soccer10k

That was superb run by Ronaldo. The guy would be considered such a better player and would be a much popular player around the world if he didn't dive so much. But as it stands now, he's know just as much for his skill with the ball at his foot as he is for his penchant for diving. It was also horrendous marking by Lille as Larson was in the middle of a triangle of Lille defenders all of whom were 5-10 yards away from Larson.

Manchester United, up 1-0 today and 2-0 on aggregate over Lille, and Bayern Munich, up 2-0 today and 4-3 on aggregate over Real Madrid, appear to have clinched berths in the final 8. One goal will not send Madrid through as will need two goals to advance because Bayern has 2 away goals. AC Milan-Celtic (0-0 today and aggregate) and Arsenal/PSV Endhoven (1-0 Arsenal today and 1-1 aggregate) would go to extra time if these results stood. EDIT: And right after I type this, PSV puts in a goal to essentially secure them a spot in the final 8. They have an away goal now so a 2-1 win by Arsenal (making it 2-2 on aggregate) won't be enough. Arsenal will now have to score 2 in the final 6 minutes to advance.

I'm fine with that. Someone should be planting a new bug in Hendry and Steinbrenner's ear everyday. Man I would love to see this lineup: Soriano Murt ARod Lee ARam Jones Barrett DeRosa Northside Murderer's Row. In the words of Borat, "Very nice".

Story Kobe has been suspended for tonight's game against Milwaukee for striking the Wolves Marko Jaric in the head. The play was virtually identical to the play he was suspended for earlier this year where he struck Manu Ginobili. I don't agree with the suspension, and didn't agree with the first one, but I realize that the NBA did it because they suspended him the first time. It's still crap though.

I remember a few teams in the 2002 World Cup had tight jerseys (Italy for sure and one of the African teams though there were probably a couple more) to prevent their opponents from grabbing the jersey. But those didn't look anywhere near as bad as these do.

I, for one, am glad that Wright State won. I like having more mid major schools in the big dance.

The Cubs are on their first winning streak of the year.

CUBS WIN!! CUBS WIN!!

You mean Coats advanced to third. Come on EPatt.

I think McGehee made the error.

Gallagher sounds like he has some control issues especially with the curve.

Tie game.

Marquis pitched 3 scoreless, epatt with a 2 rbi double, couple of errors on the cubs. Gooz pitched well. Didn't Jacque get both RBI's for the Cubs?

I bet he didn't hustle either.

Final scores from today Barcelona 1, Liverpool 0 Valencia 0, Inter Milan 0 Roma 2, Lyon 0 Chelsea 2, FC Porto 1 Aggregate Liverpool 2, Barcelona 2 (Liverpool advances on away goals) Valencia 2, Inter Milan 2 (Valencia advances on away goals) Roma 2, Lyon 0 Chelsea 3, FC Porto 2 Teams in bold advance to the quarterfinals.

So I assume Marquis looked pretty good today?

Gudjohnsen puts Barcelona up 1-0 but Liverpool are up on away goals. Should be a good final 15 minutes as Barcelona needs to score.

Woodwork: 3 Barcelona and Liverpool: 0

Barca's goalie almost gave away a goal off of a horrendous clearance attempt but Sissoko's shot hit the bar. Liverpool is unlucky right now.

I would think that how well Pie plays is the biggest part of the equation by far. I don't think the Cubs are going to sacrifice Pie's future and force him to play at the MLB level when he could still spend time and learn at AAA.

Liverpool had about 3 chances to put one in and completely take control but they couldn't finish. Plus some good defense by Barcelona on the play.

What's the process (besides the obvious of selecting the teams)? It sounds interesting. Sorry, missed this earlier. We do it over 3 or 4 days from Thursday-Sunday. We start with everyone submitting every team they think has an argument to be an at large team. I don't believe there's a limit on # of teams you can submit, but obviously you keep it within reason as it's unlikely anyone truly feels 70 teams have at large arguments. After all those are submitted all teams that reach a certain %, (I know in the past we had it at 7 out of 9 ballots, but it depends on the # of people participating) are put in as locks. From there, all teams that received at least one vote, but less than the percentage are put into the bubble pool. You can make your case for any team you wish in the thread, and then by Friday night you rank all the bubble teams from 1 on down. After that a composite ranking figures out who the at large teams are at that point. If the chalk holds up in the final conference tourneys, teams that were just out would then be moved in as necessary. Finally once all the at larges are taken care of, there is a final 1-65 ranking of all the teams we've put in the tourney, the rankings are combined, and we come up with our own field of 65. In the 2 years we've done it we haven't had to deal with any Sunday spoilers putting a non at large into the tourney, so hopefully that holds out(on a personal level too) otherwise things can get confusing. It sounds kind of daunting now that I re-read that, but really to participate doesn't take that much effort, and is fairly easy to zoom through if you've followed the season all year, which seems like you have. The tough stuff falls on the person who runs it compiling all the numbers which is why I'm shamelessly begging Bukie to run it again. Sounds interesting and fun. If you/bukie decide to run it, I'm in.

Yep, the only team they've played in two months is Gonzaga, who they barely beat. And Gonzaga was just discussed as a team not worthy of an at large. I wonder where they get seeded. I would give Memphis a 2 seed right now but if they win their conference tournament and have some other potential number 1's lose early in their conference tournaments (UCLA, Wisconsin, Florida, Kansas) then they could move up to a #1 seed. Here's the thing about Memphis though. High RPI of 8, which is worthy enough of a 2 seed. But their SOS is only 73. Even worse, their top 50 record is only 1-3, with their only top 50 win against Kentucky. Only four top 50 opponents in the season. Not too good. I'd be very surprised if they get a anything higher than a 4 seed. Yeah, I guess I worded my statement incorrectly. Personally, I don't think Memphis is that good and I don't think they should be seeded too high. But they could move up to #2 or #3 in the nation after the conference tournaments and I don't think the committee will give them lower than a 2 seed if they win the C-USA tournament.

Wednesday has Man U-Lille on ESPN2 and Bayern/Real Madrid on Classic. I really like the Barcelona/Liverpool choice. Barca is going to come out firing because they have to win - much like their final group stage match against Werder Bremen. I would have preferred Munich/Madrid on ESPN2 for Wednesday over the Man U game.

Yep, the only team they've played in two months is Gonzaga, who they barely beat. And Gonzaga was just discussed as a team not worthy of an at large. I wonder where they get seeded. I would give Memphis a 2 seed right now but if they win their conference tournament and have some other potential number 1's lose early in their conference tournaments (UCLA, Wisconsin, Florida, Kansas) then they could move up to a #1 seed.