It's ONE Free Taco, People

My commute home from work, from the time I leave work to the time I walk in my front door, usually lasts about 45 minutes.

Today, I was in the car for well over an hour, in part because the entrance to my apartment complex was blocked by a line of cars. It was so bad that rather than waiting in line for an additional twenty minutes, I made an executive decision and performed the always enjoyable "right turn from the left lane" maneuver. It pissed off the guy behind me (as he squeezed past, he shouted out his window, "There's two fucking dumb people out here!" - the car in front of me was attempting the same thing), but it got me home faster.

So why all the traffic - and only in one lane? Easy - I live down the street from a Taco Bell.

Honestly, this was almost eight hours ago and I still can't figure out who deserves the bulk of my ire. Taco Bell, for coming up with this crazy scheme? Major League Baseball, for allowing it to happen? Fox, for talking it up relentlessly throughout the World Series? Jacoby Ellsbury, for stealing the base that sent America running Across The Border (that was the old slogan, wasn't it? Something like that, anyway) this afternoon between the hours of 2 and 5?

How about the people of America themselves, for creating traffic jams over a free menu item that ordinarily would have cost under a dollar anyway (and that pissed off guy said there were "two" dumb people out on the road - he undershot by about 200)? My wife, for deciding that this was a good place to live? Me, for ever thinking that it was convenient to live right down the street from a fast food place?

In the end, I think I'll just go with what's comfortable and lay the blame in a familiar place: on the shoulders of Tim McCarver. Why? I don't know. McCarver didn't seem particularly enamored with the whole idea of a free taco. Maybe he doesn't like tacos, or maybe he was one of the chosen few who realized that this was not the greatest giveaway in the history of the world. Whatever. I just live by the rule of "When In Doubt, Round Up The Usual Suspects". McCarver, you're it.

Happy Birthday: October 29 - November 4

(Baseball birthdays found here have been compiled from the “Frivolities” section at Baseball-Reference.com. All other birthdays were taken from Wikipedia.)

Better late than never, right? Any other week, I might've just skipped this post, but since my birthday is today (number 28 - I'm pushing thirty, and hard), it seemed like the right thing to do.

If you have anyone else you’d care to recognize or mention, leave their name in the comments.

October 29
Bob Ross (artist) - 1942
Denis Potvin (hockey) - 1953

October 30
Ed Delahanty (baseball) - 1867
Bill Terry (baseball) - 1898
Leon Day (baseball) - 1916
Jason Bartlett (baseball) - 1979
Ivanka Trump (model) - 1981

October 31
Cal Hubbard (baseball) - 1900
John Candy (actor) - 1950
Fred McGriff (baseball) - 1963
Vanilla Ice (rapper) - 1968
Mike O'Malley (actor) - 1969

November 1
Bid McPhee (baseball) - 1859
Alex Burr (baseball) - 1893
Coco Crisp (baseball) - 1979

November 2
Travis Jackson (baseball) - 1903
Burt Lancaster (actor) - 1913
Bill Mosienko (hockey) - 1921

November 3
Bronko Nagurski (football) - 1908
Bob Feller (baseball) - 1918
Larry Holmes (boxing) - 1949
Dwight Evans (baseball) - 1951
Karch Kiraly (volleyball) - 1960

November 4
Bobby Wallace (baseball) - 1873
Walter Cronkite (newscaster) - 1916
Tito Francona (baseball) - 1933

Twice As Nice

When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, they did so less than two months after my wife and I celebrated our wedding day. I watched the final out while sitting in bed next to her, then went into my "Man Room", popped open a small bottle of champagne, and tried to wrap my mind around the moment.

When the Red Sox won the World Series in 2007, they did so less than four months after my son was born. I watched the final out while holding him in my arms, facing the TV, his eyes wide open, knowing that the thought of him remembering this moment when he grows up is ridiculous but feeling that he ought to be watching anyway.

I've said privately that because Joey's birth helped put things in perspective, this season wasn't all that important to me. Sure, I still love the Red Sox and want them to win, and I feel sad when they lose, but the thought of sitting stone-faced in front of the television, my mood ebbing and flowing along with the key points of the game, living and dying with every pitch, is laughable. Maybe it's just a part of growing up, or maybe I was just immature then, but I realize now that there are more important things in life.

That said, this is exciting. A team I've followed for nearly twenty years, since Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs were mainstays, has won its second World Series in four seasons, and there are a few things I want my boy to remember about the team that proved itself as the best in baseball in the year he was born:

Jonathan Papelbon celebrating big wins the way they ought to be celebrated. Josh Beckett rebounding from a tough 2006 to become one of the American League's best pitchers. Mike Lowell proving that everyone who viewed him as a throw-in to the Beckett trade was dead wrong (and he has the World Series MVP award to prove it). David Ortiz battling through knee and shoulder injuries to post another year of outstanding offensive numbers. Manny Ramirez personifying the devil-may-care attitude required for a team to succeed in Boston. Terry Francona standing behind his players regardless of how hard the fans pushed him to mix things up. Kevin Youkilis drawing upon the extraordinary power of his beard to play flawless defense and provide reliable offense.

Dustin Pedroia tenaciously overcoming a terrible start to become the favorite for American League Rookie of the Year. Jacoby Ellsbury beating out a routine grounder for his first major league hit and scoring from second on a wild pitch. Daisuke Matsuzaka offering glimpses of the greatness that will become commonplace over the next several years. Jon Lester beating cancer to return to the major leagues and win the deciding game of the World Series. Hideki Okajima being better than anyone could have ever imagined. Clay Buchholz stepping onto the Fenway Park mound for his second career start and leaving nine innings later with a no-hitter on his resume. Manny Delcarmen asserting himself as a reliable end-of-the-game option.

Coco Crisp playing the best centerfield I've ever seen before gracefully accepting a trip to the bench in the ALCS. Tim Wakefield holding down the back end of the rotation for the first half before fighting injury and assuming the role of elder statesman down the stretch. Curt Schilling failing to provide the drama of the bloody sock, but making up for it with solid performances when needed. Jason Varitek, the Captain, knowing every hitter and calling every game with almost surreal precision and confidence.

Eric Gagne coming to town and suddenly losing his confidence and ability to throw changeups for strikes. J.D. Drew fighting through a number of miserable stretches only to start offering machine-like production in the playoffs. Julio Lugo being reminded almost daily that he is not Orlando Cabrera.

Those aren't all the details, of course, but it's a good start.

And the sweetest thing about this? When Joey comes to me someday and says, "Dad, tell me about the Red Sox team that won the World Series," I can look at him and legitimately ask, "Which one?"

(Oh, and one more thing I plan on telling him: if you ever, EVER do something stupid like flipping over a parked car while "celebrating", the ass-beating you will receive at the hands of your father will be epic. So don't do it.)

Talking With Erin Andrews

Following my interview with Tina Cervasio in mid-September, I decided to go for broke, email ESPN, and inquire about the possibility of speaking with Erin Andrews. It took a few weeks and several email exchanges with an ESPN PR rep, but we finally managed to set up an interview for last Thursday afternoon.

I spoke with Erin for about half an hour, during which time I became very impressed with her overall love of sports. It is also obvious that she's a professional, as evidenced by the way in which she took a first-time live interviewer (the Cervasio one was via email) and did her best to make sure I got good in-depth answers regardless of the quality of the original questions (and trust me, there was a lot of stammering and repeating and whatnot; I should probably just stick to writing).

OMDQ: Erin, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.

EA: Yeah, no problem. Thanks for inquiring.

OMDQ: The first thing I’d like to ask you about is your schedule, because it seems like every time I turn on ESPN, you’re there. You’re doing college football, college basketball, baseball – I mean, how do you find all that time? Are you pretty much working year-round?

EA: Yeah, I basically I guess that’s kinda the one thing that I pride myself on - I’m really the one sideline reporter that works year-round, I do basically every sport, which to be honest with you, I have never played a sport, I obviously (intelligible) at all, so I think that makes me more versatile as a reporter because I can cover so much ground, so that’s one thing that I’ve really enjoyed and I take pride in the fact that I’ve done so many sports.

The bad part is that you don’t really get time off because you’re always going and football leads right into college basketball and college basketball leads right into major league baseball. I mean, I’ve worked the last couple of years, my first baseball game, the first opening week we’ve had has been around the national championship, and of course the last two years has been when the Florida Gators have played, so that hasn’t been too fun for me. But it’s cool, I like being involved in all the sports and at the same time it’s neat when the other athletes see that too. A lot of baseball players see me at football games and they call me for football tickets, so it’s kinda cool. It gets conversation going and I think it adds a little bit of credibility to my job as well.

OMDQ: Do you have one sport that’s become your favorite over time?

EA: No, not really because I broke into the industry being an NHL reporter, a sideline reporter, so I think I will always hold that sport near and dear to my heart because that’s how I got my in, but I grew up in the south, so college football is huge to me because of where I grew up, in SEC country. But there really is no particular sport. I think if there was, I would probably try to tone it down and cover a couple sports at a time. But because I like so many of them, I’m not in a hurry to give any of them up.

OMDQ: I think it’s interesting that you mention starting out in hockey, because I was doing a little research and I actually listened to the Bill Simmons podcast that you did, and I thought it was interesting that you didn’t really know anything about hockey before you started that.

EA: Yeah, I didn’t know a thing about hockey. I was reading “Hockey For Dummies” the night before I got the job. I didn’t know A THING about hockey and I think that was one of the best things for me because I learned so much about how to prepare, I learned how to talk to athletes and the coaches, how to deal with losing teams because the team that I was working for at the time, the Tampa Bay Lightning, they were the laughingstock of the NHL, they were the worst team in the league and I was traveling with them, so they’d get on and off the bus and on the plane and even though it wasn’t me that was losing I had to learn to kind of carry myself with the players and coaches.

OMDQ: So, I get the sense that you take pride in being very well-prepared mentally?

EA: I do, yes. I wouldn’t have my job if I didn’t know what I was talking about.

OMDQ: Absolutely. I asked this question of Tina Cervasio, and I’d like to get your take: Do you ever get the urge to “stick it to The Man” and do a game just wearing ratty old jeans and a T-shirt, no makeup or anything, just to say, “Look, I’m not just a pretty face, I know what I’m talking about,” or do you feel that comes through regardless of how you look?

EA: To be honest with you, I think guys would like to see me in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and no makeup. You know, tonight (Thursday) it’s gonna rain, in Blacksburg, and I’m so excited because I get to wear a baseball hat the whole game and just throw my hair in a pony tail. To be honest with you, I would wear my hair in a pony tail and wear no makeup, but let’s think about it: when people go to their jobs, when they go to an office, they don’t wear jeans and a ratty T-shirt and no makeup, it doesn’t matter if you’re in TV or not. Unfortunately in our business, there’s this thing called “Hi-Definition” television, and every little pimple scar you have or incoming pimple or ingrown hair people are gonna see and whether you’re a guy or a girl, and the guys I work with wear makeup, everybody’s wearing it, you kind of have to, that’s just what the protocol is for television. So, I personally think that a lot of guys would like to see me in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and I’d love to wear it. But my job, it’s not so much dressing up, it’s just that that’s what we’re expected to wear to work. It’s just like my mom has a dress code when she works at an elementary school and so forth.

OMDQ: Alright, that makes a lot of sense. I’m the sort of person that gets nervous when I have a boss hanging over my shoulder watching me work, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be on TV like that and to be in front of millions of people and know that they’re judging you. I think a lot of it is the sense that they’re waiting for a mistake, waiting for a slip-up somewhere.

EA: Yeah, they are, and most people point it out, even sometimes your bosses point it out when you make a mistake more times than not. I’ve learned very quickly in this industry that you have to develop a very, very thick skin and if you don’t, you’re not gonna succeed. I remember one of the first times I ever saw something on the Internet that was written about me I ran out into my parents’ living room and I started to cry. Somebody had written about the size of my nose and that I needed a nose job. And my dad is in television, and I grew up in the industry, so I never found it weird to see my dad on the six o’clock news because that’s what he does, but when I came out crying - and this is when I first started - he just said, “Look, do you want to do this?” And I said, “Yeah.” And he’s like, “Suck it up, because this is what it’s about, and because you’re a female, people are gonna take notice more than anybody else,” so…it’s a fantastic job, it’s an amazing thing to be a part of, I have the best seats in the house, it’s what I want to do, so to me, those little things are worth it.

OMDQ: So do you Google yourself now? Because I know Bill Simmons told you that you probably shouldn’t.

EA: I have seen a couple of things. The one thing is, I check out certain web sites just because I think it’s good reading. I love the Extra Mustard web site on CNN SI. I think Deadspin’s just hysterical. You know, I’ve seen some stuff, but over the past year, it’s gotten worse with me. Every little thing I do, whether it’s eating a sandwich to you know, anything, it’s just all over, or who I’m talking to on the sidelines so that must mean I’m dating them, who I’m having a drink with at the bar, so that must mean I’m dating him, it’s turned into, it’s turned into almost like a mockery, so I’ve stayed away from it. You know, I’ll see some things sometimes if it’s on web sites that I’m looking at, but I won’t Google myself, no.

OMDQ: I think you’re right on in that because it seems like lately that there has been more focus on you. It’s like every blogger (including me) has to write something at some point.

EA: I can’t do anything on the sideline without somebody making a big deal out of it. So, you know what? At one point, I can look at it and be like, “Oh my gosh, why do people care?” But at the same time, it’s so flattering because who am I? I’m nobody. I’m just some (intelligible) who goes to coaches meetings and reads a lot of articles and talks to players and then I filter it back out to people. So, who am I, you know, somebody that people want to either write about or take pictures with or get autographs with. So in a way it is very flattering, and I need to look at it that way.

OMDQ: I actually did a Google search for you, just to see what was out there, and the one thing I noticed was that I didn’t find an “official” web site for you.

EA: Yeah, I don’t have one.

OMDQ: Really? Because I’ve seen Bonnie Bernstein and Tina Cervasio, they have a place where they can sort of showcase their work or things like that. Is there any plan for something like that?

EA: Um, my agent’s talked about it. I guess I’m just kind of like, I look at myself like a big nerd, and I’m just like, would people even go to my web site, and if they did, what would I put on there? Pictures of myself and the crew going out? I just feel like I’m not that big of a deal, why would people wanna look at me on a web site?

OMDQ: Okay, so…you’re in sideline reporting right now. Down the road, I know you’ve said you’d like to have a family, maybe settle down a little bit, you know, not work year-round, but where do you think professionally, ten, twenty years down the road, would you like to be?

EA: Professionally, obviously I’d like to calm down a little bit with all this sideline reporting, maybe just pick a couple sports. But right now, it’s really hard for me to imagine not working the sidelines. It’s just something about being on the field and being near the players and being near the coaches and hearing the inside stories that I really, really enjoy. I’ve gotten to taste a little bit of the studio recently, and I’ve really enjoyed that, but I just feel personally that I have a lot of things I need to perfect on the sidelines before I can think about maybe where I want to go next, because there’s a lot of things I want to improve on.

OMDQ: One thing that I wondered: starting out as a hockey reporter – you did that for a few years, correct? A couple years, at least?

EA: I did it for a year actually. It felt longer, but I just did it for a year.

OMDQ: Coming from that background, do you have any personal insight into what the NHL can do to regain relevance, because they’re grasping at straws a little bit.

EA: You know, I’m sad that the NHL isn’t catching on, because as a person that’s around athletics, I feel that hockey is by far – those players, are the most fit, are the most physical. It’s really frustrating sometimes when you see hockey players, what injuries they play with, and how they’ll still go out there with an MCL tear, their leg hanging off, their arm hanging off, and you see other athletes in different sports get carted off for a dislocated shoulder or an arm injury. It’s really frustrating because I tell ya, I’ve never been around such a competitive or physical group as NHL is, and what’s nice about it too is they remind me a lot of what the Colorado Rockies are: they’re just a bunch of guys. And they just sit around, and they have a good time, and that’s the Canadian in them, and I think that’s also a lot of the fact that they don’t have a lot of notoriety in the states. I mean, in Canada, they’re huge stars, in Russia, in Europe, they’re big stars, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that NHL I just think they could do such a better job marketing their guys. They are such fantastic guys and they have great stories and they’re wonderful human beings and I just, I wish there would be a different way that they would go about marketing them.

Branching out to women – I feel that NASCAR did a very good job of making these NASCAR drivers almost like sex symbols to the women. I’ve never been to a NASCAR event so I don’t really know, but gosh, they did a tremendous job reaching out, and I feel almost like NHL should do that, because if you branch out to women, guys’ll say “What are you watchin’?”, and they’ll bring the guys to come and watch.

The hardest part is people I think have this philosophy that it’s such a difficult game to understand, well then I’m not gonna understand it. Now, that’s not the case at all…

(And so begins amateur hour at One More Dying Quail. In planning this interview, I took into account a number of details, right down to the best way to feed my son if he needed a bottle at an inopportune time. One thing I didn’t consider: the running time of the tape I was using, which apparently is only about 15 minutes per side. Ergo, we lose 15-20 seconds of Erin’s plan to fix the NHL. The bad news? It was the most interested she sounded in the whole interview. The good news? We were only talking about hockey.

15-20 seconds later…)

…make people wanna watch the sport, because it’s an awesome sport and the athletes are incredible. I’m very passionate with it because I really enjoyed my year with hockey and I’ve stayed very close with a lot of the players and the coaches and people who worked with the NHL and it’s so frustrating that the sport hasn’t caught on.

OMDQ: I can tell that passion definitely comes through – just hearing you talk about it, I can definitely tell that you’re a fan.

EA: Yeah, I loved it, I had a great time, those guys are tremendous. And the neat story for me is when I worked with the Lightning, I said they were the worst team in the NHL and the players were always so good to me and I have like a brother-sister relationship with a lot of the players. And when they won their Stanley Cup and I got my job with ESPN, that’s how I got my in, those boys didn’t forget, and they helped me out, and they gave me stories and I broke stories for ESPN that year with the NHL coverage and they’re just terrific guys and incredible athletes to be around and it’s a shame that the States hasn’t caught on to the sport.

OMDQ: Switching gears: I did not know this until the Simmons podcast, but you’re a Red Sox fan.

EA: Yeah.

OMDQ: That’s just fascinating to me, because all we’ve had for years now is Ben Affleck and Stephen King.

EA: Well, I obviously don’t think I’m as big as those guys are. They’re big time celebrities. But my entire family is from New England, my sister and I were born there, and that’s the reason why I’m in sports. I sat on the couch with my dad and he doesn’t have sons, he just has two daughters, and he made us big sports fans. He told us, “This is the Red Sox, and they will break your heart every year,” and “These are the Celtics and Larry Bird is king.” For some reason he wasn’t much of a Patriots fan so I grew up a Packers fan, so we’re Brett Favre fans and enjoying the ride this year. But that’s the cool thing about the business is that I think everybody that works at ESPN are big sports fans and you kind of learn who everybody’s team is and obviously when you’ve got the microphone in your hand and it’s time to do a job you have to separate that because my job’s a little more important than my team, but yeah, I grew up a Red Sox and Celtics fan.

OMDQ: Do you have a prediction on the World Series?

EA: Um…how I was raised, my father told me that these are the Red Sox and they will break your heart. My heart obviously thinks that the Red Sox will win, my head says, “Not so fast my friend, these Colorado Rockies made it here for a reason.” They had an incredible run to get there. I actually got to work with a few of them a couple of weeks ago and I don’t think it’s gonna be as easy as it looked last night (Game 1). So, I don’t really have a prediction. I think Boston will come away with it, but I think the Rockies starting tonight against Curt Schilling (Game 2) will put up a little more of a fight.

OMDQ: Yeah, they’re a very scary team.

EA: They are, and I think people forget that. They didn’t get here just by luck. They won those games.

OMDQ: So your moment in your youth was when your dad kind of sat you down and looking up to him and wanting to follow the teams that he followed?

EA: You know what, I have an incredible relationship with my father, he’s one of my best friends in my life and I’m a daddy’s girl, and I just always grew up rooting for the teams that my dad cheered for. I never really went off on my own and said, “Well Dad, you’re a Packers fan so I’m gonna be a Buccaneers fan.” No, I enjoyed rooting for the guys that my dad pulled for and it’s neat now when I get to meet those guys that my dad cheered for. I got to bring him to a Red Sox game last year for the first time and I brought him on the field and introduced him to all the players. They were so fantastic with my dad. David Ortiz instead of shaking his hand came and gave my dad a big hug, and it was just really neat. I think he’s enjoying this more than I am, just hearing the stories about the teams and the coaches and whether it’s football, baseball or basketball, he enjoys the inside stuff. Because as much as people say about me and their perception of how I look on the sidelines, I am very much a tomboy and I’ve had guys I’ve dated in the past say, “Can you just turn it off SportsCenter? Do we have to watch it all the time?” So, I’m very much a sports fan and a tomboy.

OMDQ: Alright, I have one more question before I let you go. I always say my wife likes to get the last word. So when I started trying to interview some people, I said I would give her the last question, I would give her the last word. And she’s not much of a sports fan at all, she likes the local teams, but her question was, “Who is Erin Andrews?” She claims that she’s never heard of you but I like to think she’s getting a little existential on us and wants to know, “Who IS Erin Andrews?”

EA: Well, I don’t blame her if she’s never heard of me. To be honest with you, I don’t find myself to be a household name or a really big deal. I don’t. That’s why I think it’s funny when people call or ask to do interviews, because the way I look at myself is kind of a big nerd. I just have never thought of myself as any big deal. I think it’s funny when people ask for my picture or they ask for my autograph. I just feel like I’m just your everyday girl next door that’s kind of really a tomboy. You asked about me wearing all the makeup and dressing up on the sidelines. When I’m not on television, you can ask anybody I work with, I’m in a ball cap or I’m in a pair of slacks with a T-shirt. I don’t know, I guess that’s maybe been one of the hardest parts of the whole job is understanding that people are watching all the time and I just sit back and I think to myself, “Why, who am I?”

I just kind of look at myself as your typical chick next door. That’s how I look at myself.

(Photos: Awful Announcing)

Reverse Survivor: Two Teams Enter...

Credit Extra P. with the Reverse Survivor "Prediction of the Year". Two weeks ago, he suggested that Rice would be the team to "get Marshall off the schneid" when the programs met on October 27, and he was right on the money: the Thundering Herd broke into the win column with a 34-21 victory over the Owls.

Marshall's win leaves just two FBS teams without a win this season: Florida International and Utah State, both 0-8. The Golden Eagles have a much more favorable schedule, with two of their final three games against current one win teams (Louisiana-Lafayette and North Texas). The Aggies have a much tougher road, with contests against Fresno State (5-3), #21 Boise State (7-1) and New Mexico State (4-4) leading into the season finale at Idaho (1-8).

Speaking of Idaho: if the Vandals don't win either of their next two games against Louisiana Tech and Boise State, that November 24 game against Utah State takes on an interesting "winner take all" aspect. Idaho has one win this season, but it came against Cal Poly, making the Vandals the only one-win team this season to earn that lone victory against an FCS squad (got all that?). Until they beat someone from the FBS, Robb Akey's boys have to be considered a de facto Reverse Survivor contestant.

Florida International (0-8, Sun Belt)

• November 3 @ Arkansas State (3-5)
• November 17 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (1-7)
• November 24 vs. Florida Atlantic (4-4)
• December 1 vs. North Texas (1-7)

Utah State (0-8, Western Athletic)

• November 3 @ Fresno State (5-3)
• November 10 vs. Boise State (7-1)
• November 17 @ New Mexico State (4-4)
• November 24 @ Idaho (1-8)

FCS Teams Without A 2007 Win

• Indiana State (0-9, Gateway)
• Southern Utah (0-8, Great West)
• LaSalle (0-7, Metro Atlantic Athletic)
• North Carolina A&T (0-9, Mid-Eastern Athletic)
• Stephen F. Austin (0-8, Southland)
• Texas Southern (0-8, Southwestern Athletic)

How Do FCS Teams Do Against FBS Opponents?

When word came over the ticker that North Dakota State, the top ranked team in the Football Championship Subdivision, had gone into Minnesota and upset the Golden Gophers, my thoughts immediately turned to the quality of the Big Ten conference.

While not as shocking as Michigan’s loss to Appalachian State in the season opener, the Minnesota-North Dakota State was still the second time in 2007 that an FCS team had ventured up a division, stepped onto the home field of a member team in one of the most powerful conferences in college football, and walked off sixty minutes later with a victory. Was the Big Ten really that bad, I asked myself, or are such upsets more common than we realize?

In the hopes of answering that question, I looked at the schedules of every FBS team and put together a list of the games each played against FCS opponents. There have been 70 interdivisional games to this point (all but one between an FBS and FCS team), with eight more remaining. The FBS record in those contests: 62-8, a healthy .886 winning percentage, with seven of the eight defeats coming at the hands of teams ranked in the top ten of the most recent FCS poll.

In the six BCS conferences – ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC – that mark goes to 34-3 (.919), with Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa State suffering the only losses. It’s hard to find much fault with any of those teams, however: Michigan was ranked in the top fifth at the time of its defeat but lost to the two-time defending national champion, and Minnesota’s and Iowa State’s vanquishers are currently #1 and #2, respectively.

The most surprising part of this exercise? Three FBS teams have padded their schedules with two or more FCS programs. One of those, Western Kentucky, doesn’t come as much of a shock: the Hilltoppers are still fairly new to the FBS and appear to be in the process of transitioning/honoring old commitments (the September 8 game against West Virginia Tech, for instance: both were 1-AA schools when the rivalry started, but each has since shifted a division, with Western Kentucky moving up to the FBS and Tech moving down to Division II. Needless to say, that game ended in an 87-0 blowout). Of the school’s twelve games this season, half are against FCS or lower opponents.

The other two teams with two FCS opponents are both in the Western Athletic Conference. One is little surprise (New Mexico State, currently fifth in the conference), but the other shocked the hell out of me: Hawaii, the 16th ranked team in the nation.

I seem to remember reading something last year about the difficulty Hawaii was having in scheduling opponents (because they’re really good and it’s a hell of a haul to get your team there), but this is still slightly nuts. You can have one game against an FCS team on your schedule and still contend for the national championship (if you’re in a decent conference) – you can’t have multiple games combined with a weak conference schedule and expect to be respected as a serious contender.

One last note: there was talk earlier this season of whether or not Appalachian State deserved a Top 25 ranking after beating Michigan. Well…why no such reaction for North Dakota State, which is the only FCS school with two upsets (Minnesota, Central Michigan) on its resume?

Atlantic Coast (6-0)
Boston College – beat Massachusetts, 24-14, on September 29
Clemson – beat Furman, 38-10, on September 15
Georgia Tech – beat Samford, 69-14, September 8
North Carolina – beat James Madison, 37-14, on September 1
North Carolina State – beat Wofford, 38-17, on September 15
Virginia Tech – beat William & Mary, 44-3, on September 22

Big East (6-0)
Cincinnati – beat Southeast Missouri State, 59-3, on August 30
Connecticut – beat Maine, 38-0, on September 8
Louisville – beat Murray State, 73-10, on August 30
Pittsburgh – beat Grambling State, 34-10, September 8
Rutgers – beat Norfolk State, 59-0, on September 15
South Florida – beat Elon, 28-13, on September 1

Big Ten (6-2)
Illinois – beat Western Illinois, 21-0, on September 8
Indiana – beat Indiana State, 55-7, on September 1
Michigan – lost to Appalachian State, 34-32, on September 1
Minnesota – lost to North Dakota State, 27-21, on October 20
Northwestern – beat Northeastern, 27-0, on September 1
Ohio State – beat Youngstown State, 38-6, on September 1
Purdue – beat Eastern Illinois, 52-6, on September 8
Wisconsin – beat Citadel, 45-31, on September 15

Big 12 (7-1)
Baylor – beat Texas State, 34-27, on September 15
Iowa State – lost to Northern Iowa, 24-13, on September 8
Kansas – beat Southeastern Louisiana, 62-0, on September 8
Kansas State – beat Missouri State, 61-10, on September 15
Missouri – beat Illinois State, 38-17, on September 22
Oklahoma State – beat Sam Houston State, 39-3, September 29
Texas A&M – beat Montana State, 38-7, on September 1
Texas Tech – Northwestern State, 75-7, on September 29

Conference USA (5-2, one remaining)
Houston – plays Texas Southern on November 24
Marshall – lost to New Hampshire, 48-35, on September 15
Memphis – beat Jacksonville State, 35-14, on September 15
Rice – lost to Nicholls State, 16-14, on September 1
Southern Miss – beat Tennessee-Martin, 35-13, on September 1
Tulane – beat Southeastern Louisiana, 35-27, on September 22
UAB – beat Alcorn State, 22-0, on September 15
UTEP – beat Texas Southern, 52-12, on September 22

Mid-American (5-2)
Central Michigan – lost to North Dakota State, 44-14, on September 22
Eastern Michigan – beat Howard, 38-15, on September 22
Kent State – beat Delaware State, 38-7, on September 15
Northern Illinois – lost to Southern Illinois, 34-31, on September 8
Ohio – beat Gardner-Webb, 36-14, on September 1
Toledo – beat Liberty, 35-34, on October 6
Western Michigan – beat Central Connecticut State, 51-14, on September 22

Mountain West (4-0, one remaining)
Air Force – beat South Carolina State, 34-3, on September 1
Brigham Young – beat Eastern Washington, 42-7, on October 20
Colorado State – plays Georgia Southern on November 17
New Mexico – beat Sacramento State, 58-0, on September 22
San Diego State – beat Portland State, 52-17, on September 22

Pacific-10 (2-0)
Arizona – beat Northern Arizona, 45-24, on September 8
Oregon State – beat Idaho State, 61-10, on September 15

Southeastern (7-0, one remaining)
Alabama – beat Western Carolina, 52-6, on September 1
Arkansas – beat Chattanooga, 34-15, on October 6
Georgia – beat Western Carolina, 45-16, on September 15
Kentucky – beat Eastern Kentucky, 50-10, on September 1
Mississippi – plays Northwestern State on November 3
Mississippi State – beat Gardner-Webb, 34-15, on September 22
South Carolina – beat South Carolina State, 38-3, on September 15
Vanderbilt – beat Richmond, 41-17, on September 1

Sun Belt (0-1, one remaining)
Louisiana-Lafayette – lost to McNeese State, 38-17, on September 15
Louisiana-Monroe – plays Grambling State on November 10

Western Athletic (10-0)
Boise State – beat Weber State, 56-7, on August 30
Fresno State – beat Sacramento State, 24-3, on September 1
Hawaii – beat Northern Colorado, 63-6, on September 2
Hawaii – beat Charleston Southern, 66-10, on September 23
Idaho – beat Cal Poly, 20-13, on September 8
Louisiana Tech – beat Central Arkansas, 28-7, on September 1
Nevada – beat Nicholls State, 52-17, on September 15
New Mexico State – beat Southeastern Louisiana, 35-14, on August 30
New Mexico State – beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 20-17, on September 29
San Jose State – beat California-Davis, 34-14, on September 29

Independents (4-0, four remaining)
Army – beat Rhode Island, 14-7, on September 8
Navy – plays Delaware on October 27
Western Kentucky – beat West Virginia Tech (Division II), 87-0, on September 8
Western Kentucky – beat Eastern Kentucky, 26-6, on September 15
Western Kentucky – beat Indiana State, 56-7, on October 20
Western Kentucky – plays North Carolina Central on October 27
Western Kentucky – plays Chattanooga on November 3
Western Kentucky – plays Morehead State on November 17

Winning Is Fun

I'm just gonna go ahead and let Mr. Papelbon sum this one up...

I think we've all been expecting this since they jumped out to that huge lead in May, but now that it actually happened? Still a shock to the system.

Terrific series. Both teams played hard, and played well, and really, even after seven games, you can't definitively say that one is better than the other. Those Indians are really good.

Congratulations to Cleveland on an exceptional 2007 season. With the youth on their pitching staff and in their lineup, we should be seeing them in the playoffs for years to come.

Now it's time to party like it's 2004, rest up for a day or two and get ready to face the Rockies on Wednesday. Let Papelbon dance the night away...your job is to stay angry, Josh Beckett. Stay angry.

Photos: Boston.com, Yahoo! Sports

Reverse Survivor: Can You Feel The Excitement In The Air?

It's almost a weekly event now for a winless team to pick up a victory. This week's winner is Colorado State, which started the season 0-6 before taking UNLV to the woodshed on Saturday for a 48-23 bludgeoning. The star of the game was halfback Gartrell Johnson, who carried the ball 25 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns.

The Rams' victory leaves just three FBS teams winless this season: Marshall, Florida International, and Utah State. As it currently stands, Marshall's best chance could come next Saturday against 1-6 Rice, FIU has two games left against current one-win teams, and Utah State faces a tough conference slate until its season-ending contest at 1-7 Idaho.

Marshall (0-7, Conference USA)

• October 27 vs. Rice (1-6)
• November 3 @ UCF (4-3)
• November 10 vs. East Carolina (4-4)
• November 17 @ Houston (4-3)
• November 24 vs. UAB (2-5)

Florida International (0-6, Sun Belt)

• October 27 @ Arkansas (4-3)
• November 3 @ Arkansas State (3-4)
• November 17 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (1-7)
• November 24 vs. Florida Atlantic (4-3)
• December 1 vs. North Texas (1-6)

Utah State (0-6, Western Athletic)

• October 27 vs. Louisiana Tech (2-5)
• November 3 @ Fresno State (5-2)
• November 10 vs. Boise State (6-1)
• November 17 @ New Mexico State (4-4)
• November 24 @ Idaho (1-7)

FCS Teams Without A 2007 Win

• Northern Colorado (0-8, Big Sky)
• Indiana State (0-8, Gateway)
• Southern Utah (0-7, Great West)
• LaSalle (0-6, Metro Atlantic Athletic)
• North Carolina A&T (0-7, Mid-Eastern Athletic)
• St. Francis (PA) (0-5, Northeast)
• Stephen F. Austin (0-7, Southland)
• Texas Southern (0-7, Southwestern Athletic)

Happy Birthday: October 22-28

(Baseball birthdays found here have been compiled from the “Frivolities” section at Baseball-Reference.com. All other birthdays were taken from Wikipedia.)

If you have anyone else you’d care to recognize or mention, leave their name in the comments.

October 22
Jimmie Foxx (baseball) - 1907
Jeff Goldblum (actor) - 1952
Drazen Petrovic (basketball) - 1964
Ichiro Suzuki (baseball) - 1973

October 23
William Hulbert (baseball) - 1832
Lena Blackburne (baseball) - 1886
John Heisman (football) - 1869
Jim Bunning (baseball) - 1931
Pele (soccer) - 1940
Doug Flutie (football) - 1962

October 24
Louis Sockalexis (baseball) - 1871
Y.A. Tittle (football) - 1926

October 25
Joe Wood (baseball) - 1889
Lee MacPhail (baseball) - 1917
Bobby Knight (basketball) - 1940
Dave Cowens (basketball) - 1948
Dan Issel (basketball) - 1948
Mike Eruzione (hockey) - 1954
J.A. Adande (columnist) - 1970
Ed Robertson (musician) - 1970
Pedro Martinez (baseball) - 1971

October 26
Frank Selee (baseball) - 1859
Sid Gillman (football) - 1911
Sasha Cohen (figure skating) - 1984

October 27
Ralph Kiner (baseball) - 1922

October 28
Jonas Salk (scientist) - 1914
Bowie Kuhn (baseball) - 1926

Lenny Wilkens (basketball) - 1937

Jami Gertz (actress) - 1965

Julia Roberts (actress) - 1967

Just So We're All On The Same Page

If you're a regular reader of the site, you might have expected to see the weekly Reverse Survivor update earlier this afternoon. With winless Marshall playing tonight, however, I decided to push things back until later tonight or tomorrow. Apologies to the four people who are waiting breathlessly for the latest news.

Also, I realized the other day that the temporary end for the Bizarro Hall of Fame came quietly, without fanfare, so here's the deal: the historical classes are complete, as there were no players prior to 1978 who appeared on the ballot and received zero votes (tons of single votes, but those don't count). That said, I still plan to keep the series alive, with a look at this year's best candidates coming soon and a "Welcome to the BizHOF" post on tap when the voting is made public in January. I'm also working on putting together some fun information regarding the members, such as number of All-Star appearances and which teams are best represented, so that will be up as it becomes available.

Writers Block Sucks, For Me AND For You

(Caution: this post is not about sports. If you don't want to read me bitching about my life and how much I suck as a writer, run away now.)

I knew this week had been fairly slow at One More Dying Quail, with a sense of reality finally beginning to creep in and my focus shifting from a blog that brings in no revenue to two jobs that actually help pay the bills, but I had no idea it had reached this point: this post you are reading right now is the first one I've done here since Sunday evening.

And it's not like I've been going nuts anywhere else, either. Aside from the weekly Top 20+1 poll at Epic Carnival, the only things of substance that leapt from my keyboard this week were a few random comments on Vegas Watch's ALCS live-blog the other night (but they were good comments).

Why no updates? For one, no time. I'm working about fifty hours a week between two jobs these days, but the nature of the work and the fact that my weeks are horribly front-loaded (twelve hours each on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) makes it feel like seventy. Both bosses are cool and understand that my life is pretty hectic right now and I may not be at the top of my game until things finally settle down, which is nice. It's nice to have that type of support. At the same time, however, I feel like they're not getting my best effort and I'm letting them down, which isn't so cool. So, in an effort to be more productive and useful at work, I've been attempting to blog less, sleep more (note: this effort is failing miserably. I swear - at times I have the personal accountability of an adolescent. My wife spent the night at her parents' one night last week; of course I overslept).

Factor number two: writer's block. Some people have to worry about a chronic disease flaring up; I have to worry about exceptionally debilitating bouts of WB. This is problematic for a couple reasons. One, I'm not the fastest writer under the best of circumstances. Those four paragraphs you just read, for instance, took me 34 painful minutes to write. Start typing, don't like the way it sounds, erase it. Start typing, can't string together two sentences that make sense, erase it. It's the weirdest thing - whole paragraphs can form in my head, and sound really good, but when the time comes to send those thoughts south and put them in written form, all is lost. It's like the path between my brain and my fingers is a set of train tracks, and when the transfer of information begins somebody flips a switch along the way that sends those great thoughts somewhere else. My liver could probably write a terrific book on baseball by this point.
The second reason is subject matter. You would think, at this time of year, that I would have plenty to write about, what with the playoffs for my favorite sport in progress (and featuring my favorite team). Apparently not so. Part of the problem is that I'm pressuring myself to come up with ideas that I can pitch to places like Chicago Sports Weekly and other papers or magazines. I had something published in August, and that was a huge confidence builder (and very cool to see my name in print), but what has come of it? Just the feeling that I should be doing it again, which, while true, puts the pressure on to actually do it again.

Normally when writers block hits, I fight through it by writing something small and simple (I know, I know - what do I write that isn't small and simple?) or posting a video with a short introduction. You know, just get the juices flowing. Sometimes, though, that doesn't work, and the opposite is in order: attempt to flush the infection with loads and loads of crap that borders on stream of consciousness in its inanity. That's what you're reading right now (or stopped reading five minutes ago).

Tonight, when it became apparent that the words wouldn't flow as well as I would like and more help was necessary, I turned to a professional and hoped he could guide me to the promised land:



It took me awhile to get into Johnny Cash (while working at Target, I think I actually threatened to kill someone for playing "Ring of Fire" within my earshot); I can say with some certainty that I'd never really cared about his work until we rented "Walk The Line" one night. Great movie that really made me appreciate the Man in Black like never before. And that song above, "Hurt"? Phenomenal, especially when you consider some of the dark places Cash went in his life and the strength he and those close to him had to exhibit to pull him out. It's one of those songs I make a point to listen to whenever I'm feeling down, because it reminds me that no matter what, there's always hope.

"If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find, a way." Haunting, beautiful...and the exact way I want to feel about my life when all is said and done. I want to look back with the knowledge that while I might have messed up from time to time, I still know who I am and can keep that no matter what happens.

Thing was, it didn't work tonight. No magical inspiration. No juices flowing. You could say that Johnny let me down, but it was mostly my fault. Lots of stuff going on - my wife asking me to do a couple of things before I went to bed and the Red Sox trying to live to play another day, mainly - so the song didn't get my full attention. "No matter," I thought. "My iTunes library is well-stocked. Play another classic, soak in some genius, and hope something clicks."



I couldn't have been more than ten when that song came out - if that - and still remember the video scaring the shit out of me. Like anyone else, I have a few very basic fears: spiders, snakes, rats, that sort of stuff. The things I'm most afraid of, however, are being buried alive and living in a situation like the one seen in this video - locked inside my own mind, with absolutely no means of communicating with the outside world, just wishing someone would take pity and kill me. God, it's horrifying to even think about. Amazing song, though, and I guess it did the trick. It's got the old brain moving, anyway (or maybe it was the Prince and Amy Winehouse that popped on right after. Don't worry, you're not getting videos of those).

Craptastic or not, this post has proven to be somewhat therapeutic. Last year, one of my co-workers told me what she does to get over being angry: she writes her feelings down on a piece of paper, gets all that negative energy out, and throws the paper away. Considering she's one of the happier people I know, it seemed like a good idea...only instead of writing my feelings down and throwing them away, I write them down and post them on the Internet for all the world to see. To each his own.

(Red Sox Note: I've been thinking this for some time, but never really had occasion to mention it in writing until now: when Jonathan Papelbon glares in at home plate, he has me scared with that sneer...until he leans in and shows the batter his O-Face. That's not scary, it's comical. Then again, he's a year younger than me and already one of the best in the world at his job, while I'm just a lowly teacher's aide, so who am I to judge?

And yes, I know it's illegal to use colons the way I did up there. I'm doing it anyway, just because I can.)

I could keep going, but that's enough for now. The Red Sox have won, South Florida has lost, and I've written something of substance. All I ask is this: if you made it through this whole thing, leave a comment and let me know. I owe you a beer or something for the effort.

Ah yes, and one more thing:

VIVA LA BEARD!

Please don't ask. Just understand that I am, for no particular reason, a big fan of Kevin Youkilis' facial hair. It has its own label here and everything. Hopefully he keeps it going in 2008 (or embellishes; maybe mutton chops should make a comeback?)

2007 Baseball Ejections: The Final List

The (more or less) complete list of Major League Baseball ejections this season can be found below (a handful may be missing – please let me know if you find one that isn’t listed here).

(The number next to the name of the player, manager, or coach is the number of games from which they have been ejected this season.)

(Updated through October 1, 2007)

Arizona Diamondbacks (3)
April 25 – Bob Melvin, manager (1)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Mike Reilly for arguing balls and strikes

August 24 – Bob Melvin, manager (2)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Eric Cooper for arguing balls and strikes

August 28 – Bob Melvin, manager (3)
Bottom 6th by first base umpire Lance Barksdale for arguing balls and strikes

Atlanta Braves (17)
April 22 – Bobby Cox, manager (1)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Paul Emmel for arguing balls and strikes

May 6 – Bobby Cox, manager (2)
Bottom 7th by third base umpire Bob Davidson for arguing a check-swing

May 6 – Chipper Jones, third base (1)
Bottom 7th by third base umpire Bob Davidson for arguing a check-swing

May 25 – Bobby Cox, manager (3)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Paul Emmel for arguing balls and strikes

May 25 – Edgar Renteria, shortstop (1)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Paul Emmel for arguing balls and strikes

May 26 – John Smoltz, pitcher (1)
Bottom 3rd by first base umpire Ron Kulpa for arguing a foul ball call

May 26 – Bobby Cox, manager (4)
Bottom 3rd by first base umpire Ron Kulpa for arguing a foul ball call

June 23 – Brian McCann, catcher (1)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire Chad Fairchild for arguing balls and strikes

June 23 – Bobby Cox, manager (5)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire Chad Fairchild for arguing balls and strikes

July 16 – Jeff Francoeur, right field (1)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez for arguing balls and strikes

August 14 – Bobby Cox, manager (6)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Ted Barrett for arguing balls and strikes

August 15 – Bobby Cox, manager (7)
Top 3rd by first base umpire Angel Hernandez for arguing a balk call

August 23 – Bobby Cox, manager (8)
Top 3rd by home plate umpire Jerry Lane for unsportsmanlike behavior

August 23 – Terry Pendleton, hitting coach (1)
Top 6th by home plate umpire Jerry Lane

August 28 – Jeff Francoeur, right field (2)
Top 11th by home plate umpire Doug Eddings for arguing balls and strikes

September 4 – Brayan Pena, catcher (1)
Bottom 9th by first base umpire Alfonso Marquez

September 21 – Bobby Cox, manager (9)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Chris Guccione for arguing balls and strikes

Baltimore Orioles (9)
June 8 – Sam Perlozzo, manager (1)
Top 6th by home plate umpire Larry Vanover for arguing a balk call

June 14 – Sam Perlozzo, manager (2)
8th by first base umpire Ed Montague for arguing balls and strikes

June 14 – Jay Payton, outfield (1)
8th by first base umpire Ed Montague for arguing balls and strikes

August 31 – Dave Trembley, manager (1)
Top 4th by first base umpire Joe West for arguing a call at third base

September 5 – Paul Bako, catcher (1)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Chad Fairchild for arguing balls and strikes

September 7 – Daniel Cabrera, pitcher (1)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Mike Dimuro for throwing at a batter

September 12 – Dave Trembley, manager (2)
Bottom 4th by second base umpire Paul Emmel for arguing a call at second base

September 17 – Jay Payton, left field (2)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg for arguing balls and strikes

September 19 – Jay Payton, left field (3)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Mike Reilly for arguing balls and strikes

Boston Red Sox (11)
April 10 – Brendan Donnelly, pitcher (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for throwing at a batter

April 10 – Terry Francona, manager (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for throwing at a hitter

April 28 – Coco Crisp, center field (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Bruce Froemming for arguing balls and strikes

June 6 – Terry Francona, manager (2)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna for arguing balls and strikes

June 15 – David Ortiz, designated hitter (1)
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Tony Randazzo for arguing balls and strikes

June 23 – Terry Francona, manager (3)
Top 6th by third base umpire Brian Knight for arguing a homerun reversal

Jul 20 – Terry Francona, manager (4)
Top 2nd by third base umpire Tim McClelland for arguing a homerun call

August 6 – Manny Ramirez, left field (1)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Jamie Hoye for arguing balls and strikes

August 17 – Terry Francona, manager (5)
Bottom 9th by first base umpire Mark Wegner for arguing a check swing

August 17 – Kevin Youkilis, first base (1)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire Brian Runge for arguing a check swing

August 30 – Terry Francona, manager (6)
Top 7th by second base umpire Derryl Cousins for arguing a runner out of the baseline

Chicago Cubs (7)
May 20 – Cliff Floyd, pinch-hitter (1)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire Joe West for arguing balls and strikes

June 2 – Lou Piniella, manager (1)
Bottom 8th by third base umpire Mark Wegner for arguing a call at third base

June 10 – Ted Lilly, pitcher (1)
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Jim Wolf for arguing a warning

June 16 – Gerald Perry, hitting coach (1)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Mike Everitt for fighting

June 16 – Derrek Lee, first base (1)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Mike Everitt for fighting

September 2 – Aramis Ramirez, third base (1)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Tony Randazzo for arguing balls and strikes

September 25 – Aramis Ramirez, third base (2)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Andy Fletcher for arguing balls and strikes

Chicago White Sox (8)
April 15 – Joe Crede, third base (1)
Top 6th by home plate umpire Jerry Meals for arguing balls and strikes

May 21 – Jermaine Dye, right field (1)
Top 6th by home plate umpire Chris Guccione for arguing balls and strikes

June 3 – Ozzie Guillen, manager (1)
Bottom 3rd by home plate umpire Alfonzo Marquez for arguing a check-swing

June 7 – A.J. Pierzynski, catcher (1)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Bob Davidson for arguing balls and strikes

June 24 – Ozzie Guillen, manager (2)
Top 8th by first base umpire Joe West for arguing an obstruction call at second base

July 31 – Ozzie Guillen, manager (3)
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing balls and strikes

July 31 – Paul Konerko, first base (1)
Top 6th by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing balls and strikes

August 1 – Charles Haeger, pitcher (1)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for hitting a batter

Cincinnati Reds (5)
May 20 – Jerry Narron, manager (1)
Top 8th by third base umpire Gary Darling for arguing a call at third base

May 30 – Jerry Narron, manager (2)
Top 1st by home plate umpire Bill Welke for arguing balls and strikes

July 7 – Ryan Freel, third base (1)
Top 8th by first base umpire Chad Fairchild for arguing a call at first base

August 9 – Adam Dunn, outfielder (1)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire Paul Emmel for arguing balls and strikes

September 21 – Norris Hopper, centerfield (1)
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Bob Davidson for arguing

Cleveland Indians (3)
April 27 – Eric Wedge, manager (1)
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Bill Miller for arguing balls and strikes

July 14 – Ryan Garko, first base (1)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Mark Carlson for arguing balls and strikes

August 30 – Eric Wedge, manager (2)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Sam Holbrook for arguing a non-balk call

Colorado Rockies (8)
May 7 – Clint Hurdle, manager (1)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Bob Davidson for arguing a homerun call

June 8 – Clint Hurdle, manager (2)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Larry Vanover for arguing balls and strikes

June 23 – Yorvit Torrealba, catcher (1)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Gerry Davis for arguing balls and strikes

August 31 – Clint Hurdle, manager (3)
Top 9th by first base umpire Jerry Layne for arguing a call at first base

August 31 – Troy Tulowitzki, shortstop (1)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Ed Montague for arguing a call at first base

September 11 – Clint Hurdle, manager (4)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Mike Dimuro for arguing balls and strikes

September 11 – Jamie Quirk, bench coach (1)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Mike Dimuro for arguing balls and strikes

September 12 – Yorvit Torrealba, catcher (2)
Top 2nd by home plate umpire Bill Welke for arguing balls and strikes

Detroit Tigers (7)
May 31 – Gary Sheffield, designated hitter (1)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Greg Gibson for arguing balls and strikes

June 2 – Justin Verlander, pitcher (1)
Bottom 4th by second base umpire Greg Gibson for arguing balls and strikes

June 2 – Jim Leyland, manager (1)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Tony Randazzo for arguing balls and strikes

June 29 – Lloyd McClendon, hitting coach (1)
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Marty Foster for arguing balls and strikes

July 12 – Ivan Rodriguez, catcher (1)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Mike Winters for making contact while arguing an obstruction call

August 26 – Ivan Rodriguez, catcher (2)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Sam Holbrook for arguing balls and strikes

September 29 – Jim Leyland, manager (2)
Bottom 9th by second base umpire Doug Eddings for arguing a call at second base

Florida Marlins (7)
May 24 – Fredi Gonzalez, manager (1)
Top 3rd by first base umpire Chuck Meriweather for arguing a call at first base

June 12 – Fredi Gonzalez, manager (2)
Top 6th by home plate umpire Brian Knight for throwing at a batter

June 12 – Taylor Tankersley, pitcher (1)
Top 6th by home plate umpire Brian Knight for throwing at a batter

June 12 – Aaron Boone, first base (1)
Top 6th by home plate umpire Brian Knight for arguing an ejection

August 18 – Fredi Gonzalez, manager (3)
Top 5th by second base umpire Tim McClelland for arguing balls and strikes

August 20 – Rick Kranitz, pitching coach (1)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Paul Schrieber for arguing balls and strikes

September 29 – Miguel Olivo, catcher (1)
Top 5th by third base umpire Ed Hickox for fighting

Houston Astros (7)
April 13 – Phil Garner, manager (1)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Greg Gibson for arguing a balk

May 11 – Phil Garner, manager (2)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Dale Scott for arguing balls and strikes

June 5 – Phil Garner, manager (3)
Top 9th by third base umpire Ed Rapuano for arguing a warning issued to his team

June 5 – Lance Berkman, outfield (1)
Top 8th by third base umpire Ed Rapuano for arguing a check-swing

June 6 – Woody Williams, pitcher (1)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire C.P. Bucknor for throwing at a batter

June 8 – Phil Garner, manager (4)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Sam Holbrook for arguing balls and strikes

June 8 – Lance Berkman, outfield (2)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Sam Holbrook for arguing balls and strikes

Kansas City Royals (6)
April 9 – Buddy Bell, manager (1)
Bottom 2nd by third base umpire Gerry Davis for arguing fan interference

May 30 – Buddy Bell, manager (2)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Marty Foster for arguing balls and strikes

May 30 – Emil Brown, left field (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Marty Foster for arguing balls and strikes

July 6 – Buddy Bell, manager (3)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for arguing balls and strikes

September 11 – Buddy Bell, manager (4)
7th by home plate umpire Larry Poncino

September 29 – Buddy Bell, manager (5)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Bill Welke for arguing a call at first base

Los Angeles Angels (3)
May 13 – Mike Scioscia, manager (1)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez for throwing at a batter

May 13 – Hector Carrasco, pitcher (1)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez for throwing at a batter

August 20 – Mike Scioscia, manager (2)
Bottom 8th by third base umpire Dan Iassogna for arguing balls and strikes

Los Angeles Dodgers (3)
June 3 – Grady Little, manager (1)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Bill Welke for arguing a call at home plate

August 13 – Nomar Garciaparra, third base (1)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for arguing balls and strikes

August 31 – Russell Martin, catcher (1)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna for arguing balls and strikes

Milwaukee Brewers (13)
April 10 – Tony Graffanino, second base (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Doug Eddings for arguing balls and strikes

May 15 – Ned Yost, manager (1)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Larry Vanover for arguing balls and strikes

May 25 – Ned Yost, manager (2)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Jerry Layne for arguing balls and strikes

May 25 – Geoff Jenkins, left field (1)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Jerry Layne for arguing balls and strikes

August 12 – Prince Fielder, first base (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Wally Bell for arguing balls and strikes

September 7 – Ned Yost, manager (3)
Bottom 3rd by home plate umpire Mike Winters for arguing balls and strikes

September 14 – Geoff Jenkins, left field (2)
Bottom 7th by third base umpire John Hirschbeck for arguing balls and strikes

September 23 – Ned Yost, manager (4)
Bottom 7th by second base umpire Chris Guccione for arguing a call at second base

September 24 – Ned Yost, manager (5)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing a call at home plate

September 24 – Damian Miller, catcher (1)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing balls and strikes

September 24 – Jim Skaalen, hitting coach (1)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing balls and strikes

September 26 – Ned Yost, manager (6)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for intentionally hitting a batter

September 26 – Seth McClung, pitcher (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for intentionally hitting a batter

Minnesota Twins (11)
May 2 – Ron Gardenhire, manager (1)
Bottom 5th by first base umpire Angel Hernandez for arguing a call at first base

May 10 – Ron Gardenhire, manager (2)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Derryl Cousins for arguing a call at home plate

June 24 – Ron Gardenhire, manager (3)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Larry Young for arguing balls and strikes

June 24 – Michael Cuddyer, right field (1)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Larry Young for arguing balls and strikes

June 26 – Ron Gardenhire, manager (4)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Mike Winters for arguing a call at home plate

July 3 – Torii Hunter, center field (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Ron Kulpa for arguing balls and strikes

August 15 – Ron Gardenhire, manager (5)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom for arguing balls and strikes

August 28 – Ron Gardenhire, manager (6)
Top 5th by first base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt for arguing a call at first base

September 14 – Ron Gardenhire, manager (7)
Bottom 8th by first base umpire Chad Fairchild for arguing balls and strikes

September 14 – Torii Hunter, center field (2)
Bottom 8th by first base umpire Chad Fairchild for arguing balls and strikes

September 17 – Ron Gardenhire, manager (8)
Bottom 8th by first base umpire Jeff Nelson for arguing a call at first base

New York Mets (7)
April 14 – Orlando Hernandez, pitcher (1)
Top 6th by home plate umpire Mike Winters for throwing at a batter

April 28 – Willie Randolph, manager (1)
Bottom 6th by first base umpire Tony Randazzo for arguing a call at first base

June 23 – Paul Lo Duca, catcher (1)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson for arguing balls and strikes

September 2 – Moises Alou, left fielder (1)
Top 8th by first base umpire Andy Fletcher for arguing balls and strikes

September 14 – Paul Lo Duca, catcher (2)
10th by home plate umpire Paul Emmel

September 15 – Marlon Anderson, pinch-hitter (1)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna for arguing balls and strikes

September 20 – Lastings Milledge, right field (1)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Jim Joyce for arguing balls and strikes

New York Yankees (10)
May 6 – Joe Torre, manager (1)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Mike Everitt for throwing at a hitter

May 6 – Scott Proctor, pitcher (1)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Mike Everitt for throwing at a batter

June 1 – Joe Torre, manager (2)
Top 5th by third base umpire Jerry Crawford for arguing a caught stealing

June 1 – Scott Proctor, pitcher (2)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire Brian O’Nora for throwing at a batter

August 7 – Roger Clemens, pitcher (1)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez for hitting a batter

August 7 – Joe Torre, manager (3)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez for hitting a batter

August 8 – Bobby Abreu, outfielder (1)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Derryl Cousins for arguing balls and strikes

August 12 – Ron Guidry, pitching coach (1)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Tim McClelland for arguing balls and strikes

August 24 – Jorge Posada, catcher (1)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Bob Davidson for arguing balls and strikes

August 30 – Joba Chamberlain, pitcher (1)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Angel Hernandez for throwing at a batter

Oakland Athletics (5)
May 1 – Bob Geren, manager (1)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Charlie Reliford for arguing a check swing

July 8 – Joe Blanton, pitcher (1)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Travis Reininger for fighting

August 18 – Bob Geren, manager (2)
Top 5th by second base umpire Mike Muchlinski for arguing interference at second base

August 23 – Santiago Casilla, pitcher (1)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire John Hirschbeck for throwing at a batter

September 16 – Nick Swisher, right field (1)
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Chuck Meriweather for fighting

Philadelphia Phillies (10)
May 1 – Charlie Manuel, manager (1)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Joe West for arguing a balk

May 23 – Rod Barajas, catcher (1)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for arguing a call at home plate

May 23 – Charlie Manuel, manager (2)
Bottom 9th by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for arguing a call at home plate

June 1 – Charlie Manuel, manager (3)
Top 2nd by first base umpire Tim McClelland for arguing a check-swing

June 7 – Charlie Manuel, manager (4)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Jerry Layne for arguing a homerun reversal

June 17 – Charlie Manuel, manager (5)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Bill Welke for arguing balls and strikes

June 17 – Carlos Ruiz, catcher (1)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Bill Welke for arguing balls and strikes

June 17 – Steve Smith, third base coach (1)
Bottom 8th by first base umpire Laz Diaz for arguing balls and strikes

August 27 – Charlie Manuel, manager (6)
Bottom 1st by first base umpire Joe West for arguing a call at first base

September 13 – Antonio Alfonseca, pitcher (1)
Top 7th by home plate umpire John Hirschbeck for throwing at a batter

Pittsburgh Pirates (3)
May 5 – Matt Capps, pitcher (1)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez for throwing at a batter

May 8 – Jim Tracy, manager (1)
Top 7th by first base umpire Tom Hallion for arguing a call at second base
July 25 – Jim Tracy, manager (2)
Bottom 3rd by third base umpire Larry Vanover for arguing a call in left field

San Diego Padres (12)
April 18 – David Wells, pitcher (1)
12th by first base umpire Doug Eddings for arguing a call at first base

May 29 – Marcus Giles, second base (1)
Top 2nd by first base umpire Joe West for arguing balls and strikes

May 31 – Josh Bard, catcher (1)
Top 11th by home plate umpire Ed Rapuano for arguing a homerun call

May 31 – Bud Black, manager (1)
Top 11th by third base umpire Joe West for arguing a homerun call

June 16 – Jake Peavy, pitcher (1)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Mike Everitt for fighting

June 16 – Chris Young, pitcher (1)
Bottom 4th by home plate umpire Mike Everitt for fighting

July 7 – David Wells, pitcher (2)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Ed Hickox for arguing balls and strikes

July 22 – Bud Black, manager (2)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Chris Guccione for arguing balls and strikes

July 22 – Michael Barrett, catcher (1)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Chris Guccione for arguing balls and strikes

September 4 – Milton Bradley, left field (1)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing balls and strikes

September 23 – Milton Bradley, left field (2)
Bottom 8th by first place umpire Mike Winters or home plate umpire Brian Runge for arguing a call from a previous at-bat (Winters was later suspended for the rest of the season for his role in the confrontation with Bradley)

September 23 – Bud Black, manager (3)
Bottom 8th by third base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt for arguing a check-swing call

San Francisco Giants (9)
May 5 – Dave Righetti, pitching coach (1)
Top 7th by first base umpire Jim Reynolds for arguing balls and strikes

May 18 – Steve Kline, pitcher (1)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Bill Miller for arguing balls and strikes

May 18 – Bruce Bochy, manager (1)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Bill Miller for arguing balls and strikes

June 20 – Bruce Bochy, manager (2)
Top 6th by first base umpire Brian Knight for arguing a call

June 23 – Bruce Bochy, manager (3)
Bottom 6th by first base umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing a call

August 15 – Ryan Klesko, first base (1)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Mark Carlson for arguing balls and strikes

August 15 – Bruce Bochy, manager (4)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Mark Carlson for arguing balls and strikes

September 4 – Brian Wilson, pitcher (1)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Jerry Meals for hitting a batter

September 4 – Bruce Bochy, manager (5)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Jerry Meals for arguing an ejection

Seattle Mariners (12)
April 10 – Jose Guillen, right field (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for charging the mound

May 6 – Mike Hargrove, manager (1)
7th by home plate umpire Mike Everitt

June 8 – Carlos Garcia, third base coach (1)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez for leaving the third base coach’s box

June 22 – Mike Hargrove, manager (2)
Top 2nd by home plate umpire Mike Winters for arguing balls and strikes

July 8 – Miguel Batista, pitcher (1)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Travis Reininger for fighting

July 22 – John McLaren, manager (1)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Chad Fairchild for arguing balls and strikes

July 29 – Richie Sexson, first base (1)
Top 6th by second base umpire Mark Carlson for arguing a call at first base

August 27 – John McLaren, manager (2)
Bottom 1st by third base umpire Jerry Meals for arguing a foul tip call

September 5 – Rick White, pitcher (1)
Bottom 8th by home plate umpire Larry Vanover for arguing balls and strikes

September 11 – John McLaren, manager (3)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Chris Guccione for arguing balls and strikes

September 20 – John McLaren, manager (4)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Dana Demuth for throwing at a batter

September 20 – Jorge Campillo, pitcher (1)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Dana Demuth for throwing at a batter

St. Louis Cardinals (4)
July 28 – Tony LaRussa, manager (1)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Greg Gibson for arguing a check swing

August 2 – Scott Spiezio, left field (1)
Bottom 10th by home plate umpire Bob Davidson for arguing balls and strikes

August 5 – Tony LaRussa, manager (2)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Mark Wegner for arguing balls and strikes

September 16 – Jim Edmonds, center field (1)
8th by home plate umpire Paul Schrieber

Tampa Bay Devil Rays (6)
May 10 – Ty Wigginton, third base (1)
Bottom 5th by third base umpire James Hoye for arguing a call at third base

June 17 – Joe Maddon, manager (1)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Ted Barrett for arguing balls and strikes

July 25 – Steve Henderson, hitting coach (1)
Top 4th by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for arguing balls and strikes

July 28 – Joe Maddon, manager (2)
Top 11th by home plate umpire Mark Wegner for arguing balls and strikes

September 3 – Carl Crawford, left field (1)
Bottom 3rd by first base umpire Paul Nauert for arguing a call at first base

September 17 – Joe Maddon, manager (3)
Top 7th by home plate umpire Bruce Froemming for arguing balls and strikes

Texas Rangers (7)
April 18 – Jerry Hairston, Jr., left field (1)
Top 3rd by first base umpire James Hoye for arguing a call at first base

May 14 – Sammy Sosa, outfield (1)
9th by home plate umpire Tim Timmons

July 3 – Art Howe, bench coach (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire John Hirschbeck for arguing balls and strikes

July 8 – Frank Catalanotto, left field (1)
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Lance Barksdale for arguing balls and strikes

August 6 – Michael Young, shortstop (1)
Bottom 11th by home plate umpire Bill Miller for arguing balls and strikes

August 6 – Ron Washington, manager (1)
Bottom 11th by home plate umpire Bill Miller for arguing balls and strikes

September 16 – Vicente Padilla, pitcher (1)
Bottom 1st by home plate umpire Chuck Meriweather for fighting

Toronto Blue Jays (5)
April 21 – John Gibbons, manager (1)
Top 5th by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing balls and strikes

June 27 – John Gibbons, manager (2)
Top 9th by home plate manager Mark Wegner for arguing balls and strikes

June 27 – Frank Thomas, designated hitter (1)
Top 9th by home plate umpire Mark Wegner for arguing balls and strikes

July 20 – John Gibbons, manager (3)
Bottom 6th by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for arguing balls and strikes

July 30 – John Gibbons, manager (4)
Bottom 8th by third base umpire Tim Welke for arguing balls and strikes

Washington Nationals (6)
May 23 – Ray King, pitcher (1)
Bottom 7th by home plate umpire Lance Barksdale for arguing balls and strikes

July 2 – Robert Fick, pinch-hitter (1)
Top 8th by home plate umpire Scott Barry for arguing balls and strikes

July 19 – Dmitri Young, first base (1)
Bottom 3rd by home plate umpire Rob Drake for arguing balls and strikes

July 26 – John Lannan, pitcher (1)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt for throwing at a hitter

July 26 – Manny Acta, manager (1)
Bottom 5th by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt for throwing at a hitter

September 7 – Pat Corrales, bench coach (1)
Top 5th by first base umpire Jim Reynolds for arguing a check-swing call

Happy Birthday: October 15 - 21

(Baseball birthdays found here have been compiled from the “Frivolities” section at Baseball-Reference.com. All other birthdays were taken from Wikipedia.)

A mea culpa: my niece, Shakeira, turned two last week and I completely forgot to mention it. This week, my niece and goddaughter Hannah celebrates her fifth. It's cliched, yes, but I have to say it: they grow up so damn fast.

If you have anyone else you’d care to recognize or mention, leave their name in the comments.

October 15
Jim Palmer (baseball) - 1945

Vanessa Marcil (actress) - 1969

October 16

Will Harridge (baseball) - 1883
Goose Goslin (baseball) - 1900

Angela Lansbury (actress) - 1925
Tim McCarver (baseball) - 1941

Manute Bol (basketball) - 1962

Sue Bird (basketball) - 1980

October 17
Buck Ewing (baseball) - 1859

Rita Hayworth (actress) - 1918

Ernie Els (golf) - 1969

October 18
Candy Cummings (baseball) - 1848

Forrest Gregg (football) - 1933

Mike Ditka (football) - 1939

Thomas Hearns (boxing) - 1958

October 19
Mordecai Brown (baseball) - 1876

Evander Holyfield (boxing) - 1962

October 20
Judy Johnson (baseball) - 1900
Mickey Mantle (baseball) - 1931
Jerry Orbach (actor) - 1935

Juan Marichal (baseball) - 1937

October 21
Whitey Ford (baseball) - 1928

Brian Piccolo (football) - 1943

Reverse Survivor: Four Teams, Six Games Left

Another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust. Only three of the five winless teams played this week (Florida International and Utah State had byes), but one managed to get into the win column: North Texas, which bested fellow Sun Belt also-ran Louisiana-Monroe, 31-21. Something I previously did not know about the Mean Green: coach Todd Dodge jumped directly from high school coaching to his position at North Texas.

And then there were four: Marshall, Colorado State, Florida International, and Utah State. Remaining schedules and opponents' records are below.

Marshall (0-5, Conference USA)

• October 21 vs. Southern Miss (3-3)
• October 27 vs. Rice (1-5)
• November 3 @ UCF (3-3)
• November 10 vs. East Carolina (4-3)
• November 17 @ Houston (3-3)
• November 24 vs. UAB (2-4)

Colorado State (0-6, Mountain West)

• October 20 @ UNLV (2-5)
• October 27 vs. Utah (4-3)
• November 3 @ Brigham Young (4-2)
• November 10 @ New Mexico (4-2)
• November 17 vs. Georgia Southern (4-2)
• November 23 vs. Wyoming (4-2)

Florida International (0-6, Sun Belt)

• October 20 @ Louisiana-Monroe (1-5)
• October 27 @ Arkansas (3-3)
• November 3 @ Arkansas State (3-3)
• November 17 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (1-6)
• November 24 vs. Florida Atlantic (3-3)
• December 1 vs. North Texas (1-5)

Utah State (0-6, Western Athletic)

• October 20 vs. Nevada (2-3)
• October 27 vs. Louisiana Tech (2-4)
• November 3 @ Fresno State (4-2)
• November 10 vs. Boise State (4-1)
• November 17 @ New Mexico State (3-4)
• November 24 @ Idaho (1-6)

FCS Teams Without A 2007 Win

• Northern Colorado (0-7, Big Sky)
• Indiana State (0-7, Gateway)
• Southern Utah (0-6, Great West)
• La Salle (0-6, Metro Atlantic Athletic)
• North Carolina A&T (0-7, Mid-Eastern Athletic)
• St. Francis (PA) (0-5, Northeast)
• Georgetown (0-7, Patriot League)
• Stephen F. Austin (0-6, Southland)
• Texas Southern (0-6, Southwestern Athletic)

Visual Crack: The Third Greatest Field Goal In New England Sports History

It's not quite on par with either of Adam Vinatieri's Super Bowl winning kicks and not nearly as well remembered as Doug Flutie's Hail Mary, but David Gordon's 41-yard boot to upend top-ranked Notre Dame in 1993 has to rank as one of the biggest plays in New England football history.

As a fourteen-year-old baseball fan, there's a good chance that this might have been the first college football game I ever watched in its entirety. I can't really say why I picked that Saturday afternoon to spend three hours in front of my brother's 13" black and white television - all I can figure is that was around the time my weird desire to attend Boston College began (for about three years, until I actually looked into cost and majors and stuff like that, I "knew" I was going to BC), although it could've been as simple as being interested in seeing the number one team in the nation play a school from my own backyard.

I don't remember a lot of details about the game itself. Glen Foley led the Eagles to a seemingly insurmountable 38-17 fourth quarter lead...then the Irish charged back with three scores of their own, plus a two-point conversion, to take a one point lead into the final minutes of play.

It should've been a great escape for Notre Dame, the type of necessary speed bump that great teams have to face before they can take their place among history's best. Should've been...

Instead, Foley took the ball and started the two-minute drill, moving down the field as the Irish watched their title hopes slip away, yard by yard. His day finished at the 24-yard line, seconds left on the clock, Gordon taking his place as the centerpiece of the offense. The lefty kicker, who was either a freshman or a senior if I'm remembering correctly (and I'm probably not), made a perfect approach that sent the ball up...breaking to the right, it's gonna go wide right...no, it's straightening out...GOOD!! 41-39, game over.

That's all I remember - a handful of details and the fact that when Gordon's kick went through, I was so excited that I performed the first and only backwards somersault - in midair - of my life. It wasn't the most graceful of maneuvers - My poor mother was convinced that New Hampshire was experiencing a rare earthquake and the house was going to come down around her ears. But hey, such is the price of youthful exuberance.

Anyway, let's hope Saturday's game between Boston College and Notre Dame is exciting for different reasons...because this time, the Eagles are the team that's looking to prove they belong near the top of the rankings and the Irish are the guys looking for the upset.

Joe Torre, I Have A Job For You

Following a heartbreaking seven game loss in the 1960 World Series, the New York Yankees dismissed their manager, Hall of Famer Casey Stengel, after twelve seasons, ten American League pennants, seven World Series victories, and 1,149 wins. The primary reason? At 70 years of age, he was considered too old to continue leading the team effectively.

The Yankees of the 21st century haven't had quite the same run of success - although ten division titles, six American League pennants, and four World Series titles in the last twelve years is still pretty damn impressive - while being managed by Joe Torre (like Stengel a former major league standout who initially scuffled as a skipper before landing in New York), the only man to hang onto the job for any length of time - twelve years - during George Steinbrenner's nearly four decades of ownership.

After a third consecutive loss in the first round of the playoffs, Torre appears to be on the verge of suffering the same fate as Stengel: being pushed unceremoniously out the door without much regard for past contributions to the team's success.

If Steinbrenner makes good on his threat to relieve Torre of his managerial duties, it's not the end of the world for the former catcher from Brooklyn. He has made enough money and enjoyed enough success that he could sit at home with his wife, spend time with his grandkids, and wait for the congratulatory call from the Hall of Fame in a few years. But is that the most intriguing option on the table? Hell no - not by a long shot.

Let's take a step back. Stengel didn't manage anywhere in 1961, but the following year he was tabbed to lead one of the most godawful teams in major league history: the 1962 New York Mets, which still holds the all-time single season record for losses with 120. Superficially, the records aren't so great - 40-120, 51-111, 53-109; there was annual improvement, at least - but Stengel's real value to the team was in public relations. He was a side show freak in Queens, taking what might have gone down in history as just a terrible, terrible team and turning it into a bunch of loveable losers.

Don't believe me? Look at the way New York's attendance climbed from 1962 to 1964, Stengel's final full season: from seventh in the National League to fourth to second - and in 1964, they actually drew more fans than the World Series-bound Yankees. There can be no question that while Stengel didn't lead the Mets to a huge bundle of wins every year, he provided them with some legitimacy in the eyes of the fans right from the outset.

What does this all mean for Joe Torre? Two words, four numbers: Tampa Bay, 2009.

Crazy, you say? Maybe. But the modern day Devil Rays are to my generation what the early Mets were to my father's: a laughingstock that really has little business as a major league team. The only difference is that the Mets were colicky babies who quickly matured into successful adolescents, while the Rays never outgrew the Terrible Twos and currently appear headed for a stretch in juvie if they don't get their shit together soon.

Joe Maddon seems like a nice guy and all, and he is the owner of hands-down the best pair of eyeglasses in baseball today, but he has yet to pull it together in two seasons at the helm. 61-101? 66-96? The grace period is over, Mr. Maddon. If that talented young lineup doesn't mature as quickly as planned and the admittedly young pitching staff doesn't figure out what the hell it's doing (Step 1: throw some fucking strikes, Kazmir. You too, Jackson), then guess what time it is? That's right...Torre Time in Tampa!

It makes sense, sort of, if you aren't bothered by little things like reality. As mentioned, the Rays are an all-around young team, right down to their 53-year-old manager, and most of the current players have never tasted any real success at the major league level. Torre's arrival would change that immediately: the man has eleven division titles to his credit. Six pennants. Four world championships. You think the players were responsible for all that success? Fuck that. They would've been good with any manager, but they needed the calm, cool, collected guidance of Joseph Paul Torre to become champions.

The players were undeniably talented, however, which brings me to the next point: Joe Torre's players love him. They love him a lot. They love him so much that some of them who are free agents in the near future might just be willing to travel to the seventh circle of baseball hell if it meant playing for him again. Jorge Posada's defense has been questioned, but might he help that young staff improve? Alex Rodriguez would probably triple Tampa Bay's entire 2007 payroll, but he would provide a bona fide power hitter in the middle of the lineup (I'm not sold on Carlos Pena as a long term solution...not until he produces like that for more than one season). And the ace in the hole, the one player that might single-handedly help the Rays add ten wins to their total in 2009? Mariano Rivera, who will be 39 that season, but remains a better bullpen option than anybody currently on the team.

Am I dreaming? Of course. Those three guy are free agents this offseason, which means they would have to sign with Tampa Bay on the off chance that Torre takes over the following season. Real likely, I know. But do I think Torre to Tampa would be an interesting move? Without a doubt. Will it ever happen? Unfortunately, we're not that lucky.

African-American Pitchers and the Cy Young Award

About two months ago, I wrote a short article for Chicago Sports Weekly about the lack of non-white pitchers in baseball's 300 Win Club. While the bulk of the piece focused on past players such as Ferguson Jenkins and Bob Gibson who hadn't reached that milestone, the conclusion discussed a quartet that I believe stand the best chance of getting there someday: Venezualans Johan Santana and Carlos Zambrano, and African-Americans C.C. Sabathia and Dontrelle Willis.

Of those four, Cleveland's Sabathia had the best individual season in 2007, starting and finishing strong to become, in the eyes of many, the favorite to win the American League Cy Young award. As I tried naming, off the top of my head, the past winners of the award, something occurred to me: I couldn't think of a single black player in recent years who had received that honor.

A trip to Baseball-Reference.com confirmed my suspicions: the last African-American player to win a Cy Young award in either league was New York's Dwight Gooden, who took home the hardware as a 20-year-old phenom in 1985. And before that, we have to go all the way back to 1971 before another winner pops up. In all, only five African-American pitchers have won the award, doing so a total of six times; with 92 total Cy Youngs given since 1956, that represents a mere 6.5% of the all-time total. The list and their season statistics are below:

Player	Team	League	Year	W-L	ERA	SO
Dwight Gooden	New York Mets	National	1985	24-4	1.53	268
Vida Blue	Oakland Athletics	American	1971	248	1.82	301
Ferguson Jenkins	Chicago Cubs	National	1971	24-13	2.77	263
Bob Gibson	St. Louis Cardinals	National	1970	23-7	3.12	274
Bob Gibson	St. Louis Cardinals	National	1968	22-9	1.12	268
Don Newcombe	Brooklyn	National	1956	27-7	3.06	139

It gets better when top three finishes are taken into account, but not much: ten African-American pitchers have been voted into the top three a total of fifteen times since the Cy Young was first awarded in 1956. The most recent was Florida's Dontrelle Willis, who finished second in 2005. Once again, the American League is lagging disturbingly far behind the Senior Circuit: while Latinos such as Johan Santana, Mariano Rivera and Pedro Martinez have been fixtures in the top three for years, the last African-American to place that high in the voting was Oakland's Dave Stewart, who did it three out of the four seasons from 1987-90 (he finished fourth in 1988).

Overall, the National League had twice as many top three finishers (10) as its American League counterparts (5):

Player	Year	League	Finish
Dontrelle Willis	2005	NL	2nd
Ken Hill	1994	NL	2nd
Dave Stewart	1990	AL	3rd
Dave Stewart	1989	AL	2nd
Dave Stewart	1987	AL	3rd
Dwight Gooden	1984	NL	2nd
Jim Bibby	1980	NL	3rd
J.R. Richard	1979	NL	3rd
Vida Blue	1978	NL	3rd
Fergie Jenkins	1974	AL	2nd
Fergie Jenkins	1972	NL	3rd
Al Downing	1971	NL	3rd
Fergie Jenkins	1970	NL	3rd
Fergie Jenkins	1967	NL	2nd
Sam Jones	1959	AL	2nd

I know things like this shouldn't come into play when the time comes to vote for awards, but a part of me hopes that Sabathia wins - not only because he had an overall better season than Josh Beckett or Fausto Carmona, but also because it would increase his stature as a positive role model and potentially help nudge more young African-Americans toward baseball in general and pitching in particular (a look at the MVP awards over the last twenty years reveals that a ton of them have been won by African-American players, including seven for Barry Bonds and two for Frank Thomas; a breakdown of that voting might be next on the agenda).

Happy Birthday: October 8 - 14

(Baseball birthdays found here have been compiled from the “Frivolities” section at Baseball-Reference.com. All other birthdays were taken from Wikipedia.)

If you have anyone else you’d care to recognize or mention, leave their name in the comments.

October 8

Billy Conn (boxing) - 1917

Mike Morgan (baseball) - 1959

October 9

Rube Marquard (baseball) - 1886

Joe Sewell (baseball) - 1898

Walter O'Malley (baseball) - 1903

John Lennon (musician) - 1940

Annika Sorenstam (golf) - 1970

October 10

Brett Favre (football) - 1969

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (auto racing) - 1974

Mya (singer) - 1978

Troy Tulowitzki (baseball) - 1984

October 11

Steve Young (football) - 1961

Luke Perry (actor) - 1965

Dmitri Young (baseball) - 1973

Michelle Wie (golf) - 1989

October 12

Pete Hill (baseball) - 1880

Rick Ferrell (baseball) - 1905

Joe Cronin (baseball) - 1906

Sally Ride (astronaut) - 1951

Marion Jones (track & field) - 1975

October 13

Rube Waddell (baseball) - 1876

Eddie Mathews (baseball) - 1931

Jerry Trupiano (broadcaster) - 1947

Dick Pole (baseball) - 1950

Jerry Rice (football) - 1962

Trevor Hoffman (baseball) - 1967

Paul Pierce (basketball) - 1977

October 14

Oscar Charleston (baseball) - 1896

Floyd Landis (cycling) - 1975

Stacy Keibler (pro wrestling) - 1979

Photos: Stacy Keibler, Mya

Reverse Survivor: The Dream Is Over

Deep down, I always knew that Notre Dame wouldn't go the entire 2007 season without a victory, but I never thought that Win #1 would come against a pretty solid UCLA team. If the Fighting Irish turn in a decent showing against #4 Boston College and #7 USC in the next couple of weeks, they might be able to salvage the season.

But I digress: one-win teams don't matter in Reverse Survivor. Notre Dame is dead to us, and so are Rice, Temple, Louisiana-Monroe, and Louisiana-Lafayette, all of which earned a "1" in the win column last week. The number of winless wonders was cut in half, dropping the magic number to five and raising speculation that no team will go the entire year without a victory.

The five remaining teams are listed below. Because we're getting down to the nitty gritty in the competition, I've included each squad's remaining 2007 schedule and any pertinent notes.

Marshall (0-5, Conference USA)

• October 13 @ Tulsa (3-2)
• October 21 vs. Southern Miss (2-3)
• October 27 vs. Rice (1-4)
• November 3 @ UCF (3-2)
• November 10 vs. East Carolina (3-3)
• November 17 @ Houston (2-3)
• November 24 vs. UAB (1-4)

Colorado State (0-5, Mountain West) - Three of Colorado State's five losses have been by six points or less. Also, I just realized that the Rams hold a special place in OMDQ history: in last year's NCAA Football XBox playoff, they emerged as a Cinderella story and upended some of the top seeded programs.

• October 13 vs. Air Force (4-2)
• October 20 @ UNLV (2-4)
• October 27 vs. Utah (3-3)
• November 3 @ Brigham Young (3-2)
• November 10 @ New Mexico (3-2)
• November 17 vs. Georgia Southern (4-1) - The Eagles are a FCS (1-AA) school. Granted, an FCS school that holds its own in a conference with Appalachian State and Wofford, but FCS nonetheless. Probably the best chance at a win in a reasonably difficult schedule.
• November 23 vs. Wyoming (4-1)

North Texas (0-5, Sun Belt)

• October 13 vs. Louisiana-Monroe (1-4)
• October 20 @ Troy (4-2)
• October 27 vs. Middle Tennessee (1-5)
• November 10 vs. Navy (3-2)
• November 15 @ Arkansas State (2-3)
• November 24 vs. Western Kentucky (3-2)
• December 1 @ Florida International (0-6) - Unless North Texas or FIU manages to pick up a win before December 1, this game could be for all the marbles.

Florida International (0-6, Sun Belt) - The Golden Eagles play the next three games on the road, but a pair of bye weeks mixed in should serve to soften that blow.

• October 20 @ Louisiana-Monroe (1-4)
• October 27 @ Arkansas (3-2)
• November 3 @ Arkansas State (2-3)
• November 17 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (1-5)
• November 24 vs. Florida Atlantic (3-3)
• December 1 vs. North Texas (0-5)

Utah State (0-6, Western Athletic)

• October 20 vs. Nevada (2-3)
• October 27 vs. Louisiana Tech (1-4)
• November 3 @ Fresno State (3-2)
• November 10 vs. Boise State (4-1)
• November 17 @ New Mexico State (3-3)
• November 24 @ Idaho (1-5)

Special Bonus: FCS Teams Without A 2007 Win

• Northern Colorado (0-6, Big Sky)
• Indiana State (0-6, Gateway)
• Southern Utah (0-5, Great West)
• La Salle (0-5, Metro Atlantic Athletic)
• Marist (0-6, Metro Atlantic Athletic)
• North Carolina A&T (0-6, Mid-Eastern Athletic)
• St. Francis (PA) (0-4, Northeast)
• Tennessee-Martin (0-6, Ohio Valley)
• Georgetown (0-6, Patriot League)
• Stephen F. Austin (0-5, Southland)
• Alcorn State (0-5, Southwestern Athletic)
• Texas Southern (0-5, Southwestern Athletic)

Baseball Digest Does Not Care To Help You Relive Your Memories

Some time ago, I wrote about Baseball Digest and the short-tempered manner in which the staff handles some of the responses to fan letters. The offending missive at that time was from a fan who questioned whether or not major league umpires were always calling games on the level, a query that was met with a sharp rebuke that basically called the writer an idiot for even considering such a question.

Of course, in this month's issue, there is a lengthy letter detailing a case of umpire corruption in baseball. Granted, it was from 1882, and the umpire was, as Baseball Digest took care to note, "...the lone, acknowledged scoundrel among major league umpires..." but still. They were wrong.

So, of course the very next letter was from someone who thinks that because we now have instant replay in sports (whether it's used in the games or just as an analytical tool) and can see just how awesome umpires are at their jobs (and they are pretty good, better than we often give them credit for), the idea of cheating is off the table.

I think it's great that every time something like this finds its way into print, something else happens to contradict the opinion. The first time this issue appeared in BD was right before the Tim Donaghy scandal broke in the NBA; as the editors were laughing out loud at the thought of an umpire breaking the rules for personal gain, a referee in the world's best basketball league was doing exactly that. Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?

Then, around the time this magazine came in the mail, Mike Winters baited Milton Bradley into a confrontation that resulted in an injury to Bradley's knee, forcing him to the sidelines for the rest of the season and possibly costing the Padres a playoff spot. The thing is, and I don't want to cast too many stones here, we don't know Winters' motivation for starting something with Bradley. Does he not like the guy? Was he having a rough time at home? Did he have some other reason behind his actions - motivation to keep San Diego out of the playoffs? What's the story, morning glory?

Bottom line, I personally don't think that umpire corruption is as far in the past as we would sometimes like to believe. If Pete Rose can bet on a game, anyone can.

Oddly enough, that wasn't even the thing that annoyed me most about this particular issue. Following the umpire wrap-up was a letter from a fan who attended a game as a boy and wanted Baseball Digest to print him the box score:

I saw one of my first baseball games when I was eight years old. It was in San Diego with the Padres playing the Houston Astros on a Saturday, June 24, 1974.

The reason this game is special is because my brother had just gotten married that day, and he, his new wife, my sis, dad, mom and I were all at Jack Murphy Stadium watching the two teams play.

I'm from Houston and my brother is from San Diego. It would mean a lot if you could print the box score of game.

Allow me to interject: box scores are possibly the easiest thing in the world to look up, thanks largely to places like Retrosheet, Baseball-Reference, and a few others. All you need is a little information and BOOM, you're on your way. I once tracked down a box score and play-by-play information for a poster of Fenway Park that was hanging in my room. The scoreboard had stuff on it and I was bored, so I figured out which game it was. Easy as pie.

Not for these guys, however, who are apparently foregoing the online aspect and using a stack of old, yellowed New York Times to come up with their information. Witness the response:

You better check the date again. On June 24, 1974, a Monday, the San Francisco Giants played the Padres in San Diego. On that date, the Astros played at home against the Cincinnati Reds.

Alright, so the letter-writer got the date wrong. Shit happens. But instead of putting a little bit of elbow grease into it, Baseball Digest just came back with the ol', "Sorry, can't help you. NEXT!"

You know what I found out in about five minutes on Baseball-Reference.com? The Padres and Astros played the previous Saturday, June 22, so that could have been the date this guy was remembering. Only problem: they played in Houston. Strike 1.

Okay, check the following weekend. Saturday, June 29, the Padres played the Astros again, his time at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Given the proximity in the dates, I would be pretty certain that this is the one the letter writer attended more than 30 years ago. And if the folks who wrote the answer in the magazine wanted to be extra safe about it, the letter writer signed his name. I searched for the name and "Houston" on Yellow Pages and immediately got several possibilities. One would think they had the return address from the original label and could crosscheck it, if need be. Either they didn't have that address or they just didn't think it was important to do this the right way.

What My Son Is Thinking

"Hey, you know how many division titles the Red Sox have won since I was born? One. How many have the Yankees won? Zero. That's right, biatches, I'm a good luck charm."

"I'll admit it, I jumped on the bandwagon this summer. I thought they had a chance at something big. Now, Morelli's looking shaky, Paterno is once again an old man who doesn't understand the new era of offense, and I don't even remember why I became a fan in the first place...seriously. I'm three months old. My dad went to UNH. Why the hell am I wearing this shirt?

Oh yeah. Daddy's friend."

"Right now, Mommy thinks this outfit looks absolutely adorable on me, and I tend to agree with her (of course, I'm a baby - I can make anything look good). Daddy, however, seems to be less than impressed. I hope he still loves me when I tell him I'm rooting for them to win the World Series this year."