You don't know what got till its gone

For the last decade and a half Fox Soccer has been the voice of the Barclays Premier League in this country and that ended on Sunday. It's going to be sad not to have the EPL on FSC. While FSC has made it's mistakes over the years if it was not for them the EPL would not have the footprint that it has in this country.

I remember the days of the premier league having one match a week on pay per view I remember having to watch the games on my girl friend fathers chipped box and that was less than a decade ago. The one game that I remember from that pay per view era was the game that Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira getting into their tunnel bust up at Highbury. That seems like a lifetime ago at this point.

On the last Sunday of the season, you could watch every game that played. That just seemed like a dream 10 years ago. 

Next year the Premier League will be on NBC Sports.The plan is to show every game on a bunch of devices. So good luck to them next year, but lets not forget what FSC has done for soccer in this country and the impact that they have had on Premier League in this country. Because of them names like Rooney, Terry, Wenger, are as well known as James, Brady and Kane.

Overkill on Golden Balls

So yesterday David Beckham said goodbye to soccer. This morning I woke up and checked the beIn sports app to see what the soccer schedule was this weekend and to my surprise the first four stories where tied to Golden Balls. I'm for covering his retirement but don't you think, that is a little overkill.

Maybe Gus Johnson is not that bad; I'm just a Euro Snob

Its been three months Fox unveiled Gus Johnson as its voice of soccer and it has come with mixed reviews. Some say he is ok, while other say he is terrible. I think that I sit somewhere in the middle between disaster and good start.

Here is my question, is the issue with Gus Johnson tied to the fact that most American soccer fans are Euro Snobs and I include my self in that. Will any American voice be treated with the respect that we give people like Ian Darke or Martin Tyler. The answer is simply no. Hey look the voice of American soccer is Ian Darke, not exactly your typical American. American soccer fans don't want Dick Vitale on the call and that is exactly what Gus is doing. We like announcers to take it slow and allow the game to breath because most American soccer fans are just Euro Snobs.

I listened to Gus's call of Ben Watson 91st minute winner in the FA Cup final vs Manchester City and it was a good call. It was not your typical English call with flowing pros, it was a call full of emotion and gave you an idea of how much of an upset it was.

While Gus has some work to do, he is getting better. Maybe us Euro Snobs who love European soccer should maybe give Gus a chance.

Cover Story: Maple Leafs Collapse

The Maple Leaf looked like they where heading to the conference semi-finals and then the roof fell in and the Bruins stormed back. Today papers in Toronto are as depressing as they can be.

A drink for every game

The gang over at College Crosse has done lacrosse fans a favor and put together Drink Pairings. The pairings put together adult beverages and this weekends first round games. A must have list for any fan.

It's tourney time

After months of waiting the NCAA Lacrosse tournament is set to start. Here are our picks for the opening round of the tournament:

• Lehigh (12-4) at No. 5 North Carolina (12-3): North Carolina 
• Yale (11-4) at No. 8 Penn State (12-4):  Yale 
• Detroit (5-9) at No. 2 Notre Dame (10-4): Notre Dame
• Albany (13-4) at No. 4 Denver (12-4): Albany  
• Towson (10-7) at No. 3 Ohio State (12-3): Ohio State 
• Loyola (Md.) (11-4) at No. 7 Duke (12-5): Loyola 
• Bryant (8-10) at No. 1 Syracuse (13-3): Cuse 
• Cornell (12-3) at No. 6 Maryland (10-3): Cornell  

The Cover Story: Fergie Says Goodbye

Around England, there is only one story this morning and that is the retirement of Sir Alex as manager at Manchester United. Its not just a big in England, its huge news all over the world. Here is a sampling of the front pages from around United Kingdom.

Thank You Sir Alex

 Last night, I went to bed to thinking that Sir Alex would still be the manager of Manchester United when I woke up. These rumors have been around for years and you never thought that they were true. When I woke up this morning, the unthinkable had happened Sir Alex had announced that he was stepping down.

For the last two and a half decades, Sir Alex is the only leader that I have know. His passion for the club, his love of the game, and his energy where qualities that I respected. Fergie remembered the club history and held it close to his heart. He was not a here today, gone type of "Special One".

United was his home. He said he was going to do thing and he did them. Remember there was a time when the idea of United having more league titles than Liverpool, was some kind of sick joke. Now Liverpool are the joke.

On Sunday, Sir Alex will stand in the technical area at Old Trafford for the final time. At the end of the game he will pick  up his final medal and hold the Premier Trophy for the final time. I'm sure I will shed a tear watching from New Jersey and hopefully my 3-year old son will sit with to see the end of era.

Sunday will be the end of the era, but the end of the our club.

Prospects Plus: Charleston's Cito Culver

Name: Cito Culver
Position: Shortstop
Team: Charleston RiverDogs
Prospect Status: 28th ranked prospect in Yankees organization
Stats vs. Lakewood: 3 for 5 with a home run and 2 RBIs

Positives: Showed some good power during the game, seems to be an ok glove and showed flashes of good footwork. He is still the number one ranked prospect in the organization. Despite his struggles still has youth on his side, he is still only 20 years old, despite it being his third year of professional baseball.

Negatives: repeating low A for a second straight year. It has take the former first round draft pick a while to develop. At this point it looks like he is going to be no more than a bit player. Last year he posted the fifth lowest OPS among South Atlantic League regulars. The Yankees knew that Culver would take time but this is still behind where they expected him to be, according to the Baseball America.

Quick Thoughts NCAA Lacrosse Tournament

Here are so quick thoughts on the field of 16 for the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament.
• Surprised Syracuse Number 1 overall seed, thought it would be North Carolina.
• Seems the committee valued Penn State a national seed despite dropping CAA title game.
• How is North Carolina a 5 seed nationally despite being ranked first in both media polls. Don't get it.
• Denver/Albany sign me up now for if. First one to 20 goals wins. Glad they paired two offensive teams up like this best thing for fans.
• I know Dick Vitale is smiling somewhere when he saw Detroit vs. Notre Dame.

Propsects Plus: Charleston's Rafael DePaula

Name: Rafael DePaula
Position: starting pitcher
Team: Charleston RiverDogs
Prospect Status: 10th ranked prospects in Yankees organization
Friday Stats vs. Lakewood: 5 innings, 3 hits, zero earned, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts.

Positives: Threw a nice heavy ball, sounded like he broke a couple of bats during his stint in the game. DePaula sat between 88 and 87 most of the games, according to the stadium guns (which could be a couple of mphs slow). He seemed to top out around 91. He has a plus curve ball but does not use at much because his other stuff is so good. So far this season he has DePaula has whiffed 46 in 27.1 innings.

Negatives: Has a checkered pass including a year long suspension by Major League Baseball for using different versions of his name and age. He is your classic boom bust type of prospect. Has as much ceiling as any other prospect in the system but also is the biggest X-Factor

Professional Tailgating: The BlueClaws are not good.

It's a Friday night and it can mean only one thing for the OTWT Tailgating Crew: Lakewood BlueClaws and fireworks. Here are sites from another BlueClaws loss.

Professional Tailgating: Panoramic Views of Rutgers Stadium

Some panoramic views of Rutgers Stadium, I took during the Spring Game on Saturday.

Cover Story: New York Loves Geno

So this is a slow time in New York City sports. The city's baseball teams are not yet playing well and the NBA and NHL playoffs are still early on. Leave it to the Jets to supply the story line. Draft Geno Smith and the front pages and stories are sure to flow.

Professional Tailgating: Spring Game Fun

Yesterday the OTWT Crew headed to one of our favorite events: the Rutgers Spring Game. The event was fun and event had some controversy with supporters of former AD Tim Pernetti rallying.

2013 NFL DRAFT

Cover Story: #champions2013

The race for the Barclays Premier League title is over and the title is coming home as Manchester United cliched its 20th league title. Here is how papers in England covered it.

Back where it belongs

It was a total team effort and the best team has been crowned champion. Number 20.

WWE Classic Fail

For the last year, I have been subscribing to WWE Classics on Demand and for the most part its been great. I love reliving some of the old classic matches from WWE, WCW, ECW, and WCCW. Every time I put it on its like a trip down memory lane.

So this month, when I looked at the events on offer one caught my WCW Sin. It was one of the final PPV events that WCW put together. The card was a mess and the story lines where all over the place, which was typical for that time in the WCW.

But the real reason, I wanted to see it was the main event between Sid Vicious, Jeff Jarrett, WCW World Champion Scott Steiner and a "mystery opponent" for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in a Four Corners match. The match begins with only three competitors, without the mystery opponent. Vicious gains the advantage over Jarrett and Steiner in the start of the match, but was then double-teamed by Jarrett and Steiner. As Vicious is making a come back into the match, he attempts an aerial maneuver, which is unsuccessfully performed as he slips on the turnbuckle legitimately fracturing his leg. The injury is one of the worst that I had ever seen. I wanted to watch it and see how it played in the match and how it was handled by the announcers. 

Below is the real incident as it was shown on the PPV


Lets just say I never got that chance. The producers and editors at WWE Classic decided not to show the incident that led to Sid breaking his ankle. All you see is Sid on his back, with no idea how he got there except one of the announcers saying that he serious hurt leg. 

As shown on WWE classics




I understand that WWE wants to be all PG, but to not showing an incident that happens because you don't think that it works is just wrong especially when its part of ppv channel. 

Prospect Plus: Vanderbilt's Tyler Beede

Name: Tyler Beede
Position: RHP
Prospect Statues: First round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011, but did not sign. Beede is expected to be a top 10 pick in the 2014 MLB Draft.
Saturday vs. Missouri: 7 innings, 3 hits allowed, one earned run, 10 strikeouts.



Positives: During the course of his start, Beede hit between 92-95 miles per hour. The tigers hitters looked completely over matched. Beede's change up is something special, the bottom completely dropped out of it. During the 2011 Draft, Beede was considered the 14 best right hand prospect in the draft. Beede, who's 6ft 4 in, was the only first round pick in the 2011 draft not to sign. According to the 2011 Baseball America Draft Preview, "Beede has advanced command, feel, and offspeed stuff, and scouts are impressed by his approach to the game.'' Smooth mechanics. Could be a top of the rotation type pitcher.

Negative: Can you sign him. That would be mine question. The only little concern I would have that he does not have an elite fastball. His control can be a little off, 36 walks in more than 50 innings that is a concern.

Cover Story: Tigers Balls

Yesterday was a dramatic day at Augusta National Golf Club. From Tigers penalty shots to the leaders struggling down the stretch. Just notice the different in class between New York Times and the New York Post. Stay Classy New York Post.

The peacefulness of a empty golf course

I played a quick nine holes after I finished working yesterday at Hamilton Trails Golf Club and snapped this photo. Show the peacefulness of a golf course in the late afternoon.

Professional Tailgating: Dollar Dog Night

So baseball season is in full swing and the OTWT head to Philly for our first trip to Citizens Bank Park for dollar dog night. By the way the Phillies hammered the Mets 8-3 during the game but the real story was the hot dogs.

Cover Story: In the Cards

 Last night Louisville beat Michigan to claim the national title here are a couple of front pages covering the story

And You Thought the US Press was Bad

For the last week the press in this country have treated Louisville Kevin Ware injury with great respect. Then Sunday, The Sun, a popular English tabloid, decide to show a huge lack of respect. The tabloid printed a photo showing Ware with the bone sticking out of the skin. This move shows the total lack of respect the British press has.

Click to see the page The Sun ran on Sunday. Warning its Graphic.

WrestleMania 29 Live Chat

Prospects Plus: Lakewood's Roman Quinn

Name: Roman Quinn

Team: Lakewood BlueClaws
Position: Shortstop
Prospect Status: Second ranked prospect in Phillies organization
Friday vs. Kannapolis: 2 for 5 (video highlights of his performance Friday below).





Positive: The perfect replacement for Jimmy Rollins.Quinn has excellent speed and that showed on a bunt base hit he picked up during the game on Friday night. Last year he stole 30 bases in short season ball. His speed impacts all aspects of the game. Has developed into a solid switch hitter.

Negatives: His positioning on defense can be questions as well as his foot work. He is never going to hit for a huge power. He is still three years away from making the big show. He is a high risk high reward type of prospect, according to Baseball America.

Professional Tailgating: Baseball is here

On Friday night the Only Time Will Tell Tailgating crew returned to the Lakewood Blueclaws. The gang now has a right game plan. Here are some of the sites and sounds from the game.

Thank you Tim

First of all I'm not a huge Rutgers basketball fan, but am I a season Rutgers football ticket holder for the last seven years. So today has been hard for me. The president of the school decided to fire Tim Pernetti as athletic director in wake the Mike Rice mess.

Three years ago, a friend of mine, who's son was a corner back on the team, made the six hour trip up to Syracuse to see the game. Before the game we stopped at the Varsity for lunch, while we where eating lunch Pernetti stopped by and sat down to talk. Sure a lot of the talk focus on family and thing likes that. Pernetti did not have to stop and talk he could have just walked by and continued on his way, but that is not who he is. I know that former AD Bob Mulcahy would have never done that. 

Every game day, Pernetti would greets the team getting off the bus right before the Scarlet Walk. He was part of the family. Not an outsider and that is why people loved him on that campus. And lets not forget, Tim helped lead the school from what potential could be an athletic abyss and joining the Big 10. 

Since coming back to Rutgers, Pernetti has transformed Athletics making several key coaching hires in various sports. He has further helped Rutgers to generate new sources of revenue in venue naming rights concessions, Nike merchandise and corporate hospitality and tailgating Rutgers Block Party. 

Sure he did not handle the Mike Rice situation that well but one mistake does not shape a career. As a fan of Rutgers football, I will always be thankful for what Tim did for us and in 2014 when we first host our Big 10 game I will as they say pour some out for Tim. Thanks again Tim. 

Mike Rice is not the only one

So Mike Rice is now out at Rutgers but is he really the only coach in America that has done this. I think not.  Just look around college sports and you will see more of the same. The outstanding blog, Outkick the Coverage, breaks down Coaches Gone Wild and the point is very simple, this happens all over the place and Rice is not the only one.

Prospects Plus: Colin Moran

Name: Colin Moran
School: North Carolina
Prospect Status: 2013 draft eligible
Position: 3B
Monday night vs. Clemson: 1 for 4 with a home run and 3 RBI

Positives: Watched him during his game against Clemson on Monday night. During his first at bat Moran showed a good eye in drawing a walk. During his second at bat Moran hit an opposite field home run, nice powering going the other way. If a team drafts him, they are drafting a bat. Moran is one of the best pure hitters in his class and his bat has the potential to carry him a long way at the next level. While power development will eventually play a large role in how successful he is as a hitter, the pure hitting tools are evident and he has the statistics to back them up

Weakness: Moran isn't exceptional defensively and he won't be anything more than average at third base at the next level. 

Really people

So Louisville is going to Final Four after being Duke. But the bigger story is Cards Guard Kevin Ware breaking his leg in a horrific accident. People took to twitter to show support for him but other took to twitter to make fun of the situation. Those people should be banned from social media for life.