Andy

I did some quick searching on the format, is it still Top 4 conference champs get byes, top 6 conference champs get bids, and no other conference limits? I wonder if they're reconsidering the bye thing since the latest realignment/consolidation. EDIT: Looks like Auerbach's saying the Top 6 champs getting bids stays, but no other specifics confirmed in her quick story. I don't think there was ever a limit on bids per conference, and I doubt the bye thing will change, but it could. There certainly won't be a limit on bids per conference now as the SEC and B1G have the luxury now of basically ordering everyone else what to do. If this really does go through, frankly it's kind of a wonder how big a favor it does to everyone outside those 32 schools.

As opposed to getting blasted in the quarterfinals, which is the ceiling for all but maybe 18 programs

Sounds like they want it to start ASAP - could be as soon as 2024 - but it might still not start until 2026. They've punted that question to the commissioners. I dislike expansion (I'm with UMF that it felt special to make the top 4 in a way it will not to make the 12-teamer) but the model they chose was easily the best one of the bunch IMO.

Did they really? Yikes. Zimmer didn't want Mond so he did him no favors but I never thought Kellen would be any more than backup QB in the league at best. Yeah he never impressed me much either. Fell squarely into the 'good college QB but you know he's not going to hack it in the pros' bucket.

I have somehow Mandela Effected Sergio Mitre beating Roy Halladay into having occurred in Toronto. I would have put like $100 on the Cubs/Jays series from 2005 having been in Canada. This is the most ridiculous thing ever but the reason I never forget that that game was in Chicago is because Vince Vaughn's character very briefly puts it on TV in the movie The Break-Up. Mitre is shown on screen.

He had a stroke 13 years ago and has been bad ever since. It's probably a little worse each year but it blows my mind that people are still surprised by his issues. It's not really surprise, it's secondhand embarrassment. By all accounts, Corso is an absolute prince of a human being, he's of course a GameDay institution, ESPN has said he has a job for life, and of course it isn't his fault he had a stroke, but he actively detracts from the show every second he's on now except for the last 90 seconds.

To quote Harry Caray, aren't we all?

FAMU nearly bowed out of tonight's opener vs North Carolina because of widespread eligibility issues, apparently, but their players decided to play. They'll be down 20 players and playing with eight offensive linemen. School's gotta get that check.

Or horsefeathers the Cubs for not grabbing 2 future HOF for nothing Sent from my motorola one 5G UW using Tapatalk whynotboth.gif Of course, the fact that they are both putting up the best years of their career - Goldschmidt's OPS+ is thirty damn five points higher than any other year and Arenado's is 29 higher - when everything we know about baseball aging curves suggests they shouldn't be (especially Goldschmidt) is still horsefeathering [expletive] regardless of how they got them.

Luckily for them Goldschmidt is having the best year of his life at age 34 and Wainwright is still an ace at 41 so it's all good

Yeah its weird to see Milwaukee start and end the season but only 2 other series throughout the year. I don't hate it...sick of playing the reds and pirates a billion times a year but it will take some getting used to. Yeah, I think I like it. It makes sense, too, if you're going to have so many wild-card teams they should be playing the same schedules for a fair comparison.

I’d still like to know why they think shortening games will bring in more viewers. It also shortens the commercial/ad time, so that’s a revenue loser. I don’t buy there’s x thousands or y millions of people out there that will watch or attend more baseball over games being 20-30 min shorter. The commercial breaks are in the same spots they always are - between innings and pitching changes - so I don't think that part's an issue. Like you, I remain skeptical that casual fans are waiting to watch baseball in droves if the games are two and a half hours 162 times a year instead of three, but as long as the actual gameplay isn't being negatively affected I'm not against it.

It's like the zombie 00's Cardinals. Old players revitalized out of nowhere, players coming to St. Louis and suddenly becoming elite players. Do they have a little gritty dude who has no business being good but somehow is decent? I was about to introduce you to Tommy Edman (all these guys always have names that make them sound like 13-year-olds) but I guess his numbers are still pretty bad. However I'm sure he'll pull a 2012 Pete Kozma and hit 6 home runs in the playoffs or something.

Seiya isn't currently on your roster/bench. Your bench consists of: Witt Jr, William Contreras, and Trout. Huh, must have dropped Seiya already. Never mind, then.

Be more fun if they were spoiling the right Central team, but hopefully they can keep this up.

Matt Corral done for the season with a Lisfranc injury, so that about ends his Carolina career since they'll draft a QB next year for sure. Cam Newton's career essentially ended with a preseason injury in New England too so I'm good with never going there again.

Why didn't I think of this first Drop Seiya, add Pasquantino to bench.

That was the last time his OBP or his SLG was as high as it is this year except for when he slugged one point better in 2015. Who could've seen that coming besides literally anyone who follows baseball.

Officially official:

The NFL can do whatever they want, MLB Network is partially owned by all the cable companies, and the two other ones are owned by their leagues. That's probably what it comes down to.

It legit seems like he's destroyed the ball every single time up. Including twice in one AB earlier (a foul ball).

Nelson Velazquez smashed a run-scoring double 18 inches or so short of a 3-run homer. Naturally, because nothing fully good ever happens, the Cubs left 2 RISP with 1 out after that.

Welcome to the final season of the status quo as we knew it before the Big 12 gets weird next year, the B1G gets even weirder the year after that, the SEC gets weird the year after that, and the CFP turns the whole thing upside down again the year after that. "Week Zero" (Aug. 27) Austin Peay at Western Kentucky (12 pm, CBSSN) Nebraska vs Northwestern - in Dublin, Ireland (12:30 pm, FOX) Idaho State at UNLV (3:30 pm, CBSSN) UConn at Utah State (4 pm, FS1) Wyoming at Illinois (4 pm, BTN) Duquesne at Florida State (5 pm, ACC Network) Charlotte at Florida Atlantic (7 pm, CBSSN) Florida A&M at North Carolina (8:15 pm, ACC Network) North Texas at UTEP (9 pm, Stadium) Nevada at New Mexico State (10 pm, ESPN2) Vanderbilt at Hawaii (10:30 pm, CBSSN) Top 25 games ------------------------------ Utah State at (1) Alabama (7:30 pm, SEC Network) (5) Notre Dame at (2) Ohio State (7:30 pm, ABC) (11) Oregon vs (3) Georgia - in Atlanta (3:30 pm, ABC) (4) Clemson vs Georgia Tech - at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (8 pm Monday, ESPN) Sam Houston at (6) Texas A&M (12 pm, SEC Network) (7) Utah at Florida (7 pm, ESPN) Colorado State at (8) Michigan (12 pm, ABC) UTEP at (9) Oklahoma (3:30 pm, FOX) Albany at (10) Baylor (7 pm, ESPN+) Central Michigan at (12) Oklahoma State (7 pm Thursday, FS1) (13) NC State at East Carolina (12 pm, ESPN) Rice at (14) USC (6 pm, Pac-12 Network - Regional) Western Michigan at (15) Michigan State (7 pm Friday, ESPN) Bethune-Cookman at (16) Miami (3:30 pm, ACC Network) West Virginia at (17) Pittsburgh (7 pm Thursday, ESPN) Illinois State at (18) Wisconsin (7 pm, FS1) (23) Cincinnati at (19) Arkansas (3:30 pm, ESPN) Miami (OH) at (20) Kentucky (7 pm, ESPN+) Troy at (21) Ole Miss (4 pm, SEC Network) VMI at (22) Wake Forest (7:30 pm Thursday, ACC Network) (24) Houston at UTSA (3:30 pm, CBSSN) (25) BYU at South Florida (4 pm, ESPNU) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------------------- Thursday St. Francis (PA) at Akron (6 pm, ESPN3) Ball State at Tennessee (7 pm, SEC Network) Bryant at Florida International (7 pm, ESPN3) Long Island at Toledo (7 pm, ESPN3) South Carolina State at UCF (7 pm, ESPN+) Penn State at Purdue (8 pm, FOX) Louisiana Tech at Missouri (8 pm, ESPNU) Alabama A&M at UAB (8 pm, CBSSN) Eastern Illinois at Northern Illinois (8 pm, ESPN+) New Mexico State at Minnesota (9 pm, BTN) Northern Arizona at Arizona State (10 pm, Pac-12 Network) Cal Poly at Fresno State (10:30 pm, FS1) Friday Virginia Tech at Old Dominion (7 pm, ESPNU) Eastern Kentucky at Eastern Michigan (7 pm, ESPN3) William & Mary at Charlotte (7 pm, ESPN3) Temple at Duke (7:30 pm, ACC Network) Illinois at Indiana (8 pm, FS1) Tennessee Tech at Kansas (8 pm, ESPN+) TCU at Colorado (10 pm, ESPN) Saturday TV South Dakota State at Iowa (12 pm, FS1) Buffalo at Maryland (12 pm, BTN) Rutgers at Boston College (12 pm, ACC Network) North Carolina at Appalachian State (12 pm, ESPNU) Delaware at Navy (12 pm, CBSSN) Richmond at Virginia (12:30 pm, Regional Sports Networks/ESPN3) Bowling Green at UCLA (2:30 pm, Pac-12 Network - Regional) Arizona at San Diego State (3:30 pm, CBS) Tulsa at Wyoming (3:30 pm, FS1) North Dakota at Nebraska (3:30 pm, BTN) UC Davis at California (4 pm, Pac-12 Network - Regional) Memphis at Mississippi State (7:30 pm, ESPNU) SMU at North Texas (7:30 pm, CBSSN) Louisville at Syracuse (8 pm, ACC Network) Colgate at Stanford (8 pm, Pac-12 Network - Regional) Idaho at Washington State (9:30 pm, Pac-12 Network - Regional) Boise State at Oregon State (10:30 pm, ESPN) Kent State at Washington (10:30 pm, FS1) Saturday Streaming SE Missouri State at Iowa State (12 pm, ESPN+) Norfolk State at Marshall (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Nicholls at South Alabama (5 pm, ESPN3) Morgan State at Georgia Southern (6 pm, ESPN3) Middle Tennessee at James Madison (6 pm, ESPN+) Florida Atlantic at Ohio (6 pm, ESPN+) Grambling at Arkansas State (7 pm, ESPN3) SE Louisiana at UL Lafayette (7 pm, ESPN+) UMass at Tulane (7 pm, ESPN+) Liberty at Southern Miss (7 pm, ESPN+) South Dakota at Kansas State (7 pm, ESPN+) Elon at Vanderbilt (7 pm, ESPN+) Mercer at Auburn (7 pm, ESPN+) Army at Coastal Carolina (7 pm, ESPN+) Georgia State at South Carolina (7:30 pm, ESPN+) Murray State at Texas Tech (8 pm, ESPN+) Sunday Florida State vs LSU - in New Orleans (7:30 pm, ABC)

Reports are that B1G is splitting its B package between CBS and NBC and being paid out the ass for it; CBS will be paying more for their package than ESPN will for the SEC's top game. Also talk that Amazon or Apple will receive a piece of the action. I know they will have 16 schools so a ton of content but that's a lot of different places.

Obviously the correct move. Money aside I do feel kind of bad for him. The Cubs broke him trying to unlock more power and couldn't unbreak him.