NFL week 11 picks

Update: Dallas wins it late, yea boy, making them 6 and 4 and with the Eagles and Skins losing gained a little bit of breathing room. Now if only the Jints would lose. Also the Cowboys win meant I can go no less than 8 and 8.

Week 11 of the nfl season is here, and its time to make our picks. Are you ready for some football?

NFL Week 11

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick	Madden 07	Result
New Orleans	- 3 1/2	Cincinnati	New Orleans	Cincinatti	Cin 31 - NO 16
Houston	- 2 1/2	Buffalo	Buffalo	Buffalo	Hou 21 - Buf 24
New England	- 5 1/2	Green Bay	New England	Green Bay	NE 35 - GB 0
Kansas City	- 9 1/2	Oakland	Oakland	Oakland	KC 17 - Oak 13
Baltimore	- 4 1/2	Atlanta	Atlanta	Baltimore	Bal 24 - Atl 10
Chicago	- 6 1/2	NY Jets	NY Jets	Chicago	Chi 10 - NY J 0
Pittsburgh	- 3 1/2	Cleveland	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	Pitt 24 - Cle 20
Carolina	- 6 1/2	St. Louis	St. Louis	St. Louis	Car 15 - STL 0
Philadelphia	- 13 1/2	Tennessee	Tennessee	Tennessee	Phi 13 - Ten 31
Tampa Bay	- 2 1/2	Washington	Washington	Tampa Bay	TB 20 - Was 17
Miami	- 3 1/2	Minnesota	Miami	Miami	Mia 24 - Min 20
Seattle	- 6 1/2	San Francisco	San Francisco	San Francisco	Sea 14 - SF 20
Arizona	- 2 1/2	Detroit	Detroit	Detroit	Ariz 17 - Det 10
Indianapolis	- 1 1/2	Dallas	Dallas	Dallas	Ind 14 - Dal 21
Denver	- 2 1/2	San Diego	Denver	Denver	Den 27 - SD 35
Jacksonville	- 3 1/2	NY Giants	NY Giants	NY Giants	Jac 26 - NY G 10

More later on why I picked and which dogs win outright.
Update: here we go, my inane reasons for who I picked.

New Orleans vs Cincinnati - New Orleans is at home, a better team and they usually cover the spread. Madden 07 simulation - Cincy 31 and Saints 24.

Houston vs Buffalo - Houston has won their 3 games for this year. Buffalo wins outright in this contest. Madden 07 simulation - Bills 26 - Texans 20.

New England at Green Bay - Patriots are almost unbeatable on the road covering 75 % of the time. Madden 07 simulation Pats 28 - Packers 25.

Kansas City vs Oakland - KC is good but I don't think they are more than a touchdown better than the Raiders. Madden 07 simulation KC 31 - Oakland 24.

Baltimore vs Atlanta - Atlanta has played two horrible games in a row, they won't play 3. Madden 07 simulation Ravens 31 - Falcons 24.

Chicago at NY Jets - Chicago is fairly good but the Jets defense is better than we think, look for Chicago to win by 3. Madden 07 simulation Bears 24 - Jets 13.

Pittsburgh at Cleveland - Steelers on a mini roll, Browns absolutely suck this year, look for a blow out by the Steelers. Madden 07 simulation Steelers 37 - Browns 30.

Carolina vs St. Louis - Both teams in a must win situation, Panthers win 31 - 28. Madden 07 simulation Panthers 16 - Rams 10.

Philadelphia vs Tennessee - since the Titans switched to Vince Young at QB all of pretty much all of their games are competitive. Madden 07 simulation Eagles 24 - Titans 13.

Tampa Bay vs Washington - TB is beat up, Redskins benced Brunnel, just too much for Bucs to handle, Redskins by 10. Madden 07 simulation Buccaneers 26 - Redskins 19.

Miami vs Minnesota - ever since the Vikings lost to the Patriots they have went into a second half slide, Miami wins by 10. Madden 07 simulation Dolphins 31 - Vikings 24.

Seattle at San Francisco - Seattle gets everybody back which leads to rust showing, a defensive battle won by Seattle 13 - 10. Madden 07 simulation Seahawks 27 - 49ers 24.

Arizona vs Detroit - Arizona is who we thought they were, a team led by a rookie QB, no defense, bad coaching etc. Detroit pulls the upset 14 - 13. Madden 07 simulation Lions 31 - Cardinals 19.

Indianapolis at Dallas - Colts suck against the run, the Cowboys are giving up too many big passing plays, logically you would say its a shoot out. Look for Parcells to play the Giants vs Bills super bowl plan, pound, pound, pound the run up the middle and win the possesion game. Cowboys win outright 21 - 17. Madden 07 simulation Cowboys 27 - Colts 24.

Denver vs San Diego - Shottenheimer is 3 and 13 and Denver, need I say more? Broncos win on a late field goal 24 to 21. Madden 07 simulation Broncos 27 - Chargers 24.

Jacksonville vs NY Giants - Jaguars are desperate, Giants are beaten up, both teams play close to the vest with the Jags winning 17 to 14. Madden 07 simulation Giants 20 - Jags 16.

See you later my friends.

College football week 12 recap

Was able to watch the entire Ohio State - Michigan game, some quick thoughts:

1. After Ohio State scored their first 3 touchdowns I thought they were never in trouble.
2. Michigan's defense failed to show up and play
3. Bo and Woody would have cringed each possession, I can not recall a match up between these two teams that featured the passing game
4. I agree with Flutie - Michigan had their chance and if USC wins out or Florida wins out then it should be one of those two teams to meet OSU in the championship.
   

The best teams in the nation (thank you Cincinnati Bearcats) are as follows:

1. Ohio State
2. USC
3. Florida
4. Michigan
5. Arkansas
6. Texas
7. Louisville
8. Tennessee
9. LSU
10. California
    

Of course that is just my opinion, but you know what they say!

Michigan at Ohio State

UPDATE:
Game over OSU wins by 4, not the defensive struggle that I thought it would be. We will next see OSU in the BCS championship game. Troy Smith becomes only the second QB from Ohio State to beat Michigan 3 times in his career.

Michigan started the game by scoring a quick touchdown which was quickly followed by OSU taking it to the wolverines for 3 unanswered scores. I thought these were supposed to be two pretty good defensive teams. Not looking that way right now as it's 28 - 14 OSU at the half. Woody must be spinning in his grave watching the buckeyes throwing the ball around like its a hot potato.

Still a pretty good game going on you just have wonder if the Wolverines will be able to make any adjustments at the Half.

College Football picks week 12

Its saturday and that means college football, yea boy!!!! Big game today, you may have heard of it, seems there are two teams that are undefeated and ranked 1 and 2. The winner secures a place in the BCS championship and the loser, well the Rose bowl at worst but maybe a rematch. Could be an interesting couple of weeks.

Week 12 Picks

VISITORS	CONF.	HOME	PROJ. WINNER	Result
Michigan State	8	Penn State	Penn State	W
Indiana	7	Purdue	Purdue	W
Illinois	3	Northwestern	Illinois	L
Virginia Tech	4	Wake Forest	Wake Forest	L
Maryland	5	Boston College	Boston College	W
Auburn	9	Alabama	Auburn	W
Washington	6	Washington St.	Washington St.	L
Utah	2	Air Force	Utah	W
California	10	USC	USC	W
Michigan	1	Ohio State	Michigan	L

I really look for the Michigan - Ohio State game to be a nail biter, I think both teams are evenly matched. My prediction is Michigan 21 - OSU 20.

Look for Auburn to seal Shula's firing at the end of the Year. I just don't see the tigers losing 2 in a row. The rest are pretty much in line with the favorites.

Of course there is one other big game today, Arkansas has a chance to clinch their division in the SEC. Go hogs.

Simmons dumps Doc

Read this yesterday and forgot to post about it. Typical Simmons column but the timing as usual meant that of course the Celtics would go out and trash the Pacers. Can you write more of these type of columns with those results please?

Renteria vs Cabrera

WEEI (actually its Glenn "fat b******" Ordway most of the time), has been beating up on Theo the last couple of days. One of the common gripes they have is that Theo totally blew the Renteria signing, he didn't do his homework yada yada yada. Well, I went to the Day by Day database at Baseball Musings and pulled up their career numbers.

There are a couple of things that I remember before the Renteria signing:

1. Cabrera kept on saying that he wanted Renteria money
2. Renteria was the top rated shortstop on the open market
3. The fans wanted Orlando to stay
4. Renteria was the gold glove shortstop of the NL.

So, lets take a look at their numbers when you compare them side by side:

Renteria vs Cabrera 1st 3 years of their careers

Player	Year(s)	B. Avg.	G. Started	AB	Runs	Hits	2b	3b	hr	RBI	BB	K's
Renteria	1996 - 98	.288	381	1565	237	450	57	8	12	114	126	254
Cabrera	1999-2001	.259	378	1430	159	370	89	12	35	190	86	120

Renteria had a BA 20 points higher, scored 1/3 more runs, had 80 more hits and 40 more walks. Cabrera was only better in the power numbers and his strike out rate was lower.

Now lets look at the 5 years immediately before the signing.

Renteria vs Cabrera 2000 - 2004

Player	Year(s)	B. Avg.	G. Started	AB	Runs	Hits	2b	3b	hr	RBI	BB	K's
Renteria	00 - 04	.293	727	2772	405	812	171	7	60	388	255	339
Cabrera	00 - 04	.270	746	2855	344	770	194	13	61	349	207	253

Again we see higher batting average, runs hits, RBI and walks. Cabrera did better on the power numbers (except HR's). The only area that Orlando really beat Edgar was in the strike outs. If I am Theo and I have a player who is demanding Renteria number but isn't putting up Renteria numbers, don't I go for Renteria? Why, settle for second when you can have 1st?

So, so far I haven't seen anything that makes me want Orlando over Renteria. So, let's look at their 2004 numbers, maybe we'll find something there?

Renteria vs Cabrera 2004

Player	Year(s)	B. Avg.	G. Started	AB	Runs	Hits	2b	3b	hr	RBI	BB	K's
Renteria	2004	.287	148	586	84	168	37	0	10	72	39	78
Cabrera	2004	.264	158	618	74	163	38	3	10	62	39	54

Well, no luck there as Edgar has the higher average, more runs, more hits, almost even in doubles, same number of home runs and walks, but has more RBI's. Now if you look at these numbers really hard, it even appears that this is a normal type of year for Renteria.

To sum up my feelings, Theo would have been foolish to have not gone after Edgar. 20 / 20 hindsight showed that Edgar couldn't handle the Boston pressure but you couldn't have been sure of that before hand. So, drop this Renteria crap, Theo made a decision based on good solid reasoning and I am tired of hearing how he screwed up by not going after Orlando.

Nfl week 10 and NCAA week 11 recaps.

So, went 8 and 8 this week in the nfl and 6 and 4 on the college games, not great but did improve my ego. The 8 and 8 also moved me up into the 82 percentile. Obviously, not a lot of people are making money off of their ESPN picks.

NCAA is really starting to get interesting. If the Razorbacks win on saturday they will face Florida in the SEC championship game. Would like to see them settle this saturday so that I don't have to sweat out the LSU game.

Matsuzaka watch is now 2 hours and 45 minutes. tick, tick, tick.

Matsuzaka watch continues

Wish I knew the code for a countdown clock. Any hints out there people? Well, it's just past 23:00 here on the east coast, which means less than 21 hours for the suspense to be over with as far as our favorite Japanese pitcher.

You can always pass the time by looking at the different sides of Mt. Fuji.

Even Madden 07 is confused

Well, after the first 14 games I am 7 and 7, which is a vast improvement over last weeks three wins. Those of you who have been following my meager efforts this year probably noticed that I added the Madden 07 results which I got from ESPN.com. Well, this week he went 7 and 7 also so this game simulation was no better than I was this week.

Of course I will take 7 and 7 since I lost the first 4 games this week. So, bringing out the rose colored glasses I prefer to think that I went 7 and 3 when the going got rough.

Razorbacks move into the top 5

I felt confident that with 4 of the top 10 losing this week that Arkansas would move into the top 8 and I was right. Todays poll have the razorbacks at their highest since 1988 as they jump six spots to number 5, right behind USC. Yeah boy!!!!

NFL week 10

Well through week 9 after winning only 3 games last week my record is 62 and 66. Its funny how I have a losing record but in the Pigskin Pick'em contest at ESPN.com I am in the 76 percentile with 21,839 ahead of me. 8 weeks where I go 10 and 6 or better would probably move me into the 90 percentile.

To the picks:

Week 10 Games

Favorite	Spread.	Underdog	Pick	Result	W / L
Minnesota	- 5 1/2	Green Bay	Minnesota	Min 17 - GB 23	L
Baltimore	- 7 1/2	Tennessee	Baltimore	Bal 27 - Tenn 26	L
Jacksonville	- 10 1/2	Houston	Jacksonville	Jax 10 - Hou 13	L
Kansas City	- 1 1/2	Miami	Kansas City	KC 10 - Mia 13	L
New England	- 10 1/2	NY Jets	NY Jets	NE 14 - NYJ 17	W
San Diego	- 1 1/2	Cincinnati	San Diego	SD 49 - Cin 41	W
Detroit	- 6 1/2	San Francisco	Detroit	Det 13 - SF 19	L
Philadelphia	- 6 1/2	Washington	Philadelphia	Phi 27 - Was 3	W
Indianapolis	- 12 1/2	Buffalo	Buffalo	Ind 17 - Buf 16	W
Atlanta	- 7 1/2	Cleveland	Atlanta	Atl 13 - Cle 17	L
Denver	- 8 1/2	Oakland	Oakland	Den 17 - Oak 13	W
Pittsburgh	- 4 1/2	New Orleans	New Orleans	Pit 38 - NO 31	L
Seattle	- 4 1/2	St. Louis	St. Louis	Sea 24 - STL 22	W
NY Giants	- 2 1/2	Chicago	Chicago	NYG 20 - Chi 20	W
Carolina	- 9 1/2	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay	Monday	Night
Dallas	- 6 1/2	Arizona	Dallas	Dal 27 - Arz 10	W

Minn vs Green Bay - Minnesota at home and Green Bay is struggling. Madden 07 has GB winning outright.

Baltimore at Tennessee - In games Baltimore is favored by 7 or greater the Ravens have covered every time. Madden 07 picks Tenn.

Jacksonville vs Houston - Jacksonville is one of those teams that drives me nuts. Madden 07 - Jacksonville.

Kansas City at Miami - KC is on a roll and playing within itself. Madden 07 - Miami wins outright.

NY Jets at New England - Patriots have not covered a game at home yet. Madden 07 - New England.

San Diego at Cincinnati - Cincinnati is struggling and San Diego plays ball control. Madden 07 - Cincinnati wins.

Detroit vs San Francisco - Detroit is also playing better than expected. 3/4 times they cover at home and San Francisco is horrible. Madden 07 - San Fran covers.

Philadelphia vs Washington - Division rivals and I just don't see the Eagles losing again, in fact I expect a 10 point win. Madden 07 - agrees.

Indianapolis vs Buffalo - Double point spreads Indy struggles, plus their defense is terrible. Another shoot out won by the Colts. Madden 07 - Colts cover easily.

Atlanta vs Cleveland - Atlanta at home favored greater than 7 points has covered every time. Another blow out win. Madden 07 - agrees.

Denver at Oakland - Division rival (hated division rivals), Plummer still struggling. Oakland covers the spread.

Pittsburgh vs New Orleans - how can a 2 and 6 team be favored over the 6 and 2 team. New Orleans wins outright. Madden 07 - 1 point loss by the Saints.

Seattle vs St. Louis - first game was a 3 pointer won by Seahawks. These two teams usually split, look for that to continue. St. Louis outright. Madden 07 - Seahawks cover.

NY Giants vs Chicago - to much yapping this week out of New York. I expect the Bears to come roaring out the gate and win going away. Madden 07 - 3 point win by the Giants.

Carolina vs Tampa Bay - Carolina hasn't covered at home all year and haven't covered when favored over 7. Tampa Bay stays within a touchdown. Madden 07 - Carolina covers easily.

Dallas at Arizona - former rivals, Dallas covers on the road 40 % of the time but Arizona is still in a free fall. Madden 07 - Dallas in a rout.

1 more win needed

Well, Arkansas held on to win 31 to 14. Only 1 more win needed to make the championship game. Game Stats below:

Stat	Tennessee	Arkansas
1st Downs	17	20
Total Yards	268	426
Passing	172	168
Rushing	96	258
Possession	28:05	31:55

Since Louisville, California and Auburn lost earlier, I definetly think this game will put the hogs in the top 8 in the next polls.

Veterans Day

Being a veteran, I would like to say thanks to all those who are serving overseas now and have served in the past. To those on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, keep your wits about you and continue to do what you do with pride and honor. God bless you all.

Arkansas - Tennessee at the Half

Tennessee 7
Arkansas 28

Razorbacks looking sharp but I remember the Tennessee - Georgia game earlier this year where Tennessee looked like a sure loser only to come roaring back after the half to win the game 51 to 33. The Volunteers have an explosive offense that can roll up the points. So, I am not breathing easy yet.

Half Time Stats:

Stat	Tennessee	Arkansas
1st Downs	9	11
Total Yards	121	266
Passing	64	86
Rushing	57	180
Penlties	4 - 20	1 - 15
Possession	14:59	15:01

Pretty much domination up and down the stats. Lets go Hogs.

Beta Blogger

Got tired of seeing the blogger message begging me to switch to Beta. Switched earlier today and as you may have noticed I also changed the lay out of the blog. Am not sure that beta is better, but it seems to be working fairly well. What is nice is the publishing is so much quicker than before.

I also like the labels for different categories. Makes it a lot easier for me to find previous posts for reference reasons. I will have to think about the programming part of the beta, since I had made changes to the template on the old system. It appears that I have to look at the Java programming to also try and get cute with this template.

Initial thoughts? hmmm, will wait and see.

Tennessee at Arkansas

Make no doubt about it, today's game just got a little bit more important for the Hogs. As we speak, Florida is losing to South Carolina and Auburn got destroyed by Georgia.

The Razorbacks need to win 2 of their next 3 games to advance to the SEC championship game against Florida. A win tonight though would probably mean that they would jump up in the polls with losses already this week by #3 Louisville and #5 Auburn (already defeated by Arkansas). If South Carolina was to hold on and beat #4 Florida, then the #11 Razorbacks could leap all the way to 7 in the country.

Update: Florida just moved in front 17 - 16

Update II: Florida holds on for a 17 - 16 win.

Feeling blue?

While waiting for the game to start (t-119 mintes), decided to cruise by Scot Adams Dilbert Blog. It is always good to have a little bit of humor each day, and this is one of those blogs that always brngs a smile to my face. I especially liked his final words on his to tip or not to tip post.

Why can’t I be afraid of something normal, like North Korea?

College Football picks week 11

Well week 11 of the college games is here. Last week was able to go 7 and 3, bringing my yearly total for this contest to 77 and 23.

Time for my picks:

Week 11 Picks

VISITORS	CONF.	HOME	PROJ. WINNER	Result
Wisconsin	5	Iowa	Wisconsin	Win
North Carolia State	6	Clemson	Clemson	Win
Minnesota	3	Michigan St.	Minnesota	Win
Georgia	4	Auburn	Auburn	Loss
South Carolina	2	Florida	Florida	Win
Pittsburgh	7	Connecticut	Pittsburgh	Loss (ot)
Nebraska	8	Texas A & M	Texas A & M	Loss
Alabama	9	LSU	LSU	Win
Oregon	10	USC	USC	Win
Tennesse	1	Arkansas	Tennesse	Loss

Should be some good games today, with a heavy impact on BCS matchups, ones to closely watch are the Wisconsin - Iowa, the Tennessee - Arkansas game is usually pretty good and the hogs need to win to continue to have control of their own destiny.

Simmons sums up the Celtics

The closing quote from Simmons latest NBA column:

(That's right: The same guy who once joked that NBA Entertainment should release a "Rick Adelman's Greatest Playoff Collapses" DVD is now pushing for Adelman to coach his favorite team. And you thought Gilbert Arenas and Kobe were the only ones who were crazy.)

sounds about right to me also.

Win Budgeting?

An interesting post about having a team budget their salary around expected wins (h/t baseball musings). Personally, I disagree about his start point for the figures (54 wins, 54 losses and the rest depends on the players), but I like the 2 million per win figure.

Now, if we were to follow the reasoning laid out by U.S.S. Mariner, then a logical process for Theo would be to figure up the teams present win shares, then subtract them from the goal of 95 wins. Using the 2 million per win he could then base his free agent acquisitions etc to build a team. Will have to think about this but I think that Dave is right in his reasoning and this could be an interesting way to follow the trades this year.

Just a real quick look at the present starters, remembering that 95 wins equals a total of 285 win shares:

Pos.	Player	06 WS
1b	Youkilis	22
2b	Loretta	16
3b	Lowell	18
C	Varitek	8
DH	Ortiz	29
LF	Ramirez	29
CF	Crisp	10
RF	Pena	8
SP	Schilling	16
SP	Beckett	12
SP	Wakefield	7

These 12 players total 175 win shares, which would leave them 110 shares short. The question is how good do we expect Papelbon to be as a starter. I would put him in the Beckett category and for rounding sakes will say 10. Wakefield has had 8 shares, 16 shares and 7 shares the last three years. So let us put him at 10 also, this now leaves us 97 short.

Tavarez has averaged 6 the last 3 years, Timlin has averaged 8 in the same time period but 2005 he spent the last 2 months as the closer so lets go with 6 for him in our computations. DeLcarmen had 1 in 05 and 3 in 06. Will he improve? I say yes so let's go for 5. These 3 will leave us 80 short with a total of 16 of our 25 man squad supplying points.

As you can see we can easily reach that win share total of 285 needed for 95 wins without really killing the payroll. From now on, I think that I will use the Win Shares for my basis on approving or hissing future moves made by Theo this year.

All win share information found at The Hardball Times.

college wrap up week 10

Pretty good week on the College front as I went 7 and 3. Best of all though was the game.

NFL 9 - UGLY

Will update throughout the day

Week 9 Games

Favorite	Spread.	Underdog	Pick	Result
St. Louis	- 2 1/2	Kansas City	St. Louis	KC 31 - STL 17 (L)
Chicago	- 13 1/2	Miami	Chicago	MIA 31 - Chi 13 (L)
New Orleans	- 1 1/2	Tampa Bay	New Orleans	NO 31 - TB 14 (W)
Jacksonville	- 9 1/2	Tennessee	Tennessee	Jax 37 - Tenn. 7 (L)
Atlanta	- 5 1/2	Detroit	Atlanta	Det 30 - Atl. 14 (L)
Baltimore	- 3 1/2	Cincinnati	Cincinnati	Bal 26 - Cin 20 (L)
Dallas	- 3 1/2	Washington	Dallas	Was 22 - Dal 19 (L)
Buffalo	- 3 1/2	Green Bay	Green Bay	Buf 24 - GB 10 (L)
NY Giants	- 13 1/2	Houston	NY Giants	NY 14 - Hou 10 (L)
Minnesota	- 6 1/2	San Francisco	Minnesota	SF 9 - Min 3 (L)
San Diego	- 12 1/2	Cleveland	San Diego	SD 32 - Cle 25 (L)
Pittsburgh	- 2 1/2	Denver	Denver	Den 31 - Pit 20 (W)
New England	- 2 1/2	Indianapolis	Indianapolis	Ind 27 - NE 20 (W)
Seattle	- 8 1/2	Oakland	Oakland	Sea 16 - Oak 0 (L)

The best that I can do this week is (at 8:00 EST) 4 and 10. FUGLY

LSU at Tennessee

What a great game between two of the top 25 teams in the country. LSU coming from 3 down to score a TD with 14 secs. left on a 3rd and goal. This came after being down 17 - 7 right after the half. Of, course I had Tennessee winning this game, but I had a low confidence level, so I am not really surprised by the outcome.

Meanwhile 20 minutes away from Razorbacks vs Gamecocks. Go HOGS!!!!!

Nfl Week 9 picks

OMG, able to post my NFL picks on a Saturday. Have made the picks will have more on reasons why later. Right now I am too busy watching the LSU Tennessee game.

Updated: through week 8 am 59 and 55. Very few surprises this week but all reasons stated after the picks.

Week 9 Games

Favorite	Spread.	Underdog	Pick
St. Louis	- 2 1/2	Kansas City	St. Louis
Chicago	- 13 1/2	Miami	Chicago
New Orleans	- 1 1/2	Tampa Bay	New Orleans
Jacksonville	- 9 1/2	Tennessee	Tennessee
Atlanta	- 5 1/2	Detroit	Atlanta
Baltimore	- 3 1/2	Cincinnati	Cincinnati
Dallas	- 3 1/2	Washington	Dallas
Buffalo	- 3 1/2	Green Bay	Green Bay
NY Giants	- 13 1/2	Houston	NY Giants
Minnesota	- 6 1/2	San Francisco	Minnesota
San Diego	- 12 1/2	Cleveland	San Diego
Pittsburgh	- 2 1/2	Denver	Denver
New England	- 2 1/2	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
Seattle	- 8 1/2	Oakland	Oakland

Why I picked whom I picked.

St. Louis - covered every home game this year. KC has covered 1 of 3 away.

Chicago - 100 % at home. Miami - has not covered any game

New Orleans - 100 % on the road but Tampa Bay has covered 75% of their home games. I think this is an upset special and have TB winning this one outright.

Jacksonville - 100% at home but Tennessee is 75% on the road. Vince Young has brought a new dimension to the Titans and Jacksonville is up and down this year, I look for this to be a 4-point game in Jacksonville's favor.

Atlanta and Detroit are both 66% against the spread in this situation, but Detroit is just terrible. I want to see the pictures, Millen must have pictures hidden somewhere to be able to keep his job in the motor city.

Baltimore and Cincinnati are also evenly split against the spread (66%) but I just like Cincinnati's offense. Another close game but the Ravens win by 3.

Dallas is 50 % on the road and Washington is 33 % at home. Revenge is the big motivator here and I look for the Cowboys to win going away.

Buffalo is terrible at home (33 %) while Green Bay plays well on the road. Another upset special as I see the Packers winning by a touchdown.

NY Giants over Houston - Houston is terrible, need I say more?

Minnesota is 66 % on the road and San Fran is 50 % at home. Would think this could be a possible upset but I expect Minnesota to come out firing on all cylinders after being embarrassed by the Patriots. Minnesota wins by 2 touchdowns.

San Diego has covered all of its home games; Cleveland is terrible, tough choice here, yeah right. Chargers win in a rout.

How is Pittsburgh the favorite? Upset special, Denver wins by 7.

New England has only covered 33% of their games at home; Indianapolis is at 66 % coverage on the road. There is only one reason that New England is the favorite - Manning is 1 and 6 against the Pats. Make it 2 and 6 as the Colts win by a last second Vinetiari FG.

Seattle and Oakland are both covering 66 % of their games in this situation, Seattle is beat up and beat up and beat up, Oakland is on a two game winning streak that ends in Seattle on a last second FG.

Politics?

In a first for me, I actually posted entries about political mailings that have been received in the last couple of days. Normally, I stick to sports because left, right, moderate, or libertariandemocratic keep your eyes out of my bedroom and your hand out of my wallet (guess which one I am) types can all agree on our love of certain teams that we follow on a day by day basis, however, on the 7th we could see a shift in the politics of this nation not seen seen the 68 election when Nixon promised to end the War.

The Lieberman / Lamont battle is one of the races being watched nationwide and I know some people are wondering how in the heck he is winning this race by a 12 point margin (latest Journal Inquirer poll). Well, the mailings previously posted show why.

The McCain mailing is an outright attempt to get the republicans and conservative independents on his side, while the Daily Kos screw-em one is to get the blue-dog democrats (and there are plenty of them in CT) outraged. The Lamont one reminds me of the posters for Class president in high school.

What is really sad, is the person who clearly knew the issues and really mopped the floor in debates is the one in single digits. The republican party in CT is a complete disgrace that they couldn't get the demo's to split between Lieberman and Lamont while eking out a 1 or 2 point win in this election. What is even sadder is that they shouldn't be so freaking lost, not when 3 of the 5 congressional reps are GOP and while the Govenor is also a GOP.

As for me, I still haven't made up my mind on who I will vote for yet, but the day of reckoning is fast approaching.

Lamont

This is the Ned Lamont mailing
Front




Back

Lieberman in 2006 Daily Kos Mailing

This is the Daily Kos Mailing sent by Joe
Cover


Inside Left


Inside Right


Back

Lieberman in 2006 McCain Mailing

Thought I would get a little political this post and show the latest mailings received from joe2006 campaign here in the nutmeg state.

The McCain mailing
Front page of the mailing

Inside Left

Inside Right

Back

College Picks Week 10

Hey look at this, its Friday and I am posting my picks for the 10 games used in the college pick'em at espn.com. Will Wonders never cease? Last week I was horrible, going 4 and 6. Still, after 9 weeks I am 70 and 20 for these games.

Week 10 Picks

VISITORS	CONF.	HOME	PROJ. WINNER
Virginia	7	Florida State	Florida State
LSU	4	Tennessee	Tennessee
Washington	8	Oregon	Oregon
Purdue	1	Michigan State	Michigan State
Oklahoma State	10	Texas	Texas
Boston College	3	Wake Forest	Wake Forest
Arkansas	6	South Carolina	Arkansas
UCLA	8	California	California
Virginia Tech	2	Miami (FL)	Miami (FL)
Oklahoma	5	Texas A & M	Oklahoma

As a reminder - CONF is the degree of confidence for that pick with 10 being the most confident. Personally I think that there are some tough picks in this weeks 10 games.

As I made these picks the ones that I could not pick a winner easily were the Tennessee / LSU, Boston College / Wake, Virginia Tech / Miami, Oklahoma / Texas A & M and the Purdue / Michigan St. game. Still, you would have to think that I would do better than last week.

Game I will be watching (do, you really have to ask?), Arkansas vs South Carolina. Sooooiiiiiieeeee, pig, sooie!

Sox shut out of Gold Gloves

WEEI is saying that the Sox will be shut out of the Gold Gloves this year. Un freaking belivable. What is really upsetting is that Jeter beats out Gonzo. Lets go to the tape and compare the two fielding statistics:

Updated 11/3/2006 - changed to a table format

Jeter / Gonzalez Fielding Comparison

Player	G.P.	Inn.	TC	PO	A	E	DP	F %	RF	ZF
Jeter	150	1,292.1	610	214	381	15	81	.975	4.14	.810
Gonzalez	111	966.1	475	163	305	7	68	.985	4.36	.863

Take a good look at the last two columns of these stats, in range factor and zone rating Gonzalez is clearly better than Jeter. If you look at all the other stats and figure out per game it is even more apparent that Gonzalez is better. IN EVERY CATEGORY GONZO BEATS JETER. Un Freaking Belivable.

test me baby

test

FREAKING BLOGGER:
FROM EARLIER
Red has passed on to a greater reward, a reward earned from a long life and enjoment of every day. I think I will stop a pick up a stogey and light it up later in memory of this legend.

UGH- talk about going in the tank today on my college picks, a big whopping 4 wins. Sheesh, flat out ridouculous.

NFL week 8 picks later this morning.

Oh, yeah, congrats to the Cardinals on winning the WS. Well earned and about fricking time.

NFL - Week 8

Well, its Sunday and we know what that means, yes thats right its my weekly boring post on my weekly picks. Thru 7 weeks I am 51 and 49 against the spread. My only dogs that I have winning out right this week are Indianapolis, Jets, and Atlanta.

The interesting games should be the Indy vs Denver game which I think will be decided by a last second FG. The Dallas game because we will all be waiting for Romo to fail and Parcells head explode when he is forced to go back to Bledsoe.

New England at Minnesota on Monday night could be interesting depending on whether the Patriots passing game has improved or if Brady becomes frustrated because his receivers keep on getting knocked off of their routes.

Here are my picks for this week:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick
Kansas City	- 5 1/2	Seattle	Kansas City
Chicago	- 16 1/2	San Francisco	San Francisco
New Orleans	- 2 1/2	Baltimore	New Orleans
Tennessee	- 3 1/2	Houston	Tennessee
New York G	- 9 1/2	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay
Green Bay	- 3 1/2	Arizona	Green Bay
Cincinnati	- 4 1/2	Atlanta	Atlanta
Philadelphia	- 6 1/2	Jacksonville	Philadelphia
San Diego	- 8 1/2	St. Louis	St. Louis
Pittsburgh	- 8 1/2	Oakland	Oakland
Denver	- 2 1/2	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
Cleveland	- 1 1/2	New York J	New York J
Carolina	- 4 1/2	Dallas	Dallas
New England	- 2 1/2	Minnesota	New England

Not a bad week last week ( 7 and 6) but since I basically choked in the college picks yesterday am hoping for a big, big, result today.

College Football Picks Week 9

Well another Saturday and we know what that means. Yep, that's right, its time for College Football picks. Just as a recap, last week I went 9 and 1 which brought my season picks to 66 and 14. My picks this week in the College Pickem at ESPN are as follows:

Away Team	Confidence	Home team	Pick
Oklahoma	3	Missouri	Oklahoma
Penn St.	1	Purdue	Purdue
Notre Dame	10	Navy	Notre Dame
Nebraska	8	Oklahoma St.	Nebraska
Arizona St.	5	Washington	Washington
Texas	9	Texas Tech	Texas
Tennessee	4	South Carolina	South Carolina
Florida St.	6	Maryland	Florida St.
Miami (Fl.)	7	Georgia Tech	Miami
Georgia	2	Florida	Florida

Some tough games this week. The Penn State - Purdue game, Georgia - Florida game, Oklahoma - Missouri game and the Tennessee - South Carolina game are all flip a coin type of games. Then again I am not too sure about the 5 - 7 games either.

The only locks, I think, are Notre Dame (almost always beats Navy), Texas and Nebraska. Nebraska appears to be back in business as a good team week after week.

The Tennessee game is tough, because I think Tennessee is the better team but that guy walking the sideline with the visor always gives the Volunteers fits. Purely a gut call.

Nfl Week 7 wrap up and other idle thoughts

Freaking cowboys, I can't believe they choked as bad as they did last night. Parcells hit the nail on the head with his comment about being embarassing. Of course what really sucked was that I ended up going 7 and 6 for the week with my picks.

Am tired of everybody griping and complaining about LaRussa not challenging Rogers etc. in game 2 of the Series. Whether he had pine tar or not, the game is over and done and is in the books. Personally, I think he did use tar, I think LaRussa should have challenged and got him suspended for the rest of the series, but I was not the one sitting on the bench worrying about my pitchers (maybe) being challenged etc. Still, would like to see St. Louis win this game (hey, grew up in that KMOX Broadcast area) and the series.

Idle thoughts

So yesterday I am sitting (ok, lounging) in the big chair watching the Tennessee and Bama game while keeping one eye on the Notre Dame UCLA game. In both games my picks were losing and I was watching 15 confidence points go down the drain, when lo and behold Notre Dame got the ball back with a little over a minute to go and you just knew they were going to pull out a win, sure enough I get that win and flip back to the Tennessee game to see Bama cough up a loss. Sometimes its better to be lucky instead of good.

1st set of NFL games have now finished, with wins in 5 of the 8 games. Mental note to self, never ever change your mind when inputting your picks, especially if the trend is with your initial pick. Still, looking better than I have in the last two weeks.

St. Louis takes the first game of the World Series and now Detroit must count on the Gambler to even the series. Don't count on it, bubs.

NFL - Week 7

Well, its Sunday and we know what that means, yes thats right its my weekly boring post on my weekly picks. After week 6 I am 44 and 43 against the spread. My only unders winning outright this week are Carolina and Green Bay. My initial thoughts on the Pittsburgh and Atlanta game was to have Atlanta cover, but after thinking about it I changed my mind to a close Pittsburgh win.

Here are my picks for this week:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick
San Diego	- 5 1/2	Kansas City	Kansas City
Jacksonville	- 9 1/2	Houston	Jacksonville
Cincinnati	- 3 1/2	Carolina	Carolina
NY Jets	- 3 1/2	Detroit	NY Jets
Miami	- 4 1/2	Green Bay	Green Bay
New England	- 5 1/2	Buffalo	Buffalo
Philadelphia	- 5 1/2	Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay
Pittsburgh	- 1 1/2	Atlanta	Pittsburgh
Denver	- 5 1/2	Cleveland	Denver
Arizona	- 3 1/2	Oakland	Arizona
Seattle	- 6 1/2	Minnesota	Minnesota
Indianapolis	- 9 1/2	Washington	Washington
Dallas	- 3 1/2	NY Giants	Dallas

Hopefully I can do better than last week when I only won 5 games (2 weeks in a row I was below 500).

Below is a chart showing the teams playing this week and how they have done against the spreaed. Headings are G - Games, HG-Home Games, and AG-Away Games.

Team	G	G Cov	HG Cov	AG Cov
San Diego	5	80%	100%	66%
Kansas City	5	20%	33%	0%
Jacksonville	5	80%	100%	50%
Houston	5	20%	33%	0%
Cincinnati	5	60%	50%	66%
Carolina	6	16%	0%	33%
NY Jets	6	60%	50%	66%
Detroit	6	33%	66%	0%
Miami	6	0%	0%	0%
Grean Bay	5	20%	0%	50%
New England	5	60%	33%	100%
Buffalo	6	50%	50%	50%
Philadelphia	6	66%	66%	66%
Tampa Bay	5	60%	66%	50%
Pittsburgh	5	40%	66%	0%
Atlanta	5	60%	66%	50%
Denver	5	40%	33%	50%
Cleveland	5	60%	50%	66%
Arizona	6	33%	50%	0%
Oakland	5	20%	0%	33%
Seattle	5	40%	100%	0%
Minnesota	5	60%	66%	50%
Indianapolis	5	40%	33%	50%
Washington	6	33%	33%	33%
Dallas	5	60%	100%	33%
NY Giants	5	66%	66%	66%

Games where I am bucking the trend are:

Kansas City - A Division game between two rivals that I expect to be won by a 4 point spread (21-17).

Carolina - I expect Carolina to win this one going away.

Buffalo - Another Division game and Buffalo always gives the Patriots fits at their place.

Tampa Bay - This is really a push as far as the percentages (Eagles 66% on the road, Tampa 66% at home).

Pittsburgh - I think Atlanta will be reeling from the Vick comments and wouldn't be surprised if they got blown out.

Denver - Another push as each team is 50% in this situation, but I believe Denver is at least a touchdown better.

Seattle - Seattle isn't as good as their record suggest and Minnesota is better than their record. Look for Seattle to win by a FG.

Indianapolis - Both teams cover 33% of the time in this matchup, another push. Still I think the Colts are the better team but won't win by 10 points.

Well, those are the picks and some of the reasons that I went the way that I did.

College Football picks week 8

Well another Saturday and we know what that means. Yep, that's right, its time for College Football. Just as a recap, last week I went 9 and 1 which brought my season picks to 57 and 13. My picks this week in the College Pickem at ESPN are as follows:

Away Team	Confidence	Home team	Pick
Iowa	9	Michigan	Michigan
Texas	3	Nebraska	Texas
Alabama	8	Tennessee	Tennessee
UCLA	7	Notre Dame	Notre Dame
Georgia Tech	1	Clemson	Georgia Tech
Mississippi	4	Arkansas	Arkansas
Colorado	5	Oklahoma	Oklahoma
Wisconsin	2	Purdue	Wisconsin
Fresno St	6	LSU	LSU
Indiana	10	Ohio St	Ohio ST

Pretty much a straight forward week this time. The only Upset would be the Clemson game and that is not much of an upset since Clemson is 12th ranked and Georgia Tech is 13th ranking. In fact the only game that I think will be intriguing will be the Texas at Nebraska. Is Nebraska for real or was that blow out loss to USC the blip on the schedule.
GO HOGS!!!!!!!!!!

NFL Week 6 wrap up

Well, thanks to Arizona I was able to finish on a high note. Yeah, right, I went 5 and fricking 8. On the upside I did pick Detroit to win their first game, of course it would have been nice for Seattle to have missed that field goal at the end of the game so that my upset specials could have been 2 and 0.

For the season this makes me 44 and 43. Freaking 500 for the year. Unbelievable The only good thing is that I am still alive in the eliminator challenge.

Not much going on the Red Sox front except the coaching changes. Just sitting back I think Francona is the man pulling the strings on the Papa Jack, Wallace and other firings and he is real active in hiring process. See ya later.

NFL - Week 6

Well, its Sunday and we know what that means, yes thats right its my weekly boring post on my weekly picks. After week 5 I am 39 and 35 against the spread (a whopping winning percantage of 53). I only have two underdogs winning outright this week, I think the St. Louis Rams will beat Seattle at home and Detroit to beat Buffalo at home.

Here are my picks for this week:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick
Dallas	- 12 1/2	Houston	Dallas
Philadelphia	- 3 1/2	New Orleans	Philadelphia
Seattle	- 3 1/2	St. Louis	St. Louis
Atlanta	- 2 1/2	New York Giants	Atlanta
Washington	- 9 1/2	Tennessee	Tennessee
Buffalo	- 1 1/2	Detroit	Detroit
Baltimore	- 2 1/2	Carolina	Baltimore
Cincinnati	- 6 1/2	Tampa Bay	Cincinnati
San Diego	- 10 1/2	San Francisco	San Francisco
Pittsburgh	- 6 1/2	Kansas City	Kansas City
New York Jets	- 2 1/2	Miami	Miami
Denver	- 16 1/2	Oakland	Denver
Chicago	- 10 1/2	Arizona	Arizona

Will be interesting to see how Dallas bounces back after their complete meltdown against the Eagles last week. Has shaped up to be an interesting season so far this year with the biggest surprises being the 4 - 1 Saints, Rams, Ravens, Eagles and the 5 - 0 Bears.

Later

College Football week 7 recap

I ended my pick post with the following:

The Missouri vs Texas A & M game is also interesting. I can remember (hey I grew up in Big 8 country) when Missouri was a very good football team. They were always competitive and used to give Oklahoma and Nebraska fits every year. Its good too see them having a good year, but I still aren't sold on them being a top 25 team, thus the 2 confidence level.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my backs take on that fierce team from SE Missouri. They better win this game by 20 or they can kiss that 17 ranking good bye.

Well, sure enough the Aggies outlasted the Tigers and another dropped from the list of unbeatens. Of course I would have been happy to have been wrong about this team since that was the only game I lost today. Still 9 and 1 is good enough for me.

Oh, yeah, the Razorbacks actually listened to me for once and wiped the SE Missouri off the field. Also, with Auburn beating Florida, (another unbeaten bites the dust) I look for Arkansas to move up a spot in the polls.

Later will have my NFL picks.

College Football picks week 7

Well another Saturday and we know what that means. Yep, that's right, its time for College Football. Just as a recap, last week I went 8 and 2 which brought my season picks to 48 and 12. My picks this week in the College Pickem at ESPN are as follows:

Away Team	Confidence	Home team	Pick
Syracuse	7	West Virginia	West Virginia
Rutgers	3	Navy	Rutgers
Missouri	2	Texas A & M	Missouri
Ohio St.	10	Michigan State	Ohio State
Cincinnati	6	Louisville	Louisville
UCLA	4	Oregon	Oregon
Maryland	5	Virginia	Maryland
Arizona St.	9	USC	USC
Michigan	8	Penn State	Michigan
Florida	1	Auburn	Auburn

Unlike last week where I thought any of the 1 - 8 matchups could win, this week I think that any team that I rated over 4 are pretty safe.

The most intriguing matchup this week (for me at least) is the Florida vs Auburn game. #3 Florida is 6 and 0 and last week the 5 and 1 Tigers of Auburn were embarrassed at home by Arkansas (yea boy). I look for a big rebound from the defense and expect Auburn to squeak out a win at home. Still, if Florida wins this game and then runs the table the rest of the year, they will be one of the two teams in the BCS championship game.

The Missouri vs Texas A & M game is also interesting. I can remember (hey I grew up in Big 8 country) when Missouri was a very good football team. They were always competitive and used to give Oklahoma and Nebraska fits every year. Its good too see them having a good year, but I still aren't sold on them being a top 25 team, thus the 2 confidence level.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my backs take on that fierce team from SE Missouri. They better win this game by 20 or they can kiss that 17 ranking good bye.

If Good Saturdays Lead To Bad Sundays?

Well, if days like saturday lead to days where I go 4 and 10 in my football picks, I will take them. Stunning upsets by the backs and eliminations of the spankees are high on the list and will always outdo disappointments of those picks. By far my worst day of picks this year. UGGGGGLLLLLLY.

Yo, Bledsoe, how about throwing the ball to your team instead of the opposing team. The rest, well, that is what happens sometimes against the spread.

Want some good thoughts on the Tigers and A's series, well you can go to Fire Brand's for his take or Hardball Times has a good one also.

Hope you enjoyed Columbus day, I know I sure did.

NFL football week 5

Well, its Sunday and we know what that means, yes thats right its my weekly boring post on my weekly picks. Remember (he brags), so far am 35 and 25 this year against the spread. Before we get to the picks though make sure you check out the latest Dilbert newsletter in all its glory.

Here are my picks for this week:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Pick
St. Louis	- 2 1/2	Green Bay	Green Bay
New Orleans	- 6 1/2	Tampa Bay	New Orleans
Indianapolis	- 18 1/2	Tennessee	Tennessee
Minnesota	- 6 1/2	Detroit	Minnesota
Chicago	- 10 1/2	Buffalo	Buffalo
New York NYG	- 4 1/2	Washington	NY G
Carolina	- 8 1/2	Cleveland	Carolina
New England	- 9 1/2	Miami	Miami
San Francisco	- 3 1/2	Oakland	Oakland
Kansas City	- 3 1/2	Arizona	Arizona
Jacksonville	- 7 1/2	New York NYJ	NY J
Philadelphia	- 2 1/2	Dallas	Dallas
San Diego	- 3 1/2	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh
Denver	- 4 1/2	Baltimore	Baltimore

Underdogs that I expect to win this week: Green Bay, Oakland (yes Oakland is bad but so is San Fran and even blind squirrels find an acorn), Arizona (Lienart's first start), Dallas and Pittsburgh.

Dog upsets am 8 - 4 this season

Today was a good day

Update: **** that was quick but it looks like the Boss is already making changes. ***

Lots to be thankful for this week, starting off with a 22 year anniversary, but today was a good day.

Got 3 hours of sleep and then got up to watch my Arkansas Razorbacks stun the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare stadium 27 - 10. After getting up out of the easy chair and doing my victory dance (embarrassing the daughter and making the wife throw me out of the living room), I checked out my football picks and noticed that I was 7 and 0 in the afternoon games. Always good to start out well.

While waiting for the Yankee game to start I watched the last 30 minutes of last night's Battlestar Galactica (freaking show is driving me crazy), since I had to leave for work just as it was getting good last night. Love this series and am really glad I don't have to wait months for the next one.

Kept flipping back and forth between the Florida LSU game and that NY game, Bonderman was freaking unhittable for the first 5 innings. Will be interesting watching how the papers will blame this all on A-Rod but I notice that Giambi wasn't even playing in this game, Sheffield was just as bad as A-Rod, Damon batted 250 in the series, Mussina sucked, Johnson sucked, Wright was horrible. Looks like a total melt down to me and I fully expect explosions from the Boss in the next few days.

Like I said, today was a good day.

Arkansas at Auburn

UPDATE: Arkansas 27 Auburn 10 !!!!!!!



SOOOOIEEEEEE! PIG! SOOOOIEEEEEE! PIG!

HOGS UP BY 7 AT THE HALF. Yeah boy!!!!!!

ALDS playoffs

Am shocked by this result. The team that hasn't been able to win a series in years not only wins one but sweeps the freaking Twins. Wow.

Of course this result is just as surprising (Hey Ordway Still Think the Spankees are going to win the World Series?). Am glad that I don't bet on baseball. My picks for all four series looks like crap, with a good chance that I may go 0 - 4. ugghhh.

College Football picks week 6

Update: fixed and added links

Well another Saturday and we know what that means. Yep, that's right, its time for College Football. Just as a recap, last week I went 8 and 2 which brought my season picks to 40 and 10. My picks this week in the College Pickem at ESPN are as follows:

Away Team	Confidence	Home team	Pick
Clemson	3	Wake Forest	Clemson
Pittsburgh	7	Syracuse	Pitt
Purdue	6	Iowa	Iowa
Navy	5	Air Force	Navy
LSU	4	Florida	Florida
Michigan St	10	Michigan	Michigan
Tennessee	2	Georgia	Georgia
Oregon	8	California	Oregon
Nebraska	9	Iowa St.	Nebraska
Texas	1	Oklahoma	Texas

Really no surprises this week, but it was tough deciding my 1 - 10. I really think that the 1 - 8 picks are toss ups this week and would not be surprised if my 9 and 10 picks lost. Working on a Schilling review which I hope to post later after I get some sleep.

Oh yes, only game I really care about today is the Arkansas at Auburn game. Go HOGGGGGGSSSS!!!!!!!

Tavarez as a starter?

The Hardball Times takes a good look at the case for Tavarez as a starter next year in Boston. Well, worth the read here.