cooperstown

Exact same. And credit to Xavier for doing that. But it (weak conference) explains why there really isn't much interest in these A-10 games. X is almost single-handedly carrying the A-10 these days. Look at the teams left in CUSA. Does anyone really give a crud when Memphis plays UCF, Houston, East Carolina, Rice, etc...?

I'm an X fan and love to see them do well, but watching A-10 games is boring. It is simply a bad conference and X faces very little meaningful competition in conference play. I believe A-10 is only the 10th rated conference in the country (2 spots below CUSA). A-10 teams are 11-44 against top 50 opponents and 4 of those 11 wins are by X. I give credit to X for a solid out-of-conference schedule however.

It'd be nice, but it just ain't gonna happen. Other than maybe the Conner games Ryle hasn't beaten anyone of significance this year. Not even entirely certain they've beaten a team with a winning record other than Conner. It is a shame - this team has some solid players and nice size. They should be better than what they are.

It's not an issue with playing the second teamers, but playing them all together at once (well, almost - usually left in one starter). It just leaves too few scoring options out on the floor and not nearly as strong defense. Plus, the timing of the switches just seemed to really affect the momentum of the game, which had clearly been in Ryle's favor.

Outside of Murray, who are they counting on in the pitching department?

2009 should be interesting and fun for Ryle. They return a lot of talent at the offensive skill positions (QB, RB's, TE, WR) and had some nice WR talent on JV last year that will also help. But they lost several starters on OL and need to get bigger and stronger in that area. The offense was wildly inconsistent last year, but should be strong this year. Defense is a huge question mark. They lose almost the entire starting defense, returning only two full-time players (a DB and a DE/LB) and a part-time player (DL). They will need some guys from last year's JV squad to step up in a hurry. They should be fine at LB and secondary, but again need to find some size on DL. Odd how a school Ryle's size has such problems finding big, beefy boys for the line. (They seem to pop out of the woodwork every year over at Boone! ) Of biggest concern defensively is the possible loss of Coach Wolfe. That would hurt bigtime. Bottomline is that if they can find some size on both sides of the line, they have a chance to be very good. Lacking that, it could be a tough year.

Bonds' claim that he thought his trainer was actually giving him B-12 shots and flaxseed are ludicrous. One would think that after he picked up about 25 pounds of pure muscle and his head expanded about 3 sizes during one off-season (and just by coincidence, the off-season after the year McGwire set the HR record!), the thought might have crossed mind that it just may have been steroids he was putting into his body. And his trainer's refusal to testify in the matter says volumes about what took place.

It is (finally). It is letting players know they will be tested and those caught will be punished. They were just about 7-8 years late getting serious about it.

I believe his sample was first tested back in 2003 and came back clean. Back then they did not have the capability to detect certain steroids. His sample was maintained and more recently (not sure exactly when) retested in connection with the fed case and the steroids were detected. I guess they must have kept a pretty solid chain of evidence, as I would have guessed this would have been the first thing his attorneys would be screaming about.

I find Ryle's coach's player substitution pattern odd sometimes. Twice tonight Ryle had built a 6-7 point lead and had momentum and he made wholesale substitutions, taking out most of his starters and scorers. Both times Highlands pulled even or went ahead within two minutes. Then he doesn't have his starting team on the floor for the first 3-4 minutes of the 4th quarter (which started with Ryle 3 points down, I believe). Just didn't make sense. Certainly the second string needs their minutes also, but he just didn't have his best players out on the floor enough in this game. Ryle needs to win a game like this to build confidence and learn how to win tough games down the road. They really don't have any signature wins this year and this could have been their first.

Klein was a big loss for them, both from an OF'ing and pitching perspective. I would think that Warning should pick up some time in OF.

No where. Sitting at home probably not playing any games while it rains outside and reading BGP to find out how other teams who travelled down south did. :irked:

Just my opinion, but big mistake on their part, as Wolfe would be a great head coach. This would be very good news for Ryle if he stays.

I don't know that the situation is quite that dire (maybe it is), but bottomline is that it most certainly is not the platform that I heard Obama running on. Again, I don't have a problem that some of his nomination choices had "issues". I have a big concern, however, that Obama refused to back off these choices once they became known. How does such an attitude help usher in this new change in Washington we've been hearing so much about?

"Truly" and "Hello" by Lionel Ritchie are truly despicable songs.

I find the picture of the little child in the crypt rather creepy. I am surprised that such embalming capabilities existed back in 1920 and even more surprised that her hair ribbon would be in such pristine shape.

And my view of Obama goes down for not withdrawing one of these suspect nominations. I'll give him that he likely had no idea of the problems with these nominations at the time he made them, but his refusal to then withdraw them belies his campaign promises to "clean up Washington", his inaugural address to instill a "new era of responsibility" and his constant championing of "ethics reform." In June, Obama said: "I know that in every campaign, politicians make promises about cleaning up Washington. And most times, you end up disappointed when it doesn't happen. "So it's easy to become cynical -- to believe that change isn't possible; that the odds are too great; that this year is bound to be no different from the last. But I also know what I've seen and what I've done. I know that for me, reform isn't just the rhetoric of a campaign; it's been the cause of my career." These nominations have quickly shown that when faced with the choice between honoring these promises and the reality that is Washington politics, Obama is more than willing to compromise.

There are over 1000 CPD officers. They are all jerks?

So they're giving away free artery-clogging cholesterol and fat. Very gracious of them . . . .

Conner is playing well right now. Not the team you want to see in a first round matchup.

My bad. I didn't even notice this was a thread for the girls' game and not the boys'. :sssh:

What players was Ryle missing last time? I don't recall any.

Would have been nice if he'd done a bit more during my FFL season . . . :irked:

The throw and catch by Roethlesberger and Holmes to win it were unreal. They make that play MAYBE 1 out of 100 times. Roethlesberger threw where only Holmes could get it and his reception was phenominal.

So basically Marvin admitted that he and his staff did a horrible job coaching, let the players underperform without any consequences, and are now so awful that there's no point in tagging anyone or changing any of the coaching staff? Man, I'm really excited about 2009. It should be SO different from the past few years.