Bored

I'll be here. Texans - 19 points Chicago Cleveland Houston Indianapolis New England Oakland Minnesota Carolina N.Y. Giants San Francisco Arizona Denver Dallas San Diego Detroit New Orleans

If Tejada and Hernandez hated each other it was never made public while they were Oakland so it's news to me.

Varitek will just have to learn.

I'd bet good money on Soriano having a sub-.300 OBP next year with the switch to RFK.

KFC PETA Bowl Picks Maryland - MarvinisaLunatic Tuesday, December 20 New Orleans: Southern Miss Wednesday, December 21 GMAC: Toledo Thursday, December 22 Las Vegas: BYU Poinsettia: Navy Friday, December 23 Fort Worth: Houston Saturday, December 24 Hawaii: Central Florida Monday, December 26 Motor City: Akron Tuesday, December 27 Champ Sports: Clemson Insight: Arizona State Wednesday, December 28 MPC Computers: Boston College Alamo: Michigan Thursday, December 29 Emerald: Utah Holiday: Oregon Friday, December 30 Music City: Minnesota Sun: UCLA Independence: Missouri Peach: LSU Saturday, December 31 Car Care: South Florida Liberty: Tulsa Houston: TCU Monday, January 2 Outback: Florida Cotton:Texas Tech Gator: Louisville Capital One: Auburn Fiesta: Notre Dame Sugar: Georgia Tuesday, January 3 Orange: Penn State Wednesday, January 4 Rose: Texas Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Rose Bowl? 63 Tiebreak #2: How many total yards of offense will there be in the Sun Bowl? 799 Arizona State - Spicy McHaggis Tuesday, December 20 New Orleans: Southern Miss Wednesday, December 21 GMAC: UTEP Thursday, December 22 Las Vegas: California Poinsettia: Navy Friday, December 23 Fort Worth: Houston Saturday, December 24 Hawaii: Central Florida Monday, December 26 Motor City: Memphis Tuesday, December 27 Champ Sports: Clemson Insight: Rutgers Wednesday, December 28 MPC Computers: Boise State Alamo: Michigan Thursday, December 29 Emerald: Utah Holiday: Oregon Friday, December 30 Music City: Minnesota Sun: Northwestern Independence: Missouri Peach: Miami Saturday, December 31 Car Care: South Florida Liberty: Fresno State Houston: Iowa State Monday, January 2 Outback: Iowa Cotton: Alabama Gator: Virginia Tech Capital One: Wisconsin Fiesta: Notre Dame Sugar: Georgia Tuesday, January 3 Orange: Penn State Wednesday, January 4 Rose: USC Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Rose Bowl? 66 Tiebreak #2: How many total yards of offense will there be in the Sun Bowl? 650

Probably Baltimore to become the Palmerio replacement. They tried to get him awhile back and I can see them being nuts enough to make a run at him. He should just retire but he won't. He'll probably be signing with the A's as early as tommorrow.

He's better and cheaper than Renteria.

For some odd reason I can't quote right now, but in regards to Vern's post that is a list of who signed up, not the final roster. They're obviously not going to a have a 42 man roster. Al said it will be 27 man rosters which is probably 7 more players than they need considering how short the tournament is. Obvioulsy Al Leiter ain't going to make the cut. Joe Nathan isn't on there because he didn't sign up. TRAITOR TO OUR COUNTRY!!!!

Kotsay has a no trade clause for 2006 as part of the new deal signed this past year. But that may all be meaningless at this moment as apparantly Peter Gammons says the Bradley deal may not go through. Other A's speculation by him is that they are very close to signing Frank Thomas and have become the favorites to trade for David Wells for Justin Duchscherer. Yeesh not sure how I'd feel about that deal.

They mentioned in the press conference that there will be mercy rule but didn't get into specifics. That's the thing I was wondering though is I imagine the tickets to the U.S. games aren't going to be cheap there could be some mighty pissed off fans if they end a game early. The U.S./South Africa match-up will the equivalent of the orignal Dream Team vs. Angola in '92 but maybe worse.

Awww AoO didn't read the first paragraph: Oh well. You can edit your post and PM me these if you'd like or just leave them and take them as your picks for your bowl game.

Figured just a generic thread for the next couple of weeks should be fine until the bowl season starts. College football awards are announced this Thursday and the Heisman announcement is this Saturday. I'll try to provide as many useless facts as possible over the next couple of weeks about the bowls. Please leave Rose Bowl discussion in the Rose Bowl thread. Most fun non-BCS bowl: Sun Bowl, UCLA vs. Northwestern. Let's see if the they top 100 points in this one. Least fun bowl involving BCS conference teams: Car Care Bowl, N.C. State vs. South Florida. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

A's are very close to acquiring Milton Bradley for Kirk Saarloos and a minor leaguer. If it goes through great trade from a talent standpoint. A's have a glut of starting pitchers and even though Saarloos was solid as the 5th starter last year he walks as many as he strikes out which is tough to get by on. As for Bradley if can just stay healthy and hit well, he can choke as many pregnent women as he likes....

True but Navy was indeed not ranked in either AP or Coaches poll that year. They did beat Cal in the Aloha Bowl and Army lost to Auburn in the Independence Bowl.

Boredom strikes, here are all AP 25th ranked teams since the polls expanded from 20 in 1989. 2004: Pittsburgh 2003: TCU 2002: West Virginia 2001: BYU 2000: Iowa State 1999: Purdue 1998: Syracuse 1997: Georgia Tech 1996: Army 1995: Iowa 1994: Texas 1993: California 1992: Wake Forest 1991: Air Force 1990: Illinois 1989: Arizona I now your lives are enriched for knowing this.

They finished #23 in the BCS and those are the only rankings that matter, so who cares?

In a sense since the rest of The Netherlands will be a bunch of nobodies. I just noticed Alex Rodriguez is listed at the bottom of the list not assigned to a country. I'm thrilled Rich Harden didn't sign up for Canada as didn't want him getting another injury. Here's a breakdown by position of who signed up for the U.S. team (including A-Rod): Catchers - Michael Barrett, Joe Mauer, Brian Schneider, Jason Varitek First Basemen - Derrek Lee, Mark Teixeira Second Basemen - Craig Biggio, Chase Utley Third Basemen - Eric Chavez, Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez?, David Wright Shortstops - Derek Jeter, Jimmy Rollins, Michael Young Outfielders - Lance Berkman, Barry Bonds, Carl Crawford, Johnny Damon, Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr, Juan Pierre, Vernon Wells Starting Pitchers - Mark Buehrle, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay, Al Leiter, Jake Peavy, Andy Pettite, C.C. Sabathia, Ben Sheets, John Smoltz, Dontrelle Willis, Barry Zito Relief Pitchers - Chad Cordero, Brian Fuentes, Eddie Guardado, Jason Isringhausen, Todd Jones, Brad Lidge, B.J. Ryan, Huston Street, Billy Wagner I no idea what the number of players will be on the roster.

There IS a screening process. See my previous post with the list of guys who were eligible that were left off.

Okay here's a link to what I have to assume is a list as to who has agreed to participate but not actual rosters as there are like 50 U.S. players listed and then some countries with less than five. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/wbc/rost...content=country Al Leiter has agreed to participate. USA! USA! USA!

I can't find any official rosters yet. Reportedly Barry Bonds will play for the U.S. I'll believe that when I see it. Buck Martinez will be the U.S. manager. Yippee. The likes of the Hernandez brothers and Jose Contreras won't be playing for Cubs for obvious reasons. Pool A: Tokyo, Japan Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Fri. March 3 12:00 pm 10:00 pm (Thu) Korea v Chinese Taipei Tokyo Dome Fri. March 3 7:00 pm 5am Japan v China Tokyo Dome Sat. March 4 12:00 pm 10:00 pm (Fri) Korea v China Tokyo Dome Sat. March 4 7:00 pm 5am Japan v Chinese Taipei Tokyo Dome Sun. March 5 12:00 pm 10:00 pm (Sat) Chinese Taipei v China Tokyo Dome Sun. March 5 7:00 pm 5am Japan v Korea Tokyo Dome ticket info >Pool B: Phoenix, Arizona Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Tues. March 7 2:00 pm 4:00 pm USA v Mexico Chase Field Tues. March 7 7:00 pm 9:00 pm Canada v South Africa Scottsdale Stadium Wed. March 8 2:00 pm 4:00 pm USA v Canada Chase Field Wed. March 8 7:00 pm 9:00 pm Mexico v South Africa Scottsdale Stadium Thurs. March 9 6:00 pm 8:00 pm Canada v Mexico Chase Field Fri. March 10 1:00 pm 3:00 pm USA v South Africa Scottsdale Stadium ticket info >Pool C: San Juan, Puerto Rico Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Tues. March 7 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Puerto Rico v Panama Hiram Bithorn Wed. March 8 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Puerto Rico v Netherlands Hiram Bithorn Wed. March 8 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Cuba v Panama Hiram Bithorn Thurs. March 9 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Cuba v Netherlands Hiram Bithorn Fri. March 10 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Panama v Netherlands Hiram Bithorn Fri. March 10 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Puerto Rico v Cuba Hiram Bithorn ticket info >Pool D: Orlando, Florida Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Tues. March 7 1:00 pm 1:00 pm Dominican Republic v Venezuela Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Tues. March 7 7:00 pm 7:00 pm Australia v Italy Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Wed. March 8 7:00 pm 7:00 pm Venezuela v Italy Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Thurs. March 9 1:00 pm 1:00 pm Dominican Republic v Italy Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Thurs. March 9 7:00 pm 7:00 pm Venezuela v Australia Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Fri. March 10 7:00 pm 7:00 pm DominicanRepublicvAustralia Cracker Jack Stadium (Disney) Round 2 ticket info >Pool 1: Anaheim, California Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Sun. March 12 1:00 pm 4:00 pm Pool A Runner-up v Pool B Runner-up Angel Stadium Sun. March 12 8:00 pm 11:00 pm Pool A Winner v Pool B Winner Angel Stadium Mon. March 13 7:00 pm 10:00 pm Pool A Winner v Pool B Runner-up Angel Stadium Tues. March 14 4:00 pm 7:00 pm Pool B Winner v Pool A Runner-up Angel Stadium Wed. March 15 7:00 pm 10:00 pm Pool A Winner v Pool A Runner-up Angel Stadium Thurs. March 16 4.30:00 pm 7:30:00 pm Pool B Winner v Pool BRunner-up Angel Stadium ticket info >Pool 2: San Juan, Puerto Rico Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Sun. March 12 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Pool C Winner v Pool D Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Sun. March 12 9:00 pm 8:00 pm Pool D Winner v Pool C Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Mon. March 13 2:00 pm 1:00 pm Pool D Winner v Pool C Winner Hiram Bithorn Mon. March 13 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Pool D Runner-up v Pool C Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Tues. March 14 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Pool D Winner v Pool D Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Wed. March 15 8:00 pm 7:00 pm Pool C Winner v Pool C Runner-up Hiram Bithorn Finals ticket info >San Diego, California Date Local time EST Match-up Stadium Sat. March 18 12:00 pm 3:00 pm Pool 2 Winner v Pool 2 Runner-up PETCO Park Sat. March 18 7:00 pm 10:00 pm Pool 1 Winner v .Pool 1 Runner-up PETCO Park Mon. March 20 6:00 pm 9:00 pm SF 1 Winner v SF 2 Winner PETCO Park

Fiesta is worth 27 points. Peach is worth the 4th most because of the quality of teams in it this year.

Good thing these games aren't televised, I didn't even realize they were playing today. I can't believe this. They returned essentially the same team this year that went to the tournament. They weren't very good last year but they certainly weren't bad. Losses to UC Irvine, Montana, and UC Davis? It defies all logic. Another 40+ year tournament drout on it's way? I think we've under estimated the greatness of Mike Montgomery and what he did with that program.

It's not just the BCS, it's the bowl system in general. It's all about who will draw the most fans rather than actual merit. The biggest joke in this year's bowl slections is N.C. State, who had losing record in conference and barely became bowl eligible, being picked for the Car Care Bowl (a joke itself) to play a glorified home game over the likes of Top 25 teams in Georgia Tech and Boston College. BC gets to go play a road game in Boise and GTech has to travel all the way across the country to play in San Francisco. It'd be nice if bowl selections were purely on merit...and just for the hell of it here's what the bowls could look like if they were assigned strickly on BCS ranking and assigned based on the higher payout for the bowl. I'll of course avoid matching up teams who played each other already. Rose: USC vs. Texas Orange: Penn State vs. Oregon Fiesta: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State Sugar: Georgia vs. Miami Capital One: Auburn vs. Virginia Tech Cotton: West Virginia vs. LSU Outback: Alabama vs. TCU Peach: Texas Tech vs. UCLA Holiday: Florida vs. Wisconsin Gator: Louisville vs. Michigan Alamo: Boston College vs. Oklahoma Sun: Florida State vs. Northwestern Liberty: Georgia Tech vs. Iowa Independence: Clemson vs. Minnesota Houston: Boise State vs. South Carolina Las Vegas: Fresno State vs. California Music City: Tulsa vs. Nebraska Car Care: Nevada vs. Iowa State Emerald: Toledo vs. UTEP MPC: Rutgers vs. Colorado Insight: Navy vs. Arizona State Champs Sports: Kansas vs. N.C. State Motor City: Virginia vs. Missouri Hawaii: South Florida vs. Central Florida Fort Worth: Colorado State vs. Northern Illinois Poinsettia: BYU vs. Central Michigan GMAC: Louisiana Tech vs. Utah New Orleans: Akron vs. Arkansas State

Virginia Tech just took a one point lead with one second left on Duke to cap a 12-0 run. Duke hits a near half court shot to win, unreal.

Yes, because it'd be a pain in the ass constantly checking back up on seeing everyone has made picks for every game. You have 16 days to submit picks so no rush.