Bored

As bad as Smith can be he's still a much better option than Dilfer. Worst thing in all of this is the Patriots have the Niners' 1st Round pick in 2008.

AL Most Valuable Player 1. Alex Rodriguez 2. Magglio Ordonez 3. Ichiro Suzuki 4. David Ortiz 5. Vladimir Guerrero 6. Carlos Pena 7. Victor Martinez 8. Grady Sizemore 9. Jorge Posada 10. Curtis Granderson NL Most Valuable Player 1. David Wright 2. Matt Holliday 3. Albert Pujols 4. Hanley Ramirez 5. Miguel Cabrera 6. Prince Fielder 7. Chipper Jones 8. Chase Utley 9. Jimmy Rollins 10. Ryan Howard AL Cy Young 1. C.C. Sabathia 2. Josh Beckett 3. Johan Santana NL Cy Young 1. Jake Peavy 2. Brandon Webb 3. John Smoltz AL Rookie of the Year 1. Jeremy Guthrie 2. Dustin Pedroia 3. Brian Bannister NL Rookie of the Year 1. Troy Tulowitzki 2. Ryan Braun 3. Hunter Pence Don't care about the manager awards.

Before I get to my awards picks, here's my quick rundown of what I want out of this postseason. 1. No Red Sox/Yankees ALCS. Do I need to explain? 2. No Rockies/D-Backs NLCS. Do I need to explain? 3. D-Backs don't win the World Series. We have one 90's expansion team with two world championships already, we don't need another. 4. Indians win the ALCS. Besides the Giants, there are no teams in baseball that I would rather see less in a World Series than the Red Sox, Yankees, and Angels. The second the Indians are eliminated is the second I tune out from the postseason. My gut feeling is we get another Yankees/D-Backs World Series with the Yankees prevailing this time. Finally Yankees' fans many years of suffering will be over! On to the awards. I should note that when I post my player rankings for the year there may be some differences from my awards but mainly because I throw this together pretty quick. Last year I had C.C. Sabathia as 3rd for A.L. Cy Young but by the time I did the rankings for starting pitchers I had Sabathia about 5th or 6th. Also I'm going to be lazy and not bother with typing out players stats. You know where to find them anyways. N.L. MVP This was a wide open race all year with no one ever seeming to take a real strangle hold on the spot as favorite. The media has narrowed it down to Matt Holliday, Jimmy Rollins, and Prince Fielder but my choice is David Wright as he was just a tad better across the board. Any writer's who held out until the last second to submit their ballots probably filled in Holliday's name at #1 today and his late season surge I think will make him a PAC (Pefectly Acceptable Choice) but it's a shame that Wright is unlikely to finish better than 4th and the Mets' collapse has completely overshadowed his amazing season. Fielder would be a pretty uninspiring choice and Rollins would be almost on the level of Justin Morneau winning the A.L. MVP last year. 1. 2. Matt Holliday, Rockies 3. Albert Pujols, Cardinals 4. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins 5. Miguel Cabrera, Marlins 6. Prince Fielder, Brewers 7. Chipper Jones, Braves 8. Chase Utley, Phillies 9. Jimmy Rollins, Phillies 10. Ryan Howard, Phillies N.L. Cy Young This and A.L. MVP are by far the easiest choices. Hopefully no idiot writers will decide to penalize Jake Peavy for lack of clutchiness on the mound last night as he was far and away the best pitcher in the N.L. and should be the unanimous winner. 2nd place was also very easy but 3rd place proved very difficult to decide but finally went with John Smoltz over Aaron Harang, subject to change of course when I do the pitcher rankings. 1. 2. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks 3. John Smoltz, Braves N.L. Rookie of the Year This will be my most questionable choice. ROY's I think can be very tough to choose because you are dealing with candidates who some played the whole season and others who were midseason call ups. Ryan Braun was an absolute force at the plate but he's also hacker (29 BB/112 SO) and a liabiltiy defensively. So I decided to go with Troy Tulowitzki, who was with the Rockies the whole season, giving them Gold Glover caliber defense at shortstop and by the end of the year had put up some strong offensive numbers. 1. 2. Ryan Braun, Brewers 3. Hunter Pence, Astros A.L. MVP Magglio Ordonez had a shockingly good rebound year and hung tough for a very long time in this race but by the end of the year he couldn't stick with A-Rod. All have to say about my ballot is, seriously what the fuck happened to Carlos Pena this year? Biggest fluke ever or best late bloomer ever? 1. 2. Magglio Ordonez, Tigers 3. Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners 4. David Ortiz, Red Sox 5. Vladmir Guerrero, Angles 6. Carlos Pena, Devil Rays 7. Victor Martinez, Indians 8. Grady Sizemore, Indians 9. Jorge Posada, Yankees 10. Curtis Granderson, Tigers A.L. Cy Young Josh Beckett is going to win the writer's award. There was so much hand wringing and phony outrage by the baseball writer's last year about there being no 20 game winners in either league that anyone who won 20 games this season with an ERA under 4 is going to win the award. Not to say Beckett will be a bad choice, just the wrong choice. 1. 2. Josh Beckett, Red Sox 3. Johan Santana, Twins A.L. Rookie of the Year Toughest pick of them all. Jeremy Guthrie has no shot at all at the writer's award due to having only a 7-5 record but he's my pick here in pretty much a coin flip over Dustin Pedroia. Hell I couldn't even find a picture of 2007 baseball card for Guthrie. 1. Jeremy Guthrie, Orioles 2. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox 3. Brian Bannister, Royals

With the baseball regular season over and ESPN no longer having postseason rights we now get games Tuesday thru Sunday starting this week. Don't get too excited as those Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday games are typically just completely random non-BCS conference match-ups. Lots of big games this week, even with Florida/LSU and especially Oklahoma/Texas losing some of their cache. Like I mentioned last week Oklahoma/Texas is a regional 3:30/12:30 game this year on ABC and ESPN's new deal with the Big XII and Pac-10 doesn't give them the option to use their games as reverse mirror games on ESPN. So if you don't get Oklahoma/Texas you will be stuck with the other two God awful games. Speaking of which, pity all of us that get suck with Notre Dame/UCLA as the 8:00/5:00 game. The Marshall/Memphis game will still be played tommorrow even though one of Memphis' players was shot and killed last night. Network/Basic Cable Schedule TUESDAY Marshall at Memphis, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 WEDNESDAY Rice at Southern Miss, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 THURSDAY #8 Kentucky at #11 South Carolina, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN FRIDAY Utah at Louisville, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN SATURDAY #5 Wisconsin at Illinois, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN Miami at North Carolina, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2 Kansas at #24 Kansas State, Noon/9:00 AM, FSN #12 Georgia at Tennessee, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBS Iowa at Penn State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2* N.C. State at Florida State, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC/ESPN2* #10 Oklahoma vs. #19 Texas, 3:30/12:30 PM, ABC* #18 Arizona State at Washington State, 4:00/1:00 PM, FSN #15 Virginia Tech at #22 Clemson, 6:00/3:00 PM, ESPN Stanford at #2 USC, 7:00/4:00 PM, Versus Oklahoma State at Texas A&M, 7:30/4:30 PM, FSN #9 Florida at #1 LSU, 8:00/5:00 PM, CBS #4 Ohio State at #23 Purdue, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC* Notre Dame at UCLA, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC* #20 Cincinnati at #21 Rutgers, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN2 #25 Nebraska at #17 Missouri, 9:15/6:15 PM, ESPN SUNDAY New Mexico State at Boise State, 8:00/5:00 PM, ESPN Digital Cable/Satellite/Gameplan Schedule SATURDAY Bowling Green at #7 Boston College, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPNU Northwestern at Michigan State, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* Minnesota at Indiana, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* Eastern Michigan at Michigan, Noon/9:00 AM, BTN* Georgia Tech at Maryland, Noon/9:00 AM, LFS*/GP #13 West Virginia at Syracuse, Noon/9:00 AM, GP Central Michigan at Ball State, Noon/9:00 AM, GP Vanderbilt at Auburn, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, LFS*/GP TCU at Wyoming, 2:00 PM/11:00 AM, Mtn. #6 South Florida at Florida Atlantic, 3:30/12:30 PM, ESPNU Fresno State at Nevada, 4:00/1:00 PM, GP Idaho at San Jose State, 4:00/1:00 PM, GP San Diego State at Colorado State, 5:30/2:30 PM, Mtn. Tulane at Army, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPNU North Texas at Louisiana-Lafayette, 7:00/4:00 PM, GP UCF at East Carolina, 7:30/4:30 PM, CSTV UNLV at Air Force, 9:00/6:00 PM, Mtn. All Other Div I-A Games SATURDAY Wake Forest at Duke Northern Illinois at Temple Ohio at Buffalo Louisiana Tech at Mississippi UAB at Mississippi State Miami of Ohio at Kent State Houston at Alabama Arizona at Oregon State Liberty at Toledo Chattanooga at Arkansas Troy at FIU Iowa State at Texas Tech Virginia at Middle Tennessee State Arkansas State at Louisiana-Monroe Colorado at Baylor Akron at Western Michigan Tulsa at UTEP Utah State at #16 Hawaii

Well fortunately Cal has a brutal in conference road schedule this year with the the most obvious one being Arizona State, who granted hasn't played that tough of a schedule but has bludgeoned to death everyone in their path so far. That'll be the second half a pontentially dangerous back-to-back road trip preceded by UCLA. And hey UW in November in Seattle could be landmine. The depressing thing for me is even if Cal loses to USC they would still have a great shot at the Rose Bowl which is almost, on some level, worse than them getting to play for the national title. So really I have to root for two losses or for USC to get upset at some point and beat Cal to send the Trojans to Pasadena.

It'll be the first one game playoff of the decade and it'll be TBS' first ever non-Braves game. And go Padres. The idea of a possible Rockies/D-Backs NLCS just seems wrong.

Speaking of MJ, does he even visit this board anymore?

Danville Wrestling's picks will be used this week for the unbeatable Penn State Replacement Lions. Week 6 Deadlines Thursday, October 4th, 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST -Lose out on Thursday game Friday, October 5th, 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST -Lose out on Friday game Saturday, October 6th, Noon EST/9:00 AM PST -Replacement picks Week 6 Match-ups #1 Texas* PM (UTBroward, 5-0) vs. #7 Oklahoma* (Secret Agent, 4-1) - GAME OF THE WEEK #3 Florida State* PM (King, 4-1) vs. #8 N.C. State* (AboveAverage484, 4-1) #2 South Carolina* (Cuban Linx, 5-0) vs. Kentucky* (Danville Wrestling, 2-3) #4 Miami of Ohio* PM (Hawk 34, 4-1) vs. Kent State* (JHawk, 4-1) #5 LSU* PM (teke184, 4-1) vs. Florida* PM (Urban Warfare, 3-2) #6 Nebraska* (Mecca, 4-1) vs. Miami* (Spaceman Spiff, 1-4) #9 Virginia* (Edwin MacPhisto, 3-2) vs. Boise State (Vitamin X, 3-2) #10 Syracuse* PM (CanadianChris, 3-2) vs. Temple* PM (Ortonsault, 3-2) Georgia Tech* (iggymcfly, 3-2 ) vs. Ohio State (Gert T, 0-5) Oregon* (nogoodnick, 3-2) vs. San Diego State* PM (the walkin' dude, 2-3) Hawaii* (Fokai, 4-1) vs. Washington* (Smues, 2-3) Rutgers* (the pinjockey, 3-2) vs. Tennessee* PM (kkktookmybabyaway, 1-4) Arizona* (UZI Suicide, 3-2) vs. Ball State* (Vampiro 69, 2-3) Penn State* (Danville Wrestling*, 3-2) vs. TCU* (Nate, 1-4) Buffalo* (Carnival, 3-2) vs. Ohio* (Will Scarlet, 1-4) Minnesota* (Vern Gagne, 2-3) vs. Boston College* (HarleyQuinn, 0-5) UCLA* (phoenixrising, 2-3) vs. Notre Dame* (KingPK, 1-4) Stanford* (Bored, 2-3) vs. USC* (Cartman, 2-3) Michigan* (MFerXtereme87, 1-4) vs. Alabama* PM (AlwaysPissedOff, 1-4) Auburn* (Tzar Lysergic, 1-4) vs. UTEP* (Angel Grace Blue, 1-4) Week 6 Games to Make Picks For THURSDAY Kentucky at South Carolina FRIDAY Utah at Louisville SATURDAY Wisconsin at Illinois Kansas at Kansas State Georgia Tech at Maryland TCU at Wyoming Georgia at Tennessee Oklahoma vs. Texas Fresno State at Nevada Virginia Tech at Clemson Florida at LSU Ohio State at Purdue Cincinnati at Rutgers Nebraska at Missouri Tiebreak #1: How many total points will be scored in the Florida/LSU game? Tiebreak #2: How many passing yards will Oklahoma's Sam Bradford have against Texas?

Before I get to the football, this week I go on baseball overdrive with the Bored's 2007 MLB Awards and Bored's 2007 MLB Player Rankings. Both are great if you were in a coma since April which I wish I was instead of being subjected to the A's season. I didn't end up having work yesterday after all so I was able to be lazy and gorge myself on college football all day after all but the Cal/Oregon game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I didn't feel like doing an unfunny Wrap Up entry. Cal is now a legit Top 3 team which means there is no God. As for my Pointless Top 25, with so many top teams losing this weekend it is pretty much impossible not to give some 1 loss teams a decent ranking. But that being said I stil think the entire Top 10 should only be unbeaten teams, even though that is proving very difficult. Again don't even bother reading it. 1. LSU 2. USC 3. Fuck! 4. Ohio State 5. Kentucky 6. South Florida 7. Boston College 8. Wisconsin 9. Arizona State 10. Cincinnati 11. Oregon 12. South Carolina 13. Florida 14. Missouri 15. Georgia 16. Purdue 17. Oklahoma 18. Kansas 19. West Virginia 20. Kansas State 21. Illinois 22. Michigan State 23. Texas 24. Hawaii 25. Connecticut

New AP and Coaches Polls LSU passes USC in the AP by two points. In the great scheme of things it doesn't mean anything since the AP isn't involved with the BCS. The biggest news I think is Florida only dropping to #7 in the Coaches which means if they can some how upset LSU they would be right back in the BCS Title Game hunt. Do have to wait and see where the drop in the Harris Poll though. Also Georgia is seven spots ahead of South Carolina in the Coaches' Poll. Man the other coaches really hate Spurrier.

Ugly, ugly week, especially for me. Of the 14 Games to Make Picks For, 8 of them were "upsets" and results in some very low scores across the board. So for the second straight week the Top 10 almost gets completely redone. The big winners this week are King and Hawk 34 as they make huge jumps back into the Top 10 while nogoodnick makes a big drop out of the Top 10 as the Pac-8 is running away with worst conference honors right now. No one loss teams are above the two remaining unbeatens but this time around we do have a couple of 3-2 teams above 4-1 teams and which will lead to much CONTROVERSY~. Also a 4-1 team didn't even receive a "vote"!? Madness! But of course since Cuban Linx has now knocked off two straight opponents who were #1 at the time he obviously is going to be #1. Right? Right? Uh oh...*runs away from angry Australians* 1. Texas - UTBroward 3.15 2. South Carolina - Cuban Linx 3.4 3. Florida State - King 4.1 4. Miami of Ohio - Hawk 34 4.45 5. LSU - teke184 5.0 6. Nebraska - Mecca 5.35 7. Oklahoma - Secret Agent 6.25 8. N.C. State - AboveAverage484 7.9 9. Virginia - Edwin MacPhisto 8.15 10. Syracuse - CanadianChris 8.9 Other Receiving Votes: Florida (Urban Warfare), Georgia Tech (iggymcfly), Kent State (JHawk), Temple (Ortonsault)

Week 5 Results #2 South Carolina (Cuban Linx) 6, #1 Oklahoma (Secret Agent) 5 #3 Texas (UTBroward) 7, San Diego State (the walkin' dude) 7; UTBroward wins by tiebreak Penn State (Smues*) 8, #4 Virginia (Edwin MacPhisto) 7 UTEP (Angel Grace Blue) 8, #5 Oregon (nogoodnick) 5 Miami of Ohio (Hawk 34) 9, #6 Syracuse (CanadianChris) 6 Kentucky (Danville Wrestling) 7, N.C. State (AboveAverage484) 7; Danville Wrestling wins by tiebreak #2 #8 Nebraska (Mecca) 7, Notre Dame (KingPK) 6 Auburn (Tzar Lysergic) 8, #9 Floria (Urban Warfare) 7 #10 LSU (teke184) 8, Tennessee (kkktookmybabyaway) 7 Florida State (King) 9, Alabama (AlwaysPissedOff) 6 Kent State (JHawk) 6, Ohio (Will Scarlet) 5 TCU (Nate) 10, Arizona (UZI Suicide) 7 Hawaii (Fokai) 6, Boston College (HarleyQuinn) 4 Ball State (Vampiro69) 7, Buffalo (Carnival) 6 Georgia Tech (iggymcfly) 7, Stanford (Bored) 4 - I suck! Temple (Ortonsault) 9, Michigan (MFerXtreme87) 7 Rutgers (the pinjockey) 9, UCLA (phoenixrising) 8 Boise State (Vitamin X) 8, Miami (Spaceman Spiff) 5 Washington (Smues) 8, USC (Cartman) 6 Minnesota (Vern Gagne) 11, Ohio State (Gert T) 6 Conference Standings Big 8 1. Texas (2-0, 5-0) 1. Nebraska (2-0, 4-1) 1. Oklahoma (2-0, 4-1) 4. Minnesota (1-1, 2-3) 5. Michigan (1-2, 1-4) 6. Notre Dame (1-3, 1-4) 7. Ohio State (0-3, 0-5) Penn State (1-1, 3-2) - probation Big MAC 1. Miami of Ohio (2-1, 4-1) 1. Buffalo (2-1, 3-2) 1. Ball State (2-1, 2-3) 4. Kent State (1-1, 4-1) 4. Rutgers (1-1, 3-2) 4. Syracuse (1-1, 3-2) 7. Temple (0-1, 3-2) 8. Ohio (0-2, 1-4) Pac-8 1. UCLA (2-0, 2-3) 2. Oregon (1-0, 3-2) 3. Arizona (1-1, 3-2) 3. USC (1-1, 2-3) 3. Washington (1-1, 2-3) 3. TCU (1-1, 1-4) 7. San Diego State (0-1, 2-3) 8. Stanford (0-2, 2-3) Southeastern Seven 1. South Carolina (2-0, 5-0) 2. Kentucky (1-0, 2-3) 2. Alabama (1-0, 1-4) 4. LSU (1-1, 4-1) 4. Florida (1-1, 3-2) 6. Auburn (1-2, 1-4) 7. UTEP (0-1, 1-4) 8. Tennessee (0-2, 1-4) Western Atlantic 1. Florida State (2-0, 4-1) 2. N.C. State (1-0, 4-1) 2. Virginia (1-0, 3-2) 4. Hawaii (2-1, 4-1) 5. Boise State (1-1, 3-2) 5. Georgia Tech (1-1, 3-2) 7. Miami (0-2, 1-4) 8. Boston College (0-3, 0-5)

Washington is a much better team than Tulane who had no business even making LSU sweat for a half. That being said I thought LSU was #1 going into the week and USC hasn't done enough to warrant me thinking otherwise.

Top 10 Guess 1. USC 2. LSU 3. California (shoot me) 4. Ohio State 5. Wisconsin 6. Kentucky 7. Boston College 8. South Florida 9. South Carolina 10. Oklahoma Georgia or Virginia Tech could end up #10 as well. I'm also going under the assumption people will remember South Carolina beat Georgia on the road but that might be a big assumption since they didn't last week.

They get Wisconsin at home. They have as relastic a shot as anyone at this point to run the table. Hell if Oklahoma takes care of Texas next week they still have a shot. Nevermind, USC does put it away after the interception is overturned.

That's five Top 10 teams down now. And USC still doesn't put Washington away.

Oregon State was up 14-12 on UCLA early in the 4th and then turned the ball over three times in less than three minutes, including back-to-back kick offs, and UCLA is now up 33-14. Ouch. I'm not surprised at all that Washington is giving USC a game. This just had the smell of a game that USC will have to sweat out until the end. And really after today should anyone be surprised by anything now?

And this is what you get for never being late before. I better see the same strictness applied to everyone else, cause your no point crap for a 30 minute late deadline is costing me and there wasn't a damn soul on these boards that thought Boise state was losing that game. Let the picks decide the game, not some no point for being 30 minutes late. Are you for real or just being a dick? Seriously first you lie about when you submitted the picks, then you lie about when the game actually kicked off, and now expect me to some exception for you? You are the first person to ever complain about this in the 3+ years of the contest. The deadlines are there for a reason. Back in Week 3 AboveAverage484 submitted his picks shortly after the Thursday game kicked off that week and he didn't whine about losing a point, he knew he was late. Would it be fair to Cuban Linx for me to suddenly change the rules for you? Hell you had an advantage on him because you could see his picks and see what his tiebreak guess was. You need to get over this.

As King pointed out the deadline was 4:30 PM PST but also I got home from work before 5:00 PM, and the game had already started. AOL Fahouse blog has Boise State scoring a touchdown at 7:50 PM EST You were late.

You've got to be shitting me. Oregon fumbles it at the 1, goes out of the endzone, touchback. Replay pretty much confirms it, although these are Pac-10 officials so anything is possible but it looks like it's over. Call stands. Cal becomes a serious national title contender. Life sucks. Revenge soon.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, Oregon driving deep in Cal territory and Dixon throws a pick. Only 2:20 left.

Oklahoma loses, Texas is going to lose, Rutgers looks like it's going to lose, Cal and Wisconsin tied in the 4th. Five AP Top 10 teams could go down today. FUCK, Oregon turns it over inside their own 20. No idea how much time is left as ABC's clock is stuck on 5:46. And Cal scores, 31-24.

Oregon ties Cal with seven minutes to go. Looking like it'll be a great finish.

They should just pick the Manager of the Year out of a hat every year.

No one can avoid the appeal of college football! Soon you'll be making bets on the Poinsettia and International Bowls and watching late night replays of Conference USA games on CollegeSportsTV. And here's a good sign from the end of the West Virginia/South Florida game: