The second half of BoA:Audio's baseball double header takes a break from the world of the paranormal as we welcome back a bunch of our old friends for a lighthearted discussion on the 2011 baseball season. Longtime pals Jason Offutt, Loren Coleman, Adam Gorightly, Paul Kimball, and Greg Bishop join us for the 5th annual festivus devoted to the national pastime. Additionally, we welcome BoA:Audio listener and usofe member 'League Minimum,' who won our forum prediction contest last year. As always, we'll be talking about baseball, finding out what our various guests have been up to this past year, and getting their predictions for the 2011 baseball season.

It's our yearly stop to smell the roses and reflect on life beyond the paranormal with a crew of great friends providing a wealth of fun and laughs.

Full Preview: Leading off this year's festivities is our old friend Jason Offutt, making his 2nd appearance on the annual baseball festivus. Before we dive into the baseball discussion, we get an update from Jason on what he's been up to in the last year. Jumping into our coverage of the new baseball season, we focus on Jason's team, the Kansas City Royals, and find out what he thinks of the team trading their ace pitcher Zack Grienke during the off-season.

We also lament how teams like the Cincinnati Reds manage to turn their fortunes around, but the Royals have remained perennial losers over the last decade or so. Jason tells us about some of the Royals' players worth keeping an eye on during the 2011 season. We also talk about former KC pitcher Gil Meche, who retired during the off-season and opted out of any extra money he was owed, and we get Jason's opinion on Meche's decision. Plus, we find out about the St. Louis v. Kansas City rivalry, why Jason hates Texas (the state), and his thoughts on the rash of no-hitters last season. Along the way, of course, we also get Jason's 2011 MLB postseason picks. Wrapping things up, we find out what's next for Jason Offutt in 2011 and hear about some of his bizarre adventures that have happened since the last time we heard from him.

Up next, we're joined by perennial Baseball Special player, the incomparable Loren Coleman. We begin by finding out what Loren's been up to since last year's festivities and get an update on the myriad of things he's been up to over the last 12 months. Jumping into baseball talk, we'll get Loren's take on the big off season moves made by the Red Sox. We also look at the state of the AL East and the main competitors for the Red Sox in 2011. Already looking to the next Red Sox off-season, we have Loren weigh in on the future for David Ortiz and Jonathan Papelbon. And, of course, we get Loren's detailed playoff picks for the 2011 postseason. Wrapping things up, we'll find out what Loren has cooking for 2011, including some exciting new projects as well as the state of the crypto economy.

Following that, we welcome winner of theusofe.com's prediction contest, League Minimum, who serves as our audience representative on this year's special. We'll start out by finding out a little bit more about League Minimum, aka Greg, and how he ended up checking out BoA and being a part of the prediction contest. Greg, a transplanted New Englander who lives in Atlanta, talks about following the Braves for the last 20 years, especially during their remarkable run of division titles in the 1990's. We also get Greg's take on the prospects for the Boston Red Sox in 2011 and also find out what the mood is like down in Atlanta, with the big changes the team has had in the last year. We both also lament the end of the Red Sox v. Braves interleague games which had been regularly scheduled for years. And, of course, we get Greg's predictions for the 2011 postseason.

Batting clean-up on this year's special is the mysterious and hilarious 'Crackpot Historian,' Adam Gorightly. Since Adam's San Francisco Giants won it all last year, we first allow him to bask in his vicarious victory and then find out what he thinks of the team's prospects for 2011. Looking back at their playoff run, we find out when Adam actually believed the Giants had a chance to win it all. We find out what sort of changes the team made in the off-season and what Adam thinks of the moves. We also reflect on how the fortunes of the Giants have turned around since we first began the series of BoA:Audio Baseball Specials.

Turning to predictions, we receive Adam's calls for this year's post-season as well as his all-new quasi-mystical methodology for helping him to divine his prognostications. We also award him with the first-ever Adam Gorightly Silver Slugger Award since his team won the World Series (but he didn't actually pick them, thus the special award). Plus, it's our annual NBA trash talk session as we get ready for another year of basketball playoffs and, hopefully, another showdown between Adam's LA Lakers and Binnall's Boston Celtics. Adam gives us his take on how he thinks this year's playoffs will shake out. We also revisit the controversial hair v. hair challenge that Gorightly issued and rescinded during last year's playoffs. And, wrapping things up, we find out what projects Adam is working on for 2011 as well as the Top 10 searches that people have used to find his blog.

And finally, for the first time ever, we have a dual-guest segment to wrap up the Baseball Special, as we welcome longtime friends of the program Greg Bishop and Paul Kimball. Greg starts out by giving us a little preview of his LA Dodgers, including new manager Don Mattingly. We also have Paul, as our Canadian correspondent, provide a preview on the Toronto Blue Jays, an assignment he begrudgingly accepts. Greg also weighs in on the Giants winning the World Series and how he, as a Dodgers fan, feels about the win. Meanwhile, Paul, as a longtime Red Sox fan, talks about how the team looks to fare for 2011 and why the team doesn't remind him of the Red Sox of his youth. As the only member of the Baseball Special who actually attends MLB games, Greg shares the various games he's got tickets for in 2011. Greg also talks about the weird story about the Russian psychic who was hired by the Dodgers to provide mojo for the team.

Somehow this conversation leads to discussion on Greg's softball league and how Paul once attended a game and pitched for a while. Somehow this leads to us finding out about the childhood playing days of Greg and Paul in their respective Little Leagues. Heading towards the close, we also get Greg and Paul to share their predictions for the 2011 postseason. Wrapping things up, we find out what's next for both Greg Bishop and Paul Kimball as 2011 unfolds.

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Later Today:

Tracy Twyman

Money Grows on the Tree of Knowledge

Razor-sharp esoteric researcher Tracy Twyman returns to BoA:Audio
for a discussion on alchemy's underlying influence on the current day economy.

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BoA : Audio, Season Six archive