Changes To Stadium Football Schedule

This homestand marks the first games at Yankee Stadium since the first non-baseball event at the park, the Miguel Cotto - Yuri Foreman fight on June 5th. While the boxing ring is long gone, the Stadium has a few souvenirs from the event, including noticeably worn patches of grass in center field, where the ring was located.

The Stadium will host another in-season, non-baseball event before 2010 is over, as Jay-Z and Eminem will perform the venue's first concert on September 13th. Following that, the next non-baseball event will occur on November 20th, when Army hosts Notre Dame in the first football game at the new Stadium.

Lost amongst all the potential conference realignment news that shook the foundation of college football last week were a couple notes relating to future football games at Yankee Stadium. First, last week Notre Dame quietly canceled their scheduled 2013 game against Army, which was penciled in as being a Yankee Stadium game. That cancellation may or may not be an indicator that the long-independent Fighting Irish were positioning themselves to finally join a conference in the event of a BCS superconference armageddon.

While one of the linked articles above speculates that Syracuse could replace Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium on Army's 2013 schedule, it's also possible that one of the principle movers and shakers in last week's conference realignments could be Army's opponent. Prior to leaving the Big XII to join the Pac-10 last week, Colorado made it clear that they wanted to play Army at Yankee Stadium. The Buffs' non-conference schedule had been booked through 2015, but with their move to the Pac-10 altering future schedules and with Army now having an open date in 2013, they may be able to get their wish sooner rather than later.

After hosting Notre Dame this fall, Army will host Rutgers at the Stadium in 2011, Air Force in 2012, and Boston College in 2014. In addition to the annual Army game, Yankee Stadium will also host the New Era Pinstripe Bowl for at least the next four years. The game will take place between Christmas and New Year's, and will match the third selection from the Big East against the sixth selection from the Big XII. No word yet as to how the Big XII's reduction to ten teams will impact the bowl's future. The inaugural game will take place on December 30th this year, with tickets already on sale.

A Tier-fall Friday Afternoon Linkaround

These links are dedicated to the memory of the 2009-10 Syracuse Orange basketball team. Their epitaph will certainly mention the 18 turnovers they committed last night.

To their credit, River Ave. Blues is having a "No Joba, No Hughes" day.

Still need your fix? Dave Allen at FanGraphs thinks putting Joba in AAA is the right move.

Around the 17:00 mark on this podcast, Don LaGreca from the Michael Kay Show on 1050 ESPN Radio begins interviewing Dave Eiland. At about 23:00, Eiland explains that the Yankees most likely won't ask Joba to start this season because of the shoulder injury he suffered in 2008.

However, Brian Cashman claims that Joba is a "starter in the bullpen". Which is sort of like saying that someone is a lawyer working as a legal aide.

During his recap of last night's game, Cliff from Bronx Banter dropped this little gem:

Marcus Thames, meanwhile, is hitting .094 (3-for-32) with just one walk and no extra-base hits after going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. Joe Girardi keeps talking about Thames’ track record, and it still seems as though Thames will make the team. That should tell you just how much spring performances really matter.

Marc Carig asks how long the Yankees will wait for Thames to start hitting. Brian Cashman contends that he's "impacted the ball pretty hard", but his 13 to 1 K/BB ratio isn't terribly encouraging. In his defense, he hasn't faced many lefties, something he'll have a chance to do tonight against Jamie Moyer.

Chad Jennings was hoping to shoot Cashman today. With a paintball gun. During a game of paintball. No word on whether Jennings accomplished his mission, but Brian Hoch, Carig and Feinsand all hit the target.

Joel Sherman dares to argue that if A-Rod is found to have used HGH that it will ruin his legacy. Bold, I know, but he also offers up something that you probably didn't know: A-Rod turned down the chance to host Saturday Night Live several times this winter. Probably a good choice. I doubt A-Rod is a very good actor considering he isn't even good at being himself.

NYY Stadium Insider introduced a new author today, and he tells his story of what might be the ultimate Yankee Stadium Insider experience.

Another blow to the notion of "clogging the bases".

Wezen-ball ranks the worst seasons by an Opening Day starter in the last 50 years. Carl Pavano's 2007 isn't on there because Larry's bottom 10 are guys who stuck around long enough to compile a WAR of -2.2 or worse. You know who did make the list, though? Mr. Opening Day, Jack Morris.

Breaking news: Jonathan Papelbon can't grasp a simple concept. To those who think Yankees vs. Red Sox games are too long, he says:

If you don’t want to be there, don’t be there. Go home. Why are you complaining?

They want to be there, dummy, but they probably have to get up for work in the morning and want to see actual baseball instead of an endless parade mound visits, guys stepping out of the box to adjust their jock and asshat revilers who take so long to come into the game they get fucking fined for it. I'm not one to complain about the length of Yanks/Sox games, but can understand why people - especially fans of other teams - are irritated by a 5-4 game that takes 4 hours and 15 mins to complete.

Rob Iracane of Walkoff Walk rounds up two recent and rather pathetic some stories combining prostitution and baseball (attempted prostitution, that's an embarrassing charge to be tagged with). Had he expanded that to actresses potentially playing prostitutes in baseball-related movies, he might have included this. He wouldn't mind her for a rib, but before Megan Fox gets the part our buddy Old Hoss has requested to take a gander at her cat-heads.

And I know it's painful, but via 'Duk's Twitter feed, here is the last tier of the grandstand at the Old Stadium being torn down. Disclaimer: it's not for the elderly, nostalgic or faint of heart.

/sobs quietly on keyboard

The Bells Of St. Mary's

Good morning, Fackers. Hopefully everyone had a good weekend. Between the beautiful weather in the Northeast and the great NCAA tournament action, you'd need a pretty serious excuse to not have had a good past couple of days.

Although Albany's own Siena failed to upset Purdue and was bounced in the first round, Jason's alma mater Syracuse breezed through both UVM and Gonzaga on the way to the Sweet Sixteen. Surprisingly, they weren't the only school from New York to win their first two games with ease. In the same weekend that they won the ECAC championship in hockey, Cornell handily dismantled both Temple and Wisconsin, racking up 165 points along the way. Rumor has it that Andy Bernard has been on a three day bender.

The Big Red - and the bear on its logo that would surely be mauling the shit out of you if that giant "C" weren't holding him back - were one of 9 teams to pull off upsets in the first round (not counting 8 vs. 9 match ups) and join Nothern Iowa, St. Mary's and Washington as seeds in the bottom half of the tournament who have made their way into the round of 16.

It's not hard to understand why the NCAA tournament is so popular. There are a metric ton of things to like about it. The last four days have been jam packed with exciting roundballing action and brackets get people who aren't fans of college basketball or even sports in general moderately interested in the games. In general, CBS does a good job of switching to the best game on, so watching it is sort of like having the Red Zone channel. Sometimes you get lulls in the action or two good finishes happening at the same time, but it's extremely watchable even for someone who doesn't even have a dog in the fight.

On a deeper level though, my favorite part of the tournament are the upsets. With a few exceptions, I root for the team with the higher number next to their name. The assumption might be that Yankee fans wouldn't root for underdogs but that's not really how sports fandom works.

The tournament is the perfect showcase for Cinderella stories. In no other sport are there such clearly labeled #2 Goliath vs. #15 David match ups and there is something about human nature that makes us pull for the little guy. One of the most compelling things to watch in all of sports is a huge underdog try to weather an onslaught from the favorite in the closing minutes of a game with their respective season's hanging in the balance.

It was a pretty good weekend for underdogs in the MLB as well. The Twins (who aren't really a small market team, but act like one) signed Joe Mauer to an 8 year, $184M contract. He essentially got Mark Teixeira money but based on the gap between him and the next best catcher in the league (probably Jorge Posada at the moment), has the potential to be much more valuable. Even if he can't stay behind the plate for that whole time - which is pretty likely given that he'll be 35 when it expires - if he's still hitting anything like has over the past few years, his bat alone still might be worth $23M a year.

I'm honestly happy for the Twins and Mauer. The hometown boy gets a massive deal and the team locks up one of the very best players in baseball for a very long time. It's not without risk, but it was the right thing for both sides. The deal is good for the game of baseball as well. Between moving out of that shitty old Dome and locking up Mauer long term, the Twins franchise is shining pretty brightly coming into the 2010 season.

While part of my inner Yankee fan isn't exactly begging for more competition atop the AL and would have obviously enjoyed watching Mauer play everyday instead of 10 times a year, the other part knows baseball is a better game when franchises have identifiable superstars and play in nice buildings and that it made too much sense for the Twins not to make the ultimate commitment to the pride of St. Paul. Maybe the latter is the same part of me that likes to see St. Mary's take down Villanova.

Tourney Time

We're not big basketball fans here at Fack Youk, but it's hard to ignore the magnetism of the NCAA Tournament. If nothing else, it's a good excuse to waste time at work during the early games and fill out a bracket (strictly for bragging rights of course). It's nice to have something in the sporting landscape to waste our time until baseball starts, as the remainder of the tournament will carry us clear through to Opening Day.

We're smack in the middle of two of the best days of the sporting year, with sixteen more games on tap for today and tonight. D.J. Mitchell's Clemson faces Chad Jenning's Missouri at 2:35, Mark Teixeira's Georgia Tech has prospect Neil Medchill's Oklahoma State at 7:15, and Nick Swisher's Ohio St. tips off against UC Santa Barbara at 9:35. And of course Big Willie Style's beloved "Sycasuse" plays Vermont at 9:30.

Not wanting to expose how little we know about college hoops, Jay and I decided against having a public pool here. But we are both in a pool with some friends of mine, and we both had a rough first day. I went a measley 9 for 16 yesterday, good for a three way tie for fourth place, while Jay (and his aptly-named 'Aggressively Mediocre' bracket) hit just .500, is in last place, and lost one of his Final Four teams when Georgetown spit the bit last night. I narrowly avoided the same fate when 'Nova pulled it out against the Robert Morris School of Cosmetology and Hair Dressing.

How about the rest of you Fackers out there? Anyone go perfect yesterday? Anyone's bracket completely busted already? Did anyone else spell "Syracuse" incorrectly?

Meanwhile, at 5 PM tonight a tournament in which I am far more interested will continue, as the Hockey East semi-finals take place at Boston's TD Bank Garden. In the early game, two seed BC will take on eight seed Vermont. The Catamounts upset number one seed New Hampshire in a best of three series last weekend. Last month, Vermont dismissed second leading scoring Justin Milo, who happens to be a 2009 Yankee draft pick and turned in a decent season at Staten Island last summer. In the nightcap three seed BU will take on four seed Maine. You all know who I'll be pulling for in the first game. A meteor could drop on center ice in the second game for all I care; I can't decide which of those teams I like less.

Whichever your sport, enjoy the games.

College Football Saturday

Hey Fackers. So we're still trying to figure out how to work this whole off-season thing. We'll be getting into some of the hot stove league stuff soon, but I think it's appropriate that we at least wait until the lockers are cleaned out before we start speculating as to who stays and who goes.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to spend this weekend enjoying a bit of pigskin. I haven't watched too much football this year since the Yankees have been dominating my sports attention - but that's a trade I'll make every fall if I can. Of course, BC has a bye week the first Saturday I can dedicate solely to college football.

Anyway, in an effort to have some weekend content going, here's a look at today's games (and yes, I realize the early games are underway - sue me for sleeping in today):

Northwestern at #4 Iowa, 12:00 ESPN: I really don't like Big Ten football. The Hawkeyes are still undefeated and could cause some problems for the BCS Championship Game if they remain that way. I wouldn't expect the Wildcats to be the team to knock them off.

Syracuse at #13 Pittsburgh, 12:00 ESPNU: Top receiver Mike Williams quit the team earlier this week and three others have been suspended following a rules violation. That's not a recipe for success. But if DII LeMoyne could upset the Orange hoops team earlier this week, maybe Greg Paulus and company can pull off an upset of their own against team Wannstache.

South Carolina at Arkanasas, 12:30 MSG: The Head Ball Coach brings his Cocks to Fayetteville for an SEC match up. Neither team is ranked, but both offenses like to air it out, so this could be exciting. On top of that, you have two of the most reviled head coaches in football; that is unless Bobby Petrino decides to quit mid game.

Kansas at Kansas State, 12:30 Versus: Does anyone get Versus? If they do, do they want to watch this game? Probably not, because whoever comes out of the Big 12 North is just going to be a sacrificial lamb for Texas on their way to the BCS Championship Game. But Mark Mangino thinks lamb is delicious, so maybe you'll want tune in for the wonder that is Mangino.

Navy at #22 Notre Dame, 2:30 NBC: How I hate Notre Dame. And they get top receiver Michael Floyd back from a broken collarbone today. He and Golden Tate make for a pretty formidable duo for that little punk Jimmy Claussen to throw to. Hopefully Navy and their triple option can pull off an upset like 2007's. You could wait until Monday to watch this in non-hi def on YES, but why would you want to do that? In fact, why would YES sign a distribution agreement and not get access to the HD footage?

#9 LSU at #3 Alabama, 3:30 CBS: Game of the day. Nick Saban's old team comes to town to face his new team. If LSU can pull off the upset today the whole SEC West picture, and by extension the BCS Championship Game picture, gets turned on its ear.

#16 Ohio State at #11 Penn State, 3:30 ABC/ESPN2: This too is a big game. If the aforementioned Iowa stumbles at any point, like most people think they will, the winner of this game is the most likely candidate to benefit. Unless Penn State wins and Ohio State beats Iowa next week, in which case there's a three way clusterfuck atop the Big Ten standings. When in doubt, root for chaos. Also, Matt Millen is calling this game, so you stand to get 15% dumber by listening.

Wake Forest at #10 Georgia Tech, 3:30 ABC/ESPN2: The ACC is an absolute mess. If Wake can somehow pull off the upset today, Duke will have the inside track to win the ACC Coastal. Duke! If that happens, and BC gets a bit of help of help in the Atlantic, we could be looking at a BC-Duke ACC Championship Game. If that's not enough to blow up the BCS, nothing is.

Duke at North Carolina, 3:30 ESPNU: Of course, in order for that to happen Duke has to beat the Tar Heels today. If this were a basketball game I might be interested in it - and it might not be relegated to ESPNU, which I do not get.

Memphis at Tennessee, 7:00 ESPNU: Another one ESPNU must be wishing was a basketball game instead. Still, there's a good chance Lane Kiffin does and/or says something stupid. Also, his wife is hot.

Vanderbilt at #1 Florida, 7:30 ESPNU: The Commodores are gonna be working the Nightshift down in Gainesville. I don't think there will be any sweet sounds coming down this time. Tebow & Co should dominate this one; I just hope they don't go poking anyone in the eyes this week. Speaking of which, for all the people congratulating Brandon Spikes for having the maturity to extend his own suspension to a full game so as not to be a distraction to the team, let's not forget that the only reason this is a story is because he tried to gouge someone's eye out! How mature.

Florida State at Clemson, 7:45 ESPN: Please, someone wake Bobby Bowden up and tell him it's 1993. Maybe he'll reach into his bag of tricks and pull off an upset. BC needs Clemson to lose another conference game. Also, I think Erin Andrews is covering this game, just in case you were interested.

Connecticut at #5 Cincinnati, 8:00 ABC: UConn football in primetime, with Musberger and Herbstreit calling the game. I've seen it all now. Why is it that when referring to the football team it's generally "Connecticut", but the basketball team is usually "UConn"? This one's probably better suited to ESPNU anyway.

Enjoy the games Fackers.

Yanks Go Bowling

Slow day around here. How about some news, notes, and a few links?

• The Yankees are going bowling. No, this isn't another team building exercise like the day of shooting pool in spring training. Continuing with the football obsession at the new Yankee Stadium, the New York Times is reporting that the "Yankee Bowl" is close to becoming a reality for the 2010 college football season. The game would be a lower tier bowl to take place between Christmas and New Year's and would pit the third or fourth Big East team against the seventh team from the Big 12. While this could offer area universities like Syracuse, Rutgers, or UConn a local bowl game, there isn't much else positive about this. Yankee Stadium is poorly designed for football. Bowl games are designed to be travel getaways. Cold weather bowl games suck. New York is not very pleasant weather wise in late December. Travel and lodging accomodations in the city are hard enough to come by during the holidays as it is. Bad idea.

• The Yankees' starter for tomorrow night's game is currently listed as "TBA". This a bit curious, as it would be Andy Pettitte's normal turn. The Yanks could go with Chad Gaudin, whose "normal" turn would be tonight. If Pettitte doesn't go tomorrow, Thursday's off day will push him back to Friday, a full week since his last start. Not a huge deal, as extra rest for a pitcher his age could be quite helpful this time of year and getting the pitchers on target for the right post-season slots should be something to be mindful of right now.

• In case you missed it in yesterday's preview, Ian Kennedy will start Game 2 of the International League Championship Series for Scranton tomorrow. He's likely to go three or four innings.

• High A Tampa and short-season A Staten Island both won last night, leaving both teams a single victory away from their respective league championships.

• Last night's fifth inning collision between Melky Cabrera and Chone Figgins marks the second time this season that Figgins has become physically entangled with a Yankee. Unfortunately for Melky, it also marked the second time this year he took a shot to the grapes. At the risk of dedicating too much thought to it, Melky seemed to be in a bit too much pain for someone wearing the proper equipment. On the heels of Adrian Beltre nearly becoming half the man he used to be last month, I would hope that Melky would be a little smarter than that.

• A couple of our friends also weighed in on the Freddy Guzman debate. Jason at IIATMS has an outlook far more optimistic than mine, while Joe Pawlikowski at RAB has a piece that falls somewhere in between.

Back with the preview in a bit.

Weekend Slideshow Recap

This weekend was another barn burner, friends, which begins to explain the lack of posting.

If I didn't put in 7 hours of work today, or anyone besides Boston Bren, Kev-O, Burkey and our new lady friends from Jacksonville gave a shit, I could have written 1500 words on this weekend and still leave out some hilarious moments. (Like when Michael Kay walked in front of our section at the Big East Tournament on Friday night, and I drunkenly shouted/sang his radio show theme song and he gave me an acknowledging point).

There are at least two people we encountered over the last few days who are deserving of their own post. One is a Floridian friend (Claire, you forgot the rest of your bottle of Jim Beam at my apartment, baby). And let's just say that you Mets fans are going to be extremely ashamed of one of your compatriots. I get the feeling that one might be relatively popular around these here internets.

We again successfully infiltrated a team's pregame party at Stout (Lousiville), which is where the blurry cheerleader shot was taken. It was an extremely difficult feat. Without wearing any team colors, I was like "Woohooo! Go Cards!", gave the guy at the door with the porno mustache a high-five and walked right in. I can't take credit for the idea however, as Kev used the same brilliant technique to gain entrance into Pitt's party last year.

After we left the shindig, there was a fellow in a Syracuse sweatshirt and a ridiculously bright orange wig standing outside of the room. I walked up to him and said "Dude, you should try to sneak in to the Louisville party. Just tell them you lost a bet...".

The pictures at the end of the show were taken on the ferry to Weehawken. I could tell you what I was doing there, but then I would have to kill you.

If you watch closely, there may even be one picture of this guy.

/directs thumbs towards self.



Now look at those tags. If there wasn't a character limit, there would have been about 20 more.

7ZZZzzzzzz

F___ing SIX?????

Five

4?

00.0

Yeessssssssssss!
Yeeeesss?

Ummm...
No?

Fuck.