Talk about the baseball game here. Who are we playing?
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Talk about the baseball game here. Who are we playing?
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Who are we playing?
I don’t even know. I do know Prison Break returns tonight. So hooray for that.
Revisiting this:
Stu,
You might not make that comment about Title IX if you were the father of a daughter. Of course, it doesnāt involve SEC football so you donāt care.
Not an ounce of truth in either statement, Marc.
If/when I have a daughter, I’ll still feel the same way about the ridiculous result of disbanding Vanderbilt Men’s Soccer for Vanderbilt Women’s Bowling. It’s bowling, for crying out loud. I’d feel the same way if it were Women’s Soccer being disbanded in favor of Men’s Bowling.
As to the second statement, I mean, have you ever read what I’ve posted on here before? Even if you haven’t, did you notice that my comment which prompted your ill-informed response had to do with soccer?
From the previous thread, addressed to Marc:
I appreciate that. Unfortunately, I responded again to your comments on the newer thread before seeing this. None of what I said there is untrue, but, in light of your apology, please forgive me for its tone.
Stu,
You guys didn’t beat Alabama. Alabama is currently undefeated. Therefore, Vandy is not a favorite of mine right now..
But really, this thing is starting to look really good for Bama. If they can get out with a win over Georgia Saturday, their hardest remaining games are Florida State (who stinks), Tennessee (who will finish last in the SEC East), LSU (revenge game and a game you just have a feeling Bama will win), and Auburn.
Uhm. I’m scared.
I don’t have the feeling that Bama will beat LSU, but I will admit that they’re a better team than I thought they’d be coming into the season. The passing attack, in particular, is very good. They’re pretty clearly at least the second-best team in the West.
I still think they’re defensive front will hurt them, and I still don’t buy Terry Grant as being much better than Ken Darby.
And Tennessee will not finish last in the East.
Tennessee won’t finish last in the east, but UGA might!
OK, let’s have a Brave win the batting title. And let it be Chipper. Yippee. There’s my Braves comment.
Re: SEC
Although I’m not giving up any games for my school at this point, the 2 possible LSU-Florida games are beginning to look like must-watch TV.
I still haven’t seen the Georgia-South Carolina game (I was in another land), so I’m reserving judgement on the Bama game for a minute. I’ll watch it this week.
I did catch all of the Bama/Arkansas game & that was a doozie. Lots of intrigue there. JPW was great, then he sucked, then he was great again.
It’s pretty obvious that #5’s leg cramps probably kept the Hogs from getting the game-clinching first down. But, that’s just tough, innit?
Vandy or Kentucky will finish last in the East. I think people are severely overrating UK right now. Their offense is the truth, but their D is terrible. That won’t fly in conference play.
The East is definitely in flux, though. There’s an argument to be made for every team but Florida finishing last in the division.
I dunno, ububba. Felix Jones probably starts for every team in the SEC but Arkansas, so it’s not fully “obvious” to me that McFadden would’ve gotten it done. Especially with Houston Nutt calling the plays.
Jones wasn’t great in that game, but McFadden was on fire. They couldn’t have stopped him with a shotgun.
And I agree about Nutt. Once it was 3rd & 12, he should’ve just ran it again and ate clock. Instead, he does the one thing that Bama wanted: throw an incomplete pass.
And Smitty,
You just worry about your team. š
Is it possible to defend a pass without getting a pass interference call? It seemed like everytime a defensive back tried to break up a pass in the Alabama-Arkansas game, the officials called pass interference. It was like the NFL. It was a great game, but come on, give the defense a chance.
I don’t go crazy about individual stats, especially if my team has been disappointing, but man, Chipper is having one helluva season.
Avg: .335 (1st)
OBP: .425 (5th)
Slg: .605 (2nd)
Of course, 9 more RBI & he’s back at the 100 plateau.
There were at least three plays where Arkansas should have been called for pass interference, including a resoundingly obvious one two feet from the umpire on the previous drive, so I don’t think your point has much merit.
This Alabama team might be similar to Curry’s last team, which started 10-0 before (of course) losing to Auburn — not a lot of defense, but lots and lots of offense. I don’t think that’s going to work against LSU, but I don’t see anything working against LSU. Alabama is obviously the second favorite in the West right now, since they beat Arkansas and Auburn is so bad.
Bring back the AAA World Series!
Historically in the SEC, the high-profile teams get the benefit of having more calls than not go their way. As, historically, the conference’s most high-profile team, Bama has gotten its fare share of Bama-sided officiating.
I didn’t watch the Bama-Arkansas game all that closely, but a lot of what I’ve read from neutral sources says the Tide were, as usual, getting most of the calls in that game.
watched the game and the Tide didnt get the calls. Other than the obvious missed pass interference call for Bama that wasnt called, everything else was called very well
You’re an Alabama fan, right?
Shorter Stu: “I didn’t watch the game, but I believe Alabama was given the victory by the officials because it fits my preconceived notions.”
Looking forward to Kentucky-Arkansas this weekend. First one to 50 wins!
Soft year in the SEC. Saban couldn’t have picked a better time to jump back in an make splash.
As I said once already, I read it. And yes, it fits with what I’ve witnessed in the past.
As an example, I do know that Bobby Johnson received another in a long line of official apologies from the SEC Head of Officials after the game two weeks ago, though Vandy certainly didn’t play well enough for the skewed officiating to serve as much of an excuse.
Should be interesting, Robert, though I think it’ll be more like “first to 35” or so. It’s pretty tough to score 50, even against UK, when you can’t throw the ball.
I love that game, too, but, for me, it all about 7:45 Saturday night.
And Robert,
Hey, Auburn is making everyone look bad. š
I’d wait a few weeks until I declare the league soft. FWIW, I don’t think the Louisville people are doing that.
And it appears that the league’s top 2 are as scary as anyone, including your team. But let’s play a few more weeks to see what’s what.
I hate bammer and think they should die
I do not hate the Braves, and yet they continue to be on life support long enough to pull me back so they can kill me along with them…how efficient
sometimes i hate sports…
I think Arkansas holds serve at home. I have no idea why.
Here’s my VERY EARLY predictions of key games:
SOUTH FLORIDA over N. Carolina by 10
GEORGIA TECH over Virginia by 6
FLORIDA over Ole Miss by 24
MICHIGAN over Penn State by 2
Michigan State over NOTRE DAME by 10
ALABAMA over Georgia by 4
ARKANSAS over Kentucky by 3
WISCONSIN over Iowa by 20
LSU over South Carolina by 1
Virginia’s the home team, GT on the road. Sorry for the capping error.
Oh yeah, Florida and LSU are great, but the other traditional powers are down this year. It happens, the SEC lost a ton to the draft last season.
Wryn, if Fla handles Tenn by 39 I think they get Ole Miss by that amount + some
Wryn, how about an Aubie score
So you think Michigan is “back” now? Or just “back” until they run into another team that runs the spread offense?
csg, how about an Bama win over Auburn?
Question:
How in the hell does Arkansas drop from the polls following their loss to Alabama and how in the hell does Alabama go from unranked to 16. I agree that Alabama should be ranked, but how can you drop Arkansas so much for losing a road SEC game on a last second throw and move Alabama up so much at the same time?
Florida will be slightly less up for the Ole Miss game.
And I’m pretty sure Anthony Morelli can’t win a big game.
csg,
If Cox starts:
AUBURN 27, New Mexico State 10
If Burns starts:
AUBURN 34, New Mexico State 3
I have a feeling Stu is right about Florida.
About the SEC being soft, I think it’s just going to be different teams coming up big this year. We’ll be slightly worse than last year, but with LSU and Florida at the top, I think those two are better than Florida and Auburn last year. Alabama will basically be last year’s Arkansas. South Carolina’s looking pretty good, and could be last year’s Tennessee or Georgia.
I’m very slowly having respect for the Pac-10 this year. Perhaps the SEC is a little overrated and the Pac-10 is a little underrated, as someone said earlier. USC, Cal, Oregon, and Washington is looking a bit better than LSU, Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina.
Did you see Washington get slapped around by Ohio State? Not to mention UCLA.
Yeah, Washington is not good. I’m not convinced Oregon is, either.
TAFKAU,
Because the rankings are stupid.
csg-
I’m not convinced Tennessee is better than Ole Miss. š®
Also, FL’s defense really didn’t get tested last week. UT never tried to throw it over the top (not once!), and when they did air it out a little, it seemed to me like they were able to gain yards.
The game I’m looking forward too (besides LSU, which is just going to be great football) is the Kentucky game. That one could seriously end up something like 70-50.
The following e-mail was sent to all Auburn students via e-mail today:
Dear Students,
Football season is one of my favorite times of the year. Each week, I canāt wait for Saturday to watch my Auburn Tigers play their best against the rival team. And each week, I am thankful that Auburn students share in my enthusiasm and come out to cheer on the Orange and Blue. However, I was disheartened this past Saturday to hear boos coming from our student section – not aimed at the other team but aimed instead at our own players.
As a former Auburn football player, I can tell you first-hand that no one wants to win more than the young men that prepare and give their all on the field each Saturday. A loss is devastating but lessons are learned and you move on. Booing your own team – your own classmates and fellow Auburn students – does nothing toward motivating them to a win. In fact, it is times like these when they need to hear your āWar Eagleā cries and cheers of support the most.
As the season progresses, please be mindful of the importance of good sportsmanship. Nobody is perfect and a true fan supports his team not just during the good times but also during the adverse times. I hope to see all you true fans there this Saturday as the Tigers take on New Mexico State at 6 p.m. at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Johnny Green
Dean of Students
Skip just thanked “the folks at Piedmont Hospital. Without them, I wouldn’t be at the ballpark tonight. Or anywhere, for that matter. Had some physical problems lately..”
Weird. Hope the dude’s okay for the long haul.
yeah, I was going to ask about that, too. Anyone know what was up with the guy?
I *think* he’s diabetic.
I feel as drowsy as if I’d just watched a soccer game. So I think this will be another morning recap situation. Shocking, I know.
Heard that Gameday will be at Bama this weekend. Guess Saban was worth the zillion bucks after all.
Well, here’s Brandon Jones with a big opportunity to get his first RBI(s).
*shrugs* He got it with a sac fly, but Francoeur was thrown out at third trying to advance on the bad throw to the plate.
That third paragraph of #35 is a bold move on this board. You are correct of course, but it’s not worth the trouble.
Did you see Washington get slapped around by Ohio State?
Was that the game that Washington led at halftime? But your point stands, the sixth best team in the Pac 10 is little match for Ohio State. Well done.
Kim sucks so bad even Andruw got a hit off of him.
His 3 HBP are clearly b/c of wildness, but I wonder if the the 2nd plunking of Tex will result in a bit of payback.
Robert,
I think Rob has been drinking too much cough syrup.
Yes, and the putative third-best team in the Pac-Ten got humiliated by Utah.
Yeah, morning recap.
Yes, and the putative third-best team in the Pac-Ten got humiliated by Utah.
UCLA will always embarrass, what can I say. That’s just who they are – says the SC grad.
Hey, Chipper Jones is 2-2, and he came in leading in the NL batting title race. Go Chipper!
3-3 now for Chipper!
Thank you jeebus! Viva Skip Caray!
There’s a baseball game?
Andruw with another “meaningless” homer. Although it is his first in almost a month. Good for him. *shrugs*
10-1 Braves.
Brandon Jones still without a hit.
We’re setting up for our traditional series opening blowout to be followed by a close loss where we can’t get a hit with runners on base.
Sam,
I do believe you’re the shruggingest fellow with whom I’ve ever come in [electronic] contact.
What can I say? I like to shrug. I do it in real life too. š
Swings,
The starters tomorrow are supposedly some guy named Chris Sheddon and Jo-Jo. One of these days, Jo-Jo is going to get his first major league win, and tomorrow is as good a day as any to get it.
Seddon, sorry.
What is the “.500-O-Meter” at after tonight’s win?
Well, if the bullpen doesn’t get its’ brains beat in (it’s 10-3 at this moment), it’ll be 4-8.
Ascanio has looked ok before tonight, but this game is more like BP. Of course, maybe he’s in shock that McCann is actually getting a few innings off. š
All the .500-O-Meter is is just the record the Braves need to play at to finish at 81-81. I want them to finish higher, but finishing at least at .500 is what I want for them.
It’s 10-4 now. Ascaino’s just getting knocked around tonight.
Wow, that sounded really bad. I hope they finish above .500, but I want them to finish at 81-81 at least.
My personal goal for the Braves is over .500. 82+ wins would make me happy at this point.
The Marlins needed a plunking but Soriano should have hit him a bit lower.
And now he should start throwing strikes.
Game’s over. š
Who can phigure the Phillies?
They were up 11-0 over the Cards & now they’re hanging by a thread, 12-11 going to the 9th.
Of course, if they do hang on, they’re only 2.5 behind and I’ll enjoy WFAN tomorrow.
I can’t believe the Phillies survived!!!
The Phils are phreaky.
To respond to earlier comments in the thread: I’m not sure it’s a ‘down’ year in the SEC. Sure, Tennessee and Georgia and Auburn aren’t wonderful, but other teams, like Kentucky and South Carolina, will give anyone fits. And of course, the two best teams are as good as anyone.
But I think I’m over the conference talk. I just don’t care anymore. Washington can suck all they want, but it won’t help your chances against Southern Cal, who is still great. Michigan can be down, but I still would not want to travel to Happy Valley or Columbus or even Madison this season. I grew up in the South, I do believe that on the whole the SEC is generally the best, but in the end – am I supposed to root for my team’s rivals? Thanks, but no thanks.
This is all the BCS’ fault; give us a playoff, for the love of God.
In other news: Eagles fans will either be plunging to their deaths in the Delaware River or calling for Andy Reid’s head on a stake leading into town. Good times to be privvy to New York or Philly talk radio stations!
Jason Campbell is a great guy.. talked to him a few times. Probably the most humble leader I’ve ever seen in college athletics, never took credit for anything good, always seemed to take the heat when things turned south.
Oh, and Morten Anderson was signed by the Falcons. He’s 47, and older than Petrino.
Are the Braves going to lose to a guy, Chris Seddon, who is making his second major league start and was pounded by the Nationals for seven runs?
You never know Sam, I have seen plenty of Braves teams losing to an unknown pitcher in the last 17 years.
Hm, didn’t realise that Mark DeRosa is having himself a decent season in Chicago, 5 hits last night…
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3933
Here is the problem with Tennessee, coaching 100%.
The special teams have been bad for 5 years and nothing has changed.
Here is the letter I wrote to the UT AD
Dear Mr. Hamilton,
I am sure your email is full of āFIRE FULMERā memos this morning and you are probably getting the point by now. I also understand that you are a busy person and just because the Vols lose to a top five team is certainly no ground to fire an individual.
Coach Fulmer has done a lot for the program. He has taken us to four SEC title games and won half of them. He assisted in recruiting and developing the greatest player in school history and brought us a National Championship. He played for the Volunteers, graduated from the University of Tennessee; and you could really say he is Tennessee Football.
However, the performance on the field Saturday is unacceptable. Watching our Volunteers get embarrassed on national television was unbearable. The team showed that it was ill prepared to play the game. If this was just one incident it would be understandable, but the way the game unfolded has been a constant theme over the last four or five years.
From the poor tackling to the terrible coverage on special teams, is fundamental football not being taught at Tennessee? With the poor performance of the special teams over the past decade; why has a special teams coach not been hired? Once upon a time no one in the country could match Tennesseeās special team units. Now we rank dead last in the nation in kickoff return coverage by 24.6 yards more than the next to last place team.
The effort of the team on Saturday was not the problem, the game plan was. The lack of preparedness and ability to execute fundamentals also came back to bite the Vols.
No one is perfect and I understand that Erik Ainge isnāt Peyton Manning, but with the small downgrade (and I mean small) the lack of coaching fundamentals is even more obvious.
Your advised changes after the 2005 season seemed to breathe fresh air into the program, however it turns out that the changes were just a quick fix. The only coach on the staff that has shown consistent results is Coach Taylor.
Coach Fulmer is and outstanding person and he loves the University of Tennessee, as do we all. I think we let the rest of the season pan out and quietly ask him to step down and then honor him as we do General Neyland. I just donāt want to see happen to Coach Majors happen to him, but it is becoming apparent that the game is slowly passing Coach Fulmer by and it is time to go in a new direction.
Big Orange nation has full confidence that you and the committee can find another gem in the rough as you did with Coach Pearl.
Go Big Orange,
William T. Smith
Here is who i took in my parle
Alabama -3 over UGA
Ga Tech -3 over UVA
Kentucky +7 over Arkansas
Navy -10 over Duke
Indianapolis -7 over Houston (NFL)
Do ADs really listen to non-alums/non-boosters who write letters like that? I’m asking in all honesty. Vanderbilt has very few non-alum fans, anyway—and an even smaller percentage of boosters who aren’t alums—so I have no knowledge in this regard.
I am an alum
I thought you went to UT-Chattanooga.