biggentleben

Every sprain or strain is technically a tear, if even a minor one.

If Revere wins, he will sport the lowest OBP by any NL batting title winner in the 143 year history of the National League!

Beautiful Friday for football in the upper midwest. I actually had to have a sweatshirt on for a game in September, and I'm a VERY warm person by nature, so that's pretty rare. I loved those games when I was playing in high school ball, and my alma mater right now is the top ranked team in their level for the entire state, so it's good quality football as well. Today's games will be interesting. You have the inter-Iowa matchup, you have the Gophers playing their only real "challenge" of the non-conference schedule, and you have Georgia-South Carolina in what's already looking like a "must-win" for SC to stay afloat in the SEC East. Some of the other highlight games include Notre Dame at Purdue, which should be a rout but does have some fun tradition, UCLA traveling to Texas in what should be a Bruin beatdown of the Longhorns - but who knows with road non-conference games, and a much-improved Tennessee team heading to Oklahoma. Oklahoma is likely not going to be challenged too much, but I'll be interested to see how much fight Tennessee puts up as they've looked better than they have since the Lane Kiffin debacle. In the B1G, it could be a rough weekend. Maryland (still feels weird seeing them on a Big Ten scoreboard) hosts West Virginia in a tough game, Illinois travels to Washington, and Penn State travels to Rutgers, all three could end up as losses for Big Ten squads. Add in some in-state match ups that often have a little more fire than an average non-conference game like the aforementioned Iowa state battle, the Purdue/Notre Dame matchup, and the Ohio State/Kent State game. Add in the MAC matchups this weekend for Michigan and Indiana, where at least one Big Ten teams seems to get upset by that conference each year, and you could have yet another rough weekend for the Big Ten. For those Gopher fans out there, winning this week could indicate a team with a chance to finish in the top half of the conference for the first time in a long time, and perhaps even play in a bowl game not sponsored by a brake alignment company!

His stuff can flatten out a ton because of his arm angle. He's always had terrible splits RHB vs LHB in his career, so unless he's dominating one side of the plate, he's just not even an average pitcher. He would be a very good reliever, but he had a good run as a starter, so he'll now be allowed to fail miserably as a starter before being moved to the pen.

I think that guy will be Gavin Floyd in this year's market. I honestly hope the Braves make a move on him for an incentive-laden deal. He looked very good in his Atlanta starts, and people heard elbow injury and may have lazily assumed ligament/muscle issues, but he should be able to do a winter throwing program and be ready for the first day of spring training. Plus, the Twins would love to be able to pull another Jim Thome one over on the ChiSox.

Bruce Chen was released, so I'm not so sure he's going back to his team.

Proof?! We don't need no stinking proof! It's the internet!!

It's going to be a hot day in comparison to what the Gophers would see in Minneapolis this week when they deal with the Horned Frogs. They have a pretty solid team at TCU this year, so it could be a rough one no matter the health of the team.

In my sports marketing class in college, we discussed the end of Fay Vincent's time as commissioner in my sports marketing class about how many people have very little to no consideration of the PR machine when making decisions. Vincent was universally disliked by the time he was forced to resign because he often made decisions without concern about how they would sit in the public eye, including the Steve Howe suspension and realignment that were the final straws in his tenure as commissioner. Goodell has done similar things recently, and he's already got rumblings from owners. Now the noise is very loud.

Richard Kiel, the 7'2 giant who played Jaws in the James Bond movies and had one of the more memorable small roles in an Adam Sandler movie by playing Mr. Larson, passed away Wednesday at age 74.

ESPN reporting that Johnny Manziel has entered 348 elevators in the last year - 348 times he did not warrant a suspension when he left, which makes him a perfect human being that deserves to start every game the rest of the season for the Browns. More on this for 54 minutes of the next hour-long Sportscenter!

You drastically understated that. You are far, far too kind to Towers.

Fenway's wall heights are the biggest difference versus most typical stadiums. The dimensions themselves are very similar to other MLB stadiums.

Yes, they're both playing in sub-par conditions. MLB teams are very resistant to playing in overseas parks because they're sub-standard compared to a MLB park. It'd be like watching the Seahawks try to play 9-man football on an 80-yard field. Just because it's a more intimate venue doesn't mean it's a good thing for the play of the game. I can understand there'd be exclusivity about having the ticket, but how many times have less than 10,000 butts been in a MLB park this year (not ticket sales - actual people)? That can be just as intimate a setting. The Dome Twins in the late 90s/early 2000s were a very intimate fan experience as well. Doesn't mean it was a great viewing experience.

Towers did one major, major piece of the GM job horribly - the PR end of things. He did in San Diego as well, but that's a team that seems to be overjoyed to win and not horribly after a GM if they don't, so his poor PR stuff was let slide more there. It cost them their franchise player at the time, multiple manager options who refused to talk with them before Gibson was hired, and players who felt put off completely in meeting with Towers (Trevor Bauer was the most vocal, but Towers has reportedly got a rep of being horrible in negotiations with his draft picks and his arbitration guys).

Honestly, not really. Games in the PCL and Cal League would be artificially offensive while a Texas League game would artificially suppress offense. These issues are all well and good when the stats and won/lost don't really matter in the minor league game, only the development of skills of a young player to contribute to the major leagues. Minor league park quirks are quite dramatic when compared to major league parks.

Towers was/is putrid in the PR game, and in the end, that's what really cost him his job more than anything. What's surprising is that he didn't lose the job sooner.

Joan Rivers, dead at 81.

First bolded point - I agree, but at the casual fan level only because I think hardcore sports fans can translate their fandom to whichever sports pique their interest. Second bolded point - My deepest sympathies.

Not every team does this.

The interesting part there is that the West at that time was like the East is now - one or two teams that seem to always be favorites from preseason to Finals (only the Lakers and Rockets represented the West in the entire decade), and then the East was tremendous with the Bulls, Knicks, Celtics, Pistons, 76ers, Hawks, Bullets, and Bucks all having multiple years going deep in the playoffs during the 1980s.

I do!!

He's had multiple seasons where he was given full-time run before, though, and he failed in Atlanta, in Houston, and again in Atlanta with full-time playing time.

I'm actually going to maybe one game a year now total. I do think baseball has royally screwed their marketing, but not necessarily on interleague as much as simply mismanaging player promotion. Stars/celebrities is what sells in today's environment. Mike Trout should be more of a household name than Johnny Manziel, but most casual sports fans couldn't tell you what team Trout plays for. Add that to their stupid blackout policies, and you have a good place to start to really explode the game.

I guess I don't see any more or less replaying of a play in football than there is in baseball, so I was assuming you meant the actual replay system, which is a huge drag on football, and one that many people complain about the length of time it takes. Baseball's replay system does the same thing, replaying the play over and over while they talk with New York until a decision is made.