Andy

I couldn't care less about the idiot section of other fan bases. I'd rather prove why we aren't them.

ANSWER KEY Team Stats & Scoring 1. Number of Cubs wins - 85 (me - 85) +350 2. Number of Cubs wins, Cardinals season series - 11 (me - 9) +75 3. Number of runs scored - 752 (me - 803) +125 4. Number of runs allowed - 690 (me - 796) 0 5. Final Placement in the NL Central Division - 1st (me - 2nd) +100 Player Stats & Scoring 1. Number of DLee Home Runs - 22 (me - 38) 0 2. Number of Soriano Stolen Bases - 19 (me - 36) +10 3. Murton's Batting Average - .281 (me - .311) 0 4. Aramis' RBIs - 101 (me - 117) +10 5. Carlos Zambrano's Wins - 18 (me - 17) +40 6. Jason Marquis' ERA - 4.43 (me - 5.07) 0 7. Rich Hill's Ks - 183 (me - 164) +50 8. Ted Lilly's Innings Pitched - 207.0 (me - 182.1) +30 Bonus Questions I (30 points each) 1. Which will be higher: Z's batting average or Z's batting average against? - Z's Average (wrong) 0 2. Which will be higher: Aramis' HRs or Marquis' HRs allowed? Aramis's (right) +30 3. Which will be higher: Cesar's OBP or DLee's batting average? Lee's average (right) +30 4. Who will have more HRs: Barrett or Murton? Barrett (wrong) 0 5. Who will have more wins: Hill or Lilly? Lilly (wrong) 0 6. Who will have a higher K/BB: Zambrano or Hill? Hill (right) +30 Bonus II Questions (30 points each) 1. Most HRs: Soriano (+30) 2. Highest OBP (min. 350 ABs): Lee (+30) 3. Lowest ERA (min. 150 IPs): Lilly (0) 4. Most saves: Dempster (+30) Barrett's OPS: .734 (me - .891) Total points (unofficial) - 970

They definitely have a shot. In the Big Ten, pretty much anyone but Northwestern can beat any other team (except possibly Ohio State).

The NFL's still got college football beat in my mind. The Titans are inspiring far more confidence than the Vols right now. I'll take college football in a micro second and my team is terrible. 2nd. College football is my favorite sport pretty easily, with baseball 2nd and the NFL a distant third.

They have to have the late games. Arizona is the only Western time zone team hosting playoff games until the weekend.

How the hell did we make the playoffs? :D

Sweet lord, I am going to get absolutely nothing accomplished this week. CUBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I forgot one: For every national sports announcer that can't let a Cubs game go by without dropping a goat/Bartman/1908 reference, and can't let a foul ball down the third base line go by without mentioning Bartman. Screw you.

I am not all that confident in this series. Webb owns us, Davis owns us, and Owings is Babe Ruth. I think the Cubs can win, but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't.

I still think we should rotate regardless of W/L, but either way will work as long as we get a bunch of threads out of it. :)

I vote we go Southpaw for Game 1, Derwood for Game 2, Cubbies75 in Game 3, and UMFan83 in Game 4. If we are in a situation where a loss eliminates us, bhogg gets an emergency start.

My best friend's grandfather, a die-hard Cubs fan who died never seeing a World Series win. Ron Santo. He'll likely never see himself inducted into the Hall like he should, so the least we can do is get him a world championship. Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, Kerry Wood and Derrek Lee. Any of these four could have left and been paid more money, but they all signed below-market-value deals to remain in Chicago. True Cubs all. Len, Bob and Pat, who are all much better at their jobs than we give them credit for. They make being a Cubs fan much more fun than it should be. Steve Bartman. No one with even a tiny little snippet of baseball knowledge blames him for what happened in 2003. Let's win this thing and put him in the parade. Mark Prior. His 2003 season was probably the greatest pitching season I will ever be lucky enough to see from a Cub. You deserve better than what you've gotten. Lou Piniella. As indefensible as some of your moves have been, certain previous managers of this team wouldn't have buried Cesar Izturis on the bench for Ryan Theriot, given Mike Fontenot the starting second base job for a time when he was red-hot, tossed Wade Miller aside for Sean Marshall a month into the season, played Geovany Soto this much down the stretch (granted he should have played even more but I'll take what I can get), allowed Carlos Marmol to earn his way to being the go-to reliever on the team, buried Scott Eyre in mop-up duty until he proved he could be trusted, and so many other things that you did. Considering we won the division by all of 2 games, it's safe to say without any one of those moves we likely aren't where we are. The Milwaukee Brewers. We aren't here if you guys don't fold like a cheap tent for the last three full months of the season. Thanks, Milwaukee, we owe you. Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg and Billy Williams, all tremendous representatives of the Cubs, none with a World Series ring to show for it. Give them one. Sammy Sosa. There's no way I would've kept watching meaningless baseball through the summers of 2000 and 2002 without you, and the 2001 season was the closest there's ever been to an actual one-man team in baseball. Every Cub that has been one of my favorite players over the years, for good reasons and for silly reasons. Jon Lieber, Ricky Gutierrez, Eric Young, Corey Patterson, Mark Grudzielanek, Eric Karros, Todd Walker, Hee Seop Choi, Henry Rodriguez, Ryan O'Malley, Matt Murton, Ryan Dempster, Geovany Soto, Michael Barrett, Nomar Garciaparra, Moises Alou, Kenny Lofton, Ryan Theriot, and many many more. All of them have contributed to my enjoyment of Cubs baseball the last seven years. The Cubs fans on NSBB, who've made me 800 times smarter as a baseball fan than I was two years ago before I joined. No fans in sports deserve it more than those on this message board. Juan Pierre. After all, if you hadn't blatantly sucked so badly last year, we might not have lost as many games as we did and might still have the mongrel idiot, Dusty Baker, as the manager. The Baseball Gods, who allowed our three biggest rivals to all make the World Series in a two-year span in 2004 and 2005, then topped it all off with the ridiculous Cardinals' championship in 2006. God knows it's our turn. For everyone in Wrigleyville who contributes to the North Side being the best place on earth to watch baseball. I wouldn't spend hundreds of dollars to spend three days in Chicago each year if it wasn't so damn enjoyable being at Wrigley. Me. Damn it, this is the last year of my life that I won't have to be working for a living, and my 21st birthday next month just happens to coincide with Game 4 of the World Series. If the Cubs were to win it all, in my senior year of college, on my 21st birthday, that would top everything that could possibly happen in my entire life. Make it happen. I beg you.

It was a kickoff. Devin Hester is ridiculous.

They've played Georgia Tech and nobody else. Next week is Bowling Green. No one will ever adequately explain to me why teams need to play cupcakes in the month of October.

Granted the game's in Columbia, but you're ranked higher, I don't think it could be called an upset.

Games between ranked teams ----------------------------------- (9) Florida at (1) LSU (8 pm, CBS) (4) Ohio State at (23) Purdue (8 pm, ABC) (8) Kentucky at (11) South Carolina (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN) (10) Oklahoma at (19) Texas (3:30 pm, ABC) (15) Virginia Tech at (22) Clemson (6 pm, ESPN) (25) Nebraska at (17) Missouri (9:15 pm, ESPN) (20) Cincinnati at (21) Rutgers (8 pm, ESPN2) Good Top 25 games ----------------------- (5) Wisconsin at Illinois (12 pm, ESPN) (12) Georgia at Tennessee (3:30 pm, CBS) (18) Arizona State at Washington State (4 pm) Kansas at (24) Kansas State (12 pm) Top 25 mismatches ---------------------- Stanford at (2) USC (7 pm) (6) South Florida at FL Atlantic (4 pm) Bowling Green at (7) Boston College (12 pm, ESPNU) (13) West Virginia at Syracuse (12 pm) Utah State at (16) Hawaii (12 am) Other games of interest --------------------------- Northwestern at Michigan State (12 pm, Big 10) Minnesota at Indiana (12 pm, Big 10) E. Michigan at Michigan (12 pm, Big 10) C. Michigan at Ball State (12 pm, ESPN Plus) N. Illinois at Temple (1 pm) Louisiana Tech at Ole Miss (2 pm) Iowa at Penn State (3:30 pm, ABC) Chattanooga at Arkansas (7 pm) Arkansas State at UL Monroe (7 pm) Notre Dame at UCLA (8 pm, ABC) Holy Cross at Brown (12:30 pm) UC Davis at North Dakota State (2 pm) Youngstown State at S. Illinois (3:30 pm)

I may be exaggerating a bit but I'm pretty sure Soriano has led off every September game with a home run.

Although it won't happen I think Holliday should win MVP regardless of the Rockies' fate.

How the hell are we the division champions?

One-hitter! Nice! :)

And I know Davis and Owings aren't that good, but they sure own us. Especially Davis.

The Phillies top hitters will do wonders against curveball lefties, unless Hill and Lilly are on, they'll really have a hard time. And if Marquis isn't on, his belt-high sinker is really meaty to those bats. I'd rather see the two West teams or the Mets. I wouldn't mind the Mets either, but they're pretty much out of the question at this point.

Bold Prediction. We are going to sweep Arizona! You heard it hear first. The series won't even be close. Cheers. :) I hope you're right.

Our pitching can stop Philly's offense - I'm not convinced our offense can hit Arizona's or San Diego's pitching. That's why I want Philly.

It does for people who want to see the Cubs in the playoffs in San Diego. :( Screw San Diego, go Brewers. I don't want the Brandon Webb/Doug Davis/Micah Owings show in the playoffs. Give me Philly.