“Clean, Old Fashioned Hate” is One of 48 ACC Matchups With Current Betting Odds in Vegas

While I’m not endorsing gambling (unless you’re in Las Vegas, then go right ahead), it’s always a great sign that college football’s right around the corner when you can start betting on games. To that end, Golden Nugget’s sports books have published lines for almost 250 games this fall — 48 of which are involving ACC squads. The full list of ACC games, which I’ve included below, are gleaned from the list provided by Don Best via SB Nation.

Week One

North Carolina at South Carolina (-12)

Penn State at Syracuse (+6.5) (at East Rutherford, NJ)

BYU at Virginia (+3.5)

Alabama at Virginia Tech (+17) (at Atlanta)

Georgia at Clemson (+3.5)

Florida State at Pittsburgh (+13)

Week Two

Syracuse at Northwestern (-13)

Oregon at Virginia (+21)

Florida at Miami (+2.5)

Week Three

Boston College at USC (-21.5)

Nevada at Florida State (-26)

Louisville at Kentucky (+14)

Week Four

Clemson at NC State (+11)

North Carolina at Georgia Tech (-4.5)

West Virginia at Maryland (+2)

Week Five

Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech (+1)

Miami at South Florida (+10)

Florida State at Boston College (+17)

Wake Forest at Clemson (-21)

Week Six

Clemson at Syracuse (+8)

Louisville at Temple (+17)

North Carolina at Virginia Tech (-6.5)

Georgia Tech at Miami (-7)

Week Seven

Rutgers at Louisville (-10)

Boston College at Clemson (-22)

Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech (-13.5)

Week Eight

Miami at North Carolina (Pick)

Central Florida at Louisville (-11)

Florida State at Clemson (-2)

Week Nine

NC State at Florida State (-20)

Louisville at South Florida (+13)

Week 10

Miami at Florida State (-8)

North Carolina at NC State (+2.5)

Clemson at Virginia (+13.5)

Week 11

Louisville at Connecticut (+10.5)

Notre Dame at Pittsburgh (+10.5)

Virginia Tech at Miami (-3.5)

Week 12

Georgia Tech at Clemson (-9)

Syracuse at Florida State (-16)

Houston at Louisville (-17)

Week 13

Memphis at Louisville (-24)

Virginia at Miami (-15)

Week 14

Miami at Pittsburgh (+7)

Florida State at Florida (-2)

Georgia at Georgia Tech (+9)

Virginia Tech at Virginia (+10)

Clemson at South Carolina (-4.5)

Week 15

Louisville at Cincinnati (+3)

***

Some additional thoughts:

• Vegas loves Miami, naming them favorites in all but two games above, and seeing them to be awfully close to both Florida State and Florida. As you know, in the ACC, that means run away from picking the ‘Canes.
• There’s little interest in Maryland, with just one game involving the Terps (and a close one at that, with WVU).
• The odds don’t seem to portray Clemson as a top-10 squad, especially against Syracuse, who they’re only giving eight points to at the Carrier Dome.
• Playing in a diluted American Athletic Conference, Louisville’s a pretty heavy favorite in just about every contest.
• The layout of this schedule does speak to some of the problems the ACC faces. The more compelling matchups are all early in the season, with the league taking a backseat as November hits. Many of the later games feature heavy home favorites and that makes for non-compelling television.
• Based on a quick look at these odds, it would seem — as most have predicted — that Clemson and FSU are the favorites in the Atlantic, while North Carolina and Miami are the favorites in the Coastal. These numbers also seem to like Virginia Tech, which may be based more on past results than this season’s.

What do you think? Any lines you’re surprised about? If you were picking these games (at a legal sports book!), are there any that stick out to you?

Comment, share this post, follow/like the blog and follow @JohnCassillo on Twitter

Louisville will take Maryland place in the Atlantic Division and thus will face Clemson, Florida State, Boston College, NC State, Wake Forest and, our rival from the BE, Syracuse every year. Since the ACC plays 8 conference games, the Cards will face two teams from the Coastal Division each season as well. Louisville will inherit Maryland permanent cross over game against Virginia. The remaining game will rotate through the seasons.

Recently the ACC and Louisville released the Cards rotation thru 2024. This is the Cards rotation; 2014 Miami, 15 @ Pitt, 16 Duke, 17 @ North Carolina, 18 Georgia Tech, 19 @ Miami, 20 Virginia Tech, 21 @ Duke, 22 Pitt, 23 @ Georgia Tech 2024 North Carolina.

In addition, Notre Dame plays 5 ACC teams every year which means we should see Notre Dame once every three years. The Cards will play at Notre Dame in 2014. Wow, 2014 will be loaded! (Notre Dame, Fla St, Clemson, Miami) The Cards are also schedule to play Kentucky, @ Marshall and @ FIU in their non conference games but that would give the Cards seven away games so the non conference slate may change.

We all remember the gruesome scene of Kevin Ware breaking his leg during the Elite 8 game versus Duke that left both teams and coaches in tears. It left me wondering about his career first and then about the Cards national championship hopes secondly. Kevin is healing ahead of schedule and is already off of his crutches. He was scene on the court shooting basketballs on June 4th. While he still cant cut and run, I find this amazing. At this rate he should be ready in time when practice starts. When asked if he felt any pain he said yes, but it was because he just had his wisdom teeth pulled. Cards fans cant wait to see Kevin back on the court this season.

After telling reporters last week there would be a three-way competition in August to replace suspended starter Everett Golson, coach Brian Kelly disclosed at a Grand Valley State University event in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday night that the job belongs to Rees, mlive.com reported.

“I’ve always moved forward,” Kelly said. “I don’t live in the past. I don’t spend too much time in the future. I live in the present, and the present is that I’ve got Tommy Rees who is the starter for us, an established player, and he will be our starter. We think Andrew Hendrix and Malik Zaire can contribute, but Tommy will be our starter.”

The news doesn’t come as a surprise to Irish fans. Rees started 12 of 13 games for the Irish in 2011, when Notre Dame went 8-5. He also helped Notre Dame win four games last season when Golson either struggled or was injured when the Irish finished the regular season 12-0. He also led the Irish to four straight wins at the end of the 2010 season.

Rees is 403-of-634 passing for 4,413 yards in 33 games, with 34 touchdown passes and 24 interceptions and has an 18-4 record as a starter. He isn’t a great fit for Kelly’s offense, though, because he is a slow runner. He’s rushed the ball only 47 times for a loss of 71 yards. He lost the job last year to Golson, who is suspended for the small semester for he said was “poor academic judgment.”

Kelly did give Hendrix, who has been unable to beat Rees out for the job the job the past three seasons, and Zaire, who enrolled in school in January, some hope, though, by saying he expects for them to contribute as the Irish seek to build off last season, when their only loss was 42-14 to Alabama in the BCS title game.

“We are under construction right now,” Kelly said.

Kelly also spoke of Cullen Finnerty, who won three Division II national championships at Grand Valley State University and was found dead of unexplained causes last week the woods of western Michigan. Finnerty played quarterback during Kelly’s last season as Grand Valley coach.

“It is devastating to lose a young man who has so much life and energy,” Kelly said. “Spending time with his family, we were able to talk about his life and the impact he made on Grand Valley State’s campus. There were good times and bad times, but we only remember the good ones.”

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Paris signaled the end of our EuroTrip.  We had very little time there, but since hotels in Paris are expensive we didn’t mind.  Much - but let’s focus on the good stuff, eh? 

Like the Notre-Dame Cathedral:

It looks quite imposing from this angle.

Which is beautiful inside:

Another one of my favorite pictures.

And has gargoyles outside!

Just wait until sundown.

Well, maybe not those kinds of Gargoyles…

How about the Arc de Triomphe(which I really wanted to go to the top of, but we didn’t):

It’s very “Arc”y.

Or maybe you’d rather see The Moulin Rouge?

Rouge = Red (for those of you not versed in the ‘francais’.

The best part is that you can see all these sights just by walking around (and using the Metro/buses).  To look at things from the outside don’t cost a thing, so look all you want and take as many pictures as you’d like.

And then go and treat yourself to something sweet (because those French Ice Cream makers got skillz):

This ice cream cone was made of pure awesome.

[NOTE: If this post seems like a cop-out, it totally is!  I'm currently in New York, hopefully enjoying some awesome weather and amazing food.  I needed a post to schedule and this is all I got, people, so please look at the pretty pictures, think about ice cream flowers and forgive me!  We'll be back to...  whatever it is I do, on Monday!]

Cecil Beaton’s official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation

On 2 June 1953 Queen Elizabeth ll was crowned in Westminster Abbey. The coronation is the greatest of royal ceremonies and to mark the 60^th anniversary of  this great occasion I will take a look at some of the customs and history behind the crowning of the monarch through the ages.

The origins of the coronation can be found in the pagan custom of installing their leader, usually warrior kings,  by seating them upon a stone and investing them with  symbols of their office  for example a spear. With the arrival of Christianity this ceremony then acquired a religious element and kings were anointed and consecrated. In the ceremony the King binds himself on oath to serve the people and in return the people pledge their allegiance to the King.

The ceremony last seen in 1952 is very similar to coronation  of King Edgar  in 973. For which there is a written record. Early coronations were held at Kingston upon Thames and you can still see the stone on which the Anglo-Saxon kings were crowned.

Coronation Stone, Kingston upon Thames

Coronations were not always held at Westminster Abbey and have also taken place  at Bath Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, Oxford, Winchester Cathedral and St Paul’s Cathedral. It was only in the middle ages Westminster Abbey was granted the sole right to hold the ceremony and to date there have been 38 coronations there.

The ceremony in 1952 took 16 months preparation and looked spectacular on a cold, rainy June day even in black and white on the small  televisions then in use. Yet our books on coronations and their customs give us an insight into even bigger events in the past.

In the thirteenth century it became the custom for the monarch to spend time before the coronation at the Tower of London and then formally process through the City to Westminster Hall.  On the day itself a there was procession from the Hall to the Abbey and following the service the monarch returned to Westminster Hall for a lavish banquet. The procession was abandoned in 1685 and the banquet in 1821 as a cost saving measure, the pageant alone had cost a mere £243,000.

The Coronation Procession of King George IV from Westminster Hall to the Abbey

One custom which sadly no longer takes place is the arrival of the King’s Champion during the coronation banquet. Dressed in full armour with lance and shield  and  mounted on a horse – the champion threw down his gauntlet asking if anyone denied the rightful title of the King or Queen.  As a reward for performing the service the champion got to keep the horse, trappings, armour and was given a gold cup filled with at least 36 ounces of gold.

Sir Edward Dymoke throwing down the gage at King Edward VI’s Coronation

We can see from this picture of the procession that there were  minor  roles including strewing fragrant  herbs before the King on his way to the Abbey. This probably originated as an antidote to the plague. This picture show the last named herb woman, Miss Fellowes leading her ladies in 1821.

Miss Fellowes and her ladies strewing fragrant herbs

A few chosen facts about coronations

William the Conqueror was crowned on Christmas Day 1066 but during the ceremony the noise of from inside the Abbey  alarmed the Norman guards outside who fearing a  revolt began to massacre the local Saxon populace  in the local area.

William the Conqueror being crowned on Christmas Day 1066

Henry lll was the first child to be crowned King at the age of 9 at Gloucester Cathedral in 1216. The ceremony could not take place at Westminster Abbey because London was occupied by the French who had invaded England. The regalia was still in London so Henry was crowned with his mother’s gold head circlet. He was crowned again  in 1220 in a full ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

Henry Vl was even younger becoming King at the age of  8 months  in 1422 but was not crowned until the age of eight in 1429. He remains the only King to also be crowned King of France, at Notre Dame Paris in 1431.

The Coronation of King Henry VI, 1429

William lll and Mary ll had the first ever joint coronation in 1689. A duplicate coronation chair and regalia were made for Mary and William using the originals.

Two kings were never crowned, Edward Vlll who abdicated in 1936,and Edward  V who went into the Tower prior to his  coronation  in 1483  and  with his brother Richard, Duke of York  was never seen again.

In 1821 George IV’s estranged wife Caroline of Brunswick arrived expecting to be crowned Queen but was refused admittance to the ceremony - she was turned away from every door.

Central to the crowning of the  monarch is the regalia which has its own very colourful history. The most significant being the destruction of the original  regalia following the execution of  Charles l in 1649 on the orders of Oliver Cromwell. The gold and silver were melted down and the jewels were sold. At the restoration new regalia had to be made and this is what we are familiar with today which is on display at the Tower of London.

Karen Ullesperger

Karen Ullersperger, Tri-Borough Reference Manager

Further information

• You can find more information the lives of all our King and Queens in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which is available online on the library website (you’ll need a Kensington and Chelsea library membership to access this database) or you can borrow a book from the special biography collection at Kensington Central Library.
• Books on the history and customs of the coronation through the ages  be found in the Folklore and Customs collection in Kensington Central Reference Library
• More information on coronations can be found on the Westminster Abbey website.

Books that were used for this piece – all are available in the Folklore and Customs collection:

• Shramm, Percy Ernst, A History of the English Coronation, Oxford, (Clarendon Press) 1937
• Passingham, W. J, A History of the Coronation, London, (Samson Low Marston Ltd ) 1937
• Brooke-Little,John, Royal Ceremonies of State, London, (Country life, Hamlyn press) 1980
• Roe, F Gordon, Coronation Cavalcade,  (P. R . Gawthorne) 1937

YANKEES 6, MARINERS 1

The last time Phil Hughes faced the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium on May 15 he gave up seven runs, six hits and two walks in just two-thirds of an inning. He was in the clubhouse before some fans had returned to their seats with their hot dogs and popcorn.

But Hughes got a huge measure of revenge against the Mariners on Thursday at Safeco Field in Seattle.

Hughes pitched seven-plus innings of dominant baseball while the Yankees sent 11 men to the plate and strung seven consecutive hits together against veteran right-hander Aaron Harang to score six runs as New York cruised past Seattle in front of paid crowd of 18,776.

Hughes (3-4) held the Mariners to just three hits and a walk while he struck out seven heading into the eighth inning. But Hughes opened the frame by walking Kelly Shoppach and Yankees manager Joe Girardi replaced him with Preston Claiborne.

After a fielder’s choice grounder off the bat of Brendan Ryan erased Shoppach, Jason Bay slashed a one-hopper that skipped between Kevin Youkilis’ legs for an error. Boone Logan replaced Claiborne and was greeted by an RBI double by Kyle Seager that scored Ryan with Seattle’s only run, albeit an unearned one.

Meanwhile, the Yankees staked Hughes with all the runs he really needed in the third inning off Harang (2-6).

Jayson Nix opened the frame with a single to left, the Yankees first hit of the game. One out later, Brett Gardner executed a perfect hit-and-run singe to right to advance Nix to third. Then Robinson Cano lined his 15th home run of the season deep into the bleachers in right-field.

Mark Teixeira followed two pitches later with his third home run in only his seventh game of the season.

Travis Hafner singled and Youkilis doubled him to third before Vernon Wells blooped an RBI single over the head of second baseman Nick Franklin to score Hafner. Ichiro Suzuki closed out the scoring and ended Harang’s evening with a lined single to left that scored Youkilis.

Harang was tagged for six runs on eights hits and he struck out three in 2 1/3 innings. The pounding raised his season ERA to 6.70.

Mariners manager Eric Wedge replaced Harang with Blake Beavan, who was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma earlier in the day. The right-hander shut down the Yankees over the final 6 2/3 innings on a single hit, a leadoff single by Hafner in the eighth inning.

With the victory, the team’s fourth straight, the Yankees are now 35-25 and they remain in second place in the American League East, 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox. The Mariners dropped to 26-35.

PINSTRIPE POSITIVES

• This was the fewest hits Hughes has allowed in a start since he limited the Minnesota Twins to only two hits on Aug. 11, 2011. Though Hughes has been wildly inconsistent this season, he looked dominant in this start because he kept his pitches out of the middle of the plate and he did not get bogged down in deep counts. Hughes lowered his season ERA to 4.80.
• Cano’s home run was his first since one he hit against the New York Mets at Yankee Stadium on May 30. Cano entered the game mired in a 2-for-20 (.100) skid dating back to May 31. Despite the slump, Cano still leads the Yankees in home runs (15), RBIs (39) and batting average (.280).
• Teixeira is off to a great start from a power standpoint. He has three homers and eight RBIs in his first seven games. Of course, he also has struck out 10 times in his first 22 at-bats and his season average is .227. But the Yankees will overlook the punchouts and low average because they certainly need his power.

NAGGING NEGATIVES

• The only hitter in the lineup who did not record a hit in the game was Austin Romine, who was 0-for-4 with a strikeout and he did not get a ball out of the infield. The Yankees knew when they recalled Romine from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre they were getting a good defensive catcher with limited offensive skills. Romine is confirming that assessment because he is hitting an anemic .146. He had the distinction of making the first and third outs in the Yankee’s six-run third inning.
• Youkilis’ third error of the season in the eighth inning ended up costing Hughes a potential shutout. If Youkilis had stopped Seager’s grounder it would have resulted in an inning-ending double play.

BOMBER BANTER

The Yankees selected left-hand-hitting third baseman Eric Jagielo, a junior at Notre Dame, with the 26th pick in the first round of the amateur player draft on Thursday. Jagielo, 21, was named the Big East Player of the Year in 2013 and he hit 13 home runs in the Cape Cod League last summer. With the 32nd pick in the first round, the Yankees selected 6-foot-7, 255-pound outfielder Aaron Judge out of Fresno State. Judge, 21, batted .369 with 12 home runs and 36 RBIs for Fresno State this season. With their final choice of the first round at No. 33 the Yankees selected left-hander Ian Clarkin from James Madison High School in San Diego. Clarkin, 18, was 9-2 with a 0.35 ERA this season.

ON DECK

The Yankees will continue their four-game series with the Mariners on Friday.

Right-hander Hiroki Kuroda (6-4, 2.59 ERA) will start for the Yankees. Kuroda is coming off a rain-shortened 3-0 loss against the Red Sox on Sunday. He is 2-2 with a 2.70 ERA lifetime against the Mariners.

The Mariners will counter with journeyman right-hander Jeremy Bonderman (0-1, 13.50 ERA). Bonderman yielded seven runs on nine hits, three of them home runs, in 4 2/3 innings against the Twins on Sunday. He is 3-9 with a 5.62 ERA against the Yankees in his career.

Game-time will be 10:10 p.m. EDT and the game will be telecast by the YES Network.

With another P.E.D Scandal & The Largest Suspension In Major League Baseball History, from the 100 Game Suspension Standpoint to the 20+ Players Being Hit to the manner in which MLB is going after these players, it is pretty pathetic. So, our National
Past-Time needs a savior & while Mike Trout & Bryce Harper Are UNREAL, Yasiel PUIG, The Right Fielder on the Los Angeles Dodgers with the Rocket for an Arm, The Speed Of Ricky Henderson On Crack & The Power Of Bonds Without The Steroids, The Dude Can Only Be Compared To A Physical Beast, A Different Breed Only Similar To Lebron James Vs. Everyone Else In The NBA!

Lebron Did Lose Today & I Would Almost Bet That LBJ Will Be Going Back To Cleveland Where Kyrie Irving, the #1 Pick, Probably Nerlens Noel & than if they are smart & let Noel sit &
bulk up so they can get another Shot At A TOP PICK, THE KING WILL BE BACK IN CLEVELAND BEFORE HE IS 30 TO FINALLY GET HIS “NOT 1, NOT 2, NOT 3, NOT 4, NOT 5, NOT 6, But 7 Or I Would Say 8 RINGS In The Town That He Grew Up In A Slow 42 Minute Drive From!! 24 If He Is Driving A BUGATTi ~

Where Puig Is The Savior Of A Pathetic MLB, There Is A Musician/Producer That Is Nothing But An Enigma, Supposedly Using Up To 11 Different Names Right Now: HOLY SHIP! AKA KNiFA Is The FUTURE Of MUSIC, FILMMAKING, DIRECTING & ACTING & HE WILL KEEP HIS IDENTITY HIDDEN AS LONG AS POSSIBLE, I HAVE SEEN 4 SECRET SHOWS NOW,
Under Monikers:

THE STRUGGLES.
C’est La Vie
The Bends
Great Weather For An Airstrike

Different Band Everytime Including Every Style & Instrument You Can Imagine Along With A Different
Mask Or Costume & Whole Performance & Demeanor.

Extremely Exciting.

Just Like PUIG!

Hold Onto Your Hats.

Gonna Be A Bumpy 42 Months~

The Yankees’ three first-round picks matched their most all time (also in 1978: shortstop Rex Hudler No. 18, outfielder Matt Winters No. 24 and right-handed pitcher Brian Ryder No. 26) and were the most for any team in this year’s draft. The 32nd and 33rd picks were the result of losing Nick Swisher and Rafael Soriano to free agency the past off-season.

Jagielo, 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, was named the 2013 Big East Player of the Year after batting .388 with 47 runs, 19 doubles, nine home runs and 53RBI in 56 games and 196 at-bats for the Irish. He led the league in slugging percentage (.633) and on-base percentage (.500) and ranked second in batting average, tied for second in homers and tied for fourth in total bases (124). He was recently named one of 30 semifinalists for the 2013 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award.

The left-handed batter from Downers Grove, Ill., was rated by Baseball America as the 16th-best overall prospect in this year’s draft (fourth corner infielder). The publication also rated him as the No. 1 prospect from the Big East for the 2013 MLB draft.

Jagielo played with Harwich in the 2012 Cape Cod League, batting .291 in 158 at-bats and ranking second in the league with 13 home runs. He was drafted by the Cubs in the 50th round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft out of Downers Grove North High School but chose to attend Notre Dame.

“We think we had a great first day,” Yankees vice president of amateur scouting Damon Oppenheimer said. “I’m excited and the staff is excited. We feel really good about what happened for us today. Eric Jagielo is a physical, left-handed hitter with plus power. He performed well in Cape Cod, and shows a good combination of plate discipline and power.”

The selection of Jageilo marks the first college player taken by the Yankees in the first round since 2007 when they selected right-handed pitcher Andrew Brackman of North Carolina State with the 30th overall pick.

Judge, 6-7 and 255 pounds, hit .369 with 45 runs, 15 doubles, 12 home runs, 36RBI and 12 stolen bases in 206 at-bats for the Fresno State Bulldogs this season and led the team in each category. He was ranked by Baseball America as the 30th-best overall prospect in this year’s draft.

A native of Linden, Calif., Judge becomes the second outfielder selected by the Yankees in the first round in the past 12 years since 2002 (also Slade Heathcott in 2009). He was a three-time first-team all-WAC-conference selection, as well as Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America in 2011.

Clarkin, from James Madison High School in San Diego, Calif., was ranked by Baseball America as the 17th-best prospect in the 2013 draft – and second-best left-handed pitcher. He went 9-2 with a 0.95 ERA and 133 strikeouts in 14 games (12 starts) this past season.

A three-time All-CIF Baseball Player of the Year selection, Clarkin also pitched for Team USA in Baseball World Championships in Korea as a part of the gold medal-winning team. He was a 2013 Rawlings First-Team All-American and named to the California All-Region First Team. He becomes the first left-handed pitcher selected by the Yankees in the first round since Eric Milton in 1996.

Oppenheimer added, “Aaron Judge is a big man, and obviously a great-bodied athlete who has a high upside. He can run, he has a good work ethic, he can throw and has the potential to be a five-tool guy with some size and strength. Ian Clarkin has a combination of the things we were looking for. He is a left-handed pitcher with plus velocity and has a plus curveball. On top of that, he’s a tireless worker. We think we got something special with him.”

The Yankees selected second baseman Gosuke Katoh of Rancho Bernardo High School with the team’s second-round pick (66th overall). He was a 2013 Rawlings Second-Team All-America. A left-handed batter, Katoh hit .355 with 10 doubles, 11 home runs and 31RBI in 33 games and 110 at-bats.

“We were excited to get this guy in the second round,” said Oppenheimer. “On our scale, he’s an excellent runner with great hand-eye coordination who can hit with some surprising power. He’s a really good defender, and someone that excites us.”

As of late, Yankees GM, Brian Cashman, has been vigilant about conserving funds and stockpiling draft picks. This year’s draft marked the first pay-off from his strategy, as the Yankees had compensating draft picks for Nick Swisher (32nd) and Rafael Soriano (33rd), both who rejected qualifying offers, as well as their own 26th pick. Now, let’s break down selections.

26th Pick - Eric Jagielo (3B – Notre Dame)
Jagielo is a power hitting third baseman. Given the makeup of the Yankees and their farm system, he immediately becomes the third baseman of the future. His left handed power swing will play extremely well in Yankee Stadium with the short porch in right field. This is a pick that Yankee fans should be excited about. He is considered a safe choice, he just posted a .388 batting average (.500 OBP) with nine home runs in 196 at bats as a junior. He also blasted 13 home runs in the Cape Cod league and he may not be too far away from the Bigs.

He could return for his senior year, but that seems unlikely. His defense is his achilles heel, but scouts believe he can improve enough to handle the position a the big league level and avoid moving to first base where offensive expectations are higher. Jonathan Mayo figured the Yankees would pick him here and was right. A College Baseball Daily scouting report is here.

32th Pick – Aaron Judge (OF – Fresno State University)
At 6’7″ and 255 LBS, Aaron Judge would be the tallest MLB outfielder ever. Not only is he an outfielder, but he successfully held down center field for the Fresno Bulldogs. He’ll likely shift to a corner outfield slot in the majors. That said, he is rather fast and solid defensively.

He won the 2012 college home run derby in Omaha, and tripled his regular season home run total from his sophomore year (4) to his junior year (12). Taller players often have bigger swings and take longer to develop, but he’ll still be quicker to develop than 18-year-old high schoolers. He is considered a high-upside pick. Jonathan Mayo had him going towards the middle of the first round, making this pick a steal.

33rd Pick – Ian Clarkin (LHP – Madison High School, California)
Clarkin is a “young projectable left-hander” with the best curve ball in high school baseball. His favorite baseball moment was the Luis Gonzalez blooper in the 2001 World Series. Growing up, he “couldn’t stand” the Yankees, but quickly changed his tune after donning the pinstripes, saying “Now I do love them, and my dad’s going to have to learn to love them too.”

He spent a lot of time speaking with the preceding pick, Aaron Judge, at the MLB studio and already has a friend in the Yankees farm system. Jonathan Mayo believes he will move more quickly than other high schoolers who oftentimes take five years to develop. He is considered a high upside lefty that balances out this first round.

I’m very satisfied with Cashman’s decisions in the first round, and I’m most excited about Eric Jagielo. What about you? Who do you like? are you thrilled? Disappointed?

If you enjoyed this post, please click the Facebook “Like” button on the right sidebar. You can share your opinions in the comment section below or by tweeting to @Ryan_Kantor. Thanks for reading!

I’ve been pretty happy with all my official postcrossing postcards received so far.. and although I do list postcard preferences in my profile (like many others on postcrossing also do), I never make demands for specific types of cards.  As stated in my postcrossing profile, I am happy with each & every postcard sent to me, whether they are cards that are in line with my preferences, or not. I know people do try, so I’m happy enough as it is.. After all, what I list as preferences are merely suggestions for people who don’t know what type of postcards to send me.

However, this one Paris postcard I received yesterday disappointed me just a little bit. The bottom part of this postcard was clearly butchered off (from a larger postcard that I’m guessing might have had another photo under the ‘Paris’ text?), and badly cut off, at that… It is kind of sad that people do things like that. I always send proper postcards to fellow postcrossers & direct swappers.. So this butchered card kinda left a tiny sour taste in my mouth. Almost feels like receiving a gift that has been partially used or something..

What do you guys think? I’m actually kinda curious to see what the rest of this butchered card actually looks like..lol!

And.. I’m blacking out the postcard ID that happens to be in the stamps/postmark area.. so I don’t identify & embarrass the sender.

❤ Received: Jun 5, 2013

“I’m allergic to cats.”

Packingham: If you could make a drink called “The Morty,” what would it entail?

Morty: Oh man. Like an alcoholic drink?

Twattingworth: Wow, interesting that your mind went there.

Morty: Yeah… Well, you know when I drink, like last night–this is really exciting–but one-third orange juice, two-thirds Perrier.

Packingham: Perrier? Is that vodka? Or rum?

Morty: And they have to give me this much wine so I can hold it to pretend I’ll drink it, but I’m not a wine drinker. I like beer when I have Asian food. I like Thai beer, or Japanese beer or something.

Packingham: Like a Budweiser?

Morty: I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those. So I’m not big on like American brands, or European brands, but you know when I have Pad Thai–

Twattingworth: So as an economist, you’re saying ‘Don’t buy American.’ Right?

Morty: No one will listen to me as an economist. So why would you listen to me for that? Yeah, so I think the one-third orange juice, two-thirds Perrier, you’ve got to get the apportionment exact, otherwise it’s too much orange juice, or too little Perrier.

Twattingworth: You’ll get drunk so quick if you have too much orange juice.

Morty: It’s really tough, yeah. And three ice cubes shaken, not stirred.

Evander: So, what advice would you give to an incoming freshman?

Morty: Incoming freshman? You know, I mean the academics are really important, and especially when I teach my fall course… and I expect them to work really hard. But there’s a lot more to life than just being in the dorm room and being in the library. And when I do my regular firesides, which I do regularly, and I ask people, ‘When was the last time you were in Chicago? You know for a restaurant or a concert or athletic event, and some people were there yesterday and some people said, ‘Oh, where’s Chicago? I thought we were in Milwaukee.’ So there’s certain people, and they tend to be people who just focus so much– and academics is important– but what I tell them and the freshmen — I’m not sure if I did it for you guys, probably did, is that it’s not just maximizing your GPA. You should care about learning, it’s a really important thing, but what happens outside the classroom is probably gonna have as large an impact on your life as what happens in the classroom. And there’s certain people from certain backgrounds that they don’t quite get that. So that’s what I’d tell them. They should have fun, they shouldn’t suffer for four years.  That’s what grad school is for. And they should get out of their comfort zone and they should take advantage of the fact that there’s this great university town and we’re right next to one of the great cities in the world.  We’ve got everything you want here. That’s what I’d tell them.

Twattingworth: As a follow-up on the Class of 2017, I know that our class isn’t as smart or diverse or funny or cool or-

Morty: Or good-looking.

Twattingworth: Yeah, but uh, um, do you still… like us?

Morty: Yeah, actually I tolerate you. The class that’s graduating now is my class, right? I stayed back, and I hope to stay back a number of years, but I shot a little video for the class gift. You’re supposed to give $20.13, and I made some joke that if you give it, I love you, and if you don’t give it, I love you but not as much. But I was joking, ok? These days, when presidents joke people don’t get it. But yeah, we just, we love the students here. We had the tour guides over last night, and I don’t know, have you guys ever been to the house for dinner? No? You guys are three losers, I mean we have a lot of people over. But so last night, we had the typical 60 over and we had so much fun. They were all telling sketchy stories about tours and stuff like that, and it just reminded me and my wife, who’s very outspoken about that, she loves the students, but that the students here aren’t very entitled. Some are, but most are not and they’re much more civil– not everybody, but most are. I think the Midwestern values, that people talk about on the coasts almost sort of as a negative, kind of as ‘It’s too civil, it’s not exciting, it’s too sedated,’ it’s part of the students… even if you aren’t the smartest or the best.

Packingham: If you’re worried that your wife is too enamored with Northwestern students, we’d be happy to meet her for lunch sometime.

Morty: Yeah, that’ll get rid of that in a hurry. Yeah, put her somewhere in between the three of you and that’ll change.

Twattingworth: Shifting gears a little bit, I saw recently that you’re not going to be reading any more petitions. I don’t know if you saw but that was in the news a little, and I just wanted to know if that includes petitions to graduate? Because honestly that thing is like four pages long and I really don’t see myself filling it out.

Morty: Yeah, no, you’re not going anywhere. You think you’re a junior, and I don’t know if you’ve even been admitted. But I have this old friend who’s president of Lewis and Clark, a wonderful school in Portland, beautiful campus, great school. And he writes best-sellers, I write books that no one reads, but we’ve been friends for many, many years and over my career I’ve written many op-eds, but I hadn’t been writing recently. Mainly because once you’re president, you write op-eds and people get so angry. No one says they like it, everyone’s just yelling.

Twattingworth: Except this time, people loved this one.

Morty: They loved this one, especially The Daily, on the front page. But so Barry and I were together last summer and I said let’s start writing, so we’ve done four– I’ve done five this year, four with him. Some of those other ones you might want to look at, we did one as a message to helicopter parents, which I thought was funny. That was in the LA Times. The one we did in the Washington Post was a good one, but so we’ve written a couple but the only one people seem to have noticed is the Wall Street Journal one about petitions. I don’t think they quite got past the headline, I mean the point was supposed to be pretty simple. It’s that if you really care about something, don’t just add your name to the 73rd page of a petition and think that you’ve checked that box. If you care about it, commit yourself to it. Raise money for it, lobby for it. That was the whole point, the whole point was that even though every day, a couple of times a week I get some petition and I would spend my whole life taking positions that were not necessarily relevant to Northwestern. And if there’s something I really care about, like immigration or gun control, I actually work on the subject. I don’t just add my name. So I get sometimes a little bit frustrated that some of my presidential colleagues say, ‘You gotta sign this, why won’t you sign it?’ and I say, ‘I’m actually working on it.’ And sometimes it’s something like immigration that I’ve worked on and been publishing on, or college affordability, which I’ve done my whole career on, so that was really the intent. But I think people lost that, and in retrospect I think we could have used a different example. People got particularly angry that we singled out the divestment thing.

Twattingworth: I know I signed like four anti-Kony petitions, and apparently they haven’t gotten him yet. What’s that about?

Morty: Yeah. You’d be amazed about that. Things are important to people, but that doesn’t make it particularly important to the institution. But people get really angry every day, and that’s a lot of my job. I got some really angry emails today about a range of different subjects, none of which I thought were all that, you know, important for Northwestern to take a position on.

Packingham: That’s surprising. In my experience it would be so unlike Northwestern students to get riled up about things unrelated to the institution.

Morty: I’ll tell you something. You know, most of the stuff I was dealing with this morning had nothing to do with Northwestern. It was outside people–Evanston people–they have a lot of things they want us to support.

Twattingworth: I’ve got a few things I’d like them to support.

Morty: Well, I think we’re going pretty… It’s moving forward pretty nicely. I got a nice card from the Mayor today, I opened it up and it’s playing “Hail to the Chief.” I thought it was pretty funny. It’s for some neighborhood initiative we were supporting this summer. I’ve been playing it all day. It’s driving people crazy.

Cubbage [LOL, did we not mention that NU spokesman Al Cubbage was there the whole time too?]: Every time you walk into a room.

Morty: I’m afraid I’m going to be breaking it. I’m planning on holding on to it for Father’s Day. I just hope I can keep that tune going. I just wrote to Liz, I said ‘Thanks, I’ve been playing it and playing it, I might break it, you might have to get me another one.’

Packingham: In your four years at Northwestern, which has been your favorite tuition hike?

Morty: [Laughter] Well, the most recent one was the smallest of them, 4.0. But people do get tricked by the sticker price. You know, I think we’re down to 40% of all our students who actually pay that sticker price. The increase in generosity in need-based aid, it was $79 million when I came, it’s $120 million now. And next year I think it’s going to be $130 million. So, I don’t know if you guys are eligible for need-based aid, if you turned down packages from Penn or a lot of other places with need-based aid that were more generous, but we’ve closed most of that gap. So if you want to go to West Philly, you want to Ithaca, you want to go to St. Louis, whatever it is–that’s fine. That’s your choice, good or bad that’s your choice. But it shouldn’t be based on price. Unless it’s Wash U doing merit aid, and we don’t do that stuff.

Packingham: Ugh, Wash U, right?

Twattingworth: What’s with them?

Morty: Wash U, boy, they have really good investments in infrastructure. I’m sure you’ve seen that campus. Man, the dorms. Oh man, the student center.

Evander: I’d like to think that we’ve been investing in better education.

Twattingworth: Yeah. Have you even noticed any construction on campus?

Cubbage: [sternly] Faculty. Better faculty.

Morty: Yeah, well, you know. The tour matters. But I think with the new visitors center coming along, we have a pretty good tour. But it does matter. You want people not to say ‘What? This is the students’ center?’ As opposed to, ‘Have you ever seen that one at Wash U?’

Packingham: I heard it has a two-story sports bar?

Morty: Is that true? What?

Packingham: They have a two-story sports bar in their student center.

Twattingworth: Somebody I know has a two-story sports bar coming. I don’t know who…

Packingham: I heard something about a student center with a two-story sports bar.

Morty: Well, in the plans for Norris we’re going to have a sports bar.

Packingham: Yeah?

Morty: And it’s going to have a view of the lake. I don’t know if it’ll have as many stories as some of the other ones. But when I was president at Williams we built a new student center. Tore down the old one and built a new one. We did put in a pub, which I thought was important. We also put in a movie theater, which I thought was important. We put in a number of things that we went around and looked at a lot of the other ones and we tried to look at best practices. Since we haven’t done a new one in a long time there are a lot of best practices out there.

Evander: Switching gears again, to Northwestern athletics. If Coach Fitz were to launch a bloodless coup against you, would you stand on the sidelines and cheer him on?

Morty: Yeah…you think he wants to be president?  Now if I could be football coach, though.  The fact that I really don’t know anything about football has never stopped me before from trying to lead.  Yeah, he’s a great guy.  It’s funny, I feel a little funny sometimes because, I was at the Kings-Blackhawks game the other day with Rocky Wurtz and I asked him, “Do you ever go into the locker room?” and he said, “Only when I got the Stanley Cup, otherwise I don’t do it.”  And I was thinking, because I’m always there, before the game, I’m at halftime, I’m at the end of the game, because Fitz lets me do it.  And there’s a little space I carved out where I can stand without getting killed because I’m little, these guys are enormous, so I’m really good at hiding on the sidelines. And I was thinking with what Rocky said, like ‘Man, maybe I shouldn’t be doing it.’ But I’ve taught a number of players in my courses and I think coach doesn’t mind me and if he did I wouldn’t do it anymore. He’s always so gracious, and occasionally talks to me during the game and I’m like, ‘Focus!’ But he’s always so focused, he’s five plays ahead. You know, I love football but I never really played in any real way, in order to really know what a Cover-2 really is. I mean I can kind of, but, ya know what I’m saying?  It’s fun. It’s really a fun part of my job, and it’s not just football. I do all 19 varsity sports and I’m always on the sideline and I always have a good time.

Twattingworth: Speaking of those other sports, the basketball team has never made the tournament since you became president. When will you be stepping down?

Morty: Well I’ll tell you, they made it so many times from ‘39 to 2009. I can tell you with complete confidence that this is the year we’re gonna finally make the dance. There’s the five of us who have never made it and there’s the curse of tearing down the original Patten Gymnasium to build Tech, where they had the Final Four. So I can guarantee that we’re gonna make the dance this year, and I guaranteed it the last four years too. And you’ve gotta remember I’m an economics professor, with a perfect forecasting record but I’m never right.

Packingham: I think you’ve got a broken model.

Twattingworth: Maybe we should hire Nate Silver instead.

Morty: Yeah, exactly. But I’m as convinced now as I’ve been in previous years. I’m very excited about Coach Collins, and I know we’re getting closer and closer to announcing our next recruiting class. I’m excited, do you guys go to the games?

Evander: Yeah, a lot of them.

Morty: Yeah, when we make the dance it’s gonna be great. I mean, it’s like winning the Gator Bowl. We hadn’t won a bowl game since ‘49, we’ve never made the dance, so it’s gonna be special and it’s gonna shine a big spotlight on us.

Packingham: We wanna talk town-gown relations for a sec. We actually have a joke that we want you to answer: So Mayor Tisdahl and Judy Fiske walk into a bar… How quickly do they shut it down?

Morty: [Uncomfortable laughter] Well The Keg finally did shut down, right? Cause it was shut down, and then it opened again, and then it finally shut down. Is there anything in there right now?

Twattingworth: No.

Morty: Is The Keg across from Pete Miller’s?

Cubbage: It’s right down the block on Grove, it’s right by Bar Louie.

Morty: Bar Louie, I was there. They have an outdoor thing at Bar Louie? Yeah I was there once for one of the reunion things.

Packingham: It’s not quite like The Keg.

Cubbage: A slightly different atmosphere.

Morty: I’m sorry to say, I don’t think I ever went there. I like Pete Miller’s, they’ve got great music.

Packingham: Oh, that one’s the same. Just like The Keg.

Morty: It’s hard to tell them apart, right? Good wine, it’s a nice restaurant. But no one’s opened up a new pub in there yet?

Cubbage: World of Beer is the new place that’s opened and had some success.

Morty: And that’s a different location? Where is that?

Cubbage: It’s right by Fountain Square.

Morty: And they have like millions of beers on tap?

Packingham: Literally, millions.

Morty: Billions, with a b. But there are lots of bars in town, right?

Twattingworth: Yeah, we’re still trying to figure out what’s gonna take The Keg’s place.

Morty: ’cause The Keg was like a gathering place on Thursday night’s or something?

Twattingworth: Monday night, The Deuce is Thursday night.

Cubbage: And they catered to the underage crowd.

Morty: But also Kellogg, cause I spend a lot of time at Kellogg and they’re always like, ‘Why’d you close The Keg?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t think I closed it. Let me check back and see if I did.’

Twattingworth: Kellogg had a night there, too.

Morty: Oh so they had their own night?

Packingham: Yeah and that’s when everyone else stayed away from The Keg.

Evander: Except for Evanston students.

Packingham: I think The Keg closing hit them the hardest.

Morty: Is that right? So they had fake ID’s?

Cubbage: I was somewhat troubled by the fact that when The Keg closed, both of my sons wrote just painful remembrances of it on their online postings, and I’m like, ‘Geez guys, thanks a lot for that.’

Morty: So they went when they were at ETHS?

Cubbage: Oh yeah, both of them. It catered to ETHS kids.

Evander: So, you’re an expert as you said in the economics of higher education and-

Morty: I don’t think I ever said that. Did I say that?

Evander: We’re saying it now. And Alderman Judy Fiske is an expert in pet paraphernalia. How does that make you feel?

Morty: Well we had a beloved dog, who died, had to be put down after we were here for a year. And I’ll tell you something about Judy. People say a lot of things about Judy Fiske but all I can say is one time I met her and I told her about our dog and she came over with special food for our dog when he was dying, and it was really lovely. And when the dog died I saw her and she gave me a big hug and there were tears in her eyes, so that was really nice. So for all the things people say about her, I always think of her and that kindness. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a dog that you’ve had for 12 years, but she was really… [To Cubbage] Do you even know that story? You probably don’t even know that one.

Cubbage: No, I did not.

Morty: It was really nice.

Twattingworth: Alright, so picture this: It’s five years from now. Northwestern has finally cracked the top 11 in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Our acceptance rate is in the single digits.

Morty: Zero, actually. We’re not accepting anyone. We’re too good for any students.

Twattingworth: Yeah, zero. So my question is at this point, just how far off campus has Greek life been kicked? Skokie? Des Plaines? Des Moines?

Morty: Well I mentioned Milwaukee. But you know it’s funny because I’m very pro-Greek life and now we’re up to I think 39% affiliated. I’d like to see that even higher. I hosted a dinner recently for the heads of fraternities and sororities at the house, which I don’t know how many presidents do that. But it is, you know, I gave a talk at one of the fraternities and they said they were on double-secret probation and everybody else is too. It is kind of hard to keep track. You know, I see people and they say all the time– we just did an event in Boston and someone came up to me and said, ‘Oh, I’m a member of the fraternity that was just kicked off.’ And I said, ‘You’ve got to be more specific. Which of the 12?’ So it is amazing how they come and go, and it doesn’t seem like the sororities do, seems like they’re just perfect.

Evander: I was wondering how you would compare your first four years to President Bush’s first four years– George W.

Morty: Man, I do economics not politics. I met President Bush, well I met his father too. But I met him once and there was nobody more friendly, but I think people know about that and I think people are very critical not just how he did in his first four years, but in all eight years, and they’ll conflate the person with the job that they think that he did. I would try to advance that theory a little bit, from where people would say terrible things about him as opposed to his presidency. People would be like, ‘Why are you defending him?’ and all I would say is that I don’t know about the first four years as opposed to all eight. I didn’t agree with a lot of the stuff that he did, but I felt privileged that I actually got to spend some time with him, and see that he is really an engaging and warm and generous person, which I find is not all that common in a politician.

Packingham: According to a poll of our readers-

Twattingworth: And this is true.

Packingham: Yeah, unlike everything else we’ve said. But we took a readers poll and the question was, ‘If you could spend one night of consequence-free, blissful pleasure with Morty, would you do it?’ 37.9% responded ‘yes’ while 52.69% responded ‘Am currently in the throes of a tumultuous love affair with the man.’ As an economist, how do you interpret that?

Morty: Oh man, I used to respect the students. That’s like remarkably bad taste. Oh my god, that’s too scary to respond to. But this is the kind of survey you guys are doing, this is getting you ready for politics.

Packingham: Just a very quick question. Who’s your favorite current Northwestern student?

Morty: Oh man. Favorite…

Packingham: You can only choose one. Unless it’s all three of us.

Morty: You guys are way down on the list.

Twattingworth: We’re on the list!

Morty: …Seriously? Kendall Hackney. And you know why? Because she was in Waa-Mu, she was one of the stars of the women’s basketball team. She’s a great basketball player. And she played March Hare in Waa-Mu. And to see somebody get out there in front of everybody, show after show. She’s a fabulous athlete.

Cubbage: She was cool. That was really fun to see.

Morty: Corey Moss was also great in that.  He’s a great kid and I love him. But I think, I like people who have a lot of talent–as somebody who doesn’t have a lot of talent athletically, musically, or anything–I see people who can be so good at so many things. Kristin Scharkey is another one, the center fielder on the softball team. Sometimes she sings the national anthem, and I’m like ‘Oh, spread the talent around.’ You know? There are people like that who are just so good at so many things. The other one is Patrick Ward. I mean, that guy can be good enough to get signed for the NFL, and graduate with a 3.94 in mechanical engineering. And he’s 6’7”, so 5’7”, 6’7”, 153, 312, 3.94 and then me. I’m thinking, can’t I be competitive with this kind in something? So I don’t know Patrick Ward very well. I know Kristin Scharkey, Scharkey I know because we did a dinner for the coaches, 19 varsity coaches and they each got to pick one varsity athlete to come to the house for dinner. And I sat next to Scharkey–she goes by her last name. And my wife and I were just like, ‘Oh my God how talented.’ And I just love Kendall. I’ve rooted for her for four years in basketball. You know, seeing her in the show, I couldn’t believe it. She’s so tall! There’s Corey and everybody else, and she’s looking down on them. It was a riot.

Evander: You’re renowned for your fundraising prowess on behalf of the university, so we wondering, what’s the most deplorable thing you’ve ever done to fundraise?

Morty: Oh man…

Packingham:  We can go off-the-record…

Cubbage:  NO SUCH THING.

Morty: I can’t even think of a funny answer. The only thing I can tell you stepping back is, when I first started doing fundraising, this was back at the University of Southern California in 1994 when I became dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, I quickly learned that there’s a side of fundraising that’s kind of ambulance-chasing, and there’s an ugliness to fundraising, but I don’t think I ever was part of it. I was a little taken aback at first, but I think after 20 years I’ve learned how to do it without feeling embarrassed. And fundraising when it goes right, you have the donor even happier than you are which is a good thing. I can’t think of anything funny, it’s a good question though. You have such funny questions [OMG HE LOVES US], I don’t have any funny answers.

Cubbage: A lot of what we’re doing to a great extent is asking people to do things they would like to help us do. By and large it’s a matter of, ‘We’d like to be partners, this is something you’re interested in, this is something the university would like to do,’ and how do we make it work together?

Morty: It’s also a fun thing to do, it’s a fun part of my job. Sometimes you hear presidents complain about it just because. You’re with interesting people, just because they’re rich doesn’t mean they’re boring, you know? People have this view, but I spend my time with really very interesting people. For the most part, there might be some who aren’t but that’s really rare, especially at Northwestern.

Twattingworth: Do you have a bucket list for your time at Northwestern?

Morty: It’d be nice if we were really in the top 10 in U.S. News. I don’t think that there are nine or 10 schools better than we are in undergraduate education, so that’d be nice. I’d love to go to the dance. I’m tired of it. I think people aren’t gonna talk about the bowl drought anymore, so when we win and go to the dance that’ll be nice. We have a lot of faculty who are on the shortlist I think to get a Nobel Prize. It was really great when Dale, who’s my colleague and a great guy and the ultimate purple guy– his whole career has been here and he teaches here and his kids went here– perfect Northwestern story. But we have at least a half a dozen other people, some in economics some in chemistry, who are rumored to be on the shortlist. So I’d like to get a whole bunch of Nobel Prizes. University of Chicago has made a killing.

Packingham: Yeah, but they’re just a bunch of nerds, right?

Morty: I don’t know if their faculty is any nerdier than ours. Maybe if you’re talking about their student body. But so I’d like to get a whole bunch of those. It was great that Dale got one, none of our faculty had gotten one since I think ‘97?

Cubbage: ‘98, John Pople.

Morty: ‘98, yeah. So that’d be good.

Twattingworth: As a follow-up on the bucket list, has a drunk student ever puked in that bucket on Dillo morning?

Morty: Well I don’t know if you heard the talk I gave, you guys were probably off… Well I’m not gonna ask what you were doing. But I pointed out in my brief remarks that we spend a whole year raising political capital in town-gown relations and doing the right things and getting people to hate us less and love us more, and I said I don’t want to throw it all away in one day. Maybe half, but not all. And I think, I heard from some neighbors who were pretty upset, but I heard from some other neighbors who said this was the most sedate. Now I don’t know if it was because of the rain, but we also put a lot of things into place. I go there before it opened, and I went through the beer garden which is a relatively new thing, and we used Lakeside Field for the first time and all that, we had a second venue. It seemed to go pretty well. Dillo Day is a great tradition. It’s funny because I mentioned that op-ed with Barry Glassner, and he graduated in ‘73 so he was there for the first one. And Saturday morning we were working on some new thing, and I said, ‘I have to go to Dillo Day.’ And he said, ‘Did I ever tell you about the first Dillo Day?’ And he was telling me about that and that was wild. It didn’t seem like the administration really knew that it was happening, but the students did. It was like, wild, but of course those were wild days.

Packingham: I wonder if they received an email from a very young Burgwell Howard.

Morty: [Uncontrollable laughter at Packingham’s hilarity] Yeah, but I was saying it’s been 43 years of this thing, and we’re looking forward to 44.

Evander: During your four years at Northwestern, there’s been a lot of controversy and protest regarding issues of race and ethnicity on campus. So we were wondering, do you think if we just stop teaching about institutional racism in classes all this nasty protesting business will go away?

Morty: What do you think? No, I think the reality is that–somebody made a video, and I thought it was very interesting. It was six students, all of color who were graduating and reflecting on their years, and they asked one of the women at the end, ‘Would you come again?’ And they were really critical, they were revisiting everything that happened under my presidency. And then they asked the woman at the end, ‘So I guess you’re wishing you hadn’t come here?’ And she said ‘No! I’m glad I came here! You know I learned in my classes, and I’ve learned in FMO,’ and it was kind of interesting.

So, the real answer to that is that… I don’t know whether it’s a selective audience, that’s why some people–myself included–actually think to have some broader diversity requirement like we did when I was at Williams would probably be a good idea. But, you know, I don’t think that the record here is particularly different than at Chicago, Wash U, or Penn. We’re not removed from the world, we’re always trying to do a better job of it. But I think we’re making some progress. I mean, if you went, if you watched the thing about, I did two State of the Universities, one in Chicago, one here. And the one here, some people were real angry, a lot of people talking ‘What are you actually doing?’ And I tried to listen, but people didn’t find that all that compelling. So I don’t know.

Twattingworth: I mean, just looking around the room here, I’m not sensing a lot of diversity. And I just want you to know that I’m telling.

Morty: You’re tall!

Cubbage, approximately 6 feet 3423598 inches tall: [dismissively] Not real tall.

Morty: I’ve got to say, I travel the world with this guy [Cubbage]. He’s a freak! We’re in China, ‘Yao Ming over here!’

Cubbage: You can find me pretty easily.

Morty: It’s always easy to find Al.

Cubbage: Tokyo? No problem.

Evander: Are you ever worried that when you’re out of town on official University business, that nobody’s around remaining to protect campus?

Morty: I think things work better when I’m on the road. You know, I do travel a lot. I’m leaving tomorrow morning for Seattle we’re doing events there Wednesday to Thursday. Then L.A. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But I travel, I’m gone about 160 days a year–that’s a lot of days. But fortunately, I hope I’m kidding that things work better when I’m not in touch. But now with technology, I’m always in touch, so I can screw things up wherever I go. And I do.

Packingham: So, what’s your favorite book?

Morty: My favorite book… Fiction, nonfiction?

Packingham: Anything. Picture book?

Twattingworth: Coloring book?

Evander: Facebook?

Morty: You know I’m always reading a book. I’m reading some crime book today, usually fiction. Although I loved the book I finished a couple days ago, “The Cat’s Table” by a guy, I think he’s Sri Lankan, he wrote “The English Patient.” That was a good book.

Packingham: Oh yeah, it won an Oscar.

Morty: Yes, and the one I read the week before that– it usually takes me about a week– was “The Girl Who Fell To Earth.” It’s by the woman who spoke at NU-Q graduation, it was a wonderful book. So I can’t think of any that are sort of transformative, but I mainly read fiction and I’m always reading. And tomorrow I will finish on the plane to Seattle this book, I think I wanted a lighter read. It’s one of these best-sellers that I think I picked up in an airport, and it’s good. It takes place in Paris, and he’s an assassin sort of black ops for the CIA.

Packingham: That kind of resonated with you, huh?

Morty: [Laughter at Packingham’s hilarious joke] No. But you know, I think you develop this sort of– I teach this course, you guys haven’t been in this course I teach, have you?

All of Sherman Ave: No.

Morty: There’s this great line, you know we’re spending a week on income inequality and income distributions and I was doing g-coefficients and transition matrices and all boring economic stuff that I like to do, that I found exciting, and Saul just said, ‘Ya know what? Let’s just read a couple of lines from Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, you’ll learn more about poverty and the obligation of privilege than Morty’ll ever tell you.’ And he’s right, so I read these books all the time and all of the sudden I’m 11 years old and I’m being transported from Ceylon to England to go to school and I’m sitting at the captain’s table, and it’s great. I’m this bedouin who’s dividing his life between Spokane, Washington and Doha, Qatar and so I’m constantly reading these books in different times and different situations, but I can’t think of any that I particularly loved more than any of the others, I just always seem to love the book I’m reading. Even this crime thing which is pretty mindless reading, it’s really good, there are a lot of people getting killed and it’s intrigue, it’s the CIA. So, sorry I don’t have one favorite.

Packingham: It’s alright, I don’t even know how to read.

Twattingworth: Have you ever been on top of Swift? The hall kind of by Annenberg.

Morty: Why? I know Annie May Swift. Is that Swift? Oh, Swift Hall!

Twattingworth: I’m glad even you get those two mixed up too.

Morty: Oh I know Swift. It’s no Annie Mae Swift. Which is beautiful. No, can you go on top?

Evander: You have to watch out for the cops though.

Twattingworth: Sometimes they’ll get you. But go for it sometime.

Morty: Do I have to watch out for the cops? But I hate heights though. I really hate heights. Good thing I’m short. So I don’t think I’d go on the roof of anything.

Cubbage: Why would you go on the roof of Swift? What’s there?

Evander: Great view.

Packingham: There’s also a carnival.

Twattingworth: It’s where they relocated the Keg.

Morty: Oh, is that where it is now?

Packingham: So what’s your spirit animal?

Morty: My spirit animal? What does that mean?

Twattingworth: It’s like an animal that embodies your spirit.

Packingham: Like a patronus.

Morty: I don’t know, what do you think it should be? I never really thought of that.

Packingham: Is there an animal that you feel just like really encapsulates how you think and behave? If you were to be re-incarnated as an animal, what animal would it be?

Morty: Well what exactly is a Wildcat?

Twattingworth: That was going to be our question if you said ‘Wildcat.’

Morty: I don’t actually know. I’m allergic to cats anyway.

Twattingworth: What about Wildkits? Are you allergic to those?

Morty: I’d be sneezing the whole time. So it probably wouldn’t be a Wildcat. Um… I don’t know. Maybe a bird. But not like a… raptor kind of bird. I’m not that violent. I’d be the one who tries to land on a rabbit, and the rabbit turns around and eats me.

Packingham: Do you identify with Birdman, the basketball player?

Morty: Oh, the guy with all the tattoos? Yeah, they won last night, didn’t they? What’s his name, Anderson? Yeah, Chris Anderson. He’s an interesting looking guy. No, I don’t identify with him. He might identify with me though. With a very dorky, old president. He might long for that. He’s longing for something. He’s also a heck of a player. Should be a good series against the Spurs.

Packingham: Can you sing us 15 to 20 seconds of your favorite show tune?

Morty: Ooooh… No. No. But I’m trying to think, do I like any show tunes?

Evander: I don’t.

Morty: I liked a lot of Stephen Sondheim. Big Stephen Sondheim fan. He actually graduated from where I was at Williams College. So I got to meet him a couple of times. He was class of 1950 at Williams so. If I could sing, I would probably sing one of the Sondheim things. Maybe something from Sweeney Todd. But that’s really dark.

Packingham: So you really identify with that character?

Morty: I think I identify with the victim.

Cubbage: At last my arm is complete again! As he holds his razor up.

Evander: Do you think that if we agree to stop riding our bikes on the sidewalk, Evanston would agree to let us tear down Plex?

Morty: You know you might want to put that forward. I think–it’s funny, one of the tour guides yesterday told a story about how, she was leaving going up Sheridan and some bike was coming down full-speed and everything, they avoided and he spilled out and everything… You don’t like Plex? People like the dining. This year it won best dining hall on campus.

Packingham: Was that Best of Evanston?

Morty: I think it’s the best food in the world. I think it was–we did a little bit above most Parisian four-stars, I think.

Evander: So if you were a freshman at Northwestern, where do you think you’d want to live?

Morty: [immediately] Elder. I like Allison too.

Twattingworth: I was going to say, you just turned that into a hotel.

Morty: I like–look. I would probably live in Willard, because Saul’s there, Saul Morson is there. I’ve always liked Shepard, for a variety of reasons. But I really like the job they did at Allison. And I like that dining hall. That dining hall I like more than the Elder dining hall, in terms of the flexibility of food that they serve. They have a kosher station, which is good for me, and they have that whole atrium, which is really nice. But I like Elder. I like the community thing going at Elder. And certainly if you’re taking stuff–if you’re in McCormick, that’s where you want to be. But if you’re schlepping up and down to Harris in the winter, that’s going to keep you in shape. Builds character, that’s what they say.

Twattingworth: I understand that you just earned an honorary degree from Notre Dame.

Morty: I don’t think I earned it. They gave me one.

Twattingworth: So who do you think you’ll be rooting for when we play them in 2014?

Morty: Well I’ll tell you when I spoke Saturday night, I gave a little talk and I talked about what an honor, what a fan I am, I told them my whole little spiel. And at the end I said, ‘But I want to caution everybody,’ and the athletic director was there of course, and the President, the board, and I said ‘I’m coming back on November 15th, 2014 and I’m bringing the boys.’ And that was the last line. So I’m looking forward to going there and having a big victory. We beat them last time we played them, and that was pretty recent–’95. Haven’t played them since. Fitz was on the team. So November 15, 2014, I can’t wait to go to South Bend.

Packingham: Just a follow up to that, we were wondering are you a Saint now? I mean, you have an honorary degree from Notre Dame, so… Is that how it works?

Morty: I don’t think so. The main speaker was Cardinal Dolan. But he was wearing red. I don’t have any red, because I wear purple. I don’t think Saints can wear purple.

Packingham: Maybe you can rebrand the Catholic Church? I hear they really like change.

Morty: We’ll see where this goes. It was actually a fun weekend, because I also got an honorary degree from Garrett, you know Garrett Theological Seminary. The Methodist seminary. And I also gave the commencement address there in their beautiful church. So it’s funny–you have an observant Jew getting an honorary degree from the Protestants on Friday and the Catholics on Sunday.  So what’s that about?

Twattingworth: What do you think [former Ohio State President] Gordon Gee thinks about that?

Morty: I was with him, actually, on Sunday. He’s actually a very good friend of mine. You know, here’s the problem. You guys know that when you speak and speak and speak, you know it’s almost inevitable that you’re going to say something you’re going to regret. So I try to watch myself, because I’m always unscripted as you know and virtually never have anything in front of me. I’m giving two talks today, I think, and I’m just one stupid joke that nobody gets away from being the next president. Every day, it seems like somebody gets in trouble. And Gordon of course got in terrible trouble. But, you know, it’ll probably happen to me one day, but I try to be careful with what I say. Al’s usually cringing when I talk. You have to make the decision, either you’re going to read speeches that somebody else writes for you basically and you’re going to be so bland that you don’t have any character, or you’re going to be yourself. If you’re going to be yourself, you want people to not think you’re a schmuck.

Evander: You clearly have a pretty busy schedule. We were just wondering, have you ever had free time? And if so, what did you do with it?

Morty: You know, this is free time. This is fun. I know you guys are more edgy than I am–if I answer funny, I’m probably fired. We’re all conscious of it, and [Al] is here to make sure I don’t lose my job. But I always have fun. I had so much fun at the dinner [with NU tour guides] last night. You should have heard the stories. Sketchy dads hitting on tour guides, male and female, and this and that, getting hit by trucks, it was hysterical. We were laughing and laughing, and it was one horror story after another, because we were all laughing.

Packingham: Wait, did you say somebody got hit by a truck?!

Morty: You’re walking backwards… BOOM! Then you get up, ‘IT’S OKAY!’ and you’re bleeding–that was one of the stories.

Twattingworth: We have great health services here!

Morty: And Sunday night I go to the Blackhawks game and it was so much fun. I got to meet Tony Esposito. So, I just love my life. I really do. So I never think about off-time. Virtually everything I do I enjoy. Otherwise I wouldn’t do it. Because when you’re president, you don’t have to have a couple thousand students over at your house. You only do it if you enjoy it. And we do. And you certainly don’t have to teach two courses a year, which I do because I love it. You know what I’m saying? So what I do is things that I really enjoy. I never think about ‘Oh, I’m off tonight.’ I’m always doing some NU thing. That’s why I love doing the firesides, people invite me and I always say yes. Sometimes people–I go to the brothels and people cook for me. And that’s fun too.

Twattingworth: I’m really glad that you call them that.

Morty: I mean, what are they? You know, some of them are pretty seedy and some of them are actually pretty nice. Which shows that there’s probably a reason to have some law, but maybe not that law.

Packingham: Just so we’re being clear, are you talking about like off-campus housing with three or more people that aren’t related, or are you literally talking about brothels? Because I hear they cook well.

Morty: It was very funny, because when I first heard the brothel thing I was on the plane, and I landed and I turned on the phone and I’m sitting in my seat and I see all these things with subjects “brothel,” “brothel,” “brothel.” And I had never heard that term, I didn’t know there was a brothel law. It was just my first year, a couple of months into it. And I was looking at it, and I go “Oh my God, they figured out that they found that one of the sororities was running a brothel.” And I go, “NOOOOOO!!!” It was a nightmare, you know? And I was reading it, and I say “Oh, it’s a law.” And I was so relieved. But I was thinking “Oh my God, maybe they found a brothel.” That would be a fun week for you, Al.

Twattingworth: What was the first word that came out of your mouth when the following things happened?

Morty: Okay, let me try this.

Twattingworth: We won the Gator Bowl. And don’t be worried if it’s profane, we’re very far from a family publication.

Morty: Yeah, when we won the Gator Bowl I don’t think I had any words. I was choked up. I literally was. I was on the field. I have this picture with Kain Colter hugging me, he was wearing his shoulder pads. They don’t realize, these guys hug me and like I’m a fragile old guy. Some of them are careful, like Mike Trumpy he’s always good, some of them just crush me though. So I don’t remember saying anything. When my wife came out of the stands, literally I had tears in my eyes. I usually don’t get that emotional, especially about athletics, but it was so great. When Fitz said “Hey everybody, let’s act like we’ve been here before… BUT WE’VE NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE!” That was great.

Twattingworth: What about when there was this really great, I don’t know if you remember but it was like a demonstration in Tech? I think it was two or three years ago. What was your first reaction to that when you heard about it.

Morty: Ooooh. I think my first reaction was ‘It’s going to be a tough couple of months.’ And I was right. That was one of my few predictions I ever got right. Boy was that a tough couple of months.

Packingham: Just in a word, what’s your favorite Native American tribe?

Morty: [nervous laughter] What’s yours?

Packingham: Stop dodging the question here.

Morty: I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

Twattingworth: We tried that same question with John Evans, and he was just not having it.

Packingham: He was like ‘I’ve got a lot of least favorites.’

Evander: Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. You must really not Google search your name a whole lot.

Twattingworth: Yeah, please don’t do that.

Morty: Well, they warned me yesterday at the table with the tour guides. I said I had this interview, and somebody asked ‘Have you ever seen those music videos?’ I said they’re a riot, this is Sherman Avenue! They said they hoped I was still here on Wednesday. But most people are pretty easy with me. I don’t think they’re trying to get me fired. And if you were trying, I hope you failed.

Evander: So you’re really not serving us with a court summons for libel?

Morty: Yes. You are under arrest. NUPD is coming.

Cubbage: We’ll see you at the general counsel’s office.

Two football giants (soccer that is) side by side, and none of them French! One just retired and one still at his peak.

Sweden is a very secular nation and we both belong to the 75 % of the population with no real relationship to the church. Nevertheless, we like to visit old churches when we are traveling, enjoying the beauty and serenity of the church room.

A visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral thought ended already outside the entrance where we were met by quite a stir with police, fire brigades, TV reporters and crowds of visitors. We soon found out that a right-wing historian and activist had tragically just killed himself in front of the altar in protest against the newly adopted law legalising gay marriages.

So we continued to another grand building, the Madeleine Church which we hadn’t visited before.

Alexandra is the name of one of our daughters in law and of course we had to stop for an espresso at the café that carried her name. And a soupe à l’oignon for lunch was a must too.

MLB Mock Draft 

Before I start I just want to say that baseball is a very tough game so when I say he can be a all star or that he can have a curveball that is just unhittable – it may not happen……. and actually is very doubtful to fully reach the ceiling.

The Houston Astros always were drafting at the end of the 1st Round during the Killer B’s ERA. They haven’t had too much to show for in the last 15 Years. They did manage to draft a few nice picks in the later rounds. The scouting staff will have the most amount of work they have had in decades in the next 13 Months.  They clearly look they have more of a need for a Pitcher – as some of their young hitters have come along way in 2013 already.

This draft is almost always drafting for the best available and factoring in slot dollars not fitting a need. So here is my mock draft.

1. Houston Astros- Mark Appel P Stanford

In my view the best player in this draft but also a very intriguing one. He declined above slot dollars when the pirates drafted him at 8 last year to return his senior year at Stanford.

That is a major risk as if he doesn’t sign he has to play a year of independent league ball and will then be eligible for the draft next year. I believe he signs for about 5 Million because the Astros can pressure him because he is a senior.

He is originally from the Houston area and posses a devastating fastball, two excellent secondary pitches also no 12-6 curve and outstanding control. He will be an Ace and it won’t take long if the dollars match up. He is a Boras client. 

2. Chicago Cubs- Jonathan Gray P Oklahoma

He really sprung up the rankings this year with that powerful fastball. I believe he has top of the line stuff but only average control. He might get the biggest signing bonus in this class as Jed & Theo are narrowing in on a pitcher.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he went number one & it wouldn’t shock me if he went fourth but it would shock me if he isn’t a frontline pitcher someday. 

3. Colorado Rockies- Kris Bryant 3B/OF San Diego

This is absolutely a case of drafting the best available otherwise they would go pitching. This draft has a “big 3″ with Appel, Gray, & Bryant and then it falls off.

Bryant has incredible power and will be scary to watch in Colorado.

The Rockies would have LOVED Appel or Bryant here as I doubt they would get the opportunity to select this high in the coming years and they need frontline pitching. Either way I actually think Bryant is the “safest” pick in the draft due to his raw power combined with his college prowess. 

4. Minnesota Twins- Kohl Stewart P HS(Texas) 

The best high school pitcher in this class and a non boras client. He is extremely raw & very far away although his potential roof is up there.

He is a type 1 diabetic but that should be not much of an issue as other athletes like Jay Cutler have it and have been just fine. He has an explosive fastball right now but everything needs work and refinement but when it’s all said and done you could be looking at a superstar. 

5. Cleveland Indians- Clint Frazier OF HS(Georgia) 

High ceiling high school outfielder that will most likely be compared to Meadows his entire career. You are looking at a potential franchise player but has a long road ahead. 

6. Miami Marlins- Austin Meadows OF HS(Georgia) 

There has been alot of talk about the Marlins going cheap here with someone like Braden Shipley, Rob Kaminsky, or Reese McGuire but they also love Meadows.

I believe if Meadows is gone then they go Shipley but I believe they should go for ceiling as they need more players to market around to an area that’s been crushed as far as fan support goes.

The future franchise faces are Jose Fernandez, Christian Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton (or his trade return) Jake Marisnick, & Jacob Turner and you have to believe the Fish would like to add another big name. Meadows can be a real impact player but has a ton of development to go through. 

7. Boston Red Sox- Braden Shipley P Nevada

This is where the draft really starts to thin out & it gets to more of a crapshoot as to who goes where. Shipley can be a solid #3 pitcher with an above average fastball and shouldn’t take that long to reach the show. 

8. Kansas City Royals- Colin Moran 3B North Carolina

The third baseman from the number one ranked Tar Heels club should be a solid player. I don’t see a superstar in his but he should be a above average regular. This of course is drafting for best available & not for need as we’ll see what happens to Moose down the line. 

9. Pittsburgh Pirates- Reese McGuire C HS(Washington)

A high school Catcher who has light years of development ahead but could be a true face of the franchise. I am a little scared as there is not usually many top prospects from Washington state and the competition is not as strong as let’s say Texas so I’m worried he is just playing against severely worse opponents. I am a big fan though and believe he will be successful. 

10. Toronto Blue Jays- JP Crawford SS HS(California)

A true shortstop who will be able to play the position for a very long time. He has above average speed but the bat is a question mark along with what kind of power he will develop. He could be a nice lead off hitter with above average defense if all goes well. 

11. New York Mets- Hunter Renfroe OF Mississippi State

I believe he profiles for an outfield corner very nicely with solid power and a about average bat. The mets do have a big need here although this is also drafting who might be the best available. 

12. Seattle Mariners- Trey Ball P HS(Indiana) 

He seems to be what will equate to a #3 starter if it all works out. Personally I’m not that high on him as I don’t see the ceiling and he has plenty of development to go through. 

13. San Diego Padres- Eric Jagielo 3B Notre Dame

This draft is light on college bats and Jagielo will be an option for many teams. He could develop into an average 3B with above average power. He won’t take that long either maybe just a couple years. 

14. Pittsburgh Pirates- Ryne Stanek P Arkansas

His draft stock has slid considerably but personally I’m a bigger fan than most. He can have an explosive fastball with 3 average secondary offerings and can be a fringe 1 high2 pitcher. With the right seasoning and improved control he will be a stud. 

15. Arizona Diamondbacks- DJ Peterson 1/3B New Mexico

He is what can be a middle of the order bat with 30HR plus power. His position is of question but it will be on either side of the infield  I see him being a first baseman in the long run although I think he can handle third for a couple years. 

16. Philadelphia Phillies- Dominic Smith 1B HS(California)

The heir apparent to Ryan Howard in a number of years and that’s a large number. Dominic might be the top 1B bat in the high school class but he needs years of seasoning offensively and defensively. High risk here but also very high reward. 

17. Chicago White Sox- Jonathan Crawford P Florida

A safer pick for the team that really hasn’t had a good farm in years and its effects are really showing. Crawford doesn’t have a very high ceiling but can be a capable starter and solid #3. A safe pick for a team that has holes throughout the farm and some big ones on its major league squad. 

18. Los Angeles  Dodgers- Sean Manaea P Indiana State

He has plummeted down draft charts but I am still very high on him. There are signability issues here which I understand that he’s a Boras client but I just don’t see the leverage at all. The dodgers haven’t been afraid to make big moves and this would be a large one as Manaea can easily become a #2. I see a big future in this kid and Tommy John can only hold him back so long.

19. St. Louis Cardinals- Jon Denney C HS(Oklahoma) 

The Cardinals to me are the model organization of baseball. Denney can be the eventual replacement for Yadier Molina and can be quite a good one but comes with substantial risk. 

20. Detroit Tigers- Aaron Judge OF Fresno State

He is not your prototypical OF standing 6’7 at 245 pounds but can be an outstanding player. He has incredible raw power he has yet to tap into. I am big on him for the future and am intrigued by his stature. Detroit has plenty of rebuilding to do to that system. 

21. Tampa Bay Rays- Ian Clarkin P HS(California)

Clarkin is pretty much your high school lefty that throws 95 which means he will get drafted high. Tampa Bay has taken numerous high school arms and made them successes as they are one if the best organizations in baseball. 

22. Baltimore Orioles- Austin Wilson OF Stanford

He seems destined for a corner OF spot with some average hit and power tools. He won’t be a superstar but should be a average to above average regular. 

23. Texas Rangers-Alex Gonzalez P Oral Roberts

His fastball has a ton of movement an with his three pitch mix some wonder if he’s destined for the back of the pen but I think he will be a starter probably a #4. Jon Daniels Thad Levine and Don Welke have done an outstanding job of drafting and developing so leave it to them. 

24. Oakland Athletics- Nick Ciuffo C HS(South Carolina)

He will be able to stay behind the plate throughout his career and should be a average hitter. He will take his time.  

25. San Francisco Giants – Tim Anderson SS East Central CC

A speedster who will most likely play shortstop. He has a nice amount to learn but his speed tool should help him power through it while refining other areas of his game like secondary pitch awareness. 

26. New York Yankees- Phillip Ervin OF Samford

The kid can run 

27. Cincinnati Reds- Rob Kaminsky P HS(New Jersey)

A nice three pitch mix with his fastball normally at 95. He is from an unusual place for baseball prospects but as we all know Jersey can turn out good ones (Trout). 

28. St Louis Cardinals- Billy McKinney OF HS(Texas)

They would be taking this kid for his bat. The defense needs to really be learned although I see him as a corner OF than a 1B. 

29. Tampa Bay Rays- Alex Balog P San Fransisco

He’s not as good as the last San Fran pitcher to go in the first round (Zimmer) but he can be somebody. He stands 6’6 and has at least 3 pitches with a chance for a fourth. I’m higher on him than most teams. 

30. Texas Rangers- Marco Gonzales P Gonzaga

He will have 3 pitches but they grade out to what could be above average pitches all of them. I see him as a #3. 

31. Atlanta Braves- Hunter Harvey P HS(North Carolina) 

The son of former all star Brian Harvey and can touch 95. He may be a starter but I think he would be excellent in the back of the pen. 

32. New York Yankees- Oscar Mercado SS HS(Florida)

My one need pick of the first round as the Yankees need to find a replacement for Jeter in a few years and you could bet that one of their 3 first round pick will be used to do it. He has a large amount of development left but also a high ceiling so he’s a lotto ticket. 

33. New York Yankees- Cavan Biggio 2B HS(Texas)

Yuuup he’s the son of son to be Hall of Famer Craig Biggio and a very talented athlete. Mix his hit and power tools with the bloodlines and you might get something special. 

The Cardinals had 6 of the top 100 Prospect that were listed by MLB prior to 2013. Carlos Martinez, Kolten Wong, Oscar Taveras, Shelby Miller, Michael Wacha and Trevor Rosenthal. 4 of them have seen action for the current club. This is incredible considering the franchise success in the last few years – resulting in late 1st Round Draft Picks.

In a Vine he posted, he took letters written from Nick Saban and flushed them down the toilet.

“Dang, Nick Saban hooked your boy up!” *flushes toilet* “Roll toilet!”

He later tweeted an apology and deleted the vine post.

Nevertheless, I like this kid. He’s tired of Alabama’s crap….so he flushed it! Can’t blame him. ROLL TOILET!

Sacre Coeur and Montmarte

Our bed and breakfast (more to come on this later) was located in the heart of the Red Light District, which is within walking distance of Montmarte and Sacre Coeur. Sacre Coeur is a beautiful church on top of a hill that overlooks the entire city. The area around it, Montmarte, is filled with shops, restaurants and local artists selling their paintings. After hiking to the top, we decided to eat back in the Red Light District where there were less tourists and the prices were much more reasonable.

Tip: Surrounding Sacre Couer, there are tons of men with friendship-type bracelets. They try to tie the bracelet onto your wrist, then demand you pay them. If you ever visit, just be aware, and be prepared to say, “no” about a million times.

The Eiffel Tower

Not surprisingly, one of our places to see was the Eiffel Tower. We went during the day, and I couldn’t believe how long the lines were to go to the top! We decided to come back at night to see it sparkle, knowing the lines would be shorter then. In addition to walking around the main area, we walked through the center and into a huge grassy park where you can capture the whole length of it from further away. When we went back at night, the area (where the center is fenced off) was filled with people who had pushed down the plastic fence. People were selling roses and champagne to really play up the romantic vibe, but everyone had brought their own blankets and wine, so just stop at a Monoprix and avoid the salesman. In the end, we opted out of viewing from the top, but prices are 8.50 euros for adults, 7 euros for people 12-24 and 4 euros for children four to 11 years old to visit the first and second floors. Tickets to go straight to the top are 14 euros for adults, 12.50 euros for people 12-24 and 9.50 euros for children four to 11.

Tip: When you take the Metro, make sure to keep your ticket until the end of the line. When I studied abroad, I had a Navigo pass and didn’t have to worry about tickets. I accidentally dropped my ticket, and when we got off at the Eiffel Tower stop, the French police were checking tickets. Since I didn’t have mine, I had to pay a 45 euro fine on the spot (they take cash or credit). This was pretty upsetting and I felt terrible, but we didn’t let it ruin our day. Learn from my mistake!

Notre Dame

The famous Notre Dame was a must-see during our visit, and it did not disappoint. Just the outside of the cathedral is breathtaking; the detailed architecture is incredible. The line to see the inside goes by really fast, so don’t be intimidated when it looks like it goes on forever. Entry is free, and inside, you can light candles in honor of loved ones by paying 2-5 euros. It’s definitely time well spent to visit the inside, even if you’re not religious.

It’s also important to know that the line to go inside is not the same line as the line to go into the towers. This line is located to the right of the cathedral after you exit, and costs 8.50 euros for adults, and 5.50 for those under 26 years old (woo!). The line moves MUCH, MUCH slower, but again, it’s totally worth it. There are shops and restaurants across the street from the line, and we passed some of the time with a Nutella and banana crepe. I may or may not have gotten melted chocolate everywhere. Ryan may or may not have been embarrassed. To work off that crepe, we finally got in and climbed the 387 stairs to the top. Luckily, there are two stops on the way, one where you pay, and the other where you can see views from the second story and catch your breath. The view from the top is again, incredible, and you can see the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur and those famous gargoyles…or gargles (Modern Family anyone?).

Tip: Bring a bottle of water and exact change if you want to go up into the towers. This is a great time to convince  yourself that a crepe is necessary because you need smaller bills!

The Love Lock Bridge at Pont de l’Archeveche (visible from Notre Dame)

The last time I was in Paris, I visited the Love Lock Bridge. Basically, couples visit the bridge, and lock a small lock to the fence and throw the key into the Seine to symbolize eternal love. The locks are all different colors, shapes and sizes, and taking some time to look at a few is really fun. One lock was from a couple who came to Paris for their 25th wedding anniversary. Adding our lock to the bridge was something Ryan and I really looked forward to doing and was a great way to end our time in such a romantic city.

Tip: Buy and decorate your lock when you’re still at home. There are people selling them on the bridge and at a shop at the end of the bridge. I’m not positive, but I imagine the shop may be a bit cheaper than the salesman. However, in the end, finding a Sharpie and other decorating supplies may be frustrating and expensive, so do it at home if you can.

Obviously we couldn’t see everything in Paris, but we left feeling like we saw and did everything we came to see. We also felt like we ate everything on our list, so it was a good visit. Next up, Marseille, France!

Have you been to Paris? What was your favorite part? Let me know in the comments!

But Notre Dame doesn’t have to follow the system. Notre Dame, leader that it considers itself among institutions of higher learning, could refuse to follow along. It could allow the system to work for an 18-year-old high school senior, but it won’t. Notre Dame is playing hard ball with five-star recruit Eddie Vanderdoes,

So it’s not just the system that sucks. For playing along with the system, Notre Dame sucks too.

For the rest of this column from CBSSports.com, please click here.

It was interesting to hear about the departures of Ohio State president Gordon Gee and Wichita State baseball coach Gene Stephenson yesterday.

Gee, perhaps displaying a smoothness he often showed as an administrator and fundraiser but possessed less and less as a public speaker, announced his “retirement” effective July 1. As you know, he targeted Catholics, Notre Dame and the SEC in recent off-the-cuff remarks that made other university leaders extremely uncomfortable and, honestly, shed a rather bad light on the university and its so-called “remediation plan” because of other vocal gaffes from the bowtied, suspendered leader.

Gee was an able president, and his problem may simply have been that he, well, put greater emphasis on the three groups in question. In all honesty, it sounds like the comments were made in jest, but he had to know there would be blowback just from one of the groups. He just had to know. To go through the triple play of Catholics, Notre Dame and the SEC was daring the hook to find his neck onstage and yank him behind the curtains. And that’s exactly what happened.

When I write “Time to Chop Some Names” about the Washington Redskins’ ongoing name flap, one of the key tenets was the cultural sensitivities have, right or wrong, changed the past 15 years. Statements allowable then aren’t now. I’m not sure whether it’s a good or bad thing in many cases, but it is different and people have to adjust.

The situation is thoroughly different in south central Kansas, where Wichita State has effectively fired the man who built a baseball program from scratch basically because it wasn’t meeting the expectations he set. Gene Stephenson was given the chance to resign or be fired after 36 years at the helm, and he didn’t choose resignation.

Stephenson’s ouster is a jarring statement on the current state of athletics. True, the Shockers weren’t close to their glory days of the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Wichita State made an NCAA regional for the first time in four years, but the grumblings of glory days gone by and not returning any time soon apparently were too much for the athletic department.

In a way, it seems WSU is turning its back on the only person to bring success to the university in a baseball setting. Well, it is. Let’s be frank about it. However, it doesn’t matter if you’re a legend or a hot, can’t-miss prospect. You have to produce. And if you’re a Gene Stephenson, it gets that much harder every year to produce at the level you need to keep your job. Especially when you’re nearing four decades at the same position.

Much like cultural perceptions on what’s allowed and what’s not, performance expectations change over time. It’s up to us to adjust.

Rumors of the Lions possibly being interested in Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly came out within minutes of Bill Ford Jr’s less than rousing endorsement of coach Jim Schwartz.

Sorry. But I believe that is calculated. And that is great news if true. It shows that the Lions are thinking outside the box even if they have yet to act outside the box.

Maybe this isn’t the same old Lions who are willing to allow people fail over and over again before bringing in fresh blood. Schwartz hasn’t done anything to warrant a hands off approach. My gut feeling is he is a pretty good coach but this is a production league. The Lions need to join the new era of thinking.

Schwartz is 22-40 in four seasons with the Lions. His players went through a sour stretch of arrests that brought shame upon the organization and on the coaching staff. And the Lions are coming off a 4-12 season after making the playoffs. They need to make the playoffs for Schwartz to keep his job or have a very impressive 9-7 season that gives you hope for the future.

The same old Lions would keep Schwartz if the team finishes 7-9 or 8-8. They would talk about the progress from a four-win season. I would view it as more mediocrity. Do you know why the Lions blew things up and hired failed General Manager Matt Millen? They were tired of eight and nine win seasons — one year in the playoffs and one year out.

Oh and here is a great statistic for you. Quarterback Matthew Stafford is 1-22 against teams with winning records.

Now do you see why the seat under Schwartz should at least be warm?

(Join me tonight at the downtown Detroit Buffalo Wild Wings (7 pm) for a 100 Things Tiger Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die book signing.)

What did Notre Dame recruit Elijah Hood think of his recruiting letters from Alabama? He delivered a message about it loud and clear.

In the video below, Hood takes his letter from Alabama/Nick Saban and flushes it down the toilet. That’s right, this kid who was highly recruited from Bama, Notre Dame, Michigan and Florida State, among others, is posting a video where he flushes recruiting letters. This kid must really love Notre Dame. Not really sure why he flushed ‘Bama and not any other schools.

Hood has since removed the video from Vine, the newest Twitter app, but someone grabbed it and put it on YouTube. Hood has also since apologized on Twitter.

Without Everett Golson Under Center, the Irish Suddenly Look Very Shaky on Offense

We’re inching closer and closer to the start of college football season, if you didn’t realize. Of course, the calendar still says 74 days left until kickoff, but the fact that it’s June means preview magazines are coming out, summer practices are right around the corner and we can all start speaking in baseless conjecture again. As always when you’re basing rankings on nothing but how a team “looks” to you, things have changed from last month’s poll, as you’ll notice below. Completely disagree? Believe that you’re better at ranking teams that have yet to play a game (and are over two months away from doing so)? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Atlantic Coast Convos 2013 Top 25 (June 5)

1. Alabama Crimson Tide (Last: 1)

2. Stanford Cardinal (Last: 2)

3. Texas A&M Aggies (Last: 3)

4. Oregon Ducks (Last: 5)

5. Georgia Bulldogs (Last: 6)

6. Ohio State Buckeyes (Last: 4)

7. South Carolina Gamecocks (Last: 7)

8. Clemson Tigers (Last: 8)

9. Louisville Cardinals (Last: 9)

10. Florida Gators (Last: 11)

11. Boise State Broncos (Last: 12)

12. Texas Longhorns (Last: 10)

13. Oregon State Beavers (Last: 13)

14. LSU Tigers (Last: 14)

15. TCU Horned Frogs (Last: 16)

16. UCLA Bruins (Last: 19)

17. Florida State Seminoles (Last: 18)

18. Michigan Wolverines (Last: 17)

19. Oklahoma State Cowboys (Last: 20)

20. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Last: 15)

21. Northwestern Wildcats (Last: 21)

22. Michigan State Spartans (Last: 25)

23. Vanderbilt Commodores (Last: 22)

24. Ole Miss Rebels (Last: 24)

25. Fresno State Bulldogs (Last: NR)

Next Five: North Carolina, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Miami, Oklahoma

Per conference: SEC (8), Pac-12 (4), Big Ten (4), Big 12 (3), ACC (2), MWC (2), American (1), Independent (1)

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Cross-Divisional Matchups Like Clemson/Virginia Tech Will Be A Lot Less Frequent Going Forward

I’ve written about this elsewhere, so I’ll keep this post brief; just wanted to make sure I got a post up about it, and provided links to team-centric reactions where applicable.

Yesterday, the ACC announced its scheduling matrix for rotating divisional crossover opponents from the 2014 season through 2024. With two seven-team divisions, it’s nothing too complicated. Each team simply plays the six other schools in its own division, plus one permanent crossover (make it stop!) and a rotating crossover. The result, unfortunately, is only playing schools in the same conference once every six years (and once every 12 at home). So for those keeping track at home, ACC schools will play Notre Dame more often in a 12-year stretch than they’ll play schools in the opposite division. “TOTALLY MAKES SENSE.”

Everyone has some gripes here and there — specifically the North Carolina schools, some of whom fall victim to the situation described above — but on the bright side, it’s nice to have a decade’s-worth of football opponents already set in stone. Sadly, it does kill off any big ideas for divisional realignment, which is another major downside to all of this. Still, check out the graphic the league put together (they’re getting very good at these):

(click to enlarge)

Below you can read up on team-by-team reactions over on SB Nation, including the Syracuse perspective which was penned by yours truly yesterday afternoon.

Boston College: BC Interruption

Florida State: Tomahawk Nation

NC State: Backing the Pack

North Carolina: Tar Heel Blog

Pittsburgh: Cardiac Hill

Syracuse: Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician

Any additional thoughts? Share your complaints/suggestions to make things better below!

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According to the Columbus Dispatch, Gee discussed his future with his family while on a Disney Cruise. He said his retirement wasn’t just about his comments. “I have apologized for those remarks and feel incredibly sorry, but I have moved on” he told reporters during a phone interview . He added that he is “quirky as hell” and that he doesn’t do things like most people.

OSU Provost Joseph A. Alutto has agreed to serve as interim president, he previously served the same position in 2007. The Columbus Board of Education were to hold a vote this week on hiring Alutto for their Superintendent opening at the end of the month.

Gee noted his sudden departure now gives OSU a unique opportunity to hire Alutto as interim president before he took another job.

In my opinion, this is good for all of college athletics. Gee is part of the ‘Good Ol Boy network’ that has helped to hold back college football and provided road blocks for positive change. Hopefully new leadership will step forward and college athletics can move beyond power and money and get back to what it is supposed to be focused on, education and athletics.

After Gee comments hit the media last week so did Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino. He went on Louisville radio, the Terry Meiners Show on 840 WHAS, to defend U of L and to put Gee in his place.

“We’ve been the No. 1 grade point average in the Big East the past three years,”  Pitino said according to transcripts from the show. “Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. … Ignorance is not just curtailed to coaches or other people; it’s curtailed to presidents as well. President Gee is obviously trying to crack jokes and denigrate other people, and in Louisville — I can’t speak for Kentucky; I’ll let John [Calipari] speak for them — we don’t take kindly to those comments, and we’re very insulted by it. And when people have to make jokes and denigrate others to get laughter, that means they’re truly ignorant of the facts, and certainly he is ignorant of the facts. Really bothered by it.”

Ironically it was Gee comments about Notre Dame and Catholics that drew the strongest response from Pitino. Again, from  the show transcripts “What really gets me boiling,” said Pitino, “it’s not Louisville or Kentucky. What gets me boiling is the fact he knocks the Catholics at Notre Dame. I don’t know what denomination he is or what lord he prays to, but trying to get jokes out of that, it really, really boils me . … It’s a pompous attitude and certainly I have a major problem with him, not with Ohio State, and he’s a pompous ass for making those statements.”

Pompous ass indeed. OSU would do better if they had the integrity that U of L has when it comes to academics, and overall.

http://atlanticcoastconfidential.com/2013/05/31/osu-gee-takes-shots-at-acc-sec-and-nd/

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/22346061/rick-pitino-calls-gordon-gee-a-pompous-ass

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/public/2013/06/gee-retiring-says-gaffes-not-reason.html