Mid-day open thread

Just got home from work, and before my morphine drip kicks in, I'd better get a few items out of the way;

Cleveland Indians

The Indians won today at Minnesota 6-2, raising their season record against the Twins to 14-4. Domination year-round, including a 5-0 record against the guy who won the Cy Young two out of the last three seasons.

The Indians Magic Number falls to 17. With 23 games left to play, it's pretty much a done deal. They could play .500 ball (12-11), and still only need Detroit to lose 5 of their last 24 games to get in.

Speaking of the Tigers, they are currently playing the worst baseball in the Majors. They've gone 16-29 (.356) over their last 45 games.

At the end of the day on Tuesday, August 21st, the Indians had a half-game lead on the Tigers. Since that day, the Tribe has gone 13-2, while Detroit has gone 5-8. That's what you call "getting hot at the right time".

Cleveland Browns

Charlie Frye has been named the starter for this Sunday's home opener against the Steelers. Romeo Crennel will not say who the #2 QB is, which basically means it's Brady Quinn. If he came out and announced that, the media and sports-talk callers would be all into the "quarterback controversy". By declining to name the backup, that talk has been shut down. Kudos to Romeo for not fanning the flames.

On a personal note, do you know how hard it is as a Buckeye fan to cheer for a pro team with Jamal Lewis, Kellen Winslow Jr. and Braylon Edwards as the top playmakers?

Ohio State Buckeyes

I'm not concerned about the Akron Zips this weekend. I know that the Buckeyes have the talent and the desire to put away Akron early. Plus, after the world watched Appalachian State, there is NO WAY that a coach like Tressel is going to let his team go in unprepared. But one thing does scare me.

Thom Brenneman and Charles Davis will be handling the broadcasting duties for the Big Ten Network. Their last two games together....when Boise State upset Oklahoma and when Appalachian State upset Michigan. I'm a superstitious guy, and that does give me pause.

The Big Ten Bloggers

I'm a big fan of the crew we have as Big Ten Bloggers. Lots of great writers, and a real family feeling amongst all of us...we send out e-mails amongst each other, helping out in many different ways. But what impresses me the most is how the group has been sending traffic to each other. I've been looking over my list of referrals from my stats page, and I'm getting hits from nearly every other Big Ten Bloggers' website. Plus, my traffic has increased tremendously. I've easily doubled both my visits and page views since The BBC joined Big Ten Bloggers.

So I ask you to please go check out the sites you see in my right hand column. Some good writing going on, and I expect it will only increase as the group gains momentum.

Week 2 Pick 'em

I went 10-1 last week, calling the upset of BGSU over Minnesota. Let's see if I've still got the prognostication skills....

Ohio State over Akron
Northwestern over Nevada
Michigan State over Bowling Green
Miami (OH) over Minnesota
Purdue over Eastern Illinois
Oregon over Michigan
Penn State over Notre Dame
Illinois over Western Illinois
Indiana over Western Michigan
Iowa over Syracuse
Wisconsin over UNLV

Big Ten goes 9-2.