TruffleShuffle

man if that is true that's pretty embarrassing for meyer. a coach shouldn't completely revise his offensive game plan to get his quarterback to stick around for one more year, and to pump up that player's nfl draft stock.

indiana should win maybe 2 big ten games this year. that team is putrid.

if you're wondering why a guy like blyleven isn't getting in, i'm watching PTI and mike wilbon is saying "how can you let blyleven in if jack morris isn't in? it's a ridiculous oversight that jack morris isn't in the hall of fame." then tony kornheiser goes on to say that he's not appreciably better than morris, kaat or tommy john. he also mentioned something about winning percentage. these types of arguments are what keeps blyleven out.

i encourage you to revisit alan trammell's qualifications, bruce.

you forgot the most compelling storyline, the steelers are the only non-bird left in the playoffs.

yeah damon played for both the yankees and red sox, i think that makes him a lock.

well i'm an eagles fan and a penn state fan, which don't give me much reason to hate a guy who ditched michigan st, lsu and the miami dolphins. what do you think is more likely, that a philadelphia/penn state fan has a petty reason to hate/distrust nick saban, or an alabama fan has more reason to want to trust and like the guy who is now the head coach of alabama?

If there is one recruiting service worse then scout, it is ESPN. Don't trust any recruiting service outside of rivals, but if your coach is worth his weight in gold, trust him (like Bama fans do with Saban) and his coaching staff over any analyst. well that's good to hear, at least somebody trusts nick saban.

BP on trammell: BP's explanation of JAWS: JAWS endorsed henderson (duh), raines, trammell, mcgwire and blyleven as hall of famers. please give JAWS a vote.

We don't know yet. I think it will likely be Oakland or Texas (both of whom have primary built up their farm via Latin America and trades). While Tampa has rated highly for a few years, some of their best prospects are non first rounders (in the bigs: Crawford and Shields, in the minors: Wade Davis, Jake McGee, Reid Brignac, Jeremy Hellickson, Desmond Jennings, etc.). baltimore also has a nice young base that nobody seems to know about. peter angelos will surely eff it up though.

I don't think that will matter in the final analysis. He was dominant for ten years. It shouldn't, but the BBWAA are notorious for penalizing players who "didn't play the right way" or somehow "put a black eye" on the game. It's why we'll never see Albert Belle get serious consideration, not to mention a slew of possible (but never convicted) steroid users i believe the phrase is "put a black guy on the game."

i think psu wins either 7 or 8 games the rest of the way, ending up 21-10 or 20-11 going into the big ten tourney. their OOC schedule was such a joke that i think they need to end up a couple of games better and then win at least one game in the big ten tourney. thing is, his projected W's and L's are hard to argue with. He has PSU beating IU twice (duh), then Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan at home. If you want to squeeze out 2 or 3 wins, you're talking about a win @ Iowa (totally doable), then maybe Wisconsin at home or @ OSU. i don't think illinois is as good as they're rated right now; i actually think that penn state should beat illinois here. i don't think any of the home games (including wisconsin and michigan st) are out of reach. the only road games that are basically auto-losses are @purdue and @michigan st. @illinois is probably a loss but for some reason we seem to do okay there. i don't think there are any road games, aside from indiana, that penn state should necessarily be expected to win. You should be favored at Iowa His predictions have PSU losing by 2 @Iowa and by 2 at home against Wisconsin, which basically means two coin flips. By his numbers, PSU could win both yeah but he also penn state at 52% to beat michigan at home, 59% to beat iowa at home and 29% to beat illinois at home. those all seem too low to me.

well the ravens played the steelers very even both games this year, but came up on the short end. i can see the ravens winning this game, with how well their defense is playing right now. it will be a low-scoring slugfest and if the ravens take care of the ball, they can pull the upset.

i think psu wins either 7 or 8 games the rest of the way, ending up 21-10 or 20-11 going into the big ten tourney. their OOC schedule was such a joke that i think they need to end up a couple of games better and then win at least one game in the big ten tourney. thing is, his projected W's and L's are hard to argue with. He has PSU beating IU twice (duh), then Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan at home. If you want to squeeze out 2 or 3 wins, you're talking about a win @ Iowa (totally doable), then maybe Wisconsin at home or @ OSU. i don't think illinois is as good as they're rated right now; i actually think that penn state should beat illinois here. i don't think any of the home games (including wisconsin and michigan st) are out of reach. the only road games that are basically auto-losses are @purdue and @michigan st. @illinois is probably a loss but for some reason we seem to do okay there. i don't think there are any road games, aside from indiana, that penn state should necessarily be expected to win.

i think psu wins either 7 or 8 games the rest of the way, ending up 21-10 or 20-11 going into the big ten tourney. their OOC schedule was such a joke that i think they need to end up a couple of games better and then win at least one game in the big ten tourney.

holy cross has two freshmen who are major contributors, a senior who doesn't play as a significant contributor, and then 58 role players. i see a lot of red on our results page, which i think means that we suck.

the spelling of his first name makes me want to kill his parents.

2010: r. alomar should be a no-brainer, and i think barry larkin is close to being a no-brainer. edgar martinez was a great hitter, but he didn't really do anything til his late 20s and had no defensive value, so he's out. mcgriff was a mediocre fielder and didn't have enough "great" years for me. galarraga and ventura, no way, though ventura is probably closer than people realize. 2011: bagwell is a no brainer. palmeiro won't get in because of the steroid stuff; to me he's pretty borderline if you leave that out but (knowing nothing about the roids) i'd probably vote yes. franco was always pretty good but not great. i think olerud was always badly underrated, but he's not a hall of famer. i don't even think the last four names on the list require any discussion. 2012: what a terrible list. the only guy who merits discussion is bernie williams. if he'd stayed very good into his mid 30s i would've given him a shot, but he dropped off pretty sharply beyond around 32. i think a guy who does nothing later in his career has to have overwhelming numbers at his peak, and williams didn't. so he's out.

regardless, dawkins will not be leaving philly for dallas. the salary cap is going up by a lot after this season, and i've read multiple stories over the past week saying that resigning dawkins is top priority for the eagles.

5.2% of people didn't vote for henderson? i'd like to see those names.

my friend in boston would beg to differ. she found a bar in boston that is basically eagles central on sundays 8-) you're probably right that the eagles are the lowest-profile team in the nfc east, but forbes rated the eagles as the 7th most valuable franchise in the nfl - though the cowboys are #1, giants are #2 and redskins are #4. the ravens are 10th and the steelers are 18th and arizona is 25th. the eagles are the 8th most popular team in the nfl, according to a harris poll from last year. the steelers are #3, baltimore is tied for 26th and the cardinals are 29th.

a lot of the morons certainly do hate andy reid. i talked to several friends about the eagles the last time i was back in south jersey, which was when we were going into week 17. their opinions ranged from lukewarm support to a position similar to mine, which was "don't fire the coach unless you're replacing him with someone better" (i.e. bill cowher and that's probably about it). so i think you're overstating it in saying (or at least seeing to say) that almost every eagles fan hates andy reid. fortunately the eagles don't listen to the idiot fans - i remember back when they let troy vincent and bobby taylor (starting CBs) go, everyone was up in arms. i'm pretty sure those guys were out of the league in less than 3 years, and lito sheppard established themselves as very good, borderline pro-bowl players. there are some things that andy reid isn't really good at. he's terrible at clock management. he becomes too pass-happy at times, and sometimes the play-calling gets too predictable. probably his biggest flaws come in coaching during the game; this is the easiest thing for people sitting on their couch to see, so they jump to stupid conclusions. but the eagles generally draft well, make smart free-agent signings, get their young players to improve, cut the right guys loose when their ability no longer matches their salary, prepare well for games... reid has a hand in all of this, as the coach and executive vp. i'm willing to accept some poor in-game decisions in exchange for a team that is competing for the division and conference title almost every year.

philly-pittsburgh would be big ratings. there's a reason that pittsburgh has been seemingly playing at 4:15 or on sunday/monday night all the time. they've got a big fan base and are a high profile team. the eagles are also a high profile team, pretty much like the rest of the nfc east. pittsburgh-philly would have the best storylines and get the best ratings, and you're right, arizona-baltimore is the matchup that the nfl would least like to see.

might happen next year or the year after, and it might have even happened if tampa hadn't crapped the bed against oakland, but it's not going to happen this offseason.

tim tebow said something about his coming back being due to loyalty and wanting to win another championship. i'm guessing it had more to do with wanting to put off for another year not hearing his name on the first day of the draft.