2011 College Football Picks, Week 11

I'm 57-60-3.

Ohio St. -7 Purdue(loss)
Missouri +1.5 Texas(win)
Ok St. v TTech under 79.5(win)
SCarolina -3 Florida(win)
Wyo +16.5 AForce(win)
Texas A&M v KSt under 66.5(loss)
Rutgers -7.5 Army(win)
LA Tech -2 Ole Miss(win)
Oregon v. Stanford under 69(loss)
SMiss -9 CFla(loss)
Hawaii +16 Nevada(win)
Ariz St. -11.5 Wash St.(loss)

7-5
64-65-3

I Pick Every NFL Game in 2011 - Week 10

It's ugly up in here.  I'm 62-63-5 against the spread, 87-43 straight up.

Chargers -7 Oakland(loss/loss)
Steelers -3 Bengals(win/win)
Chiefs -3 Denver(loss/loss)
Jags -3 Colts(win/win)
Dallas -5.5 Bills(win/win)
Hou -3 TB(win/win)
Carol -3 Tenn(loss/loss)
Wash +4 Mia(Mia wins game)(loss/win)
NO pick Atl(win/win)
Det +3 Chi (Bears win game)(loss/win)
Rams +2.5 Browns (Browns win game)(win/loss)
Eagles -13.5 Arizona(loss/loss)
Balt -7 Seattle(loss/loss)
Giants +3.5 Niners (Niners win game)(loss/win)
NE +1 NYJ (win/win)
GB -13.5 Minn(win/win)

8-8, 70-71-5
10-6, 97-49

The 200 Greatest Major League Baseball Players of All Time, 2012 Ed. 131-140

The previous post is here.

131. Tommy John LHP 1963-89  Yankees/White Sox/Dodgers
        62.65
        267-249
        ERA+ 111
        MVPQ: none
        IP: 4700      

132. David Cone RHP 1986-03 Mets/Yankees
        62.25
        205-141
        ERA+ 121
        MVPQ: none
        IP: 2900

133. Bill Dickey C 1928-46 Yankees
        62.45
        OPS+127
        .299/.364/.510
        MVPQ= 1937
        PA=7000

134. Mike Piazza C 1992-07 Mets/Dodgers
        61.95
        OPS+ 142
        .316/.384/.558
        Elite= 1997
        PA=7750

135. Lou Boudreau SS Indians 1938-52
        61.95
        OPS+ 120
        .305/.380/.465
         Inner Circle=1948
        PA=7000

136. Sammy Sosa 1989-07 RF Cubs 
        61.9
        OPS+128
        .274/.345/.535
         Inner Circle=2001
         PA=9900

137. Jackie Robinson 2B Dodgers 1947-56
        61.6
        .311/.406/.502
        OPS+ 131
        MVPQ=1952
        Elite=1949, 1951
        PA=5800

138. Harry Heilmann 1914-32 Tigers RF
        61.6
        .316/.386/.547
        OPS+148
        MVPQ=1923
        PA=8950

139. Ed Walsh 1904-17 White Sox RHP
        61.55
        174-103, 42 sv
        ERA+146
        MVPQ=1907,
        Inner Circle: 1908, 1910, 1912
        IP=2950

140. Reggie Smith 1966-82 Red Sox/Dodgers RF/CF
        61.55
        .293/.373/.525
        OPS+137
        MVPQ=none
        PA=8050

The first guys here in play for our running subjective all time roster are Dickey and Piazza, who helpfully are back to back in terms of their overall career value.  Piazza obviously had a much better bat, as evidenced by his OPS+ and adjusted slashline advantages. Dickey's comparable to the two catchers currently on the team, Hartnett and Ewing, similar offensive numbers, Ewing composed his career total with a lot fewer plate appearances, Dickey's the only one of the three with an MVPQ season, and that's going to stick him on the team.  But I'm going to say Piazza was better, the combination of the bat and Piazza's Elite season gets him the job by a nose.

C Piazza
    Dickey

No change at first base

1B Greenberg
      Olerud

Jackie Robinson is the new second baseman, he has that adjusted all time 3/4/5 slashline that I love (like Jackson and Flick) has 3 MVPQ seasons (2 of which are elite) and accumulated his value in under 6000 PA.  His career's sort of like Joe Jackson's.

2B Robinson
      Gordon

Lou Boudreau shows up with an inner circle season (10+wins above replacement) the second position player on the list with such distinction (Sosa just got in first).  That's enough to make him the backup at short.

SS Banks
     Boudreau

No change at third.

3B Allen

No change in left.

LF Jackson
      Flick

I enjoy Reggie Smith and that OPS+ is terrific, we currently don't have a CF on the club; I'm going to give him that provisional spot.

CF Smith

Sosa has the best season of any of the candidates for RF, but doesn't have the rest of the career that either Heilmann or Medwick had.  Those two are close; Heilmann had more bat, Medwick an additional MVPQ season.  I'll say it's the Tiger who starts.

RF Heilmann
      Medwick

9 pitchers are going to wind up on this roster to make it a 25 man roster.  Ed Walsh has 3 Inner Circle seasons, the most of any player on the list so far, in fact, take any two players on the list so far and they don't have more than 3 Inner Circle seasons.  His adjusted ERA is second thusfar only to Rivera (and no one is passing Rivera).  Those two numbers push him straight to the top.

P Walsh
    Rivera
    Newhouser (LHP)
    Ford
    Rusie
    Vance
    Radbourn
    Bunning
    Saberhagen 

The Top 100 NBA Players, 2011-2012 ed.

(The postseason follow up is here.)

ESPN, god love them, did a ranking of the 500 best players in the NBA.

#500?  Lavoy Allen



I'm not going to rank everyone in the NBA, but just for the hell of it, here's my list of the top 100 players in the league.  It's not a career list, nor who would you rather have for the future, just the top players right now, as if we were about to start the season today that in fact, we are not going to start today. Edit - it's Christmas, unsurprisingly, this has become a fairly highly trafficked post.  Given that there is now a season, I redid these ranks to reflect the actual season about to be played.  Some of the older legs are going to move down

1. LeBron James
2. Dwight Howard
3. Dwyane Wade
4. Kevin Durant
5. Chris Paul
6. Derrick Rose
7. Russell Westbrook
8. Kevin Love 
9. Blake Griffin
10. Pau Gasol
11. Dirk Nowitzki
12. Kobe Bryant
13. Deron Williams
14. Carmello Anthony
15. Amare Stoudamire
16. Rajon Rondo
17. Stephan Curry 
18. Tim Duncan
19. Manu Ginobli
20. LaMarcus Aldridge
21. Chris Bosh
22. Josh Smith 
23. Zach Randolph
24. Al Horford 
25. Eric Gordon
26. Andre Iguodala
27. Andrew Bynum
28. Kevin Garnett
29. Ty Lawson
30. Nene
31. Danny Granger
32. Al Jefferson
33. David Lee
34. Paul Millsap
35. Joakim Noah
36. Steve Nash
37. Paul Pierce
38. Tony Parker
39. Kevin Martin
40. Greg Monroe
41. Danilo Gallinari
42. Monte Ellis
43. Rudy Gay
44. James Harden
45. Nicolas Batum
46. Lamar Odom
47. Mike Conley
48. Brandon Jennings
49. Kyle Lowry
50. Serge Ibaka
51. Ryan Anderson
52. Louis Williams
53. Luol Deng
54. Jrue Holiday
55. Marc Gasol
56. David West
57. Andrew Bogut
58. Darren Collison
59. Gerald Wallace
60. Chauncey Billups
61. John Wall
62. Tyreke Evans
63. Tyson Chandler
64. Carlos Boozer
65. DeJuan Blair
66. Marcus Thornton
67. Devin Harris
68. Ray Felton
69. Elton Brand
70. Tony Allen
71. Jason Kidd
72. JaVale McGee
73. Jameer Nelson
74. Marcin Gortat
75. DeMarcus Cousins
76. Dorrell Wright
77. Amir Johnson
78. Tyrus Thomas
79. DJ Augustin
80. Jason Richardson
81. Andrea Bargnani
82. Michael Beasley
83. Thaddeus Young
84. Ed Davis
85. Kris Humphries
86. Roy Hibbert
87. Jose Calderon
88. Rodney Stuckey
89. Toney Douglas
90. Emeka Okafor
91. Kyrie Irving
92. Ramon Sessions
93. Antawn Jamison
94. Chase Budinger
95. Josh McRoberts
96. Anthony Randolph
97. Jared Dudley
98. Chris Andersen
99. Andre Blatch
100. Luis Scola

I Pick Every NFL Game in 2011 - Week 9

Last week's picks are here. I'm 57-54-5 against the spread, 80-36 straight up.

Colts+7 Atlanta (Falcons win)(loss/win)
NO-8 Bucs(win/win)
Texans -11 Browns(win/win)
Bills -1 Jets(loss/loss)
KC -4.5 Miami(loss/loss)
Redskins +3.5 Niners (Niners win game)(loss/win)
Dallas -12 Seattle(loss/win)
Oak -8.5 Den(loss/loss)
Tenn -3 Cin(loss/loss)
NYG +8.5 NE(Patriots win game)(win/loss)
SD +6 GB(Pack wins game)(loss/win)
Ariz -4.5 StL(win/win)
Pit -3.5 Balt (loss/loss)
Phil -8.5 Chi(loss/loss)

5-9, 62-63-5
7-7, 87-43