I’m still sorting through my thoughts on the Orlando Hudson signing. Meanwhile, have some links…
Padres
Home is where the heart is, so that’s where we’ll start.
Where am I, Bizarro World? (Watson Files). Dan looks back at some of the zanier moments from the TinCaps’ 2010 season.
Previewing the 2011 Tin Caps pitching (Friar Forecast). Speaking of [...]
Ducksnorts
At Grand Prix Ski-Doo of Valcourt 2011 The organizers of the Grand Prix Ski-Doo of Valcourt presented by La Capitale General Insurance announced on Monday that snowmobile drag racing competitions have been added on Friday, February 18 to its 2011 great annual winter motorsports classic’s program. The competition will start at 3:00 p.m. and conclude [...]
Flagworld.com >> News
I picked up a copy of Craig Wright and Tom House’s classic The Diamond Appraised last night… found it at a YMCA book sale, of all places…
Padres
Do we have a shortstop yet or what?
Ratings Higher for Friars (Stadium Journey). Drew Cieszynski reviews Petco Park. He likes it, as do I.
Thatcher remains optimistic (Kokomo Tribune). [...]
Ducksnorts
It was a thrilling evening at the Coliseo Samuel Rodriguez, in Puerto Rico. Each of the 8 bouts packed a solid punch on TeleFutura’s “Sólo Boxeo Tecate,” but the main event pitting Mike Perez against Jose Hernandez stole the show and is being called a late-entry Fight of the Year candidate. The event was presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Promociones Miguel Cotto and H2 Entertainment. If you missed the live action or televised broadcast, below is a summary of the results:
| Winner | Loser | Method | Round |
| Mike Perez | Jose Hernandez | Unanimous Decision | 8 |
| Luis Cruz | Wilfredo Acuña | Technical Knockout | 2 |
| Abner Cotto | Alberto Trinidad | Technical Knockout | 3 |
| Wilfredo Bones | Christopher Rivera | Technical Knockout | 1 |
| Jonuel Tapia | Emil Gonzalez | Unanimous Decision | 4 |
| Eddie Gomez | Wilson Centeno | Knockout | 1 |
| Luis Hernandez | Jonathan Lozada | Knockout | 1 |
| Jonathan Gonzalez | Gundrick King | Technical Knockout | 2 |
Don’t miss the action next Friday, December 17 in San Diego, Calif. for the final “Sólo Boxeo Tecate” of the year when undefeated featherweight prospect Ronny Rios takes on Mexico City’s Aldolfo Landeros and San Diego hometown featherweight favorite, Christopher Martin faces Colombia’s Yogli Herrera. Tune in at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT (10:30 p.m. CT) on TeleFutura.
EJ Biggers is poised to take over at corner.
Plenty of good reading on this Friday morning. We’ll jump right in with Yahoo Sports who has a good piece on EJ Biggers stepping into the starting role to replace Aqib Talib. Biggers is excited for the opportunity and clearly seems poised to try and make a big impression over the last four games of the season. Biggers was taken out of Western Michigan in the 7th round last season. The article details the Bucs’ secondary problems this season and Biggers’ personal turmoil having missed his entire rookie season. It seems he made the most of his lost season though, and it caught the eyes of coach Raheem Morris.
“I really didn’t want to talk too much about Biggers this summer, but I felt this thing coming with E.J.,” Raheem Morris said. “He worked so hard in the offseason and he kind of redefined what a player on I.R. should do. He’s also been smart enough to absolutely live behind Ronde.”
Sounds like a smart guy, and incredibly opportunistic. Good qualities in a corner. Biggers could take over for Ronde when the 35 year-old ironman corner finally does call it quits.
Josh Freeman takes out his frustration after tossing a pick.
Freeman Gets Fined
Josh Freeman was fined five big for clobbering Brent Grimes out of bounds in the Buccaneers loss to the Falcons last weekend. It’s kind of weird seeing a quarterback get popped for hitting someone else, but when you consider Freeman is 6′6 250 and Grimes is slightly bigger than a smurf, I can understand how the NFL might have cared. Frankly, that’s more of a size mismatch than when James Harrison killed those Cleveland Browns a couple months ago. Incidentally, does anyone else thinks that maybe the Steelers should stop while they’re ahead? The commissioner uncharacteristically reduces the suspension of their serial sex offender quarterback after his indiscretions in a bathroom in Georgia with a college girl, and they have the audacity to claim the NFL is targeting them when they’re stopping just short of decapitating quarterbacks and a slot receivers!? I shouldn’t have gotten started…
Bucs Schedule
The St. Pete Times talks about the strength of the Bucs schedule in comparison to the rest of the NFC contenders. I mentioned this a couple of days ago, the Bucs are really in a position to control their own destiny if they can just keep winning. It’s not going to be easy beating the Saints, but games against the Redskins, Lions and Seahawks are all winnable and the Bucs could be 10-5 with an 8-3 NFC record heading into their week 17 match-up in New Orleans. At that point the Bucs could even make it in with a loss and a 10-6 (8-4) record if they have a little help, but if they win out they will be 11-5 (9-3) and that WILL get them into the dance.
Miami (8-4, 7-1 MAC) vs. Northern Illinois (10-2, 8-0 MAC)
Yes, that is the Chad Spann that scored 20 TD this year for the Top 25 Northern Illinois Huskies. (Icon SMI)
Friday, December 3, 2010 • 7:00 pm ET • Detroit, Mich. • Ford Field (65,000)
ESPN2 • Announcers: Joe Tessitore (play-by-play), Rodney Gilmore (analyst)
The Huskies have not won the MAC title since 1982 but based off of their end of year performance of just flat out crushing people, you have to believe that the 28-year old cold spell is coming to an end.
Don’t count out Miami though; this is a very resilient team that will be well prepared for this contest.
Nick’s Pick: NIU 31 – Miami 24
More facts to impress your friends at work Friday after the jump.
Head Coach: Mike Haywood
Career: 9-15 (2nd year); at Miami University: 9-15 (2nd year)
Offense Leaders:
Rush: RB RB Thomas Merriweather (138 att., 736 yds., 8 TDs)
Pass: QB QB Zac Dysert (343 att., 222 comp., 2,406 yds., 13 TDs)
Rec.: WR Armond Robinson (76 rec., 805 yds., 5 TDs)
Defense Leaders:
Tackles: LB LB Evan Harris (81 tackles, 8.5 tfl, 1.0 sacks, 5 INT)
Sacks: LB Jerrell Wedge (79 tackles, 14.0 tfl, 3.5 sacks, 2 ff)
Int.: DB Dayone Nunley (47 tackles, 6.5 tfl, 4 INT)
Miami is the Nation’s Most Improved Team: With an 8-4 record during the regular season, Miami posted a seven-win improvement over last year, the best mark in the country. A total of 47 teams increased their win total from 2009 with six of those gaining at least four more victories.
Miami’s Ranking in MAC Games: Miami improved its MAC record from 1-7 in 2009 to 7-1 in 2010, the best single-season improvement in the conference’s 64-year history. The reason for that improvement was on the defensive side of the ball where Miami allowed 90.7 fewer total yards and 15.5 fewer points per game. Turnover margin was a third category in which the RedHawks dramatically improved.
Road Worthy: Miami was victorious in all four of its Mid-American Conference road games—at Central Michigan (27-20), at Buffalo (21-9), at Bowling Green (24-21) and at Akron (19-14)—its longest streak since the end of the 2005 season. In those four MAC road games, Miami outgained its opponents, 385.5 yards to 301.0 yards. Its average winning margin in those four games was 6.8 points.
Head Coach: Jerry Kill
Career: 127-72 (17th year) at Northern Illinois: 22-15 (3rd year)
Offense Leaders:
Rush: RB RB Chad Spann (226 att., 1,239 yds., 20 TDs)
Pass: QB Chandler Harnish (238 att., 157 comp., 1,949 yards, 17 TDs)
Rec.: WR Willie Clark (34 rec., 444 yds., 6 TDs)
Defense Leaders:
Tackles: LB Alex Kube (68 tackles, 3.0 tfl, 1 ff)
Sacks: DE Jake Coffman (32 tackles, 9.5 tfl, 4.0 sacks)
Int.: DB DB Tyrone Clark (62 tackles, 1.5 tfl, 0.5 sack, 4 INT)
Nine in a row: Northern Illinois enters the MAC Championship game riding a nine game winning streak, the school’s longest as an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) program. The 2010 Huskies have not lost since Sept. 18 when they dropped a 28-22 decision to Illinois in Champaign, reeling off wins over Minnesota, Akron, Temple, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Toledo, Ball State and Eastern Michigan. The Huskies’ nine-game winning streak ties Coach Howard Fletcher’s 1965 squad which posted an undefeated 9-0 regular season before losing to North Dakota in the Mineral Water Bowl. That streak actually reached 11 games as NIU won its final two games in 1964 in addition to the perfect 1965 regular season. Northern Illinois started play in what is now Division I FBS football in 1969.
Ranked: After earning its ninth consecutive win and 10th victory of 2010, Northern Illinois entered both the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches Top 25 rankings this week. Northern Illinois checked in at No. 24 in the Associated Press poll and is 23rd in the USA Today/ Coaches list. The Huskies are ranked by the coaches for the first time since Nov.7, 2004 when NIU spent two weeks in that ranking. The last time the Huskies were ranked in the AP Poll was Nov. 9, 2003 when NIU was 9-1. Northern Illinois was ranked as high as No. 12 that season after starting 7-0 with wins over Maryland, Alabama and Iowa State. The Huskies also achieved a BCS rating of No. 10 in 2003.
Perfection: Northern Illinois completed the first perfect (8-0) Mid-American Conference campaign in school history with its win at Eastern Michigan. In 25 seasons in the MAC, Northern Illinois had never gone undefeated in league play, including in the 1983 championship season when the Huskies were 8-1 versus MAC competition with a loss to Central Michigan.
Never Before: The 2010 Northern Illinois team is bidding to become the first team in school history to win 11 games in a single season. The win over Eastern Michigan matched the 10-win seasons posted by the 2003, 1983 and 1963 Huskie teams.
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IRVING, Texas – If facing Drew Brees and Peyton Manning in a 10-day span wasn’t tough enough … Behind Door No. 3 is Michael Vick, the NFC’s highest-rated passer (105.7) who has added 467 rushing yards and six touchdowns to his aerial attack.
By playing two of their final four games against Philadelphia , the Dallas Cowboys catch the Eagles at the worst possible time. The Eagles have consistently shown a strong finishing kick under coach Andy Reid. In this century, the Eagles are 63-26-1 in the final two months of the season for a .706 winning percentage. Only New England is better, at 66-22 for a .750 winning percentage.
Jerry Jones said the Dallas Cowboys have had such a bad year that even his friend George Steinbrenner, the late owner of the New York Yankees, would have fired him as general manager.
Jason Garrett turned to baseball to illustrate the difficulty Stephen McGee faces in transitioning from impersonating the quarterback the Dallas Cowboys faced last week, Peyton Manning, to the one they’ll host Sunday night, Michael Vick.