. Best they can hope for now is the Sun Bowl. Oregon State now could end up in the Holiday Bowl if ASU wins tonight and gets the Fiesta Bowl invite tomorrow.

Bang up job by ESPN not showing a replay to see if it was a legit call. And wow was that idiotic by Oregon. They could have just spiked it and given their kicker time to get set, instead he has to rush and misses it.

Great I pimp Troy earlier in the week and they are getting blown out by the Fighting Schnellenberger's 35-12 in the 4th. Barring a miracle comeback, FAU will win the Sun Belt and Troy will not be going to a bowl game. I was just going to suggest Charlotte for the ACC Championship. There's clearly little interest locally in Jacksonville.

Robb Nen - Closer Texas Rangers 1993 Florida Marlins 1993-1997 San Francisco Giants 1998-2002 Awards None All-Star Selections: 3 (1998, 1999, 2002) League Leader 2001: Saves Career Ranks Saves: 15th Best Performance October 26, 1997 - Cleveland at Florida In Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, with the Marlins down a run he comes into the top of the 9th with runners at the corners and one out and gets the Marlins out of the jam who then tie the game in the bottom of the inning. He proceeds to strikeout the side in the 10th (Omar Vizquel, Manny Ramirez, David Justice) as the Marlins win the Series in the 11th. Hall of Fame Stats Black Ink: Pitching - 3 (541) (Average HOFer ≈ 40) Gray Ink: Pitching - 24 (925) (Average HOFer ≈ 185) HOF Standards: Pitching - 15.0 (471) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Pitching - 92.0 (112) (Likely HOFer > 100) Similar Pitchers in HOF: 1 (Bruce Sutter) Other Similar Pitchers: John Wetteland, Tom Henke, Troy Percival, Jeff Montgomery, Todd Worrell, Armando Benitez, Rod Beck, Ugueth Urbina, Jason Isringhausen Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3) 1993: 0/-0.2 1994: 11/5.4 1995: 8/4.4 1996: 19/6.4 1997: 11/4.1 1998: 19/8.9 1999: 8/4.1 2000: 15/7.5 2001: 14/6.3 2002: 15/7.0 Career Win Shares: 120 Caeer WARP3: 53.9 My Stupid Opinion Anyone else feeling old by the fact that someone who debuted in 1993 is already on a HOF ballot? Nen's career was cut short by a torn rotator cuff and his last appearance happened to come in the 2002 World Series. He was similar to undeserving HOF closer Bruce Sutter in that they both had short careers but were dominate in their roles while they were active. The big difference between the two is Sutter pitched in the pre-Dennis Eckersley era of closers as he threw 327 1/3 more innings than Nen in only 18 more games pitched. Given that HOF voters are more open to closers getting in now and the "heroic" nature of him pitching in the '02 World Series with his shoulder being mush I wouldn't be surprised if he received the necessary 5% to stay on the ballot.

ESPN is reporting that Michigan will name Les Miles as head coach next week. It will be very interesting see type of performance LSU shows up with today.

Might as well start one as games that count start tonight with the prelim rounds of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament. Here's the first round schedule: November 5th Tennessee-Martin at Memphis Richmond vs. Maine November 6th Central Kentucky at Kentucky Gardner Webb vs. Alabama A&M November 7th Morgan State at Connecticut Buffalo vs. Ohio Valley November 8th San Francisco at Oklahoma Denver vs. East Central Oklahoma Gee I wonder if this tournament is slanted in anyway? Here's the t.v. schedule for the opening week that has no games of note and ESPN doesn't begin their coverage until next week, shockingly with a Duke game And finally the AP Top 25 which has the exact same Top 10 as the Coaches.

Well this is something you don't see at every college basketball game, thank God. http://deadspin.com/sports/towel-peeing/wh...-go--328458.php Too bad it would have been much funnier if pissed himself while in the game.

He and Joe Blanton have been on the block all offseason just now it appears the rumors are picking up in terms of teams looking at Haren as an alternative if they can't get Johan Santana. I would be very shocked if both are with the A's on Opening Day as they must beef up their farm system and with such a weak free agent market for pitchers they are their most valuable commodities on the market. Unless some team lets them absolutely fleece their system I don't see the positives in trading their 26 year old ace who has no injury history, who they have locked up for another three years at only $16.25 million. Trading Haren would pretty much be sending the message that "Hey we don't give a fuck until we get the new ballpark built." Blanton on the other hand I'd be okay with trading with as I don't think he has as high a ceiling as Haren and his trade value is probably as high as it's going to get at the moment. I don't think anything will happen though until the Santana sweepstakes are over.

Todd Stottlemyre- Starting Pitcher Toronto Blue Jays 1988-1994 Oakland Athletics 1995 St. Louis Cardinals 1996-1998 Texas Rangers 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks 1999-2002 Awards None All-Star Selections: None League Leader None Career Ranks None of note Best Performance August 26, 1992 - Toronto at Chicago Carried a no hitter into the 8th inning before a Dan Pasqua double with one out breaks it up. Finished with a complete game, one-hitter. Hall of Fame Stats Gray Ink: Pitching - 28 (812) (Average HOFer ≈ 185) HOF Standards: Pitching - 13.0 (582) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Pitching - 15.0 (716) (Likely HOFer > 100) Similar Pitchers in HOF: None Top 10 Similar Pitchers: Darryl Kile, Woody Williams, Livan Hernandez, Pat Hentgen, Ron Darling, Kevin Tapani, Mike Krukow, Tim Belcher, Pedro Astacio, Mike Hampton Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacment Level (WARP3) 1988: 0/0.0 1989: 6/2.7 1990: 9/4.9 1991: 15/6.0 1992: 7/3.1 1993: 7/3.1 1994: 10/6.2 1995: 10/5.4 1996: 14/5.7 1997: 11/5.3 1998: 14/4.8 1999: 6/2.0 2000: 6/3.0 2002: 0/-0.1 Career Win Shares: 115 Career WARP3: 54.0 My Stupid Opinion If you look up "Middle of the Rotation Starter" in the dictionary you'll probably see Stottlemyre's face. He's this year's "Why the hell is this guy on the ballot?" winner as there's nothing in his career that stands out. Now he was a better pitcher than Bobby Witt who was on last year's ballot and freakin' Gary DiSarcina was on the 2006 ballot so there have been worse nominees. He did pitch for two World Champions in Toronto (he was out for the season during the D-Backs 2001 run) but in his only World Series start he was shelled, the infamous 15-14 slugfest in Game 4 of the '93 Series.

I had forgotten that Baseball Reference had game scores now.

I can't believe it only took the Warriors nine games to get above .500 after the 0-6 start.

Hey you were down a point so you should have gone with an upset some where. You could been a man like me and picked Oregon...a very, very stupid man.

So for both the SE7 and WAC title games we had matching picks for this week so that means Cuban Linx is the Souteastern Seven Champion and Vitamin X is the Western Atlantic Champion. Feel the...drama? Who You Should Root For (match-ups not decided) Big 8 Championship #3 Nebraska* (Mecca, 9-3) vs. Oklahoma* (Secret Agent, 6-6) -Mecca has a five point lead. NE: Rutgers, UCF, Virginia Tech, LSU, Arizona State OK: Louisville, Tulsa, Boston College, Tennessee, Arizona Tiebreak: 67/70 Pac-8 Championship #7 Stanford* (Bored, 8-4) vs. UCLA* (phoenixrising, 7-5) SU: Louisville, UCF, Oregon, Oklahoma UCLA: Rutgers, Tulsa, Oregon State, Missouri Tiebreaks: 63/59, 183/125 Big MAC Championship #8 Rutgers* (the pinjockey, 7-5) vs. Miami of Ohio* (Hawk 34, 7-5) -Hawk 34 has a one point lead. RU: UCF, LSU MOH: Tulsa, Tennesee

WAC Championship Picks - Part 2 Boise State - Vitamin X THURSDAY Rutgers FRIDAY MAC: Central Michigan CUSA: UCF ACC: Virginia Tech SEC: LSU Oregon State Arizona State XII: Missouri Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Big XII Championship Game? 46 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will UCF's Kevin Smith have against Tulsa? 108 Virginia - Edwin MacPhisto THURSDAY Rutgers FRIDAY MAC: Central Michigan CUSA: UCF ACC: Virginia Tech SEC: LSU Oregon State Arizona State XII: Missouri Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Big XII Championship Game? 58 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will UCF's Kevin Smith have against Tulsa? 212

Texans - 21 points Dallas St. Louis Washington Minnesota Houston Jacksonville Miami San Diego Philadelphia San Francisco New Orleans Arizona Denver N.Y. Giants Pittsburgh Baltimore

SE7 Conference Championship Picks - Part 2 UTEP - Angel Grace Blue THURSDAY Louisville FRIDAY MAC: Central Michigan CUSA: UCF ACC: Virginia Tech SEC: LSU Oregon State Arizona State XII: Missouri Tiebreak #1: 58 Tiebreak #2: 136 South Carolina - Cuban Linx THURSDAY Rutgers at Louisville FRIDAY MAC: Central Michigan vs. Miami of Ohio CUSA: Tulsa at UCF ACC: Boston College vs. Virginia Tech SEC: LSU vs. Tennessee Oregon State at Oregon Arizona at Arizona State XII: Oklahoma vs. Missouri Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Big XII Championship Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will UCF's Kevin Smith have against Tulsa? 130 Big 8 Conference Championship Picks - Part 2 Oklahoma - Secret Agent THURSDAY Rutgers at Louisville FRIDAY MAC: Central Michigan vs. Miami of Ohio CUSA: Tulsa at UCF ACC: Boston College vs. Virginia Tech SEC: LSU vs. Tennessee Oregon State at Oregon Arizona at Arizona State XII: Oklahoma vs. Missouri Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Big XII Championship Game? 70 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will UCF's Kevin Smith have against Tulsa? 148 Nebraska - Mecca THURSDAY Rutgers at Louisville FRIDAY MAC: Central Michigan vs. Miami of Ohio CUSA: Tulsa at UCF ACC: Boston College vs. Virginia Tech SEC: LSU vs. Tennessee Oregon State at Oregon Arizona at Arizona State XII: Oklahoma vs. Missouri Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Big XII Championship Game?67 Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will UCF's Kevin Smith have against Tulsa? 115

My Picks Louisville Central Michigan UCF Virginia Tech LSU Oregon Arizona State Oklahoma 63/183

Here's a full list of invites handed out so far. Poinsettia: Navy New Orleans: Memphis PapaJohns.com: Cincinnati vs. Southern Miss Texas: Houston Meineke Car Care: Connecticut Armed Forces: Air Force Sun: South Florida Outback: Wisconsin

Only eleven first ballot candidates this year and I already made it known in the Hall of Fame Ballot thread that Tim Raines is the only one deserving to get in, not that that is any great insight. But I'll still run through all eleven newbies but a little different from last year when I was going through the whole ballot and ended each entry with my opinion of whether they'd get my imaginary vote or not. Instead I'll just give "My Stupid Opinion" on each player. Also this year I'll throw in a link to the boxscore of each player's "best" performance, although really I'm not putting that much research into it. For the order of players I'll again go in reverse order of career Win Shares. Rod Beck - Closer San Francisco Giants 1991-1997 Chicago Cubs 1998-1999 Boston Red Sox 1999-2001 San Diego Padres 2003-2004 Awards 1994 N.L. Rolaids Relief All-Star Selections: 3 (1993, 1994, 1997) League Leader None of note Career Ranks Games: 78th Saves: 23rd Best Performance April 18, 1993 - Atlanta at San Francisco Notches five strikeouts in pitching a shutout 9th and 10th (struckout the side) in a 13-12, 11 inning thriller against the Braves. Hall of Fame Stats Black Ink: Pitching - 1 (818) (Average HOFer ≈ 40) Gray Ink: Pitching - 23 (946) (Average HOFer ≈ 185) HOF Standards: Pitching - 13.0 (582) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Pitching - 63.0 (188) (Likely HOFer > 100) Similar Pitchers in HOF: None Top 10 Similar Pitchers: Jeff Montgomery, Armando Benitez, Robb Nen, Troy Percival, Keith Foulke, Jason Isringhausen, Todd Worrell, Gregg Olson, Tom Henke, Ugueth Urbina Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacment Level (WARP3) 1991: 3/1.2 1992: 16/4.9 1993: 16/5.9 1994: 7/4.2 1995: 7/3.1 1996: 10/4.9 1997: 12/4.5 1998: 13/6.0 1999: 3/1.0 2000: 5/1.7 2001: 7/3.5 2003: 6/4.3 2004: 0/-0.1 Career Win Shares: 105 Career WARP3: 45.1 My Stupid Opinion Due to his death earlier this year the five year rule was waived for Beck. A fan favorite who will be better known for his appearance and personality than his pitching prowess. A very good closer in his prime but rarely dominate and no where near the elite the closers of all-time. Maybe deserves a special spot in the Hall of Fame for overdosing on cocaine that he snorted off his own baseball card, which I'm pretty sure is the Score 1994 card pictured above.

BCS = Bad College Stupid Carl from ATHF gives his thoughts on the BCS. The description of the Mangino Gatorade bath had me dying.

Hey just $15 million more and he's finally paid off! Although the Rockies still owe him a $6 million buyout in 2009. The gift that keeps on giving.

Hey it will decide the Sun Belt champion and who gets to go the much coveted New Orleans Bowl. In all seriousness Troy is the best Sun Belt team ever, which isn't saying much, who blew out Oklahoma State and hung with Georgia for three quarters. They are a solid team who deserves to play in a better bowl and against better competition than Memphis. That's why I wish there was a bowl committee who assigns who goes where rather than preset bids.

I'm not into making projections a month into the season, basically so I won't look stupid, and I like to wait until the final week of the season to make projections. Now these are purely based on every higher ranked team winning their game next week and obviously that won't happen but it makes it easier to make projections that way. Note Navy, Southern Miss, and Memphis have already accepted invites to bowls. BCS: Missouri vs. West Virginia Orange: Virginia Tech vs. Georgia Fiesta: Kansas vs. Arizona State Sugar: LSU vs. Hawaii Rose: Ohio State vs. USC Capital One: Florida vs. Illinois Cotton: Kansas vs. Arkansas Holiday: Oregon vs. Texas Chick-fil-A: Boston College vs. Auburn Gator: Oklahoma vs. Clemson Outback: Tennessee vs. Wisconsin Sun: South Florida vs. California Alamo: Penn State vs. Texas A&M Champs Sports: Virginia vs. Michigan Music City: Mississippi State vs. Florida State Insight: Texas Tech vs. Indiana Meineke Car Care: Cincinnati vs. Wake Forest Las Vegas: BYU vs. Oregon State Liberty: UCF vs. Alabama Independence: Kentucky vs. Colorado Emerald: UCLA vs. Maryland Motor City: Central Michigan vs. Michigan State Humanitarian: Boise State vs. Georgia Tech GMAC: Bowling Green vs. Tulsa Texas: Houston vs. New Mexico International: Rutgers vs. Ball State Poinsettia: Navy vs. Utah Armed Forces: Air Force vs. Purdue PapaJohns.com: Connecticut vs. Southern Miss Hawaii: Fresno State vs. East Carolina New Orleans: Troy vs. Memphis New Mexico: TCU vs. Louisiana Tech

So who had Missouri/Kansas in the Biggest Game of the Year pool? It's a huuuuuuge week even without that game. We have a very rare important game on Thanksgiving in USC/ASU with Rose Bowl implications, then there's Boise State/Hawaii on Friday with a possible BCS bid on the line, early Saturday is Virginia Tech/Virginia with the winner going to the ACC Championship Game, Tennessee/Kentucky will decide the SEC East winner, and the winner of UConn/West Virginia clinches the Big East. And I will cry if Stanford loses to Notre Dame. Network/Basic Cable Schedule TUESDAY Middle Tennessee at Troy, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN2 THURSDAY #11 USC at #6 Arizona State, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN FRIDAY Nebraska at Colorado, Noon/9:00 AM, ABC Arkansas at # 1 LSU, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, CBS #13 Texas at Texas A&M, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC #19 Boise State at #15 Hawaii, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN2 SATURDAY Miami at #14 Boston College, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN #8 Virginia Tech at #16 Virginia, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2 #18 Tennessee at Kentucky, 1:30 PM/10:30 AM, CBS Utah at #25 BYU, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, Versus #20 Connecticut at #3 West Virginia, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2* #7 Georgia at Georgia Tech, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2* #9 Oregon at UCLA, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC* Notre Dame at Stanford, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPN Kansas State at Fresno State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPN2* Oklahoma State at #10 Oklahoma, 3:30/12:30 PM, FSN Florida State at #12 Florida, 5:00/2:00 PM CBS #22 Clemson at South Carolina, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN2 Washington State at Washington, 7:00/4:00 PM, FSN #4 Missouri vs. #2 Kansas, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC Alabama at Auburn, 8:00/5:00 PM ESPN Digital Cable/Satellite/Gameplan Schedule FRIDAY Central Michigan at Akron, 11:00 AM/8:00 AM, ESPNU Mississippi at Mississippi State, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, LFS/GP Wyoming at Colorado State, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, Mtn. Toledo at Bowling Green, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, ESPNU SATURDAY Maryland at N.C. State, Noon/9:00 AM, LFS/GP #23 South Florida at Pittsburgh, Noon/9:00 AM, GP Miami of Ohio at Ohio, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, GP Duke at North Carolina, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPNU Nevada at San Jose State, 4:00/1:00 PM, GP UNLV at New Mexico, 5:30/2:30 PM, Mtn. Florida Atlantic at FIU, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP Cincinnati at Syracuse, 7:15/4:15 PM, ESPNU All Other Div. I-A Games SATURDAY Tulane at East Carolina Buffalo at Kent STate SMU at Memphis Wake Forest at Vanderbilt UTEP at UCF Temple at Western Michigan Tulsa at Rice Arkansas State at Southern Miss Utah State at Idaho Texas Southern at Houston Western Kentucky at North Texas Ball State at Northern Illinois UAB at Marshall Louisiana-Monroe at Louisiana-Lafayette TCU at San Diego State