bartshan-83

Good ESPN article today briefly talking about the "tuition gap." Very similar to what I posited earlier in this thread. I was talking more about 'walking around money' so the guys can grab a pizza, take their girl out to dinner, etc. But this is even more on point as it talks about more essential costs that aren't included in "full" scholarships. Interesting, although not very in-depth. Link

Very cool. I have no idea what that could be. So obviously time-travel.

Oh I didn't miss it. For having never given the man a thought in my life, "!@#$ing Bochy" was muttered/shouted/sobbed DOZENS of times over the past 6 games in my house. Every move he made seemed to be the right one. I couldn't believe it when ice cold Rowand came in for game 3 and smacked that double. Bochy had the midas touch.

I know it's a little late, but congratulations to the Giants. They were the better team and they deserved to move on. I think they can handle the Rangers if their pitching comes though. Bottom line was the Phils couldn't hit. Couldn't hit ****. Pretty sad way to end a season, but hopefully they can reload and pop off next year year. Strangely, such a vaunted "battle of the aces" turned out to be pretty underwhelming. Halladay had two rough outings Lincecum had two rough outings Sanchez had two VERY rough outings Oswalt pitched well Cain pitched GREAT Hamels pitched okay If Lincecum can get back into CY Young form and Sanchez can snap out of it, I like their chances. They are a tough, smart team with a lot of guts and some very strange facial hair. Side note, I'm no baseball expert or historian at all...I know very little about the history of the game. But if Lee ends up pitching 2 more games like he has and the Rangers win, where does his performance rank on the all-time postseason pitching jobs?

!@#$ you! That was, without a doubt, one of the least enjoyable sporting events I've ever watched. It was the least enjoyable (BY FAR) of the weekend and that included my favorite baseball team (Phils) choking away another WS chance and the Bills blowing it in another vintage 'rip your heart out' fashion. I'd rather watch Denard Robinson run for 700 yards against us than ever, ever see a service academy absolutely manhandle us like we are a high school team. Not one player on Navy's 1st team would crack our starting lineup and yet they outschemed, outhustled, outmanned and outplayed us. It was vomit-inducing and terrible.

Yeah it's funny how you become a fan of a league. I didnt used to give two ***** about DH and now I think it's ridiculous. My ps: ump is calling verrrry wide strike zone. Victorino (1st) and Ruiz (3rd) Ks were way inside. Pps: bumgardner picked off Rollins with a huge balk. Sucks but whatever. And sucks you aren't watching. Just missed a great tag by posey to keep Ruiz from tying run. Chase better do something here for chissakes.

You don't got tell me...I was just bustin your balls. I started following the phils foe the same reason several years ago. Ps - where does this right-handed strike zone end? Middle of the batters box?? Pps - BALK!!!!!

Stop posting evidence that you might actually legitimately follow the Giants, thereby blowing up my accusation that you ditched the Angels and are a front-running, team-swapping leach whore. GO PHILS!!

Not for nothing, but Mark Sanchez was drafted top-5 with less than 1.5 seasons of playing. He was a little different as his career was more spread out, but: 2005: redshirt 2006: backup - threw 7 passes 2007: backup - started 3 games when Booty was hurt 2008: 1st team starter So an extra year, but over 1/2 a season less playing time when compared to Luck after this year. It's rare, but not inconceivable. If you think the talent is there, sometimes you pull the trigger.

It's funny about Bumgarner...I don't know anything about him EXCEPT that I remember the game he pitched a few months back where the Reds had the 10-1 lead and almost blew it (had to win in 12). Boy got roughed up. I didn't realize he pitched so well down the stretch. He's a rook though...this veteran lineup SHOULD be able to handle him. I have faith in Blanton (he's actually been pitching great lately, might finally be healthy). But I do wonder if pulling the trigger and pitching Halladay and Oswalt on short rest might have been the better play. I'd hope that Halladay vs. Bumgarner would be a sure thing win and then that would leave us with Oswalt/Hamels v. Lincecum/Sanchez. I could live with that a lot better than being down 3-1 and needing to beat all 3 of SF Aces. And Barry Zito is the reason Barry Zito isn't pitching this postseason. He squandered his best 2 months as a Giant by having a horrific August and an ugly September. He sucks.

GTFO with your West Coast shite. You like following a playoff team. Have you been diggin the 49ers this year too? And GTFO with this "not an upset" shite too. You're saying the Giants were favored in this series? They were expected to win? If the Phillies win it is an upset? Believe me, I wanted nothing to do with San Fran and I've been sweating this exact moment since San Diego **** themselves and started to give away the division. I wanted nothing to do with Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez, especially after how they pitched in September. The only team that can match the Phils staff is SF and they were the only staff that might actually have been hotter entering October. Phils just aren't swinging the bat. Not really a new problem. If the 2007 offense had showed up this year, they might have won 110 games. Tonight should definitely sort it out. If Blanton can man up and give us the split, I'd bet on taking of 2 out of 3 with homefield and the 1-2-3 matchup again. But if we go down 3-1, it's bleak but not over. Cole and Roy(s) are capable of pitching well enough to take 3 against any 3 pitchers in the league.

A lot of great suggestions here. Seconded: - successful challenge = no lost challenge. What if the refs botch 17 calls? Coach only gets to correct 3 of them? - defensive off-sides flinch rule. If you're an OL and a DE can make you flinch by moving, then you are bad at your job. Bruce Smith must shake his head every time this is called. - Replay standard should be "whatever it looks like." Why create an artifically high standard for no good reason? Indisputable evidence? Why?? - back off on the celebration penalties OR call them for non-TD celebrations. Pick a side. I'd prefer lenient. Additions: - have a 5-yard version of late hit penalty. Nothing more ridiculous than walking off 15 yards because a 260 lb monster athlete couldn't stop his momentum in time to avoid hitting a RB whose toes just touched the white chalk. Stupid penalty and completely disproportionate to the crime - offensive facemask call. If a RB wants to grab a CBs facemask and yoke him around, it's not a "stiff arm." It's a facemask. Call it. - call offensive PI more. Especially on pick plays where a split end just clears out the nickel CB so the slot can release wide open into the flat. Almost unstoppable in the red zone and rarely called.

Like Dean said, highlight tapes mean very little, but damn if he didn't remind me of his dad in a few of the early runs. Most of these highlight tapes are just guys who are so fast that they run away from every defender and don't get touched. But some of Barry Jr.'s runs there where he initiated contact reminded me a lot of #20. Great balance and upper-body control. Interesting to see how he develops...

If I'm understanding Harrison correctly, then I have no problem with what he said. There IS a difference between trying to injure someone badly (illegal cut blocking, diving at ankles, being named "Vince Wilfork") and trying to hit someone so that they can't/don't want to get back up. There is nothing wrong a with a good clean hit that makes a guy writhe on the turf and miss a few series or the rest of the game. That's football. That being said, I don't think helmet-to-helmet collisions of any sort should be tolerated in the NFL. Some pundit I heard this morning summed it up well by saying that a helmet is there for protection; it's not a weapon. Unfortunately, it's construction makes for a great weapon and too many players are using it as such. So while I agree with Harrison's sentiment (and think people demonizing him are wrong), I think the kind of hits he levied this week should be illegal. If they ARE banned and he still thinks they are okay, then that is a different problem.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye... Let the inaugural meeting of the C.J.S.M.L.N.S.G. (Chris Johnson Screwed Me Last Night Support Group) commence. Hi my name is Bart, and Chris Johnson screwed me last night. Sorry, this is hard...ok...ahem. I was up by, um, eight points with about 2 minutes to go in the game last night. I was happy to see the Titans finally play Javon Ringer some as my opponent had Chris Johnson. However, my heart sank as I watched Jacksonville call consecutive timeouts for absolutely no reason. My worst fears were realized when I saw Tennessee trot the offense back onto the field on 4th and 5 with 1:48 left. I prayed that I was hallucinating and they weren't actually going to run another play, let alone to Chris Johnson. Instead...I was....um....sorry I need a minute.... Ok...WHEW...I'm good. Instead I was forced to watch the most dangerous RB in the game receive his 6th and final carry of a drive he had no business being part of and take it to the house. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through the day. I've lost my last 4 weeks on the Monday night game. This morning on my drive to work I was stopped at a red light and I could have sworn I saw Jack Del Rio in the car next to me signaling for a time-out. Thank you for hearing me out. I'm sure someone else out there was victimized and may be too ashamed to talk about it. We can all support each other here though. Remember, we can beat this together. 1 point per 10 yards at a time...

I never heard that story about the secretary interrupting his signing! Well done!!

I have no problem with Puff, but IF he were to become the majority owner, he'd SHOW UP to Orchard Park with the moving trucks. He's from New York CITY, not New York STATE. It's all about the benjamins baby... (sorry...couldn't resist).

After re-reading it...WOW...did I whiff on that! I'm talking Ryan Howard, lefty slider WHIFFFFFF.

What exactly are you calling hogwash on? I'm not making any argument. I just thought it was pretty incredible that 20 points allowed was such a powerful win predictor. You are absolutely right...defense is king.

It's weird right? Seems too powerful a correlation. ND is following suit as well...2-3, 2-0 when <20. Looking at ND a little further, from 2002-present, they are 58-46. 35-2 when holding under 20. I picked one other team that I thought had been "average" over the same span...Michigan St. Actually, they define "average." From 2002-present they are 53-51. 37-5 when holding under 20. I mean a team that is a mere 2 games over .500 for almost a decade wins practically 90% if they can just hold their opponent to less than 2 TDs and 2 FGs. WOW. All I can think of is that we are undervaluing the ease of preventing your opponent from scoring 20 points. To me, that doesn't seem like such a daunting goal (and this is coming from an ND guy who watched the excuse of a D Weis trotted out there for 5 years). But, using those time periods from above, both teams played 104 games and MSU accomplished the feat 42 times (40%) and ND accomplished it 37 times (36%). So it's not like it's super rare and can't be accomplished. But when it is, WOW...almost guaranteed success.

I'm stealing these numbers from a ND board I read sometimes. I always think of college football as high scoring and watching the USC, OU, Orego, UT, etc offenses of the past several years make seeing scores of 45-60 pretty routine. It's easy to forget that defense still rules football...even college football. ***** When holding an opponent to <20 points, since 1986, ND is 112-8-2 overall, and 24-2-2 against ranked opponents. Weis: 19-1 Willingham: 14-1 Davie: 20-3 Holtz: 57-3-2 That's a 0.926 winning percentage. In order to acheive that same winning percentage over the same period of time, ND had to score at least 34 points per game (100-8-0, 19-2 against ranked opponents). ***** Ara Parseghian was 88-1-3 when holding opponents to less than 20 points. ***** Every BCS champion since the BCS was created was top 10 in either total defense or scoring defense. Since 2004, only 2 teams have made the BCS Championship Game who were not top 10 in total defense or scoring defense (USC 2005, OU 2008). They made up for it by scoring 50 ppg during the season. They also lost. No ND National Championship team has allowed more than 13 ppg (1988). ***** I wonder if there is as strong a correlation with other teams. The only other team mentioned in that thread was Alabama. Using the same 1986-present timeframe: Alabama is 162-21-1 over the same time period in games where they hold their opponents under 20 points. That's a pretty high winning percentage (.883), but not as high as ND's (.926) in a 25-year stretch which is arguably the worst stretch in ND's history. Just interesting I thought. 20 points doesn't seem like such a lower number to equate with such a high winning percentage.

My poor dad... The man who misses his draft or has a computer problem or calls me from his cell asking me to log in for him every year... The man whom I convinced to draft Brady and Moss in their record setting year and STILL managed to lose in the playoffs... The man whose ADD makes it absolutely impossible for him to go a full season without forgetting to remove BYE WEEK players at least once... He needs your help. He was offered Cutler and Brandon Lloyd for Favre. 12 team, Non-PPR, QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE (PPR), K, DEF starting. Roster: QB Flacco QB Favre RB Foster RB Turner RB Jones, Thomas RB Green-Ellis WR Moore, Lance WR Smith, Steve (NYG) WR Sims-Walker WR Williams, Mike (TB) TE Gates TE Carlson So as you can see, he is BUSTED in the WR department. Lloyd is ripping it up so that would help. But I feel like he just won the Randy Moss sweepstakes and I hesitate to advise him to dump Favre. Although a healthy Cutler/Flacco combo would probably be just fine. What say you, fine Bills fans?? Can you help a brother father out? Much thanks!

Kyle Rudolph is an absolute stud (I'd wager he has even more NFL success than the last two ND TEs Fasano and Carlson). BUT, he is a not a very good blocker. He could be taught and he has the body to be physical enough, but it has never been his strong suit. Having said that, I'd be happy to have him. He's tough and smart and he'll do very well in the pros I believe.

Interesting. I'd love to find out what the actual rules are. You remember where you read that?

I'm sort of torn. I think that it's the guy's own fault for not paying and if the FD had put it out, everyone is exactly right that there is no incentive to pay. EVER. OTOH, to have the capability to save the guy's house and instead allow it to burn to the ground is a pretty cold policy. The firefighters aren't in the wrong...they were doing their jobs. I'd offer that a good policy would be to put out a fire even if the person didn't pay, but slap a HEAVY punitive fine onto it. I'm talking $2K-$5K. Sort of like medical insurance. If you decide to forgo coverage and you rip up your knee, a doctor isn't going to refuse to treat you. But you are gonna get tagged with that $20K bill when he's done.