Bored

Well this certainly isn't promising. Oh well if this holds up it at least means the Pac-10 champ will be in the Rose Bowl, and until there is a playoff that's where they should be every year. On the other hand it's probably going to be Cal which I hoped to never see in my lifetime. This USC offense this year is proving how good Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush really were.

This USC team is reminding me a lot of that 2002 Ohio State team everyone loved to hate by their ability to consistently look beatable but pull out wins every week. God I hope ESABCPN dumps this Ohio State game soon. This game soooooo should have been an GamePlan only affair.

Outside of a few that have slipped through the cracks, everything is gone now. How dare anyone tell the history the NFL besides NFL Films!

The Decline of Western Civilization IV: The Eckstein Years

Woo hoo, Sun Belt football on national television. Also for us on the west coast this is one of those two weeks out of the year where ABC screws us over by skipping the mid-day games and gives us a late WAC game. Network/Basic Cable Schedule WEDNESDAY Louisiana-Lafayette at Florida Atlantic, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN2 THURSDAY North Carolina at Virginia, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN FRIDAY #5 West Virginia at Connecticut, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 SATURDAY #9 Texas at #17 Nebraska, Noon/9:00 AM, ABC* #21 Wisconsin at Purdue, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN Illinois at Penn State, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2 UCLA at #8 Notre Dame, 2:30 PM/11:30 AM, NBC Alabama at #11 Tennessee, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBS #23 Iowa at #3 Michigan, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC* #20 Boston College at Florida State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC* Washington at #10 California, 3:30/12:30 PM, FSN #16 Rutgers at Pittsburgh, 5:45/2:45 PM, ESPN2 San Jose State at Nevada, 7:00/4:00 PM, ABC* Colorado at #22 Oklahoma, 7:00/4:00 PM, FSN #19 Georgia Tech at #12 Clemson, 7:45/4:45 PM, ESPN Fresno State at #18 LSU, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN2 SUNDAY South Florida at Cincinnati, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN Other Cable/Gameplan Schedule THURSDAY Bowling Green at Central Michigan, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPNU SATURDAY Indiana at #1 Ohio State, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU N.C. State at Maryland, Noon/9:00 AM, LF/GP Michigan State at Northwestern, Noon/9:00 AM, GP Mississippi at #13 Arkansas, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, LF/GP Toledo at Eastern Michigan, 3:00 PM/Noon, GP TCU at Army, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPNU North Dakota State at Minnesota, 3:30/12:30 PM, GP Colorado State at Wyoming, 4:00/1:00 PM, CSTV Southern Miss at Virginia Tech, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPNU Utah State at Louisiana Tech, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP North Texas at Arkansas State, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP #25 Tulsa at Memphis, 8:00/5:00 PM, CSTV All Other D-IA Games THURSDAY Utah at New Mexico SATURDAY #7 Louisville at Syracuse Mississippi State at Georgia Miami at Duke, ESPN360 Kansas State at #24 Missouri Buffalo at Ohio Western Michigan at Ball State Tulane at #4 Auburn Stanford at Arizona State SMU at East Carolina South Carolina at Vanderbilt UNLV at BYU Kansas at Baylor Temple at Northern Illinois Texas Tech at Iowa State Rice at Central Florida #14 Oregon at Washington State #15 Boise State at Idaho Miami of Ohio at Akron, ESPN360 Marshall at UAB Oregon State at Arizona UTEP at Houston Middle Tennessee at Louisiana-Monroe Texas A&M at Oklahoma State Air Force at San Diego State Hawaii at New Mexico State

Rolen should have won it.

This probably puts LaRussa in the Hall of Fame.

Some mediocre team with a bad GM is going to make Weaver a very rich man this offseason.

I know his brother pitches for the team but Jered Weaver wearing a bunch of Cardinals gear is...odd. And damn I'd been holding out hope that the A's would beat out the Cardinals to 10 World Championships for the record for most by a team not named the Yankees.

Texans - 14 points Green Bay Atlanta New Orleans Tennessee Jacksonville Kansas City Chicago N.Y. Giants St. Louis Indianapolis N.Y. Jets Pittsburgh Carolina Minnesota

And finally the starting pitchers to complete this year's rankings. The list is made up of the top 120 pitchers in games started. Francisco Liriano did not make the cut while Roger Clemens and Jered Weaver were among the last five to make it. I factor in the same stats as I did for the relievers but I also include ERA+ for the starters. As I mentioned in my 2006 awards entry I wasn't sure if I'd end up changing my selection the 3rd best pitcher in the A.L. I picked C.C. Sabathia for 3rd when I posted the entry but as you'll see that changed here in the rankings. 2004 Top 10 1. Randy Johnson 2. Johan Santana 3. Ben Sheets 4. Curt Schilling 5. Jason Schmidt 6. Roger Clemens 7. Jake Peavy 8. Carl Pavano 9. Brad Radke 10. Oliver Perez 2005 Top 10 1. Roger Clemens 2. Johan Santana 3. Andy Pettitte 4. Pedro Martinez 5. Dontrelle Willis 6. Chris Carpenter 7. Jake Peavy 8. John Smoltz 9. Roy Oswalt 10. Mark Buehrle 2006 Starting Pitcher Rankings 1. Johan Santana, Twins 2. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks 3. Roy Oswalt, Astros 4. Chris Carpenter, Cardinals 5. Roy Halladay, Blue Jays 6. John Smoltz, Braves 7. Bronson Arroyo, Reds 8. Aaron Harang, Reds 9. John Lackey, Angels 10. Jason Schmidt, Giants 11. Mike Mussina, Yankees 12. Curt Schilling, Red Sox 13. C.C. Sabathia, Indians 14. Carlos Zambrano, Cubs 15. Jered Weaver, Angels 16. Derek Lowe, Dodgers 17. Chien-Ming Wang, Yankees 18. Dan Haren, A's 19. Chris Capuano, Brewers 20. Jason Jennings, Rockies 21. Roger Clemens, Astros 22. Scott Kazmir, Devil Rays 23. Erik Bedard, Orioles 24. Chris Young, Padres 25. Jeremy Bonderman, Tigers 26. Justin Verlander, Tigers 27. Brett Myers, Phillies 28. Barry Zito, A's 29. Josh Johnson, Marlins 30. Jake Peavy, Padres 31. Kelvim Escobar, Angels 32. Dave Bush, Brewers 33. Kenny Rogers, Tigers 34. Greg Maddux, Cubs/Dodgers 35. Matt Cain, Giants 36. Nate Robertson, Tigers 37. Kevin Millwood, Rangers 38. Tom Glavine, Mets 39. Jose Contreras, White Sox 40. Dontrelle Willis, Marlins 41. Jeff Francis, Rockies 42. Clay Hensley, Padres 43. Freddy Garcia, White Sox 44. Jon Garland, White Sox 45. Aaron Cook, Rockies 46. Ervin Santana, Angels 47. Jake Westbrook, Indians 48. Brad Penny, Dodgers 49. Andy Pettitte, Astros 50. Vincente Padilla, Rangers 51. Javier Vazquez, White Sox 52. A.J. Burnett, Blue Jays 53. Cole Hamels, Phillies 54. Jamie Moyer, Mariners/Phillies 55. Scott Olsen, Marlins 56. Felix Hernandez, Mariners 57. Woody Williams, Padres 58. Ted Lilly, Blue Jays 59. Zach Duke, Pirates 60. Jeff Suppan, Cardinals 61. Josh Beckett, Red Sox 62. Brad Radke, Twins 63. Miguel Batista, Diamondbacks 64. Pedro Martinez, Mets 65. Orlando Hernandez, Diamondbacks/Mets 66. Randy Johnson, Yankees 67. Cliff Lee, Indians 68. Mark Hendrickson, Devil Rays/Dodgers 69. Ian Snell, Pirates 70. Joe Blanton, A's 71. Doug Davis, Brewers 72. Jarrod Washburn, Mariners 73. Gil Meche, Mariners 74. Tim Hudson, Braves 75. Matt Morris, Giants 76. Livan Hernandez, Nationals/Diamondbacks 77. Jon Lieber, Phillies 78. Daniel Cabrera, Orioles 79. Noah Lowry, Giants 80. Jaret Wright, Yankees 81. Claudio Vargas, Diamondbacks 82. Cory Lidle, Phillies/Yankees 83. Tim Wakefield, Red Sox 84. Mark Buehrle, White Sox 85. Esteban Loaiza, A's 86. Kris Benson, Orioles 87. Paul Maholm, Pirates 88. James Shields, Devil Rays 89. Eric Milton, Reds 90. Rick Nolasco, Marlins 91. Chan Ho Park, Padres 92. Steve Trachsel, Mets 93. Byung-Hyun Kim, Rockies 94. Jamey Wright, Giants 95. Paul Byrd, Indians 96. Mike O'Connor, Nationals 97. Adam Loewen, Orioles 98. Josh Fogg, Rockies 99. Taylor Buchholz, Astros 100. Tony Armas Jr., Nationals 101. Elizardo Ramirez, Reds 102. John Koronka, Rangers 103. Rodrigo Lopez, Orioles 104. Mark Redman, Royals 105. Casey Fossum, Devil Rays 106. Scott Elarton, Royals 107. Jeff Weaver, Angels/Cardinals 108. Ramon Ortiz, Nationals 109. Sean Marshall, Cubs 110. Jae Seo, Dodgers/Devil Rays 111. Odalis Perez, Dodgers/Royals 112. Wandy Rodriguez, Astros 113. Carlos Silva, Twins 114. Jason Marquis, Cardinals 115. Jason Johnson, Indians/Red Sox/Reds 116. Joel Pineiro, Mariners 117. Runelvys Hernandez, Royals 118. Brian Moehler, Marlins 119. Shawn Chacon, Yankees/Pirates 120. Oliver Perez, Pirates/Mets

You could almost see this coming. Clemson coming off a great performance and having to come in on a short week against a team having a down year but who is usually very tough at home. This will give BC a huge advantage in the Atlantic division.

And Tech might be about to put it away thus making the late pickers very lucky. Alabama - AlwaysPissedOff Missouri Michigan State Maryland Cincinatti Penn State Kent State Georgia Tech Florida Kansas State UCLA Washington Texas A&M Tennessee TB #1: 43 TB #2: 237

Vampiro69, Cartman, Angel Grace Blue, IK Cool Jew, and AlwaysPissedOff are late with their picks. Cartman had been assigned as replacement for Maryland this week so instead I will use The Last Samurai's picks for them. PM'd Picks Georgia Tech - iggymcfly THURSDAY Clemson at Virginia Tech SATURDAY Oklahoma at Missouri Michigan State at Indiana Florida State at Maryland Syracuse at Cincinnati Penn State at Purdue Ohio at Kent State Miami at Georgia Tech Georgia vs. Florida Iowa State at Kansas State Washington State at UCLA Arizona State at Washington Texas A&M at Baylor Tennessee at South Carolina Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Oklahoma/Missouri game? 49 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Tennessee's Erik Ainge have against South Carolina? 211 San Jose State - kkktookmybabyaway Clemson Oklahoma Michigan State Florida State Syracuse Penn State Ohio Georgia Tech Florida Kansas State UCLA Washington Texas A&M Tennessee Tiebreak #1: 48 Tiebreak #2: 211 Florida - Urban Warfare THURSDAY Clemson SATURDAY Oklahoma Michigan State Florida State Syracuse Penn State Ohio Georgia Tech Florida Kansas State Washington State Washington Texas A&M Tennessee Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Oklahoma/Missouri game? 49 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Tennessee's Erik Ainge have against South Carolina? 287 UCLA - phoenixrising THURSDAY Clemson SATURDAY Oklahoma Michigan State Florida State Cincinnati Penn State Kent State Georgia Tech Florida Iowa State UCLA Arizona State Texas A&M Tennessee Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Oklahoma/Missouri game? 45 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Tennessee's Erik Ainge have against South Carolina? 220 San Diego State - The Last Samurai THURSDAY Clemson at Virginia Tech SATURDAY Oklahoma at Missouri Michigan State at Indiana Florida State at Maryland Syracuse at Cincinnati Penn State at Purdue Ohio at Kent State Miami at Georgia Tech Georgia vs. Florida Iowa State at Kansas State Washington State at UCLA Arizona State at Washington Texas A&M at Baylor Tennessee at South Carolina Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Oklahoma/Missouri game? 37 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Tennessee's Erik Ainge have against South Carolina? 178 Arizona State - Spicy McHaggis THURSDAY Clemson SATURDAY Missouri Michigan State Florida State Syracuse Purdue Ohio Georgia Tech Florida Kansas State Washington State Washington Texas A&M Tennessee 37/200 LSU - teke184 THURSDAY Clemson at Virginia Tech SATURDAY Oklahoma at Missouri Michigan State at Indiana Florida State at Maryland Syracuse at Cincinnati Penn State at Purdue Ohio at Kent State Miami at Georgia Tech Georgia vs. Florida Iowa State at Kansas State Washington State at UCLA Arizona State at Washington Texas A&M at Baylor Tennessee at South Carolina Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Oklahoma/Missouri game? 53 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Tennessee's Erik Ainge have against South Carolina? 177 Boise State - bravesfan Clemson Missouri Michigan State Florida State Cincinnati Purdue Kent State Georgia Tech Florida Kansas State UCLA Washington Texas A&M Tennessee 42/185 Temple - Ortonsault THURSDAY Clemson SATURDAY Missouri Michigan State Florida State Cincinnati Penn State Kent State Georgia Tech Florida Iowa State UCLA Washington Texas A&M Tennessee Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Oklahoma/Missouri game? 51 Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Tennessee's Erik Ainge have against South Carolina? 281

My Picks Clemson Missouri Michigan State Florida State Cincinnati Penn State Kent State Georgia Tech Florida Kansas State UCLA Washington Baylor Tennessee 47/214

Well it's been a while since I did one of these. Once I finished the Game 5's I wanted to sit down and watch both Game 6's for 1975 and 1986 in one sitting. With all the other games I'd watch them half hour or an hour at a time but for obvious reasons I wanted to be able to watch those two games without interruption. Problem was I never found a chance to watch either game in it's entirety and ended up forgetting about it for a while but with the 20th anniversary of the Bill Buckner play being today I figured I'd skip ahead to '86 to do an entry on the game and finally got around to watching it yesterday. 1986 World Series Game 6 - Mets 6, Red Sox 5 10 Innings (boxscore and play account) -With Buckner up in the first we have the apperance of the parachuter with the "Go Mets" banner. If this were today there'd be phony moral outrage by Joe Buck, or any other announcer, about a fan pulling off such a stunt and they'd make sure to have the cameras shoot something else but here the announcers love it. Ron Darling even gives the guy a little dap while he's being escorted away by the cops. -Good omens for the Red Sox as they score in the 1st and the first five games the team that scored first won. Also Roger Clemens was 9-0 on five days rest. -The Mets on the other hand could not feel good about their chances early on as Clemens was dominating striking out six through three and didn't give up a hit in the first four. Even though effective, he was incredibly inefficient with his pitch count, throwing 73 pitches in the first four. He'd throw 137 pitches in seven innings. -In the 5th after a Darry Strawberry walk, just the Mets second baserunner of the game at that moment, they shoot some crowd shots and to a couple of fans who at first glance of foam "#1" fingers but they are actually foam middle fingers that I think said "Boston Sucks." The announcers don't mention it of course. -In the 6th with Wally Backman on first, Buckner attempts to deek Backman on a throw to first by pretending it got by him with an laughably bad acting job. He wouldn't have to fake it later. -In the 8th the announcers for the first time mention the Red Sox last World Series win. As I mentioned in a prior DVD entry not in this series or the '75 series do the announcers ever bring up the "curse." Very much in stark contrast to FOX's coverage of the 2004 series. -In the bottom of the inning we had a mini, but not really, controversy. With the Mets down by a run, with a runner on first and no out, Dykstra lays down a bunt. Calvin Schiraldi tries to get the lead runner, Lee Mazzilli, at 2nd but his throw pulls Spike Owen off the bag. Owen pitches a fit and John McNamara joins him but replays clearly show Owen's foot off the bag when Mazzilli slid in. Mazzilli would eventually score the tying run on a Gary Carter sac fly. -In the bottom of the 9th the Mets got the first two runners on. Davey Johnson elected to pinch hit for a 22-year old Kevin Elster (who subbed for Rafael Santana after being pinch hit for earlier) with Howard Johnson. Scully and Garagiola assume he's going to have him bunt, which is silly to think because why waste a pinch hitter to bunt? Johnson strikes out and the Mets end up failing to score. Scully especially harps on this for the rest of the game until of course you know what happened. My thought is Johnson didn't trust Elster to even bunt who looked rattled in the field after misplaying two balls (just one scored an error). -You know whenever a player who's hit a past, "clutch" homerun and he comes up again in said situation they always play the clip of the past homerun. What usually happens is the player doesn't do it again. So they play Dave Henderson's Game 5, Donnie Moore killing (awww) homerun in the ALCS as he leads off the 10th in this game. Two pitches later...gone. Really cool, completely forgotten moment (Hendu had the best homerun trot) and would have likely won the World Series MVP for Hendu. -And of course you know what happens in the bottom of the inning to cap one of the most exciting innings in baseball history. By now everyone knows that Buckner could hardly be blamed for everything that happened. If Schiraldi just manages to get one more out it was over. If Bob Stanley doesn't throw a wild pitch to let the tying run score, the sequence of events would changed dramatically. Also even if Buckner fields the ball, there's a 50/50 chance Mookie Wilson beats a throw to first and nevermind that even if he's out the game still goes on to the 11th. But in the end it was that moment that I'm guessing that the "curse" talk picked up steam and the Red Sox fans made themselves into martyrs for the next 18 years. -Having this game (and the others) on DVD is simply awesome and I'm sure I'll be replaying it in the future. I could listen to Scully's call of the final play forever. The great thing about Scully is that after Knight scores he just shuts up. There's dead air for three and a half minutes with just the sights and sounds of the what just happened playing out. There was no need for words, something today's announcers should learn.

Fuuuuck, I had a feeling this might happen after Google bought them. I skimmed through the clips though and it looks like the majority of them are still working but probably just a matter of time before they are all gone. Of cousre not like the NFL uses any of these old clips.

Since it wasn't mentioned yet, compensation picks were not eliminated. They just eliminated Type C free agent compensation so no more draft picks for middle relievers and platoon outfielders.

I'm figuring one thread for discussion about the BCS Rankings is fine for now. BCS Rankings 10/22 1. Ohio State 2. Michigan 3. USC 4. West Virginia 5. Auburn 6. Florida 7. Texas 8. Louisville 9. Notre Dame 10. California 11. Tennessee 12. Clemson 13. Arkansas 14. Rutgers 15. Boise State 16. LSU 17. Boston College 18. Wisconsin 19. Oklahoma 20. Missouri 21. Texas A&M 22. Nebraska 23. Oregon 24. Georgia Tech 25. Washington State

1. Ohio State 2. USC 3. Michigan 4. Auburn 5. West Virginia 6. Florida 7. Louisville 8. Notre Dame 9. Texas 10. California Waiting to find out the rest of the rankings since FOX only showed the Top 10.

No, the Top 10 will be announced on FOX on their postgame show every Sunday. Early word is that West Virginia will move to #4 as Auburn will drop because they played Tulane and that Michigan might move into #2.

I've let Loaded Glove know that he can still be in the contest but only when/if he gets his picks in by the first deadline. Also pm'd MarvinisaLunatic to see if they wanted to take Maryland back. It's another two Thursday game week. Deadline #1: Thursday, October 19th, 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST -Lose out on both Thursday games Deadline #2: Friday, October 21st, Noon EST/9:00 AM PST -Replacement picks, can't win by tiebreak Week 8 Match-ups #3 Auburn* PM (Agent of Oblivion, 4-3) vs. #6 Kentucky* (Danville Wrestling, 5-2) - GAME OF THE WEEK #4 Miami* (Spaceman Spiff, 4-3) vs. #7 Hawaii* PM (Will Scarlet, 4-3) #1 Oregon State (Princess Leena, 6-1) vs. San Diego State* PM (The Last Samurai, 3-4) #2 Oregon* PM (nogoodnick, 7-0) vs. Kansas State* (Loaded Glove, 2-5) #5 Syracuse* (CanadianChris, 6-1) vs. UTEP* (Angel Grace Blue, 4-3) #8 South Carolina* (Cuban Linx, 4-3) vs. LSU* PM (teke184, 4-3) #9 Virginia* PM (Edwin MacPhisto, 6-1) vs. Boise State* (bravesfan, 2-5) #10 Georgia Tech* PM (iggymcfly, 5-2) vs. Florida State* (Kingfothe909, 1-6) Minnesota* (Vern Gagne, 5-2) vs. Oklahoma (Vampiro69, 4-3) Connecticut* PM (Ortonsault*, 3-4) vs. Texas* (UTBroward, 3-4) Tennessee (Sex Machine Gun, 4-3) vs. Alabama* PM (AlwaysPissedOff, 0-7) Notre Dame* (Lando Griffin, 4-3) vs. UCLA* PM (phoenixrising, 6-1) Stanford* (Bored, 3-4) vs. Arizona State* PM (Spicy McHaggis, 4-3) Temple* PM (Ortonsault, 3-4) vs. Miami of Ohio* PM (Hawk 34, 2-5) Michigan* (the pinjockey*, 5-2) vs. USC* (Cartman, 3-4) Maryland* (Lando Griffin*, 4-3) vs. San Jose State* PM (kkktookmybabyaway, 3-4) Florida* PM (Urban Warfare, 3-4) vs. Florida International* (Vitamin X, 2-5) Kent State* (JHawk, 4-3) vs. Ohio State (Gert T, 1-6) Rutgers* (the pinjockey, 2-5) vs. Texas A&M* PM (Secret Agent, 2-5) Buffalo* (Carnival, 1-6) vs. Penn State* (IK Cool Jew, 2-5) Week 8 Games to Make Picks For THURSDAY North Carolina at Virginia Utah at New Mexico SATURDAY Michigan State at Northwestern N.C. State at Maryland Texas at Nebraska Rutgers at Pittsburgh Wisconsin at Purdue South Carolina at Vanderbilt Kansas at Baylor Boston College at Florida State Texas Tech at Iowa State Oregon State at Arizona UTEP at Houston Georgia Tech at Clemson Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Georgia Tech/Clemson game? Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Texas' Colt McCoy have against Nebraska?

Ya but if I didn't factor correct picks or the "strength of schedule" what would be the point of having rankings or a college football pick 'em contest? It's like should Boise State be ranked higher than Auburn or Texas because they have a better record? Should Tulsa be ranked higher than LSU? Really what it comes down to is I don't want to give $50 to someone who lucked into a good record. There is one thing I'm considering changing next year, if I do a contest for a 4th year which I'm leaning towards not doing one, is adding a penalty to a player's BCS ranking for each loss they get.

Do you realllllly want to know where you are in correct picks right now? But hey you're in bowl contention.