Bored

Enough of the worst, it's time for the best. Now instead of OPS+ for these lists I'll be using Win Shares since it rates a player's all around game rather than just their offense, although the defensive measures are very flawed. Just like the worst lists I'm picking a year to start with and this time around I'm going with 1979. The reason is that I was born on October 1, 1978 which was the last day of the 1978 regular season (among the winning pitchers that day were Luis Tiant, Ferguson Jenkins, and Rollie Fingers...ya I'm really getting old), so essentially these are the best single seasons of my lifetime. Obviously there's going to be one glaring problem with these lists and that's the 1981, 1994, and 1995 strike shortened seasons will all be very underrepresented. And well...fuck it. I'm not going to worry about it. Note Win Shares Above Average is used to break ties. Top 20 Catcher Seasons since 1979 (per Win Shares) 1. Mike Piazza, 1997 - Los Angeles Dodgers 38.6 Win Shares Year Ag Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG *OPS+ TB SH SF IBB HBP GDP +--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+ 1997 28 LAD NL 152 556 104 201 32 1 40 124 5 1 69 77 .362 .431 .638 185 355 0 5 11 3 19 2. Gary Carter, 1985 - New York Mets 33.3 3. Mike Piazza, 1998 - Los Angeles Dodgers/Florida Marlins/New York Mets 33 4. Mike Piazza, 1996 - Los Angeles Dodgers 32.9 5. Gary Carter, 1982 - Montreal Expos 31.3 6. Darrell Porter, 1979 - Kansas City Royals 30.8 7. Victor Martinez, 2007 - Cleveland Indians 30.8 8. Joe Mauer, 2006 - Minnesota Twins 30.8 9. Darren Daulton, 1992 - Philadelphia Phillies 30.8 10. Mike Piazza, 1993 - Los Angeles Dodgers 30.5 11. Gary Carter, 1984 - Montreal Expos 30.2 12. Gary Carter, 1980 - Montreal Expos 30 13. Javy Lopez, 2003 - Atlanta Braves 29.7 14. Darren Daulton, 1993 - Philadelphia Phillies 28.6 15. Jorge Posada, 2000 - New York Yankees 28.6 16. Paul Lo Duca, 2001 - Los Angeles Dodgers 27.9 17. Jorge Posada, 2003 - New York Yankees 27.8 18. Terry Kennedy, 1982 - San Diego Padres 27.8 19. Ivan Rodriguez, 1999 - Texas Rangers 27.6 20. Rick Wilkins, 1993 - Chicago Cubs 27.5

Finally college football is back...in four days. Once again this year with the holiday weekend we will get five straight days of games starting on Thursday. The biggest game of the opening week is Illinois/Missouri which was really fun game last year that didn't get much attention as no one knew how good those two teams would end up being. Also have Alabama/Clemson and it will just be interesting to see how much the winning team's fanbase overreacts. It's just good to know that for the next 15 Saturdays, you have no reason to leave the couch. Network/Basic Cable Schedule THURSDAY N.C. State at South Carolina, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN #23 Wake Forest at Baylor, 8:00/5:00 PM, FSN Oregon State at Stanford, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN2 FRIDAY SMU at Rice, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY #17 Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN Syracuse at Northwestern, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2 #3 USC at Virginia, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2* Utah at Michigan, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2* Oklahoma State vs. Washington State, 3:30/12:30 PM, FSN Delaware at Maryland, 3:45/12:45 PM, ESPN/ESPNU TCU at New Mexico, 6:00/3:00 PM, Versus Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech, 6:45/3:45 pm, ESPN2 #24 Alabama vs. #9 Clemson, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC* Michigan State at California, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC* #20 Illinois vs. #6 Missouri, 8:30/5:30 PM, ESPN Washington at #21 Oregon, 10:00/7:00 PM, FSN SUNDAY Hampton vs. Jackson State, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, ESPN2 Kentucky at Louisville, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPN Colorado State vs. Colorado, 7:30/4:30 PM, FSN MONDAY Fresno State at Rutgers, 4:00/1:00 PM, ESPN #18 Tennessee at UCLA, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN Digital Cable/Satellite/GamePlan Schedule THURSDAY Vanderbilt at Miami of Ohio, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPNU South Dakota State at Iowa State, 8:00/5:00 PM, FCS Central FRIDAY Temple at Army, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN Classic SATURDAY Appalachian State at #7 LSU, 11:00/8:00 AM, ESPN Classic Bowling Green at #25 Pittsburgh, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU Akron at #13 Wisconsin, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* Youngstown State at #2 Ohio State, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* Coastal Carolina at #22 Penn State, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* Maine at Iowa, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* Western Kentucky at Indiana, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* Hawaii at #5 Florida, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, Raycom/GP Georgia Southern at #1 Georgia, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, GP Ohio at Wyoming, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, Mtn. Townson at Navy, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBSCS Villanova at #8 West Virgina, 3:30/12:30 PM, GP Northern Iowa at #16 BYU, 6:00/3:00 PM, Mtn. Northern Illinois at Minnesota, 7:00/4:00 PM, BTN UL Monroe at #10 Auburn, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP Boston College vs. Kent State, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPNU Tennessee-Martin at #19 South Florida, 7:30/4:30 PM, GP Idaho State at Boise State, 8:00/5:00 PM, GP Northern Arizona at #15 Arizona State, 10:00/7:00 PM, FCS Central All Other Division I-A Games THURSDAY UTEP at Buffalo Northeastern at Ball State Eastern Illinois at Central Michigan Indiana State at Eastern Michigan Hofstra at Connecticut Troy at Middle Tennessee Jacksonville State at Georgia Tech, ESPN360 Charleston Southern at Miami, ESPN360 SATURDAY Southern Utah at Air Force Tulsa at UAB Illinois State at Marshall McNeese State at North Carolina South Carolina State at UCF Chattanooga at #4 Oklahoma Florida Atlantic at #11 Texas Eastern Washington at #12 Texas Tech FIU at #14 Kansas Western Illinois at Arkansas Memphis at Mississippi James Madison at Duke Western Michigan at Nebraska Arkansas State at Texas A&M Southern at Houston UL Lafayette at Southern Miss North Texas at Kansas State UC Davis at San Jose State Grambling State at Nevada Cal Poly at San Diego State Idaho at Arizona Utah State at UNLV

Looks like that's it but this has been a fun 4th quarter.

Uh, wow. Rudy Fernandez just posterized Dwight Howard.

U.S. is in some shit now. Kobe has been awful in this game. Edit: Until the last few minutes.

I'm predicting someone takes an elbow in the face before this game is over. It's been getting fairly chippy and the horrible officiating isn't helping matters.

So is the goal of the refs in this game to foul out both teams?

He was pitching in Korea earlier this season but got released. He's now with the Camden Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League.

I honestly had to look up Jim Umbricht and Don Wilson as I had never heard of them. So Umbricht died at age 33 due to cancer although he only spent two years with the then Colt .45's as a reliever but I'm guessing that was a spur of the moment thing. And let's see Don Wilson...KILLED HIMSELF! This loser decided to suck down on some carbon monoxide in his garage and in the process ended up accidentally killing his son and putting his daughter in a coma (garage was attached to the house). And they retire his number!? Damn J.R. Richard should have offed himself instead of have just a stroke if he wanted to get the proper recognition.

It's been over 24 hours since the last pick which means time is up for Broward, jwest, and King. CanadianChris pm'd his last pick to me. Joe Klecko, Defensive Tackle New York Jets 1977-1987 Indianapolis Colts 1988 And my last pick. Tommy Davis, Punter San Francisco 49ers 1959-1969

You know the drill. As always giving an extra day to submit picks for the opening week and this year it's especially needed because there are three games to pick for Thursday night. Didn't plan on it originally but the overall slate of games isn't particularly good in terms of competitive games so was kinda forced to do this. Remember if you do not get your picks in on time for the first deadline on Thursday you can not receive any points for those first three games. Also for those new to the contest you must submit your picks for all the 14 games to get credit for Thursday as I don't take partials. If any newbies to the contest have questions please PM me. When I receive picks either in the thread or by PM, I will make that team with an asterisk. Week 1 Deadlines Deadline #1: Thursday, August 28th, 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST -Lose out on all three Thursday games. Deadline #2: Saturday, August 30th, Noon EST/9:00 AM PST -Replacement picks, can't win by tiebreak. Week 1 Match-ups #1 South Carolina* (Cuban Linx) vs. #2 N.C. State* PM (AboveAverage484) - GAME OF THE WEEK #4 LSU* PM (teke184) vs. #6 Texas* PM (Broward83) #3 Nebraska* (Mecca) vs. Florida* PM (Urban Warfare) #5 Virginia* (Edwin MacPhisto) vs. USC* PM (Cartman) #7 Boise State* (Vitamin X) vs. Ball State* (Vampiro69) #8 Stanford* (Bored) vs. Tulsa* (Will Scarlet) #9 Kent State* (JHawk) vs. Boston College* (HarleyQuinn) #10 UCLA* (phoenixrising) vs. Tennessee* (Canadian Brandon) Syracuse* (CanadianChris) vs. Florida State* PM (909) Rutgers* (the pinjockey) vs. Fresno State* (Agent Bond34) Miami of Ohio* PM (Hawk 34) vs. San Diego State* PM (Next USC #55) Georgia Tech* PM (iggymcfly) vs. Michigan* (MFerXtreme87) Buffalo* (Carnival) vs. UTEP* (Angel Grace Blue) Arizona* (UZI Suicide) vs. Minnesota* PM (Vern Gagne) Miami* (Spaceman Spiff) vs. Arizona State* (still fly) Alabama* PM (AlwaysPissedOff) vs. Ohio State* (Gert T) Washington* PM (Smues) vs. Indiana* PM (Tzar Lysergic) Notre Dame* PM (KingPK) vs. Washington State* (MrRant) Kentucky* (Danville Wrestling) vs. Illinois* (The Monkey Man) Navy* PM (MarvinisaLunatic) vs. Georgia* (Obi Chris Kenboi) Week 1 Games to Make Picks For THURSDAY Vanderbilt at Miami of Ohio N.C. State at South Carolina Oregon State at Stanford SATURDAY Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina (at Charlotte) Syracuse at Northwestern Ohio at Wyoming Utah at Michigan Oklahoma State vs. Washington State (at Seattle) TCU at New Mexico Northern Illinois at Minnesota Memphis at Mississippi Alabama vs. Clemson (at Atlanta) Michigan State at California Illinois vs. Missouri (at St. Louis) Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Illinois/Missouri game? Tiebreak #2: How many rushing yards will Clemson's James Davis have against Alabama?

Kicked out by the World Taekwondo Federation. Yes...WTF!? Doesn't look there is any video of the attack. Edit: Oh wait there is.

Eight hours is up, not that I'm in a hurry to pick kickers and punters. Garo Yepremian, Kicker Detroit Lions 1966-1967 Miami Dolphins 1968-1978 New Orleans Saints 1979 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1980-1981 Better at kicking than passing.

I think it was some random road rat Lima gave herpes. I'll cover that in my next list "Worst Herpes Seasons" per STD+.

ESPN/FOX/TBS Games to Poison Our Youth MONDAY Astros (Randy Wolf) at Brewers (C.C. Sabathia), 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 WEDNESDAY Angels (Jered Weaver) at Rays (Matt Garza), 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY Dodgers at Phillies, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Rays at White Sox, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX Braves at Cardinals, 3:55/12:55 PM, FOX SUNDAY Rays at White Sox, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, TBS Dodgers at Phillies, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN

Back by popular demand, add another "Worst" list with the worst pitcher seasons since 1961 using ERA+. Checking baseball-reference.com, unlike qualifications for the batting title, it appears the qualification for the ERA title has never changed. In order to qualify a pitcher must pitch at least one inning per team game. Now I could have gone back to 1901 then but again it would been littered with too many early 20th century pitchers that most us have never heard of. The worst ERA+ of all-time was Rube Bressler of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1915 who posted an ERA+ of 56. To put that into context, he had an 5.20 ERA while the league ERA that season was 2.93. I elected to go with 1961 since that was the beginning of the expansion era of MLB when the Angels and Senators (ver 2.0) were added to the American League. Now on the player lists there were a lot of ties and there would have been a ton for the pitcher list so to make it slightly less cluttered I break the ties by who threw more innings (as in who sucked in a larger sample). And the top of the list is someone who we could never forget, nor can we ever forget his wife's huge tits. Top 25 Worst Pitcher Seasons since 1961 (per ERA+) 1. Jose Lima, 2005 - Kansas City Royals 63 ERA+ (6.99 ERA in 168 2/3 IP) 2. Jack Lamabe, 1964 - Boston Red Sox 65 3. Eric Milton, 2005 - Cincinnati Reds 66 (186 1/3 IP) 4. Rick Wise, 1968 - Philadelphia Phillies 66 (182) 5. Mark Davis, 1984 - San Francisco Giants 66 (174 2/3) 6. Bob Knepper, 1989 - Houston Astros/San Francisco Giants 66 (165) 7. Jim Deshaies, 1994 - Minnesota Twins 66 (130 1/3) 8. Warren Spahn, 1964 - Milwaukee Braves 67 9. Matt Keough, 1982 - Oakland A's 68 (209 1/3) 10. Steve Arlin, 1973 - San Diego Padres 68 (180) 11. Phil Ortega, 1965 - Washington Senators 68 (179 2/3) 12. Javier Vazquez, 1998 - Montreal Expos 69 13. Vida Blue, 1979 - San Francisco Giants 70 (237) 14. Frank Baumann, 1961 - Chicago White Sox 70 (187 2/3) 15. Pete Broberg, 1972 - Texas Rangers 70 (176 1/3) 16. Joel Pineiro, 2006 - Seattle Mariners 70 (165 2/3) 17. Terry Mulholland, 1995 - San Francisco Giants 70 (149) 18. Dick Ruthven, 1981 - Philadelphia Phillies 70 (146 2/3) 19. Willie Fraser, 1988 - California Angels 71 (194 2/3) 20. Bob Walk, 1993 - Pittsburgh Pirates 71 (187) 21. Bill Singer, 1975 - California Angels 71 (175) 22. Brandon Duckworth, 2002 - Philadelphia Phillies 71 (163) 23. Terry Mulholland, 1994 - New York Yankees 71 (120) 24. Jack Fisher, 1967 - New York Mets 72 (220 1/3) 25. Joe Coleman, 1975 - Detroit Tigers 72 (201)

To fill the fullback spot, he's not the best available but I wanted to go with someone who will fit the offense and he did very well in a Mike Holmgren offense. Tom Rathman, Fullback San Francisco 49ers 1986-1993 Los Angeles Raiders 1994 2-time Super Bowl Champion Led NFL running backs in receptions in 1989 (73)

The west coast gets screwed at every Olympics as they did tape delay coverage for us for the Atlanta and Salt Lake Olympics as well. I will not be shocked if they pull the same crap with Vancouver.

It's a couple of days old but CBS extended it's contract with the SEC through 2023. Starting next year they will now have first choice for every week of the season for SEC games, where the deal that's expiring this year allowed ESPN to have three weeks out of the year where they get first choice. That's what ESPN gets for replacing Ron Franklin with Mike "What's with Brittney?" Patrick for their primetime SEC telecasts.

Maybe naiwf is too young to remember Steve Phillips trading Jason Isringhausen for Proven Veteran Closer Billy Taylor in 1999. Of course it's entirely possible that naiwf is Steve Phillips.

But did it get Fred McGriff's recommendation?

Worst closer seasons would be tough since the majority of terrible closers will lose their job at some point in the season. I'll might do a worst starting pitcher list, although again very basic like these worst hitters list have been.

It was also cool that he hit it after getting knocked on his ass a few pitches earlier.