Bored

These middle relievers using steroids are trying to destroy the legacy of Jesse Orossco.

A's have signed Mark Kotsay to a two-year, $15 million extension.

Texas' undefeated season will end really quick at Ohio State in the second week of the season. You can recover in the polls from an early season loss, especially against a top ranked opponent on the road, and make it to the Rose Bowl but until they can get off the schnide against Oklahoma I seriously doubt they can get there. At Missouri the week before The Red River Shootout could also be a trap game.

No official confirmation yet but Jay Payton has been traded to the A's for Chad Bradford. Bradford is currently on the DL so that's why the trade isn't official. He was going to be activated after the All-Star break. I don't expect Payton's stay to be long with the A's unless they trade Eric Byrnes. All Mark Kotsay rumors are pretty much dead and an extension is expected to be signed soon.

While Tim dreams of his head being in Derek's lap. In other news Travis Hafner's OPS is over 1.000 now. Yup not good enough for the 32nd man ballot.

Scott Podsednik and Roy Oswalt have won the 32nd man spots. Oswalt's been arguably the best pitcher not named Willis or Clemens in the N.L. so good pick there. But a guy with a .693 OPS making the All-Star team is a joke. How was Podsednik even on the ballot? I don't care how many stolen bases he has, he's not that good.

There's a 12 pitcher requirement so that's why the N.L. 32nd man ballot is all pitcher's. The A.L. 32nd man ballot is a joke with Crawford and Podsednik on there. I'm absolutely loving the ESPN outcry for Jeter but shit he's the most deserving guy on there. Travis Hafner was robbed big time.

N.L. Starters C: Mike Piazza 1B: Derrek Lee 2B: Jeff Kent 3B: Scott Rolen SS: David Eckstein OF: Bobby Abreu, Jim Edmonds, Carlos Beltran N.L. Pitchers Roger Clemens Chard Corder Brian Fuentes Joh Smoltz Brad Lidge Pedro Martinez Dontrelle Willis Jake Peavy Chris Carpenter Jason Isringhausen Livan Hernandez N.L. Reserves Aramis Ramirez Luis Castillo Albert Pujols Cesar Izturis Felipe Lopez Andruw Jones Carlos Lee Luis Gonzalez Moises Alou Miguel Cabrera Jason Bay Paul Lo Duca N.L. 32nd Man Ballot Brett Myers Billy Wagner Trevor Hoffman Roy Oswalt Brandon Webb A.L. Starters C: Jason Varitek 1B: Mark Teixeira 2B: Brian Roberts 3B: Alex Rodriguez SS: Miguel Tejada OF: Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, Vladimir Guerrero DH: David Ortiz A.L. Pitchers Mark Buehrle Jon Garland Bartolo Colon Kenny Rogers Johan Santana Roy Halladay B.J. Ryan Joe Nathan Mariano Rivera Dennys Baez Justin Duchscherer Bob Wickman A.L. Reserves Paul Konerko Mike Sweeney Michael Young Alfonso Soriano Melvin Mora Shea Hillenbrand Ichiro Suzuki Garret Anderson Gary Sheffield Ivan Rodriguez A.L. 32nd Man Ballot Carl Crawford Torii Hunter Derek Jeter Hideki Matsui Scott Podsednik

Mariners DFA'd Bret Boone.

AL MVP 1. Brian Roberts 2. Alex Rodriguez 3. Miguel Tejada 4. David Ortiz 5. Vladimir Guerrero 6. Johnny Damon 7. Mark Teixeira 8. Travis Hafner 9. Gary Sheffield 10. Manny Ramirez NL MVP 1. Derrek Lee 2. Albert Pujols 3. Bobby Abreu 4. Nick Johnson 5. Brian Giles 6. Jason Bay 7. Jeff Kent 8. Carlos Delgado 9. Carlos Lee 10. Andruw Jones AL Cy Young 1. Roy Halladay 2. Mark Buehrle 3. Jon Garland NL Cy Young 1. Roger Clemens 2. Dontrelle Willis 3. Roy Oswalt AL Rookie of Year 1. Chris Young 2. Gustavo Chacin 3. Huston Street NL Rookie of Year 1. Clint Barmes (won't win obviously) 2. Garrett Atkins 3. Ryan Church

I'll still take new sign ups after the final open spot is filled just in case not every holdover signs up again this year. If the interest is there I'll expand the number of posters in the contest.

2005 Bored’s College Football Pick ‘Em Contest It’s never too early to start sign ups for the new season. A very quick reminder on how things work. Each week you will be matched up against another poster and have to pick the winner’s from college football games being played that week. Including making picks for games there will be two tiebreaker questions based on the Thursday and Friday ESPN games that week. The schedule for each team and the games that you makes picks for are chosen by me. The regular season is 13 weeks long and there will be conference championship games and bowl games. Like last year the winner of the contest will win $50 cash from me, Vern Gagne taking the money last year. As you all remember in the first season I put together a mock BCS (Bored Championship Series) poll. It produced some bizarre results but in the end proved successful in putting the two best teams against each other for the title game. This year I’ve tweaked the system slightly. The formula still consists of your ranking in win/loss record, correct picks pct., and correct picks against pct. (aka strength of schedule). This year though I’ve made strength of schedule only worth 10% of the formula. I realized since you have no control over who you play, since I put the schedule together, it was unfair to weight it evenly with the other two factors. But I will still weigh win/loss and correct pick % evenly at 45% each. Now everybody who participated the entire season last year has been reserved a spot. If you are going to participate this year please either post in this thread or PM me. You can change schools that you represent if you’d like but it must be one that is currently not taken. There are currently one open spots available and anyone is free to take those spots and choose any school they’d like. For scheduling purposes I’ve designated real life conferences for each four conferences that I’d like making up that conference. If you change schools I may have to switch what conference you are in if need be. Teams will be listed in bold when the poster signs up. Conference aligments are subject to change. Pac-8 (Pac-10/Mountain West/WAC) Arizona State – Spicy McHaggis Hawaii – Will Scarlet Oregon – nogoodnick San Diego State - Porter Stanford - Bored UCLA – phoenixrising USC – Cartman Washington State – bravesfan Big MAC (Big Ten/MAC) Buffalo - Black Widow Illinois - Matt Young Kent State – JHawk PM Minnesota – Vern Gagne Northwestern - Kingofthe909 Notre Dame – Lando Griffin PM Ohio State – Gert T PM Penn State – therealworldschampion Mid South (SEC/Big XII/C-USA) Alabama – AlwaysPissedOff Auburn – Agent of Oblivion Florida – Agent Bond34 LSU – teke184 Nebraska - CarnivalizComing Oklahoma – Damaramu South Carolina - Cuban Linx Tennessee – Kotzenjunge Texas A&M - Secret Agent Big Atlantic (ACC/Big East/Sun Belt) Connecticut - DragonLordKaiba Florida International - Vitamin X Georgia Tech - iggymcfly Maryland – MarvinisaLunatic Miami – Spaceman Spiff Rutgers – the pinjockey Syracuse – CanadianChris Troy - Angel Grace Blue Virginia – Edwin MacPhisto Sign ups are closed.

Especially considering one game would have to end in a tie for that to happen.... Anyways if the A's sweep the White Sox the will finish the first half (81 games) with a winning record which just seemed impossible five weeks ago. I'm not thinking postseason by any stretch but even 85 wins this year would be remarkable after where they were.

Edited: I realized I didn't pick anyone for the Twins. Bored's All-Star Predictions This is not who I think should go to the All-Star Game, it's who I think will go to the All-Star Game. I'm sticking with the current vote leaders as the starters. AMERICAN LEAUGE C: JASON VARITEK, Boston; Jorge Posada, New York; Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit 1B: MARK TEIXEIRA, Texas; Mike Sweeney, Kansas City 2B: BRIAN ROBERTS, Baltimore; Alfonso Soriano, Texas 3B: ALEX RODRIGUEZ, New York; Melvin Mora, Baltimore; Eric Chavez, Oakland SS: MIGUEL TEJADA, Baltimore; Derek Jeter, New York OF: MANNY RAMIREZ, Boston; VLADIMIR GUERRERO, Los Angeles; ICHIRO SUZUKI, Seattle; Johnny Damon, Boston; Gary Sheffield, New York; Torii Hunter, Minnesota DH: DAVID ORTIZ, Boston; Travis Hafner, Cleveland SP: ROY HALLADAY, Toronto; Mark Buehrle, Chicago; Jon Garland, Chicago; Bartolo Colon, Los Angeles; Kenny Rogers*, Texas; Matt Clement, Boston; Freddy Garcia, Chicago RP: Mariano Rivera, New York; B.J. Ryan, Blatimore; Dustin Hermanson, Chicago; Eddie Guardado, Seattle; Danys Baez, Tampa Bay *Status obviously up in the air. NATIONAL LEAGUE C: MIKE PIAZZA, New York; Paul Lo Duca, Florida 1B: ALBERT PUJOLS, St. Louis; Carlos Delgado, Florida 2B: JEFF KENT, Los Angeles; Craig Biggio, Houston 3B: SCOTT ROLEN, St. Louis; Aramis Ramirez, Chicago SS: CESAR IZTURIS, Los Angeles; David Eckstein, St. Louis; Felipe Lopez, Cincinnati OF: BOBBY ABREU, Philadelphia; JIM EDMONDS, St. Louis; CARLOS BELTRAN, New York; Carlos Lee, Milwaukee; Andruw Jones, Atlanta; Miguel Cabrera, Florida; Jason Bay, Pittsburgh; Moises Alou, San Francisco; Preston Wilson, Colorado DH: DERREK LEE, Chicago SP: DONTRELLE WILLIS, Florida; Roger Clemens, Houston; Pedro Martinez, New York; Chris Carpenter, St. Louis; Roy Oswalt, Houston; Livan Hernandez, Washington; Brandon Webb, Arizona; Jake Peavy, San Diego RP: Chad Cordero, Washington; Billy Wagner, Philadelphia; Jason Isringhausen, St. Louis; Brad Lidge, Houston The N.L. could go a million different ways so I'll probably be way off.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article..._id=mlb#results Mark Teixeira has blown past Tino Martinez.

Steven A Smith seems to be under the impression that every player from a "national champion" is going to be great.

YES! Granger is right there for the Warriors now. God damnit.

When I first saw Cheap Seats with the studio audience I thought maybe it was just some joke they were doing for one episode. What makes having the auidence so bad is that they have them forcibly laugh at every single joke. And the butchering of ESPN Classic has pissed me off to no end. Replacing showing classic games, you know the original point of the channel, with those "Who's #1?" and "You Can't Blame..." What in the hell is classic about these shows? What classic games they do show now are 90% of the time done in the condensed "Drive Thru" format. What's so idiotic about the format is they show basically every key play to the game at the beginning and then show each scoring play that is coming up before each commercial break.

I've wondered how will Michelle Wie's swing be effected as her boobs get bigger...and thus that's the amount of time I actually have spent thinking about women's golf.

A's 16, Giants 0 in the 5th inning. Ya I'm sure Bonds is dying to comeback. A's call off dogs and put on the prevent defense after that. They out hit the Giants 24 to 1.

I think the Yankees most realistic trade option at center is Ken Griffey Jr. Like I said in the TWIB thread I don't think the A's will end up trading Kotsay especially if they remain hot and creep their way over .500 by the deadline.

I haven't lost a match up all year and have dominated my opponents the last six weeks while moving into first place. But now I'm in serious danger of losing to the last place team in the league!? Ugh I can't believe this.

Vinny Castilla led the N.L. in RBI last year with 131. He's fairly Schmoey.

What would the score be of a game of minature Derrek Lee clones vs. the '27 Yankees? Mini Lees 114, '27 Yankees -3.

Top 10 N.L. Outfielders VORP 1. Bobby Abreu 2. Miguel Cabrera 3. Jason Bay 4. Brian Giles 5. Adam Dunn 6. Carlos Lee 7. Brady Clark 8. Andruw Jones 9. Pat Burrell 10. Jim Edmonds OPS 1. Bobby Abreu 2. Adam Dunn 3. Miguel Cabrera 4. Jim Edmonds 5. Jason Bay 6. Brian Giles 7. Moises Alou 8. Pat Burrell 9. Carlos Lee 10. Andruw Jones Win Shares 1. Bobby Abreu 2. Brian Giles 3. Luis Gonzalez 4. Brad Wilkerson 5. Adam Dunn 6. Jim Edmonds 7. Carlos Lee 8. Brady Clark 9. Jason Bay 10. Cliff Floyd