Bored

I'd lay good money Turner Gill won't be the coach of Buffalo by the time they play their bowl game.

Bowwwwwwwwwwllllllllllllllllllllllllllllssssssssssss...sorry if any of these were already covered today: -Fresno State to the New Mexico Bowl -California to the Emerald Bowl (contingent on USC beating UCLA) -Kansas to the Insight Bowl

Actually no, Rutgers flogging of Louisville tonight has wrapped up the ESS EEE 7 title for Danville Wrestling. That also eliminated Urban Warfare from bowl consideration which is good news for those teams on the bubble.

Texans - 24 points Baltimore Chicago Minnesota Green Bay Indianapolis Atlanta Philadelphia Tennessee Miami Denver N.Y. Jets Arizona Pittsburgh Seattle Tampa Bay

You were not eligible for postseason play due to the illegal recruiting violations of the school's former coach.

No, I believe those teams both have 5 wins so it wouldn't matter. A bowl is only forced to take a team before ND if they have 7 wins. I think ND will be fine even if both of those teams win. A UL loss would probably helpmore, since ND is part of the BE's bowl selections. If Rutgers beats Louisville, Notre Dame will get have to an at large bid which appears to be the Texas Bowl. If Louisville beats Rutgers, Notre Dame will likely be invited to the Sun Bowl. The reason this is is because if Rutgers gets their 7th win, the Sun Bowl has to take a Big East team over Notre Dame. If Rutgers loses, there will only be four 7 win teams in the conference for five available slots thus the Sun Bowl can then pass on a Big East team in favor of Notre Dame. Arizona State winning won't hurt Notre Dame but will hurt an eligible non-BCS conference team as the Pac-10 will have enough eligible teams to fill the Hawaii Bowl bid.

Amazingly Mecca and Vampiro69 did not differ on a single game for both weeks. Boston College - HarleyQuinn THURSDAY Louisville SATURDAY Pittsburgh C-USA Championship: Tulsa ACC Championship: Boston College SEC Championship: Alabama Big XII Championship: Oklahoma Arizona State Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 64 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 84 N.C. State - AboveAverage484 THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 51 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 106 Nebraska - Mecca THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game?62 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma?105 Ball State - Vampiro69 THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College(in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 107

San Diego State - Das Wunderkind THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 67 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 109 Syracuse - CanadianChris THURSDAY Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh Tulsa Boston College Florida Oklahoma Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 106 Notre Dame - KingPK THURSDAY Rutgers SATURDAY Connecticut Tulsa Boston College Florida Oklahoma Arizona State Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 89 Arizona - UZI Suicide THURSDAY Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh C-USA Championship: Tulsa ACC Championship: Boston College SEC Championship: Florida Big XII Championship: Oklahoma Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 59 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 90

Florida - Urban Warfare THURSDAY Louisville SATURDAY Pittsburgh C-USA Championship: East Carolina ACC Championship: Virginia Tech SEC Championship: Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 55 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 88 Kentucky - Danville Wrestling THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? 54 Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma? 100

One more, Louisiana Tech is going to the Independence Bowl. The Ball State to Humanitarian Bowl talks were all officially killed today and it appears very likely that Boise Sate will be going to the Poinsettia Bowl to play TCU so forget about the all undefeated match-up.

The shortstop carousel is about to begin as there's a report that Khalil Greene will be traded to the Cardinals for two minor leaguers and Edgar Renteria is about to sign a two-year deal with the Giants. Wouldn't be surprised if the A's ink Rafael Furcal any day now.

I could have sworn I saw the Week 14 thread posted last night and now it's gone.

Dan Plesac, Relief Pitcher Milwaukee Brewers 1986-1992 Chicago Cubs 1993-1994 Pittsburgh Pirates 1995-1996 Toronto Blue Jays 1997-1999, 2001-2002 Arizona Diamondbacks 1999-2000 Philadelphia Phillies 2002-2003 Awards None All-Star Selections: 3 (1987, 1988, 1989) League Leader None Career Ranks Games: 6th Saves: 59th K/9: 10th K/BB: 61st Best Performance April 25, 1990 - Kansas City at Milwaukee Comes in with the bases loaded, none out in the 8th inning with a 1-0 lead and George Brett coming up. Brett pops out and then Willie Wilson grounds into an inning ending double play. Plesac retires the side in order in the 9th. Hall of Fame Stats Gray Ink: Pitching - 17 (1143) (Average HOFer ≈ 185) HOF Standards: Pitching - 8.0 (981) (Average HOFer ≈ 50) HOF Monitor: Pitching - 54.0 (231) (Likely HOFer > 100) Similar Pitchers in HOF: None Top 10 Similar Pitchers: Mike Jackson, Mike Timlin, Mike Stanton, Willie Hernandez, Dave LaRoche, Darold Knowles, Craig Lefferts, Roger McDowell, Paul Assenmacher, Roberto Hernandez Year-by-Year Win Shares & Wins Above Replacement Level (WARP3) 1986: 13/6.4 1987: 14/6.2 1988: 10/4.1 1989: 11/5.5 1990: 6/3.1 1991: 4/2.0 1992: 6/2.8 1993: 3/0.8 1994: 2/1.3 1995: 6/3.2 1996: 8/3.2 1997: 5/2.2 1998: 7/2.4 1999: 2/1.2 2000: 4/1.7 2001: 5/3.2 2002: 3/1.7 2003: 4/1.4 Career Win Shares: 113 Career WARP3: 52.5 My Stupid Opinion Along with Jesse Orosco, I'm pretty sure Plesac is the first pitcher to make the HOF ballot who was primarily a middle reliever. Closers are gaining more acceptance when it comes to HOF voting but just a hunch we are way off from LOOGYs gaining enshrinement. Maybe if they open a middle reliever wing of the HOF Plesac would be worthy of consideration but for the real HOF he's no where close.

People forget that before Carroll arrived at USC, the premier program of the Pac-10 was Washington. But I'm sure Leech is just using it as leverage to get himself a raise at Tech that gets him to elite $3 million+/year salary level of college football coaches. Bowl news: Georgia Tech is going to TBFKA the Peach Bowl and in a bit of surprise the Gator Bowl is inviting Clemson over Florida State.

Worth noting that next Monday the Veteran's Committee results will be announced. It's split into two categories, Post-1943 and Pre-1943. Post-1943 Dick Allen Gil Hodges Jim Kaat Tony Oliva Al Oliver Vada Pinson Ron Santo Luis Tiant Joe Torre (career as a player only) Maury Wills Pre-1943 Bill Dahlen Wes Ferrell Joe Gordon Sherry Magee Carl Mays Allie Reynolds Vern Stephens Mickey Vernon Bucky Walters Deacon White

I just realized I completely forgot about N.C. State becoming bowl eligible. So stick them in the Texas Bowl, Central Michigan in the Hawaii Bowl, and Northern Illinois staying home.

It's pretty much a given the Fiesta Bowl will take a Big XII team just like the Sugar Bowl will take an SEC team as replacements for losing out on the conference champ. Barring UCLA upsetting USC, the only real thing in doubt about the BCS match-ups is whether the Fiesta Bowl with it's second pick will pass on Utah in favor Ohio State which would send the Utes to the Sugar Bowl. Boise State isn't getting invited, period. I will add that I like the idea of a Utah/Ohio State Fiesta Bowl and SEC #2/Big XII #2 in the Sugar Bowl as I think it would create better match-ups than the alternatives but not going to happen.

I'm always happy with the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot is announced as it means content for my blog! I'll be doing profiles on each the first year nominees over the next few weeks but before I get to what I wanted to talk about in this entry, here are links to old profiles I did for the returnees on this year's ballot listed in order of where they finished in the voting last year. 1. Jim Rice 72.2% (15th and final year) 2. Andre Dawson 65.9% (8th) 3. Bert Blyleven 61.9% (12th) 4. Lee Smith 43.3% (7th) 5. Jack Morris 42.9% (10th) 6. Tommy John 29.1% (15th and final year) 7. Tim Raines 24.3% (2nd) 8. Mark McGwire 23.6% (3rd) 9. Alan Trammell 18.2% (8th) 10. Don Mattingly 15.8% (9th) 11. Dave Parker 15.1% (13th) 12. Dale Murphy 13.8% (11th) 13. Harold Baines 5.2% (3rd) If a player played ten seasons in the Majors they are eligible for nomination on the baseball writer's ballot but believe it or not there actually is a screening process for the HOF ballot. I always find it interesting to see what players didn't make the cut and originally thought about making brief comments on each player but there were more players than I expected so this is just going to be a random list. Whole lot of back up catchers and middle relievers but there's a few decent players in there. Mike Bordick John Burkett Omar Daal Joe Girardi Mark Guthrie Joey Hamilton Bill Haselman Darren Holmes Trenidad Hubbard Todd Hundley Brian L Hunter Felix Jose Chad Kreuter Graeme Lloyd Keith Lockhart Albie Lopez Pat Mahomes Al Martin Orlando Merced Charles Nagy Denny Neagle Troy O'Leary Lance Painter Craig Paquette Tom Prince Jeff Reboulet Rick Reed Rich Rodriguez Terry Shumpert Luis Sojo Dave Veres Matt Walbeck Mike Williams Kevin Young

Maryland hosts Michigan on Wednesday but it's on ESPNU and the other games is Iowa/BC on Tuesday also on ESPNU. N.C. State is the only team not participating due to them finished last in the ACC this past season.

Holdovers Harold Baines Bert Blyleven Andre Dawson Tommy John (final year) Don Mattingly Mark McGwire Jack Morris Dale Murphy Dave Parker Tim Raines Jim Rice (final year) Lee Smith Alan Trammell Newcomers Jay Bell David Cone Ron Gant Mark Grace Rickey Henderson Jesse Orosco Dan Plesac Greg Vaughn Mo Vaughn Matt Williams

Poor ACC. After a wild, unpredictable season for the conference they end up with the same match-up of former Big East teams from last season that couldn't fill half a stadium. The conference moved the championship game to Tampa this year so we'll see if that helps at all. And here are my bowl projections which I know you were all dying to know. Network/Basic Cable Schedule THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN FRIDAY MAC Championship: Buffalo vs. #12 Ball State, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 SATURDAY Navy vs. Army, Noon/9:00 AM, CBS #23 Pittsburgh at Connecticut, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN Conference USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2 ACC Championship: #17 Boston College vs. #25 Virginia Tech, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ABC Washington at California, 3:00 PM/Noon, FSN SEC Championship: #1 Alabama vs. #4 Florida, 4:00/1:00 PM, CBS Division II Semifinal: North Alabama at Northwest Missouri State, 4:00/1:00 PM, ESPN2 #5 USC at UCLA, 4:30/1:30 PM, ABC Big XII Championship: #20 Missouri vs. #2 Oklahoma, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC Arizona State at Arizona, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN South Florida at West Virginia, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 #13 Cincinnati at Hawaii, 11:30/8:30 PM, ESPN2 Digital Cable/Satellite/GamePlan Schedule SATURDAY Division II Semifinal: Minnesota-Duluth at California (PA), Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN Classic FCS Quarterfinal: Richmond at Appalachian State, Noon/9:00 AM, GP FCS Quarterfinal: Weber State at Montana, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, GP FCS Quarterfinal: Villanova at James Madison, 3:30/12:30 PM, GP Arkansas State at Troy, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP FCS Quarterfinal: New Hampshire at Northern Iowa, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP All Other Division I-A Games WEDNESDAY Middle Tennessee at Louisiana-Lafayette, ESPN360 SATURDAY Western Kentucky at FIU

So it's the week of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge which has not been any sort of a challenge for the ACC. In the nine year existence of this made for t.v. event the ACC has never lost the overall head-to-head meetings. When you take into account that Maryland, picked to finish 7th in the ACC, waxed Big Ten favorite Michigan State this past week in the Old Spice Classic (and the Terps proceeded to get destroyed by Gonzaga and Georgetown) there isn't whole lot of reason to think this year's challenge will be any different from the last nine. Note the Duke/Michigan game on Saturday is not part of the event. In other conference dick measuring contests there is 2nd Annual Big XII/Pac-10 Hardwood Series which begins Thursday. Er, scratch that it began on Saturday when Stanford beat Colorado. You see there is no real organization to this particular made for t.v. event as after this week there are still two more games in the "series" on December 23rd (Kansas at Arizona) and December 28th (Texas Tech at Stanford). And yes teams play more than one game (Stanford and Arizona) and there are an even number of games so there can be a tie which happened in the inaugural event last year. Also for some reason they decided to have the exact same match-ups this season as last. All of that makes this "series" very, very lame. Full T.V. Schedule for Week of 12/1 - 12/7 ESPN & FSN Schedule MONDAY Wisconsin at Virginia Tech, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN2 TUESDAY Ohio State at #21 Miami, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN Clemson at Illinois, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN2 #4 Duke at #9 Purdue, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN Virginia at Minnesota, 9:30/6:30 PM, ESPN2 WEDNESDAY Indiana at #15 Wake Forest, 7:15/4:15 PM, ESPN Penn State at Georgia Tech, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN2 #1 North Carolina vs. #13 Michigan State, 9:15/6:15 PM, ESPN Florida State at Northwestern, 9:30/6:30 PM, ESPN2 THURSDAY USC at #6 Oklahoma, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN2 #12 UCLA at #8 Texas, 9:00/6:00 PM ESPN Oklahoma State at Washington, 11:00/9:00 PM, FSN SATURDAY #4 Duke at Michigan, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPN #21 Miami at Kentucky, 5:30/2:30 PM, ESPN2 #24 Baylor at Washington State, 11:30/8:30 PM, FSN SUNDAY Nebraska at #19 Arizona State, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, FSN #23 Florida at Florida State, 6:00/3:00 PM, FSN Kansas State at Oregon, 8:30/5:30 PM, FSN

I don't remember what the story was there other than being happy with the result. That's part of the problem with bowl games is you never know if a team is really going to show up and give their best effort as the motivation to play can vary greatly.

For the 2000 Pac-10 race it went to overall record where both Washington and Oregon State were 11-1 while Oregon was 10-2 (lost to Wisconsin early in the season), then back to head-to-head where Washington won out by beating Oregon State. The 2004 Cal/Texas situation had been on my mind as well as this might be a little bit of karma for Mack Brown after that debacle. Of course I love Mack Brown because of it for keeping Cal out of the Rose Bowl. After the fact it ended being the right thing to do as Michigan and Texas played a classic while Cal got exposed in the Holiday Bowl against Texas Tech. But it was still a very slimy thing to do by Brown.

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyways, all picks must be sent by PM. Week 14 - Part 2 Deadline: Thursday, December 4th, 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST Week 14 - Part 2 Games to Make Picks For THURSDAY Louisville at Rutgers SATURDAY Pittsburgh at Connecticut C-USA Championship: East Carolina at Tulsa ACC Championship: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College (in Tampa) SEC Championship: Alabama vs. Florida (in Atlanta) Big XII Championship: Missouri vs. Oklahoma (in Kansas City) Arizona State at Arizona Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the SEC Championship Game? Tiebreak #2: How many receiving yards will Missouri's Jeremy Maclin have against Oklahoma?