UConn James

You know, if you cut every guy that gets burned, you soon won't have any CBs left. This is a league where the rules are tilted far in favor of offenses. If you brush against a WR these days, they get a flag and the yardage for sure. I'm sorry, but in the position he was in, McKelvin probably did as much as he could do. And it was George Wilson who didn't even put a hand up in the air as he was chasing. This day and age, you've just got to get back out there with your O and do the same against their defense. This what comes of the NFL wanting teams to score more and changing the rules to enable that.

I can probably get there faster than you.

Responding to a mix of this thread and the one in the college forum.... UConn has apparently begun talking with the ACC (the new U president basically had the AD axed a couple of weeks ago... probably in no small part because he's been intransigent about staying in a dying Big East), and word is that the ACC might also add either Louisville or Rutgers to get to the magic 16. Either way, my alma mater can't stay there. This state/U has invested WAY too much $ (in our nascent 10 years in D-1 football) on a 40,000-seat stadium and a training center on campus that ranks in the top practice facilities nationally to remain in a conference without a BCS tie-in. There's too much riding on it; the Big East as we knew it is done and it's time to move on now.

Don't trust other people with your money. Sadly, especially family and friends because they use the connection to expect to be forgiven when they steal or divert the $ from its intended use. Have had personal experience with this. At least when you have your $ handled by a professional, if you've got even half a brain there is accountability and verification and they risk their career if they do something, not just awkwardness at family parties or whatever token punishment they get after the $'s all gone. This case is just disgusting, but all too common these days. The things people will do for a little bit of money....

You know, that's going to be the media angle until the Bills actually do spend $ on a QB. They will say Ralph pinches pennies until he doesn't, and is worried about having to pay more for good players until he does. Because that's been the general story --- we either say lots and do little, use the leverage to pay guys below their worth (e.g. using Freddie's RFA status at age 30 to sign him cheap) or ship out guys that are expecting paydays. For people who don't know or follow the Bills, that's what they've seen. Granted, the LARGE $ above $7-8M (factoring in signing bonus amortization) should be tied up in performance incentives.

Oh damn.... I wrote that early (and I wasn't a math major)!

Nonetheless, our O needs to eat up a lot of clock to keep the Brady Bunch off the field. If it becomes their TEs against Kelsay and Bryan Scott.... well, we've already seen what happens. It's all well and good to think we're something, but just remember that the Pats* in the recent past are often the ones who've exposed to the rest of the league exactly how to beat us, if it wasn't already obvious at that point.

Walt is gonna be pissed on many counts. 1) Who thought when Gus asked to use the bathroom that he was going to piss in the Don's pool (as Tuco's uncle did) as everyone died? 2) Jesse had and still has the golden opportunity to kill Gus (and Mike) or at least just not help them. But then again, the business and something of a personal bond with them forged over the last several episodes may have been enough to convince Jesse that he's their man. Anyway, after the fight, it's hard to tell where things stand. Given Walt's cry-down and transferred apology to/via Walt Jr., and that Jesse demonstrated he can cook the product on his own, it seems like Jesse is now the jefe in their partnership. Addressing this and the DEA / Hank seems to be the storylines that are left for the season finale and next year's final run. 3) How good was the scene between Walt and Walt. Jr.? It really seems like after that rebuke from his son, this is the point where Walt might opt out, that enough is enough, he needs to take what he's gotten and turn around from what's he's been "this past year." But Skylar giving Ted that money is really going to get Walt's goat. And why do I think that the residual frustration from his defeat by Gus/Jesse is going to just make him semi-snap on his own family?

Am I mis-remembering this or wasn't the reason for the few-day demotion that he was late for a meeting?

Seriously, I think it's my avatar and caption that's doing it.

So, with 4 pod games and 6 other-pod conference games, there will be no room for interconference match-ups? I can't imagine, say, FSU - Florida, USC - Notre Dame, or any combination of the Virginia (and WVU) will be happy with that. They may have to accept it, but they wouldn't be happy. I think it'd be fair, once all of this stuff is done, to give teams 2 inter-superconference games per year to be worked out among ADs. (And, that's if FSU doesn't move to the SEC, which I've seen bandied about.) Also, the UConn to ACC rumors have apparently heated up. Link

Since you say "we" when talking about the ACC.... I've seen several suggestions that FSU might decide to switch to the SEC. Have you heard anything on that? Frankly, they're probably better off staying in the ACC rather than electing to get themselves beaten up in high-octane regional brawls. The thing with how the superconferences are forming is that we can virtually say goodbye to unbeaten seasons. About the only major college sport that'll happen in soon will be women's basketball and possibly soccer (depending on whether you think that's a major sport).

IIRC, the announcement had TCU a little disconcerted. I'm not sure what recourse they have and if they could pull out of the switch. I would if I were them.

This is being discussed in the college forum... whose link on the main board is currently located in the Siberia that is beneath the Trading Post, Tailgate forum and Fantasy Football. More college sports talk happens on OTW than in the college forum. Anyway.... Yep, it looks like his league all but died on the same day as he did. I suppose it's kind of poetic. Geno Auriemma, as quoted today: While the Big East bridge has now evidently come to its end and schools will be taking their turns onto other routes, the path did get us to where we are, which is where we needed to be. Thanks for your contributions, Mr. Gavitt. RIP. The Hartford Courant has reported that UConn has had discussions with the ACC. This is a good piece by Jeff Jacobs, a heck of a sportswriter, on the situation of the past few days. Link.

Hartford Courant's Jeff Jacobs: UConn Can't Sit as Big East Collapses Really good take on the situation from a really good sportswriter. Also reports that a Courant source has said UConn "has had conversations with the ACC."

As I wrote, if it lasts at all, The Big East will become a basketball-only conference and a weak one at that. If they continue to hand-sit on Hillside Drive and remain stuck in a depleted / bandaged BE, I don't think it's too much to say it will be the eventual downfall of UConn sports. There will be little incentive to build the basketball training complex they're dreaming of, and then when Calhoun retires the standard will be lost with an inability to attract a major coaching talent to a weak conference. Then Geno A. will leave sometime and by then the football program will be a low-tier also-ran and people will remember when UConn used to win championships. Gotta say that I am keen on this in-a-perfect-world re-alignment plan, but I'm just afraid it's not going to go that way. There's also the matter of there (no doubt) still being a bitter taste in the ACC's mouth over then-CT Attorney General (he's now a U.S. Senator) Dick Blumenthal's lawsuit against them during the VT, U, BC defections. Don't think the ACC's forgotten about that and will miss the opportunity to extend a big middle finger at UConn, even if adding us would make their conference better.

Just to note that the Big East's rules for exiting the conference changed after the loss of the U, VT & BC. There's now a 27-month notice required and $5M exit fee. Now, the money's not a big object, but those 2+ years... awkward! We'll see what comes of that as "the dominoes continue to fall," tho, because just about everything in this world is negotiable. Regardless, it might give UConn some time to figure out their move. Then again, if Syracuse and PITT are accepted, there's only 2 slots left in an ACC 16-team super-conference. West Virginny may be another interested party vis-a-vis their VT and UVA rivalries. And Louisville is a strong possibility, geographically, to say nothing of USF.

Link Clink, clink. Couple more dominoes.... Looks like the Big East is going to be gutted and, if anything, will become a basketball-only conference w/ Georgetown, St. John's, Villanova, etc. Just hope the UConn muckity-mucks have been making plans for this eventuality. I think we'll be all right and hope to land either in the ACC or Big(12)10.

Winter's Bone. Don't mean to nitpick, but getting movie titles correct is often important.... Ordinary People Black Swan was depressing in what happens after the audience basically had gotten intimate with her.

That is an awesome Weeping Angels (from "Doctor Who") one on 11 Sept.

Having a family member as a relief carrier/sub, I hear a lot of the shop talk. To me, cutting Wednesdays would make a lot more sense. It gives two days early in the week, a break, then another two business days and preserves a weekend day when as you point out, most people are active doing errands and such that they can't do during the week. There's a purely practical reason why Wednesdays would be a more feasible option --- the pile-up of mail. The heaviest days already are always Mondays. If you cut out Saturdays, that will be then be an accurement of Friday third-class, and what people generate on Saturday and Sunday. It would make Mondays even more burdensome. Eliminating Wednesday would make it so that on either side of it, there will be a delivery, and spread out the load more evenly. As to the fundamental question... yes, the postal service is losing its grasp on information exchange. But it is still a really fast, reliable means of moving paper and things around the country. You might not think of it, but the measure of a country is partly on how well its citizens can be reached --- centralization of government. There is any manner of things that basically have to be done by mail, because it's a common denominator --- everyone has an address (even a number of homeless!). Not everyone has a computer or the Internet. Census (I think the Census ought to be conjoined with the Post Office in order to save $); jury duty and summons; motor vehicle stuff.... Not to mention that it's important for many reasons for every person to be reached. Say, in case of a nuclear accident or attack. There's actually postal training materials where they will be the first ones to get potassium iodide or such treatment (and must not give it to anyone else, even their children), and then be the delivery method for everyone else. There's a lot of stuff the average person doesn't think of or see as to why the post office is still vitally important.

That's probably mine as well. For a special reason vis-a-vis Stephen King's choice of names. As good as the novella was, Darabont brought it to life so faithfully. And you can name others all you want, this is the one that put Morgan Freeman on the A-list. Great story, great acting, great blend-in of the soundtrack; all great movies/series need these, very few have them all. But I would say that "North by Northwest" is close.

That issue looks like it's headed for the Supremes. But really, to a certain extent, this already is in effect. I am uninsured and when I got bitten by a pit bull derivative while walking in the road with my dog earlier this year, after the ER visit, my primary doc had to call around specialists... who didn't want to know me from nothin' until one of them asked if there was going to be a lawsuit. When the doc's secretary asked me that and I said yes, I had an appointment for two days later. Say what you want about the Hippocratic Oath, but there's a certain degree of discouraging or holding out on expensive treatments for people who won't be able to afford it. The stink of it is, during that whole thing, my dog got better care for more serious wounds at the vet for ~ $400 vs. me with our medical system for ~ $3,000 (so far). The cost structure is so far out of whack it's unbelievable. And Obamacare does nothing to address that besides a vague HOPE that it'll CHANGE. Newsflash: adding users into the system does not force prices downward.

Levi, in what world is Nadal a "pretty-boy"? I was pulling for a 5th set but wow, both the Wimbledon and US Open finals were clinics in court movement. Can't say that I'm a big fan of Djoker, given the givens of his family's vocalizations and his history until this season of being... how do I say it... soft to a degree that Jonas Jennings is an Iron Man in comparison. After the medical stoppage and he still kept rubbing at his back and the third set not going his way, I was thinking "He wouldn't retire in the U.S. Open Final... would he?" Nevertheless, he had an amazing season. It's great for tennis to have several star players and some younger guys who are breaking in again after a long time of it being the Federer-Rafa Show. If "King Roger" hadn't had several years post-Pete/Andre where he was virtually uncontested, there's no way he wins that many Slams. He's a very good player, but he benefited greatly from being the only very good player at a time when the men's tour hit a snide. A bit of the same deal with Henin with the women.

G.O.P. Gains House Seat Vacated by Weiner