Professional Tailgating: Season up in smoke

National Championship dreams, gone.

The dreams of state went up in smoke as the school with the little turtle that could, walked right into the Rutgers Stadium and handed the Scarlet Knights their first lost. But that did not stop the Only Time will Tell tailgating crew from enjoying themselves in the parking again.

The Only Time Will Tell breakfast of Champions: Bagels, screwdrivers and more vodka.
Endy in the Outfield makes another friend, but the friend wants no part of him.

Endy in the Outfield trying to get through the tough times.
The Only Time Will Tell Tailgating Crew discussing why the elephant vodka is the best.
Nothing says college football like a tightly packed bus of drunk and sweaty people.Like a herd of sheep everyone heads to the stadium.

Even the soldiers were excited about the game.
The students section was into it before they started to throw bottles at everyone. The most emotion that the teams showed all day.

So there are four games left in the season and a trip to the Sun Bowl seems the likely spot for them. But the crew will be out for this weeks game against Cincy.

Mets fan are not going to be happy for sometime

Seven up with 17 to go, and it ends with the Phillies taking home the NL East. Mets fans might be burning stuff for a while, but some of them have already started.

Only Time Will Tell contributor and Mets fan Endy in the Outfield decided to take his frustration out on a copy of the New York Daily News Saturday morning using lighter fluid and a lighter. Just like the Mets season, the paper did not fair that well.

Endy in the Outfield hates everything about the Daily News and Scott Schoenweis

and just like a Billy Wagner visit in the late innings

the season and the Daily News were up in smoke.

Bad Fashion College Style

College football teams change their uniforms for a variety of reason, some to honor a past team, other do it raise money for a special case, and on Saturday new jerseys ran the spectrum.

Jake Locker and the rest of the Washington Huskies honored the number one ranked 1960 team by wearing retro jerseys and then taking USC to the limit.

LSU wore different jerseys and white helmets for their clash with Tulane. The jerseys will be sold to raise money for The Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.

And last but not least Minnesota, wow where do you start with them. The Gophers looked like mustard packets running around on the field.

Does anyone remember Jason Gwaltney?

Recruiting is an inexact science and that was no different in 2005. Some of the hot shot recruits from the class have been making an impact on college campuses for the last couple of years while some have yet to hit the mark, while other have been run from college like Jason Gwaltney (picture above).

Here is a little look back at some of the hits and miss from that class.

Hits:

• Rey Maualuga, USC, linebacker: At the time the 5th rank in the class has been a warrior for USC and one of their best players over the last couple of years.
• Jonathan Stewart, Oregon, running back: At the the 10 ranked prospects in the class, has become one of the best running backs in the country and has helped lead the Ducks to their best start in years.
• DeSean Jackson, Cal, wide receiver: At the time, the 18 ranked prospect in the class. Has become Mr. Electric for the Golden Bears and has been one of the best players on the left coast.
• Darren McFadden, Arkansas, running back (pictured): At the time, the 23 ranked prospect in the class. I have a man crush on Mr. McFadden. He has made hog's game interesting to watch, which is something to be said.
• James Davis, Clemson, Running back: At the time, the 42 ranked prospect in the class. Has been one of the best players from the class.

Misses:

• Jason Gwaltney, running back: Was ranked 15 in the class when he came out Long Island. Ended up going to West Virginia and flunking out. At onetime considered a better player that Mr. McFadden.
• Fred Rouse, UTEP, wide receiver (pictured): At the time the 6th ranked prospect in the class. As a true freshman made a huge impact at FSU, but then was kicked off the team. Now trying to put his career back together.
• Derrick Williams, Penn State, wide receiver: He was the king in high school, the top ranked player in all of the land. Williams might not be a miss yet, but he has yet to set the Big Ten on fire like he was supposed to. So as you see recruiting can be a difficult to predict.

Show Me the Money

Lists are made to generate debate on a topic and the recently released 100 most powerful people in the sports world is sure to do so. At the top of the list are the normal cast of characters: Tigers Woods, Roger Goodall, David Stern and George Bodenheimer. But one sports appears to be left off the list: Soccer.

If there is a list of the top 100 power brokers in sports why does it not acknowledge soccer in particular, the English Premier League.

Here are a couple of names that should have been listed above David Beckham and the president of the WNBA both from the soccer world and other areas:

• Roman Abramovich: The owner and Czar of Chelski. Started the trend of foreign ownership in the EPL and is the world's version of the early 1990's George Steinbrenner.
• Richard Scudamore: The Chairmain of the English Premier League. Over the course of the last couple of years, no sports leauge in the world has seen the increase of television revenues that the EPL has seen. In the past two years, Scudamore has helped secured more then $1.6 billion in television revenue.
• Michel Platini (pictured): The former french soccer star and current president of UEFA. Platini is one of the best players ever to be produced by France, but now he is making his name as president of UEFA and trying to overhaul the money generating Champions League. If he gets a chance to change the league, he might alter the flow of money in European soccer.
• Pini Zahavni: Soccer Agent. Any where there is a big money transfer, Pini is sure to be involved. In July 2002 was involved in Rio Ferdinand 30 million pound move from Leeds to Manchester United and in July 2001 Juan Sebastian Vernon 28 million pound move to United from Lazio.
• Jimmy Sexton: college football agent. Represents some of the best coaches in the south. Including: Auburn's Tommy Tuberville, South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer and Arkansas' Houston Nutt, former Miami head coach Larry Coker, Frank Beamer of Virginia Tech, Nick Saban of Alabama and former Dallas Cowboys' Bill Parcells.
• Kevin White: AD Notre Dame: White is the king maker at every ones favorite school. The explosion in college coaches salary can be tied to White and giving his coaches more money. He named the first black football coach in Notre Dame history and then fired him. After five good games gave the Lord of the Ring Dings a 10 year contract for $4 million a year.

The list for the most part is good but you have to remind your self that soccer is played all over the world and just because the united states did not invent it, that does not mean it does not exist.

The Air Raid Offense puts up better stats then a PlayStation game

Every year, Texas Tech puts up PlayStation type numbers, but this year they have taken it to another level. Red shirt freshman Michael Crabtree (pictured above) has become the poster child for the next generation of the Air Raid Nation.

So far this season, Crabtree leads the nation in receiving: 4 games, 52 catches, 775 yards, 11 touchdowns. Yes 11 touchdowns.That is almost three touchdowns a game. OK I have a NCAA 07 football dynasty with Rutgers and Kenny Britt leads the nation in receiving and he's only averaging two touchdowns a game and that is in a video game.

Besides Crabtree, senior Texas Tech receiver Danny Amendola is also in the top five in the country in receiving. So far Amendola has 40 catches for 522 yards and 3 touchdowns.

To understand the Air Raid offense you have to understand the man that created this mess, head coach Mike Leach.

In the 2005 Sports Illustrated College Football preview edition, Leach broke his offense down like this:

"Distributing the ball to all the different skill players is our biggest emphasis," says Leach. "We're not a team that hands it to one guy and throws it to two. We want all five skill positions to touch the ball."

No matter who plays, they all get their stats.

A Rotation Spinning Out of Control

So I get it Rafa the Gaffer wants his Liverpool side to be fresh all year, but that does not explain his weird rotation policy for the Carling Cup game against Reading today. Sure they won 4-2 but the selection of Fernando Torres is sure to raise some more question about the The Gaffers rotation policy.

On the weekend Rafa did not start his 40 million dollar man for the league game against Birmingham, which ended in a scoreless draw, but the for the Carling Cup its was all guns blazing for Rafa. Besides Torres, Rafa also included Carragher and Crouch in his side.

"Liverpool have grown accustomed to their manager's mystifying selections and have been happy to accept the price when it provides for a trip to Istanbul, Cardiff or Athens, but on the rare occasions when Benítez has gambled unnecessarily their supporters have not been slow to voice displeasure. Saturday was one such occasion and the decision to omit the Spanish international for an hour against Birmingham will attract more detractors should the 23-year-old be deemed ready to face Reading tonight,'' according to the Guardian.

If Rafa goal was to win the EPL title this year, why is that Torres has not started in the last two leagues games, the last game he started was Liverpool's destruction of Derby on Sept. 1. So far this season his selection process has been all over the map. How is he going to challenge for the crown if his teams are never able to grow together, but as a United fan I could care less right now the only team that would bother me is Arsenal.

Professional Tailgating: The NFL Throwback edition

The Only Time Will Tell tailgating crew headed up the expressway to see it favorite NFL Team, The Philadelphia Eagles. But this trip was different then most trips to the Linc, it was throwback day and fan were decked out in yellow and sky blue.

Tailgating in Philly can mean having to deal with tractor trailers

and barbed wire

Eagles fan always remember their roots, these two fans are from Jacksonville and really enjoy their face paint.

Who said Eagles fans were not like college fans with their transportation

On the day the Eagles celebrated their 75 anniversary, some remembered Randall Cunningham's 1990 Pro Bowl season.

One of the all time great linebackers in Eagles history Seth Joyner signs autographs for the fans during his appearance on the pregame show.

No matter where you go, Reggie White is always watching down on the Birds

The Eagles were supposed to run out on the field through an ole school helmet, but the helmet just ripped and fall to the ground.

I think that Kevin Kolb might be getting ready for his career highlight, Tour de France Champion.

It's always good to support your new manager

Chelski fans have yet to forget about the special one and that showed during their game with United at the Theatre of Dreams. The traveling Chelski put up a huge banner that salutes the special one.


If I was the new Chelski manger, I think that I might just quit now and forget about trying to win them over. I'm sure Eagles fans would do the same if Andy Reid was fired

The NFC East and bad fashion

The Eagles and the Redskins set NFL fashion back 50 years today. This year the Eagles and the Skins are both celebrating their 75 anniversaries and in doing so they wore throw back uniforms that made everyone shake their heads.

Where do you start with the Birds. These colors, yellow and sky blue, would not be chosen by a U-12 girls soccer team. The only thing that is at least cool about the uniform is the soccer style socks it features. I wondering if the University of Michigan will be changing their school colors anytime soon, cause if they can just borrow the Eagles helmets.

The only positive about the skins throw backs is that you actually know what team they are. They are a hit compared to the Eagles 1933 uniforms.

Rebuilding a Hurricane

So the Hurricanes trip to the Oklahoma, a couple of weeks ago, did not go as planned. But Randy Shannon and the 'Canes proved Thursday night they are on the right track to being one of the nations elite program again. On Thursday night, the 'Canes took all of their frustrations out on the Aggies showed why the Orange Bowl can be such a hard place to come into.

But the story of the rebirth of the 'Canes is about more then a game, its about getting the right players to wear the orange and green and Shannon appears to be doing that. At the game on Thursday the sidelines were lined with top high school prospects that are interesting in wearing the famous orange and green.

"After the game, I bumped into four players from the No. 1-ranked high school team in the country, Northwestern's Jacory Harris (pictured right), Sean Spence, Marcus Forston and Tommy Streeter. Streeter, the only non-UM commitment, got an earful from the crowd near the West End Zone, who were hooting and hollering for him to commit to the Canes. His buddies left him alone to soak it all in, including questions from TV cameras. Streeter, a 6-5, 200-pound receiver who had three touchdowns in Northwestern's big win against Southlake Carroll, told me he's not ready to commit yet," according to Eye on the U blog.

The Northwestern, the number one high school team in all of the land, kids are only the start. Since Shannon has taken over at the U, he has set a wall around the Miami area. A look at the commitment list shows all kinds of recruits from South Florida. In the end I think that Miami will be back with the nations best team in a couple of years.

Nobody likes the UEFA Cup and there is a reason

While everyone talks about the Champions League starting this week, there was another tournament that started to lesser fan fare The UEFA Cup . While teams like Manchester United, Sporting Lisbon, Arsenal, Chelski, and Liverpool will be fighting it out for the Big Eared Cup. Lesser teams like from country's like Finland, Switzerland, and Ukraine will be joining big teams from England, Italy, Spain and German to battle for the second hand cup.

The biggest reason that people can not stand the UEFA Cups is because people can not pronounce the names of the teams. A look at the first qualifying round leads to getting your tongue tied.

• Aab: Denmark
• Kayseri Erciyesspor: Turkey
• PFC Litex Lovech: Bulgaria
• FC Pacos de Ferreira: Portugal
• FC Bate Borisov: Belarus
• FC Midtjylland: Denmark (logo to the right)
• Anorthosis Famagusta: Cyprus

As you some of the teams in the UEFA you can not even pronounce and FC Midtjylland does not exactly roll of the tongue and who cares if a team from Cyprus gets the tar kicked out of them by a struggling EPL side.

A Song from the Terraces

The best thing about English soccer is that the fans have such a passion for it. The fans in the stands love to spend the whole game singing away about the other team or anything else that comes to mind. Some of the songs are not that nice, while other will make you laugh out loud. There are two things that English fans like to sing about Manchester United and Posh Spice.

Here are some examples of great songs to come from the terrace section of soccer stadiums.

Chelski

• 12 went up, 7 died, now Man U play 5-a-side (a chant they sing about Manchester United and the Munich air disaster some 50 years ago.)
• Feed a scouser, Let them know its Christmas time. (singing about everyone favorite group the scousers)
• If we see you on a corner with a red-scarf round your neck,Chelsea boys will come and get you and we'll break your f*&*#ing legs. (about seeing a nice Arsenal fan in the street).

Leeds United

• Robbie Fowler!He's a smackhead!He's a smackhead!Robbie Fowler!He's a smackhead!He's a smackhead! (singing about former Leeds Hit man and coke head Robbie Fowler).
• Posh Spice is a slapper,She wears a big fat jewel,And when she's shagging Beckham,She thinks of Harry Kewell! (singing about former Manchester United own Golden Balls)

Liverpool

• Posh Spice...She takes it up the arse,She takes it up the arse,She takes it up the arse,Posh spice... (the Kop singing about Posh Spice)
• Six died... so they played five-a-side,at the Munich air disaster. (more Munich jokes)
• Gary Neville shag's his mother and his father and his brother,and his brother...all the Neviles shag each other, they're all inbred. (The kop really does not like Gary Neville)

Manchester United

• He's red, he's white,He knew that Leeds were shite,Cantona, Cantona. (after the French left Leeds and moved to United)
• Viera, oweeeeeohViera, oweeeeeohHe wins his team the ball,And Arsenal win fcuk all,Viera, oweeeeeoh (singing about former Arsenal Captain Patrick Viera.)

A complete list of all chants of Europe can be found here.

The Special One Says Goodbye

You might not like him but you had to respect him, after three fun filled years at the Bridge, Jose Mourinho and Chelski have decided to part ways. As a united fan, he always rubbed me the wrong way, but in the end you knew that he could really manage a team.

The special won with great talent and so-so talent and for that you have to say that he is one of the best in the world. In this day and age any manager that wins the Champions League with Porto has to be considered one of the worlds best.

The news of his departure, was posted on the Chelski web site in less then 10 words, late Wednesday night. I know that Spurs might be looking for a manager soon, how great would it be to have the Special One at White Hart Lane.

Champions League Wrap Up: It's good to go home again.

The old saying you can never go home, is so true as Christiano Rolando (above) broke the hearts of his former fans at Sporting Lisbon. The Super Seven score the lone goal in Portugal to lead United to opening win.

Here are some head lines from the other match day one games.

• I'm glad that Liverpool is trying to the win the EPL this year and not the Champions League, because their performance against Porto left a lot to be desired. The Reds finished with ten men as Jermaine Pennant was sent off (picture right).
• Chelski can not beat a bunch of vikings.
• Russians with money will always beat Celtic.
• Rangers sink the German champs.
• Arsenal show Sevilla that the Champions League is a different animal.
• Inter again start slow and it cost them in Turkey.
• Barca show Lyon, that they may never win the Champions League.

For complete scores from the first day go here.

The Champions League can mean only one thing: Ugly Shirts

As the UEFA Champion's League kicks off today, teams from all over Europe are unavailing their European jersey. Some are better then others. Nothing beats the classic Liverpool red jersey or the Celtic's hoops jersey.
But one teams has lost the plot when it comes to jersey fashions. Marseille (above) might have the worst European jersey in the history of the Champions League with this orange and sky blue look. It's almost as bad as the Philadelphia Eagles 75 anniversary jerseys.

Tim Tebow is the real Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris chief export is pain and other jokes have been around for a while but Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is quickly becoming college football's Chuck Norris. The legend of Tebow continues to grow as talk of his bionic throwing motions comes through and people begin to think that Tebow is really not human and maybe he is not.

A tour around the Internet shows that Tebow has bullied God into rushing the creation of the world and located Carmen SanDiego.

Here are a few of the examples of what Tebow has done, according to Tim Tebow Facts

• Tim Tebow ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.
• God wanted to create the world in 10 days, Tim Tebow gave him 6.
• Tim Tebow always knows the exact location of Carmen SanDiego.

Searching the internet for Tim Tebow and Chuck Norris stuff leads to a lot of fun items, including videos and more list of things that Tebow has created. Just like you should not mess with Chuck Norris, no one should mess with Tim Tebow