ND Women in, Men out

Women: #5 in the East/Men: NIT= Not In Tournament

ND Men 65, WVU 64: The men were probably thinking ahead to UConn towards the end of this game, and it showed. Chris Thomas shot a staggering 66% from the field (and by "staggering," I mean "about twice his season average"). Colin Falls got to play hero, but only because West Virginia missed their last shot.
UConn 66, ND Men 58: This game was over when ND cut the lead to 41-40, then proceeded to throw up highly contested threes until UConn once again had a comfortable lead. Thomas did have a good game, but if he would have just drove to the basket after that steal, two free throws give the Irish a 42-41 lead and big time momentum. Chris Quinn still needs to learn that he's allowed to drive against the good teams, too. Rick Cornett was a man on a mission, but we needed more of him. Colin Falls is still playing the "I'm an overmatched freshman so I'm just going to run around like a crazy man" role. We need him to be a scorer, but at least he hustles now. There was a play where he outrebounded UConn's three tallest guys just because he had good position. That's good position. Look into it.
Whining about the brackets: Everyone likes to complain about the bracket matchups. "They broke their own procedural rules!" "There's no reason why (so and so) should have the (easiest/toughest) path through the tourney!" If you want to complain about something, here's the only thing worth complaining about: 5, count 'em 5, conferences didn't finish their tournaments until the day the brackets were set! The Big 12 wasn't done until half an hour before the brackets came out! If you're going to get mad at someone, get mad at the conference idiots who think they're so special that they can have a Sunday afternoon final.
Whining about the brackets, Women's edition: Boo hoo, UConn got a #2 seed. Oh, boo hoo. Their first two games are in Bridgeport, CT. Now, I'm not saying these are virtually home games for UConn, but Bridgeport is where the visiting bands stay when the Big East tourney is in Storrs. Uconn's next two games, assuming they win? Hartford, CT. UConn uses Hartford as their home for big games. Connecticut doesn't come close to a neutral site until the Final Four! Porlas Piedras.
RPI is just a guide, Women's edition: The ND Women's SOS of 22 earned them a final RPI of 30 and a #5 seed against the Fighting Jackie Stiles of SMS on Saturday. Coincidentally, if the ND Men win their NIT tournament debut against Purdue, they'll have to play on the road in round 2 due to Women's NCAA games in the EPJACC.
RPI is just a guide, Men's edition: The ND men had the 26th toughest schedule in the nation, which gave them a final RPI of 49. Three teams with higher RPIs didn't make the tournament: LSU (38), the Utah State Fighting Lane Weavers (43), and Georgia (48). Washington (RPI 60, SOS 69) and Air Force (RPI 70, SOS 183) were the only at large's lower than the Irish.

First Annual KankaNation Bones (and others) Internet Tournament Challenge officiated by Hatton

Since I'm so incredulously terrible at filling out an NCAA tournament bracket (how incredulously bad, you ask? Bad enough to use the word "incredulously"), I decided to enlist the help of mini-Kanka. Since tourney picks are mostly a craps shot anyways, we used the following formula:
1. If I was undecided, I left the decision up to mini-Kanka. He mostly picked schools named after geographical areas that he's heard of before (Florida, Pittsburgh, etc.).
2. If it was really close, we looked at RPI, mainly number of wins and SOS (team A had 28 wins against a tougher schedule, while team B had 27 wins against an easier schedule).
3. If we still couldn't decide, it went to a coin flip.
4. If we didn't like the outcome of the coin flip (this happened often), I gave mini-Kanka the two teams' nicknames, without saying which was for which schools. This lead to discussions like, "Bulldogs are tough, but Wildcats are wild. Hmm... I'll say Bulldogs."

KankaMatic Thoughts

• The draft is going incredibly well so far. After round 25, we'll be in the home stretch - basically drafting AAA guys from now on.


• I'll relax the draft over the next couple days. Basically, I'll put a new round up whenever we complete a round, but there will be no deadline to put up your pick until next Monday (or so).


• A note on autodrafts: if we run out of players for a position, but there are still favorite team players left, the favorite teams rule will be thrown aside and those players will be autodrafted. (After that, remember, autodraftees will come from players on favorite teams that are not on the list).


• Once the draft is done, I'll email each of you a list of your players and their salaries. You'll have until March 29 (the day before opening day) to send the list back to me with the following 2 things: 1. Which 25 players will be on the active roster, and which 15 will be "AAA." 2. For how many years would you like to sign this player? If I don't get your rosters back by the deadline, I'll automatically put your first 25 draft picks on the active roster, and sign all 40 players to 3 year contracts.


• I'm having trouble finding an easy way to manage fielding stats, so we have 2 options: 1. Include fielding stats at 10%, calculate stats every 2 weeks, and listen to me complain how much of a pain this is, or 2. Ignore fielding stats (except maybe as a tiebreaker at the end of the year), and calculate stats once a week.


• Notes on scoring: percentages/averages (ERA, OPS, etc) will be scored year-to-date; that is, if your team has the lowest ERA for the year at the time scoring is calculated, your team is 1st in ERA. All other stats (HRs, wins, etc) wil be scored on a week to week (or 2 week to 2 week) basis; that is, if your team hits 25 HRs in a week and no other team hits more than 20 that week, you get first place points in HRs, no matter how many total HRs any team has over the course of the year.


• Yes, there will be trades, free agents, releasing players, etc. I'll try to post a more complete rulebook some time before the season starts.

Well, we're finally done with MLB previews. I'll have a Transaction Wire later this week. Then, I may or may not take it easy this week to put some hard work into KankaMatic baseball.

BEAT PURDUE!

MLB Preview #6: AL Central

Minnesota Twins

Lineup
Shannon Stewart LF
Christian Guzman SS
Corey Koskie 3b
Matt LeCroy DH
Torii Hunter CF
Jacque Jones RF
Doug Mientkiewicz 1b
Joe Mauer C
Luis Rivas 2b
Rotation
Brad Radke
Johan Santana
Kyle Lohse
Joe Mays
Rick Helling
Carlos Silva
Joe Nathan
Boof Bonser
Well, the lineup still doesn't look overly impressive. As bad as Derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano were defensively, at least they could hit. Rivas and Guzman can't. They're fast with little baseball talent. Why? It looks like the Twins will continue to play pinball baseball in their dome - they still haven't added a single power hitter.
The rotation looks decent, at least. The Twins are finally giving their young guys (Santana especially) a chance. The AJ Pierzynski trade brings over Nathan and Bonser (yes, his name is "Boof"), two solid young starters.

Chicago White Sox

Lineup
Aaron Rowand CF
Carlos Lee LF
Frank Thomas DH
Magglio Ordonez RF
Paul Konerko 1b
Jose Valentin SS
Joe Crede 3b
Miguel Olivo C
Willie Harris/Juan Uribe 2b
Rotation
Mark Buehrle
Esteban Loaiza
John Garland
Scott Schoeneweis
Felix Diaz
John Rauch
Danny Wright
Good enough to finish near the top of a mediocre division. That's how it's been for the ChiSox, and that's how it looks like it will stay. Konerko won't have a God-awfule season like he did last year, and Crede is coming along, so they'll get a little more punch in their offense at least.
The rotation is decent, but not great. Buehrle had a bad year last year, but he'll bounce back. Schoeneweis was a spot starter for the Angels, but he should do fine joining the rotation as a #4 starter. The highlight of the White Sox is their setup men. Damaso Marte and Kelly Wunsch are lights out; they just have to hope Billy Koch doesn't blow too many saves for them.

Kansas City Royals

Lineup
Aaron Guiel LF
Joe Randa 3b
Mike Sweeney 1b
Carlos Beltran CF
Juan Gonzalez RF
Ken Harvey DH
Benito Santiago C
Angel Berroa SS
Desi Relaford 2b
Rotation
Brian Anderson
Derek May
Kevin Appier
Joe Gobble
Jeremy Affeldt
Chris George
Miguel Asencio
Runelvys Hernandez
This may be the best all-around lineup in the division - a combination of power and speed. Add Matt Stairs and the ubergeneric Kelly Stinnett and the Royals shouldn't have to worry about offense.
The Kansas City bullpen looks decent, with Mike MacDougal, Curt Leskanic, and Jason Grimsley on the back end. Grimsley, of course, is famous for being a former token "this guy's terrible so I'll give him as many appearances as possible" reliever under Mike Hargrove (he had one guy in that role every year). The rotation, unfortunately, looks a little thin, unless these young (semi-) unproven guys can prove something.

Cleveland Indians

Lineup
Matt Lawton RF
Omar Vizquel SS
Jody Gerut LF
Milton Bradley CF
Travis Hafner DH/1b
Casey Blake 3b
Ben Broussard 1b/DH
Vic Martinez C
Ronnie Belliard 2b
Rotation
CC Sabathia
Jason Davis
Clifford Lee
Jason Bere
Jake Westbrook
Jeremy Guthrie
Chad Durbin
Jason Stanford
Billy Traber
Brian Tallet
The Tribe's starting lineup looks a lot like last year's, but with a lot of great young talent, there will be more than a few revolving doors out there. Vic Martinez will be backed up by Josh Bard, a solid catcher in his own right. The Indians could easily trade Bard to a crappy team where he would start, but I'm personally pulling that we keep two good catchers (especially since Martinez may see a lot of time at 1b). Second base is wide open if Belliard slips up - John McDonald, Ricky Gutierrez, and the maligned Brandon Phillips are waiting in the wings. The Indians continue to be deep in the outfield, with Ryan Ludwick, Coco Crisp, Alex Escobar (Robbie Alomar trade), and super-prospect Grady Sizemore (Colon trade).
The rotation is stocked with young guys, and I'm only hoping that veterans like Bere and D'Amico aren't holding them back. The pen was great at times, ugly at others. The additions of Jose Jimenez (once pitched a no-hitter against Randy Johnson) and Scott Stewart, with Bob Wickman's return from injury, should strengthen the staff.

Detroit Tigers

Lineup
Fernando Vina 2b
Pudge Rodriguez C
Carlos Pena 1b
Rondell White LF
Dmitri Young DH
Bobby Higginson RF
Eric Munson 3b
Carlos Guillen SS
Alex Sanchez CF
Rotation
Jason Johnson
Mike Maroth
Nate Cornejo
Jeremy Bonderman
Nate Robertson
Call me crazy, but the lineup doesn't look too bad. Of course, that's by 1999 standards. The Tigers really need to focus on young prospects, on offense and on the pitching staff, if they really want to leave the basement any time soon.

Transaction Wire

Browns sign Jeff Garcia and DE Ebenezer Ekuban. Well, this probably spells the end of the Tim Couch era in Cleveland. The general thought around here is that it isn't Couch's fault that he never had a line in front of him. Garcia is mobile, but only weighs in at 195 lbs. Now, this means 1 of 3 things: 1. Garcia can run away when the OLine lets everyone by; 2. Garcia gets knocked the... well, you know the rest; 3. the Browns finally get smart and decide to get good offensive lineman (Faine was a great start but he can't do everything by himself). Now, it looks like the Browns may be leaning towards (3), as the hot rumor this week is that Cleveland plans to trade up to get their hands on Iowa OLineman Robert Gallery. Ekuban, who is lucky that he's a large man or else he'd have people ridicule him by saying "bah humbug!" every five seconds, is an underacheiving DE from Dallas. The Browns are already fairly deep at DLine, so this probably scratches Cleveland off the list for Darrell Campbell and Ced Hilliard.
Steelers sign Deuce Staley, release Amos Zeroue and DE Rodney Bailey, and deny interest in Tim Couch. At first, I thought the Deuce deal meant the end for Julius Jones playing there. However, Staley has been unimpressive at times, and the Steeler OLine in uncharacteristically weak. So, Julius would be a good fit as a backup in Pittsburgh. The release of a DE also may be good news for Darrell Campbell, who many expect to play DE in a 3-4 defense (which Pittsburgh's is).
Eagles re-sign Paul Grasmanis; Bengals release Jeff Burris. Maybe if Burris stopped trying to lead with his helmet, he'd get less concussions and neck injuries, and he'd be a little more desirable.
Giants sign Barry Sims and Shaun O'Hara, former OLinemen for the Browns. Well, either the Browns are stupid for letting these guys go, or the Giants' line was so bad, former Browns are actually an improvement.

I've posted a draft update here. For those of you unfamiliar with position numbering, 1 is pitcher (here, 1 is SP and 0 is RP to differentiate the two), 2 is catcher, 3 is 1b, 4 is 2b, 5 is 3b, 6 is SS, 7 LF, 8 CF, 9 RF. The salary cap is $120mil, but after the draft everyone should only have a team salary of $90mil.

The draft's been keeping me busy, but I'm glad to see it's going well. I'll have an ND weekend in review this week, start to take a look at the NFL draft, and also start writing down some more rules for KankaMatic baseball.

Bubble Watch

ND Women

Despite the upsetting loss to Rutgers at the Big East tourney, the women currently have the 23rd toughest schedule and an RPI of 29.

ND Men

The ND men have an RPI of 47 heading into the Big east tournament. Here's a breakdown of the teams above them: 2 have already won their conference tournaments (Gonzaga and Manhattan), 1 has lost in its conference tourney (Southern Illinois), and the remaining 43 are divided among 11 conferences. The magic number is therefore 47-2-11=34, which is just good enough in theory. But, that's assuming that each of the winners of those conferences has an RPI higher than ND's - if a conference winner has a lower RPI than ND's, that means more at large spots taken up. Therefore, here's a list of teams to root for - the more of these teams that win their respective conferences, the better shot ND has at making the Big Dance.
ACC: Duke, NC St, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Maryland
A10: St Joseph's, Dayton, Richmond
Big 10: Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan St
Big 12: OK St, Texas, Kansas, Texas Tech, Missouri
Big East: ND, Pittsburgh, UCONN, Syracuse, Providence, Seton Hall, BC
Big West: Utah State
CUSA: Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Charlotte, UAB, DePaul
MAAC: Manhatton - won tournament
Mountain West: BYU, Utah
MVC: Southern Illinois - at large (UNI won tournament)
Pac 10: Stanford, Arizona
SEC: Kentucky, Miss St, Florida, Alabama, Vanderbilt, LSU, South Carolina
WAC: Nevada, UTEP
WCC: Gonzaga - won tournament

ND Men win a pair on national TV

Beat Georgetown 61-48 on Senior Night, St John's 89-62 in Big East warmup

A few years ago, three straight wins against UCLA, Georgetown, and St John's would have put anyone in the tournament. Unfortunately for the Irish, that doesn't hold true this year. Abbreviated ramblings on these two games:

• Tom Timmermans was introduced with his girlfriend. For the record, I was turned down by his girlfriend while on my one quest to find an SYR date in the dining hall on the day of the dance (she had a boyfriend at the time - no word if it was Timmermans).
• At the beginning of the Georgetown game, Torrian Jones was missing so many off balanced layups, I thought he has going to pull an Erika Haney. Haney had a performance similar to Jones's on her senior night, costing the Irish their home winning streak of 30+ games.
• As the saying goes, "God, Country, Notre Dame." This means that I missed the St John's game because I was scheduled to be a Eucharistic Minister at Saturday evening mass. It didn't help that CBS had switched to the Oregon game by the time I got back. I did see that the team set a new record for threes with 17, partially lead by 3-4 from Timmermans (wait, is this a good thing? shouldn't he be under the basket?)

ND Women fall to Rutgers again

19-2 lead becomes 51-45 loss

I scrambled to find an Internet radio broadcast of this game. But, by the time I found Rutgers's athletic site (UND.com has Internet radio as a pay service) and downloaded Real Player on the laptop my uncle recently donated to us, a 19-2 Irish lead had been cut to 21-15. From there, the team seemed to play rushed and scared, and once again feel to the Scarlet Knights. Here's hoping for better luck in the Big Dance.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

• I was watching an interview with Terrell Owens where he said his agent would be filing a grievance about Owens's trade to Baltimore. Now, Terrell, do you really trust him to get it in on time? Shouldn't you have learned your lesson?
• Apparently, KankaNation HOF finalist Elizabeth Hasselbeck has her own show on the Style Network - another wardrobe makeover show. I wasn't actually watching (except maybe to check her out), I was just in the room while my mom was watching. What was I doing? Reading an article in the USA Weekly supplement of our Sunday paper about Jameer Nelson and a U of Minnesota womens' basketball player whose favorite movie is Old School and favorite video game is Madden. Female basketball player? Old School? Madden? And she's only 5'9, so I won't have to strain my neck or stand on my toes! Wait a minute, where's that magazine, I need to look this girl up!
• The saying around here is, "If you don't like the weather, stick around, it'll change." Friday's high: 72 degrees. Half of 72 is 36. Today's high: 36.
• The UConn women are out of the Big East tournament, largely thanks to a spat betweem Gino Auriemma and Diani Taurasi. Auriemma finally got sick of Taurasi's "I never foul, the refs must be wrong" attitude and benched her. This isn't the first time this has happened, apparently, as Taurasi was also benched in a mid February game. Both times, Auriemma blasted Taurasi in front of the press, including comments about him being glad she's not out with him in the press room so she could "mumble her way out of it." Wow. I don't know which is better: this, or the Brian Cashman face.
• My sibling enjoy watching the Disney channel, and one of the shows they watch is "Sister, Sister." The latest episode of this show (currently in reruns) should have been called "A Very Special Episode," due to the important message it gave. The mom got the idea of setting up a popcorn stand outside her dress shop in the mall, hoping the gimmick (she actually called it a gimmick) would help to attract customers. When the two girls announced they were going out for the cheerleading squad, the mom decided that they too needed a gimmick to help them make the squad. She told them to play up the "twin gimmick" (being as they are twins). Well, playing up the twin gimmick only hurt the girls' chances of making the squad even more, and all the mom ended up with was a plethora of uneaten popcorn. The moral of this very special episode? Gimmicks don't pull the train, power pulls the train.

I'm going to try to go with up to 4 rounds a day for KankaMatic baseball, 2 morning and 2 afternoon. I know some of you may be busy, so I'll relax the deadlines if need be. If this doesn't work, we'll go back to 2-3 rounds a day. Just keep heads up on the draft board to see who's on the clock.

Transaction Wire later this week (looks like it'll be interesting), and of course the AL Central preview some time before next week. Go Irish beat Mountaineers.

KankaMatic Draft Clarifications

• Pete will now be drafting for himself. Also, his favorite team is now the Toronto Blue Jays (unless he decides on the Red Sox).


• I'm going to try to move up to 3 rounds per day. Rounds that are in reverse order (ending Dave, Mike, Ellen) are immediately followed by rounds that start with Ellen, Mike, and Dave. Therefore, I don't need to make any autodraft picks in between. So, starting tomorrow afternoon, I'll post the orders for both rounds 4 and 5. Round 4 will be below round 5, so be sure to pick in the right round first.


• Feel free to comment on people's picks, but don't let it get out of hand. Try to limit it to 1 or 2 comments per pick, so I can actually find the actual pick in there. Any more comments, you can take them to the KankaNation message board. Also, importantly: the "wrestling move rule" will apply. For those of you not familiar with this rule (begun at poker night): No gloating, or another person may call you out and perform a wrestling move on you. So, comments like "DAH! Kanka just took Albert Pujols" are allowed, but comments like "Oh my God, I had the 7th overall pick and still was able to get Albert Pujols" would consitute a SmackDown.


• You're not limited to players on the Player Ranking list; neither are you limited to players on your favorite team (or current Major Leaguers). For instance, Dave can take Scott Kazmir, and so can anyone else who wants him.


• I won't be checking up on the draft except at lunch and after work (today was a minor exception). If you want any questions or complaints answered, reach me at jkatrica@alumni.nd.edu

Weekend in review tomorrow, plus the bubble watch. Transaction Wire and AL Central preview later this week (I'll make no promises about a day this time). Once the baseball previews are done, I'll start keeping track of the teams that are rumored to have an interest in ND's NFL draftees-to-be.

The KankaMatic draft starts Monday morning! Click on over to the KankaMatic message board to participate in the draft. We'll draft 2 rounds a day for the next 20 days or so - one morning round and one evening round (I'll leave some leeway for weekends and Dave and Ellen's upcoming ND trip). Try to have your morning round picks in by 12:30pm eastern (11:30am central), and your evening picks by 6pm eastern (5pm central). The board will look like this:

Round 1 (autodraft SP)
1 Ellen
2 Mike
3 Dave
(etc)

Pay attention to the number next to your name - that is the order (they may not be displayed in order). To draft someone, click on the "message" that is your name, and reply to that message with your pick. Please try to put your pick name in the message subject line (for instance, replace the subject of "Re: 1 Ellen" with your pick's name).
Please try to wait for the person ahead of you to go. But, if it's nearing the deadline time and the person ahead of you still hasn't picked, feel free to make your pick, and I'll settle any arguments later. If you do not pick by the deadline listed above, you will have the pick autodrafted for that round.

A note of advice: I'll conclude the "evening" round around 6pm and immediately post the order for the next "morning" round. So, if it's your turn and you would like to log on late at night to post your pick for the next "morning" round, feel free. This may actually help speed things along.

If there are still any confusion or questions, please email me at jkatrica@alumni.nd.edu.

Ellen, you're on the clock.

MLB Preview #5: NL Central

Chicago Cubs

Lineup
Mark Grudzielanek/Todd Walker 2b
Corey Patterson CF
Sammy Sosa RF
Moises Alou LF
Derrek Lee 1b
Aramis Ramirez 3b
Alex Gonzalez SS
Michael Barrett C
Rotation
Kerry Wood
Greg Maddux
Mark Prior
Matt Clement
Carlos Zambrano
Juan Cruz
Well, they came close last year, so this offseason they only got better. I don't see how there's any argument at all about the second base job - it should be Walker hands down. Barrett is an improvement at catcher. The bullpen looks great with the likes of LaTroy Hawkins, and should be a good complement to this rotation. The bench looks a little shaky, but when you look at the lineup and the pitching staff, you realize the bench is good enough. Top this all off with Corey Patterson's return, and this should be another good year for the Cubbies.

Houston Astros

Lineup
Craig Biggio CF
Morgan Ensberg 3b
Jeff Bagwell 1b
Jeff Kent 2b
Lance Berkman LF
Richard Hidalgo RF
Brad Ausmus C
Adam Everett SS
Rotation
Roy Oswalt
Andy Pettitte
Roger Clemens
Wade Miller
Tim Redding
The Astros decided to get rid of Billy Wagner, figuring Octavio Dotel and ND grad Brad Lidge could more than make up for him. I don't know if I agree, though. If you have a lights-out bullpen, why not keep it at that? Why play revolving door at closer? We'll see how that experiment works out.
The big news this offseason was the addition of Pettitte and Clemens. Why aren't they starting on opening day? Well, Roy Oswalt has already proven himself as the Astros ace, so why give that job to a new guy? Plus, Oswalt is probably better than Pettitte and Clemens right now; he just suffers from a few injuries and lack of media attention from not living in New York.
There were few other changes to this aging ballclub. In a way, this is the other side of the Indians' coin as far as "our stars are getting older and we still haven't gotten over the hump for a championship yet." Cleveland decided to ship out the stars and rebuild, while Houston decided to keep Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, et al. around. I'm very curious to see how this turns out. And hey, if Houston does win it all this year, I think it's great that the Astros would be able to reward the "Killer B's" for sticking around and staying true to their roots.

St Louis Cardinals

Lineup
Marlon Anderson/Bo Hart 2b
Edgar Renteria SS
Albert Pujols 1b
Jim Edmonds CF
Scott Rolen 3b
Reggie Sanders RF
Kerry Robinson/So Taguchi/Mark Quinn LF
Mike Matheny C
Rotation
Matt Morris
Woody Williams
Chris Carpenter
Jeff Suppan
Jason Marquis
I look at this team, and all I can think is that they'll finish 3rd in the division again (barring a very possible collapse by the Astros). The lineup has highs and lows - as you can see, there's no left fielder as of right now. Bo Hart and Edgar Renteria played out of their minds last year, so there's no guarantee they'll repeat that. Plus, Jim Edmonds and Reggie Sanders have to start getting old sooner or later.
I like Suppan and Marquis at the bottom of the rotation, and with the likes of Julian Tavarez, Steve Kline, and Jason Simmontacchi in the bullpen, the staff looks very solid. But, like I said, "solid" will probably only lead them to another 3rd place finish in this tough division.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Lineup
Tike Redman CF
Jason Kendall C
Craig Wilson/Randall Simon 1b
Raul Mondesi/Daryle Ward RF
Jason Bay/Rob Mackowiak LF
Chris Stynes/Chris Truby 3b
Jackie Wilson SS
Freddy Sanchez 2b
Rotation
Kris Benson
Kip Wells
Josh Fogg
Oliver Perez
Rick Reed
Ryan Vogelsong
Dave Williams
So much indecision in this lineup. The Pirates have played so many no-namers in the middle infield these past few years that I'm still waiting for my callup to Pittsburgh. Third base is a charmer. Chris "my name isn't Kelly Stinnett!" Stynes is about as generic a utility infielder as you can get. Chris Truby is most famous for being a cult hero on Baseball Prospectus.com after some ranting fan tried to use his name in an example about how the media treats Albert Belle. My was that a conversation.
As for the Rick Reed, Raul Mondesi, and Jose Mesa signings (you can't make this group up, plus Mesa is penciled in to close this year): why must you spend $5mil a year for a guy to hit .240 or have an ERA of 5.25? Can't you find someone in your minor league system who will do it for $300,000 a year? It just seems to me that the Pirates haven't been spending wisely as of late.

Cincinnati Reds

Lineup
D'Angelo Jimenez 2b
Barry Larkin SS
Sean Casey 1b
Ken Griffey, Jr. CF
Austin Kearns LF
Adam Dunn RF
Brandon Larson 3b
Jason LaRue C
Rotation
Paul Wilson
Corey Lidle
Jimmy Haynes
Brandon Claussen
Aaron Harang
Juan Acevedo
I should put up a huge asterisk in 72 point font that notes that this is the Reds' opening day lineup. For an example, take this SAT-style comparison:
Reds' outfield:hamstrings::
(read: the Reds' outfield is to hamstrings as...)
a. Tom Timmermans:Dutch
b. Ellen:loving Kanka
c. Boumtje:Boumtje
d. Shea Ralph:ACLs
If you answered (d), you're correct. Griffey Jr./Kearns/Dunn pretty much guarantees a hamstring pull per month. Add to that Barry Larkin's age and perennial injury problems at third (let's just say Aaron Boone's latest injury wasn't his first), and this lineup won't be together for anywhere close to 162 games.
As for the pitching staff, the only comment I have is that it appears to be a list of young "future stars" who never worked out for other clubs - Lidle, Claussen, and Harang are the big ones here. Of course, who knows, maybe they just need a little more time. It wouldn't at all surprise me, however, to see Casey Fossum pitching for the Reds by the end of July.

Milwaukee Brewers

Lineup
Craig Counsell SS
Scott Podsednik CF
Junior Spivey 2b
Geoff Jenkins LF
Wes Helms 3b
Ben Grieve RF
Lyle Overbay 1b
Chad Moeller C
Rotation
Ben Sheets
Doug Davis
Matt Kinney
Wayne Franklin
Wes Obermueller
So, do you come here often? Brewers fans don't. The Brewers, or as I like to call them, "the Arizona Diamondbacks split squad," don't look any closer to crawling out of the basement this year. Spivey is a solid hitter, and Counsell will be great veteran leadership. But the loss of Richie Sexson really hurts the Brewers. Stuck in a "swing for the fences" lineup, Geoff Jenkins has never been able to put of the batting average numbers he did in college, and now he has injury problems to worry about as well. Wes Helms and Ben Grieve are two more guys with an "all or nothing, but mostly nothing" swing, which won't help Jenkins at all. Add in the fact that Ben Sheets is the only halfway decent pitcher on the entire staff, and this may be another ugly year for the team that inhabits "the good land."

The NL Central preview will have to wait, as I'm taking the night off for the ND-Georgetown game.

I have been receiving many hits lately looking into the Coors Light wingdog commercial. I haven't been able to find this commencial online yet, but I can give you the lyrics curtesy this site. If you go to CoorsLight.com, you can check out the Wingman commercial. You can also find an interesting article on the Wingman theory on this site, about halfway down the page.

Go Irish, Beat Hoyas.

Transaction Wire

BALCO gives 'roids to Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Marvin Benard, Benito Santiago, and Randy Velarde... uh-ledge-ud-lee. No huge surpises on this list, especially since all play for or have played for the Giants, Dodgers, or A's. The presence of Benard and Velarde on this list only prove Mark McGuire's old theory: "it doesn't matter what you're on, you still have to hit the ball."
Chicago Bears sign Morrissey stall notes hero Thomas Jones and ND alum Mike Gandy. Bears also release Kordell Stewart and name Rex Grossman starting QB. The Jones deal apparently means that Anthony Thomas is on his way out the door. Some may consider that a risky move, but I say it's a good way to shake things up and hopefully get Da Bears back on the winning track.
Mets consider a trade for Alfonso Soriano, who would probably move to RF. For all the Soriano bashing I do, he is a young star with power, and this would be a good move for the Mets. The Mets have already said no to dealing away Jose Reyes, but now it looks like it would be Soriano for pitching phenom Scott Kazmir. Dave, I know you're high on Kazmir, but I would take this deal. There's no way of knowing how a Class A pitcher will turn out, and Soriano isn't that old himself (until someone finds immigration papers that say he's 36), so he'll be an important piece in the rebuilding of the Mets. If this trade does go down, I would pity Kazmir, however. I can see the Rangers sticking him in the rotation at the beginning of this year, where he'll get off to a rocky start and then completely lose all his confidence. This of course would scar him to a point where his career would never really get of the ground. (Don't worry, though, because if the Mets have patience with him, I'll sure he'll be great.)
Eagles name Trent Walters secondary coach, and suddenly Philadelphia fans hope that it's Larry Fitzgerald and not Mike Williams drafted into their division. Eagles also sign Jevon Kearse.

Thoughts on St. Patrick's Day

So, I was going through my yearly early March "Why should I celebrate St. Patrick's Day? I'm not Irish! Why don't we have a national holiday for Slovakia's patron saint" rant, I started looking into Slovakia's patron saint, Our Lady of the Assumption (September 15, also known as Our Lady of Sorrows). I came across this site, which also lists all Slovak national holidays. Here's some of the better ones:

• Victory over Facism Day, May 8 (celebrates end of WWII, 1945)
• Slovak National Uprising Anniversary, August 29 (1944 rise against Nazi Germany)
• Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day, November 17 (1939 student demonstration against Nazi occupation, 1989 Prague demonstation against Communism that sparked the Velvet Revolution).

I leave you with some of the better headline's from this week's SportsPickle. NL Central preview tomorrow.
Jamal Lewis cleared of charges after entire Justice Department stabbed to death (Coincidentally, many Baltimore fans think that this is a sign the Ravens will win the Super Bowl this year, as the last time they won was after Ray Lewis's involvement in a double murder. I love SportsPickle's anti-Ray Lewisness, especially when they point out that more people are concerned about the double murder rap tarnishing Lewis's record than they are concerned about the two people who died.)
"Satan" Headlines Cause Buffalo Minister to Predict "End Times" For those of you still confused, check here, and also note that Satan is a captain of the Slovak National Team.

Lorain Catholic Closes out its Gymnasium in Style

74-39 win gives team share of conference title

What an experience, but where to begin?
This game was originally scheduled as a home game for the Patriots of Open Door Christian school. Being without a gymnasium of their own, Open Door usually plays their home games in the gym of the now closed Elyria West High School. However, Open Door head coach Alan Januzzi, an LC alum and one of only three boys' basketball coaches in LC history, felt it was only appropriate that this game be played in the LC gym.
This was the game of the week for both of the radio stations that carry Lorain County High School basketball. The entire student body joined the cheerleaders in forming a tunnel for the Lorain Catholic Spartans on the floor. Being as Open Door was still considered the home team, Lorain Catholic came out in their red uniforms. How appropriate, a radio announcer pointed out, since the home jerseys simply said "Spartans," but the away jerseys read "Lorain Catholic." The crowd was a sea of red and white. Although the "Spartan Superfans" were definitely not as good as in my day (harumph harumph), it was nice to see some spirit and fire in the student section.
A prayer by the principal of Open Door was followed by the National Anthem, begun by two LC senior girls, but joined by every person in the now-packed gym. Next, LC assistant principal Jim Lawhead - Lorain County's second-winningest basketball coach all time (516 wins) and father of current LC coach Matt Lawhead - approached center court. His words were emotional: part eulogy and part pep talk. "We have our memories, and they can never take those away from us!"
This would have been a great night for basketball even without the surrounding circumstances. LC was playing for a share of the North Coast Athletic Conference title. They were one game back of Open Door in the conference standings, and their only conference loss this year was to that same Open Door team. LC moved out to a huge lead in that game, but once they took the defensive pressure off, Open Door came back and won it in the final seconds. So, LC needed to stay aggressive this whole game. Also of note, LC senior Brandon Neal was 11 points shy of reaching 1,000 for his career. In attendance was his father, a former LC 1,000 point scorer.
The game started the same way the last Spartan-Patriot contest did: LC bumfuzzled Open Door with active, agressive defense and a full court press, while a tightly packed Open Door 1-2-2 zone cut Neal off from the basket and exposed LC's outside shooting weakness. The score was 14-8 after one. Then, the "Noel Kukucka John Ziegler David Heatley Matt Hess Chris Pastor John Katricak Michelle Hennes Liesel Stevens Michael Pogachar (?) (?) Memorial Pep Band" (named after the senior leader of the pep band for each year; I lost count shortly after I graduated) performed the signature drum cadence/cheer of LC, "Super Spartans." This of course fired up the Spartan Superfans, and it apparently sparked the basketball team as well.
The Spartans press came out in full force, and really opened up the game. Only a few key three pointers gave Open Door a glimmer of hope. But that glimmer may have been ousted with 1.6 seconds left in the half. It was then that Brandon Neal hit a driving jumper to put himself over the 1,000 point mark. LC coach Matt Lawhead's pregame decision to not stop the game for Neal payed off, as LC guard Michael Cruz stole the inbound pass for another quick two before halftime.
The second half was only more bad news for Open Door. Not only did the LC press completely shut down the Open Door offense before it even got halfway to center court, but Brandon Neal also started to discover his three point touch. Neal was taken out of the game after hitting 30 points, and was rewarded with hugs from his coaches, parents, and the grandmother who raised him. Lorain Catholic's huge lead gave Coach Lawhead plenty of time to play his bench. The bench bunch's night was capped off by a bank shot three from the top of the key with 20 seconds left. (note to Hoosiers fans: Coach Matt Lawhead's solution to slow down the running up of the score: 5 passes!)
LC's basketball court was built to be college sized, so Jim Lawhead can use his fast, well-conditioned teams to run circles around opponents. This night was a return to that style of play - the elder Lawhead could definitely be proud of the Spartans' uptempo offense and active, swarming defense.
Postgame started with the student section storming the court and shouting the fight song. The LC boys proceeded to cut down the north net. Coach Matt Lawhead took his loop of the net and handed the scissors to his father Jim. Jim Lawhead finished of the net, raised his fists triumphantly, and gave one more signature whistle. The LC girls' team took care of the south net, with head coach Angie Chet passing things off to her mentor Ken Pogachar.
What followed was a family reunion. No one wanted to leave. People were hugging and reminicing and having a great old time with people they hadn't seen in ages. It was quite an experience, and it will not be soon forgotten by anyone in attendance.

Irish Men Overpower UCLA 75-60

Timmermans celebrates 1,000 nicknames with 20 points

UCLA just doesn't look good this year. ND got off to its traditional slow shooting start, but fortunately the Bruins got off to an even worse one.
Chris Thomas shot over 40% for the first time in, well, probably ever. Chris Quinn stepped up in his new role as a spark off the bench, shooting 4-6 from three point land. No one on the Irish got more than 8 rebounds (that honor went to Tom Timmermans), but when you shoot 48.4% for the game, who needs rebounding? (no, I don't really mean that).
It was a fun game to watch, but unfortunately UCLA doesn't quite have the RPI clout this year to make this an important win.

Good Ol' Fashioned Ramblings

• Did you ever notice how much that one guy in the "wingdog" commercial looks like a dark haired Pete McCall? He even gives a very Pete McCall-esque look at the end of the commercial. Maybe it is Pete. After all, he is an official Coors Light beer taster.
• The fact that there are only 26 kids signed up for next year's freshman class is listed as the main reason for LC's closing. Two LC mothers have started a "recruiting campaign" of sorts, going around to try and sign kids up for LC next year. The mothers site an increased focus on fundrasing and a decreased focus on recruiting as the reason for LC's downfall. An increased focus on fundraising and a decreased focus on recruiting? NDNation would have a field day with this.
• There was one kid on the Open Door team that looked exactly like Nick Setta. Ellen, if you were there, you would have run out on the court and hugged him.
• I was reading today about a southern congresswoman (that's right, she's female) who actually wants to repeal the women's right to vote. She claims that women's sufferage has greatly hurt family values. In the old days, men could vote and make decisions for their spouses. She sees this as a resposibility of men; men are not making decisions for women, instead they are simply speaking on women's behalf. This frees up time for women to clean house and tend to family. So, the ability of women to vote and run for congress is simply a result of men being lazy and not doing their spousal duty, according to this women.
• Still can't decide who to vote for in the presidential election? Yeah, right, not this group. Well, if you are, check out this site. I won't tell you my complete results, but apparently a 51% match with the Socialist Party. Coincidentally, the candidate closest to my views (although only a 63% match) is also a Cleveland-area man of Polish decent with funny hair and who enjoys polka, bowling, and kielbasa.

NFL Draft 2004 Notes

• Julius Jones is apparently drawing interest from the Dallas Cowboys as a second round pick.
• Early reports state that Darrell Campbell would like to play DT if at all possible.
• Other reports also state that Senator Courtney Watson would like to play weakside linebacker. If I was a broadcaster who was trying to sound smart, I would say he wanted to play the "Will" linebacker, then spend the next 10 minutes explaining why it's called that.

Bubble Watch

ND Men

Current RPI: 49
Conference Leaders < 49: 12
Adjusted Bubble RPI: 37
So, they're close. Of course, moving up 6 spots moved them past 3 conference leaders. It'll take a good run in the Big East tourney to make the big tourney.

ND Women

The womens' #10 SOS gives them an RPI of 23. A loss to Rutgers apparently didn't hurt, as the women actually moved up two spots. A 15 point lead over Syracuse with 8 minutes left on senior night should also help the Irish.

KankaMatic Corrections

Thanks to Dave for the input. Like I've said, I don't have an exstensive fantasy baseball experience base, so all suggestions help. Here's some corrections, which I'll also post on the KankaMatic site.

• I'll cut the number of relief pitchers down to 3 (unless you want to barter me down to two). There are few enough players that each team should get at least 2 decent closers and a good setup man (or two decent closers and a mediocre one). I'll update the autodraft order so 2/3 of the pitcher rounds are for starters (SP-SP-RP-SP-SP-RP instead of alternating).
• I'll cut fielding down to 10%. I was hoping to accomplish two things with fielding: 1) make the National League guys happy by making it a disadvantage to carry a pure DH and 2) show that all-glove, no-hit players (like me) are entirely underrated.
• Yes, if you want, you can carry a bench of 8 catchers. But, seing that Joe Mauer of the Twins is a top 15 catcher and hasn't played a game yet, I don't think you'd want to. Plus, if one of your "starters" gets hurt, you'll need a replacement. (interesting note on Joe Mauer: a few years back, the Twins had the first overall pick. Knowing they couldn't afford obvious #1 Mark Prior, they decided to take local HS prospect Mauer. If contract negotiations hadn't worked with Mauer, the Twins would have taken Matt Macri, now Notre Dame's starting SS. The fortunate thing for Macri is, if he had been drafted, his play probably would have made him a "bust" and had him out of baseball by now.)

Transaction Wire tomorrow; NL Central Thursday.

I've been noticing a lot of hits from people looking for the Tom Timmermans nickname list. Well, they're right here.

MLB Preview #4: NL East

Atlanta Braves

Lineup
Rafael Furcal SS
Marcus Giles 2b
Chipper Jones LF
Andruw Jones CF
JD Drew RF
Mark DeRosa 3b
Adam LaRoche 1b
Johnny Estrada C
Rotation
Russ Ortiz
Mike Hampton
Horacio Ramirez
John Thomson
Bubba Nelson
Jung Bong
Jaret Wright
The Braves' new philosophy is, "our rotation won't scare you any more, but our lineup sure will." The only problem is, the lineup doesn't really look that scary either. Giles and Chipper Jones will do alright, but Furcal's been slipping, and Andruw Jones has never hit for high average. Plus, JD Drew is decent, but he's no #5 hitter. Round out the lineup with Mark DeRosa and two rookies, and add in a rotation that's 75% no-names and control problems, and this may be it for the Braves. The good thing is that they have a good, young nucleus to this team, so any rebuilding effort in the near future should come rather smoothly.

Florida Marlins

Lineup
Juan Pierre CF
Luis Castillo 2b
Mike Redmond C
Mike Lowell 3b
Jeff Conine LF
Miguel Cabrera RF
Hee Seop Choi 1b
Alex Gonzalez SS
Rotation
Josh Beckett
Brad Penny
Carl Pavano
Dontrelle Willis
Darren Oliver
AJ Burnett
Who is Mike Redmond and why is he batting third? Well, he's the same guy who hit third for the Marlins last year when Pudge Rodriguez wasn't in the lineup. Pierre and Castillo are great at the top of the order, and Lowell is great in the middle, but unless Cabrera and Choi both have the breakout seasons to end all breakout seasons, this team is a bat or two away from solidifying a return to the postseason. The rotation looks pretty solid, now that most of their 25-and-under-Tommy-John-club members are gone. Beckett has a load of expectations on him this year. They're set so high, that even if he doesn't reach his expectations, he can still sneak in with a decent season. Pavano and Oliver will be the workhorses, and if AJ Burnett ("AJ" stands for Athomas John, apparrently) can stay healthy, the Marlins will do OK. Of course, you'd better hope that they enter the ninth with a comfortable lead, or else it's up to (gulp) Armando Benitez.
(An interesting aside: back when the Expos were looking to trade away Pedro Martinez, they came down to the decision of getting Pavano from the Red Sox or Bartolo Colon from the Indians. The Montreal brass thought that Pavano would turn out much better than Colon, and that's why Pedro is in Boston to this day.)

Philadelphia Phillies

Lineup
Marlon Byrd CF
Placido Polanco 2b
Bobby Abreu RF
Jim Thome 1b
Mike Lieberthal C
Pat Burrell LF
David Bell 3b
Jimmy Rollins SS
Rotation
Kevin Millwood
Randy Wolf
Vincente Padilla
Eric Milton
Brett Myers
On paper, this is a great team with a solid bench (Shawn Wooten, Tomas Perez, Ricky Ledee, and Doug Glanville), and the addition of the lights-out closer Billy Wagner was a great deal. However, in Philadelphia, baseball is not played on paper but on NexTurf (well, actually, now they play it on real grass - not to be confused with the "real grass" the Mets play on - in the new Citizens Bank Ballpark). In reality, Polanco should probably be a utility player, Abreu would be hitting leadoff if he would quit whining about it, and Pat Burrell has yet to come close to his potential. Add in the injury bug for Liberthal, Bell, Milton (yeah, he'll stay healthy, right), and Thome (chronic bad back), and I think it'll be another close but no cigar for the Phillies. I'll at least give them credit for making the team decent before moving it into the new park, instead of trying to make a fortune off of a crappy team in a new park (as most bad clubs have done recently).

Montreal Expos

Lineup
Brad Wilkerson CF
Orlando Cabrera SS
Jose Vidro 2b
Carl Everett LF
Tony Batista 3b
Nick Johnson 1b
Terrmel Sledge RF
Brian Schneider C
Rotation
Livan Hernandez
Tony Armas Jr.
Zach Day
Tomo Ohka
Claudio Vargas
Orlando Hernandez
Well, on the plus side, Rocky Biddle has turned into a solid closer, which the Expos will need with the loss of Scott Stewart. On the negative side, the lineup starts out well but goes quickly downhill. The 1-3 guys are good. Everett and Batista are solid, but you won't get anywhere if they're your 4-5. I'm still not sold on Nick Johnson at all, either. Having both Hernandezes in your rotation would look great if this were 1996. Day has some promise in his sinker, but other than that, there's not much to talk about on this pitching staff other than Biddle.

New York Mets

Lineup
Jose Reyes 2b
Kaz Matsui SS
"Clifford" Floyd LF
Mike Piazza C
Jason Phillips 1b
Mike Cameron CF
Ty Wigginton 3b
Roger Cedeno/Timo Perez/Karim Garcia RF
Rotation
Tom Glavine
Al Leiter
Steve Trachsel
Jae Weong Seo
Jeremy Griffiths
Aaron Heilman
Scott Erickson
OK, the lineup was just a guess (how I'd probably play them), so Dave, feel free to rip me apart. I've listed Cliff Floyd here as "Clifford," since apparently Peter Gammons can never just call him "Cliff" (he uses full first names for a few people - I should keep a list and use it as a future column). Cameron's hitting has been spotty at times (two years ago he had 4 homers in a game, then virtually none for the rest of the season), and he's never put up a high average. Trade him in for one good OPS guy, and this would be a lineup to watch. As for the rotation: Glavine, Leiter, Traschel, and Erickson? If this were 6 years ago, I'd definitely say look out for them. Fortunately, the presence of Heilman et al. proves that the Mets do have some hope for the future. This may be another rough year at Shea, but I'm going to bet it won't be too long before Dave doesn't have to drink heavily before going to the ballpark.

A Random Thought on Stadium/Arena/Court/Field Names

A recent trend has come about to not only name a stadium or arena, but to also name the field or court itself (for example, Coach K Court inside Cameron Indoor Stadium). Here's my opinion of the best and the worst:
The worst: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati. It's a brand new stadium, and you have the gall to call it The Great American Ballpark? It's not even that great! I'm sorry, but I think that's an honor reserved for Fenway Park or Wrigley Field, my friend.
The best: (John and Nell) Wooden Court, Pauley Pavillion, UCLA. Why yes, that is in fact a wooden court. Very perceptive of you.

Coming up this week: Weekend in Review, including the man of 1000+ nicknames and 20+ points, bubble watch (women fall to Rutgers, again), Transaction Wire, and the NL Central preview.

Transaction Wire

Pistons trade for 'Sheed Wallace, eventually. I would have mentioned this trade last week, but I didn't have all my paperwork in. The great thing about this trade is that it reunites some of the "stars" of the mid-90s "we suck because Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, and Larry Nance retired" Cavs - Chris Mills, Wes Person, and Bob Sura. Sura, incidentally, was the one who inspired me to cut my hair short and comb it forwards my junior year of high school. Ah, good times.
Broncos prepare to trade Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey. Was it a bad call by Butch Davis to take William Green over Portis? No, it wasn't. The Browns O-Line isn't very good, except at getting injured, and since Portis himself is injury prone, it's not a good match. Besides, most of Portis's yards come from a great Bronco O-Line. I watched Portis closely during the Browns-Broncos game this year. All he did was sit there and wait for the line to open a hole for him. Heck, I could do that. Once he got through the line, nothing really happened. So, credit the Broncos O-Line, but don't discredit Davis for not taking Portis.
Cowboys prepare to trade Joey Galloway for Keyshawn Johnson. I believe it was SportsPickle who said that the '02 Bucs didn't have any stars on their team, but Johnson and Warren Sapp told everybody they were stars and the media believed them. John Gruden gets rid of a headache, and Keyshawn goes to a coach he's always wanted to play for. As for Joey Galloway, age isn't an issue, since he's only a year older than Johnson. Maybe Bill Parcells keeps confusing Galloway and Terry Glenn, both WRs from tOSU's streak of #2 finishes in the mid-to-late-90s. I know I make that mistake many times, too.
Yankees release Aaron Boone. You want to talk about player loyalty? How about team loyalty? Sure, Boone's contract said "no basketball," but you can be at least a little faithful to this guy, can't you?
Jamal Lewis indicted for allegdly helping a coke deal. And this wasn't the "$1.25 from the vending machine" kind of coke. Note to Tony Weaver: if one of your teammates invites you to hang out with them in your free time, and his jersey says "Lewis," STAY AWAY.

News from the NFL Combine

Believe it or not, I've had tons of trouble trying to find news from the combine. You'd think at least one site would be all over this. Here's what I found:

• Darrell Campbell is being looked at as either a big, kinda slow defensive end, or a small, kinda quick DT. The word going around says he'll be a good fit as a 3-4 defensive end. In the 3-4, each D-Lineman is lined up directly across from an O-Lineman, whereas in the 4-3, each D-Lineman lines up in a gap. Therefore, you want 3-4 lineman to be bigger and stronger. So, that's why you put Darrell at DE in a 3-4. Teams that have been looking at him include San Diego (who may switch to a 3-4 next year), New England (who runs various defensive sets), and Pittsburgh (a traditional 3-4 team). Go figure my two favorite ND D-Lineman would end up on the Browns' two biggest rivals.
• Reportedly, the Browns are looking at Kellen Winslow, Jr. and scUM South safety Sean Taylor. I think my feelings about Winslow are well known. Taylor is a ballhawk who was also a great return man for the Hurricanes. It would be great to see someone other than Robert "all I know how to do it hit people with my shoulder, which is why the Browns gave up so many 200 yard rushing games this year Griffith. However, with Dennis Northcutt missing the deadline to file for free agency, the Browns will keep an already good punt returner.
• Julius Jones has been impressive so far at the combine. Len Pasquarelli reports that Julius isn't doing one thing very well, but he's still doing every single thing well. Jones has also received high marks for his quickness and receiving abilities. Boy, I'll tell you what, if Julius is the best receiving RB in this year's draft class, wait til these guys see Josh Schmidt.

Sorry if today was a little busy. I'll try to have the NL East preview posted this weekend. Take care.

OK, I can't just skip a post and not give you something to amuse yourselves with. Here it is: Sackbut Links. I haven't really looked around yet, but Trombone Samurai looks promising.

Ash Wednesday today, so I'm going to skip the column tonight. Join us again tomorrow for Transaction Wire and NL East preview. Until then, feel free to submit your thoughts about the KankaMatic draft to the message board. Or, Goolize yourself and post the results to the message board for everyone's amusement.

Bonus: What Google thinks of me, courtesy Googlism:

kanka is one of the most successful grassroots reformers in recent united states history
kanka is an old canker remedy that began to lose it's place in the market when less painful remedies started to appear
kanka is dead and there is nothing we can do to change that
kanka is semi
kanka is both a moscow pi tchaikovsky international award 1982 and prague spring 1983
kanka is the price we've paid for that policy
kanka is the assistant to the director and the associate director of the university center and the program in ethics and public affairs
kanka is famous for the yearly zatra knows as bodgeshwar zatra
kanka is the larger lake to the west
kanka is working in his studio in düsseldorf right now
kanka is working in his homestudio in düsseldorf on the follow up to the band's last release
kanka is studying acts
kanka is frozen in our collective consciousness because of her beauty
kanka is the name of a particular type of palm that is abundant in this area
kanka is my husband's grandfather
kanka is my bioloical mother
kanka is kidnapped
kanka is the bomb when it comes to canker sore aids
kanka is sanskritized as
kanka is set for nov
kanka is as much a lord of this kingdom as i myself
kanka is 6th level and has a strength of 18/30

First of all, since I'm out of control, and since this (QuickTime) is out of control, I simply can't stop watching it. I guess this guy is in some Drum and Bugle Corps somewhere, and also gives talks to grade school music classes. I have his email soemwhere if anyone wants it.

Notre Dame's Greatest Coaches: Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian, Holtz

by Moose Krause and Stephen Singular

Notre Dame's recent downfall began in or around 1993. The man they called Mr. Notre Dame, Moose Krause, died in December of 1992. He was recruited by Rockne, coached under Leahy, hired Parseghian, and aided in the hiring of Holtz. Hmmm... his years at the school almost exactly coincide with Notre Dame's era of football greatness. Conspiracy theorists, you may begin...
As for the book, it's definitely a must read. It chronicles the 1992 season, Moose's last, plus gives you a Moose-eyed view of the man's life and ND's greatest coaches. Why these four? Besides the national championship factor, these are the four that Moose felt were the epitome of "Notre Dame men."
This book was written from Stephen Singular's point of view, but includes much great insight from Moose and other Notre Dame personalities. Singular does a great job of making the reader feel like they're really there, sucking up Moose's cigar smoke and listening to his belly laughs.
Some highlights:
Notre Dame was beating Northwestern rather handily on the road, so the Northwestern students all started to flip Rockne the bird. After the game, Rockne turns to the stands and screams, "What? You jackasses can't beat us so you fart on us?"
The other you've heard before, but it bears retelling. John Lattner, after fumbling five times in a game, gets called into Coach Leahy's office. After making sure Lattner isn't having girl trouble or family problems, Leahy looks at the future Heisman winner and says, "Lad, I want you to go to confession, and to confess those five mortal sins you committed last Saturday."
I almost passed on this book, but that would've been a mistake. This is definitely a must read.

Thanks to Ellen for her writeup on the ND Swomen. I was going to mention them, but, as usual, I completely forgot.

Peter Gammons had a nice writeup on the Indians and, you guessed it, Jody Gerut. This is why people like Gerut and LeBron James ("Young people look up to me, so I know I have to be a role model -- on and off the court.") are role models, and people like Milton Bradley (jail time for resisting arrest, walking over to take a seat in the bullpen during pitching changes) are not.

Don't forget, the KankaMatic Draft is only a short time away (March 1).

That's it for today - a lot about nothing. We have the Transaction Wire tomorrow, NL East Thursday, and anything else as the spirit moves me. Oh, by the way, Lorain Catholic High School (my alma mater) is closing down after this year, so if anyone knows of any good high schools in the Lorain area where my sister can go for her senior year, and my brother can go for his four years, let me know (or, if you're incredibly rich and would like to write a huge check to save the school, let me know).

UConn Out-Physicals ND Men

Husky Men also Out-"Not Take Stupid Shots" The Irish

How bad of a night was it for Chris Thomas? Well, he actually pulled a Kanka. That's right, his 6-23 shooting night was capped off by a three from the corner that hit the top of the backboard. Dah. Thomas wasn't shooting well all game, but he refused to try to find anyone else who was passing well. Maybe that's because there wasn't anyone else. The lack of Torin Francis hurt in this game, not really so much for the rebounding presence, but more because Thomas put too much weight on his own shoulders - he felt that he was the only scorer out there, and the team lived and died with his 17 misses.
UConn's rebounding in this game was ridiculous, and it wasn't just because of Emeka Okafor and freshman forward Josh Boone. Too many times, the ND guards just stood there watching a UConn shot go up. This let the Husky guards easily slip around their Irish defenders and float to the basket for a tip-in. Also, ND has to be leading the country in opponent's missed free throws rebounded by the shooter. A big reason for this? Chris Thomas, who's resposibility is the shooter, just stands there flatfooted staring at the shot in flight, allowing the shooter to get in perfect, uncontested position for the long rebound.
Ugh. On one of the few positive notes, Colin Falls is starting to show hints he belongs in college ball. Keep it up, kid.
Next up for the Irish are the pesky Providence Friars. Providence actually comes in as a ranked team this year. But, as long as there are no no-name guards putting up 38 points on us, this is a very winable game, a la Seton Hall recently.

What I Did this Weekend

Kanka Gets a Taste of Politics, Monster Pizza

So many times I have a boring weekend, but this Saturday night was actually quite amusing.
My buddy Matt invited me to go see presidential candidate John Edwards speak at Cleveland State University on Saturday. Cleveland is not a State, but it is the alma mater of my dad. Also, John Edwards is not to be confused with John Edward, "medium"/Biggest Douche in the Universe (I was hoping they'd open things up for questions, though, just so I could act like I didn't know the difference).
As soon as we get in the door, we're hit with flyers from two people. Sure enough, they read, "Vote for John Kerry." Ah, politics. Inside the meeting room where Edwards was scheduled to talk, they were passing out stickers and selling buttons. Most buttons had pictures of Edwards, but the big sellers were the "BUCK FUSH" buttons. After exclaiming, "BUCK FUTTER!", I thought of buying one for Dave, Bush's #1 fan, but then I realized that a) that would cost money and b) I'm insanely cheap.
We stood near the back, by the press area. ABC was early, complete with campaign trail bus - I was going to sneak us inside, but it wasn't empty at the time. CNN/NBC and CBS decided to wait for Edwards at the airport. I spotted two girls there by themselves. One had "band braids" - those double braids similar to Jess the Drum Major's baseball braids. Of course, being a bando, I've come to find that band braids are a rather good look. The other looked like a combination of Ellen and Rebecca Lobo, minus the tombstone-sized teeth. Despite this fact, she was also quite attractive. So, did I invite these girls, now standing right next to us, to join Matt and me for dinner afterwards? No, I'll just wait til this is over and ask them then. Of course, by the time it was over, they were long gone. Dah.
Edwards was running a little late; it was a marathon day for him, flying from New York to Minnesota to Cleveland. So, the minority/majority leader of the Ohio Senate (he's a Democrat obviously; I can't recall offhand which party has control of the Ohio Senate) put him self in charge of keeping the crowd in it, between the Dave Matthews and Elton John playing in the background. Finally, around 8:30 or so (Edwards was due to start talking at 8), the Senator goes, "OK, are you ready?" The crowd holds up their signs and starts chanting "Edwards! Edwards! Edwards!" I lean to Matt and, mimmicking the Senator, quip, "...and that's exactly what we'll do once he gets here!" Sadly, I was right. Edwards got there around 9 or so, CNN and CBS camera crews in tow. Once there, the place turned into a pep rally. There was a 40s-ish woman a few rows ahead of us in a business suit, and, well, you've seen those Microsoft Office commercials, where everyone's running around celebrating? Yeah, she was like that.
Knowing that Dave would be doing the same if he were there, I kept making wrestling references to Matt. I was waiting for Kerry or Dennis Kucinich to jump out of the crowd and hit Edwards with a steel chair, or for Edwards to rip off his suitcoat and shirt to reveal a LeBron James jersey. Alas, the most exciting news of the night (you heard it hear first!) was that Howard Dean will be dropping out of the race, and he and his followers will now be supporting Edwards. This supposedly will become official after Super Tuesday, March 2. After nearly 2 hours of the crowd waiting, Edwards talks for 20 minutes, and that's it. Time to go home.
I'm not much into politics, as you probably all know, and almost all of my readers are hard-core Republican, so it wouldn't matter what I said anyways. But, the speech itself was amusing. Politics is a game of telling people what they want to hear, and "forgetting" to tell the rest of the story. It's the same for both parties, there's no way around it. Still, it's a funny game, and this was definitely an amusing adventure.
After the talk, as planned, Matt and I (sans Ms. Band Braids and Ellen Lobo) headed for Alice Cooper'stown Cleveland. Alice Cooper'stown is a great idea. Alice Cooper is a huge sports fan, so he started opening up sports bar/restaurants around the country. This one is right across the street from Jacob's Field. The entrance walls were lined with signatures of celebrities who have visited, mostly Browns and Indians players, but also a group of DiamondBacks, and Chris Rose, Cleveland area "celebrity" turned Best Damn Sports Show Period host. Dah.
Parking was a fun adventure. To pay for the lot we picked, you were supposed to put the fee in an envelope, put down your license plate number, spot number, and the date and time, and drop it in a box near the front of the lot. If they're out of envelopes (there are no people attending this lot), you use your own. Being rather non-Klondikian, niether Matt nor I had an envelope. Matt did have a pen though, and I had a John Kerry flyer. So, I fashioned the flyer into a crude envelope, and we were set.
Inside Alice Cooper'stown, we were asked, "smoking or non?" They should have asked, "smoking or no fun?", as the non-smoking section is a small, dimly lit room in the back with two small TVs and no music, and only one waitress (I was able to rationalize my normal "I'll give her a big tip because she's hot" morale by reasoning that "I'll give her a big tip because she's waiting on 3 tables at the same time and bussing with no help). We ordered a "monster pizza" (the works, basically), and started to look around. The menu listed famous Clevelanders, including George Steinbrenner. Dah. It also had to rub in the fact that he tried to buy the Indians, his lifelong dream, and was turned down. Of course, he probably just would have moved them to Tampa, just like he did with the American Shipbuilding Company in Lorain. While waiting (although it was a rather short wait), I started to look around at the sports pictures on the wall. Right next to our table was a team picture of the 1991 Clevland Browns. Very nice.
OK, that's my story the end (now wasn't that anticlimatic?).

Bubble Watch

ND Women

The women continue to win, but their last three games have been against teams with RPIs lower than 150. This drops their RPI to 25. They have two games coming up against decent teams: UMiami, who they beat on the road earlier this year, and Rutgers, who's always given them fits. After that, it's two more crappy teams and then the Big East Tournament.

ND Men

You win some, you lose some. The men gain five spots, up to number 55. Let's check out the adjusted bubble RPI.
Magic Number: 34 at-large bids.
ND Men's RPI: 55
Conference Leaders RPI < 55: 15
Adjusted Bubble RPI: 40
So, they're improving (last week the adjusted number was 44), but they're not there yet. ESPN.com puts them in their "next four out," basically meaning they need to move up 8 spots to make the tournament. Well, a win against Providence would be a good start.

That's it for today. Check back this week for the Transaction Wire, the NL East preview, and a book report on Notre Dame's Greatest Coaches.

Happy First Day of Spring Traning everyone!

Transaction Wire

Colorado U fires Gary Barnett. If you ask me, he's probably not a good choice for a Ty replacement.
Pirates sign Randall Simon and Raul Mondesi. Simon isn't a bad resigning - he'll put the bat on the ball. But Mondesi has become Mr. Underacheiver, and playing for a team isn't going anywhere isn't going to help. It's money better spent elsewhere, unless the Pirates are smart enough to get a few good AAA guys out of him at the trade deadline.
Cubs sign Greg Maddux. A great young staff and an established veteran. Plus, it's a non Questec park. Great sign.
Rangers trade Alex Rodriguez for Alfonso Soriano and a PTBNL. Lost in the shuffle here is the fact that Soriano will probably try to play shortstop now. That's going to be ugly. And I doubt the Rangers need another all or nothing swinger.
A lot of people say A-Rod's contract was to blame for the Rangers not landing any big time pitching. Do you realize who Texas's GM is? That's right, its KankaNation favorite John Hart. With or without Rodriguez, there wasn't going to be any money on pitching.
As for Bud Selig, he's once again the owners' puppet. "Well, I'll let this go this time, but don't make a habit of it." Way to take a stand, moron.
As for Rodriguez, well, we have our AL East preview to discuss that. I do, however, like how all the Yankee haters are rationalizing the heck out of this trade. Maybe it's the fact that the Yankees were handed the championship each February each of the last 3 years only to fail. Time will tell.

MLB Preview #: AL East

New York Yankees

Lineup
Kenny Lofton CF
Derek Jeter SS
Alex Rodriguez 3b
Jason Giambi 1b
Gary Sheffield RF
Jorge Posada C
Hideki Matsui LF
Bernie Williams CF
Enrique Wilson/Miguel Cairo 2b
Rotation
Mike Mussina
Kevin Brown
Javier Vazquez
Jose Contreras
John Lieber
Where to start? Lofton's bound to hit the wall sometime, but if Torre can put up with Soriano at leadoff, he'll put up with anyone. Lofton and Williams aren't going to last a whole year in that huge center field. So, look for tons of Ruben Sierra time in LF as Matsui moves to center. Giambi has yet to live up to potential in New York, and when he proves he can't handle first every day, it's Tony Clark backing him up. Sheffield had a great year last year, but this is his first in the AL, so who knows what will happen. Bernie Williams is finally out of the four spot, thank God, and the prospects at second don't exactly look great. If Bret Boone or Jose Vidro end up in New York by the deadline, I'll officially lose any remaining faith I have in any owners. Any single one of them.
The pitching rotation looks atrocious. Javier Vazquez is a good pitcher, but he's just enough of a no name to get booed after a few bad starts, and from there his year could be awful. Kevin Brown's guaranteed to miss 20 starts, and there's really no one to take his place. Now. I better shut up before Brian Cashman starts scouting starting pitchers.
As for the bullpen - not impressive. Mariano Rivera is a one pitch pitcher, and if Bill Selby can figure him out (2-out grand caps off 6 run Tribe 9th in a win against Rivera the year before last), anyone can.
As for A-Rod and Derek. Rodriguez has two gold gloves, and Jeter is the worst defensive SS in the AL. OK, Rodriguez's gold gloves were cheap, and he only got them because of his offense. But still, it actually makes sense to have him make the move. He's the better defender, so he'll take a transition to a new position easier that Jeter. Plus, we all remember what happened when Jeter got involved in a play at the hot corner last year. Well, once Jeter's hurt again, Rodriguez will take over and play very well, perhaps prompting a Jeter move to second. It only makes sense due to Jeter's terrible range and week arm (plus the 40 AAAA 3rd basemen the Yanks now have). Oh, as for these two "captains": yes, Jeter not moving over for the better player was bad, but Rodriguez just left his team. Good good.
Oh, and A-Rod hit a whopping .208 at Yankee Stadium last year.

Boston Red Sox

Lineup
Johnny Damon CF
Bill Mueller 3b
Nomar Garciaparra SS
Manny Ramirez LF
David Ortiz/Ellis Burks DH
Kevin Millar 1b
Trot Nixon RF
Jason Varitek C
Pokey Reese 2b
Rotation
Pedro Martinez
Curt Schilling
Derek Lowe
Tim Wakefield
BK Kim
Boy, the Sox sure love their D at 2b. If Alfonso Soriano is the "how not to" example of moving from SS to 2b, Pokey Reese is the "how to," winning several gold gloves at second. That's the only big pickup in the lineup, but this lineup doesn't need to much help.
The rotation looks good, but if you take a second look you'll notice it's not very deep. That could be trouble when Pedro gets hurt. Plus, BK Kim is much more effective coming out of the bullpen, when he doesn't give the opposing rotation a chance to roll over a few times. As for the pen, Keith Foulke may be the most underrated signing of the offseason, both because it shores up the back end of Boston's bullpen, and because Foulke has quietly become a great closer.

Toronto Blue Jays

Lineup
Reed Johnson RF
Frank Catalanotto LF
Vernon Wells CF
Carlos Delgado 1b
Josh Phelps DH
Greg Myers C
Eric Hinske 3b
Orlando Hudson 2b
Chris Woodward SS
Rotation
Roy Halladay
Miguel Batista
Ted Lilly
Pat Hentgen
Josh Towers
Both the lineup and rotation are great up top but terrible on the bottom. If I were actually funny, I would've had a great joke to go along with that one. Maybe I need to hire an official one-liner writer. Delgado, Wells, and Halladay are as good as they come. Catalanotto is a good guy to have in the lineup, and Hinske is two years removed from a rookie of the year trophy. Miguel Batista is a good #3 starter; let's see how he does after he moves up a spot. Josh Towers is tempting fate by wearing a single digit uniform number (7) as a pitcher. A lot of these guys are close to breakout seasons. Of course, many of them have been that way their whole careers.

Baltimore Orioles

Lineup
Jerry Hairston Jr. 2b
Melvin Mora 3b
Raphael Palmeiro 1b
Miguel Tejada SS
Javy Lopez C
Jay Gibbons RF
Larry Bigbie LF
Jack Cust DH
Luis Matos/Tim Raines Jr. CF
Rotation
Sidney Ponson
Kurt Ainsworth
Rodrigo Lopez
Eric DuBose
Matt Riley
Erik Bedard
Omar Daal
The names will impress you, the results may not. Melvin Mora should again put up bid numbers. Miguel Tejada needs to prove last year wasn't a fluke. My feeling is that the real Miguel Tejada is more like last year's version than the MVP Tejada two years ago. Javy Lopez may not do so well now that he's not surrounded by all stars. As for some of the Gammons-esque types: Jay Gibbons is decent, he's more or less the poor man's Aubrey Huff. Jack Cust was a very high draft pick. He can't play a position, and he's struggled to live up to the hype on offense as well.
Getting Syndey Ponson back is big, and the Orioles still get to keep Kurt Ainsworth. Other than them, the pitching staff isn't much, other than closer Jorge Julio.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Lineup
Carl Crawford LF
Rocco Baldelli CF
Aubrey Huff DH
Jose Cruz Jr. RF
Tino Martinez/Robert Fick 1b
Geoff Blum 3b
Rey Sanchez SS
Toby Hall C
Julio Lugo 2b
Rotation
Victor Zambrano
Jeremi Gonzalez
Mark Hendrickson
Doug Waechter
Damian Moss
Dewon Brazelton
Paul Abbott
Tampa Bay's lineup is much like Toronto's, only the names aren't as big. Then, you get to the bottom and see both Rey Sanchez and Julio Lugo. At least they have exciting young stars in Baldelli and Huff (and to a lesser extent, Crawford). Believe it or not, I would actually pay money to see these guys (Baldelli and Huff, not Sanchez and Lugo).
As for the pitching staff, the Devil Rays had a few good young pitchers, but it looks like they're all gone now, except for Victor "don't call me Carlos" Zambrano. Paul Abbott isn't listed in the opening day rotation, but look for him to eat a ton of innings. As for the pen, well, you have 2003 all star Lance Carter (only an all star because the AL needed more pitchers) and Danys Baez, who was the victim of too many good young pitchers in the Cleveland system. Oh, and sucking. He was also the victim of sucking.

Well, that's the AL East for you. Next week is the NL East. If you're looking for some fantasy baseball chatter, check out the NDNation site, where they discuss their fantasy league. Scott, if you'd like to play KankaMatic Baseball, please let me know, and also let me know what your favorite team is.

ND Men Creep Towards Proverbial Bubble

Thomas Creeps Towards Proverbial "Decision Making That Doesn't Completely Suck"

It was a big weekend for the Irish. Two more ESPN games, two more wins against quality teams. This time it was Seton Hall at home (they're actually good this year - who knew?) and in the Carrier Dome against Syracuse, no small feat indeed.
Against Seton Hall, ND just looked like the better team. Maybe it was the UConn game that snapped them out of whatever funk they were in, but they definitely played better than they had all year. Still, it did seem like Seton Hall was only one run away from taking over. Maybe that's a sign that the Irish now have the fight to shut down a late comeback.
Against Syracuse, it did help that Gerry McNamara started cold, and that the team doesn't have many other scorers. Yet, the Irish played hard for 40 minutes (which is OK for basketball, but not for football. Someone please remind Dicky V of this.) and they made their shots. As in the Seton Hall game, they kept the rebounding advantage close, and that was enough.
Let's take a look at how each player did:
Chris Thomas: Is he shooting the ball well? Yes and no. He's not shooting 60% from the field, but he's also not shooting 25%, so I guess I'll take it. The important thing is that his maturity is starting to show on offense. No more Kanka-esque full sprint threes or off balance hope I get fouled dives. He's in control and making smart passes. Hopefully this is something he'll remember, and not something Mike Brey will have to reteach him after ND starts next year 7-8. Thomas's defense is another story. Andre Barrett was running circles around Thomas like you wouldn't believe. This cause Brey to switch Torrian Jones over to guard Barrett, which unfortunately left Chris Quinn guarding someone five inches taller than him. Fortunately for the Quinn, Seton Hall completely missed their chances to exploit this, and fortunately for the Irish, Quinn actually plays defense so the Pirates thought his man wasn't open.
Chris Quinn: Just a few weeks ago, I was starting to worry that Quinn was going to go the way of Alicia Ratay: great when they're not the center of attention, and when their teammates get them open, but not so good when they are the focal point or have to create their own shot. After these past few games, that comparison is starting to move towards Mark Price. I'm not saying Quinn is the next Mark Price, I'm just saying that I idolized Price growing up, so he's my reference point for what a great point guard should be. In the Seton Hall game, Quinn would drive, and then immediately kick it out to someone wide open outside the arc. Unfortunately, this was more often than not Torrian Jones. Fortunately, Jones had the forsight not to shoot every single time. Now, if you put Colin Falls out there, we may be getting somewhere. However, over the course of the game, I noticed that Quinn made the same pass every single time he drove, and Seton Hall noticed as well. Great, there goes that, I though. Well, it wasn't a bad idea - the team they were playing wasn't outstanding, so he could try a few things, but now everyone's going to be looking for it. Then comes the UConn game. Quinn drives, and shoots off the dribble. I was worried that the new ND Basketball resurgence would end once Thomas leaves (and I was afraid this year was already the beginning of that), but after seeing Quinn this weekend, I'm starting to think we'll be in capable hands.
Torrian Jones: Last year, I suggested bulking Jones up and putting him on the football team as a safety. That may have been a good decision. "But Kanka, he's been playing well lately," you say. That's my point exactly. He flies to the ball, grabbing defensive rebounds away from opposing big men. He slashes through traffic. When someone needs to step up and make a play, he's willing to be that guy (that guy in a good sense). He plays with heart and hustle and brains. I'm no football expert, and this is a terrible metaphor, but I think those are pretty good qualities for a safety. They're also great qualities for a senior captian, and Torrian Jones is a big reason why this team is winning again.
Torin Francis: As soon as the UConn game ended, I thought, "Could we possibly be seeing the Ewing Theory in action?" It may be too early to tell (and, being as he's only the second biggest star on the team, this may not even qualify), but this may be the Theory in action. Or, it may just be a coincidence that everybody's started to turn it on just as Francis is out.
Tom Timmermans: The king of the hi-low formation 17 foot jumper is another reason why this team is winning. In Timmermans and Jones, you have probably the two starters with the least basketball talent. But, you also have the two starters with the most hustle. (Can you tell I was always the "no talent, hustle guy" when I played? Seriously, it's all I ever talk about.) He plays hard, knows his role, and has fight in him. He also has 880 nicknames at last count.
Rick Cornett: He's showing he belongs, both on defense and on offense. Kind of makes you wish Brey gave more guys playing time, to help tone the raw talent into experience.
Colin Falls: Yes Dave, he's still white. He hasn't been the second coming of Matt Carroll yet, but he's still working out the jitters. He plays with "I need to show coach I'm good" hustle, but he just needs to relax and get into his groove as a shooter. Once again, time and experience is the answer for this.
Jordan Cornette: He's almost getting lost in the shuffle in all this (probably due to a bad Syracuse game - 0 pts, 3 boards). You expect him to get quite a few boards, block a shot or two, and throw in a few points. Maybe Jones's trip to the Junenation machine and Timmermans's increased minutes have lead to this, but Cornette is still a solid player.
Well, call it maturity, leadership, heart, hustle, desire, or the fact they're actually rebounding and making shots now. The ND Men's team is going somewhere - let's just hope it's not too little, too late.

I don't fumble

After a game in which future Heisman Trophy winner John Lattner had five fumbles, coach Frank Leahy called Lattner into his office. After asking Lattner if his family was doing alright or if he was having girl troubles, Leahy said, "Lad, I want you to go to confession, and I want you to confess those five mortal sins you committed on Saturday."

NBA All-Star Weekend

Rookie-Sophomore Challenge

I was waiting for a LeBron to Carmelo alley-oop that would be shown forever on ESPN, and instead I got several Carmelo to LeBrons. Oh well, I'll take it. Carlos Boozer had 25 points. To quote former roommates of our Morrissey alumni, "He's pretty good!" The thing ended in a dunk contest which amusing to watch, but I missed most of the game because I chose "going out and doing stuff" over "being lame and staying home to watch TV on Friday night."

Slam Dunk Competition/Three Point Shootout/Skills Competition/Etc.

Um, yeah, I completely forgot this was on. Whoops. Well, I'm not going to report on anything I didn't see, so you'll have to go somewhere else for news on this part of the weekend.

The Game Itself

So, "Hey Ya" has officially jumped the shark now, right? Speaking of which, I have a story from visiting my high school's jazz band last week. Everyone's getting ready, and the director walks in from his office. "Did everybody see which song the Trojan Marching Band played at the Grammy's?" Dah.
For the Canadian National Anthem, it was amusing to see Nelly Furtado taking jersey dresses to the next level with the low cut, full length jersey evening gown. Being as it was jersey-related, I am secure enough in my manhood to admit I noticed this. I couldn't understand her bando-esque double braids, however, until I remembered that Furtado is in fact a former trombone player. Don't ask me how I know this, you'll only get an answer.
As for the game, it resembled one of our Bookstore Basketball practices: no one wanted to run real offensive plays and no one wanted to play defense. Of course, the only difference is that the NBA all-stars have talent and can dunk, and we're fat messes.

I'm sure Ellen would like me to point out that the Big East swimming championships start Thursday in East Meadow, NY. A whopping 26 of her swimmers will be competing this weekend.

Women's RPI Watch

The wins were decisive, but the opponents were crappy. Solid showings against RPI #215 Providence and #163 St. John's actually cost the Irish a few spots, dropping their SOS to 6 and their RPI to 16. Still in good shape to play in March, though.

Bubble Watch

There are 31 conference in the NCAA tournament, and 34 at large bids. Theoretically, those 34 spots go to the teams that are in the top 34 RPI slots after taking out the conference champions. So, if you take ND's RPI and subtract the number of conference leaders above them, you can see how close ND is to that magic number 34.

Current ND Men's RPI: 60
Number of conference leaders with RPI < 60 : 16
Adjusted Bubble Watch RPI: 44

So, as you can see, the men are at least 10 slots away from dancing in March. But, with a good schedule ahead, if they keep playing like they have been, it's not out of reach.

Finally: here's looking at you. ND Basketballer Torrian Jones and Bowling Green (not a state) QB Josh Harris. (It looks a lot closer when Harris has a helmet on, but I'm too lazy to find a good picture of Harris with a helmet.)


Tomorrow: the obligatory A-Rod edition: Transaction Wire and AL East Preview

Well, the bad new is that my NSS meeting means no post tonight.

The good news is that you've all been signed up for KankaMatic Baseball! Hoorah! But what if you didn't want to play KankaMatic Baseball? Well, it doesn't really matter, because with all the automatic features of KankaMatic baseball, you don't have to do anything if you don't want to! (and, basically it looks really pathetic if Dave and I are the only people playing this) I set a draft order in this fashion: first, I wrote a Javascript that would output our 8 names in a random order. I ran this script 10 times, noting the order of finish each time. I then took the average of the order of finish and used it to determine the draft order. If anybody wants to check my math, let me know and I'll show it to you.
So, without further ado, here's your 2004 draft order:
1. Ellen (Yankees)
2. Mike (Cubs)
3. Dave (Mets)
4. Klondike (Mariners)
5. Pete (Pirates)
6. Cronk (Rangers)
7. Kanka (Indians)
8. Brittany (Cubs)

Some notes on the draft:

• The draft is still tentatively scheduled for March 1. I'm still taking suggestions on how to do this.
• Do to the player rankings we'll be using, the autodraft order will be Round 1 Starting Pitcher Round 2 Catcher Round 3 Relief Pitcher Round 4 First Base.... Outfielders will be taken as outfielders, not by specific position (you will still be required to have a left, center, and right fielder on your active roster, however).
• Remember, the favorite team autodraft rule will apply: no one can autodraft a player from another person's favorite team. You will get the next highest player at that position instead.
• The draft will be in complete snake format: odd numbered rounds go from 1 (Ellen) to 8 (Brittany), even numbered rounds go 8 to 1. This was based on how the Sports Guy does things, not on my crappy pick number.

I put your favorite teams in parentheses for the autodraft rule (see above). Please correct me if I'm wrong, or forever hold your peace.
Also, please tell me (on the message board or by email) whether or not you're going to autodraft. If you don't reply at all, I'll assume you're autodrafting.
Finally, if and when you come up with a team name, let me know, or else I'll come up with a boring/lame/inappropriate one for you.

Big week this week: Weekend in Review (2 ND men's wins, NBA all star weekend), Transaction Wire, and what a time for the AL East preview to come up. I'll have a lot to say about that. Also, a new feature I'm going to start, the Bubble Watch: I'll take the men's spot in the RPI, subtract the number of conference leaders with automatic bids above them, and see if the result is lower than the number of at large bids (example (I'm making this up): RPI=60 - 25 conference leaders with RPIs above ND = 45, which greater than the number of at large bids available).

Good luck and happy drafting!