Saturday, February 06, 2010

WJC guys like the outdoors

In January the United States World Junior team shocked the world and beat Canada for the title, but since then they have all gone their separate ways. Cam Fowler head back to Windsor, AJ Jenks headed Plymouth, and the college kids headed back to campus to finish their season.
But one thing strange has happened over the month since the players have been back at their teams. Five of the players that were on the team have played in a variety of outdoor games. Boston College's Chris Kreider and Boston University's David Warsofsky played in the Frozen Fenway Classic (pictured above) at Fenway Park, while the University of Wisconsin trio of Jake Gardiner, John Ramage, and Derek Stephan played in the Camp Randall Classic game against Michigan.

The NHL Winter Classic has been a huge success and many colleges with big football stadiums are doing similar games now. Next year Michigan State will play Michigan at the Big House on my birthday Dec. 11.

Cover Story: Later Mr. Terry

It did not take long for Don Fabio to let John Terry know what his future was as England Captain, 12 minutes to be exact. Here is how newspapers across the pond covered the big news.

The Times of London
The Guardian

Thursday, February 04, 2010

The Cover Story: National Signing Day

National Signing Day is a big day around the country, but in some areas of the country its the only story in town. Here are some of the ways newspapers covered the annual celebration of college football recruiting.

The Tennessean
The Oklahoman
The Lincoln Journal Star (Nebraska)
The Advocate (Louisiana)
The Honolulu Advertiser
Athens Banner Herald
The Sun (Florida)

Raw vs. Smackdown Soccer Style

The two Manchester games between United and City have been epic wars. The Guardian asked people to come up with a photos for the games so far this year and this one for a take off of the WWE was the best.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

The Fun of National Signing Day on Twitter

National Signing Day has always been a fun day for college football fans, but with twitter coming along it has added to the fun of the day.

Here are some of the best tweets from around the country about National Signing Day:
  • Bogeythepup Was going to sign today, since it is National signing day, but all I have is email! Fax machines is so last century!
  • EmilyBranch National signing day....it might as well be a holiday in Alabama! War Eagle!
  • birdonthestreet I thought National Signing Day had to do with Sign Language, not sports.
  • stadiumdrives RT @CaptainAnnoying: I wonder if deaf people get excited over National Signing Day, only to find out it's not what they thought it was.
  • ScottASpecht Two most overrated days of the year: Groundhog Dog, and National Signing day. Their proximity isn't a coincidence.
  • csstieber DON'T HATE, JUST EMBRACE THE CREEPINESS RT @cjane87: national signing day is the day i realize i am really, really pathetic.
  • JandDShow National Signing Day > Valentines Day! CASE CLOSED
  • SportsCentaur National Signing Day, only day where Dateline's Chris Hansen can't arrest men for talking about teenage boys on the web.
  • slmandel Question: is signing day the last thing left keeping the fax machine relevant? They can't figure out a way to do this via internet?
I hope that everyone got the players that they wanted, but the real star on this National Signing Day was Twitter and some of the classic lines that came out, especially the one about Chris Hanson.

Happy National Signing Day

To all of the recruiting geeks out there Happy National Signing Day. Its like our Christmas. Do well today and national championship are sure to follow just look at Florida and Alabama.

Monday, February 01, 2010

So that was really boring

So that was really boring. The transfer window in the England close with little in the way of action except for Robbie Keane heading up north to play for Celtic. Above the Daily Mail breaks it down.

The State of Rutgers

For the last five years, the Rutgers football program has grown by leaps and bounds, but one thing is still missing from the program. During the last couple Rutgers has not done the best of jobs keeping the best instate players in the Garden State.

Since 2005, the Scarlet Knights have 11 total players out of the Rivals.com New Jersey top 10 recruits, approximately 40 percent of the those players came in the 2007 class.

The 2005 class did not feature a top 10 kid in the state signing with the Knights. The only kid in the Top 30 in the state to sign with Rutgers was Jabu Lovelace. Lovelance was the 26 ranked prospects in the state that year.

The break down on the classes is as follows:

  • In the 2010 class: Chris Fonti, OL, Wayne Hills
  • In the 2009 class: Isaac Holmes, DT, Hoboken; Logan Ryan, DB, Voorhees.
  • In the 2008 class: Art Frost, OT, Manasquan; Rashad White, RB, Teaneck
  • In the 2007 class: Anthony Davis, OT, Piscataway; Manny Abreu, LB, Union City; Mason Robinson, ATH, Somerville; Keith Newell, DE, Trenton Central.
  • In the 2006 class: Kenny Britt, WR, Bayonne; Kordell Young, RB, West Deptford

During the same time period programs such as Notre Dame, Florida, Boston College, and Penn State have continued to take some of the best players in the state to far away locations. I know I'm being picky but the one thing that I would love to see Rutgers and Schiano do more is get more of the top kids to stay in state and play. The program has improved its talent base by a 1,000 percent since Schiano took over but in order to be that national power that everyone wants to see keeping five out of the top 10 players in state at home is a most.