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.

College Football Saturday: Week 13

Good morning Fackers. For the second time in as many days we're leading off with a college football post, while we haven't hit on any real Yankee news in days. What the hell happened to this place? Well, things are slow on the Hot Stove right now, and rather than be the four hundredth person to comment on essentially meritless Roy Halladay "rumors", we're choosing to sit back and enjoy the holiday weekend. And it was pretty easy to cue up a couple college football posts authored early in the week and go on autopilot than to sit around and wait for Yankee news to come along in real time - or worse yet, take the Rosenthal route and just start making shit up.

So with that in mind, we're an hour away from Gameday, coming from Gainesville this week where Tim Tebow will play the final home game of his collegiate career and we will all pause again and marvel at his wondrous deeds one last time. Well one last time with the exception of the SEC Championship Game next week. And potentially the Heisman ceremony next month. And maybe the BCS Championship Game. And the inevitable months-long "can he or can't he?" debate leading up to the NFL Draft in April. Here's the rest of today's rilvary week slate:

#18 Clemson at South Carolina, 12:00 ESPN: The Tigers are headed to the ACC Championship Game against Georgia Tech next Saturday, but today they play a big rivalry against against South Carolina. Despite a dismal 3-5 record in SEC play, The Head Ball Coach has coaxed a pretty good season out of his squad, and at 6-5 they're bowl eligible regardless of what happens today.

#24 North Carolina at North Carolina State, 12:00 ESPN2: Another intra-state rivalry match-up. Best wishes to N.C. State offensive coordinator Dana Bible - who served in the same capacity at BC during my years there - who was diagnosed with leukemia last week.

#25 Mississippi at Mississippi State, 12:00 MSG2/ESPN360: The Egg Bowl relegated to internet only? For shame ESPN, for shame. Probably the biggest rivalry of the noon match-ups, this one has been a career ender in each of the last two years. In 2007, Ole Miss led 14-0 halfway through the fourth quarter before collapsing, finishing the SEC season winless and costing head coach Ed Ogeron his job. Last year a 45-0 whupping at the hands of the Rebels ended the tenure of Sylvester Croom - the first African-American head coach in SEC history - at Mississippi St. I think both Houston Nutt and Dan Mullen are safe regardless of this year's outcome.

Syracuse at Connecticut, 12:00 SNY: This would be a helluva basketball game.

#12 Oklahoma State at Oklahoma, 12:00 MSG Plus2: One of the rare occassions in recent years where the Cowboys have entered with the upper hand.

Florida State at #1 Florida, 3:30 CBS: In addition to this being Tebow's last home game, this could be the end of the road for Bobby Bowden as well. I suppose there may also be some chatter about Urban Meyer and Notre Dame, but I think there's virtually no chance of that happening.

#14 Virginia Tech at Virginia, 3:30 ESPN: This should be the final game of Al Groh's tenure with the Cavs. I hope he can pull off an upset today.

#17 Miami at South Florida, 3:30 ABC: Maybe this would be a legitimate rivalry game had Miami stayed in the Big East. But, with Florida and Florida St. already tied up this weekend the Canes have to play someone, and South Florida is the next best program in the state. Also, maybe Miami, which is actually located in south Florida is pissed that South Florida, which is located in Tampa, has the nerve to call themselves South Florida. Regardless, this Thanksgiving weekend should turn out better for Miami than it did 25 years ago:


I never tire of that video.

Missouri vs. Kansas in Kansas City, 3:30 ESPN360: The Border War, except it's not PC to call it a "war" anymore. Since most of the country isn't even going to see this one anyway, they can call it whatever they want. That's what happens when the two schools momentary periods of not sucking comes to an end. Last game for Mark Mangino? Sure sounds like it.

Boston College at Maryland, 3:30 ESPNU: Another game, another coach facing the unemployment line. This time, it's Maryland's Ralph Friedgen. It was originally thought that his buyout figure would be prohibitive, but the latest rumors are that it is not. Coming off a brutally poor loss against UNC last week, BC hopes to rebound and earn just their second road victory of the year.

#21 Utah at #19 Brigham Young University, 5:00 MTN: Unfortunately no one gets MTN. But The Holy War is one of college football's oldest and most intese rivalries, dating back to argument between the public and Mormon institutions over which is the proper number of wives for a man to have. Correct answer? Zero.

Arkansas at #15 LSU, 7:00 ESPN: The Battle for the Golden Boot. Sort of an interesting name for a rilvary between two schools where most people don't even wear shoes. I kid, I kid. Your Erin Andrews game for tonight.

Tennessee at Kentucky, 7:00 ESPNU: Perhaps the least captivating of the rivalry match-ups. Most everyone in Lexington will probably be watching basketball practice anyway. The winner of this game does get the Beer Barrel, which is cool. But given the two states, shouldn't it be a whisky vs. bourbon battle?

Notre Dame at Stanford, 8:00 ABC: So this is how the Charlie Weis era will end. Stanford is having a good year for themselves, with big victories over Oregon and USC before falling to Cal last week. A win against ND, even in a down year for the Irish, would be another feather in their cap. Stanford coach John Harbaugh will likely be named as a candidate for the Notre Dame job, but I can't see the former Michigan man going to South Bend.

Georgia at #7 Georgia Tech, 8:00 ESPN2: Like their opponent in the ACC Championship Game, Clemson, the Rambling Wreck will be facing an in-state, SEC rival in a big game the week before the conference championship. Meanwhile, PETA wants Georgia to replace the recently deceased UGA VII with an animatronic robot dog. Fucking PETA...

Navy at Hawaii, 10:30 ESPN2: Well I suppose if any team is equipped to go the middle of the Pacific Ocean to play a game it would be Navy.

Enjoy the games.

College Football Saturday: Week 11

A special Saturday good morning Fackers. Gameday kicks off in an hour, coming from Fort Worth this week where Utah takes on TCU later tonight. The winner of that game almost assuredly takes the Mountain West, and it's a game that pits the #16 team in the BCS against the currently undefeated #4 team. Yet no one will get to see it because it's on CBS College Sports, and no one gets that channel. Damn you non-BCS Conferences and your lack of a decent television contract!

Anyway, we're hitting the home stretch of the season here and there are a lot of big match ups this week. Here's a look at some of the games most of the civilized world will have the opportunity to watch:

Tennessee at Ole Miss, 12:00 CBS: Here's what you need to know about this game. Early Thursday morning, three Volunteer freshman were arrested for a failed armed robbery attempt, performed on campus, while wearing team issued attire. Meanwhile on Tuesday, administration at Mississippi announced that the band will no longer be playing long time anthem "To Dixie With Love" due to the students and fans continued insistence of yelling hot button phrase "The South will rise again" at the song's conclusion. Well then, so much for dispelling SEC stereotypes.

Michigan State at Purdue, 12:00 ESPN: Another week, another God-awful boring Big Ten game to kick off the day. With any luck Bob Griese will say something ethnically insensitive again and make this interesting. At the very least he'll be back at his alma mater this week; perhaps he'll find a more receptive audience.

#7 Georgia Tech at Duke, 12:00 ESPN2: So much for Duke wreaking havoc on the ACC standings last week. Still this is their best season in years, probably since future NY Giants QB washout Dave Brown was still there. Meanwhile, GT is looking completely legit right now, and coach Paul Johnson's decision to go for it on fourth and less than a yard while trailing by three in OT last week took some major cojones. Ugh and Pam fucking Ward is announcing this game. Why does she still have a job?

Florida State at Wake Forest, 12:00 ESPNU: Last week I made a crack about someone waking Bobby Bowden up so that FSU could pull off an upset and help BC in the process. Turns out there was more truth to that than I thought, as Bowden repeatedly asked reporters for clarification on details of the game during his post-game press conference. I'm all for respecting the legends and letting them go out on their own terms, but this is getting downright sad. Also, Christian Ponder is out for the season. The Seminoles are fucked.

Northwestern at Illinois, 12:00 ESPN Classic: I love it when the occasional game gets relegated to ESPN Classic and then for the duration of the game they have to plaster "LIVE" in the upper corner of the screen so people don't think it's a classic game. As if anyone could possibly confuse a match up between Northwestern and Illinois as a classic. I'd rather they just forgo this one and keep showing 20 year old AWA wrestling matches. Also, a big middle finger to Northwestern for upsetting Iowa last week and ruining my dreams of a season ending menage a trois atop the Big Ten standings.

Louisville at Syracuse, 12:00 SNY: I have absolutely nothing of substance or remotely funny to say about this game. But I don't want Big Willie Style to get mad at me for leaving it out. Is it poignant that Syracuse football and Mets baseball share a network for an afternoon? You decide.

Yale at Princeton, 1:oo YES: Hey Fans! Do you like 1-AA match ups between academic powerhouses that haven't been relevant in football for forty years, have no scholarship athletes, and whose own conference prevents them from taking part in post-season play? Well do we have a game for you! Coin Toss! Kickoff! Football! Next, only on YES!

#1 Florida at South Carolina, 3:30 CBS: Oooh, CBS gets a double header this week. Can Spencer Tillman's jheri curl handle the double shift? Word is Tim Brando is under orders to only allow him a single Soul Glo oil change over the course of the afternoon. Meanwhile, I'm surprised Verne Lundquist didn't angle for the noon game so he could catch an early bird special. Also, did you know that South Carolina Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy at Florida and later went on to coach there? I bet you won't hear a word about that during this game.

#10 Iowa at #11 Ohio State, 3:30 ABC: Barring any late season upsets, this is essentially the Big Ten Championship Game. If history repeats itself, the Buckeyes will take this one assuring another blood letting at the hands of whomever in a BCS game. At least it will most likely be the Rose Bowl this year rather than the BCS Championship Game. Also, I can't think of a broadcast crew I dislike more than Sean McDonough, Matt Millen, and Holly Rowe. That's three special kinds of annoying, incompetent, and ugly, respectively.

Delaware at Navy, 3:30 CBS College Sports: I know I said no one gets this channel; I just wanted to use this as an opportunity to point out that Navy defeated Notre Dame in South Bend last weekend for the second time in as many trips. What would it say about ND if Delaware could pull off the upset of Navy today? Of course, ND beat BC, so what would that say about BC? Nevermind; forget I even brought this up.

Boston College at Virginia, 3:30 ESPN360: Speaking of BC, I've had about enough of this. This is BC's tenth game this year and all but three of them haven't been on TV. I didn't mind so much when there was still baseball going on, but now this really sticks in my craw. To make matters worse, my ISP doesn't have an agreement with ESPN360 (F-U Cablevision!). In happier news, I had to work on a Saturday last month and there I found out that not only does my work ISP offer ESPN360, but I can now access it remotely from anywhere by using my ESPN.com account. Take that assholes; I just wish I had known earlier in the season. So once again, I'll be watching this one with a laptop frying my balls for three hours. This is likely the end of days for Al Groh in Charlottesville after the Cavs faithful have been clamoring for his ouster for years. Aren't you glad you only had him for a year Jets fans?

Idaho at #6 Boise State, 3:30 PM ESPNU: Did you know that Idaho didn't get the nickname "Vandals" until they pranked Boise St by breaking into their stadium and spray painted their astroturf blue? Before that they were the Potato Farmers. Or maybe I just made all of that up.

#2 Alabama at Mississippi St, 7:00 ESPN: No matter what happens from here on in, the SEC Championship Game is already set with Alabama and Florida. Chances are both teams enter undefeated, but even if it's a one loss team winning that game, they're a dead lock to head to the BCS Championship Game. What I'm wondering is given the strength of the SEC and how much love they get in the polls, just how many losses would one of those teams have to have to be excluded from the BCS Championship Game? Two? Three? I doubt we'll even find out. By the way, this is your Erin Andrews game for the night - just in case you were wondering.

#17 Arizona at California, 7:00 Versus: Compared to 2007 and 2008, this college football season is downright boring without the weekly upsets and constant shuffling atop the rankings. The Pac-10 is apparently the last bastion of the chaos of the last two years. With Oregon's loss last week, 'Zona is in the driver's seat out west heading into next week's match up with the Ducks. They have to get by a good Cal team first. With three losses the Golden Bears are pretty much out of the picture. They'll be without star running back Jahvid Best who last Saturday suffered his second concussion in as many weeks on quite possibly the scariest hit I've ever seen.

Louisiana Tech at #8 LSU, 7:00 EPSNU: LSU is one of five FBS teams that go by "Tigers", but to my knowledge, they're the only school that keeps a live bengal fucking tiger on their campus. Think about that for a second. A bunch of drunken cajun college students sharing a campus with a carnivorous beast. I have no clue how this has yet to result in Sigfried and Roy type catastrophe.

Auburn at Georgia, 7:30 ESPN2: Auburn also goes by the Tigers, but they do not keep a live oversized feline mascot. Georgia, on the other hand, does have a live bulldog mascot and he has a past history with Auburn. I can't imagine how that would play out if it were to happen in Baton Rouge, but it wouldn't be pretty. I like tuning into these night games on ESPN2 for the studio coverage. I'm always intrigued to see if Wendi Nix is wearing her "sexy librarian" get up that night and markedly less intrigued to find out if former Giant back-up QB / Bachelor Jesse Palmer has gotten any dumber since last week.

Notre Dame at #12 Pittsburgh, 8:00 ABC: I know how much people love to bag on Bill Belichik, particularly in metro-NYC, but I've always been a fan of the guy thanks to the dominant Giant defenses that he led in my childhood. Love him or hate him, you gotta admit the guy's good. Since leaving Belichick, Romeo Crennel has done his best work in Coors Light commericals, Eric Mangini is about to get fired for the second time in less than a year, Josh McDaniels was a P.R. disaster at the outset and is now crashing back to earth, and Charlie Weis has one fat foot in a double wide grave. I think the loss to Navy last week was the final straw for him. Hey, Ty Willingham's available; why doesn't ND rehire him and foist all the blame on him again? Meanwhile, could Pitt overlook the Irish? This is a non-conference game while a de facto Big East Championship Game against Cincinnati on December 5th looms.

Texas Tech at #19 Oklahoma St, 8:oo ESPN360: This one's relegated to internet only in most of the country, but features an interesting match up of two crazier-than-usual coaches. Mike Gundy is still a man; Mike Leach is still a pirate.

Arizona St at #13 Oregon, 10:20 ESPN: Like Arizona, Oregon needs to keep winning in order to win the Pac-10. They may be able to afford one more loss so long as they can beat the Wildcats next week, giving them the head-to-head tiebreaker. Meanwhile, earlier this week Oregon prematurely rescinded their season long suspension of LeGarrette Blount, issued after he punched a helmetless Boise St. Bronco in the face following the season's opening game. I'm sure it's just coincidental that the decision was reversed after a critical loss.

Enjoy the games Fackers.

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.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Good morning Fackers. I've got a little extra hop in my step this morning, and it's not just because the Yankees continue to roll along about as well as we could imagine.

Tonight marks the return of college football. No sport will ever replace baseball when it comes to capturing my attention, but with the autumn-like weather that's settled in over the past few days, I've been anxiously awaiting the return of pigskin. It's been 238 days since God's own quarterback dispensed with Oklahoma and gave Florida their second National Championship in three years. The Gators were a record-setting, overwhelming, pre-season number one in the AP poll, and are the favorites to capture a third National Championship in four seasons.

ESPN has a doubleheader tonight. In the opener, The Old Ballcoach and his Cocks travel to Raleigh to face the Wolfpack, led by former BC coach Tom O'Brien. These same two teams kicked off last season. While the match-up itself isn't all that compelling, the game will be interesting in that it will mark Erin Andrews' return to work. Perhaps you've heard that America's Sideline Princess was the victim of a serious violation of privacy over the summer. Understandably, she's kept a low profile since then, and this will be her first public appearance outside of her tell-all at an Oprah taping last week.

The night cap features a much better match-up as the #16 Oregon Ducks visit the #14 Boise St. Broncos. It'll be the ugly uniforms against the ugly field. I'll likely have the CFB games on the tube with the Yanks game streaming on the laptop. Cut me some slack; it's opening night.

In an effort to somehow tie this back to the Yankees, I'll mention that much to my surprise and even more to my chagrin, I caught a commerical on YES earlier this week indicating that all Notre Dame home games will be replayed on YES Mondays this fall. I researched this a bit. Turns out it's a multiyear deal and includes the showing of other ND content on YES.

/vomits

As you may recall, I'm not particularly fond of Notre Dame, nor is Big Willie Style. The best thing that come of this deal as far as I'm concerned is that it allow me a second chance to watch BC's seventh consecutive victory against The Irish.

Certain teams, usually the ones that have been highly successful, are generally despised outside of their own bases. The Yankees. The Cowboys. The Lakers. Duke basketball. Notre Dame football. The Yankees have now had content sharing agreements with Manchester United and Notre Dame. They established Legends Hospitality Management in conjunction with the Cowboys in order to service their two new stadiums. They're certainly making it easier for the average fan to consolidate his vitriol to a few choice locations.

Okay, I promise: that's my only football post today. If you need a little help getting excited for the season, check out this post from a couple weeks back. Now back to baseball.

“This is not just a stadium for baseball”

That's what Lonn Trost thinks of the New Yankee Stadium:

"This is not just a stadium for baseball," Yankees COO Lonn Trost said. "It's a stadium for college and university football."

To refresh, this is Lonn Trost, the man whose fingerprints are all over the New Stadium and who was more responsible than anyone else for designing it. Got it? Now take a look at this:

See how well the football field fits into the dimensions of the baseball configurat... wait, I'm sorry, what's that? It doesn't fit at all and the dugouts might have to be filled-in during these games just to accomodate the corners of the endzones? Just look at how the stands unnecessarily jut away from from the 50 yard lines! I like what you did there, Lonn. There's hardly a good seat in the house!

You'd think that if someone with Mr. Trost's "appreciation of the history" of the Old Yankee Stadium might have thought of this beforehand, if they truly had wanted to play college football games there. Perhaps the need popped up after the Yankees' revenue projections fell short for this year and they are taking steps to cover their behinds just in case the economic conditions don't improve.

But the fact remains that it IS a Stadium just for baseball, which explains what it was explicity fucking designed for it without taking any other events into consideration. You can try to shoehorn a football grid into it or put a stage for a concert in centerfield, but it's going to be completely awkward because baseball parks aren't meant for anything else. Just like football stadiums weren't meant to house baseball games. Again, historically, this was done out of necessity. Now it's being done out of nostalgia and greed and I'm not sure which of those is worse.

Three Two To Ones

For the third day in a row the Yankees won a game by the score of 2-1. They are the first games of the year the Yanks have won while scoring two or fewer runs and they'd only notched two victories while scoring 3 runs or fewer before the All-Star Break. The odds of matching up a great pitching performance like the one put together by Andy Pettitte and the bullpen tonight to cover a weak offensive output are slim, and during the first few innings, it looked like the match-up was headed in an entirely different direction.

The first batter of the game, Brian Roberts, lofted a deep fly ball into the left field corner which barely stayed in the park. Up next, Nick Markakis blasted one into the home bullpen to make the score 1-0. The Yankees loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first, but David Hernandez won a 9 pitch battle with Robinson Cano to end the inning. They got on the board soon thereafter, though, with a solo shot by Eric Hinkse in the bottom of the second.

Despite the exciting start, the offenses stalled out.

Both Pettitte and Hernandez found their stride and cruised through the middle innings. Allowing three hits and three walks, Herdandez went six frames but threw 103 pitches, due in part to the 35 it took him to get out of the first. Pettitte gave up 6 hits, but compensated with two double plays and a season-high 8 strikeouts. He left mess in the 8th inning for Phil Coke to clean up, though.

With one out and men on second and third, Nick Markakis lined Coke's first pitch to Mark Teixeira, who fired an off balance throw to Jose Molina with Caesar Izturus heading towards the plate. Molina grabbed the throw across this body, and swept a tag towards the plate, just barely in front of the runner. The ball was nearly falling out of his glove, but he trapped it against the ground as Izturus' foot nearly knocked it out. Brain Roberts advanced to third on the play.

Facing Adam Jones, Coke uncorked a wild pitch past Molina, but the veteran catcher quickly tracked and down and fired to Coke covering the plate, who tagged Roberts on an extra wide slide towards home. Two pitches, two fantastic defensive plays, and the lead was preserved.

With it apparent that both Mariano Rivera and Phil Hughes were likely unavailable, it wasn't clear who Girardi would call on to get big outs in the game. After Coke may or may not have hit Adam Jones with a pitch and got Aubrey Huff to fly out to center, our boy Alf was summoned from the 'pen to keep the game tied. Aceves got Melvin Mora to fly out to center and intentionally walked Luke Scott, before rookie Nolan Riemold flied to left for the third out.

A-Rod had the first chance to end the game in the bottom of the 9th, but he hit a flare right at Brain Roberts who had him played nearly straight away, behind second base. Hideki Matsui was next up. He took the first two pitches for balls, fouled the next three off and took the sixth one to the right field bleachers for a walk off HR.

It was the Yankees' 9th such victory this year (and 8th subsequent pie in the face - see comments) and it moved them to 15-11 in one run games. It's thanks to games like this that the Yanks continue to outperform their run differential and are now tied for first place in the AL East for the fifth separate time this season despite having gone just 16-17 within the division.

[Photos via ESPN/AP]

College Football Closer To Reality At New Stadium

Back in May, we ran a post about Notre Dame expressing interest in playing at Yankee Stadium. Today, that looks closer to being a reality.

According to the Times Herald-Record, Army and Notre Dame will play their 2010 game at the Stadium. The Black Knights will also reportedly play a game there in 2011, 2012, and 2013 against opponents yet to be determined.

I agree with ESPN's Graham Watson in thinking that having the annual Army-Navy game there would be great, but the locations for that game are already booked for years to come.

While I can appreciate the novelty and the nostalgia of hosting football at the new Stadium, I'm not sure it's the best idea in the world. The Yankees have invested billions of tax payer dollars in building a new baseball stadium. Why jeopardize the quality of the turf by subjecting it to a football game?

As Jay noted last week, multi-purpose ballparks are dying off. In recent years Veterans Stadium, Three Rivers Stadium, Riverfront Stadium, Candlestick Park and Qualcomm Park, all former two sport venues, have been replaced. The Metrodome will join them at season's end. Of the remaining dual sport MLB parks - Network Associates Coliseum and Landshark Stadium - are considered the worst venues in baseball. Why would the Yankees want to jump back to the multipsort mindset of 20 and 30 years ago?

Obese Football Coach Week Continues At Fack Youk

Following yesterday's Charlie Weis name-drop and a gratuitous picture of an asphyxiating Jabba the Hutt (or were he and Leia playing the choking game?), submitted for your enjoyment is the following text message exchange I had with my friend who attended the Springsteen show at The Swamp last night:

Him: Rex Ryan is sitting right in front of us. i didnt realize how fat
he is

Me: Who's fatter? Him or Weis?

Him: Definitely weis

I would have to agree.

So there you have it. Notre Dame may have fallen on tough times of late, but they still have the Heavyweight Champion of the Football World. I suppose I'm obligated to come up with something about Andy Reid soon.

As a side note, the Yankees faired much better last night than they did the night I caught The Boss on this tour.

Stay Off of My Lawn!

[Disclaimer: I loathe Notre Dame in much the same way that Big Willie Style hates BC]

The original Yankee Stadium hosted many a football game in its history. The New York football Giants called it home from 1956 through the early part of the 1973 season, and it was the site of what's still remembered as the NFL's Greatest Game. Before the Giants, assorted second-rate pro football teams bearing the name "Yankees" also called the Stadium home.

College football was also played there. NYU hosted 96 games there and were even allowed in the good seats back then. Fordham played 19 games in their neighborhood park. It was the site of Knute Rockne's famous "Win One for the Gipper" speech, as Notre Dame and Army faced off there for 24 consecutive years.

Today comes the news that Notre Dame wishes to take the field in the New Stadium. That's right, the once proud Fighting Irish, led by fat Charlie Weiss and his reconstructed knee, want to play at the new ballpark for "history's sake". Or, maybe it's because the match-up would likely be against lowly Army, a virtually assured win for a program that appears to be increasing the cupcake portion of their schedule on an annual basis.

Another possibile opponent would be Connecticut. Last year the two schools reached an agreement on a six year series to begin in 2011. For the right to play ND, Connecticut had to agree to play its three "home" games out-of-state. The Meadowlands and Gillette Stadium are considered the likely destinations, but The Stadium could offer a compelling alternative.

I say no thanks ND. We got a nice little manicured lawn here and we don't need you messing it up. The only way I'd be interested in this is if it were a BC-ND game (of course). BC has won the last six Holy Wars, and coincidentally, the 2010 match-up is the last one scheduled for years to come. Given that it would have to be a BC home game though, and BC is represented by the evil Fenway Sports Group, I see no way that ever happens.