Jon

Wow. Cherundolo!?

I've always thought that soccer needed more random shots of computer rooms.

If Hendry was online right now, this Woot-off would be moving a heck of a lot faster.

It was a close game, but there's nobody who can guard Lopez.

Bah. Stanford finished on a big run to take a 31-25 lead into the half against the Coble-less 'Cats.

I don't know if that's a hard and fast rule, but I think it's already generally observed. Last year KU was 6-6, and everybody knew there was almost no chance they'd go to a bowl because, while eligible, there were too many 7-5 teams out there. Bowls must select teams with winning records before they can select a 6-6 team. I'm pretty sure that it includes 6-5 teams. If a conference doesn't have enough bowl-eligible teams for their tie-ins, then a bowl must select a team outside of the conference with a winning record before they can select a team outside of the conference with a 6-6 record.

Apparently the Big Ten had an officiating crew do the Ohio State/Illinois game despite a planned suspension of the crew following their work on the Purdue/Penn State game: Link

Let the record show that Rivals ranked Northwestern's class one spot ahead of Illinois' in the Big Ten rankings.

Yeah, it really needs to be in Mexico.

Unless things have changed, you should still be able to head down there right before opening ceremonies on the Friday, stand outside the grand ballroom entrance, and watch all the Cubs as they walk into the room for introductions.

What a terrible situation.

I watched the game, and the loss is inexcusable and unforgiveable. They had the game under control, but let Northwestern back in the game due to a total boneheaded coaching call that anybod that follows college football would know better than to make. When you have a redshirt freshman coming into the game at quarterback cold on 3rd-and 6 you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ask him to pass. You run the ball and if necessary punt and play defense. The result was so predictable; interception, touchdown Northwestern, and they're back in the game. That one call could well wind up costing the Hoosiers the entire season. If that happens they should not under any circumstances consider Lynch for the permanent head coaching job. This is the same coach who led Ball State to consecutive seasons of 1-10 and 0-11, after all. You captured my thoughts perfectly. It is such a major breakdown in proper coaching strategy that I really can't trust Bill Lynch anymore. If he is dumb enough to allow that to happen, who knows what is next? This Indiana team should be bowling. If they lose to Purdue and miss getting a bowl invite, it will be the worst waste of talent I've seen in my lifetime. This Hoosier squad, with the schedule they have, should be bowling no question about it. 7 wins might not do it anymore, though. At least not for a Big Ten bowl. Not with Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota, and Purdue losing today. Northwestern left the red zone three times without scores on a missed FG and two picks and had another INT that was throw into the red zone. The sure-handed lane had an easy TD catch in the front of the end zone but dropped it, had it bounce off his knee, and right into a defender's hands for the touchback. They can lead the conference in total yards all they want, but they need to figure out how to start scoring consistently. The defense did an impressive job of not giving up lengthy drives (because it was either a good stand or blowing it on long plays on 3rd and long). It certainly wasn't the offensive game that I thought it was going to be. NU needs a win next week for 7 wins and a shot at a bowl. It'll be a winnable game, but they certainly need to play better. Especially CJ. Even though he didn't make many bad decisions today, he underthrew two balls for picks. On the bright side, they actually didn't abandon the run in the 4th, even though it wasn't giving them much. It's a good sign. And boy is Sutton a force in the passing game. They're finally starting to figure that out.

Time to head to Ryan Field for the final home game of the year, senior day, and a do or die matchup. The loser will be out of bowl contention (unless Purdue loses but can beat Purdue).

You can't do that for the national team instead, Twellman? Geez.

Why announce the move now, though? It would be just as easy to wait until February to talk about Dempster's move to the rotation.

Perhaps that's why it took the Trib until 1988 to put up lights. They probably spent the time between 1984 and 1988 pushing to destroy Wrigley, but eventually MLB won the argument.

I take it that was before they started putting money into it in the late '80s? Pretty surprising.

Huh. All sold out. That was fast. I believe passes for the 2004 convention took 3 hours to sell out over the phone.

They sell them online now? Impressive. I remember the days of calling to get them. Those were followed by the days of calling for 10 minutes before getting through. And those were followed by the days of calling for 30 minutes before getting them. All of those preceded the days of me not caring enough to go, of course. I'm glad they made it easier, though.

Bah. I forgot to record. Anyone know of the top of their head who plays on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic tomorrow?

One thing I really like is that when you shrink the window, the width of the board shrinks along with it. I keep it small when I'm at work so it's not too obvious and this makes it a lot easier to read. Side-scrolling was a pain.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2007-11/33648223.jpg http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2007-11/33648175.jpg http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2007-11/33648174.jpg http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2007-11/33648173.jpg http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2007-11/33648171.jpg http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2007-11/33648170.jpg

Don't suck, offense. And for the love of all that is good, don't stop running in the 4th quarter for once, McGee. And don't think I've forgotten about you, defense. They need to win out now...

I'm fine with 140 pixels wide. Anything more stretches things. I don't think height is a big issue.

By the way, I think birthdays were eliminated out of profiles after the transfer, so people may want to put their birthdays back in. At least mine was.