Derwood

my younger daughter's name is Ella, and yeah, there isn't much that rhymes with it. You CAN make it into words like Ella-phant and Ella-vator, but that doesn't work so well with Piniella

Hahahhahaha post of the year material I thought my 3 minute photoshop was going to go unnoticed.

why? there won't be any undefeated teams in the SEC. If the Big 10 gets bashed year in and year out for beating up on each other, then the SEC should too

I think whoever loses the Michigan/OSU matchup drops to 3rd or 4th, no matter the final score. Personally, I would like to see a really close game on the 18th, then a rematch in the NC game, but the BCS would NEVER allow that

IZTURIS ROCKS. HE'S GOING TO DO LOTS OF THIS: http://www.simleaguebaseball.com/derwood/izturis.jpg

Billy: "Okay Dusty, I got this great young catcher this year. His OBP is going to be great." Dusty: "He's gonna bat 8th" Billy: "Um, shouldn't he lead off? He's projected to OBP .390 this year." Dusty: "Less the boy play center field, he's batting 8th." Billy: "Um..."

I think that the Detroit sweep coupled with the 6 (at least) game NLCS, further delayed by weather, kills the momentum of the Tigers. I still think they can win the WS, but they are going to have been sitting around for a week without playing ball

as demonstrated by a career winning % of .517 (even after managing Tampa)?

..wasn't able to listen; what do you like about that statement? Players play, pitchers pitch, hitters hit, coaches coach, posters post, etc.....sounds meaningless to me...what was the context? It was in the context of taking walks. He said that he'd occasionally give the "take" sign, but more often than not, he trusts the hitters to go up there and hit.

I think it's a given that any available manager will have that philosophy and overuse the sac bunt and try to "make things happen". I'm not that worried about it, it's not like Girardi or Bochy would be different. I'm excited because Lou actually acknowledged that the lack of walks is something that needs to be worked on. I only wish someone asked him about pitcher abuse. I thought they did? Or was that about using young pitchers?

he's WAY more fun to listen to than Dusty

I give the Sox better odds to land A-Rod than the Cubs. People on this board keep saying the Yankees would demand a 3B in return (A-Ram/Crede), but what they really need is young pitching, and that's something the Sox are likely more willing to part with than the Cubs.

I have a different take on the announcers and Leinart. The kid played GREAT for a rookie in his second game (against the best defense in the league). No picks, always looked poised, completed over 50% of his passes. This loss was NOT his fault. I think their take was "this would be a great win for a rookie who has had to prove himself again after being awesome in college." Plus, when a 1-4 team is beating the snot out of a 5-0 team, you expect the announcers to make a big deal out of it. On the other hand, Kornheiser kept saying how bad this would be if Arizona lost. I didn't see the commentary as biased at all. If Leinart had coughed up 6 turnovers while Grossman was playing well, I expect that commentary would have been different.

They just need to show Grossman this tape on repeat for the next 2 weeks. "Hey buddy, look at all the guys underneath the safeties you had to throw to. Quit being a hero."

One thing about winning so much in college....it doesn't prepare you much for losing.

Well, until last year I would have said Arizona Cardinals = LA Clippers At least the Cubs make it to the playoffs once every 5 or 7 years

This was one of those weird games where, despite being down early, I just had a feeling that the Bears would make a game of it. Kudos to Charles Barkley who said in the first half "The Bears holding the Cardinals to a field goal (making it 17-0) is the turning point of this game"

so, yeah, wow. Not much you can say here. No bad calls or anything, just getting killed. Bears have zero energy

The best thing about the O$U-scUM game this year is that one team is guaranteed to lose and not play for the national championship. The other will win and will have me rooting against it in the Fiesta Bowl. Fiesta isn't the national title game...their site is just where it is. There's a separate game. Right, it's Jan. 8th at the new Arizona stadium.

I'll be honest. This hiring is neither here nor there for me. I won't lose sleep over it. I care WAY more about the upcoming free agency period than who sits in the dugout looking fat and old

- No waterfront - No gambling - No French Quarter - No Disney

I think it's a shame that most fans of the Super Bowl teams won't be able to see the game in person. I doubt that season ticket holders get any sort of priority for SB tickets either. Sometimes I also wish that college bowl games were played at a home stadium, but that doesn't bother me as much Most fans of football teams don't get to see any particular game in person. I think the tradition of going to the Rose Bowl, or the Orange Bowl, or any other bowl, is much better than having another home game. The Bowl season would be meaningless if the better record simply hosted another game. Aside from the national championship game, there would be no buzz. In a year when the Rose Bowl is all but meaningless, there is meaning in two teams travelling to southern California to play a game. Likewise, home field has a huge advantage in football. The super bowl allows you to play the proverbial "on a neutral field" game to determine the champion. It's a great option. Homefield is a bonus for getting to the super bowl, but there's no reason to have it affect the super bowl. They don't play the same teams in the regular season, so the record against those teams shouldn't matter. Then the choices for which city to play the Super Bowl in should not be limited to San Diego, New Orleans and Miami. EDIT: And there IS the chance a team gets homefield, if the team's city happens to be hosting the game that year. Granted, there isn't much chance that Miami will make it this year (or Arizona next year), but you get my point

Not sure about the past 3 years, but the Yankees had some pretty bad injury problems this year. Sheffield, Matsui, Wright, Pavano, etc.

I think it's a shame that most fans of the Super Bowl teams won't be able to see the game in person. I doubt that season ticket holders get any sort of priority for SB tickets either. Sometimes I also wish that college bowl games were played at a home stadium, but that doesn't bother me as much

You are an absolute genius, Derwood. Thanks. For my next trick, I'd also like to see the Super Bowl played in the stadium of one of the two teams playing in the game. Noooo. It's all well and good to split up a series by home stadiums but having a one-game final held in a home stadium is a very bad idea. No offense. So it's better to play in a stadium full of rich people and corporate sponsor reps who don't give a crap about the game? The Super Bowl is more tourist/vacation attraction than game. And always playing either indoors or in hot weather is also dumb. But that ties in with the vacation thing. If a team has the better record, they can play with homefield in the Super Bowl. They earned it