Andy

He had such a great 2005 with us and a solid 2006 before Lou and Hendry combined to bench him in 2007 (again despite acceptable numbers). It's too bad it turned out the way it did.

For God's sake, Milton, just shut the hell up for a few days, will you?

It's not a neutral site. It's a selling of a home game to earn some extra money that I'm sure their athletic department really needs. FedEx Field is going to be mostly Penn State fans and the IU AD is fully aware of that. Northwestern sold a home game to Ohio State about 20 years ago that was played in Cleveland. NU wore home uniforms, but that was it. It's not just a forfeit of the game, but a forfeit of any strength the program currently has. IU might as well send a white flag up the pole and tell all their fans and potential recruits that they're not going to take things seriously for a few more years. Well, as long as Bill Lynch is coaching, I suppose they're doing that anyway. That bowl bid they got under him in 07 might end up being a bad thing because they felt obligated to give a really bad coach a chance because of it.

Ball State announced its schedule recently. Nothing really notable except for a trip to Purdue in December and the usual game with Butler, who we haven't beaten since I arrived as an undergrad (at home this year). We'll also be taking on soccer10k's UC-Davis team in Muncie this year.

Overworking Carp hasn't come back to bite them, why would overworking Wainwright, who's much less injury-prone?

What a colossally stupid idea by IU. Why all the way to freaking Maryland if you're going to move a home game? I really hope this whole neutral-site conference game thing doesn't become the norm.

Miles's season OPS after his AB today is .457.

I just wish a big-budget team would throw some money at him a la Mazzone. But for some reason nobody does (or maybe I missed it?).

I just have an extremely difficult time believing that the Cardinals of all organizations are capable of seeing things in pitchers that literally no one else is. This happens over and over again, 'finding a hole in someone's swing' or 'realizing a guy is tipping his pitches'. It just doesn't seem like this happens with other team's coaches. Maybe it does, but like I said of all organizations, it seems odd that they're the only ones we seem to hear it about. You never hear about a White Sox guy turning his career around because someone noticed him tipping his pitches.

A friend of mine and I were talking about this today and he said, "Maybe the most predictable dominating pitching performance in MLB this season."

Coach DickRod apparently said today that Michigan plans on playing 3 quarterbacks in that game. That sounds like a recipe for a Western victory if ever I've seen one. I'll be hoping for some MAC pride in that matchup.

Much apologies for the omission, sir. Southern Illinois (Flames's school) was also unintentionally omitted, I'm inserting their game as well.

Seriously. How many times have we had similar innings where the fans boo the umps lustily at the end of it after getting screwed out of runs? I felt like we were at Wrigley for a second.

Apparently Wally Bell, the ump, called time at the plate before that pitch was thrown, only no one seemed to notice until after the play was in motion.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"Channel his inner Bruntlett" becomes another thing I never thought I'd see posted on here. That might actually be the first time all year we've gotten the benefit of doubt on a neighborhood call. It was pretty close but I think he came off.

Yeah, I would say Carpenter has that one locked up. Or Ryan Franklin. Maybe Trever Miller. (It is obviously Carp, but those two are posting ludicrous lines as well, not that it's really surprising to anybody.) Thos two pitched last year though. Carpenter has been amazing after really missing two years. It would be like Mark Prior becoming '03 Mark Prior again next year. I would go ahead and not mention that possibility until we're entirely sure that the Cardinals are NOT going to pick him up.

Nice afternoon for Dempster. Maybe the pen won't blow it.

Yeah, I would say Carpenter has that one locked up. Or Ryan Franklin. Maybe Trever Miller. (It is obviously Carp, but those two are posting ludicrous lines as well, not that it's really surprising to anybody.)

I was coming here to post something like this, but I see Truffle already summed it up pretty nicely.

Thought they had at first glance, but Furcal did just beat it.

Miles's OPS drops just 1 percentage point today with the walk, so he's now at .461.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's the best time of the year. College football is back, the AP poll is out, and everyone's favorite threads are back on NSBB. Follow your favorite team's games and everyone else's through these handy TV schedules that I lift from the fine folks at LSUfootball.net each week. If you don't see your team in the "Games of interest" section and would like to, send me a PM. All times listed are Eastern. Top 25 games -------------- Charleston Southern at (1) Florida (7 pm, Fox Sports South) UL Monroe at (2) Texas (7 pm, FSN PPV) (20) BYU vs (3) Oklahoma – in Arlington, TX (7 pm, ESPN) San Jose State at (4) USC (3:30 pm, FSN/CSN) (5) Alabama vs (7) Virginia Tech – in Atlanta (8 pm, ABC) Navy at (6) Ohio State (12 pm, ESPN) (8) Ole Miss at Memphis (3:30 pm Sunday, ESPN) Akron at (9) Penn State (12 pm, BTN - Regional) (13) Georgia at (9) Oklahoma State (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) (11) LSU at Washington (10:30 pm, ESPN) Maryland at (12) California (10 pm, ESPN2) (16) Oregon at (14) Boise State (10:15 pm Thursday, ESPN) Jacksonville State at (15) Georgia Tech (1 pm, ESPN 360) Miami at (18) Florida State (8 pm Monday, ESPN) Utah State at (19) Utah (9 pm, The Mountain) The Citadel at (21) North Carolina (6 pm, ESPN 360) Northern Iowa at (22) Iowa (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Nevada at (23) Notre Dame (3:30 pm, NBC) Florida Atlantic at (24) Nebraska (7 pm, FSN PPV) Northern Colorado at (25) Kansas (7 pm, FCS Central) Games of interest ------------------ South Carolina at NC State (7 pm Thursday, ESPN) North Texas at Ball State (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPNU) Eastern Kentucky at Indiana (8 pm Thursday, BTN) North Dakota State at Iowa State (8 pm Thursday) Liberty at West Virginia (12 pm) Toledo at Purdue (12 pm, BTN – Regional) Towson at Northwestern (12 pm, BTN – Regional) Montana State at Michigan State (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Kentucky vs Miami (OH) – in Cincinnati (12 pm, ESPNU) Minnesota at Syracuse (12 pm, ESPN2) Western Kentucky at Tennessee (12 pm, SEC Network) Baylor at Wake Forest (3:30 pm, ABC - Regional) Western Michigan at Michigan (3:30 pm, ABC - Regional) Illinois vs Missouri – in St. Louis (3:30 pm, ESPN) Southern Illinois at Marshall (4:30 pm) Missouri State at Arkansas (7 pm) Northern Illinois at Wisconsin (7 pm, BTN) Richmond at Duke (7 pm) Louisiana Tech at Auburn (7 pm, ESPNU) Indiana State at Louisville (7:30 pm) San Diego State at UCLA (7:30 pm, Fox Sports West) UC Davis at Fresno State (10 pm) Non I-A game of interest ------------------------ Georgetown at Holy Cross (1 pm) Other nationally available games ------------------------------- Tulsa at Tulane (8 pm Friday, ESPN) Northeastern at Boston College (2 pm, ESPN 360) Jackson State at Mississippi State (3:30 pm, ESPNU) William & Mary at Virginia (6 pm, ESPN 360) Middle Tennessee at Clemson (6 pm, ESPN 360) UConn at Ohio (7 pm, ESPN 360) Buffalo at UTEP (9 pm, CBS College) Colorado State at Colorado (7 pm Sunday, FSN/CSN) Cincinnati at Rutgers (4 pm Monday, ESPN) Nationally available games outside I-A ------------------------------------- Central Washington at Minnesota-Duluth (8 pm Thursday, CBS College) Grambling vs South Carolina State – in Orlando (2 pm Sunday, ESPN2)

AP poll is out. I'll have the week 1 thread posted when I get back to my own computer. 1. Florida (58) 0-0 1,498 2. Texas (2) 0-0 1,424 3. Oklahoma 0-0 1,370 4. USC 0-0 1,313 5. Alabama 0-0 1,156 6. Ohio State 0-0 1,113 7. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,054 8. Mississippi 0-0 1,047 9. Oklahoma State 0-0 989 9. Penn State 0-0 989 11. LSU 0-0 914 12. California 0-0 746 13. Georgia 0-0 714 14. Boise State 0-0 659 15. Georgia Tech 0-0 593 16. Oregon 0-0 587 17. TCU 0-0 521 18. Florida State 0-0 307 19. Utah 0-0 289 20. Brigham Young 0-0 267 21. North Carolina 0-0 261 22. Iowa 0-0 229 23. Notre Dame 0-0 225 24. Nebraska 0-0 207 25. Kansas 0-0 134

I see we've reached the point of the disappointing season where Fred starts being forced to pinch-hit for almost everyone. Haven't had that since the good old days of 06.