September 8th

What do Boise State and Rodney Dangerfield have in common? They get no respect.

Up until the Boise State game against Virginia Tech, myself along with millions across the country were not sold on The Broncos being a contender. I still don't know if they are, but they made a great leap in proving their worth to me. They went into what was essentially a home game for Virginia Tech and took it to the Hokies early. The blocked a punt, scored effectively, and suffocated the VT offense in the first quarter. It seemed as the rest of the game wore on, the Broncs got tired and the Hokies capitalized, but it seemed that Boise State had the game in hand the whole time. Frank Beamer's team, who usually plays stellar special teams, made many costly mistakes (had a punt blocked, missed two field goals, and committed numerous punt and kick off penalties). Boise State red shirt junior quarterback, Kellen Moore, solidified his place among college football's elite.

The case against Boise State...

OK BSU fans. Just hear me out. Boise State only plays one ranked team this year! ONE!!! Of the teams remaining on their schedule, only one was ranked last season (Oregon State), the rest have no hope of being ranked at the end of the season. If BSU would move to the MWC, or Pac-10 then the case could be made for their BCS championship chances.

Until Boise State changes conferences (which might happen soon, as two WAC teams have elected to leave the conference after this season), or schedules more out of conference games against ranked opponents, they will continue to knock on the door of a BCS championship berth, but not cross the threshold.

Let's look at some baseball...

My Red Sox are flat done. This seemed obvious tonight when Terry Francona started minor league call-up, Lars Anderson, at first base. Four starters are done for the year and their pitching has been awful over the past weeks. J.D. Drew needs to retire or find a new team next season, pitching coach John Farrell needs to be fired, Dice-K needs to be traded, and pitchers Josh Beckett and John Lackey need to figure out what the hell has been plaguing them this season.

Anyway...

The Rangers might want to start worrying about the health of superstar hitter Josh Hamilton and the overall state of their pitching staff (I'm talking about you Cliff Lee). Since Lee was traded to Texas, the Rangers are 3-8 in his starts. These numbers do not bode well for the Rangers in the playoffs.

Here are my predictions about how the teams will finish at the end of the month,and how some teams will spend their off seasons:

AL East:
(1) New York Yankees -Winner-(A-Rod will date four Hollywood actresses during the course of the post season)
(2) Tampa Bay Rays -Wild Card- (Joe Maddon will grow a mowhawk for the playoffs)
(3) Boston Red Sox (The Red Sox players will be greeted with wheelchairs and walkers during Spring Training)
(4) Toronto Blue Jays (Thank God they have no more good players to trade away)
(5) Baltimore Orioles (Maybe Buck Showalter finally put the proverbial "Boot in the Ass" of the Orioles line-up)

AL Central
(1) Minnesota Twins -Winner- (Joe Mauer didn't impress at home this year, but Jim Thome, like good wine, seems to get better with age)
(2) Chicago White Sox (Ozzie Guillen will find another way to anger GM Kenny Williams this off season by Tweeting profanity in Spanish)
(3) Detroit Tigers (Armando Galarraga and Jim Joyce will host a Little League camp about class and game calling)
(4) Cleveland Indians (The ground crew will still be saying, "They're sh*tty.")
(5) Kansas City Royals (Zack Greinke will be pleading to be released, traded, or have someone dissolve the franchise)

AL West
(1) Texas Rangers -Winner-(Ron Washington will ask Nolan Ryan to sign Rusty Greer, Mark McLamore and "Pudge" Rodriguez, to help them win another playoff game)
(2) Oakland A's (Dallas Braden will be thinking of hitting A-Rod in every at bat next season)
(3) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Manager Mike Scioscia will try to clone Vlad Guerrero this off season)
(4) Seattle Mariners (Milton Bradley will do something this off season to make the front office question his future with the team, again)

NL East
(1) Atlanta Braves -Winner- (Bobby Cox will get thrown out of every post season game)
(2) Philadelphia Phillies -Wild Card- (Jayson Werth will grow a ferocious beard and let birds nest in it)
(3) New York Mets (Will appear on Dr. Phil's dysfunctional family episodes this summer)
(4) Florida Marlins (They will sign LeBron James to a minor league contract and invite him to Spring Training)
(5) Washington Nationals (Nyjer Morgan will fight LeBron James)

NL Central
(1) Cincinnati Reds -Winner- (Joey Votto will still be asking why he wasn't selected to the All-Star game)
(2) St. Louis Cardinals (Albert Pujols will become the highest paid player in the Bigs sparking A-Rod to pitch a fit)
(3) Houston Astros (uhhh.....)
(4) Milwaukee Brewers (Trevor Hoffman will pull a Brett Favre and retire three times and unretire four times)
(5) Chicago Cubs (Managerial Musical Chairs!!!!!)
(6) Pittsburgh Pirates (The front office will trade or release all of the 2010 starters and sign the cast from Major League II: Back to the Minors)

NL West
(1) San Francisco Giants -Winner- (Major League Baseball will make Tim Lincecum trim his hair and make reliever Brian Wilson pitch barefoot)
(2) San Diego Padres (Bees will infest PetCo Park this off season, again)
(3) Colorado Rockies (Todd Helton will have a facial hair growing contest with Jayson Werth and win)
(4) Los Angeles Dodgers (The McCourts will divorce, sell the team and immediately remarry afterwards)
(5) Arizona Diamondbacks (Mark Reynolds will watch Fred McGriff's hitting video (c. 1999) as many times as he strikes out)

More to come tomorrow for the Saints/Vikes game...

WHO DAT
-Kenny "Mo"