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well that is certainly true. it's not a perfect solution But football trumps bball. I dont know what tv market Hawaii brings but Boise expands the Pac10's market a little. And as you know Penn State didnt get invited to the Big Ten for its Bball. (i see what others are listing in this thread as more likely) The Big East isnt that whacked because Providence/Nova/Georgtown/Marquette dont even have a football team. Im sure they would remain in the Big East when it comes bball season. The Big East becomes a 20 team conference in basketball. Their current number of 16 is already too large-20 wouldn't be feasible. Boise and Hawaii might get the TV market a little higher, but it also makes sure that the Pac 10 has no chance to be a great basketball conference. I'm sure there would be problems in other sports as well. It's simply not worth it for a small benefit in football to greatly hurt some other sports.

It certainly is an interesting idea, but I think school presidents would balk at it. Scheduling issues would be a lot easier under that system. There's one other big problem-you have to consider what happens in the other sports beyond football. As bad as you have made the Big East in football now, you have just destroyed their conference in basketball. The same goes for the Pac 10 and basketball-Hawaii and Boise State would be horrible additions to their conference. So basically the plan is debatable on if it makes college football better, and it's horrible for the other sports.

Making your boss look like a fool is a tough sell. I realize it's for the good of the team but this is a sticky situation imo. I don't see how skipping Trachsel makes Hendry look like a fool. Hendry makes Hendry look like a fool. Trachsel pitching makes Hendry look like a fool. Lou deciding he's seen enough of Mr. Experience makes Hendry look like the guy who hired the right manager. Can't Lou just come out and say something like "Trachsel gave us the innings we were looking for, blah blah blah, he did well in his role, blah blah." You know, totally lie about it and make Hendry look better......then move on and do what's best for the team. Basically I think that's what Lou is doing. He's skipping Trachsel's start next week. My guess is that Trachsel gets 2 more starts the rest of the year-one on Thursday, and one in the final week of the season.

Hill has allowed the same amount of HR's as Lilly, even though Lilly has pitched 14 2/3 innings more. So Hill has given up a greater HR/9 than Lilly, not less. Their K/BB ratio is close, but Lilly's is a little better (3.06 for Lilly to 2.88 for Hill). Lilly's WHIP is better-1.150 to 1.219. They've been close this year, but Lilly has been slightly better in every phase of the game besides straight K rate.

Well, you certainly seemed to say it wasn't the biggest in your original post. I don't know if it's Scarlett Johansson bigger, but it's definitely bigger. Regardless of where the viewers come from, it still gets the most viewers. Edit: I'll also add that maybe it doesn't really even matter anymore, since all the BCS games payout the same. (Though it's still much easier for Michigan to get to the BCS out of the Big Ten than it is for LSU out of the SEC.) Of course, that fact alone may make Notre Dame the best job: it's easiest for them to get to the BCS, then they don't have to split the $17 million. Notre Dame doesn't get $17 million. They get $4.5. I actually didn't know that. Thanks. That amount was "renegotiated" by Notre Dame's completely and totally incompetent and idiotic athletic director Kevin White. That man is going to mess up ND football, I just know it. well it's only fair. If they got all $17 million while conference teams were splitting that up, well you and I know that's BS Yeah, but think about the years where for example Penn State does not make a BCS game. For example, last year. They get the money from the Capital One Bowl+their share of Ohio State's BCS game+their share of Michigan's BCS game. For the bad teams in the conference like Indiana, that means they've pocketed over 15 million in the last 10 years that the BCS has been in play without ever having made a BCS game. ND for years was all or nothing. If they went 5-7 one year, they didn't have that guaranteed 2-4 million dollar check from another team in their conference going to the BCS. It was either the full 14 million for the BCS , or going away completely empty handed. It ended up evening out money wise over the long term. Now ND has a money arrangement that is very similar to all the other conferences. They get 4.5 million if they make the game, and 1 million if they don't. It still won't quite add up to what the conferences get (because if conferences get 2 members in all the schools get paid double) but it's a fair approximation. and i'm fine with that. there SHOULD be financial incentive for them to join a conference (as opposed to making more $$$ by being Independent) Why should there be financial incentive to join a conference? ND isn't doing anything wrong by staying independent. BTW, they'll never be able to create a situation where it makes financial sense for ND to join a conference. In situations where all the schools come together and make an agreement, the money should be split as evenly as possible. The first arrangement they had with ND did that, but there was such a perception problem with other fans because nobody understood the all or nothing thing. Now, they have it very similar to what all the other conferences do, and the whole process is very fair. As far as the BCS goes, ND shouldn't be helped or penalized by being independent, and I think the rules tweaks have made it so that happens.

Well, you certainly seemed to say it wasn't the biggest in your original post. I don't know if it's Scarlett Johansson bigger, but it's definitely bigger. Regardless of where the viewers come from, it still gets the most viewers. Edit: I'll also add that maybe it doesn't really even matter anymore, since all the BCS games payout the same. (Though it's still much easier for Michigan to get to the BCS out of the Big Ten than it is for LSU out of the SEC.) Of course, that fact alone may make Notre Dame the best job: it's easiest for them to get to the BCS, then they don't have to split the $17 million. Notre Dame doesn't get $17 million. They get $4.5. I actually didn't know that. Thanks. That amount was "renegotiated" by Notre Dame's completely and totally incompetent and idiotic athletic director Kevin White. That man is going to mess up ND football, I just know it. well it's only fair. If they got all $17 million while conference teams were splitting that up, well you and I know that's BS Yeah, but think about the years where for example Penn State does not make a BCS game. For example, last year. They get the money from the Capital One Bowl+their share of Ohio State's BCS game+their share of Michigan's BCS game. For the bad teams in the conference like Indiana, that means they've pocketed over 15 million in the last 10 years that the BCS has been in play without ever having made a BCS game. ND for years was all or nothing. If they went 5-7 one year, they didn't have that guaranteed 2-4 million dollar check from another team in their conference going to the BCS. It was either the full 14 million for the BCS , or going away completely empty handed. It ended up evening out money wise over the long term. Now ND has a money arrangement that is very similar to all the other conferences. They get 4.5 million if they make the game, and 1 million if they don't. It still won't quite add up to what the conferences get (because if conferences get 2 members in all the schools get paid double) but it's a fair approximation.

This is from an article yesterday on Astros.com: So it looks like Backe vs Marquis, Patton vs. Hill, and Williams vs Trachsel.

It depends on who the opposing pitcher is. If it is a pitcher who has a chance of holding the Cubs to 0-2 runs, I start Zambrano for his greater ability to have a dominant pitching performance. If the Cubs can likely score 3-5, then I'd start Lilly at the moment for his greater consistency.

The one problem with this is-there is no incentive for margin of victory. Is a 1 point win worth the same as a 30 point win? If yes, then computer rankings are just fine. If a blowout adds value to a teams win, then something has to be done to account for that. they removed margin of victory from the computer portion of the BCS. the voters, however.... Exactly, which is what I meant. If you think margin of victory is completely unimportant (to use an example, the ND comeback wins over UCLA and Michigan State last year would be worth as much as if they beat them 80-0) then the computer rankings are sufficient. If you think there should be a difference put in to equate "how well" a certain team played against another team, then it becomes more complicated.

The one problem with this is-there is no incentive for margin of victory. Is a 1 point win worth the same as a 30 point win? If yes, then computer rankings are just fine. If a blowout adds value to a teams win, then something has to be done to account for that.

Same here. Going into the bottom of the second, I decided to spend the day skydiving instead, and it was still only 2-2 when I left, but I knew it would only get worse and I'm glad to have been away. I hope Sean Marshall gets to take his spot back now. Marshall has never been there before, and hes never started a game in September. Plus hes not a gamer, or a winner, so Marshall needs to stay in the bullpen, so his little rookie head doesnt explode from the pressures of pitching in Sept......... Love the fact that both zambrano and lilly will be going on 3 days rest so they can avoid pitching Marshall. They aren't going to avoid Marshall. Marshall is pitching against St. Louis this weekend. The rotation is going to be from Thursday through Wednesday: Thursday: Trachsel Friday: Zambrano Saturday: Game 1: Lilly, Game 2: Marshall Sunday: Marquis Monday: Hill Tuesday: Zambrano Wednesday: Lilly I guess if they pitched Marshall on Thursday and Trachsel on Saturday they could pitch Marshall again a week from Tuesday instead of Z. If you switch it that way though, Trachsel pitches against St. Louis instead of Marshall, and I'd rather have the Marshall start against the Cardinals.

No rules against it, but the Cubs could just take the walks until they got a safe lead, and then swing at every pitch even if it was 5 feet outside in order to strike out and end the inning.

I think that's 2 out of 8 games now where the Cardinals starter has made it into the 5th inning. They are starting to seemingly fade a little bit, and that is a big reason why.

I think he meant that it was on WGN radio, but yes it was confusing and I got my hopes up for a second for nothing.

It doesn't surprise me too much. Floyd has only started 2 out of the last 11 games. Part of that was because the Cubs have faced 5 left-handers out of 11, but still Floyd has only played 2 out of 6 against right-handers (the other 4 starts against right-handers went to Murton twice and Ward twice). It seems like Floyd is no longer the everyday option and that all the outfielders are rotating.

I know it's expanded rosters, but that Cardinals pitching staff has to be getting tired. Out of their last 6 games, the longest outing by a starting pitcher was 6 innings, and only 2 out of the 6 starts had the starter even reach the 5th inning. That combined with the lack of off days and the double header next week spells big trouble for that bullpen if they cannot get their starters to go longer.

anyone have a video? Click on Ryan Braun's 3 run dinger Cubs fans are way overreacting to this. This is nothing different than ARam sometimes. Hell, it's no different than what Griffey or Bonds do after every homerun. I'm rather surprised at the video after hearing people's descriptions. I've seen at least 2-3 Cubs do similar things this year. That was pretty tame.

Pretty much. I couldn't fall asleep last night from all the noise outside. This weekend is just insane. As much as I like making fun of the place it's a great place to go for a game. This game is a swing game for ND and Penn State, if PSU takes it they ae on their way to solidifying their season and knocking ND out of any BCS contention while ND needs this win badly to stay in the BCS hunt with USC still looming in their schedule. Don't worry about ND and BCS contention. ND will be lucky to get to a bowl game at all. ND just has to find a way to win 3-4 of their first 8. If it's this game, that's great (although I doubt it). Mostly, just get Claussen some experience and hopefully they can win games like Purdue and Michigan State, which both will be hard games but they are more winnable than at Penn State this year.

Yes; he was signed to a two-year contract this past offseason. Bad move by Hendry. I'm sure he would have agreed to a one-year deal, and if he wouldn't they could have found someone else who would have to fill the same role. Yeah, apparently they signed him quickly to keep him away from the Yankees who had shown interest in Blanco. I'd have much rather given him to the Yankees than sign him to a 2 year deal though. 1, maybe-but not 2.

How many catchers are above avg. hitters? If you wait for that, you'll be spending a ton in FA, trading a large % of your farm, or still waiting. If he does well defensively, can hit in the .260-.280 range with some pop with a good eye at the plate, he'll be fine there and better than what they've had since the 93' season w/Wilkins and before that Davis. He's had a nice year this year indeed. Has it been that much of a spike over the rest of his career? Is it possible he's had help and that's why the Cubs didn't call him up before Hill? To show you the spike: Iowa 2005: .253/.357/.342 Iowa 2006: .269/.351/.383 Iowa 2007: .353/.424/.652 So there has been a pretty huge spike. Some of that has been development, some of that has been the offensive inflation at Iowa, and some of that has been just a huge hot streak. It's just hard to tell how much to value each variable.

In a 3 way tie, the team with the best head to head against the other two teams has a choice. They can either A) 1) let the other two teams play a game on Monday, and then they travel to the winner of that game OR 2) have to beat both of the other two teams, but both at home. The only two teams eligible for this choice are the Cardinals and Cubs right now, as the Brewers are way back in the head to head. Cubs 16-10 Cardinals 11-12 So if the Cubs won the choice (which is likely), my guess is that they'd choose to travel to the winner of the Cardinals/Brewers. You'd always rather be the road team for 1 game than the home team needing to win 2 in a row.

I'm happy with that. If I had to pick 1 of the coin flips to win, I'd rather have it be the Brewers one than the Cardinals one.

While I agree with this premise, could it be that Lou didn't feel like he could get someone else ready quickly enough to pitch in Dempster's place? That might be. Also, as I said earlier in the thread, if Dempster hadn't pitched on Wednesday he would have had 3 straight days off. We saw last year how bad he was in those types of situations. He needs regular work, and pitching him was a necessity even with the big lead.

or as I just wrote in another thread, get mad at the guy who put dempster out there at the end of a 6-run win yesterday. He's pitched a lot lately, let's throw him out on the mound when anyone in the bullpen can finish the game off. Dempster needs regular work. If he hadn't pitched last night, he would have had 3 straight days off before the game today, and he wasn't good in those situations last year.

Ankiel just doubled in 2 more. Here is his current line: .358/.408/.765