Cheech Tremendous

-Six BCS conferences, each with twelve teams and two divisions. -Division winners play in the Conference title game. Winner goes to playoffs. -Six spots taken by BCS conference winners, with one at-large BCS bid and one at-large non-BCS bid closing out the final two. Am I just crazy? This all seems so logical to me.

They never intended to open the roof. On the day that they announced Safeco as the venue, they indicated that the roof would be closed. The sides of that venue are always open though. So Mania XIX was a quasi-outdoor event.

A playoff system would basically require that every conference had a championship game. Oregon, sitting with two conference losses, would have an outside chance at getting to that game and playing their way into the playoffs. The chances would be slim, but fans of the team could at least hold on to a slight degree of hope. As it was, the Boise State loss ended their season. Without bothering to look at the intricacies of possible tie-breakers in the Big XII, I'd wager a bet that the TT/Ok. St. game would have still had a ton of importance in a playoff world. Wouldn't the winner of the game be in line to play for the conference title? I don't see how it would be any less crucial with a playoff spot on the line.

The flip side to that argument, of course, is that while one or two games a week gain extra importance with the BCS, the fifty other games on the schedule become entirely irrelevant. Unless you are a fan of the four or five teams that have a shot at the BCS title, you've had nothing to be interested in all season. I haven't even checked to see what Oregon, the local college team, has even done in the past few weeks because its entirely meaningless. A playoff would, you know, settle things on the actual field instead of on a computer or piece of paper. The regular season is not more important with the BCS in place. If anything, a playoff system would make regular season games and conference championships much more important because they'd actually start to mean something in terms of achieving a playoff spot. It'd also cultivate a system where teams are rewarded from improving over the course of a season, whereas the opposite is true now.

I'm appalled somebody's still watching him.

If I was separating Led Zeppelin songs into the categories of Great, Good and Average ("Hot Dog" is the only thing in their catalog that falls below average), I'd definitely drop "Dazed..." into the bottom rung. The bow playing is cool as a novelty, but I've already expressed that it's better used on "How Many More Times." Otherwise I've never been overly impressed. Then again, I've always enjoyed that bloated hard rock from the group's later days over the experimental psychedic blues of their early work. Probably why I'm the only guy in the world that likes Presence.

Campaign 2008 was still worse than the Benoit thread.

I love Led Zeppelin about as much as one guy possibly could, and even I'm not that into "Dazed and Confused." Couldn't we have gotten a better representative? Shit, "How Many More Times" is right there on that first album and superior in every way. Now that I think about it, II came out in 1969. "Whole Lotta Love" doesn't crack the top 128 songs of the '60s? Get right the fuck outta here.

I'm really disappointed that this thread isn't called "Design O' The Times."

My one suggestion would be to not mess with the color scheme. Otherwise, fuck around to your heart's content.

Eh, Zombie Benoit would probably still be the best worker on the roster.

GROUP A "Build me up Buttercup" by The Foundations vs "Ring Of Fire" by Johnny Cash "8 Miles High" by the Byrds vs Respect" by Aretha Franklin "Hang On Sloopy" by The McCoys vs "Cupid" by Sam Cooke "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Cream vs "She's Not There" by The Zombies "The House Of The Rising Sun" by the Animals vs "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkle "Bonnie and Clyde" by Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot vs "She Loves You" by The Beatles "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye vs "Mr. Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan "Good Vibrations" by Beach Boys vs "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash GROUP B "Eight Days A Week" by The Beatles vs "Dance to the Music" by Sly & the Family Stone "My Way" by Frank Sinatra vs "Hey Jude" by The Beatles "My Girl" by The Temptations vs "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin vs "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In" by The First Edition vs "A Day in the Life" by The Beatles "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King vs "Visions of Johanna" by Bob Dylan "Daydream Believer" by The Monkees vs "Jumpin Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison vs "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke GROUP C "Space Oddity" by David Bowie vs "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison "Can't Help Falling In Love" by Elvis Presley vs "Only The Lonely" by Roy Orbison "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals vs "Street Fighting Man" by The Rolling Stones "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells vs "My Generation" by The Who "Gloria" by Them vs "Purple Haze" by The Jimi Hendriz Expierence "The Weight" by The Band vs "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival "Time of The Season" by The Zombies vs "Heroin" by The Velvet Underground "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys vs "Reach Out, I'll Be There" by The Four Tops GROUP D "Venus in Furs" by The Velvet Underground vs "Catch The Wind" by Donovan "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5 vs "Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles "Green Onions" by Booker T. and the MGs vs "Turn, Turn, Turn" by The Birds "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan vs "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson vs "Gimme Shelter" by Rolling Stones "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" by James Brown vs "Break on Through" by The Doors "Norwegian Wood" by Beatles vs "Scarborough Fair" by Simon & Garfunkel "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong vs "Come See About Me" by The Supremes

Every 16-year-old kid that reads Catcher in the Rye thinks Holden is bad ass. He's the total antihero. By the time you're 18 you realize what an utter doucebag he is. Or you'll still identify with him and we'll know that you're the doucebag. Simple litmus test, really.

No, I totally dig the overhaul. I like thinking that TSM can evolve. Makes me feel better about wasting all my time here. I sort of like the new logo. The box around the type sort of plays tricks with my eyes though. I keep thinking that I have a new PM. But hey, you're the guy with the design background. I'll default to your judgment here. Can't wait until we start churning out those TSM t-shirts!

So I put this on tonight. It's so good. Giuseppe's crazy.

Rumor has it that they are only keeping Smith and will look to move both Street and Gonzalez. Street doesn't interest them much with Corpas in the wings. A swap to St. Louis for Ludwick makes some sense, as does a potential deal with Cleveland. There are some sketchy reports indicating that they don't like Gonzalez as much as Dexter Fowler, and might look to package him in a deal for help elsewhere. I'd rather keep both and let them fight it out in spring training, but that's just me.

EDIT: Poor reading on my part

Vote totals: Player Club 1st 2nd 3rd Points Tim Lincecum San Francisco Giants 23 7 1 137 Brandon Webb Arizona Diamondbacks 4 15 8 73 Johan Santana New York Mets 4 8 11 55 Brad Lidge Philadelphia Phillies — 1 7 10 CC Sabathia Milwaukee Brewers 1 1 1 9 Ryan Dempster Chicago Cubs — — 4 4

I can agree a bit with what you and Cheech are saying. In some ways, USC are victims of circumstance this year, as it's not really their fault that the rest of the Pac-10 is so awful. But considering the way that the two teams' respective schedules play out, there's no way that you could reasonably argue that a one-loss USC deserves to play in the NC game more than a one-loss Florida. USC's only win of any substance will have been against a not-very-good Ohio State team playing without their best offensive player. For the record, I'm not arguing that USC should go in over Florida. I just wanted to clear the air a bit about their "bad" loss that wasn't that bad. Frankly, I don't subscribe the who's loss was better argument, nor do I do advocate the constant employment of the transitive property, but this is the system we are stuck with. It's why I hate college football. I'll never understand a sport that crowns its champion via a popularity contest, but alas that is an argument for another day.

I actually thought Cadillac's injury was career ending. I had no idea he was even attempting to make a comeback.

There aren't many people that expect Oregon State to run the table against those teams. Even here in Oregon where the Beavs are worshiped fans are willing to admit that's a brutal schedule. It's just not realistic to think that they win the conference. I do think it's time that people stopped acting like USC's loss to Oregon State was especially brutal. It was an early season road loss to a good team. Not exactly like the stinker they threw up against Stanford last year.

I "discovered" Electric Warrior about a year ago and fell in love with it. In the past, I had never really gotten into "Get It On" and held T. Rex as a style over substance band, but I was dead wrong. This is one of my favorite albums. To be honest though, I've never listened to any of T. Rex's other work. Maybe I'm missing out on something good and therefore overrating Electric Warrior. That being said, I don't know how you could describe this record as not being very good. It's pretty fucking excellent.

It's not a bad trade for the Marlins, but I still think they could have gotten a little more for those guys. Bonifacio is a homeless man's Luis Castillo and the two prospects are so young and far away that they are just lottery tickets. I don't think it's outrageous to suggest that they could have gotten a pre-arb starting position player from some team willing to take a chance on Willingham and Olsen. I also don't know that you can pin Olson's brutal performance on the defense. Bad defense doesn't make you surrender 30 HRs in a pitcher's park. Also doesn't make you lose 5 MPH off your fastball. The problem is that the Nats have an expensive new stadium, but are totally irrelevant to the local populace. Ownership is willing to spend, but free agents aren't interested in joining a 70-win franchise with no farm system or national appeal. It makes some sense to go after a couple decent players, even if they are paying inefficiently. That team needs to do something to make themselves relevant. EDIT: The Nats now have a huge logjam in the corners and 1st base. Willingham doesn't fit in the outfield with Dukes, Milledge, Pena and Kearns. A move to first is possible, but they already have Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young. Someone's getting traded.

Good thing you guys aren't letting this honor go to your head.

Whoa, that's a total fleecing. How does Bowden routinely get other teams to give him talented players for nothing? Rumor has it they are going to make a monster offer to Teixeira as well. They might actually field a decent team in the next year or two.