There are some good games coming up this afternoon:

• Cincinnati and Pittsburgh just started--and Cincinnati's losing
  
• UNC and Kentucky at 12:30
• SEC title game: Florida and Alabama
• Big XII title game: Texas and Nebraska
• ACC title game: GaTech and Clemson

I figured we'd end up needing a thread to discuss these, so here you go.

Discuss.

Sure, it's been kind of quiet around here, but I'm sure some of you people have plenty to say.  Here's a thread for you!  For those of you who haven't noticed: Brendan posted some juicy information in a FanShot.  You do notice those, don't you?

And while we're at it, I'll ask a question: What do you want for Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice/your next birthday?

So the Yankees are up 2-1, and I can't figure out how to get the pitcher stats widgets to display side by side.  Exciting, eh?

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

This was, needless to say, not the only time someone had a good reason to argue with an umpire in the current World Series.

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Okay, so everyone can agree that there have been some bad calls this postseason.  We can agree that this is not the only time that bad calls have impacted game outcomes.

But what many people in baseball can't agree on is what we should do about it.  So follow me beyond the jump for some people's opinions, then tell me what you think.

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More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Nobody else seemed to notice the falling anvil.

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There's no baseball for a while, so we need something to talk about.

And lo and behold, I was reading some random column on yahoo in which the author talks about how great it is that Vladimir Guerrero hit that game-winner off of Jonathan Papelbon.  And then he works this in:

Guerrero has always quietly been a fantastic player and one day he'll head to the Hall of Fame.

Which made me say, "Whoa there, Mr....wait, WTF is your name?  'Duk?  Seriously?"  Then I looked Guerrero up on BBRef.  And then I said, "Hrm."

So: I expect you to tell me why he should or should not end up in the Hall.  Please make your arguments concise and back them up with concrete examples.  Charlie Scrabbles and Man Mountain will be assisting in the grading (not that they know this yet).

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

Run away! It's CORKY MILLER!

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This team just refuses to give up the possibility of a .500 season.

Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

That would be Jay Bruce, who went 2 for 3 with two walks, a double and a HR.  Not a bad night for him.  Sure, Joey Votto continued to play quite well (three doubles and a walk!), so it's close.  Laynce Nic also had a walk and a sacrifice fly to go along with his HR, and even CORKY FREAKING MILLER had a double (and a single!).

To make a long story short, the Reds scored a lot of runs.  Lehr tried to give up a ton of HRs again, but only allowed two, plus two more runs in the fifth.  He was pulled after that, and then Owings, Herrera, Masset, and Burton combined to pitch four shutout innings.

But mainly, there's still college football going on.  Clearly, you'd rather discuss that.  But one more thing.  Check out this FanGraph:

via www.fangraphs.com

More photos » by Tony Tribble - AP

At least this Votto HR made sense to me.

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Okay, there are some things I don't understand about this game:

• Kip Wells pitched seven innings of five-hit ball, giving up only one run.
• CORKY FREAKING MILLER hit a three-run home run.

At least there are some things I understand, though, like Joey Votto hitting a two run HR.

That said, I'm going to have to say that Kip Wells was the Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game.  On top of that other stuff, he didn't walk anybody!

via www.fangraphs.com

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Someday I'm going to figure out how not to crop out his right foot here.

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Yep, the Reds lost.  So let's look at the positives:

• Maloney threw five innings of one-run ball, allowing only four hits with no walks.  He left with a blister on his middle finger, apparently.

...

Okay, that's really all I've got.  Here's a FanGraph for you.

via www.fangraphs.com

More photos » by John Amis - AP

It looks like I finally added a picture.

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So some idiot seems to have entrusted me with the ability to make Game Threads and the like.  Let's see if I can pull this off.

Oh, about the game: this one is in extras.  Hooray for free baseball!

So Man Mountain and I went to the Futures game tonight, where we watched the prospects beat the crap out of pretty much every Reds pitcher we threw at them.

Well, okay.  Mainly just Arroyo, Cordero and Lincoln.  But those are kind of important guys to have not giving up runs to sub-MLB level hitting.

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