Seadragon76

Enough of the Skankee ass kissing, let's talk about the Mariners and their 11 game winning streak!

That was my idea... and outside of the whole fiasco that was the Wheels, the attendance numbers aren't that bad - save for their final home game against Southern California, which had 6351 people there (there is a lower number though - the game with Portland was in London, Ontario and that was barely over 5100 people there). Outside of that game? 2 home games with 10,000 people and 2 home games with 14,000 people. That should be within the ballpark of what the current USFL needs to be looking for.

I personally think that Lamar is more then happy to be back in the Southland where they can compete. They were absolute gutter trash in the WAC in terms of football and men's basketball. They were a little more competitive in women's basketball and baseball. Not to mention that it gives the Southland ten teams now. As for the WAC - well, I have a feeling that football might be on the chopping block come 2024.

Acrisure sounds like something you would do for a Create-A-Team in Madden. I personally would have went with Primanti Bros. or PNC Stadium or something like that. Keep it with a Pittsburgh company... although if I had my way, it would become Ligma Field.

It actually feels good to be a Mariner fan right now... the team is red hot, they're in playoff position AND the next six games (2 vs. Washington and 4 vs. Texas) look winnable. There's a chance they may have a 14 game winning streak going into the break, and that would be something.

Not bad for Washington... I caught the Space Needle and the whale, but the map of the state eludes me.

I didn't think of Kalamazoo or Mt. Pleasant for locations... not bad. But, the team probably wants to stick close to the Detroit area (despite being the Michigan Panthers).

If it was me, the USFL should be looking for stadiums that they can use and be at the 15,000-20,000 seat range. So, for each team, the home fields would be this: Birmingham - Protective Stadium Philadelphia - Franklin Field New Jersey - SHI Stadium Michigan - Rynearson Stadium Tampa Bay - Raymond James Stadium New Orleans - Yulman Stadium Pittsburgh - Heinz Field Houston - Rice Stadium

Sure sounds like it... they kept this hidden from everyone else in the Pac-12 and I have to think that the sweet, sweet television money from the Big Ten Network was far too enticing to pass up. Not to mention that the Big Ten Network can say that they have a foothold in the two biggest television markets in the nation - something the SEC Network can't say.

Looks like Anaheim took the lion's share of the punishment. Thanks, you lousy punk asses!

It's about time for the M's to actually have some hate for another team and why not Anaheim? Oakland is trash, Texas is trash and Houston is just too good right now. Plus, they started it by being... well, they started it.

We have a reversal - Incarnate Word is staying in the Southland, telling the WAC to go... WAC off.

The format for 2026, in terms of qualifying, the slots go like this: Asia - 8 Africa - 9 North America - 6 South America - 6 Oceania - 1 Europe - 16 This means that Oceania, for the first time ever, will have an automatic spot in the World Cup. In terms of automatic spots, it is assumed that the three host nations will get them. Now, if you have noticed... the math seems off. The numbers add up to 46. So, where's the final two slots? That is where a playoff tournament comes in. There will be six teams - 1 from each region (except Europe) and 2 from North America - with the seeded teams (seeds come from the FIFA World Rankings) awaiting the winner of the play-in games.

The format should be easy for each city: Each one gets a group (which means three games at a site) and a First Round Knockout game. This gives each site a minimum of four games. From there, you make sure that a Mexican site and a Canadian site (probably Mexico City and Vancouver) get at least two more games - a Round of 16 game and a Quarterfinal.

To add more context to what @MJWalker45 is talking about... Three years ago, Little League decided to expand the field from 16 teams to 20 teams. This means two new regions for both the United States and for the World... COVID-19 threw a giant sized monkey wrench into these plans, which explains why you have this now introduced. On the U.S. side, there are two new regions: The Metro Region (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island) and the Mountain Region (Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming). This realignment creates 6 regions with 4 states in them, 1 region (Great Lakes) with 5 states in it and the remaining three regions (Midwest, Southeast and Southwest) with 8 states in them (Southwest having two teams from Texas, of course). On the international side, three new regions are involved in a rotation format. This season sees the introduction of the Panama Region and the Puerto Rico Region. The other nation involved in this rotation, Cuba, is part of the Caribbean Region this year. The rotation format will see these three nations have their own region in two of those three years with one year for a nation to be part of a larger region (Cuba and Puerto Rico being in the Caribbean Region and Panama being in the Latin America Region). Next season sees Cuba and Panama having their own regions while Puerto Rico will have to wait until 2024 before getting their own region again.

We have our eight teams, let's see who is going to Omaha... Friday Oklahoma vs. (5) Texas A&M - Former Big XII rivals (and future SEC rivals) meet in the first game in Omaha. The Aggies swept Louisville to get here while Oklahoma laid out Virginia Tech on their home field to reach Omaha. Notre Dame vs. (9) Texas - The Fighting Irish delivered the biggest stunner of the season by taking 2 out of 3 games from top overall seed Tennessee on their home field - though it shouldn't be too much of a surprise considering the Irish were a win away from going to Omaha last season. They'll face a Texas team that braved a nasty weather delay to hammer East Carolina on their home field. Saturday Arkansas vs. (2) Stanford - As the highest seed left in the tournament, the Cardinal might be the odds on favorite to win in Omaha. This is despite a big time scare from UConn in their Super Regional. They'll face an Arkansas team that swept North Carolina in low scoring affairs that were extremely different from the fireworks show they were in. Mississippi vs. (14) Auburn - It's an all SEC clash as the Rebels, coming off a masterful showing against in-state rival Southern Miss, taking on the Tigers from Auburn. They won two games in Corvallis to get here.

I can live with Anaheim crapping out in a such a dramatic fashion... makes this old salty Mariner fan happy. I can also live with finally winning a series in Houston for the first time since 2018. Nice!

Super Regionals are now set... Friday-Saturday-Sunday (if necessary) Notre Dame vs. (1) Tennessee - Notre Dame got an unlucky draw heading down to Statesboro and winning that region running away. It's a gift for the Irish... but now comes a bigger challenge in the form of the top overall seed in the Volunteers. Tennessee had little to no issues in their regional as they swatted down all three teams to earn hosting duties this weekend. (9) Texas vs. (8) East Carolina - Both teams showed their best stuff over the weekend as Texas stormed their way through their regional while ECU had a scare from Coastal Carolina, only to slap the Chanticleers back down to earth. Now, the Pirates get ready to host one of college baseball's biggest names in Texas. (12) Louisville vs. (5) Texas A&M - Texas A&M had no problems blazing their way on their home field last weekend. Something that Louisville couldn't say... the Cardinals got popped by Michigan and then went on a roaring rampage of revenge against the Wolverines in taking both games from them to the tune of 31-10. Now the Cardinals have an even tougher task awaiting them. Oklahoma vs. (4) Virginia Tech - One of the great stories of the season has been the rise of Virginia Tech from habitual middle of the pack team to national power. The Hokies blasted their way through their home regional with back-to-back wins over Ivy League champion Columbia. Next up for the Hokies is upset minded Oklahoma. The Sooners went to Florida and stunned the seeded Gators to take the regional. Saturday-Sunday-Monday (if necessary) UConn vs. (2) Stanford - UConn might be the Cinderella of this ball. The Huskies survived in College Park against a very good Maryland team. Now, they head west to face a Stanford team that was tested by Texas State, but survived on a walk off to move on. Arkansas vs. (10) North Carolina - If offense is your thing, then this match-up should be right up your alley. North Carolina had two games in their home regional where they dropped 15+ runs on their hapless foes (15 on Hofstra and 19 against VCU) while Arkansas was the survivor of the Stillwater Fireworks Show in what was the 2nd lowest combined score out there (the lowest was Arkansas' 7-1 opening win against Grand Canyon). Mississippi vs. (11) Southern Mississippi - In a showdown for Magnolia State supremacy, the Rebels and Golden Eagles meet in Hattiesburg. Ole Miss had no issues in Coral Gables, winning twice against Arizona (the second win coming in a 22-6 smashing of the Wildcats) while Southern Miss had to do things the hard way at home after losing to LSU. They held off a very game Kennesaw State team in the 2nd elimination game... and then the Golden Eagles won both games with the Tigers to earn this trip. (14) Auburn vs. (3) Oregon State - Auburn felt like the school bully at their home regional as they won all three of their games by an average margin of 11 runs. Now the bully has to take on someone their own size in Oregon State, who held off the Vandy Boys in a winner takes all clash.

Not yet, speedy. There's still the Super Regionals this upcoming weekend.

That's not a bad look for UMass, although that alternate looks a lot like Indiana.

Day 2 is in the books... let's have a recap. Angry, Angry Teams - The SEC always seems to have the strongest teams in college baseball and if yesterday was anything to go by, then making either Georgia or Vanderbilt mad would an extremely bad move. The Bulldogs destroyed Hofstra 24-1 in Chapel Hill while Vanderbilt, still stinging from their lackluster showing against San Diego in Corvallis, unleashed the dogs on New Mexico State in a 21-1 romp. They weren't the only teams to lay the lumber out as Auburn had a repeat of the night before and Virginia Tech showed off their dominance over Columbia. The Fallen Fifteen - On the first day of eliminations, 15 teams were knocked out. Of those teams, 12 of them were 4 seeds with the only 3 seeds knocked out being Liberty, Grand Canyon (two of the last four teams in, BTW) and Dallas Baptist. Also... how pathetic was UNC Greensboro yesterday? Two games, no runs. They are easily the worst team in field, bar none. Underdogs and Rams - Three 3 seeds are a win away from the Super Regional round as UConn knocked off Maryland with a 10-5 victory, VCU is a win away from winning the Chapel Hill Regional after a hard fought 4-3 win over North Carolina and Michigan took down Louisville in that regional. Outside of them, there are four 2 seeds that is a win away from advancing (Texas State, LSU, Arkansas, and Notre Dame) and the rest are 1 seeds.

Day 1 is in the books, so let's recap what happened... Dominate Top Seeds - For the most part, the top seeds in each regional held up their end of the deal as they mostly dominated their games with the lower seeds with Maryland providing the biggest beating of the day in a 23-2 massacre of Long Island, thanks in part to a 9 run showing in the 2nd inning. In fact, the closet any 4 seed got was 1 run: New Mexico State lost on a walk off walk against Oregon State Comeback Kings - LSU was down 11-4 in the bottom of the 8th against Kennesaw State. What the Tigers did was something out of a Hollywood movie: a 10 run inning to take a 14-11 lead on the Atlantic Sun tournament champion Owls. That would be the final score, by the way. Weather Woes - Bad weather shoved the games in Coral Gables back a day while an extremely long delay pushed the game between UNC Greensboro and Georgia Southern to this morning. As for televised games... ESPN - Oregon vs. SE Missouri State (Louisville Regional - Elimination Game) ESPN2 - UCLA vs. SE Louisiana (Auburn Regional - Elimination Game); Louisville vs. Michigan (Louisville Regional - Winner's Bracket Game); Auburn vs. Florida State (Auburn Regional - Winner's Bracket Game); Oregon State vs. San Diego (Corvallis Regional - Winner's Bracket Game) ESPNU - Wake Forest vs. LIU (College Park Regional - Elimination Game); Vanderbilt vs. New Mexico State (Corvallis Regional - Elimination Game); Oklahoma vs. Florida (Gainesville Regional - Winner's Bracket Game); Stanford vs. Texas State (Stanford Regional - Winner's Bracket Game) ACC Network - Georgia Tech vs. Alabama State (Knoxville Regional - Elimination Game); East Carolina vs. Virginia (Greenville Regional - Winner's Bracket Game) SEC Network - Georgia vs. Hofstra (Chapel Hill Regional - Elimination Game); Tennessee vs. Campbell (Knoxville Regional - Winner's Bracket Game) Longhorn Network - Texas vs. Louisiana Tech (Austin Regional - Winner's Bracket Game)

I think it might be fair to say that Edmonton's goose is cooked unless they can do something about their goalie issues. Smith isn't the answer here.

That's so... Hungary. Honestly, I had nothing.

The bracket has been unveiled. For those new to this thread, here's how it works: There are 16 regions with 4 teams in each one playing this weekend. The top seeds in each region have a national seed, 1 through 16. Having the top eight seeds is very important as that means you will host both the Regional and the Super Regional. The national seeds are, as follows... 1. Tennessee 2. Stanford 3. Oregon State 4. Virginia Tech 5. Texas A&M 6. Miami (Florida) 7. Oklahoma State 8. East Carolina 9. Texas 10. North Carolina 11. Southern Mississippi 12. Louisville 13. Florida 14. Auburn 15. Maryland 16. Georgia Southern Now, the regional pairings... Super Region #1 - Knoxville vs. Statesboro Knoxville: Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Campbell, Alabama State Statesboro: Georgia Southern, Notre Dame, Texas Tech, UNC Greensboro Super Region #2 - Austin vs. Greenville Austin: Texas, Louisiana Tech, Dallas Baptist, Air Force Greenville: East Carolina, Virginia, Coastal Carolina, Coppin State Super Region #3 - College Station vs. Louisville College Station: Texas A&M, TCU, UL Lafayette, Oral Roberts Louisville: Louisville, Oregon, Michigan, SE Missouri State Super Region #4 - Gainesville vs. Blacksburg Gainesville: Florida, Oklahoma, Liberty, Central Michigan Blacksburg: Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, Columbia, Wright State Super Region #5 - Stanford vs. College Park Stanford: Stanford, Texas State, UC Santa Barbara, Binghamton College Park: Maryland, Wake Forest, UConn, Long Island Super Region #6 - Chapel Hill vs. Stillwater Chapel Hill: North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia Commonwealth, Hofstra Stillwater: Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Grand Canyon, Missouri State Super Region #7 - Coral Gables vs Hattiesburg Coral Gables: Miami (Florida), Arizona, Mississippi, Canisius Hattiesburg: Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State, Kennesaw State, Army Super Region #8 - Auburn vs. Corvallis Auburn: Auburn, UCLA, Florida State, SE Louisiana Corvallis: Oregon State, Vanderbilt, San Diego, New Mexico State A few notes here.. -Two first timers in Coppin State and Hofstra. Air Force is in for the first time since 1969. -Coppin State is also one of three teams with losing records in the field. The other two are Binghamton and New Mexico State -The last four were Florida State, Grand Canyon, Liberty and Mississippi. The first four out were North Carolina State, Old Dominion, Rutgers and Wofford. TV wise, all the games will be on ESPN+, but there will be a few games on Day 1 that will be televised. ESPN2 - Florida State vs. UCLA (Auburn Regional) ESPNU - UConn vs. Wake Forest (College Park Regional); San Diego vs. Vanderbilt (Corvallis Regional); Mississippi vs. Arizona (Coral Gables Regional); New Mexico State vs. Oregon State (Corvallis Regional) ACC Network - Texas Tech vs. Notre Dame (Statesboro Regional); Wright State vs. Virginia Tech (Blacksburg Regional) SEC Network - Grand Canyon vs. Arkansas (Stillwater Regional); Alabama State vs. Tennessee (Knoxville Regional) Longhorn Network - Air Force vs. Texas (Austin Regional)