http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4725530

I don't like this at all. I really have to say this is a great hire for Louisville. Strong's a great coach and an excellent recruiter. He's also apparently going to take Florida WR coach Billy Gonzales with him. Gonzalez is a great recruiter. Now, can they recruit as well when it's Louisville and not the great University of Florida? Who knows. All I know is that I'm really going to miss Kragthorpe.

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1018019

Rivals.com listed the top signings by position from each conference as of the end of the early signing period. Dion Waiters was named the top SG signing in the conference, and Fab Melo was named the top center signing and the top overall signing in the conference.

Even if we don't end up with Tobias Harris, that's still a pretty nice haul for Coach Boehiem.

We just cannot catch a break.

http://www.suathletics.com/news/2009/11/8/FB_1108091627.aspx

At this point, I'm seriously questioning whether we have enough players to field a full roster. We might have to place an ad. Or call random people out of the crowd to play. Or... something.

I've never played organized football, and I'm a 5'7" skinny Jewish boy. But just in case, I'm going to put an e-mail to Coach Marrone. I still have eligibility left!

Was reminded of this by an ESPN Football Outsiders story in a similar vein...

So, the 1994 NFL season. It's week 5. The Eagles are 2-1. The 49ers are 3-1, and they're the Super Bowl favorites.  The Eagles go to San Francisco. They play a team that's beaten up on the offensive line, and absolutely embarass the 49ers, 40-8. The Eagles were taking advantage of that offensive line to the point that Seifert pulled Steve Young from the game in the 3rd quarter because he was afraid the Eagles d-line would kill him.

What happened from that point out? I'm sure you remember the 7 losses to finish that season. And I'm sure you remember the 49ers going on to pulverize the Chargers to win the Super Bowl that year.

Another Eagles related example? Look to 2004, and the Patriots team that beat us in the Super Bowl. Week 15, they lost to the Dolphins. The 2-11 Dolphins. And blew an 11 point 4th quarter lead in the process.

If you look at nearly every winning Super Bowl team's schedule, you're going to see a loss that makes you scratch your head and say "how in the hell did they lose that one?". Not saying this team's going to the Super Bowl. But you can't panic about a loss like this. Good teams can overcome it.

At 7.5 up on the division on September 2, it's time we turn out heads to the other race to watch -- best record in the NL. I do realize that we can't count on anything yet, just look at the Mets the last couple of years. But I... just can't see us doing that. Hopefully I'm not jinxing anything.

But back to looking at the best record in the NL. The race is incredibly tight...

Note that the Phillies (.589) are ahead of the Cardinals (.586) on winning percentage, for now.

Remaining schedules:

LA Dodgers: 14 home, 15 away. Opponents current winning percentage is .457

Philadelphia Phillies: 16 home, 17 away. Opponents current winning percentage is .469

St. Louis Cardinals: 14 home, 15 away. Opponents current winning percentage is .490

Similar schedules. Dodgers have the easiest remaining. Of their 15 remaining away games, 9 are against either the Pirates, Nationals, or Padres.

Current playoff matchups would be (3) St. Louis at (1) LA Dodgers (Cardinals lead the season series 5-2) and (4) Colorado at (2) Philadelphia (Phillies lead the season series 4-2).

In other words... this last month of the season is vitally important, and it's no time to rest on our laurels. One game could be the difference between having the favorable home field throughout the NL playoffs, or having to travel to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers for the first game of the NLDS.