The Magic Stub

 

I was there tonight and this proofs it. Halladay is a monster. More on it tomorrow.
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Is this really a Pioneer?

As a graduate of William Paterson University, its always good to back to old campus. The family made the trip up there last weekend. While there have been a lot of improvements and there has also been one large negative change.

How can a university with a Pioneer as its mascot have a bear parading around at football games. Billy the Bear is the pioneers mascots, yes he is a bear dressed up like a pioneer, complete with raccoon skin hat. As a Pioneer, its hard to see a bear being our mascot. Our mascot should look like the West Virginia Mountaineer and not like a fucking stuffed animals and I'm not the only one that feels like that. On facebook a person has started a group to let people know how much they hate it.

This must not continue, Billy the Bear needs to be hunted down and eliminated. He is an embarrassment.
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Professional Tailgating: Division III Style

So instead of going to Rutgers Tulane game this weekend, the OTWT Tailgating Crew head home, William Paterson University for their homecoming game against Western Connecticut. The Pioneers won the game 35-0 win. It was good to be home, but a lot different then being at the big state U for a game.

Not as many tailgaters as at Rutgers

 The stands look more like a high school game then a college game

 I think that they were the only camera crew on site

Inches from being a hero

When Jason Avent got both hands on Kevin Kolb's hail mary pass at the end of the game , all I kept thinking was wow he is going to be a hero. But when Avent could not come down with it, I knew the hate would come.
I'm not going to hate on Kolb, but I am going to say this, young qb takes time and Kolb needs that time. Troy Aikman was talking about Kolb not seeing the field correctly today and he was right because Vick has been getting all of the reps and action. If Vick is to be gone for sometime then all Eagles fans are going to have to support Kolb or this is going to get bad. As for Mc5, it was weird seeing him redskins colors but in the end his performance was not one to go nuts about.
At 2-2 the season is not over and we have to remember that. So let's get down off the bridges and get on board for the rest of the season.
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In honor of the Mike Vick Era starting with the Birds

So the Mike Vick era is on for the Birds and in honor, we take a ride back in the way back machine to the Mike Vick experience, its an amazing ride.



The Birds are a video game

So the Mike Vick era is officially underway and boy is it exciting. Sure there are going to be those negatives plays, which there are going to a ton, but the video game type plays are quickly going to make fans forgot them. The offense is now a video game. Speed, speed, and more speed. DJ and Maclin might be the fastest pair of the receivers in the league.

After what has happened over the past three weeks its a miracle that the Birds sit on top of the NFC East and next week Mc5 returns to the Linc, in which should be an emotional game.
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Professional Tailgating: Now that is a walk

North Carolina brought half a team to Rutgers and was able to walk out with a win. The OTWT tailgating crew had some issues that forced them to move to a different area.

A lot of North Carolina fans tailgating in the area of the RAC

 People get ready for the Scarlet Walk

The Scarlet Walk

The Knight and his horse get ready to enter the stadium

Now this RV shows where your team colors are

The Philly Daily News Best Work

So Mike Vick is the leader of the Eagles and the Philly Daily News tells everyone with this epic headline. Its classic on so many levels and as a newspaper guy all you can say is congrats on a great front page headline.
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Please make it stop

Over the last couple of years, sports and pop cultural have become more and more intertwined.
Today was no different, when I was watching the Porto game on ESPN3 at the half the PA at the stadium was playing "California Gurls" by Katy Perry. This is a soccer game not a dance club, but why should I be surprised any more.
A couple of months ago, I ranted about girls and their cell phones at baseball games, but if stadiums are going to do this then I guess its fair game to all. So I guess a sporting event is not a sporting event, even games in the Portuguese Super League.
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Coming to a NBA city near you

The NBA season is about six weeks way, but John Wall fever is starting to get a hold of everyone. The OTWT Maryland bureau send this photo earlier today from a Foot Locker. I know he has talent but this shirt is terrible and no one should ever wear it.
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Professional Tailgating: There goes a piece of my tailgating soul

Sometimes it's time to move on, but moving on can hurt. After weeks of waiting it finally happened, the tailgating car, a 2002 vw golf, was traded in as part of a deal for a new car for the family.

The car was getting up there in miles and in memories. It has seen its fair share of sporting events, most of them documented on this site. It went to Rutgers for the famous Louisville game and saw a bunch of years of season tickets. Its been to countless baseball games, Eagles games, and seen friendlies involving Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United and two USMNT games.

Its helped me lug my golf clubs to a variety of courses around the state including Blue Heron Pines, Echo Lake, and the Architects Club. It also assisted with a trip to North Carolina to play a variety of different courses that had hosted USGA events.

I'm sure the new tailgating car, a honda accord, will produce the same type of memories but its always hard saying good bye to your first love and that is exactly what I had to do :(
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The Covers Story: NFL Opening Weekend

Everyone has a shot of making it to Dallas for the Super Bowl before Week 1. After one week that has changed, here is how newspapers around the country covered the fun of opening weekend.

It would have made a great epic movie

Wow, where do you start with the Eagles. They lost, 27-20 to the Packers, and that is the most important thing. But after one game there are still more questions then answered.

Is Kolb the right guy? Don't know because he left the game with an injury and was terrible before leaving.

Will they be able to run the ball? Don't know Weaver is done for the year.

What is Mike Vick's roll on this team? It might be a gimmick player or it could be starting quarterback.

Is the defense any good? Bradley got hurt again and while they look good, I don't know if part of that was from the Packers shutting down a little.

The one thing we did learn is that both Brandon Graham and Nate Allen held their own on defense and look like they are going to players on defense. Allen will go down in Eagles history of the Donovan McNabb player.

This game reminded me of the NFC Title game of a couple of years ago against the Cardinals, fall behind earlier and then fight to come back and just come up short. So I guess there is one good thing, we get to do it all over again next Sunday against the Lions.
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Monster Saturday = Monster Waist Line

The biggest day of the college football can mean one thing eating too much. Georgia/South Carolina, Ohio State/Miami, Florida State/Oklahoma and Alabama/Penn State are great games to watch and eat with.
With all of these games a lot of food is sure to follow. Doritos, cookies, pizza rolls, buffalo tenders and other assorted junk. All of them found the bottom of my tummy.
So the day is ending and boy is my stomach full. Thank god their is one day on the schedule like this, if there was another I would have to get a couple of pairs of bigger pants.
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Why does everyone care about a 7 million pound signing?

Raul Meireless to Liverpool, Rafel van der Vaart to Spurs, Asamoah Gyan to Sunderland, Kenwyne Jones to Stoke City, and Bebe to Manchester United. What do all of these transfer have in common, all of them were for around the same amount of money, approximately 7 million pounds. What is the difference between them: None of them have had the amount of ink written about them then Bebe's move to Manchester United.

I know it comes as kind of a reach for United to spend that type of money on an unproven player. This is what soccernet said about the player in his bio: "When Manchester United announced that they had signed the Portuguese striker for £7.4 million in August 2010, there was confusion aplenty around the football world. Relatively unknown even in his own homeland, Bebe was plucked from obscurity by Sir Alex Ferguson - who admitted that he had never even seen the striker play before agreeing to sign him."

Cover it live: Boise State vs. Va Tech

Professional Tailgating: Not the best of starts

So Rutgers kicked off the season on Thursday night against Norfolk State and it was not the best start, but its only the first game. Here are some of the sites.

Like the red paint in the endzone, looks almost like Ohio State  

After a year of complaining by everyone the cannon is finally visible

Rutgers takes the field for the first time this season

Its good to back at a college football game.

First game of the season, its good to be back. Go RU.
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Wow Front Page of New York Times

So a team announces that its best pitcher is going in for Tommy John surgery and it shows up on the front page of the New York Times, welcome to the world of Strasburg mania. When I saw this I saw shocked and still am. This is one of the biggest stories in the world, all I can say is Wow.

SEC Football = Paid Content

For the last couple of years people in the newspapers industry have debated how to get people pay for content on the web. Maybe the Southeastern Conference has the answer. The State, the state newspapers of South Carolina, announced Thursday that they would be charging people for access to their cover of University of South Carolina sports.

"In the coming days, we will begin charging a modest membership fee to access a new and improved GoGamecocks.com web site. Memberships will be available for $50 per year (less than 14 cents per day) or $10 per month,'' according to the story.  

The State is the not the first newspapers to move toward paid content with its sports coverage. Last year, the Tuscaloosa News made the Tide Sports Extra a paid site. The site covers University of Alabama sports including the defending BCS National Champions. The company charges almost $60 a year or $10 a month for access to their site.

With this moving being made could more sports departments around the country do the same thing, especially in the SEC territories, where football coverage is king. Maybe hard news will not make the right amount of the money on the net, but sports on the other hand might be the one to drive it. Sites like ESPN have even turned to paid content, their Insider section, to balance their Internet books and it seems to be a success. So maybe the newspapers in the SEC towns will do this first and the rest of the country will follow, its just a thought.

Cover Story: College Football Previews

In less then  a week, the first games of the college football season will be over. In honor of that here are the various college football previews magazines from all over from Sports Illustrated to The Sporting News to Phil Steele

OTWT Champions League Predictions

The draw for the 2010/2011 Champions League has been made and there are some tastey groups including Group B, which includes: Spurs, Inter Werder Bremen, and FC Twente and Group G, which features three former winners of the event. Here are OTWT predictions on who is going advance to the knock out stages.

Group H: ARSENAL, Shakhtar Donetsk, SC Braga, FK Partisan: Arsenal and SC Braga
Group A: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, TOTTENHAM, FC Twente: Inter and Spurs
Group B: Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel Aviv: Lyon and Benfica
Group F: CHELSEA, Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina: Chelsea and Spartak Moscow
Group D: FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan: Barcelona and Rubin Kazan.
Group G: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, Auxerre: Real Madrid and Ajax.
Group C: MANCHESTER UNITED, Valencia, RANGERS, Bursaspor: Manchester United and Rangers
Group E: Bayern Munich, AS Roma, FC Basel, CFR Cluj: Bayern Munich and AS Roma

Strasburg is a real American

This is a terrible parody song of Hulk Hogan's "I am real America" for Nats pitcher Stephen Strasburg. This might be the worst song in the history of the world.

That Head has its own Solar System

Mench's head is as big as the Capital Buidling

So Strasburg did not make it through his start on Saturday night, but all was not lost, when I found out that we now have Kevin Mench on our roster. Mench's claim to fame is not his baseball skills, but rather the size of his head.

The consensus around Major League Baseball is that he has the largest head in the game,size 8, according to Wikipedia. In fact, his teammates on the Rangers went so far as to create a green Shrek helmet for him to wear, although Major League Baseball would not allow him to do so. Like Al Snow used to said, during his days in ECW: ""Head Head Head Head.''

Professional Tailgating: Strasmas in Philly

As a true Nats/Expo fan, Saturday's game against the Phillies was something that I had been waiting for and when my friends at Sox and Phils let me know that Strasburg was starting it became one of the biggest sporting events of the years. Little did I know that Strasburg would be only going four innings and leave having the rest of his season in jeopardy.

Fans lined up just to get a view of Strasburg warming up in the bullpen before his start.

Everyone had their camera and cell phones out for this warm up session.
Strasburg warms up


Strasburg was not the only top prospect to be playing, Dom Brown was also getting the start

The AB that end Strasburg game and maybe his season

Werder Bremen = Bad Kit

One of the best things about the Champions League Playoff Round is seeing all of the different kits from teams that are not usually on TV.

Sometimes there are great jersey and other times there are terrible one, but of all of the teams I have seen German giants Werder Bremen take the cake for the worst kits. Two shades of green and a lighting blot separating the greens on the front of it, i just do not get it. Usually they have some classic designs and I like them but this one is not up the standards they have set in the past.

Shame on MLB Network

So you have Jonathan Mayo and Peter Gammons, two of the biggest names in minor league and draft coverage, on your roster and what do you show on draft deadline signing day an hour before the deadline, show a program recapping the days games.

While MLB Network continues to grow last night it made a huge mistake in not doing some type of signing deadline specials. For a network that builds itself to be the home of baseball to treat the second biggest day in the prospects calendar, the draft being the first, like this is just not right.

Some years there are few story lines when it comes to signing day but this year there were a ton of them. From Harper and the Nats trying to get a deal done to Lee with the Dodgers to Parker and the Rockies. That does not count all of the sandwich round guys that signed for over slot.

Maybe next year MLB Network will step up and do a late night show tracking the signs. That would be nice for the network that says they have everything in baseball covered.
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No need to make predictions

The Barclays Premier League season kicked off today with a bang, but during the last couple of weeks media members from around the world have been making their predictions about how the final table will look in early May. The predictions that have been made might not mean anything by Sept. 1.

With the transfer window not shutting until Sept. 1, making predictions on how the season will go is not even worth it. So if people picked United to finish second to Chelsea before the season, that may change if United get Ozil or Manchester City might be favorite if they spend another $200 million on an overrated player.

There are two ways to stop this from happen, how about FIFA closes the transfer window after the first week of August. This would allow teams to start the season with the squads that they have and not have to worry about after the second game a player handing in a transfer request. It would also allow people who like predicting the table to have a fair shot and know what they are predicting. The second thing is to allow predictions to be made after the transfer window is closed this would allow predictor to have a better idea of what they are predicting.

People don't bet on horse races until they know the horses that are racing, why not make it the same when it comes t predicting the Premier League.

ESPN Magazine has passed Sports Illustrated

Since I was a kid I always looked forward to Sports Illustrated's College Football preview issue but this year it lacks something when it comes to its competitor, ESPN Magazine.

So yesterday both magazines showed at the home office and boy is there a difference in them. First Sports Illustrated is your basic preview issue with stories on the Top 25 teams and one major feature on college football.

ESPN The Magazine took a different tack with their preview issue. Gone are the previews of the Top 25 teams, which I'm fine with, replacing them are a couple of great features. The features include: a story on coming out of the tunnel, a great feature on Bill Curry starting the Georgia State football program, and a feature on compliance officers at program. These are great stories ideas instead of your basic preview type stories. The issue also includes a photo feature on the numbers of college football including Alabama spending $3,329.95 at a Chick-fil-A in Arlington, Va before their visit to the White House to see the president after their BCS Title.

During the course of the last couple of years, Sports Illustrated as continued to do great work, but when it comes to their college football preview issues SI is starting to look like a lower BCS program while ESPN The Magazine is looking a BCS title contender.
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Randy Shannon to Michigan?

So I was playing NCAA 2011 and led Miami to a 14-0 record and a win over Alabama in the Orange Bowl. At the end of the season the computer asked if I would like to accept an extension or take the Michigan job. Randy Shannon to replace Rich Rod at Michigan, I've heard some weird things and that might be the weirdest thing that I have heard.
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Its ticket day

Went out to the mailbox and had a nice surprise, my Rutgers season tickets were waiting for me. while they are not as nice as last year, it means only one thing, the season will soon be here.
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Madden Covers Through the Years

This was in an ESPN.com story about the Madden video game over the years. Love the ole school covers with just Madden on the cover, talk about an ego crazy person.

Sad News For South Jersey Golfers

I always held out hope that the story would be different, but today I found out different. The Blue Heron Pines East Course (course map above), which was a favorite of mine, is never going to come back. The Press of Atlantic City reported that the course will soon be sold to a developer so housing can be built. Its such sad news. The course has been closed for the last couple of years, but I continued to hold you hope that it might reopen, but that is not going to happen.

Its rare that you see a course that has hosted a USGA event only seven years ago close. The course, which was extremely difficult, hosted the 2003 USGA Public Links. The event included such PGA Tour players as Jeff Overton annd Brandt Snedeker. The event also included countless college stars of the time including Chez Reavie. Snedeker, Nashville, Tenn., triggered by 11 birdies in 27 holes, defeated Dayton Rose, 20, of Stillwater, Okla., 10 and 9, in the 36-hole match play final.

During the last couple of years the golf industry has taken its share of hits and selling of Blue Heron East is a hard hit to take. There are few courses in the area that tested people this much, from its greens to its fairways, it was challenge and now its a challenge that will be gone forever.

Prospects = Merchandise Money

First it was Jayson Hayward, then it was Mike Stanton, then Strasburg, and now Dominic Brown. What do all four have in common. These are arguably the best four prospects in baseball who have made their major league debuts this year, but besides that they have been making a ton of money for their big league clubs since the first day they walked on the field.

While people complain about the Internet, it has been a great marking tool for major league baseball when it comes to getting people ready for the next generation of stars in the game. If there was no Internet would any know about Staton or Brown, but because of it people have been able to check on them on a daily basis, which means when they came up people are wanting any type of jersey or shirt with their name on it.

The first day after Strasburg first start I order a t-shirt jersey of the stud. Despite it being the first day, the shirt was still on back order and came about five weeks later.

Then Brown made his major league debut on Wednesday night and then the fun happened. He hit an RBI double in his first at-bat, scoring Jayson Werth, and scored his first run on a fielder's choice by Wilson Valdez. He notched his second hit with a single in his third at-bat, scoring again on a double by Carlos Ruiz. So I went to the Phillies game on Thursday night and in one of the clubhouse stores there were a bunch of Brown t-shirt jerseys and people where buying them up and at $25 a piece the Phillies were making some coin.

The same thing happened to Hayward at the start of the year. Without the Internet would baseball fans be so willing to fork out money for any minor league player that comes up, I think not, but with people knowing in advance about these players they are a little more willing to spend their money and make a ton of money for their major league teams.

Professional Tailgating: Party like its 1980

Back to the ballpark again, this time as the Phillies took on the Diamondbacks. It was 80's night and boy was it a blast.

Mitchell and Ness had an 80's theme display in front of the one of the club house stores

Kyle Kendrick gets ready for his start, notice the very 80's music in the background

Since it was 80's night at the ballpark, every player had a 80's themed photo. Ryan Howard meets Mr. T.

Dominic Brown gets a huge hand as he pinch hit

For all of the technology on a major league scoreboard, they still have not figured out how to keep all of the innings on the score board when it goes to extra innings.

Trouble from the Start

Arthur Brown (above) was supposed to be the next great linebacker at Miami, and his brother, Bryce was supposed to be the next great running back at Tennessee, but the brothers have proven that neither will happen.

Arthur Brown came to Miami in 2008 as the type of player that would help rebuild the program, but that did not happen. After struggling as a freshman, Brown moved from his normal weak side linebacker position to the inside and flourished. But that did not make Arthur happy as he returned home to Kansas transferring to Kansas State.

Bryce (right) was supposed to join Jamal Lewis and all of the great Tennessee running backs, but that did not happen as Bryce proved to have issues from the start. On February 22, 2008, Brown chose to follow his brother and orally committed to the University of Miami.However, Brown did not sign a letter of intent on National Signing Day 2009, but instead planned to announce his decision on March 16, naming five other "finalists" despite his oral commitment to Miami: LSU, Tennessee, Oregon, USC, and Kansas State, according to wikipedia

At the time ESPN.com′s Tom Luginbill said “If I was Randy Shannon and the Miami staff, I would tell the kid and Brian Butler to go jump in a lake. I got to imagine that deep down, Miami's coaches have to be thinking, ‘This is getting ridiculous,’” according to wikipedia. Prior to his announcement, Brown paid official visits to Oregon and Clemson, and finally took an impromptu visit to Tennessee on March 13Citing an anonymous source, the Associated Press reported the University of Miami would not reissue a national letter of intent to Brown to replace the one that expired Wednesday, February 18. Brown's advisor Brian Butler told AP he was unaware those scholarship offers have an expiration date, but reiterated that Brown would not sign until March 16.According to Palm Beach Post′s Jorge Milian UM coach Shannon called Brown on Tuesday, February 17, and allegedly told him the University of Miami was no longer interested in his services. However, Brown later told Wichita Eagle that Shannon still wanted him to be a Hurricane. Due to NCAA rules, Shannon was not allowed to comment. On March 16, 2009, Brown announced at a press conference at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in Wichita, Kansas, that he will attend the University of Tennessee, according to wikipedia.

After leaving Miami in the dark, Bryce has done the same thing to his current school. Bryce texted new Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley to let him know that they was not returning to for this season. Ok if you want to leave, its fine, just meet with the coach like a man and then tell him, but Bryce decided to skip a scheduled meeting and just send a text, which is totally bush league. Its a good bet that Brown will now be joining his brother at Kansas State.

Sure both of these kids have a ton of talent, but sometimes someone has to put their foot down and just say it. This is out of control.

Now that is a squad

How many players are too many player well this is Manchester City squad, according to wikipedia. Now that is a large list and that does not include the possible signings of Mario Balotelli and Torres. I hope there is a plan to off load some of these player. That is just way too many players to have on one team.
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MLS needs to hold on to this man

Over the course of the time, the MLS has produced a couple of players that have gone on to make an impact in different leagues around Europe. The two that come to mind the most are Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley. But over the next couple of years that list will probably include this years #1 pick in the MLS Super Draft, Philadelphia Union's Danny Mwanga.

On Wednesday, I headed to the Linc to see Manchester United take on the Union and the one thing that stood out to me was the performance of Mwanga. In approximately, 60 minutes of work, Mwanga put pressure on the United back four. At over six foot tall Mwanga, is a force both on the ground in the air.

Coming up over the next couple of years, the league will face a choice: sell him or make him a star in this league. So far this season in his 12 appearances, Mwange has scored five goals. Mwanga is going to continue to grow and when he does some team from the Dutch League or another similar league will make a bid for the talented 19 year old and the league is going to have to make a choice. I would try to hold on and with his dual citizenship he could be in Brazil wearing the stars and stripes.

Summer Series Quick Thoughts: Sporting vs. Manchester City

Next up at Barclay's New York Football Challenge is Manchester City vs. Sporting Lisbon.

Here are so quick thoughts:
• The thing with City is very simple, they now have a huge squad. Its going to take a couple of weeks for them to all get on the same page. Which could set them back.
• If Spurs are interested in Sporting Yannick Djalo the price went up a couple of million pounds with his first half performance.
• Jo's purple shoes are a thing of beauty.
• I don't get it, Stephen Ireland needs to play week in and week out for City. He is wasting away on the Citizens bench.
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Summer Series Quick Thoughts: Spurs vs. Red Bulls

Spurs took on the New York Red Bulls in the first game of the Barclays New York Challenge.

Here are my quick thoughts:
• Henry looks like he still has it and will be great in MLS. Nice way to start for him scoring against an old North London rival.
• With Croatia not making the World Cup that should give the Spurs Croatian group a nice rest and allow them to be fresh for the season.
• Nice to see Modric and Henry exchange shirts after the first half.
• The Red Bulls defense is not the best.
• Seen Spurs twice already during the preseason and something is lack. I know its preseason but this might be a concern.
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Professional Tailgating: Glory Glory United

So OTWT Tailgating Crew headed to Philly to see their favorite club team. Manchester United took on the Philadelphia Union. The game was one of the better friendlies I have seen in the last couple of years.

The Linc looked great

United newest signing Obama, it only cost them a couple of billion in stimulus funds.
United start their warm ups

Fred the Red has some fun before the match starts.


5 vs. 5 warm ups for United

The Chips are in Lakewood

The Phillies are struggling and some moves might need to be made. While the Phils might have dealt some of their best prospects away in the Halladay deal, there are still some really good prospects sitting in Lakewood. During the course of the last month, the OTWT scouting crew has had a chance to see them here is a little report on them.


Jonathan Singleton, 1b: Might be the most valuable prospect in the system with Howard being tied to first base for the next bunch of years, Singleton might be part of any deal for a pitcher. The only issue that I saw with him was the fact that he was not the greatest athlete and a move to the outfield might not be in the cards. According to Baseball America prospects book, Singleton was the 20th ranked prospect at the start of the season.




Jiwan James: The outfielder showed great speed and defense in the time that we saw him. Reminds me a little of Eric Davis in his body type, long and lean. A project at this point in time but could be a major part of any deal if a team falls in love with him. Baseball America had him ranked as the 11th best prospect in the system.


Sebastian Valle: currently playing catcher at Lakewood, so that adds some extra value to him. Thought he did a good job handling the pitchers the time I saw him. Baseball America had him ranked as 7th best prospects in the system.


Jonathan Pettibone: This is a guy that I really like during the start that I saw he threw his fastball around 93 mph with good movement. While not ranked by Baseball America, he could be a steal for a team looking for another good arm in a deal.


The BlueClaws also feature pitchers Brody Colvin and Jarred Cosart, who are both ranked in the top 15 in the system, that could be part of any deal. The day we saw the BlueClaws the scouts were out looking hard at all members of the team.