Andy

No it isn't. The media chews stories up and spits them out on a regular basis. Somebody like Bruce Miles covers most things with a levelheaded "just the facts ma'am" approach that is underappreciated. The more obnoxious members of the media know there will always be another "fun thing to cover" so they don't have any problem ruining one storyline in the pursuit of exploiting it. Their purpose isn't necessarily to run the player out of town, although in some instances it's pretty clear that is part of the motive. Their purpose is to exploit a story and rile up the masses with hate, anger, accusations of laziness and other forms of tearing down the player. Somebody like Kaplan is a jock sniffer that will prop up his buddies while tearing down the guys he doesn't want to try and go on a double date with. I'd ask a favor of you and others. If you have time the next few days, list names of others besides Kaplan who you feel are racist, intentionally or not. I would like to observe them for an extended period of time to see if I sense what some of you do, I haven't been involved in this so far, but I'll give you Bob Brenly right off the bat.

The best chance to win a World Series is to have multiple playoff appearances. You have a better chance to have multiple playoff appearances if Strasburg is healthy for multiple seasons. Strasburg might be healthy as an ox next year, but the team could be [expletive] garbage or suffer a rash of other injuries. When you've got a real chance to win the whole thing, it seems dissonant to intentionally keep your best pitcher from playing in the postseason. My thing is, Washington has known all year from the top down that this innings limit existed, so it befuddles me why they didn't really do much about it all year. Mojo's probably right about Strasburg not being able to turn the switch back on, but I just feel like there has to be something the Nats can do to have him pitch in October.

The whole point of doing this sports thing, last I heard, was to win championships, and the Nationals have an honest-to-God real chance of making it to the World Series this year. They have at least the 2nd best team in the league depending on how one feels about Cincinnati. Stretch out his starts, rest him once a division title is secure (which ought to be a week in advance at least), and then turn him loose in October.

That was Reed Johnson.

.832 isn't 1.032, but I'll still take it at this juncture.

What "garbage" are you referring to? The best player LA gave up to upgrade Andrew Bynum to Dwight Howard was Josh freaking McRoberts. That's the 'garbage' he's referring to.

The NBA crossed the line into mockery quite some time ago.

I went with Allen Wranglers for my teams this year.

Penn State adds names and blue ribbons supporting child abuse prevention to their jerseys. http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/080712aaa.html

And so it is.

The Cubs' schedule gives no indication that this game is available on TV. I'm confused by this.

Pretty ridiculous that the women's triathlon comes down to a photo finish.

I hate you. :twisted:

I disagree. Year after year the SEC has a solid if not dominating bowl record, speaking to the depth of good teams. We'll see. Oh good, we're using bowls to fight the conference pissing contest again.

Kickoffs are from the 35 too. All in the name of safety. Guess you could call it the Eric LeGrand Rule.

You can start drinking earlier than that if it comes down to it - I certainly would. ND has all sorts of problems if things look bleak at any point in Dublin. To your second question - no lower than 14 unless they get absolutely destroyed. Michigan deserves (and I can't believe I'm saying this) some credit for actually attempting to have some semblance of an OOC schedule this year. When was the last time there were only 6 games in Ann Arbor??

4 weeks away? SCREW IT! I'm starting the thread! This year's new quirks in the college football threads are these: 1 - I'm doing away with 'games of interest', for 2 reasons: 1) NSBB's membership is fluid enough that I can't keep track of what teams actually have interest here, and more importantly, 2) because just about all of the games under that tab are available on national TV or ESPN3 anyway. If you are interested in a non-TV game, I apologize and invite you to promote the hell out of it in this thread. 2 - So this year there will be a 'top 25 games' section and a 'other games on TV' section. Any game available on a reasonable tier of television nationwide will be included in the 'other games' section. This will include the Pac-12 Network even though it's not available everywhere yet because indications are it will be (I have no earthly idea how they're going to handle the 7-network thing, because I assume outside Pac-12 country, there will be only one channel). Games on ESPN3 will be included in the tab as well. 3 - It should be noted that Washington is playing all their home games at the Seattle Seahawks' home stadium this year. Since they're in the same city anyway I'm not going to note it each week, just thought I'd note it here to start off. 4 - We're leading with coaches' poll rankings for now, but as in past years, I'm going to use the ESPN template of AP until Week 8, then BCS thereafter. And as always, times are Eastern so adjust accordingly. Game on (in 4 weeks)! Top 25 games ------------------------ Hawaii at (1) USC (7:30 pm, FOX) (2) Alabama vs (8) Michigan – in Arlington, TX (8 pm, ABC) North Texas at (3) LSU (7 pm, ESPNU) (4) Oklahoma at UTEP (10:30 pm, FSN/CSN) Arkansas State at (5) Oregon (10:30 pm, ESPN) Buffalo at (6) Georgia (12 pm, SEC Network/ESPN3) Murray State at (7) Florida State (6 pm, ESPN3) (9) South Carolina at Vanderbilt (7 pm Thursday, ESPN) Jacksonville State at (10) Arkansas (7 pm, ESPN3) Marshall at (11) West Virginia (12 pm, FX) Northern Iowa at (12) Wisconsin (3:30 pm, BTN – Regional) (24) Boise State at (13) Michigan State (8 pm Friday, ESPN) Auburn vs (14) Clemson – in Atlanta (7 pm, ESPN) Wyoming at (15) Texas (8 pm, Longhorn Network) Georgia Tech at (16) Virginia Tech (8 pm Monday, ESPN) Southern Miss at (17) Nebraska (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) Miami (OH) at (18) Ohio State (12 pm, BTN) Savannah State at (19) Oklahoma State (7 pm, FCS Central) San Jose State at (21) Stanford (10 pm Friday, Pac-12 Network) Missouri State at (22) Kansas State (7 pm) Bowling Green at (23) Florida (3:30 pm, ESPN) Kentucky at (25) Louisville (3:30 pm Sunday, ESPN) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- Central Florida at Akron (7 pm Thursday, ESPN3) Eastern Michigan at Ball State (7 pm Thursday, ESPN3) Towson at Kent State (7 pm Thursday, ESPN3) Southeast Missouri State at Central Michigan (7 pm Thursday, ESPN3) Northern Colorado at Utah (7:15 pm Thursday, Pac-12 Network) UMass at UConn (7:30 pm Thursday, Big East Network/ESPN3) UCLA at Rice (7:30 pm Thursday, CBS Sports) McNeese State at Middle Tennessee (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN3) Sacramento State at New Mexico State (8 pm Thursday, ESPN3) Washington State at BYU (10:15 pm Thursday, ESPN) Northern Arizona at Arizona State (10:30 pm Thursday, Pac-12 Network) Minnesota at UNLV (11 pm Thursday, CBS Sports) Wagner at Florida Atlantic (7 pm Friday, ESPN3) NC State vs Tennessee – in Atlanta (7:30 pm Friday, ESPNU) Villanova at Temple (7:30 pm Friday, ESPN3) Notre Dame vs Navy – in Dublin, Ireland (9 am, CBS) Ohio at Penn State (12 pm, ESPN) Northwestern at Syracuse (12 pm, ESPN2) Western Michigan at Illinois (12 pm, ESPNU) Appalachian State at East Carolina (12 pm, FSN/CSN) Elon at North Carolina (12:30 pm, ACC Network/ESPN3) UT San Antonio at South Alabama (2 pm, ESPN3) Richmond at Virginia (3 pm, ESPN3) William & Mary at Maryland (3 pm, ESPN3) Nevada at California (3 pm, Pac-12 Network - Regional) Miami at Boston College (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) Eastern Kentucky at Purdue (3:30 pm, BTN – Regional) Iowa vs Northern Illinois – in Chicago (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Colorado vs Colorado State – in Denver (4 pm, FX) Youngstown State at Pittsburgh (6 pm, ESPN3) Liberty at Wake Forest (6:30 pm, ESPN3) Jackson State at Mississippi State (7 pm, FSN South/ESPN3) Austin Peay at Western Kentucky (7 pm, ESPN3) Lamar at UL Lafayette (7 pm, ESPN3) UT Chattanooga at South Florida (7 pm, ESPN3) Florida International at Duke (7 pm, ESPN3) Central Arkansas at Ole Miss (7 pm, ESPN3) SE Louisiana at Missouri (7 pm, ESPN3) Indiana State at Indiana (8 pm, BTN) Rutgers at Tulane (8 pm, CBS Sports) Toledo at Arizona (10:30 pm, ESPNU) San Diego State at Washington (10:30 pm, Pac-12 Network) SMU at Baylor (6:30 pm Sunday, FSN/CSN)

Ralph Russo said on Twitter earlier that the (clearly superior) AP poll will be released on Aug. 18, for those curious.

Full USA Today poll: 1. LSU (18) 2. Alabama (20) 3. USC (19) 4. Oklahoma (1) 5. Oregon 6. Georgia 7. Florida State (1) 8. Michigan 9. South Carolina 10. Arkansas 11. West Virginia 12. Wisconsin 13. Michigan State 14. Clemson 15. Texas 16. Nebraska 17. TCU 18. Stanford 19. Oklahoma State 20. Virginia Tech 21. Kansas State 22. Boise State 23. Florida 24. Notre Dame 25. Auburn

Not that training a horse to do dressage is a picnic, but it has to be somewhat insulting to gymnasts, swimmers and the like who basically have no life while training, doesn't it?

If that wasn't a perfect score then there will never be another one. It obviously didn't matter but I couldn't believe there were deductions found in that. Terrifically done.

I think the trade of Maholm and the intention to trade Garza and Soriano say more about the 2013 intentions than any quote could. To be somewhat fair, does anyone really expect Soriano to be very useful next season? He will be 37 by then, and it's pretty amazing that the Cubs are even getting reasonable production from him this year.

My cousin served as stroke (essentially the pace-setter) for the men's 8+ rowing team that rowed in the finals this morning. (He was in Beijing too in the fours where they finished 9th.) He finished 4th this time, three-tenths of a second out of the medals. Tough to take, I'd bet, but he did a hell of a job.

Brian Kelly suspends Tommy Rees and Carlo Calabrese for the season opener in Ireland against Navy.

you can't just look at the numbers in a vacuum for these guys. I'm looking at levels and age too.