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I got a few. Some fit into the thread better than others. Catherine Bell is one of my favorites. I know she is hot as hell, but the usual reaction when she comes up in a conversation is either "who the hell is she?" or "why would you ever watch JAG?" I also kind of like Debra Messing, although at times she looks brutal. Whoever plays Karen in Will and Grace is okay too. I was also a fan Natalie and Kim from Sports Night, and definitely the woman who played Jeremy's pornstar girlfriend. I'm also a fan of all of the women in Las Vegas, although Molly Sims and Nikki Cox probably don't qualify for this thread.

Why did they have to make it a day game?! My schedule that day is bad enough as it is. I got a Northwestern game that starts at 3, which also constitutes about 4 hours of tailgating before the game and 3 more after. They also probably have the OSU-Texas game on around two, which is a game I desperately want to see but will probably miss. I also have tickets to the Rolling Stones concert that night, but I have virtually no chance of making it after the game, so I'll probably have to sell them. Now the Sox game is going to fall in that same time slot.

Has anyone actually used the All-Time teams? I have a lot of fun with them figuring out who the hell everyone is (I don't have a working network connection, otherwise I'd download it). I still toy with the rosters though because a lot of guys are either drastically overrated (try Darian Hagan, the QB on Colorado. He makes Michael Vick look like Ron Paulus), drastically underrated (several Heisman winners, multiple time All-Americans, and Hall of Famers that are rated in the low 90's), and some major guys that are missing that should be there (especially recent guys like Larry Fitzgerald, Richard Seymour, Derrick Johnson, and Roy Williams). Some of the teams are downright loaded. My personal favorites are USC, Syracuse, Ohio State (gotta switch Doss to FS), FSU (use a 3-4, it's more fun), and Alabama. For USC, O.J. and Marcus Allen are a devastating 1-2 punch, Lynn Swann, Frank Gifford, and Keyshawn Johnson can really stretch the field, and you can do some damage with Ronnie Lott, Troy Polamalu, Mark Carrier, Junior Seau, Chris Claiborne, and Wille McGinest on D. Syracuse is just unstoppable on O because of Donovan McNabb, Jim Brown, Larry Csonka, Art Monk, and Marvin Harrison, plus they have some playmakers on D in Dwight Freeney, Keith Bullock, Will Allen, Donovan Darius, and Tebucky Jones. OSU is just sick. Archie Griffin at RB, Chris Carter, Paul Warfield, Joey Galloway, Terry Glenn, and David Boston at WR, Plus all kinds of guys on D, led by Jack Tatum. FSU can be nasty on D with Jamal Reynolds, Corey Simon, Andre Wadsworth, Derrick Brooks, Peter Boulware, Marvin Jones, Sam Cowart, and Deion Sanders, although the running game is iffy. You can survive with Charlie Ward, Fred Bilitnikoff, Peter Warrick, and Ron Sellars though. Bama has some weak spots, but they have Johnny Unitas, Ozzie Newsome, Don Hutson, Derrick Thomas, Cornelius Bennett, and Lee Roy Jordan. All are big time players. I'm kinda pissed that there is no All-time Illini though. I'd love to use Red Grange, Dick Butkus, Ray Nitschke, Simeon Rice, and Kevin Hardy. I'd happily give up several teams, like Mississippi State, Oregon, Washington, and Clemson.

I think he messed up the facts on some of these. First off, as far as I know it was always referred to as Disco Demolition Night. Second, I thought that the ASU fans were chanting "Where's your Daddy?" Either way, that was pretty bad.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 16, 2005 -> 09:30 PM) Also, the expectations for Brock, Randle, and some of the true freshman are absolutely ridiculous. As much as I hate them, Duke has an amazing team this year. Shelden Williams is way too good of a defensive player for the college level, and Redick is just such a good scorer. Duke's team isn't that "amazing." They're very similar to the Illini, although their pieces are stronger. Redick and Williams are studs, but the rest is somewhat iffy. Nelson has talent but doesn't shoot that well, Dockery is a basically a role player, and Melchionni is more one-dimensional than Redick. If Paulus or McRoberts pull a Shavlik Randolph and stink up the place, they'll probably struggle a bit. In my book the three strongest teams out there are UConn, Texas, and Villanova. UConn will have a loaded squad, although Williams has to play (his status is unknown with the laptop incident), otherwise they suffer a lot. If he's on the court, a lineup of Williams, Anderson, Gay, Boone, and Armstrong with Brown, Nelson, and Price/Kellog off the bench is pretty formidable. Texas will also be loaded if some issues get ironed out. Tucker needs to get eligible and Aldridge needs to get healthy. They'll still have Gibson and Buckman no matter what, and last I heard Miles was going to attend Texas unless he went in the first round. Villanova isn't as talented as those two, but they could be this year's Illini. Foye, Ray, and Sumpter are all solid shooters, and Nardi, Lowry, Sheridan, and Fraser give them some support (Fraser has always had a ton of potential but hasn't been healthy). Duke and Michigan State have enough talent to join this group if some things go well for them. I think there's a decent dropoff after those teams.

I don't see either the Illini or Indiana making serious noise this year (by that I mean Elite 8 or better). Both teams have some solid options, but both have holes also. Indiana's front line is solid with White/Killingsworth/Vaden, but the guards are less than stellar. Strickland is only alright. I see them middle of the pack, possibly moving to the top couple teams or making the Sweet 16 if their guards step up. I've got some more faith in the Illini and also think they have a better shot at being good. Brown and Augustine are obviously solid, but I have some doubts about the rest of the team. To be good, they need two guys to step up. There are some possibilites with Randle, Carter, Arnold, Brock, and Pruitt, but I'm not exactly betting on them. If Illinois gets Rush and he plays, my forcast for their team improves considerably. I just don't see Kansas doing much. They have too many young players to consistently succeed. He's probably got the best shot of playing immediately and making an impact at Kansas, but he has the best chance of being on a good team and possibly improving his stock in the tourney with Illinois.

QUOTE(TheDybber @ Aug 9, 2005 -> 01:56 PM) Simple: There aren't anymore Illini. I believe the Sioux tribe is an offshoot of an Illini tribe. Related, but not a part of. If it was an authentic Illini dance and outfit, would that make a difference? I'm guessing that to most of the people on the no Native American mascot side, the answer would still be no. Also, I believe, at least in my case, that I know more about the Illini tribe than I would have if the U of I were called the Fighting Lincolns or the Tigers or whatever. Name dies, tribe dies some more. Actually, my roommate did a report on the incident and said that the leading replacement name from a poll was "Prarie Fire." In my book that's about as stupid a name as you could come up with. We might as well change our colors to pink and purple if that happens. That's almost as bad as the Hofstra Pride (apparently some Dutch people were pissed about the Flying Dutchman ).

I just finished at U of I and enjoyed it, although some majors seem to be better than others. I did Speech and Communications and think it was only okay. The campus is really nice though, and the student services are pretty good. There's definitely a party atmosphere, and the bar scene is pretty ample, as is the Greek community. I had a lot of fun. The class size varies a lot: it isn't all lectures. Yes, a good number of the 100 level courses have a sizeable lecture with a discussion section, especially the intro level stuff. Quite a few of the 100 and 200 level courses have 30 students are less and are taught by a TA. Most of the 300 and 400 courses I took were small classes (most under 25) and were taught by a professor. I really wanted to go to NU, and while that might have helped my job search I think the overall college experience would have been less enjoyable and more stressful.

QUOTE(Benson&Rexage @ Aug 6, 2005 -> 07:29 PM) Its USC and 118 other teams. USC could probably stay within twenty points of some NFL teams (49ers and Browns) Anybody on here know of a good place to get ND tickets for the USC or Tennesse game? I already going to the game at Purdue. My sleeper pick: Boston College to win the ACC My vote is stubhub for the tickets. I've been able to find tickets for virtually anything (only one I can remember having trouble with is Duke/UNC tickets). As for the ACC, Va Tech will be tough if Marcus Vick remains on track. As for Iowa, I think they got some monster holes. Unless they unearth a running game they'll struggle in a couple of games, and they need a D-line to develop, otherwise a pretty good secondary might have a tough time holding up, and Hodge and Greenway might have less of an impact. Frankly I think Tate is overrated too, although the receiving core is good enough to make him look good whether or not I'm right.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Aug 5, 2005 -> 09:06 AM) What happened to CC? He absolutely, positively sucks these days. C.C. Sabathia gets my vote for most overrated pitcher not named Kerry Wood, and I'm starting to think it's close (the gap between Wood's reputation and performance is probably higher, but he's also pitched like an ace for more than a month or two at a time). I know he can shut people down at times, but he looks absolutely lost a lot too. He's just like Wood: a thrower and not a pitcher, and without the strikeouts. He's only had one year with a good K-rate (his rookie year), one with wins (also his rookie year), and only one where I would say he had a solid ERA.

I've long been fed up with the whole Chief arguement. Those ratios of keep/change/indifferent was found to be relatively the same in the Native American population in a massive survey done by Sports Illustrated. This poll was not even about the Illini, it included all Indian mascots, and specifically mentioned the Redskins. Most of the time I find that the people fighting the cause to change the logo are middle-upper class white people with too much time on their hands. In our Anthropology class at Illinois, we discussed the situation, including the department's anti-chief position. I found it funny though that they basically mirrored one of the major problems that they discuss in that section of the course: the majority should not speak for the group that is being marginalized. There are definitely bigger problems on campuses, some of which were mentioned earlier. More troubling is that Anti-Chief people think linking the issue with federal funding will make a difference. All that does is drop funding for the schools and raise tuition. Using the Chief as a reason to hurt the school strikes me as horribly ridiculous. I'm pretty sure that a major reason that FSU hasn't heard from the Seminoles is that they reached an agreement (bought them off might be a better term). Illinois can't really do the same since few Illini still are around. I'll be really interested to see if the Notre Dame's Leprauchan getting ready to fight or the Tennessee Volunteer holding a musket fall into the category of violent and offensive, as well as some of the other logos.

QUOTE(longshot7 @ Aug 4, 2005 -> 09:07 PM) Playoff experience is overrated. The Angels of 2002 had no playoff experience hardly anywhere. And last I checked, how many postseason series have the A's won in the last 5 years? Don't forget to add the Marlins and Diamondbacks to that list. Honestly, how can anyone underestimate or abilites in the playoffs? People always say pitching wins, and our rotation and bullpen has been great. People don't seem to think about the logic and just pick names. Seriously, how many postseason games has Carpenter won? How good is the Cards rotation? How much has Clement done in the playoffs? Citing the playoff experience of our starters without mentioning the lack of experience for pretty much any other team is BS. I can understand talking about the A's because they've been great of late, and the Cards are solid, but touting some of these other teams is a bit much.

Morgan wasn't exactly a power hitter, so I doubt that the park had that great an impact on his performance. I don't think there are too many places that have a 30 point impact on one's batting average.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Aug 4, 2005 -> 04:18 PM) I would do it, but I don't know much about golf or the NHL. Honestly, I can't name more than 2 players on the Blackhawks right now. A lot of people can't name 2 players on the Blackhawks right now (although I surprisingly can).

D.J.'s homerun calls definitely need some work. On a side note, I love Iguchi.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Aug 4, 2005 -> 03:53 PM) I agree. It was his first career start and the guy is only 19. He didn't exactly get rocked either.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Aug 4, 2005 -> 03:43 PM) I think Shea was a scapegoat for last year. When Grossman was in there and the offensive line was healthy, The Bears were top 10 in every offensive category. It's when Jonathan Quinn had to take the helm when everyone started going downwards. Grossman's injury alone didn't doom that offense. He only played 3 games (more like 2 3/4), it's not like that's enough evidence to determine whether or not the offense would have survived. It's not like he played great in those games either, with a 1/3 TD-INT ratio and only a 56% completion percentage. Hell, Hutchinson had a better passer rating. None of those teams exactly had stellar defenses either. It's hard to believe that he was merely a scapegoat if he didn't know his own offense.

My sports knowledge is pretty good, and I can't hang with some of the guys on that show. I don't know enough golf, Tennis or Nascar, which could end up killing my chances. It seems like at least one of the contestants on every show really knows his stuff, and the Schwab is really good. I might give it a shot though, I usually do pretty well on some of the events, especially the one when they list people who have done a certain accomplishment.

QUOTE(DaveIsHere @ Aug 4, 2005 -> 09:11 AM) Levine is a waste of oxygen with his "This guy wont go to the Sox" and then his "Hendry is getting Ramirez as everyone wants to be a Cub" I hate Levine The Ramirez to the Cubs stuff was hilarious. All the Cub fans thought there was a real chance that they would get him. I remember Boers and Bernstein said they could get him for Sergio Mitre, Felix Pie, and Jeromy Burnitz. Forget the fact that it was the 4th time that he has demanded a trade and that the last time they were close it was for Alex Rodriguez.

Hernandez is up? I'll be back, I got some keeper leagues to tend to...

Two people don't have one? I was under the impression that I was the last one in the world to get one. I got it when I went of to college. I didn't want to figure out how to dial long distance from the dorm phones.

I think there is a definite difference between betting on baseball when you are playing and when you aren't. Rose doing it while he was managing just doesn't seem as bad to me. And of course it's worse if you bet against your team and throw the game. My pecking order: Betting and throwing the game Steroids Betting on your team or after you're done playing I still think it's funny that there have been numerous other players bettting while playing that didn't get punished anywhere near as badly. Jordan was a notorious high-stakes gambler, who supposedly lost a million bucks to a guy in one round of golf. I've never heard that he bet on basketball, but if you're losing that kind of money, you gotta think throwing games could come into play. Paul Hornung admitted that he bet on football and was suspended for only a few games. Basically he told the league that everybody does it and he'd let that be known if they threw the book at him. And you just can't convince me that Webber honestly blew that play that badly in the finals. There are others too, I just don't feel like doing research right now. The only other guys I remember that got punished severely were the Kentucky players that supposedly shaved points. Connie Hawkins was a hell of a basketball player, but he wasn't allowed into the NBA until late in his career because of it.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Aug 4, 2005 -> 12:08 AM) FWIW the additions were: Muhsin Muhammad Eddie Berlin Cedric Benson Mark Bradley Kyle Orton Doug Brien Roberto Garza Fred Miller with the only subtractions being Krenzel, Tucker, Edinger, and Quinn. They have an easy schedule and solidified their Offensive Line and WR.... I know what they added, my point is I doubt that the upgrades are that drastic. As I said, Muhammad is an upgrade, but that still leaves us with only one legit receiver. That still is a weak spot. The line may or may not be stronger in my book since we didn't exactly add Walter Jones. We're moving Tait, one of our stronger linemen, to a spot where he may or may not work out as well. Miller, however solid we think he is, is still probably a downgrade from Tait, and Garza is only decent. I already mentioned Benson and his issues, and the other acquisitions aren't exactly earth shattering. As I said, I think it comes down to whether or not Grossman can be credible, and I have my doubts. If he can come in and throw in the mid 3000's with a 20/10 ratio, that's huge and might push them up a bit more than my assessment. However, I find that highly unlikely.

I still say 9 wins, tops. I also don't see us scoring more than 30 points unless our defense chips in a TD or two. The most points we scored last year in any game was 24, and I'm not so sure we upgraded that much. Muhammad is an upgrade, but he needs someone to get him the ball, Benson needs to get in camp sometime soon if he wants to make any kind of impact, and I only see the line as marginally better. It's all going to come down to Grossman, who's got very little experience and can't seem to stay healthy. Our defense looks good, but it won't matter much if we can't score.

I have a feeling that this trade will either be really good or really bad. At worst, I think it will end up like Malone/Payton in LA where neither lived up to expectations and it resulted in a flawed team. Best case, Walker/Williams know their roles and give them some needed alternate options. I definitely like Posey though, he's a solid all-around player and was an excellent player a few years ago. Miami definitely looks good on paper though. I'll be interested to see how the East goes. Miami and Indianapolis look like real threats to Detroit.