We kick things off with three-time BoA:Audio guest Paul Kimball. Before we dive into baseball dicussion, Paul updates us on what he has been up to since his last BoA:Audio appearance in May of '07. Getting into the baseball discussion, we start by finding out Paul's take on Roger Clemens being named in the Mitchell Report and the subsequent circus that surrounded that revelation. Paul talks about the chances of Clemens and/or Bonds getting into the Hall of Fame. He gives his take on the Congressional Hearings on steroids and why he thinks it was unnecessary. Paul also shares his opinion on how Clemens handled the fallout of the Mitchell Report release.

Moving on, we talk about the change in power at the New York Yankees and Kimball talks about Joe Girardi taking over the helm of the Yankees and Joe Torre becoming the manager of the LA Dodgers. We both bemoan the awfulness of the two Florida baseball teams and we discuss what should be done with them. Binnall busts on Paul's pick of Detroit last year and Paul shares his opinion on why he doesn't think Detroit will make the playoffs this year, despite some strong off-season trades. Looking at one last off-season story, we get Paul's take on the Johan Santana trade, which segues into a discussion on the Toronto Blue Jays.

We move into prediction mode and Kimball gives us his picks for each of the division and wildcard winners, the AL / NL Champions, and World Series winner for 2008. Wrapping up the baseball talk, we get Paul's forecast for the Red Sox in 2008 as well. And, finally, we find out what's next for Paul Kimball, what kind of adventures he may be up to in the near and distant future, including an appearance at the Retro UFO Convention 3.

Our next guest joining us to discuss all things baseball is cryptozoologist extraordinaire Loren Coleman. We kick things off with Loren by finding out what he's been up to since his appearance on the BoA:Audio Mass Monster Mash Special, including his dual trip down to Florida to both investigate the "Pinky" mystery and serve as head booster for his son's college baseball team. Getting into our baseball discussion, we talk about Loren's family history, growing up in a "minor league baseball family" and his affinity for the Portland Maine minor league team known as the Seadogs, that served as a Florida Marlins and then Red Sox affiliate.

We discuss the big story of the baseball off-season: the Mitchell Report and get Loren's take on the whole affair. He also tells us what stylistic trend he sees coming out of baseball's steroid era. Next we look at the change in power at the Yankees, starting with the emergence of Hank Steinbrenner as the new mouthpiece for the organization and then the new manager of the Yankees, Joe Girardi. Moving on to talk about our mutual favorite team, Loren gives his forecast for 2008 for the Boston Red Sox. We touch on the unique trend of breakout teams over the last few years, notably the Tigers in '06 and the Brewers in '07, and find out if Loren foresees any team taking on that role this year and which individual player he thinks is poised for a breakout year.

Moving back to the Bonds / Clemens discussion, we get Loren's prediction on whether or not they will play again. We also look at their Hall of Fame chances in the long run. Talking about the difficulty in getting tickets to Red Sox games, we find out how often Loren manages to make it down to Fenway to catch a Sox game and he shares the cool aspect of traveling to various esoteric conferences and being able to catch other teams play in their home park. We briefly discuss former Red Sox great Jim Rice and his chances of getting into the Hall of Fame as his time on the ballot winds down. Looking longterm, we get Loren's opinion on whether or not Curt Schilling will end up in the Hall of Fame.

Next we get Loren's predictions for the division and wildcard winners, AL / NL Champions, and World Series winner for 2008. Wrapping it up, we find out what's next for Loren Coleman as he previews some of his upcoming appearances, including an exciting international trip. We also briefly discuss the History Channel show "Monster Quest" and get Loren's take on that program and the increasing interest in cryptozoology that has happened in the last year or so.

Batting third in our baseball special is Ufologist and resident Yankee fan Richard Dolan. We kick things off by finding out what Richard has been up to since his appearance on the BoA:Audio CRC IV Special in November of '06. Moving into the baseball talk, Richard talks about growing up as a Yankee fan on Long Island and going to Yankee stadium as a kid. This leads to some discussion on the big off-season changes in the Yankees and Rich gives his thoughts on Joe Torre leaving and Joe Girardi taking over as manager of the team. Talking a bit about the Red Sox / Yankees rivalry, Richard notes that he predicted a Red Sox World Series win a few years back, upon the acquisition of sabermetric guru Bill James. Dolan goes on to discuss why he thinks sabermetrics is very important.

Richard explains why he was happy that the Yankees didn't trade for Johan Santana and talks about some potential weaknesses on the team as the 2008 season begins. We talk about Alex Rodriguez and his tenuous relationship with Yankee fans and get Richard's opinion of that drama. We discuss the closing of Yankee Stadium at the end of this year and the creation of a new Yankee Stadium to open next year and this leads to Richard's unhappiness with cities being forced to foot the bill for new sports stadiums.

Next we talk about the nostalgia sport of Vintage Baseball, in which Richard is an avid participant. He tell us about how he once pitched a complete game shutout in a Vintage Baseball game, gives us a nice description of what Vintage Baseball is all about and how it differs from contemporary baseball.

Jumping back to contemporary baseball stories, we get Richard's opinion on the emergence of Hank Steinbrenner as the voice of the Yankees. After holding off as long as we could, we then turn the conversation towards the Mitchell Report and Richard shares his passionate opinion on the latest steroid saga that unfolded over the last few months. We get Richard's take on whether or not Bonds or Clemens will ever play again or if they will make it into the Hall of Fame.

Wrapping up the baseball discussion, we get Richard's predictions for the division and wildcard winners, AL / NL Champions, and World Series winner for 2008. Following that, we have about five minutes of esoteric discussion as Richard tells us what's next for him in the coming weeks and months as 2008 unfolds.

Batting clean-up on the Baseball Special is crackpot historian Adam Gorightly. As is custom, before we dig into the baseball stuff, we find out what Adam's been up to since his last appearance on last year's BoA:Audio Baseball Special. We have a bit of an extended five minute discussion on Adam's upcoming book on the "King Kill 33" theory and a re-issue of his book on the Manson Family.

The baseball talk begins with Adam lamenting the sad state of affairs for his beloved San Francisco Giants. Adam helps to explain how things got so bad for the Giants over the last few years and where things went off the rails for the team. We talk about the lackluster season last year for Giant's ace Barry Zito and Adam tells us about some of the bright spots in the Giants organization. He also conveys the mood of San Francisco last season as Barry Bonds was chasing the home run record.

We get Adam's take on the Mitchell Report and the Clemens saga from this past winter. We talk about the American League bias and the anti-DH sentiments expressed by Greg Bishop last year and we get Adam's take on the NL v. AL rivalry. He talks about growing up and watching some of the innovations from the 1970's Oakland A's.

Getting a jump on the predictions portion of the show, Adam has predictions regarding Barry Bonds, Sean David Morton, and UFO disclosure. We find out if there are any teams that Adam has a rivalry with and he talks about his hatred for the LA Dodgers. This leads to some discussion on how free agency has resulted in players not staying with the same team their whole career. We then get Adam's reaction to Joe Torre becoming the new manager of the Dodgers.

Wrapping up the baseball talk, we get Adam's predictions for the division & wildcard winners, AL / NL Champions, and World Series winner for 2008. Adam announces that he will be using the innovative "George Costanza" method of predictions, making his picks wholly unique to the broadcast and, likely, throughout much of baseball fandom. We return to Adam's loathing of Tommy Lasorda and speculate on if there were occult reasons behind Lasorda managing a game this past Spring.

Finishing up the interview, Adam gives a preview of the Retro UFO Convention 3, which he is one of the organizers for, on April 26 & 27 at the Integretron in California. We also talk a bit about Adam's podcast series "Untamed Dimensions," the original intent behind the series and how is has evolved over the last year and a half.

Our final guest for the baseball special is UFO Mystic's own Greg Bishop. We kick things off by getting Greg's reaction to the resurgance of the LA Dodgers, with the signing of Joe Torre and Andruw Jones during the off-season. Greg speculates on what kind of influence Joe Torre will bring to the Dodgers that makes people so excited about them right now and Greg gives us some interesting perspective on the perceived club house strife for the Dodgers last year.

Greg talks about the Dodgers using the LA Coliseum for some exhibition games to commemorate their 50th anniversary in LA and how they used to use the building for a few years of their LA existance. The leads to some discussion on football stadiums being used for baseball games.

Next we talk about Andruw Jones signing with the Dodgers and the team's exciting shortstop Rafael Furcal. This leads to some discussion on the problems with the Gold Glove and how binnall wants "term limits" on the award. This segues into talking about the problems with the All Star game, from the fan voting to the rule that mandates that each team get at least one player in the All Star Game. After that, we talk about the steroid controversy that exploded again in the off-season with the Mitchell Report, including the humorous reaction from the Dodgers upon the release of the Mitchell Report.

After that, we discuss Dodger Stadium in LA, the downside of new stadiums, and obstructed view seats in Boston. We talk about the residential area where Dodger Stadium is located and how that came about, then Greg bemoans the trend of stadium naming rights. Moving south, we talk about San Diego's Petco Park and Greg shares some stories about going to games there, including the cool and not cool parts about Petco.

Wrapping up the baseball talk, we get Greg's predictions for the division & wildcard winners, AL / NL Champions, and World Series winner for 2008. Finishing things up for the interview, Greg previews the Retro UFO Convention 3, where he will be appearing April 26th & 27th. He also talks about his podcast series Radio Misterioso and some the previous episodes and future episodes worth checking out.

At the close of the program, binnall will reveal his picks for the 2008 division & wildcard winners, AL / NL Champions, and World Series winner.

The complete comparative chart for all guests' picks can be found HERE

topics discussed:
3 Hr 7 Min.
3.30.08
320
2nd Annual BoA:Audio Baseball Special

2008 World Series Champion Predictions: