The 2010 Memorial Cup in Jerseys

The Memorial Cup kicks off on Friday in Brandon and boy I can not wait. The Memorial Cup is Canada's version of the NCAA Final Four. Here is the jerseys of the teams that will be battling it out to be called Canada's Best Junior Hockey team. This years event features defending champion the Windsor Spitfires, Calgary Hitman, host Brandon Wheat Kings, and Moncton Wildcats. It should be an awesome event just like it was last years.

Windsor Spitfires (home)

Windsor Spitfires (road)


Calgary Hitman (Home)

Calgary Hitman (Road)

Manchester City Fans wish it stood like this

During the game between Spurs and City yesterday ESPN put up a graphic (above) that showed City heading to the Champions League and that could be further from the truth. Spurs won the game and are heading to the Champions League playoffs but ESPN got the graphic wrong so they get a FAIL.
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10 Brave Lions, 1 Silly Boy

A couple of nights ago, I got home from a meeting around 10 p.m. and all of the hockey games were over and I could care less about the NBA playoffs, so I was searching for something to watch. After searching around the channels, I switched over to on demand and found ESPN on Demand and was able to watch the England v.s Argentia Round of 16 game from the 1998 World Cup in France.

It was fun watching it, from seeing a young and healthy Michael Owen to seeing a young and very talented Juan Sebastian Veron pulling the strings in the Argentina midfield. But the one thing that will also be remember about the game was the red card David Beckham recieved for the kickout on Diego Simone. The incident spurn one England newspaper to run the front page headline of ""10 Brave Lions, 1 Silly Boy.''

ESPN on Demand World Cup sections features a variety of different games including the ""Hand of God'' goal game, USA vs. Mexico in the Round of 16 in 2002, USA vs Columbia from the 1994 World Cup and features on players such as Aaron Lennon. This feature will give newcomers to the beatful game a crash course on some of the great game that have been played in past World Cups.

The last time EPSN did the World Cup they struggled with all aspects of it from announcers to pregame show to prdocution, but this time it has a been a different story. They have done a great job from being over great announcers to showing classic game On Demand. They have done a great job and they should be applauded.

Soccer takes over Vanity Fair

You know soccer is growing when Vanity Fair decides to put Drogs and Ronnie on its cover and that is what they did for this months issues. The cover story is about a photo shoot that was done with some stars of the upcoming World Cup.

Please Make it Stop

So on Saturday, my brother and I headed to Citizens Bank Park to see the Phillies and Mets. Besides seeing a great pitching performance by Roy Halladay, another thing stood out in my mind, why are so many girls with big sunglasses at the game.

During the game, two girls were sitting across the isle from us and both had on the trade mark huge sunglasses. The pair looked like they were headed to a club for a night rather then an afternoon baseball game. At one point during the game, in between text messages on their blackberrys, one girl kept putting on lip gloss like she was going to meet a couple of guys. I don't think that they watched the game for more then two minutes.

Then there were two other girls in our section that had tight mini-skirts on and heels and kept getting up, with one hand on their blackberry and the other hand on their beer, to walk around the stadium. If you asked the pair to explain what was going on, they would only be able to tell you that they are meeting their friends at a club after the game.

I know this rant sounds sexist, which in some ways it might, but their is a point. I'm not against girls going to baseball. I am against girls that treat the game like some type of club they go to on a Friday night. So true fans of the game that are girls are more then welcome to go, but girls that wear the big sunglasses and high heels to the games are not welcome.

Professional Tailgating: The Doctor is in the house

So the OTWT Tailgating crew headed to Citizens Back Park yesterday for the Phils and Mets game. The game featured a great pitching match up between Mike Pelfrey and Roy Halladay.

Flyers goal scorer Jeff Carter, who will miss the rest of the season with a leg injury, watches his teammates battle the Bruins in game one of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at McFaddens

The Doctor warms up for his start. The Doctor was amazing another complete game shutout.

Nothing says baseball like a four wheeler that shoots pork products

Jason Werth really needs to get a uniform that fits, he makes Barry Bonds seem form fitting

I may have missed on this one

Last year I picked Blue Jay's outfielder Travis Snider to the win the American League Rookie of the year during predictions for my friends over at Sox and Phils. Wow I might have missed the boat on that one. Snider came into last season as one of the highest rated prospects in baseball.

Coming into last season, Baseball America ranked Snider sixth on their annual ranking of the best baseball prospects, moving him up five spots from the previous year's rankings. During his time in the Blue Jays system, Snider was praised for his quick, powerful swing from the left side of the plate and his mental and competitive make.

Things started off well for Snider and my prediction, Snider had a home run and double on Opening Day, 2009. He had his first two home run game on April 13, 2009 against the Minnesota Twins and became the youngest player in Blue Jays' history to hit two home runs in a game. But things started going south, Snider was sent back to Triple-A Las Vegas 51s in May, after a prolonged hitting slump, but was recalled by the Blue Jays in August, going on to hit a home run in his next at-bat. Last year he finished hitting .241 in 77 games.

This year has also been a struggle for Snider, so far this year in 20 games Snider is only hitting .147 with 3 home runs and 5 rbis in 68 at bats. If this continues it might not be too long before Snider is dropped as a prospect and moved on.

After the first game of last season, I thought I had hit a home run with Snider but now more then a year later it looks like I might have struck out.

Professional Tailgating: Rutgers Lacrosse

Last week the OTWT Tailgating Crew made the trip up the Rutgers Spring Game. Because we got there so early we also go to take in a Rutgers Lacrosse practice, which was interesting to watch. This year, Rutgers, competing the in the new formed Big East Lacrosse Conference, is 5-7 so there is still some work to do. This was on my camera so I figured I would just post it.

So we now have a Champions League Final

This about some up the Special Ones feeling after eliminating the holders Barcelona today. Saw this on facebook and had to post it. So now we have a final Munich vs. Inter, it should be a great final. I can not wait.

Rutgers Spring Game In Videos

A record setting number of people showed up for the Rutgers Spring game on Saturday and here are just a two of the big plays from the day.

Joe Martinek makes a great cut on a run


QB Tom Savage hooks up with Mark Harrison for a big play.

Jevan Sneed and John Walsh might need to talk

What do a Texan who played QB at both Texas and Ole Miss have in common with the a former quarterback at BYU. Jevan Sneed (right) and John Walsh (above) both have a lot in common from the skills at playing college football to their bad judgement in deciding to go to the NFL.

Coming into the season, some scouts and media people said that Ole Miss signal caller Jevan Sneed would be the top player eligable for the 2010 NFL Draft. After a so-so season, Sneed decided to test the NFL water, while few people thought he would be in the top part of the draft that was predicted at the start of the season, some still thought it was a good idea. During the recently completed draft, Sneed went undrafted in the draft and ended up signing with the Bucs.

While BYU QB John Walsh came into the 1994 season as the top ranked QB on many NFL teams' boards. So after a solid season, Walsh decided to leave the Cougars and head for the money and just like Sneed the decission was a bad one. Walsh ended up getting drafted in the seventh round by the Bengals and not making anything out of his talents. The current location of Walsh is currently unknown.

Sneed and Walsh should maybe sit down and talk about what happened to them and their talents. Both chose to leave school early instead of returning to a team with talent. Maybe the two of them can sit down and enjoy an adult beverage and talk about where everything all went wrong.

Professional Tailgating: Rutgers Spring Game

College football is still  a couple of months of away, but the OTWT Tailgating crew got their fix during the Rutgers Spring Game yesterday. Here are some of the sites from the recording setting day.

Bottle caps mark the spot of tailgates past

 The cow was telling us not to eat hamburgers and eat chicken it was weird

 Spring Game was ok, Savage played well and showed that they might be a force in the Big East

68 is nicer then 96

I can almost live with this. So the NCAA is expanding its field from 64 to 68 as part of their new TV contract with CBS and Turner Sports, which was approved earlier this week.

For one I could not be happier, three more opening round games is not that bad compared to what could have happened with 96 team field. The good thing about the increase is that it does not reward teams that have underachieved. If a 96 team tournament would have been around this year teams like North Carolina would have made the tournament for no other reason to fill out the numbers. For the last couple of weeks media people and fans from all over have been screaming about the NCAA changing the best thing that they had. For once maybe they did listen and for that college basketball fans Thank you.

I would have to say that 68 teams is a lot nicer then 96 teams.

A Great World Cup Spot

Last month, I killed ESPN for continuing to show the same World Cup commercials every time that there was a break. ESPN is in the process of releasing some of the new commercials and they are great. So I figure I would say something positive about the four letter sports network.

OTWT NFL Mock Draft

The Only Time Will Tell Scouting Department has viewed all of the tapes and needs and here is the departments Mock Draft.

1. St. Louis (1-15): Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma.
2. Detroit (2-14): Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
3. Tampa Bay (3-13): Gerald McCoy, DT, Oklahoma
4. Washington (4-12): Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State
5. Kansas City (4-12): Trent Williams, OT, Oklahoma
6. Seattle (5-11): Bryan Bulaga, OT, Iowa
7. Cleveland (5-11): Eric Berry, S, Tennessee
8. Oakland (5-11): Bruce Campbell, OT, Marylan
9. Buffalo (6-10): Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers
10. Jacksonville (7-9): Joe Haden, CB, Florida

We are still the Kings of Manchester and Will Always Be

In April, soccer fans around the world thought that Manchester United had lost their grip on the City of the Manchester. Fast forward a couple of months and that could be father from the truth. City are not in the same class as United. Sure they have spent a ton on players like Tevez and others. But spending money does not lead to you taking control of a city.

United have old war horses like Giggs, Scholes and Neville. The trio, who all played a huge roll in United 1-0 win over City yesterday, would go to war for the red shirt. They are breed United and will die United. This is something that City miss, people who will go to the war for the shirt. The only people that are breed City and will die City are Ireland and Richards and neither at this time can make it into the squad.

So when City fans start to say that they are the new kings of the Premier League, just remember they are not even the kings of the their own city and their record against the so-called old king was 1-3 this year.

This would be a nice look

So the wife went shopping with the little guy today and she decided to buy him a phillies hat, but not the traditional one. This one (pictured above) features a white panel in the front with a red P outlined in blue. While its not the traditional all red, it has a nice look to it. Maybe its just a hat that is made for the sub one year old crowd. If it is they should make it available to for all ages.

I'm not saying that the Phillies should get rid of their current hat but this one might be a nice change of pace.
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Nothing beats Legos

The German's have recreated Bayern Munich win over Manchester United in the Champions League in Lego form, yes Lego form. It might be one of the funniest things that I have ever seen. I know that Arjen Robben is going bald, but this is not funny.

Really Nike

So Duke is the national champion and as a Carolina fan this is not good.
But now Nike is getting into the act. In this week's SI, Nike took out a full page ad saying that "order has been restored". I wish I was making this up but I'm not. Where was Nike when Carolina won two titles in the last five years. I guess they were never gone, so they had nothing to restore.

Rooting for a different group of names

Future Nat Bryce Harper?

So the Nationals season has already started and ended for the most part. Instead of rooting for names like Zimmerman, Guzman and Morgan. I'm stuck rooting for names like Harper, Tallon, Ranaudo, and Cole. That is Bryce Harper, James Tallon, Anthony Ranaudo, and AJ Cole a couple of the top prospects in the 2010 MLB Draft.

Instead of waking up and checking the box scores of the big league team, I'm searching the Internet for information on their performances. I don't care if Zimmerman hit two home runs, I care more about Harper and what he did for the College of Southern Nevada. The Nats have the number 1 pick in the 2010 Draft and hitting another home run, like they did last year with Strasburg, is a key to making this a good team.

Such is life as a Nationals fan, the season means nothing and the future is all that we have to look at.So at this point I'm no longer a National's fan and I'm now a fan of the College of Southern Nevada, So go Coyotes.

We're not good enough

So in the space of a week, Manchester United season appears to have gone up in smoke. Lost the lead in the Premier League and knocked out of the Champions League all in the same week.
So as a United fan, I should be going crazy, but I'm not. This team is a couple of years away. Gibson, Nani and the Brazilian twins winning one of the two major prizes would have been a shock. Rooney has been the only reason that we have been around in both competitions.
Maybe United will come back and win the Premier League, but if they don't I can not be upset. They have given everything that they can and Sir Alex has pushed all of the buttons that he could and it just might not be enough,which I'm ok with.

Windsor: The Real Home of American Hockey

Cam Fowler

Most American hockey fans view Detroit as "Hockeytown," but maybe the true home of hockey is right across the border in Windsor. During the course of the last couple of years more and more young American hockey players have spurned college hockey and turned to the Windsor Spitfires.

Austin Czarnik

This year the roster features a bunch of American players including a possible top five American pick. Cam Fowler turned down the Gold Dome to play for the defending Memorial Cup Champions. The move has appeared to pay off for Fowler. He is joined on the roster by fellow Americans: Kenny Ryan, Craig Duininck, Saverio Posa. The roster also featured another another American earlier this year in Austin Watson, who was traded to Peterborough. Watson turned down the University of Maine to play for the Spitfires.

Next year, American World Junior Championship hero goaltender Jack Campbell has signed on to part of the American revolution in Windsor. Rumors are flying around that fellow U-18 team member

Austin Czarnik will take his shot in the OHL.

Both Windsor and the USA Hockey have benefited from the influx of Americans. For the Spitfires it gives them depth and an influx of quality players like Fowler. For USA Hockey it gives players great experience at the highest level in their age group. This experienced showed for Fowler during the WJC when he was the best players on the United States roster. If this continues maybe we should just remain Windsor, Canada "Hockeytown USA.""

Unbeaten Nats, has a nice ring to it

You know the season is not going to be the best, when the local newspaper that covers the teams announces on opening day that "Unbeaten Nats open the season.'' This might be the only time during the season that they are unbeaten, so I'm going to enjoy it. Happy Opening Day to all out there. Strasburg can not get here fast enough.

So this is the end

So my new born son will never see Donovan McNabb in an Eagles jersey. McNabb is a Redskin, is this all a dream or something.

So the era ends, I was ready for the Kevin Kolb era to start, but this night is hard. I will be honest Donovan has not won the big one but he is the qb that turned everything around for the birds and for that all you can say is thank you. Maybe Kolb will be the next Aaron Rodgers or maybe he will be the next Bobby Hoying only time will tell. After the last two losses to the Cowboys, everyone knew it was for change but this type of change is really hard. For the first time in a decade next season is going to be a mystery and maybe that will be fun.

It will be weird to see McNabb in a maroon jersey when he comes to the Linc. One day I will sit Gregory on my knee and tell him all about Mc5 and his career and how great a player he really was in a birds jersey.
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No Suit, No Service

Maybe Huggins should wear this suit instead of his track suit

The Final Four is only a day away. All of the teams are in Indy making sure that everything is perfect for the players that means making sure that their kicks are fresh and for the coaches that means making sure their suits are ready for the big time. Well most coaches do. Bob Huggins is a different matter. For the last couple of years Huggins has been prowling the sidelines in a warm up top and dress pants, not the worst look in the world but not the best. Huggins, who I like, might become the first coach in god knows how long not to wear a suit at the Final Four. If he does not get dressed up for the event maybe he should not take part. Huggins dressing style has the support of his fan base.

According to ESPN.com, Most West Virginia fans seem to want Huggins to stick with the tracksuit, according to an online poll at the Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail. According to the poll, 53 percent of voters want Huggins to stick with the tracksuit. Only 9 percent want him to "totally rock a new, gold, tailor-made suit."

Thirty-eight percent of voters were more optimistic, saying Huggy Bear should wear "the basketball net. Right after he cuts it down."

In England, managers where track suits all of the time, but come an FA Cup Final day all of the coaches are dressed in suits that are designed by the club. Maybe we should have the same deal for the Final Four. No Suit, No Service.

When taking a college job is a step down

So St. Benedicts head coach Danny Hurley has been mentioned for the opening at Wagner. At some point Hurley is going to want to take a shot at college coaching. If he took the job at Wagner he is going to have to take a step down when it comes to talent. Has there even been a high school coach that took a college job and had less talent at the new job then the old job. But I doubt that Wagner will have any JR Smiths or Corey Stokes on their roster and that is something that Hurley might have to get used to.
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Where is Ace?

Not the greatest picture, but just take my word for it.

With the NCAA Women's Tournament on to the Final Four, one question sticks in my mind. Where is Ace? Ace Clement that is. Clement was a member of the 1997-1998 National Championship team at University of Tennessee. Clement was different then many of the girls on the team, she made sure her makeup was done and always looked hot, yes I said hot. Ace looked like she could be a model if she was not a basketball player. She was a favorite and I will admit that I even had a crush on her.

Clement did not get by on looks alone, she had amazing game. Here list of accomplishments is as follows: three back-to-back high school state championships, four years as a high school All-American, breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring record for the city of Philadelphia, winning gold in Brazil for the USA Junior National Team, and an NCAA National Championship and 39-0 season with the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers.

OTWT Champions League Predictions

The business end of the season is here and the Champions League last eight kicks off today. The slate is littered with good match ups including the rematch of the 1999 Final between United and Munich. Here is how the OTWT Scouting Department sees the ties breaking down.

Lyon (France) vs. Bordeaux (France): Lyon has the feeling of a team that is built better for Europe then the league. I know Bordeaux has taken over as the force in France, but for some reason I can not turn my back on Lyon. So Lyon it is.
Bayern Munich (Germany) vs. Manchester United (England): The '99 Final rematch. As a United fans, this is a tie that worries me. Robben and Ribery worry me to no end, but in the end United are the more complete team and therefor head to the semi-finals.
Arsenal (England) vs. Barcelona (Spain): Barca and it will not even be easy. Arsenal are doing what they do best implode at the end of the season.
Inter Milan (Italy) vs. CSKA Moscow (Russia): Inter Milan. CSKA has had a nice run and shown that Russian soccer is nothing to mess with in the coming years. Inter stay on course for the final.

Cover Story: The Final Four

The games have been played and finally we have our Final Four teams. Butler, West Virginia, Duke, and Michigan State. Here is how the newspapers in those towns covered the events.

The Herald Dispatch (West Virgina)

They're no Cinderella

OK lets put a stop to this before it start, Butler is not a Cinderella. If you call them a Cinderella then you know nothing about college basketball. This is a good team. During the regular season they beat UCLA, Ohio State, Xavier, and Siena. So during the regular season the Bulldogs beat two teams that where in the Sweet 16. Then in the tournament add Syracuse and Kansas State. Now those are quality wins. Hey when was the last time a top 10 team was considered a Cinderella.

Coming a long way

A couple of years ago, when former UNLV guard Greg Anthony made his debut on TV all I could think was ""Wow he is terrible,'' but that thought does not run through my mind any more. During this years NCAA Tournament Anthony has been at the front of CBS's desk coverage of the event.

After retiring from the NBA, Anthony joined ESPN as an analyst for NBA coverage on ESPN and ABC. On Dec. 13, 2008, Anthony made his debut as a college basketball analyst for CBS Sports, replacing Clark Kellogg, who was promoted to lead commentator.

Facebook here we come

After months of debating the brain trust of Only Time Will Tell has decided to start their own facebook fan page. You can become a fan of the site and post your thoughts and interest. It was a big step and we are happy that we made it.

The Tournament has lost something

On Sunday night the Big Ten Network was showing the Regional Final between St. Johns and Ohio State from a bunch of years ago. While it was fun seeing Scoonie Penn, Michael Redd, Eric Barclay, and Ron Artest play again in college something really stood out to me.

The game was played at Thomspon Boling Arena at the University of Tennessee and you knew this because the court was orange and had all of its marking. But this weekend while watching the games, I kept forgetting what venue the games I was watching was being played at.

A couple of years ago one of the highlights of tournament was seeing all of the different colored courts. Like the one at the Huntsman Center in Utah and Boises State. The one thing that having those different courts was that everyone knew what site they were at , now its hard to tell where they are unless you read the baseline. A couple of years ago the NCAA decided to introduce universal court designs to the tournament and the blue and black courts are kind of cookie cutter and lack any character. That move started to take a little fun away from the tournament.

It seems that a little of the character of the tournament has been taken away by going to these standard courts.
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When a catcher is the biggest story in the state

Few people think that the position of catcher is he most glamours position in baseball, but in Minnesota that is all that they care about. Yesterday the state of Minnesota celebrated when favorite son Joe Mauer agreed to sign a new eight year deal with the Twins. The story was such a big story that it appeared on the front page of four of the five major state newspapers.
Mauer is as such a part of Minnesota as the twins. Mauer played football, basketball, and baseball for Saint Paul's Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders. During his senior year he became the only athlete ever to be selected as the USA Today High School Player of the Year in two sports (football in 2000 as a quarterback and baseball in 2001 as a catcher. Mauer averaged more than 20 points a game as a point guard for Cretin-Derham Hall. He was also named to the All-State team during his final two years on Cretin-Derham's basketball team. In football Mauer was a such a good quarter back that Florida State decided that he was a future, but he spurred the Seminoles and head to play for the hometown Twins.

As a Twin he has been become the poster child for both the state and the baseball. Getting Mauer signed to a new deal was more important then getting a new ball park for the Twins.

Everyone get on board the Jimmer Train

He's as pale as snow, white as you could possiby be and he plays in an area of the country that no one cares about. But he may also be the best player in the tournament that no one has heard of.
BYU's Jimmer Fredette is one of the best players in the tournament and his perfomance against Florida was something to be hold. Fredette scored 37 points leading the Mormons to victory. During the game, Fredette showed his trash talking skills by going after Gators forward Chandler Parsons. The BYU star told Parsons, the only Gators player to ever hit two true buzzer-beaters to clinch victories, "no game winning shots tonight."


After having a solid first two years with the Cougars, Fredette has broken out this year. On December 28, 2009 Fredette scored 49 points against the Arizona Wildcats, setting a new BYU record and a new McKale Center record for points scored in a single game. On March 11, 2010, Fredette scored 45 points, shooting 10-for-23 from the field, and making an 23-of-24 free throws, in his team's 95-85 win over TCU. His scoring broke the Mountain West Conference tournament and tournament single-game records. His free throw shooting broke the MWC tournament free throws in a single game. On March 18, 2010, Fredette helped secure BYU's first round win in the the NCAA tournament. He went on to score 37 points and hit two 3-pointers in double overtime to seal the Cougars' 99-92 win over 10th-seeded Florida, the first time they've reached the second round of the tournament in 17 years.

During the year, I have fallen in love with Fredette and his old school game. He might not be the fasted and most atheletic player in the world but he always gets the job done by getting to the rim and hitting jumpers.

The Gang is all here

The Big Dance tips off tomorrow and the NCAA Shop has a great shirt that shows all of the logos of all that teams that are taking part in it. I would order one but since North Carolina is not there is no reason to.

The Front Pages: Selection Sunday

The bids have been handed out and some teams are happy while others are not. Here is how some newspapers around the country covered Selection Sunday.

OTWT: Bracketology

The Committee has made their choices and the games will start later this week. For the last week, the OTWT Bracketology Department has been breaking down the teams and the numbers. So here we go:

• Early estimates on Nike Basketball teams by Region: South: 10, Midwest: 12, West: 16, East: 13. 51 of 65, according to Nike Basketball's twitter. They should just rename this the Nike Invitational.
• I have this feeling that this more double digits seeds will win first rounds ground then any other years. Look at some of the double digits seeds: San Diego State, Florida, Georgia Tech, Cornell, Siena. All have good match ups.
• For the last team in the tournament UTEP has a really good match up in Butler. Has the makings of a 5-12 upset.
• What must Kentucky be thinking. Sure a number one seed in the East but a possible second round match up with a team that might be as talented as them in Texas, not what Coach Cal wanted to see.
• The bottom half of the South Regional sets up perfectly for Villanova and Baylor. There are not that many good teams in that half of the bracket.
• I have to agree with Jay Bilas on this one, this might be the weakest year for at large teams in the last decade. People can not bitch about Illinois and Mississippi State they have to get more quality wins and they will be in. It's that simple.
• I was a big fan of them at the start of the season and I will stick with them during the tournament. The biggest upset of the tournament will come when Texas beats Kentucky in the second round in New Orleans.

I get it the World Cup is coming

So I have been doing what every good college basketball fans has been doing for the last week, watching Championship Week on ESPN. Sure the basketball has been good, but one thing has stood out. At every break, the self proclaimed world wide leader in sports has decided to drill it into our heads that the World Cup is coming the networks this summer.

I get that ESPN is trying to get as many people as they can to watch the event, I know that I will but I'm a fan of the beautiful game. Everytime I turn around, even during college basketball games, the commercial is running. It starting to get annoying and if you continue to show it all of the time its just going to drive people away from the event. Maybe ESPN can drop it down a bit and show the spot once a half or something like that. But please ESPN make it stop.

Money can't buy you.....

A ton of money can not buy you happiness or win you the Champions League title. Real Madrid learned that yesterday as they were dumped up of the Big Ears Cup by Lyon and the Spanish newspapers are not happy.

Sending them off

The World Cup is almost here and OTWT will be sending the national team in style. The tailgating gang has gotten ticket to see the United States Men National Team vs Turkey May 29 in Philly, it will be their final game before they head to South Africa.
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27 Pitches of Hope

So 27 pitches and I'm off my rocker all ready. Stephen Strasburg made his much awaited debut in spring training yesterday and I could not be happier. Two scoreless innings in spring training is not the stuff of stars but for Nationals this might have been the two must important innings in the history of the franchise. Strasburg threw 15 of his 27 pitches for strikes and allowed two hits, successive two-out singles by Don Kelly and Alex Avila in the second. But the right-hander finished off Brent Dlugach with a bending, 81 mph breaking ball for an inning-ending strikeout.

Strasburg gives us hope and with a team that has had back to back 100 loss season. He makes watching a spring training game on a nice March day appointment TV. He does one thing that Nick Johnson could never do give National fans a sense of excitement.

The thing that was weird was about the game yesterday was the guy pitching for the Tigers, Rick Porcello. Porcello is what I want Strasburg to be and what he could be. If Strasburg turned out to be as good as the former Seton Hall Prep star, I would be through the moon.

Champions League Playoff = 39th game?

A bunch of months back the Premier League floated the idea of adding an extra fixture and then playing the game outside of England. That idea was met with anger from many throughout England. Fast forward a couple of months and another idea has come out, this time the Premier League would have a playoff for its final Champions League spot. The plan would call for clubs finishing fourth to seventh playing a mini-knockout competition in order to the get the leagues final spot in the Champions League. This too was met with the same anger and voted down. Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore admitted there was 'not enough support' for the proposal.'The main topic of discussion was the Champions League play-off for that fourth qualifying place,'' he told Sky Sports News. "We gave a lot of discussion, a lot of detail, a lot of data. But there was not enough support to take the idea forward, so we won't be discussing that proposal any further,'' according to the Daily Mail.

Maybe two failed ideas can make a good one. How about having a mini tournament for the final Champions League spot in a foreign country. This would require the four teams traveling to lets just say New York and then take a week and play the first round of games on Saturday and Sunday and then play the final on Sunday. This could be a gold mind for the Premier League, imagine a event that meant something coming to United States or Asian. The money raised from the event would be incredible, some of the supporters of the club would make the trip to for the tournament.

This almost makes too much sense for it to happen and that is why it would never happen.

Its really been 20 years

20 years ago, I was a young kid watching sportscenter and remember them breaking in to tell us that LMU star Hank Gathers had died during a WCC semifinal. The news shocked the college basketball work. Gathers and his childhood friend Bo Kimble lite the college basketball world on fire. I just can not believe that it has been that long. Rest in Peace Hank..