You will see it played over and over today.

Washington down 28-27 with 1:30 to go on 4th and 9. Ertz catches pass at first down line, moves forward away from line, and is touched.

It might be the worst ball spot I've ever seen on a 4th down play. And the replay review reinforced the awful spot too. If I get a video of it, I'll post it here. But man, what a terrible ball spot!

Read that here.

Yes, Stanford was tremendous last night. They seem to have learned that the best offense is a diverse offense where Tammi, Elia, Ipar. Jordyn, and Red, I mean Lizzy, all participate. They all had a wonderful time.

Elena and Kami ere fabulous on defense. The blocking was worthy of a Kevin Hambly in college.

Stanford’s serving has improved remarkably over the year. Coco seems to have replaced Pringle whom we affectionately call Chip.

I do have to say that GT did not look like a Pitt or a Louisville. Maybe the travel caused them to lose their edge. They had won nine in a row.

Yes, we are familiar with the ditty “I am a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech and a heck of an engineer“?

Whoever called the GT’s the Wreckettes was a comedic genius..

Putting aside how pathetic it is that Cal and Stanford are dominated by the ACC in their first year in the league...

It is now clear as the day is long that SMU is the best team in the ACC in its first year. Miami has been living a charmed existence, escaping several games in which they trailed by double figures, but their luck ran out today in a truly pathetic performance at Georgia Tech. GT pushed them around all over the field on both sides of the ball.

Miami hasn't played a single great team this year, and the best one is Louisville, who they really struggled to beat. Their Defense has to be the worst of any Top 5 team in memory. Cam Ward has been the presumptive Heisman winner, but today was a very poor performance.

I am picking SMU to win the ACC in their first year as a Power conference team since the 1980s.

Read that here.

Preview is here.

Read that here.

Just heard on the broadcast of their win at Oregon State that made San Jose State Bowl-eligible for the third straight season:

- First Pac win since Stanford in 2006
- First Pac road win since Stanford in 1999

Oregon State is terrible, probably worse than Stanford, and the Spartans only scored 17 offensive points in a 24-13 win. Maybe Stanford can beat San Jose State.

Cal allowed Wake 36 points and Stanford held them to 27. But, Wake's stud RB was injured against Stanford and had over 100 yds vs. Cal. It's amazing how Cal allows teams to stay in games when they do things that suggest they should be pulling away. They are equally likely to screw up on D after doing well on O, as they are screwing up on O after doing well on D. It's really a poorly coached team. Cal has many more better athletes than Stanford, but maybe Stanford can take advantage of Cal's "Calness" and eke out a victory.

If forced to bet on Stanford's final recored, I'm going with 2-10, but 4-8 is at least conceivable. Louisville is -19 next week, so forget about that game, but Cal and SJSU are possibilities.

Moving up to Interim or Acting Head Coach for the Spurs while Pop deals with a health issue.

Sam Fuld, who has been the Philadelphia Phillies GM working under President Dave Dombrowski, has new responsibilities. The Phillies will now have two (!) General Managers. Preston Mattingly will now be responsible for on-field matters while Sam Fuld will be working on business matters. Sam is currently getting his MBA at Wharton while still working for the Phillies. Both Mattingly and Fuld will report to Dombrowski.

Dombrowski announced that upon graduation from Wharton in 2026, Fuld will take over as President of Business Operations.

Dombrowski is under contract until 2027. The Athletic speculates that at that point Dombrowski will retire and Sam Fuld will be put in charge of the Phillies.

I live in the area and have seen a handful of players recently

#63 Carson Caplan OL on California Avenue
#24 Tiger Bachmeier WR at Shake Shack in Stanford Shopping Center
#37 Myles Libman WR at Shake Shack
#39 Tyler Kuo WR at Shake Shack

I gotta be honest these guys just do not look like D1 football players. Carson Caplan is an OL and did not quite look his 6'2 285 website listing. He didn't look a hair over 270

Tiger Bachmeier is one of our better players and looks more like a soccer player than Football. I'm serious. I would be worried about his safety against Georgia

Libman and Kuo also looked like Water Polo or Swim Team memebrs

Just talking about the WR position, we used to have guys like Ty Montgomery. Now he looked like a D1 Football player

Bottom line -- we gotta get a bigger and stronger roster. We need guys you see on the street and think "whoa", that guy must be on the Football Team

Another fun win with lots of positives!

Stanford survived an ice cold shooting stretch (1-15) and early foul trouble from whistle happy refs to win this one easily.

My key takeaways:

Gealer shot the damn lights out, with at least three of his six triples from NBA range.

He is 10-13 from deep on the season and should continue to be a major threat to pull.

Blakes can’t shoot but his intensity, effort, awesome defense, rebounding and attacking the rim is elite and infectious. Co-MVP of this game and really feels like the heart and soul of a high effort floor burn squad.

Okpara did not shoot well but is able to create space inside and defend. He is the superior player to Cammann who is still a very useful piece with room for continued growth.

Raynaud was huge on defense, making it hard for teams to get anything at the rim and grabbing contested boards. Another strong game.

Agarwal has looked great shooting, missing back rim on a number of deep balls before seeing a couple go through tonight. He also made some plus defensive plays and looks like he belongs.

Sellers hit a 3 and had a nice assist in the first 2 minutes and then did nothing the rest of the game. Fortunately this team is deep enough to find and stick with the hot hand(s).

Saran saw some more run and was able to hit an open 3. Toure also serves as a guy who can spell the bigs for a couple of minutes and had a nice tip in for his first points of the season.

Batson Jr didn’t flash this game, 2 quick fouls and then the bench until garbage time.

It was a light crowd but more animated than Monday’s. Blakes energy and Gealer’s insane shooting got Maples rocking in the 2nd half! Onward and upward!

PS - highlight of the day was me offering a fan at the box office a free ticket and it turned out to be the legend himself, @Bootleg Lars !

Preview is here.

Read that here.

Read and watch that here.

One of the most annoying baseball discussions that seemingly never stops is this "analytics" vs. "gut feel"debate in terms of how teams are run.

It's presented like a team either uses sophisticated data to make decisions, or doesn't even own a computer. I realize that's an exaggeration, but I think most people who follow baseball can relate to what I'm getting at here.

I bring this up because McCovey Chronicles published a story about Buster Posey moving the data nerds out of the Clubhouse, where Farhan Zaidi had placed them. It was almost positioned like a team can either be driven by sophisticated data or gut feel, and there is no in-between. Every time I hear this discussed, I always think "why not both." There is always going to be some element of art and some of science, is there not?

What is the hangup people seem to have with this topic, why is it always an either/or discussion? Does it simply boil down to how final decisions are made? Like, if the algorithm decides the lineup, the team is data driven, but if the manager/coach decides it, the team is run on "gut feel?" Just don't understand this seemingly black and white discussion, when there seems to be many shades of grey.

It's time to fire up the men's basketball recruiting notes for November. The October thread is here.


As a quick note, the early signing period for hoops is November 13th-20th, so later this month. As of now, Stanford has one guy verbally committed for 2025 in Latvian forward Kristers Skrinda. However, they could add to that class tonight as 4-star big man Xavion Staton will announce his decision tonight between Stanford, Michigan, UNLV, and BYU.

My intel on Staton indicates there's a possibility he chooses Stanford, but they're not the favorite. That's the really the best I can say, but I certainly wouldn't be shocked if he chose Stanford. Kyle Smith and his staff seemed to have made a good impression on him, so I guess we'll just have to see. He announces tonight at 6:00 PM PT.

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3-Day Weekend, the ACC Network travel series that introduces fans to each ACC town, will debut a new episode focused on first-year ACC member Stanford on Thursday, November 7. 3-Day Weekend: Palo Alto premieres at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, immediately following the conclusion of the ACC women’s soccer championship semifinal match featuring Duke and North Carolina.



Stanford, one of the most accomplished athletic and academic institutions in the country, officially joined the Atlantic Coast Conference on August 2, 2024. The Cardinal have won 136 NCAA team championships in their history, the most of any university. The episode explores historic spots, popular restaurants and establishments in and around Palo Alto, while giving viewers a taste of what Stanford has to offer for visiting fans.



Jess Roy is the host of 3-Day Weekend, which is produced by Charlotte-based Susie Films in partnership with ESPN.



Episode highlights of 3-Day Weekend: Palo Alto include:

• Coffee milkshakes at Palo Alto Creamery, a longstanding diner popular with Stanford students.
• Wine tasting and horseback riding at Garrod Farms, a family-owned and operated estate winery and stables.
• A guided tour of the Winchester Mystery House, a historic landmark that was once the personal residence of Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester.
• Delicious meals at Tamarine, a must-try Vietnamese fusion restaurant and Oren’s Hummus, a favorite amongst Stanford students for its fresh Mediterranean cuisine.
• A sailing lesson at Shoreline Lake Boathouse, just a 15-minute drive from Stanford’s campus.
• A quick stop at the local watering hole, Dutch Goose, a historic spot serving cold beers and burgers since 1966.

About 3 Day Weekend

Produced by Charlotte-based Susie Films in partnership with ESPN, the ACC Network travel series 3-Day Weekend features host Jess Roy visiting college towns throughout the ACC. Roy gives viewers a taste of the best things to do, see and eat in each area by introducing fans to unique activities, historic landmarks and popular restaurants and establishments.



3-Day Weekend debuted in 2020 and has featured 16 episodes to date – Blacksburg, Va., Miami/Coral Gables, Fla., Tallahassee, Fla., Atlanta, Louisville, Clemson, S.C., Charlottesville, Va., Boston, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, N.Y., Winston-Salem, N.C., Durham, N.C., Chapel Hill, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., South Bend, Indiana and Charlotte.

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Read that here.

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Preview is here.