Bored

In the Chapel Hill region, UNC Wilmington beat Maine 21-19 which came three runs shy of the tournament record for most runs combined in a game. Sunday's Games First games are all elimination games except in the Houston Region Clemson Region Elon vs. Mississippi State; winner plays #1 Clemson Fayetteville Region Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas; winner plays Oral Roberts Lexington Region Ball State vs. Kentucky; winner plays College of Charleston Atlanta Region Vanderbilt vs. Michigan; winner plays #8 Georgia Tech Fullerton Region Fresno State vs. San Diego; winner plays #5 Cal State Fullerton Malibu Region UCLA vs. Missouri; winner plays Pepperdine Chapel Hill Region Winthrop vs. UNC Wilmington; winner plays North Carolina Tuscaloosa Region Troy vs. Southern Miss; winner plays #4 Alabama Houston Region #2 Rice vs. Baylor; loser plays Arizona State Norman Region TCU vs. Oklahoma; winner plays Wichita State Charlottesville Region Virginia vs. Evansville; winner plays South Carolina Athens Region #7 Georgia vs. Jacksonville; winner plays Florida State Lincoln Region Manhattan vs. San Francisco; winner plays Miami Oxford Region South Alabama vs. Tulane; winner plays Mississippi Corvallis Region Kansas vs. Hawaii; winner plays Oregon State Austin Region #3 Texas vs. N.C. State; winner plays Stanford

For the first time in 35 years the NBA Finals will feature two franchises who have never reached the Finals before. So like I did for the Clippers after their historic playoff series win, here are the Top 10 individual seasons for both franchises according to the basketball version of Win Shares. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that the best individual season for both franchises are from this past season. The Mavericks list is dominated by one player who may end up holding the 10 best seasons in franchise history by the time he's done and appears on his way to becoming one of the greatest players of all-time. Dallas Mavericks Top 10 Individual Seasons 1. Dirk Nowitzki, '05-'06, 52 Win Shares 26.6 PTS, 9.0 REB, 2.8 AST, 0.7 STL, 1.0 BLK, 1.9 TO 2. Dirk Nowitzki, '04-'05, 47 Win Shares 26.1 PTS, 9.7 REB, 3.1 AST, 1.2 STL, 1.5 BLK, 2.3 TO 3. Dirk Nowitzki, '02-'03, 45 Win Shares 25.1 PTS, 9.9 REB, 3.0 AST, 1.4 STL, 1.0 BLK, 1.9 TO 4. Dirk Nowitzki, '00-'01, 43 Win Shares 21.8 PTS, 9.2 REB, 2.1 AST, 1.0 STL, 1.2 BLK, 1.9 TO 5. Dirk Nowitzki, '01-'02, 42 Win Shares 23.4 PTS, 9.9 REB, 2.4 AST, 1.1 STL, 1.0 BLK, 1.9 TO 6. Dirk Nowitzki, '03-'04, 33 Win Shares 21.8 PTS, 8.7 REB, 2.7 AST, 1.2 STL, 1.4 BLK, 1.8 TO 7. Steve Nash, '02-'03, 32 Win Shares 17.7 PTS, 2.9 REB, 7.3 AST, 1.0 STL, 0.1 BLK, 2.3 TO 8. Steve Nash, '01-02, 31 Win Shares 17.9 PTS, 3.1 REB, 7.7 AST, 0.6 STL, 0.0 BLK, 2.8 TO 9. Rolando Blackman, '83-'84, 30 Win Shares 22.4 PTS, 4.6 REB, 3.6 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.5 BLK, 2.1 TO 10, Derek Harper, '89-'90, 30 Win Shares 18.0 PTS, 3.0 REB, 7.4 AST, 2.3 STL, 0.3 BLK, 2.5 TO Miami Heat Top 10 Individual Seasons -Yes Udonis Haslem but no Glen Rice. I've said before I'm not sure how reliable this is. 1. Dwyane Wade, '05-'06, 41 Win Shares 27.2 PTS, 5.7 REB, 6.7 AST, 1.9 STL, 0.8 BLK, 3.6 TO 2. Tim Hardaway, '96-'97, 39 Win Shares 20.3 PTS, 3.4 REB, 8.6 AST, 1.9 STL, 0.1 BLK, 2.8 TO 3. Alonzo Mourning, '99-'00, 38 Win Shares 21.7 PTS, 9.5 REB, 1.6 AST, 0.5 STL, 3.7 BLK, 2.7 TO 4. Tim Hardaway, '97-'98, 33 Win Shares 18.9 PTS, 3.7 REB, 8.3 AST, 1.7 STL, 0.2 BLK, 2.8 TO 5. Anthony Mason, '00-'01, 33 Win Shares 15.9 PTS, 9.5 REB, 3.0 AST, 1.0 STL, 0.3 BLK, 2.2 TO 6. Shaquille O'Neal, '04-'05, 32 Win Shares 22.9 PTS, 10.4 REB, 2.7 AST, 0.5 STL, 2.3 BLK, 2.8 TO 7. Dwyane Wade, '04-'05, 32 Win Shares 24.1 PTS, 5.2 REB, 6.8 AST, 1.6 STL, 1.1 BLK, 4.2 TO 8. Alonzo Mourning, '96-'97, 27 Win Shares 19.8 PTS, 9.9 REB, 1.6 AST, 0.8 STL, 2.9 BLK, 3.4 TO 9. Udonis Haslem, '04-05, 27 Win Shares 10.9 PTS, 9.1 REB, 1.4 AST, 0.8 STL, 0.5 BLK, 1.4 TO 10. Alonzo Mourning, '95-'96, 26 Win Shares 23.2 PTS, 10.4 REB, 2.3 AST, 1.0 STL, 2.7 BLK, 3.7 TO

Yup, it's 1971. Milwaukee Bucks swept the Baltimore Bullets.

#6 Nebraska is the first Top Eight seed eliminated as they were upset by San Francisco 5-1. Stanford beat #3 Texas 12-8, they now face an elimination game against N.C. State tommorrow and then the winner of that game has to play Stanford later in the day.

The A's game clocked in at a brisk 2:03, probably one of the shortest games I've been too. I was at the game with my brother and with the A's up 1-0 in the 8th inning I thought they were pressing their luck by hoping Kirk Saarloos would continue to pitch a shutout even with a low pitch count. He walked the lead off batter in the inning, Justin Morneau was up next and in the middle of the at bat I told my brother "you know, the A's are gong to lose this game." Next pitch, homerun, Twins win 2-1. I'm a pessimistic prophet!

In his last seven starts Barry Zito has allowed only six runs in 48 innings pitched and his ERA is down to 2.87 now. CONTRACT YEAR~! Frank Thomas has risen from the dead, since his return to Chicago he has hit five homeruns in 11 games hitting .400 during that span. They still suck though.

Next up is 1984 and I selected this particular year as it features easily the worst #1 pick of the 1980's. The Mets had the #1 pick and they wanted to draft Mark McGwire but could not agree on a contract so they settled for this... 1. Mets - Shawn Abner, Outfield, High School Abner never put on a real Mets uniform as he was traded to San Diego after the 1986 season in the Kevin Mitchell/Kevin McReynolds deal. .227/.269/.323 line in 392 ML games with only 13 career Win Shares. 2. Mariners - Bill Swift, Pitcher, Maine Another player involved in a Kevin Mitchell deal, traded to the Giants in a five player deal after the 1991 season. It was in San Francisco where Swift broke out, winning the ERA title in 1992 and winning 21 games in 1993. That was his peak though as he had elbow, shoulder, and other various arm problems through out his career going back to his Seattle days. 3. Cubs - Drew Hall, Pitcher, Morehead State Fewer than 200 IP in the Majors, primarily as a reliever. 4. Indians - Cory Snyder, Shortstop, BYU Could hit for power but had zero plate discipline. In 1987 he stuck out 166 times with only 31 walks. 5. Reds - Pat Pacillo, Pitcher, Seton Hall His 85 walks in 149 innings at Triple-A in 1986 was a bad sign. Only a little over 50 IP in the Majors. 6. Angels - Erik Pappas, Catcher, High School Nice strikeout/walk numbers (53/48) but results weren't pretty when he put it in play in his very short career. But hey he was the MVP of the 2002 European Baseball Championships. 7. Cardinals - Mike Dunne, Pitcher, Bradley I must have had thirty 1988 Topps Mike Dunne cards. Traded to the Pirates in the Andy Van Slyke/Tony Pena deal right before the 1987 season. On the surface had a very impressive rookie year (13-6, 3.03 ERA) but his poor K/BB ratio (72/68) spelled doom for any future success. 8. Twins - Jay Bell, Shortstop, High School Yet another #1 pick traded before they reach the Majors. Traded to Cleveland in 1985 in a deal for Bert Blyleven. Good hitting shortstop who lasted 18 years. 9. Giants - Alan Cockrell, Outfield, Tennessee Didn't make his ML debut until 1996 for a cup of coffee with the Rockies. 10. A's - Mark McGwire, First Base, USC My favorite player of all-time. I want him in the Hall of Fame but under the current circumstances might never get in. 11. Padres - Shane Mack, Outfield, UCLA Very good hitter but only played nine years filled with several nagging injuries. 12. Rangers - Oddibe McDowell, Outfield, Arizona State One of the great first names in baseball history. Already a regular player by 1985 but beyond a decent second year, not much of a career. 13. Expos - Bob Caffrey, Catcher, Cal State Fullerton An Olympian but never a Major Leaguer. 14. Red Sox - John Marzano, Catcher, Temple Believe it or not actually played in 10 different ML seasons but only 301 games played in that span. 15. Pirates - Kevin Andersh, Pitcher, New Mexico I searched his name on Google Groups and there was a total of one entry. 16. Royals - Scott Bankhead, Pitcher, North Carolina One decent year in 1989 but otherwise an erratic career. 17. Astros - Don August, Pitcher, Chapman College Traded for Danny Darwin late in 1986, had a decent rookie year but was a mess after that. 18. Brewers - Isaiah Clark, Shortstop, High School Brother of mid-90's Padres scrub Phil Clark. That's all I got. 19. Braves - Drew Denson, First Base, High School Only 41 career ML at bats. 20. White Sox - Tony Menendez, Pitcher, High School Threw over 1000 innings in the minors, only 29 in the majors. 21. Phillies - Pete Smith, Pitcher, High School Traded to Atlanta after the 1985 season in a deal for Steve Bedrosian, the Braves hot shotted him from Double-A in 1987 which probably doomed his career. Threw almost 200 innings at age 22 in 1988 and it's no shock he had arm problems after that. 22. Yankees - Jeff Pries, Pitcher, UCLA The Yankees first, 1st Round pick since 1979 (kept giving them up for free agent signings) and never made it to the Majors. 23. Dodgers - Dennis Livingston, Pitcher Oklahoma State One of several bad 1st round picks by the Dodgers in the 80's. 24. Giants - Terry Mulholland, Pitcher, Marietta College Hasn't been effective in about seven years but he's left handed so he's still getting a Major League salary at 103 years old. 25. Orioles - John Hoover, Pitcher, Fresno State Pitched just two games in the Majors. 26. White Sox - Tom Hartley, Outfield, High School Never made it. Other Picks of Note 1st Round (Compensatory) Expos - Norm Charlton 2nd Round Braves - Tom Glavine 2nd Round Yankees - Al Leiter 2nd Round Cubs - Greg Maddux 3rd Round Astros - Ken Caminiti 6th Round Cardinals - Lance Johnson 6th Round Cubs - Jamie Moyer 12th Ruond Mets - John Wetteland (did not sign) 13th Round Expos - Jeff Brantley (did not sign) 14th Round Brewers - John Jaha 15th Round Angels - Chuck Finley 17th Round Angels - Dante Bichette 20th Round Red Sox - Jack McDowell (did not sign)

Harden will be coming off the DL as early as Sunday...and be back on the DL two weeks later.

There's nothing worse than 'Nole on 'Nole crime.

#1 for me would be the 1982 AFC Divisional playoff between San Diego and Miami, arguably the greatest game in NFL history. Of course as a 49er fan the 1982 NFC Championship game since I was too young to remember it (or if I even watched it at all) and Super Bowl XXIII which I always regretted not taping.

A miracle happened today, besides the A's actually winning a game, Jason Kendall hit a homerun for the first time 738 at bats.

Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd thinks God is helping the Rockies win. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl...ies-cover_x.htm So was God just testing the Rockies the last five years?

And the A's lose 8-7 in 10 innings. They are now responsible for 33% of the Royals road wins this season due to the last two nights. I don't give a fuck if they are only five games out first and I don't give a fuck how many injuries this team has had and I don't give a fuck if they were in worst shape last year. They were supposedly put together to win now. It's time to hit the panic button. Fire Macha, make a trade, whatever. This team is a fucking joke right now.

Huston Street blows another save. This team is Charlie Brown trying to kick the football right now. More fun, Eric Chavez leaves with a wrist injury and Mark Ellis leaves with a thumb injury, no idea yet if either injury is serious. So even if they comeback and win this game they've already lost.

Oh ya the A's are sooooooo going to get swept by the Royals at home, just watch. Not going to be too much longer before they can't say "well at least we're in better shape at this point than last year." 23-28, completely unacceptable for a team expected to compete for the pennant. I don't care how many injuries they've had this is getting embarassing.

In recent years the WWE has made a killing on wrestler themed DVD's that feature several full length versions of classic matches. Now not necessarily influenced by the WWE but Major League Baseball has now started releasing DVD box sets of classic World Series featuring full length games from the entire series. This year they've released 1975, 1979, and 1986 World Series on DVD and I'd imagine there will be more of this in the future. Even though I'm not a fan of the Reds, Pirates, or Mets I do plan on buying these sets once the price goes down. Now a couple of years ago the NFL started releasing box sets called the "NFL Super Bowl Collections." This confused some people as they wondered if these were original broadcasts of the NFL games or not. Of course they weren't as they were just the classic half-hour highlight films of the games done by NFL Films that anyone can see on ESPN every January. Now before they changed their programming a little over a year ago ESPN Classic was paradise for a diehard sports fan who loved watching classic sporting events. You could find original broadcasts of classic MLB, NBA, NHL, college football, college basketball, boxing, and racing on a regular basis. There was one thing always missing though and that was original broadcasts of classic NFL games. This always had struck me as unusual. Given that ESPN has been televising NFL games since 1987 and with their deal with ABC you'd figure at the very least they'd be able to show classic Sunday & Monday Night Football games but no such luck. I've searched as much as I can but I've never been able to find out why the NFL refuses to allow any broadcast of this archived footage. When the NFL Network started up a few years back I always assumed that they would air classic games on the channel. With 24 hours to fill on a channel that would only interest serious NFL fans you would think they would fill some of that time but showing classic games but they do not. My only theory has been that given the deal with NFL Films it seems that the NFL only wants them to be the sole history teller of their sport. Back in the late 90's they started putting together NFL Films versions of full length historical games such as Super Bowl III and the 1982 NFC Championship game. These were kind of cool when they first aired but they've only done a handful of games and they still don't have the feel of watching an original broadcast game. I will continue to not understand why the NFL sits on a goldmine they have. These classic games are just sitting there with no one to see them. With MLB now jumping on the DVD bandwagon of selling classic footage you'd hope the NFL will do the same in the future. The sales just for boxed sets of full length Super Bowls would be through the roof especially if they packaged them for particular teams like the 49ers, Cowboys, and Steelers. The NFL certainly has never turned down the chance to make more money and I don't see why they refuse to do so in this case.

That's pretty much their policy now, only show classic games when there is an event coming up. Like last month they had an NBA playoff marathon and I'm sure right before the finals start they'll have an NBA Finals marathon. At any other point the channel is useless.

He should come out of retirement and defend his spot. I'm sure Dusty would love him back.

Well, someone should have told the Orioles Memorial Day is a stupid day for an off day..although the way they've been playing..they've been having a lot of off days.. During the Selig era it's become very common for not every team to be playing on the three major in season holidays (Memorial, 4th of July, Labor) which is just mind boggling as why miss out on a chance to draw larger than normal weekday crowds?

Aww crap, I just realized Friday's game will be Kirk Saarloos vs. Johan Santana. Oh ya that's an 8-0 loss right there.

Albert Pujols needs one more homerun to tie Johnny Callison for 214th all-time. Any word yet if the Callison family will be in attendance for this historic event? I'm going to the A's game against the Twins on Friday which I expect there will be 2000 people in attendance after they get swept by the Royals to end another miserable month of May. Ya I'm really down on them right now. Why the hell is ESPN not televising any games on Memorial Day? Monday Dodgers (Penny) at Braves (Thomson) White Sox (Vazquez) at Indians (Lee) Yankees (Johnson) at Tigers (Bonderman) Reds (Ramirez) at Cubs (Wood?) Astros (Oswalt) at Cardinals (Marquis) No longer a story (Christy Mathewson) at Marlins (Olsen) Brewers (Davis) at Pirates (Santos) Nationals (O'Conner) at Phillies (Lieber) Red Sox (Clement) at Blue Jays (Halladay) Diamondbacks (Vargas) at Mets (Trachsel) Mariners (Washburn) at Rangers (Rheinecker) Rockies (Jennings) at Padres (Thompson) Twins (Radke) at Angels (Lackey) Royals (Etherton) at A's (Haren) Tuesday Brewers (De La Rosa) at Pirates (Duke) Devil Rays (Waetcher) at Orioles (Lopez) Nationals (Armas) at Phillies (Myers) White Sox (Buehrle) at Indians (Sabathia) *yawn* (Jose Uribe) at Marlins (Moehler) Yankees (Small) at Tigers (Colon) Red Sox (Beckett) at Blue Jays (Chacin) Diamonbacks (Batista) at Mets (Soler) Dodgers (Sele) at Braves (Sosa) Mariners (Meche) at Rangers (Millwood) Reds (Claussen) at Cubs (Maddux) Astros (Pettitte) at Cardinals (Carpenter) Royals (Bautista) at A's (Halsey) Rockies (Cook) at Padres (Young) Twins (Baker) at Angels (Bad Weaver)

It's time for Part six of the "Where'd They Go?" series where I take a look at random teams from the last 20+ years and see where they went. I'll end up donig one for every franchise, except for the more recent expansion franchises. I asked Vern/Culloden what Twins team I should do and he suggested the 1996 Twins. I have no idea why the '96 Twins but here I go. On March 28, 1996 Kirby Puckett woke up seeing a black spot on his right eye. It would turn out to be glaucoma and it would mark the end of his career. After three straight losing seasons things looked pretty bleak for the Twins with the identity of their franchise's career being over. But that season they didn't completely suck, although they were never in serious contention for a playoff birth. After a 4-3 win over the A's on September 12th they were at 74-72 but that would be be the high point of the season for them as they would drop 12 of their last 16 games, finshing six games under .500. C: Greg Myers (.286/.320/.426, 9.4 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - I suppose if they had a Back-up Catcher Hall of Fame, Myers would have to be part of it. 1996 was one of only four years during his 18 year career that Myers was a team's primary starter although he only made 81 starts splitting time with Matt Walbeck and Mike Durant. Twins traded Myers in late '97 to the Braves and from there he go to San Diego, back to Atlanta, Baltimore, Oakland, and then to his original franchise Toronto. Played only a handful of games the last couple of years and his career appears to finally be over. 1B: Scott Stahoviak (.284/.376/.469, 18.0 VORP, 12 Win Shares) - This was Stahoviak's only year of relevance as the former first round pick only lasted another two seasons in the Majors. Played two years with the Iowa Cubs and out of baseball after 2000. 2B: Chuck Knoblauch (.341/.448/.517, 99.3 VORP, 32 Win Shares) - Placed 4th in my 1996 A.L. MVP redo, this would end up being Knoblauch's career year. He would sign a new five-year deal late in the season but just a year later he demanded to be traded. Before Spring Training in 1998 the Twins granted him his wish and dealt him to the Yankees for four prospects including Cristian Guzman and Eric Milton. Had a very good season offensively in 1999 in New York but the former Gold Glover winner suddenly had a case of Steve Sax disease, having extreme difficulties to making easy throws to first base. Was moved to left field his final year with the Yankees and finished his career in 2002 with Kansas City. 3B: Dave Hollins (.242/.364/.396, 8.1 VORP, 11 Win Shares) - Did not finish the season with the Twins as they traded him in a waiver deal to Seattle in late August for a PTBNL. Played a couple of years in Anahim after that and bounced around for cameo appearances with Toronto, Cleveland, and Philadelphia before retiring after 2002. Oh and who was the PTBNL the Twins received for Hollins? David Ortiz. SS: Pat Mears (.267/.298/.391, 8.2 VORP, 8 Win Shares) - Played nine years and the only real skill he had was getting hit by pitches. Signed with the Pirates after 1998 and played there thru 2001. LF: Marty Cordova (.309/.371/.478, 30.0 VORP, 18 Win Shares) - The '95 ROY, Cordova continued to show promise in '96 but his production fell of badly after that due to numerous back problems. Left the Twins after 1999 and had a forgettable year in Toronto but had a surprisingly good year in Cleveland in 2001. This small bit of success convinced the Orioles to sign him to a three-year contract which he gave them a mediocre 2002 and injuries ended his 2003 season early and took away his entire 2004 season. Invited to Spring Training by the Devil Rays in 2005, he retired one day after being signed. CF: Rich Becker (.291/.372/.434, 28.0 VORP, 20 Win Shares) - By far his best year, Becker was a low AVG/high OBP guy with little power. Twins traded him after 1997 to the Mets. From there went to Baltimore, Milwaukee, Oakland, and closed out his career in the Majors with Detroit in 2000. RF: Matt Lawton (.258/.339/.365, -3.6 VORP, 7 Win Shares) - With the unexpected retirement of Puckett the Twins had to have a revolving door in right field with Lawton leading the way with just 51 starts. Traded in 2001 to the Mets for Rick Reed and then traded to the Indians following the season in a seven player deal for Roberto Alomar. Signed with the Pirates before 2005, he was traded twice in less than a month midseason first to the Cubs and then to the Yankees where he'd then end up getting suspended for testing positive for steroids. Signed with the Mariners before this season and has recently been designated for assignment after complaining about lack of playing time. Shockingly no one is beating down the door to pick up the washed up outfielder. DH: Paul Molitor (.341/.390/.468, 42.6 VORP, 18 Win Shares) - His first season with his hometown team this was the future HOF's last good season. He would get his 3000th career hit in September and became the first player ever to have a 200 hit season during the year he got his 3000th hit. Retired after 1998, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004. Starting Rotation Brad Radke (115 ERA+, 51.2 VORP, 14 Win Shares) - Received a lot of attention for allowing 40 homeruns but actually had a pretty good year. Has of course played his entire career in Minnesota. Frank Rodriguez (102 ERA+, 28.4 VORP, 11 Win Shares) - To show how out of control offense was in 1996, Rodriguez has a 5.05 ERA but when you took park factors into account he still ends up with an ERA+ above 100, meaning his ERA was above league average. The former much hyped Red Sox prospect never developed. Twins waived him in 1999, played a couple of years in Seattle and finished his in career in Cincinnati. Rich Robertson (101 ERA+, 30.1 VORP, 8 Win Shares) - Hey another "above average" 5.12 ERA here. He walked 116 and struck only 114 which is always a bad sign for future success. Out of baseball after 1999. Rick Augilera (95 ERA+, 16.5 VORP, 6 Win Shars) - This was Aguilera's ill fated return to starting pitching after six years as a closer. He went back to the closer role the following season. Traded to the Cubs in 1999 for Kyle Loshe and would retire after 2000. Scott Aldred (101 ERA+, 20.1 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - "Above average" 5.15 ERA, I'm not sure how he convinced M.L. teams to give him so many shots over nine years but more power to him. Last appeared in the Majors with the Phillies in 2000, hung around the minors thru 2004. Closer: Dave Stevens (111 ERA+, 13.1 VORP, 6 Win Shares) - "Closer" being used usely here as Stevens had only 11 saves and the Twins as a team had only 31. Last appeared in the Majors with the Braves in 2000.

Well the A's are playing like shit so won't be that hard to pick apart their problems but Joe will be looking in all the wrong places.

Josh, Jonathan, Justin, too many J names. There's never been any other player with the last name Papelbon, so yes that's who I meant.

Yes but MLB hasn't really had any serious talks with other networks so odds are FOX will retain the rights.