PhxPhin

when travelling abroad I actually had the opposite experience - while I loved going to EPL matches, some of the lower division soccer games were very entertaining - some of the other sports it provided a good introduction where I could get an idea of the game before shelling out a ton of cash it really depends on what the individual is looking to accomplish .... there are some who would argue that it's a waste of time going to see the marlins if you want to experience a major league baseball enviroment as they play in a football stadium in front of a small crowd ....... could say that you'd be better off saving your money and going to the bronx, fenway, wrigley or some other such place another thing that could be of interest if a racing fan is if you'll be around any dirt tracks or other form of short track racing ...... obviously not nascar quality, but can be very popular for those who are into such things again, it's all up to what the individual tastes are and what else you could have lined up - kind of the opportunity cost of travel when I was in wales we had the opportunity to go to a rugby match - it was lower level, but we had open time .... were just going to wander around and have some drinks before jumping off to someplace else the next day - seemed like as good of an option as any and we had a blast last time I was in toronto we were by the skydome checking on a different event, but a guy was selling argos tickets - i love football and don't mind the CFL, but we had a tighter itinerary of what we wanted to see and do and chose not to go .... despite the fact the guy was practically begging us to buy the tickets

bah - that's just because you don't live in spring training paradise .... absolutely love this time of year - i only wish the marlins would make an occasional road trip

Not sure if you are coming through Montgomery or any other minor league city as well on your way from Talladega - looks like the Montgomery Biscuits are on the road the whole time anyway Could be an option to check out a minor league game as well if you want to get more of a feel for baseball and how the game is structured over here ...... i personally love minor league ball, the environments are fun, tickets less expensive - just a good time Not sure what minor league cities you'd be around though For the Marlins, I would definitely lead towards either the dodgers or rockies (probably dodgers) and keep an eye on your pitching matchups .... there should be a pretty good idea on who will be throwing when they are waving the flags at the race

Not sure if you are coming through Montgomery or any other minor league city as well on your way from Talladega - looks like the Montgomery Biscuits are on the road the whole time anyway Could be an option to check out a minor league game as well if you want to get more of a feel for baseball and how the game is structured over here ...... i personally love minor league ball, the environments are fun, tickets less expensive - just a good time Not sure what minor league cities you'd be around though For the Marlins, I would definitely lead towards either the dodgers or rockies (probably dodgers) and keep an eye on your pitching matchups .... there should be a pretty good idea on who will be throwing when they are waving the flags at the race

Yeah, blame Bono. When all else fails. Blame Bono. Definitely blame Bono - if he didn't injure his back, they wouldn't of needed to reschedule the date and this issue never would of popped up Then again, a back injury was inevitable for bono - you know given that he not only has to carry around a big head and a giant ego while shouldering all the worlds poverty, sickness and problems .... pretty hard to accomplish in the heavy air of self importance the guy lives in ..... Atlas wasn't as burdoned I hope it rains the whole time

heh - part of the reason I'm a marlins fan is they put their short season A ball affiliate in Elmira, NY (closest minor league park to my home town) I remember it being a big deal when Booty arrived in town and I went to watch him play a few times .... he never made much of an impression (unlike randy winn) .......... now that i'm older I realize that it's probably not a good thing when you get to see a lot of your 1st round pick in the NY Penn League ....... I was a huge andy larkin fan growing up from watching him in his summer in Elmira .... was pumped to see him get his shot in '98 and sad to see his ERA battle double digits..............

Don't forget Josh Booty who went and played QB at LSU for a pair of seasons ....... was then drafted by the Seahawks - making it a rare feat that a guy was drafted and failed by not one, but two of my favorite teams

Was nice that ESPN U had the Drexel / Louisville game yesterday ..... wasn't expecting a win, but that was a nice bonus Go Dragons!

I agree this year - they should be trumped by an unbeaten oregon & auburn team I just find it curious that someone from OSU would bag on someone elses schedule .... his team isn't playing world beaters every week either and they picked up a loss I'd put an undefeated OSU team above TCU or an undefeated Boise ..... but a 1 loss OSU team? Not a chance

In general that's true - but then again, schools in those conferences don't have the endowments, budgets, TV deals, endorsements, etc I try not to get hung up on the "identity" of a conference and try to look at the teams on their own merits ... while HI, Fresno, UT, etc may never be consistent top flight programs, each one of them has enough to flash every now and again when they get the right mix and put together a team that can play with anyone ..... in the years they don't have that team they are usually pretty solid the main issue those conferences had wasn't the mid-level talent ..... people harped on how bad the bottom was, but I see little difference between beating a team that is in the lower tenth of all D1 schools by 60 and a team in the lower eigth of all D1 schools by 40 .... both are cakewalks so that leaves the layer of good teams .... while those conferences may have 1 team that is at an elite level and then 1 that is just below that .... the big conferences can have 2 or 3 teams playing at an elite level each year

MN is a horrible football team this year .... the fact IA lost to them does more to diminish IA than boost up MN (and I actually like the gophers....) You can say all you want about teams being up/down scheduling in advance, etc Bottom line is that the road OSU walked this year really wasn't that tough and definitely didn't feature tough games week in and week out ..... usually not the case in most conferences which have no shortage of light weights at the bottom The teams can change around, but the dynamic stays pretty consistent (especially in the big 10) ...... you never have OSU, PSU, IA, WI, MSU & MI with elite teams in a given year .... a couple will rise, a couple will be in the high middle, a couple in the low middle and the rest is consistently poor The message isn't a horrible one, but it kind of loses it's luster coming from OSU 7 SEC teams have SOS that rank in the top 30 .... the worst SOS in the SEC is 59th - which is still better than OSU The Big 10 has 2 schools with SOS 30 or under (non top 25) and 6 schools with SOS greater than 50 .... as a conference the SEC has 16 wins against top 25 teams in the 2 major polls .... they also have 34 losses against top 25 teams ............. that's 50 times an SEC team has faced off against a top 25 team The Big 10 with their 4 wins against top 25 teams is behind the 16 of the SEC, 6 of the Big 12 and ties them with the WAC The lack of a championship game also does currently hurt them for a SOS angle as well - although that is changing, it doesn't affect this year Also, how good michigan was a decade ago doesn't make them a harder opponent this year .... PSU being good last year doesn't earn you credit for beating them this year, etc

So strength of schedule doesn't matter when discussing strength of schedule? Also, I'm not sure how tough the big 10 is when the top teams don't play each other it loses some of it's impact for OSU they played Marshall (112 in Sagarin rankings), Eastern Michigan (184), Ohio (87), Purdue (91), Minnesota (92), Indiana (98) Michigan & Penn State are respectable at 46 & 49 in the sagarin rankings Miami ranks in at 34 and is worse this year than expected - can't fault OSU for that, but it is what it is ..... oregon state having a rough year didn't help out TCU & BSU That leaves WI & IA as the two top 25 teams they really had to play and they lost to one of them I see little difference to beating up MN, Purdue or Indiana than LA Tech, Idaho or Wyoming The OSU strength of schedule per sagarin is 64, BSU is 62 and TCU is 76 NV, Hawaii, Fresno State, Utah, Air Force & even SD State this year really aren't that much different than michigan, Penn State or any of the other middling teams - in fact I'd put NV ahead of them If you use the AP or coaches poll the big 10 is 4-24 against ranked teams MN lost at home to a FCS school this year .... Purdue couldn't handle Toledo, but we expect that to be a nice win for OSU because it's a Big 10 team?! right...................

too bad the Ohio State SOS isn't worlds apart from BSU & TCU http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2010-11-25-bcs-strength-of-schedule-debate_N.htm guess that is what happens when your OOC includeds Ohio, Eastern Michigan & Marshall Then you hit the meat of the conference schedule with such powers as Illinois, Indiana, Purdue & MN That leaves 5 marquee games - 3 potentially solid (Miami, MI & PSU - neither are having banner years though) and 2 difficult games (Iowa & WI) one of which they lost They can't get benefit from having Michigan State in the conference as they never had to play each other

Leach would be an eccentric, albeit potentially interesting choice .... i wonder how much added value would come to his system with more talent at his disposal I'd be happy with Mullen all told though

Holy crap I would love to be wrong & have Gruden as the next coach - that would be too nice ..... an absolutely perfect fit there .... no way I in the world would I of thought they could get close on money & control maybe the smoke was strong enough that it gave shalala enough confidence to make the quick move on shannon feeling confident they could move forward quickly with a strong move?!

What are the chances of the BSU coach coming to UM? Zero I also wouldn't put much stock in the Gruden rumor ...... I'd love it and think he would be an excellent college coach, but I just don't see the money & control he'd demand being there I hope they find a guy who is having success at a smaller program and have him make the jump ..... the nostalgia picks and assistant promoting isn't getting it done here ..... the program has enough stature that they should be able to get some young promising coach

EXCLUSIVE: Shalala calls Sat. night meeting This may be it for him Probably would of been easier to round them up if they were at the game Pathetic crowds in back to back games has to be a huge concern

Losing to UVA and USF in the same season should guarantee that he gets fired. But....he probably won't because Shalala doesn't give a sh*t. Agreed .... Randy should be fired on the spot

Went to the rising stars game last night .... for some reason I thought it was a 7pm start, so I arrived in the 2nd Really large crowd .... probably larger than any ST game crowd i've seen in Surprise - had to park off in a side lot even Cishek was the only marlin on the roster and all I saw of him was walking to the dugout before the top of the 5th and back to the pen at the bottom of the 5th We had our 1 year old with us, so we only made it through about an hour of the game .... she was being a little cranky and they were overseeding the berm, so it was roped off from what I saw I ended up impressed with the twins OF prospect Ben Revere .... guy made an absolutely great catch on a rocket of a ball in center and was making seriously strong contact all night

also saying that this will be the last of one he directs and also the last one in his arc .... i'm hoping it's a good one I can see the rises tittle a little ...... in TDK, batman was receiving the backlash from the community, realizing that super heroes help spawn super villans .... copy cats were out and about .... etc maybe this is the redemption movie

heh .... s/b "2" - then struck out "3" ......... i decided to pay homage to michael jordan though

I remember a couple years back West was pitching in the rising stars game (or whatever it's called) out here .... he walked the first 23 batters to load up the bases and then struck out the next 3 to get out of the jam ..... followed by a kind of sarcastic curtain call .... i don't think anyone even made real contact off him was an interesting game - hanson started against phil hughes - hughes looked bad, but hanson looked amazing (i think I was raving about him here back then)

phoenix plays at scottsdale on a weekend .... hopefully harper is active for that game - looks like one I'll be able to attend

nice - West was pretty entertaining out here a couple years ago and i'm interested to see Harvey unfortunately, I looked at the schedule and the only time they play at my "local" stadiums is on weekdays - except for this saturday when I have about 3 conflicts phoenix muni doesn't have berm seating (which is key if I want to be able to attend more games when the presence of my 1 yr old is required ..... ability for her to crawl around and play on the grass is huge) so that leaves pretty much solo jaunts to phoenix munis or even longer drives to get to see them I guess it's better than being stationed in mesa like the last couple of years ... but not much wish they would be aligned with one of the peoria teams again

the story itself is messed up and this guy is so far out of whack it's sad i was at the airport when this interview was going on listening to it ..... when I walked around to see the TV I was shocked to see a guy