Andy

Evidently the Cheeseburger Theory was not ND's friend this week. Did not go into the rankings.

Well, Carolina sucks. And for all the Cam Newton awesomeness, he has 7 TD passes and 7 picks this year. Draft this team a defense, an offensive line, and more receivers.

There's no chance in hell we'd go after Cherington if this Theo situation somehow fell through. Just saying. I agree. Was just mentioning one of many people comparable to Theo that the Cubs could hire. RedSox is actually positing that the Cubs would sit and wait a year for Theo if it came down to it and that's simply insane.

The Cubs could get plenty of GMs comparable to Theo without paying the absurd price Boston is demanding. There's a guy named Cherington that would probably be receptive to the Cubs' offer to name just one, especially after watching this train wreck unfold in front of him. Although I'm sure the Red Sox would determine him to be worth eleventy gazillion dollars plus our whole farm system as well. The implication that we'd be stuck with an interim GM if we don't get Theo is a ridiculous one.

What an atrocious football game that was. Both teams should be ashamed of themselves.

Apparently UCF is going to accept the invite, it sounds like Houston will too. No word yet from SMU.

I was pretty much resigned to it as soon as Philly allowed them into the playoffs.

What the holy hell? I can't believe anyone involved in any of this thinks this is a good idea. Anyway also of note is that the Big East is supposedly going to invite Air Force and Boise State as football-only members and UCF, Houston and SMU as all-sports members, although I don't know how that's affected by this asinine merger.

Permanent. I feel like 2/3rds of the top 25 non-mod posters on NSBB would be disqualified if you counted temporary bans. Who among us hasn't enjoyed a temporary ban at some point in NSBB's history? :bye: Me. Keep the insults veiled and sarcastic and you're good. Or just be like me and suck at insulting people. I'm assuming that's the biggest reason for my lack of temp ban thus far.

One could do this exercise with most anyone in the Cardinals clubhouse. 13th rounder turns into greatest player in history of the game, middle of the road starting pitcher turns into consistent Cy Young threat/superace, etc. Easy to drive yourself crazy if you're not careful.

Tim Abromaitis will have to miss 3 body-bag games (plus a game against a Detroit team that's apparently supposed to be Butler's biggest threat in the Horizon) due to playing in 2 exhibition games his sophomore year, then redshirting. Evidently the NCAA only allows you to do that if you're a freshman. Stupid rule, but probably just as dumb a screw-up by Brey by not knowing it. At least he'll be back for the KC tournament.

It's likely to change after the current BCS deal is out post-2013 season, which is also when the Big East will be stripped of their auto-bid.

Who knows what kind of conference we'll be playing in by the time he gets here. Good get by Brey though.

Got to beat Atlanta if the rest of this season is to mean anything other than being the "Frisky Bad Team".

I agree with you on the 2nd paragraph. There's a handful of really good teams and then it seems like there's a steep drop-off after, I'd say, Stanford in the polls. Clemson, Oregon, Michigan, etc. could still prove that hypothesis wrong, though. And if you guys can convince Michigan State and Purdue to take ND - and the inflated ticket price they can charge for the home games as well as the guaranteed national exposure they get for playing them - off the schedule, then go ahead, but I doubt those 2 schools would go for it. Michigan is already showing signs of wanting to end the series, anyway.

Beat the pants off somebody like Alabama did while they play Ole Miss or Kentucky or whomever and you'll jump right back. Some jump. He probably meant somebody good. Yeah, Texas isn't good. Why they're still ranked is a testament to the power of the name. Besides, why does it matter? Win out and you'll be #2. Who cares what you're ranked in October, as long as you still have a shot at the prize.

The only thing I can think regarding anyone voting Florida to be ranked is that they really think Bama and LSU are otherworldly (which they may be). The Gators have gotten throttled by the only two good teams they have played.

Top 25 games ------------------------ (1) LSU at Tennessee (3:30 pm, CBS) (2) Alabama at Ole Miss (6 pm, ESPN2) (3) Oklahoma at Kansas (9:15 pm, ESPN2) Indiana at (4) Wisconsin (12 pm, ESPN2) (5) Boise State at Colorado State (6 pm, The Mountain) (6) Oklahoma State at (22) Texas (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN) (7) Stanford at Washington State (7:30 pm, Versus) (8) Clemson at Maryland (7 pm, ESPNU) (18) Arizona State at (9) Oregon (10:15 pm, ESPN) (11) Michigan at (23) Michigan State (12 pm, ESPN) (12) Georgia Tech at Virginia (3:30 pm, ESPNU) (15) South Carolina at Mississippi State (12 pm, SEC Network) Ohio State at (16) Illinois (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN) (17) Kansas State at Texas Tech (7 pm, FSN/CSN) (19) Virginia Tech at Wake Forest (6:30 pm, ESPN3) (20) Baylor at (21) Texas A&M (12 pm, FX) Florida at (24) Auburn (7 pm, ESPN) Games of interest ------------------------ USC at California (9 pm Thursday, ESPN) Louisville at Cincinnati (12 pm, ESPN3) Purdue at Penn State (12 pm, BTN) Iowa State at Missouri (2 pm) Florida State at Duke (3 pm, ESPN3) Ball State at Ohio (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Western Michigan at Northern Illinois (3:30 pm, CSN Chicago) Northwestern at Iowa (7 pm, BTN) UL Monroe at Troy (7 pm, ESPN3) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- San Diego State at Air Force (8 pm Thursday, CBS College) Hawaii at San Jose State (9 pm Friday, ESPN) Toledo at Bowling Green (12 pm, ESPN3) Utah at Pittsburgh (12 pm, ESPNU) Miami at North Carolina (12 pm, ESPN3) Navy at Rutgers (2 pm, ESPN3) South Florida at Connecticut (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Central Florida at SMU (3:30 pm, FSN/CSN) Georgia at Vanderbilt (7 pm, ESPN3) UAB at Tulsa (8 pm, CBS College) Idaho at New Mexico State (8 pm, ESPN3)

Carolina is good enough to compete with anybody in the league, but still not good enough yet to beat anyone good from the looks of it. It's so frustrating. Ron Rivera owes me an explanation. So he was afraid of a 5-yard 12-men penalty...I'd rather take that risk than GIVE them a free shot at a field goal they were quite clearly never going to make. Worst-case scenario is they get a FG attempt 5 yards closer than the one you handed them by calling that timeout. I love what Rivera's done here so far but that was indefensibly dumb.

Joe Bauserman is so bad. So very bad.

Sure doesn't look like the B1G is very good apart from Wisconsin. Denard could very well one-man-show Michigan to a 12-0 regular season. Wisconsin would then absolutely annihilate them in the conference title game, but still.

Well, if you're not going to get any better at stopping the option, scoring a TD every possession is one way to counteract it.

I'm not going to believe Pujols will leave STL till it happens. Both the Yanks and Sawx are set at first base, and the Sawx are set at DH too. Neither are really in a position to bid on Pujols unless they also decide to make a trade. STL will offer Pujols somewhat close to what others offer and Pujols will probably just take it. Maybe - hopefully - I'm wrong.

It's cruel coincidence that just like the 08 Cubs, the 11 Phillies were the best team in baseball and had a golden chance to create a better matchup for themselves in the postseason and seemingly chose not to. The 08 Cubs of course could have drawn the free-falling Mets but chose seemingly to aid in their collapse by playing scrubs against Milwaukee the final week of the season, and the 11 Phillies pulled their 'honor of the game' nonsense against Atlanta. Oy.

I am usually incredibly spiteful about my hatred for St. Louis, more so than most. The only good thing about that soul-sucking worthless franchise continuing to have good things happen to it is that for a little while I won't be alone. Go Brewers.