Saturday, February 16, 2008

The one the only Mr. Met

Few mascots have the cult following that Mr. Met has and that is why he is the first selection in the Only Time Will Tell Mascot Madness series. Just checkout the great moves that he shows on the dance floor with this old lady.

Thank god spring training started so we do not have to see any more videos of the big headed one dancing. This selection is for Endy in the Outfield, after his beloved Reds crashed out of the FA Cup. I hope this cheers him up.

Wow the magic is back

Every year people talk about how the FA Cup has lost its luster and this year that has been farther from the case. First in the third round you had everyones favorite team in Chasetown FC, then in the fourth round you had everyones favorite pub team in Havant and Waterlooville.

The 5th round Saturday was no different as Barnsley went to the Anfield and knocked off Liverpool with an injury time winner and left Rotating Rafa hanging on by his finger nails to his job, while Manchester United showed their true class and knocked off Arsenal, 4-0.

"If I was the Liverpool chairmen I'd do the intelligent thing and sack Rafa after that awful performance. What do Liverpool fans need to realise this? It's staring them in the face."
Jez in Worcester, via text, according to the BBC running log.

With all of the upsets so far, this year could be the year that a lower division teams crashes the FA Cup finals party. The last team not in the EPL to be in the final was 2004 when Dennis Wise lead Millwall there. We might again have party crashers this year.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Mascot Madness

Badgers, Lions, Robots, Monsters, and strange orange things.

No matter what sport you follow, soccer, football, basketball, baseball, mascots are all over the place right now. It has gotten so bad that some teams even have a couple of mascots.

Over the course of the next couple of months, The Only Time Will Tell crew will be reviewing some of the great mascots that line fields of play around the world in our new feature called Mascot Madness. No sport will be off limits; hey if there is a great cricket mascot we will find him.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

What a European Super League would look like

With talk of the EPL adding an extra round of matches oversees the idea of creating a European Super League is starting to come up again. While creating a super league would destroy mid-level teams in all of the leagues. The one thing that it would surely destroy is the UEFA Champions League. In a European Super League, you would never see team like Porto win the championship, the champion would come from one of six teams every year.

Here is a list of the teams that I would like to see in the league. The standards I used were history, money, and just common sense.

  • Arsenal
  • Manchester United
  • Chelski
  • Liverpool
  • Spurs
  • AC Milan
  • Inter Milan
  • Juventus
  • Roma
  • Real Madrid
  • Barcelona
  • Valencia
  • PSG
  • Lyon
  • Bayern Munich
  • Schalke 04
  • Ajax
  • Celtic
  • Rangers
  • Shakhtar Donetsk
  • CSKA Moscow
  • Olympiacos
  • Porto
  • Fenerbache

I know what people are going to say, 24 teams that is way too many. But if you think about it, there will be no champion’s league if this happens and all of the teams will probally be banned from playing in the domestic cups, so you will really have fewer fixtures. In order to do the league right you have to have teams from all over Europe, that is one of the reasons that I chose teams like Olympiacos and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Starting a super league could be one of the worst things that large clubs could do, the atmosphere at the stadiums would not be the same and it would get make the Champion's League meaningless.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Does Anyone Remember Omar Cook and DaJuan Wagner?

There was a day when Omar Cook and DaJuan Wagner were headed for stardom. Now Wagner is playing for the Polish champions Prokom Trefl Sopot, while Omar Cook is a starring for Red Star Belgrade. Both teams sound like they should be playing in the UEFA Cup, thanks Endy in the Outfield for that line.

This videos shows players like Joseph Forte, Jay Williams, Cook and Wagners when they were superstars in high school.

Oh the memories.

From Alaska to Moscow with Love

Before JJ Ridick, became the face of Duke Basketball, another person that the Dookie Nation loved was Trajan Langdon. After a three year tour in the NBA with the Cavs and Clippers he moved overseas to play with the several different teams. Langdon came to Duke from Alaska.

During Langdon time in the league he played in 119 games averaging 5.4 points a game in 14.6 minutes, at least his numbers are better Josh McRoberts. That is one of the reasons that he was selected as the next in Only Time Will Tell's series on Duke Players that Suck in the NBA.

For the last three years, Langdon has been playing overseas for such teams as Bennetton Treviso, Efes Pilsen, and Dynamo Moscow. Langdon was also drafted by the Padres in the 6th round of the 1996 Baseball Draft. It would have been an easier trip for Langdon to head right from Alaska to Moscow and skip heading to Duke all together.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Sing us a Song

Songs from the terraces are a long standing tradition in England and the BBC always highlights the best from around the leagues in England. Here are some of the best of the year so far.

“Jim Bullard, Bullard,
He's better than Steve Gerrard,
He's thinner than Frank Lampard,
Jim Bullard, Bullard."

- Fulham fans sang over about Jimmy Bullard.

“If you can't find your slippers, wear your Scholes."

- The Stretford End at Old Trafford sang.

"Just one Capello, give him to me, delicious manager, from Italy!"

- sang by England fans

"He's bald, he's old, he never plays in goal - Jens Lehmann, Jens Lehmann."

- Manchester City sang to Arsenal keeper Jens Lehman

The best was exchange of the year happened during the FA Cup third round tie between Liverpool and Luton Town.

"You're getting sacked in the morning"

- Luton fans sang to Rafa during the FA Cup last month

"You're going bust in the morning!"

- Liverpool fans responded to Luton fans during the cup.

"There's only one Jurgen Klinsmann!"

- Luton sang to Rafa.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sven-tastic

What could be better then Sven and the Special One in puppet form, nothing. I did not know puppets could drive either.