WreckingMachine

Neither did I. I assumed teams could substitute at will. While play is going on you can substitute at will. If you have control of the puck you can only actually have 5 guys on the ice. If you do not have control of the puck you can have more players on the ice as long as some are obviously coming off. If there is a face-off, the road team has to send out their players first. This gives the home team the advantage of setting the match ups. I just learned something new. Don't feel bad. This is really a rule mostly just people who have coached, played, or have had that some sort of acquaintance with Hockey would know. 99% that watch Hockey on TV won't pick this up, unless the broadcaster mentions it.

I didn't catch that, that's pretty cool. I saw the episode on NFLN with Tony Dungy and the speeches he's doing in all those prisons. You could tell by watching those kids respond that Dungy's speech was having an effect on their life. That was really cool to see.

I think a lot of the success for rookie wide receivers depends on the quality of the other receivers in the corps. For Royal he stepped onto a team where they already had three quality targets in Brandon Marshall, Tony Scheffler, and even an aging Brandon Stokely that was still putting up decent numbers. Not to mention that he had Jay Cutler as a quarterback. Due to all of that and the fact there wasn't much pressure on him to put up gaudy numbers, he was able to become a legitimate threat. As a Broncos fan, I think Royal's success was mostly due to being a damn good route runner with decent speed and hands, but also because of the system and the QB. I don't think the other WRs had any effect because by the end of the year, Royal had better DBs covering him the whole game and his production did not drop at all. Iglesias (haven't seen enough of Knox) just isn't as good a Receiver as Royal in the sense Royal had ridiculous mental maturity and football smarts for a Rookie, and to a lesser extent better hands. Also, the system Cutler will be playing in for the Bears isn't as beneficiary for him as the one that was in Denver. I do think the Bears will be in the Playoffs this year; they should sign Marvin Harrison though IMO.

This is a good trade for San Diego. One of the very few good things the Padres have done this year is pick up a couple pitchers off the junkpile and have them gain some value (Gaudin). One of the pitchers in this trade could end up being successful, especially in Petco. The funny thing is a day before this trade went down, it was rumored San Diego and those [expletive] midgets from San Francisco might swap Hairston and Sanchez. Remember, Sanchez was a struggling lefty said to have control problems at that time. Little did they know in his next start he'd no hit the Padres.

Dayton Moore sucks, but that Jack Z is going to be robbing a lot of people. Those acquisitions of Branyan, Aardsma, etc. were ridiculous. The President of Seattle may have saved his job with that hiring alone. I'd expect the Mariners to be consistent 80+ win teams as long as Jack Z is there and I think they'll sneak into the ALCS within the next few years.

Should've called the BoozeCrew.

I watched the interview, and it was... confusing. There were parts where Obama totally looked like he knew his Baseball and was a legit fan. Like the part how Comiskey used to have those super steep upper deck parts, which is true. But then there were parts where he called it "Cominskey Field". Whatever, it's not like it's important anyways.

Dangerous strategy, if said player is having a mediocre season (like Holliday is, though he is turning it around somewhat) you can lose a lot on the initial investment. To be fair, we (I'm a Rockies fan) sort of assraped them in that trade. This team would've been lost without Street, especially with Corpas' injury (also the fact he was horrible in the 1st half) and the rest of the bullpen hanging by a thread (Morales, Peralta, and Fogg have been very pleasent surprises- but none were regulars until this summer). It was also beneficiary to unleash Seth Smith this year. He should get more starts in LF, but that's what Tracy has been doing more of as of late. And I did bookmark the OP's site as well; it was a good read. I'll give it more visits in the future.

Home team gets last line change in hockey. Home ice/court/field advantage is huge in any sport because of the comfort level the athletes have... being around their family, home cooking, being able to sleep in their own beds. Also, the most glaring advantage is the energy you get from the crowds. - go to 1:45 -- that would give any team a huge boost from the start of the game. Hawks fans are awesome. Beat me to it with the last line change in hockey point. On another note, one thing that irritates me about current day broadcasts is I'm pretty sure they mute out the fans. For example, if you watch the Calgary/Chicago replays on NHL Network, you would think you could hear a needle drop in the building. But from some firsthand accounts I've heard, that was the loudest building they'd ever been in. Point being I would enjoy broadcasts of any sport much more if they totally included all the fan noise and energy in it. It's a ton more exciting, nerve-racking, and gets the adrenaline flowing.

So after looking through the schedule, there is one APP ST-like upset I see as a possibility. It's obviously a long shot, but I think Northern Iowa over Iowa is possible. (Richmond has an outside chance at beating Duke, but that's a totally different scale than Michigan/Iowa getting upset.) I've watched the replay of the Northern Iowa/Brigham Young game on the MTN Network. There really wasn't much disparity between the 2 teams. Northern Iowa actually held within 10 until the 2nd half of the 4th Quarter, when BYU was able to break a lot of long passing plays. But until that point, UNI held their own with BYU. I don't think 2009 Iowa poses the same danger 2008 Brigham Young did. Who knows, maybe their athleticism blows UNI away, but BYU with a far more powerful passing attack took 7/8 of the game to break it open. Iowa is breaking in some new players (i.e. Secondary, Defensive Line, RB) too, and are a little overhyped. Many Northern Iowa players could approach this game as if it's their most important regular season game ever. Many of their players likely had their goal as a HS kid to get a scholarship from U of Iowa, and they never got it. This is their lifelong chance to prove Ferentz wrong. And, for what it's worth especially since Iowa St was shitty, their upper classmen beat down Iowa State in 2007. If Jewel Hampton doesn't play, I think Northern Iowa will pull it off at Kinnick. Of course it's a major longshot, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. There are a lot of things I like for UNI in this game.

So I was just looking through the schedules, and am disappointed to learn Appalachian State is playing East Carolina. It isn't that East Carolina isn't good; they just don't have nearly that same shock value if they were upset by a DI-AA team like Michigan, Louisiana St., etc. would. My favorite NCAA Football moment is easily September 1, 2007, when the Appalachian State Mountaineers upset #4 Michigan at the Big House, a year after they were 11-0 going into a 1/2 game and losing 42-39. I remember it was the opening of Big Ten Network, and I was pissed I woke up at 1 PM, so I missed the first half of the first wave of games on the first College Football Saturday. I was frustrated because it took me like 15 minutes to find BTN, and when I finally did, Appalachian State was up 28-14 and I coudn't have been more shocked. And Armanti Edwards was only a Sophomore that year when he took MEEEEchigan's Defense behind the woodshed- in the Big House. Aw man, he'd be a Senior this year too. Too bad they're not playing Ohio State or Oklahoma State or someone this year. Easily my biggest disappointment when looking through the schedules.

Eh, I can understand him to a degree though. While McDonough is insanely successful, he does come off as a bit of a power trip type guy. Don't get me wrong, the positives obviously triumph his arrogance, which I guess helps him be successful. But that's also part of the reason he canned/didn't have much chemistry with Tallon. With all that said, it doesn't take away that Hossa is a far better option. And Havlat's term with Minnesota is almost gauranteed to be a bust because a.) their system is counterproductive to his game b.) doesn't have much surrounding talent or fitting complements, and c.) has the injury risk Gaborik had.

Angels will be the most interesting team for me to watch this offseason. A lot of money and "core players" are let off the hook after 2009, but some of them are aging and it would probably be best not to re-sign them (i.e. Vlad). If they use this freed-up money wisely and save some for use after the 2010 season, they'll have one of the better cores in the league beginning in 2011.

Awhile ago, but the genuis that is Ichiro.

On a historical note, I find it interesting that national championships prior to 1939 are acknowledged. Before that year, there was no Postseason Tournament nor Rankings poll to rank teams. It would be like if we played out a College Football season, but there were no bowls or polls to go along with it. It would be almost like a national-scale exhibition/intramurals then. That's basically what those College Basketball seasons were. An entity named Helms Foundation Basketball in a later year went back and voted the national champion for these "lost" seasons based on the data they had available. It's ridiculous enough that a poll determines the national champion (college football), but to have a poll years after-the-fact to determine the national champion? Schools such as Kentucky, Kansas, etc. have claimed these National Championships based on these years-belated polls, which have contributed to their total. Northwestern, interestingly, has not. They were voted #1 by this same poll for the 1931 season, but do not acknowledge it. As it should be, given the lack of data and the fact no one knew they were playing for something so substantial at the time.

Anyone know if they allow observers to watch the practices or camps at The Edge in Bensenville? I hope so, but I know that particular rink has very little seating.