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except that O$U didn't get a gift victory over a bad team. Yeah ND won that game, but they wouldn't have without the help of Moo. You can say that of any big comeback. If the victimized team played perfectly every time they took a big lead, there would of course never be a comeback to begin with. I'd like to thank MSU, by the way, for once again playing, BY FAR, their best game of the season against ND, and then crapping the bed against everyone else. I'm rooting for whoever comes in to coach that team to do well because I'm sick and tired of MSU making ND's games with them look worse than they already were by playing miles below their talent level afterwards. I can't stand that either-Michigan State always gets their good games out of the way before the ND game, plays well against ND, and then collapses. Either be good Michigan State or be bad-I don't really care. Please just be one or the other though! Don't be one team for the first 4-5 games (including ND every year) and then a completely different team in the second half of the season. It's like if the NFL were rated like the BCS, and somebody had to play the Dolphins in the past 10-12 years (minus the last couple). You knew if you played them in September or October you'd look terrible as they'd get out to a 9-2 start, and then they'd lose their last 4-5 games every single year and nobody can understand how they played you tough.

Link. The first thing that jumps out at me? That contract looks awfully familiar. I'd be happy if the Cubs matched that, but that's starting to get close to the limit for Soriano IMO.

Notre Dame possibilites for the National Title game (nothing about what should happen, just what will happen) Notre Dame needs: An Ohio State loss-I thought I would be saying for weeks that a big Michigan loss would be the key. I say the other way though because of the computer rankings. Michigan is #1 in the computer rankings, and it's not even close. If they lose to Ohio State, they will only drop to #2 in those rankings. Ohio State is #3 in most of those rankings, and a loss to Michigan will drop them behind ND in most to all of these rankings. I have ran through some projections in one of the computer rankings, and it confirms this. If Notre Dame can stay ahead of Ohio State in the computer rankings, they will be close enough in the polls to stay ahead of them overall. #2-Florida losing to Arkansas in the SEC title game-Florida is going to be hard to catch in either the polls or the computer rankings-they have to lose a game somewhere. Things that would be nice, but not always necessary: 1)Arkansas losing to LSU-it is not certain whatsoever that Arkansas will pass ND if they win out. They will likely not pass them in the computer rankings, and I doubt if both teams win out that they will pass ND enough in the polls to make the difference-ND should squeak past Arkansas if both win out. 2)USC beating Cal-obviously, ND needs the national exposure about beating a 1 loss USC team and the SOS rating in the computers-this would be a nice boost. 3)Rutgers losing to WV-it's possible that Rutgers will drop between ND and Arkansas in the computer rankings if they lose, which would be a nice buffer. Of course, ND has to win their last two games, which is definitely not assured (is probably closer to 50/50)-but this is all meaningless if they lose, so I'll remain optimistic for now. It's certainly a much greater chance then it was a few weeks ago. I do hope the team gets to the national title game, but in one way I don't because I think the team only has a 25-30 percent chance of winning the title, while they would have a greater chance of winning one of the other BCS bowls. Since the objective is the title though, I still would like to see them get in any way they can.

The only problem with the Petco theory is that his splits aren't that different this year: OBP and slugging .378/.384 at home .369/.410 on the road I'd attribute it to just more of a down year (as his splits were pretty large last year) but I have no idea if he would rebound from that.

I don't have any interest. He had a down year last year, and would have to return to one of his normal years to have the contract be a bargain, and that is a risk with his age. Plus, the Padres are not desperate to get rid of him, so the offer would have to be decent. Basically, signing him I'd think about it, but absolutely not on trading for him.

That's exactly what I was thinking-his performance this year, his winter performance, and the fact that the Cubs have an infielder in front of him if a second baseman is signed (Theriot) means that I think Cedeno has lost his spot even on the bench for 2007.

I would agree so far, and I think that extends to about mid-August. Since that time, Hendry traded Neifi and Nevin for at least decent prospects. He came out in the media and basically forced Dusty to play the young guys more (I don't know if Dusty came willingly on that or not, but I do know I heard Hendry being very insistent about a few players, especially as September rolled around). He now has the three re-signings in his pocket. If that's all he does, then it will be an awful offseason-but I usually give a GM the latitude to make 1 mistake in an offseason (if that be not picking up enough pitchers, picking up a wrong one, etc.). Hendry has a little wiggle room now. That could change quickly, but there could also be given some more slack on the rope if some more good moves start coming.

It was actually the Colts that Elway refused to play for. Yup, and the Colts certainly didn't make it before Denver did a few times :( Hopefully they can at least make it soon :D Good luck in the second half to all the Bears fans.

I don't think the doctors are going to let him pitch, at least not at the beginning of the year. We might not get the insurance because he might be ready near the end of the year, but I heard it was potentially life-threatening if he came back that early.

All of which would likely beat all the top three Big East teams pretty easily (maybe Auburn wouldn't since they're so inconsistent). Seriously, man, I like the Big East too, but you're getting a tad carried away. That's funny because I look at the polls and don't see any teams that ND beat that even got a vote. Maybe it's you that's getting carried away because I seem to be using facts and your using assumptions. Georgia Tech is in the polls. Opps, you're right. I still think any of the 3 BE teams could beat any SEC team or ND. I think they definitely could. I'm not sure that they would, but the difference between those teams is not very much if there is one. Rutgers I think is actually the team who would struggle against the most teams because they are the most one dimensional, although their defense would keep them in any game they played.

All of which would likely beat all the top three Big East teams pretty easily (maybe Auburn wouldn't since they're so inconsistent). Seriously, man, I like the Big East too, but you're getting a tad carried away. That's funny because I look at the polls and don't see any teams that ND beat that even got a vote. Maybe it's you that's getting carried away because I seem to be using facts and your using assumptions. Georgia Tech is in the polls.

That could be true. I'm guessing Wisconsin will pass Cal, but the other 3 could very well stay ahead, even if it is not fair.

That play made absolutely no sense for Kansas State-run the ball into the line, take it down to 10 seconds, punt it away, you win the game-why would you ever throw the ball there? It worked though! Teams left with a chance at the NC-Ohio State, Michigan, Florida, USC, Notre Dame, Arkansas, Rutgers. Am I missing anybody? I don't think so-anybody else I believe would have Ohio State-Michigan playing each other again for sure (and some of those on the list might have that happen to them as well, but it's not for sure).

BTW, I know this seems weird, but I'm reporting on this game. San Jose State has taken over the lead over Boise State 13-12 late in the third. Why is this important? If Boise State loses, one extra BCS at-large spot opens up-so those teams just outside the NC picture still could use that extra spot.

They get leeway because they've beaten someone good. Technically, if Tennessee loses tonight, the two teams best wins will be about the same.

Drop how much though? AP Top 15: 1. O$U 2. scUM 3. Louisville 4. Texas 5. Auburn 6. Florida 7. USC 8. Cal 9. ND 10. WVU 11. Arkansas 12. LSU 13. Tennessee 14. Boise St 15. Rutgers so Louisville, Auburn, Cal all drop. Arkansas needs to jump up if they win this. I dunno... does USC deserve to jump Florida if they beat Oregon? I don't think so - they've had their share of close games against unranked opponents. ND? They should've lost to Moo. WVU? They haven't shown they can beat a good team, their defense is questionable, as is their ability to pass. Arkansas should've lost at home to Alabama, at least if Alabama had a kicker. I dunno if Florida should move down just because their close win came today and not last month. While I agree with you Truffle that Florida should not necessarily drop, they have played 3 of these type of games in a row. They are not necessarily worse than the teams behind him, but it should at least be re-evaluated at this point. If a re-evaluation of their entire season compares to others shows that Florida is still better in the voters mind, then fine. It's pretty close-splitting hairs among all the teams. However, the mindset in September and October is that if you look bad, you drop-while in November, you almost have to lose to drop. Florida has had just about as many close games as everybody else at this point.

Arkansas could have survived a loss before today-now can't they lose to both Tennessee and LSU, as long as they beat Miss State? That would leave them tied, and Arkansas would have the tiebreaker-but maybe its a 3 team tiebreaker thing that I've missed.

Georgia is now up 17-0 on Auburn in the 2nd quarter-wow.

If we keep Jones, then Mench would be the perfect fit for us as his platoon partner. He has the same type of splits in reverse of what Jacque does.

Exactly. I mentioned it above. He hasn't lived up to his salary. Possibly not Pudge, either. But, are Detroit Tigers fans running around griping that Maggs isn't worth the money, or are they excited about being in the World Series and getting even more excited watching Detroit make moves that might help them get there again next year? Detroit was able to make the gambles because they had some young talent they could build around. Do we? I don't know-maybe. I'd love to go out and sign some impact free agents though-it seems like the plan is to make sure the future is flexible all the time, and so the future never becomes the present. So I agree with you, but the gambles might just make us even worse for the next few years-but I'll take the chance of being in worse shape just for the chance to be better.

Well, I can't say I'm too enthused by the early games today. There are many mediocre teams playing right now. The one I am watching? Georgia-Auburn. Georgia marched right down the field on the first drive, and it's 7-0 Georgia early.

And the aforementioned gambles helped them do what? Meanwhile, Tiger fans can ask Cub fans how the view from the bottom is. I sure wish our GM had the audacity to go out and get the players necessary to at least threaten to win a division. A gamble like Maggs? I don't know-but I do know that Ordonez was not much different from Jacque Jones last year (Magglio was 16 points better in OBP, Jacque was 24 points better in SLG), and Ordonez was worse the year before with the Tigers. He's not exactly giving great production-that gamble hasn't panned out for them. He's just an average player the last two years who hasn't hurt them on their way to the WS.

Well, 50/50 for today is worse then we thought a week ago, but better then it seemed a day or two ago. So, I guess we just continue to wait.

I can't wait to see them in action on Monday. Do you think moving Stemler to the starting lineup is the right move? Sampson doesn't think that either D.J. or Allen can guard a player well on the wings, so he is planning on going with Stemler as a starter. I think it is a good idea also-if D.J. gets double-teamed down there, Stemler can be a three point spot up shooter and have his defensive impact.

It's funny you wrote that because it includes our worst teams too, unlike the Big 10 or the SEC and I still like our chances to win 4 or more of those games because if you look at what ACTUALLY has happened on the field Syracuse has beaten Illinois and UConn has beaten Indiana. I'd love to have a Big East/Big 10 or SEC thing like that like they did in hoops. I would have to agree with Cuse that you can't automatically take out the Big 10's worst and the SEC's worst in this argument. If you want to make it fair, you have to take out some of the middle teams. BTW, that UConn victory over IU should be taken with a serious grain of salt. IU has been beating people recently with 3 main people: their QB, freshman Kellen Lewis, their 6-7 unbelievable receiver, James Hardy, and their great coach Terry Hoeppner. Hoeppner and Hardy missed both the SIU and UConn games (Hoeppner had brain surgery during the season, and Hardy was inactive due to personal reasons). Also, Lewis was getting some of his first game action ever. Since the coach and Hardy have come back and the team has allowed to gel, it's been a different Indiana team-and I don't think UConn would beat Indiana with their pieces in place. With that in mind though, I'm not trying to prove this to say that the Big 10 is better than the Big East-my views on that are irrelevant to what I just wrote.