Cheech Tremendous

I've never understood this argument. By the end of the week, Florida will have a new contract ready for him that will make him the highest paid coach in college. He's won two national titles and is in a prime position to accomplish more before he's done. What does it matter if he's the "big man" on campus?

Just to add my two cents to this argument, I have the following current guys as mortal, absolute locks for the HOF: Shaq Tim Duncan Gary Payton Kevin Garnett Allen Iverson Kobe Bryant Jason Kidd I think the following guys may have enough to get in eventually, but are going to be harder to assess cases for various reasons: Grant Hill Tracy McGrady Paul Pierce Chris Webber Vince Carter Ray Allen Alonzo Mourning I also sort of wonder about Dikembe Mutombo. Definitely doesn't have the numbers that jump out at you, but you could make the case based on his defense and rebounding. Steve Nash is another one that gives me problems too.

Fun with numbers after one day: Adam Dunn has a VORP of 3.7 already. Hank Blalock had a VORP of 0.0 all last year.

I couldn't figure out why Donovan would want to go to Kentucky anyways. Seems like he's doing fine for himself at Florida.

So Czech is the Jim Brown of TSM?

Does anyone else think Oden should have gotten MOP despite his team losing? That was a great performance he had last night. He almost willed his team back into it.

I finished eighth. After a strong start, I was stuck in the middle for most of the tourney until a good showing in the final four saved me.

What happened to Bruiser?

That's a damn good resume. Along with Stockton, he was the best point guard of the nineties. I don't know how you can argue otherwise, and I liked KJ and Tim Hardaway a lot.

It was the Stonecutters, right?

That's crazy. Will Carroll mentioned in his injury report that the "tired arm" sounded like BS and that it was probably more like blood clots. Guess this is the season that Rogers turns back into a pumpkin. Any bets on how much longer until Todd Jones joins him?

Chicago's PECOTA explained:

It was a big story? It's disgusting in how much time I spend obsessing over the Red Sox and I didn't even remember that he threw five innings of no hit ball until you just mentioned it. I thought he looked okay, but his command was a little off on a few of his pitches. A good performance, but nothing to write home about.

It's probably not his decision. WWE wants to make money and they probably think a book about Batista will sell. It has nothing to do with the quality of the story being told as the decision makers probably think that fans will buy something with their favorite wrestler on the cover. And they are probably right too.

That's a massive jump in win expectancy. It's probably because of guys like Thome, Konerko and Dye. At their age, they are either going to put up the same great perfomance they have recently or fall off a cliff. The baseline performance for their weighted mean is probably too low considering the types of players they have been and that's skewing the first set low.

For those who might be interested, Baseball Prospectus has posted their postseason odds report. For those who are unfamiliar with the report, they use a computer to simulate the upcoming season a million times, with player outcomes weighted against the likelihoood of expected performance. Just as a reminder, teams that are aggressive traders or have deep farm systems are always under-projected by the system. The Yankees pace the AL with a 54% chance of making the playoffs, while the Phillies have the best shot in the NL at about 42%. BP Postseason Odds Report

I can't believe that we are still arguing this stupid A-Rod contract 7 years after he first signed it. This has to be one of the most tired arguments in sports. First of all, it is not greedy to take the best contract offered to you. No one, in any line of work, should be put down for taking the best monetary offer. It's smart business. Second, no athlete signs with a poor team with the expectations that they will continue to suck after they get there. Is Alfonso Soriano greedy? How about Barry Zito? Drew Brees? Michael Vick? Steve Nash? No... they signed with the team that was the best fit after all factors were considered, including the contract. It is also ridiculous to blame A-Rod for Texas' failures during his tenure. That was the most mismanged team in baseball during that period. They routinely had one of the top 5 payrolls in baseball and couldn't put anything decent around Rodriguez. He didn't curb their spending at all. It was wasting money on Chan Ho Park, Ken Caminiti, Andres Galarraga, Juan Gonzalex and other washed-up drek that handicapped that team. The reason they got better after he left was because young, homegrown talent like Mark Teixeira, Michael Young and Hank Blalock learned how to hit. And they did it on the cheap. Lastly, the dissolution of the A-Rod/Texas marriage was great for both parties. We shouldn't really cry for the owner that signed him, either. There was an article on the Business of Baseball a few months back detailing how the Rangers' owner made billions (!) off of the A-Rod contract because the increased exposure to the team raised the value of his real estate investments in the area. By that time, he was ready to sell of the assets and cash in on the team. A-Rod, feeling that Texas would never offer what they promised, offered to willingly give up a huge chunk of his contract to play for a contender. That hardly sounds like greed or being whiny to me.

I always find it funny/odd that someone could find their way to this board, but have never heard of Dave Meltzer or the Wrestling Observer.

Let's see, who's better at making predictions, an unbiased computer algorithm or a herd of biased observers? Community forecasting (i.e. "wisdom of crowds) is actually extremely accurate, as long as the pool surveyed is large enough. It's actually used in many other industries besides baseball and often produces results better than the most accurate projection systems.

The level of detail on his mullet is exquisite.

Eric Young has apparently joined the BBTN crew. He was on ESPNews yesterday afternoon and it wasn't the best debut I've seen from an analyst. (And I'm paraphrasing...) Q: You've played in October. What's it going to take for a team to win it all this year? A: It's going to take hitting, pitching, and defense. Can't do it if you're missing one of those. Q: What did you think of Daisuke's performance in the Spring? A: It was good but wait till he faces the Yankees 19 times a year.

Didn't anyone see the main page of espn.com today? FJM beat me to the punch... again. In case you missed it, here is the lead article: This might be the stupidest thing ever. They seemingly forgot to mention that he struck out 180(!) times last year. Strikeouts mean nothing. They are the same as any other out. Why can't they figure this out? It's not that difficult. Oh, and he wasn't exactly "toiling" away in the minors. He was mashing the ball with an OPS of 900 or something like that.

Guess I should have watched more Twins games last year. Didn't know I was seeing the greatest team in the history of baseball.

But what does 16-0 mean in a few years when Taker is retired? You've constructed a situation for Taker to give the ultimate rub and wasted it for nothing. Taker retiring with his streak intact doesn't draw you any more money. Pride and legacy don't mean jack shit in wrestling.

Worst. Commercial. Ever.