iggymcfly

Not that it's a big deal, but you have me and Lando differing on the UVA/Pitt game when we actually both picked Virginia.

Touchdown! There we go. It's lucky that SDSU sucks or else UTEP would have played themselves right out of the game tonight.

Wow, three picks in a row now. UTEP's just giving this game away.

They actually had a chance to make the goal line stand there. Somebody had a hand on the RB and stopped his momentum on the 4th down play, but then he got loose and scored anyway. If the Miners would have just run the ball when they had a three possession lead, this wouldn't have been a problem, but I'm definitely worried at this point.

To be fair, it looks like Bret Meyer was hurt and missed a substantial portion of the game, and ISU has a ton of youth on their defense, so it might take some time for them to come around. I'd still expect them to be a legitimate contender come October and November.

Well, looks like Iowa State won 45-43, but since they let Toledo score the TD first, I'll miss out on my miracle push. (I had ISU -8.) However, my bets for Day 1 of the season are looking pretty good overall, as if UTEP wins, I'll finish the day at 3-1.

Living in a Big Sky town after attending a Pac-Ten school last year, I find this score kind of interesting: Northern Arizona 14 Arizona State 7 6:13 left in the 2nd in this one. Guess ASU's not as good as everyone thought. If you get all the FSN channels (I do), this game's showing on Fox Sports Arizona right now.

I remember when I used to play JV HS football, that play worked every time. We won a couple 6-0 games because of the double pass.

I must be desperate for football, because I'm really enjoying this Mississippi State/South Carolina game tonight. Fowler and Herbstreit have a really good dynamic, and it's almost better without Corso out there overshadowing the game all the time. I don't really mind the defensive struggle as long as it's a good game, and this has been pretty well played. It's just that the D-lines have been overpowering the O-lines all night long.

As Spongebob Squarepants would say "I'm ready! I'm ready!" It's kind of a bummer that Iowa State/Toledo's not on TV anywhere tonight, but I'll definitely watch the UTEP/SDSU game and part of the SC/Miss St. game too.

I don't understand how people think the kicking meter's hard. I actually think it's too easy. I'm a candidat for the Groza every year, even when I had a freshman at kicker who was rated like 72 or something. He can still boot the 50 yarders too. The only reason I don't win it every year is that I tend to go for it if I'm 4th and 2 or something in the red zone and I usually only end up with about 10-15 attempts a year. One thing I've noticed though that kind of annoys me: I haven't seen the CPU miss a FG yet in 3 1/2 seasons. Sure, you can block them, and by making that focal, I can see why they'd cut down on straight up misses, but right now a 55 yd FG attempt for the CPU is the same as an extra point. Just a minor thing that pisses me off. I did finally get one of my FG's blocked the other day, and it was by Va. Tech. I thought it was kinda neat that they put it into their system that a Beamer coached team would be more likely to block a FG even if they didn't have the attributes for the individual players any more.

I have to admit, I really like that "Boyfriend" song by Ashlee Simpson. I bump it whenever no one's around. And yes, I'm a 20 year old straight male.

Now that's the way to clinch the regular season title. A 12-0 week! I'm feeling really good about my team going into the playoffs.

Whenever I give them to the dog, if I give her more than one she just starts bouncing off the walls. Also, if she's in the mood for them, she starts pawing the shit out of me to ask for them, and then stares at the cupboard as soon as I get up. She goes really crazy if I don't give her any. I think that the manufacturers put some kind of uppers in there to get dogs addicted. Anyone else notice this phenomenon?

Speaking of that wacky NL Wild Card race, here are the teams that are closer to the NL Wild Card than Boston is to the AL Wild Card right now: Cincinnatti, San Diego, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Florida, Arizona, Houston, Milwaukee, Atlanta That's right the AAA Marlins, the Brewers, and the Braves who are having their worst season in 15 years by about 20 games are all closer to a playoff spot than the Red Sox. And Colorado's just as close as Boston at 5.5 back. Seriously, that race is ridiculously wide-open (and void of good teams) right now.

Here are my ACC thoughts: Florida State's extremely overrated. They were mediocre last year, where they pulled out one miracle against Va. Tech that saved their season. Now, they're returning something like 11 starters and everyone thinks they're going to be better? I don't buy it. I think just by virtue of Florida State being down, Clemson does take the Atlantic at something like 6-2 in conference, but loses to South Carolina and then gets pounded in the ACC Championship. Georgia Tech will be a lot better this year, and with some senior leadership, they'll be less likely to overlook the smaller games that have gotten them killed year in, year out. I'm not going to predict anything ridiculous, but with their schedule, I think they could easily go 10-2 (6-2) and finish the season ranked in the Top 15. I think Miami's the team that gets the job done this year, going 7-1 in conference after an early loss to Louisville and winning the conference title. Coker's boys got demoralized late in the year and finished with three losses, but they were the most talented team through the balance of the conference slate and they will be again this year. I say Miami finishes with a final record of 12-2 after beating West Virginia in the Orange Bowl.

Yeah seriously, you've got the second third fourth best team in the Big 12. Quit complaining.

I don't really get that though. Do they really think that pro athletes making millions of dollars a year are going to start fixing their games just because there's a casino with a sportsbook handy? If they're just worried about them making recreational wagers on other games, they could do that already over the internet or something. They really should get an NFL team in Vegas some time soon.

I'll bet you 10K on it. Oh, you better believe I'll be betting that GT/ND game. I'll probably be taking 2.6 to 1 with a reputable sportsbook rather than even money over a messageboard however.

Notre Dame's not winning that game. GT's always got tons of talent and if they get a huge national showcase like that at home, they're going to get the job done. As Agent was mentioning, they'll probably screw up against somebody like North Carolina later in the year and they probably won't be a realistic threat in the ACC, but I really think they're gonna take down the Irish.

Wow, that's crazy. Angle's one of the last big stars that they had from the peak years, and he's been a consistent performer pretty much the whole time. Now, HHH, HBK, and Taker are the only real stars that are still there from pre-2001. I can't believe they just released him that easy. I thought they would have taken him off TV for 6 months and do whatever it took for him to recover before they'd do this. As an aside, does anyone think this could be a real turning point for TNA. Everyone knew Steiner and Nash were washed up. Christian was never a big star. But Angle? You just can't deny that he's one of the top stars in the business.

Washington State was really good until a couple years ago. They had 3 ten-win seasons in a row. Doba's slowly destroying the program, but I certainly wouldn't call them the team that "always sucks". If I were going to pick a Pac-Ten team for that designation, it would have to be Arizona. They haven't really showed any potential in the last five or ten years.

Hooray! Thanks Leena! I'll be sure to waste plenty of time posting once we start.

Oh, that's cute that you're still hoping for a bye. Good luck with that. Better at least make sure you get a 3 seed, because the Cranky Old Men have pretty much guaranteed themselves a bye, and you would not want to face them in the semis.

Back on the Beltran/Pujols argument quick, I'd think the OPS numbers would pretty much be enough to settle it. Pujols is currently at 1.118, .102 ahaead of Beltran, and .086 ahead of second-place Lance Berkman. The difference between 1st and 2nd in this stat is as much as the difference between 2nd and 9th. The point is that if you just look at hitting, Pujols isn't just slightly better, he's dominant. So what if he plays first? It's not like he's DHing or a liability in the field or something. The only reason that there's even any argument on the NL MVP is that Pujols has been considered the best hitter in baseball for a while now and people are getting bored with him. If the Cardinals didn't make the playoffs, I guess I could see an argument, but I still think they will. The Reds have been overachieving all year (more runs given up than scored), and the Phillies have been gutted of a lot of significant talent. They've been playing on emotion since Abreu left, but that won't last until the end of the season. I can see one of those two teams passing St. Louis, but not both. Yeah, the Padres and Dodgers could both finish strong along w/ the Reds, there are a lot of ways the Cards could miss the playoffs, but I just don't see it happening.