Andy

I'm putting in a FAAB claim on Lorenzo Taliaferro and planning on dropping James Jones for him in my 14-team league. Assuming I win the bid (which I may not because I've blown most of my budget already), I'm not crazy, right? For context, I'm stocked at WR (Demaryius, Hilton, Maclin, Hopkins, Terrance Williams) and short at RB (at present, just Ben Tate and Ronnie Hillman, with Isaiah Crowell as a Tate handcuff). Ideally, the only time I'll be playing Taliaferro (or Jones, if I didn't win the bid) will be Week 10, when both my flex-starting WRs are off.

SRO tickets for tonight's WS game in KC are starting at $328 on StubHub. Factoring in the bigger city, smaller park and bigger fan base, I'm thinking it might be close to double that for a Cubs game. That may even be conservative.

Though they continue to cherish their independence, I wonder if this would lead ND to consider a conference. As of now, theoretically, there could be 4 teams in the playoff that aren't conference winners (extremely unlikely, I know), but that number goes down to 3 with this potential format and, more importantly, guarantees the conference champ a spot. I don't think they would join, but you never know. Chance at a guaranteed spot for joining the B1G or ACC might make it more appealing. I'm sure they would make some sort of ND rule like they did for the BCS, like if ND is in the top 8 of their rankings they have to be picked. Their continued sway over an entity far bigger than them is unbelievable. I actually don't mind ND, but am perplexed as to why the powers that be continue to let them do whatever the hell they want. It's really something, probably helped out by the fact that the NCAA is such an awful organization with no real power. Good for them, I guess. The NCAA lets everyone do whatever the hell they want, especially with regard to football. The only thing that makes ND different is that they decided to shop their own TV rights rather than hand them to a conference. (Actually, the MWC lets Boise do that too, although that doesn't seem to be doing much for them.)

Though they continue to cherish their independence, I wonder if this would lead ND to consider a conference. As of now, theoretically, there could be 4 teams in the playoff that aren't conference winners (extremely unlikely, I know), but that number goes down to 3 with this potential format and, more importantly, guarantees the conference champ a spot. I don't think they would join, but you never know. Chance at a guaranteed spot for joining the B1G or ACC might make it more appealing. I'm sure they would make some sort of ND rule like they did for the BCS, like if ND is in the top 8 of their rankings they have to be picked. That seems highly unlikely to me. They made no such rule regarding ND qualifying for one of the New Year's 6 bowls, so I'm guessing they'd just be thrown in the pool with everyone else battling for one of the other 3 spots.

And it's going to suck. The only good thing that came out of the BCS was it made every game affect every other one in the title picture. If every power conference gets an automatic bid, there's no reason for anyone in B1G country to care about an SEC game, and vice versa. ND could finish #5 this year and I'd still be vehemently against any further playoff expansion. Like it or not, it's going to happen. A) AD's and conference commissioners are going to lose their [expletive] when their teams are left out this year. B) Mo money, mo money. I honestly would love to see it. Miss St vs TCU, Mich St vs Bama, Georgia vs ND, Oregon vs FSU? Yes, please. I know it's going to happen. That won't make me like it.

waiting for the autopsy report Being perfectly honest, that was one of my first thoughts given the organization's history. But hearing about wackadoodle drivers in Latin America does make it make a bit more sense.

And it's going to suck. The only good thing that came out of the BCS was it made every game affect every other one in the title picture. If every power conference gets an automatic bid, there's no reason for anyone in B1G country to care about an SEC game, and vice versa. ND could finish #5 this year and I'd still be vehemently against any further playoff expansion.

Seattle wasn't even [expletive] trying to rush the passer and still sacked Cam two straight times on that last drive. What a joke.

BREAKING: Blowing multiple red-zone possessions and forcing the 27th-ranked defense in the league to hold up for an entire game is not a winning game plan.

New TV rules this year permit the NFL to flex games between networks for better exposure for games they deem better matchups. Texans/Titans is on FOX today. Pats/Bills was on FOX a couple weeks ago.

Updated with committee Top 25 Top 25 games ------------------------ Arkansas at (1) Mississippi State (7:15 pm, ESPN2) (2) Florida State at (25) Louisville (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN) (3) Auburn at (4) Ole Miss (7 pm, ESPN) Stanford at (5) Oregon (7:30 pm, FOX) (7) TCU at (20) West Virginia (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) Oklahoma State at (9) Kansas State (8 pm, ABC/ESPN3) (10) Notre Dame vs Navy – in Landover, MD (8 pm, CBS) Florida vs (11) Georgia – in Jacksonville (3:30 pm, CBS) (12) Arizona at (22) UCLA (10:30 pm, ESPN) Kansas at (13) Baylor (4 pm, FS1) (17) Utah at (14) Arizona State (11 pm, FS1) Purdue at (15) Nebraska (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) Illinois at (16) Ohio State (8 pm, ABC/ESPN3) (18) Oklahoma at Iowa State (12 pm, FS1) (23) East Carolina at Temple (12 pm, ESPNEWS) (24) Duke at Pittsburgh (12 pm, ESPNU) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- Troy at Georgia Southern (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPNU) Cincinnati at Tulane (8 pm Friday, ESPN2) Tulsa at Memphis (8 pm Friday, ESPNU) Air Force at Army (11:30 am, CBS) Wisconsin at Rutgers (12 pm, ESPN) Maryland at Penn State (12 pm, ESPN2) Northwestern at Iowa (12 pm, BTN) UL Monroe at Texas A&M (12 pm, SEC Network) UCF at UConn (12 pm, CBSSN) Boston College at Virginia Tech (12:30 pm, ACC Network/ESPN3) North Carolina at Miami (12:30 pm, ACC Network/ESPN3) Washington at Colorado (1 pm, Pac-12 Network) Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan (1 pm, ESPN3) Western Michigan at Miami (OH) (2:30 pm, ESPN3) Western Kentucky at Louisiana Tech (3 pm, FSN) NC State at Syracuse (3 pm, FSN South/ESPN3) Indiana at Michigan (3:30 pm, BTN) Virginia at Georgia Tech (3:30 pm, ESPNU) BYU at Middle Tennessee (3:30 pm, CBSSN) Georgia State at Appalachian State (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Kentucky at Missouri (4 pm, SEC Network) Houston at South Florida (4 pm, ESPNEWS) USC at Washington State (4:30 pm, Pac-12 Network) Arkansas State at Idaho (5 pm, ESPN3) South Alabama at UL Lafayette (5 pm, ESPN3) Old Dominion at Vanderbilt (7 pm, ESPNU) Colorado State at San Jose State (7 pm, CBSSN) Texas at Texas Tech (7:30 pm, FS1) Tennessee at South Carolina (7:30 pm, SEC Network) San Diego State at Nevada (10:30 pm, CBSSN) California at Oregon State (10:30 pm, Pac-12 Network) Wyoming at Fresno State (10:45 pm, ESPN2)

So apparently Utah ran an obvious pick play on their game winning TD that of course wasn't flagged. I didn't need to know that.

I expect [expletive] like that out of Les Miles. Stewart Mandel said if Les had done that, it would've worked. Hard to argue.

Winter meetings are in the winter. January or early February, I believe.

One baseball reporter tweeted that it's through 2016. Don't know if any financials are available.

I Googled and found an article about Yunel Escobar that said Maddon and the bilingual bench coach (Dave Martinez) met with him before the waiver deadline to assure him he wouldn't be moved. Since the writer specifically mentioned Martinez was bilingual, I'm guessing Maddon isn't.

You're not alone. I'm not disinterested in the NFL, but I've been watching fewer and fewer games that don't involve Carolina. A lot of that has to do with being married to a non-football fan, granted, but I've actually gotten to the point where I don't mind watching only a day and a half straight of football and not two days.

Whatever the Dodgers said about Mattingly, it seems hard to believe he's not headed to LA.

In the last 3 weeks, I have faced the teams that ranked 2nd, 1st and 1st in my 14-team league in scoring for that week, including, this week, a guy who traded Aaron Rodgers in a rebuilding effort DURING THE WEEK before facing me.

Yes, seriously. I also don't like Jameis Winston, Ben Rotlisberger, Ray Lewis, etc. for similar reasons. There are some things more important than sports. Not sure why you'd think I'd hate Notre Dame when I live 2000 miles away and don't run into too many of their fans here. Sorry then. But a lot of people around here like to parade the tragedy around to embarrass ND when it's a far from cut and dry situation. We have a famous [expletive] local radio guy who tweeted out the girls name a bunch of times during the game last night. Maybe the campus police were incompetent in not responding to the case more quickly, but the football program didn't do anything wrong and what the player was accused of was being a creep relatively benign compared to jameis accusations. That said, Brian Kelly was negligent in the death of that freshman camera man. So I'm surprised people don't go straight for that because there real isn't an argument there. I would suggest dropping the subject, because anyone that wants to know about it already does and has made their judgment on it.

My opponent this week has already exceeded his projection and still has his QB, Roethlisberger, and Odell Beckham to go. He had Denard Robinson, who's going to outscore anyone on my team. After a 5-0 start my team is going down in flames.

At 3-3-1, Carolina remains alone atop the NFC South. Whoever is the top wild-card is going to destroy the champion of this garbage division.

You pity the Panthers themselves? My math is off, as it often is when I'm bellyaching about how awful this team is. The [expletive] thing is, we're in salary-cap hell for basically ever. There's no end in sight.

Top 25 games ------------------------ (1) Mississippi State at Kentucky (3:30 pm, CBS) (3) Ole Miss at (24) LSU (7:15 pm, ESPN) (4) Alabama at Tennessee (7:30 pm, ESPN2) South Carolina at (5) Auburn (7:30 pm, SEC Network) (6) Oregon at California (10 pm Friday, FS1) Michigan at (8) Michigan State (3:30 pm, ABC) Texas Tech at (10) TCU (3:30 pm, FOX) Texas at (11) Kansas State (12 pm, ESPN) (13) Ohio State at Penn State (8 pm, ABC) (14) Arizona State at Washington (10:45 pm, ESPN) (15) Arizona at Washington State (6 pm, Pac-12 Network) Rutgers at (16) Nebraska (12 pm, ESPN2) UConn at (18) East Carolina (7 pm Thursday, ESPNU) (20) USC at (19) Utah (10 pm, FS1) Syracuse at (21) Clemson (7 pm, ESPNU) (22) West Virginia at Oklahoma State (3:30 pm, ESPN) Florida Atlantic at (23) Marshall (3:30 pm, FS1) (25) UCLA at Colorado (2 pm, Pac-12 Network) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- Arkansas State at UL Lafayette (8 pm Tuesday, ESPN2) Miami at Virginia Tech (8 pm Thursday, ESPN) South Florida at Cincinnati (7 pm Friday, ESPN2) Troy at South Alabama (7:30 pm Friday, ESPNU) BYU at Boise State (9 pm Friday, ESPN/2) Minnesota at Illinois (12 pm, ESPNU) Memphis at SMU (12 pm, ESPNEWS) Maryland at Wisconsin (12 pm, BTN) UAB at Arkansas (12 pm, SEC Network) North Texas at Rice (12 pm, FSN) North Carolina at Virginia (12:30 pm, ACC Network/ESPN3) San Jose State at Navy (1 pm, CBSSN) Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan (1 pm, ESPN3) Akron at Ball State (2 pm, ESPN3) Georgia Southern at Georgia State (2 pm, ESPN3) Ohio at Western Michigan (2 pm, ESPN3) UMass at Toledo (2 pm, ESPN3) Oregon State at Stanford (3:30 pm, ESPN2) Georgia Tech at Pittsburgh (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Boston College at Wake Forest (3:30 pm, FSN) Central Michigan at Buffalo (3:30 pm, ESPN3) UNLV at Utah State (4 pm, ESPNEWS) Vanderbilt at Missouri (4 pm, SEC Network) Temple at UCF (5 pm, CBSSN) Texas State at UL Monroe (7 pm, ESPN3)

I pity the 19 teams in the league that don't get to play this [expletive] joke of a defense.