Now this sums up the Birds performance last night

The Philly Daily News sums up the Eagles beat down of the Redskins perfectly.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Professional Tailgating: Time to get home

Its been more then a month since the Rutgers football team has been home and on Saturday they returned home. A lot has happen since they have been gone. Despite the loss Rutgers continued to fight on. Here are the sites and sounds from the game.

An Edison Police Car holds up traffic around the RAC, so he can tailgate

 The Student section at Rutgers Stadium honored Eric LeGrand

The Scarlet Knight Marching Band honors Eric LeGrand

This is never good

Things are so bad on the Thursday Night Football broadcast on NFL Network that some people are wishing for some really weird things.
That's on point on Twitter breaks it down "Lemme tell you something ... when I hear Joe Theisman's voice it makes me miss Paul Maguire even more than usual."
The only problem is that Paul Maguire is doing UFL so he may not be available to save the day.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Why it stinks to be a Bills Fan

The Buffalo Bills are win less and there appears to be no end in site for it but that is not the reason it stinks to be a Bills fan.
My brother, a life long Bills fan, was cleaning out his closet and found that most of players he has jerseys for are no long with the team. Its never good to when ever year you are getting rid of your best players and being win less shows that.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

The Passion of the South

I was driving home from work today listening to the Paul Finebaum Show on XM Satellite Radio and they were talking about the on going saga involving Cam Newton and his recruitment to Auburn. After a couple of minutes one thing became clear passion for a team can quickly turn out of control.

Today all of the hate appeared to be directed at ESPN Joe Schad who reported that Newton and his father talked about a pay to play scenario during his recruitment. One caller said that he wanted to get a group of friends together and go ""Schad hunting'' and when they found him they were going to break his jaw.

Schad is not the only ESPN reporter feeling the heat from Auburn fans, it has gotten so bad for Mark Schlabach that he has had to get security at his home, Finebaum said during his show today. Schlabach was also heckled by Auburn fans when he was trying to do a live report from the Plains last weekend. People said that he was a "disgrace to journalism."


Ok, I know a fan never wants to see his or her school get in trouble, but this is getting out of hand. Schad and Schlabach are just doing their job. Its not their fault that something illegal may have happened during Newton recruiting. Reporters being threatened on the radio and having to get security shows how nuts people can get about sports. For years we talked about how terrible European soccer fans where, this just shows that some SEC fans are just as bad.

William Paterson might need a QB

Approximately four years ago Don Bosco QB Matt Simms was the talk of the New Jersey high school football, fast forward to today and he might be a player without a program.

Simms started his career at Louisville after being a sought after recruit. But that relationship did not last long. In Aug. 2008, U of L suspended the redshirt freshman quarterback for four games for an undisclosed violation of team. After the incident and not being named starting QB, Simms left the program and head out west to El Camino Junior College in California.

After having a great year in JC, Simms signed with then University of Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffan. Reports out of the great state of Tennessee, stated that Simms was chosen over fellow JC QB Cam Newton, that turned out well. During this season Simms has not been that good and has now lost his job to true freshman Tyler Bray. Simms did not take too kindly to being replaced during the South Carolina game a couple of weeks ago: "I had no idea that I was going to get taken out of the game for that. I was playing really well. Extremely well. Probably the best game I've played all year. It's rough but hey, they made a decision and they stuck with it," according to USA Today. Bray ended up starting last week against Memphis and appears to be headed for a long run as the UT starting qb.

So after all that hype at Bosco, Simms looks like a player without a starting job. As a alumni of William Paterson University, I think that Simms would look good in the orange and black.There are many positives to him heading there, he will not have to sit out next year because its a Division III program and its really close to his home town as Rampo. Hey nothing else has worked out for Simms, so why not head back toward home.

TNT will never let Trailblazer fans forget

So the Thunder hooked up with the Trailblazers on Thursday night and that can mean only one thing Durant vs Oden, the top two picks from the 2007 NBA Draft. Oden was the top pick, while Durant was the second. So far their careers have been totally different. Durant has become the face of the young NBA, while Oden career has been hit by knee injuries.

During the game, I hit the info button to see what it said and boy did it rub it in Blazers fans face. Durant has played 200 something games while Oden has yet to hit a 100. Its not like Blazer fans don't know the difference between the two players but to make it the info graph is just not right.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Newton offered money = Front Page Story

College football is a big news in the South and yesterdays report that Auburn QB Cam Newton was offered money to attended Mississippi State, sent both Mississippi and Alabama into meltdown. Newton decided in the end to attend Auburn and has spearheaded them to an undefeated start. Here is how newspapers in Mississippi and Alabama covered the fun. 

We stole Nate Allen

So maybe this whole McNabb trade was really the best thing for the Eagles. Little did we know that he was the weakest of the three qbs we had on the roster last season. Today it showed, as Mc5 was pulled toward the end of the Redskins Lions game with Rex Grossman, yes Rex Grossman, replacing him.

In the deal the Eagles got a second round pick they used on safety Nate Allen. So far that is starting to look like a steal. Maybe the skins gave up way to much for Mc5, instead of second rounder it should have more like a six or fifth rounder. Oh second guessing is a ton of fun and oh so true.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Happy Halloween from OTWT

In honor of the Eagle bye week and Halloween, we wish everyone a fun day. This pumpkin was sent to me from by my brother. Happy Halloween to all.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

The Great UGA Lindsey Scott call in video game form

In honor of this weekends, "Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party'' or Georgia vs. Florida in Jacksonville. I give you the great Lindsey Scott call from Larry Munson in video game form.

I got the chance to meet Mr. Munson about 10 years ago, when my wife and I went down to visit our friend at UGA and Mr. Munson was signing poster and he was a very pleasant southern man and a joy to meet. Rivals Radio's Bill King called him the best radio play by play guy that lived and I could not agree more.

Maybe he is not that bad

In early September, OTWT wrote about Manchester United signing of Portuguese forward Bebe and how everyone needed to calm down about trashing the kid.

Bebe made Bébé made his debut for Manchester United as he replaced Park Ji Sung in the 74th minute of a 5–2 away victory over Scunthorpe in the League Cup. On 2 October 2010, he made his EPL debut, replacing Anderson in the 80th minute in their 0–0 draw against Sunderland. His first start came against Wolves in the Fourth Round of the League Cup on 26 October where he scored his first goal in the process, netting United's first of a 3–2 home win.

The Daily Mail praised Bebe performance during his first career start against Wolves on Tuesday night:

""Perhaps the only player in the United dressing room who may have felt a shred of envy when Hernandez followed up his two goals at Stoke with the winner here was the Portuguese starlet Bebe.

"Starting his first game at Old Trafford since his £7.4million summer move from Guimaraes, Bebe crowned a performance of promise with a goal in the 56th minute. By full-time it had all but been forgotten.

"He doesn’t have the same advantage as Hernandez as he doesn’t speak the language,’ added Ferguson. "But he is having his lessons twice a week and he will be fine. I was pleased with him.,'' according to the Daily Mail. 

For his performance, Bebe graded out at an 8 of 10 rating and was named Man of the Match. I know its just Wolves in the Carling Cup, but you have to start somewhere and a performance like that is enough to show everyone the talent that the kids has and why he is a player to watch in the future.

The Cover Story: Sporting News College Basketball Preview

The season is only 10 days away and I could not be happier. Here are all of the covers of the Sporting News College Basketball previews from around the country.

At least they have their pumpkins

The Phillies are out of the post season and some fans are screaming about improving the team, while other are taking their frustrations out in different ways. Today my friend sent me a photo of his Phillies pumpkin and its not that bad. At least he is using his frustration in a good way and not call sports radio for support.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

LeGrand has support from all over

Support for injured Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand is coming from all over. While cover the Lacey Central football game last night, two banners saying "Believe" were hung on both the home and visitors stands. Central players also wore decals with LeGrand's number, 52, on them.
Its great to see the state coming out to support LeGrand, his family, and the Rutgers football program.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Its almost here

I was looking at the preseason USA Today men's basketball and I saw that the season tips off in a little less then three weeks and for one I can not wait. Here are my thoughts on the USA Today Preseason Top 25:

• I never thought that I would see Kansas State above Kansas in the preseason rankings. Will the Big 12 be colored purple this year, maybe.
• Two teams outside of the preseason Top 25 that are going to make noise are: San Diego State Minnesota.
• With Hummel gone to another knee injury there is no way Purdue is going to be a top 10 team.
• Texas forward Thirstan Thompson will be this season breakout player. He is too skilled not to be a star. 
• With one of the top recruiting classes in America, Memphis is going to be a fun to watch. Can a Josh Pastner lead his tiger cubs back to the NCAA Tournament.  

I might have changed my mind

On Saturday, I was leaving the New Meadowlands Stadium after Rutgers come from behind win over Army, talking to rest of the OTWT Tailgating crew about what is going to happen at Rutgers and if Greg Schiano's time as the leader of the Knights has past. Fast forward an hour and we are heading home in the car, listening to Schiano's post game presser and my thoughts totally changed.

Maybe being a football coach is not about winning and lossing but about handling situations that others have never had to deal with. I have always been as supporter of Schiano and his ability to build Rutgers from a program that was nothing to a bowl team every year, but this year that changed with the disasterous start that the Knights had. But my views all changed.

Listening to Schiano talk about Eric LeGrand and his situation made me realize that Schiano strenght might not be his game planning or his recruiting, but rather his relationship with his players. While speaking about  LeGrand, Schiano showed the passion and compassion that any parent would like to see from their sons coach.

An hour before his post game presser, I was talking about how Mike Leach and Glen Mason would be a good fit to take over for Rutgers and then an hour later that tone had changed and now I could not be happier with Schiano and the way he has acted over the last couple of days.

Professional Tailgating: Flashback Style

I year ago today the OTWT Tailgating crew saw what might have been the worst game in the history of the National Football League between the Bills and Jets. The Bills beat the Jets 16-13 in OT, long before the Jets were considered the greatest team in the history of the football. To relive the greatness of the game click here.

Savage vs Dodd = Rutgers version of Applewhite vs. Simms

While driving into work today, I was listening to Rivals Radio and host Bill King made a great comment on the ongoing quarterback battle at Rutgers between Tom Savage and Chas Dodd. King said it reminded him of the QB war that broke out at the University of Texas between Chris Simms and Major Applewhite (pictured below during happier times).  The more I thought of it, during my hour long drive into the office, the more I thought it was correct.

Savage is like Simms in the a lot of ways. Both of them pass the eye test, both are NFL sized quarterbacks with perfect mechanics and have been groomed for this moment for a bunch of years. Simms was a huge recruit out of the New Jersey and showed that Texas had reaching power outside of their own state. While Savages was a national top 10 QB recruit for Rutgers out of Philly and showed that Scarlet Knights could go head to head with big time programs like Penn State, Miami, Michigan for top ranked players.  

Dodd is just like Applewhite. Both are listed at six foot or a little over but don't look like it. Both don't pass the eye test, if you saw them get off the bus for a game you would think that they are team managers as opposed to the starting quarterback. Both have that special it factor that is so hard to measure. During his two starts so far, Dodd has engineered come from behind wins against Army and UConn.

Texas head coach Mack Brown decided that Applewhite was the perfect fit for Texas about 12 years ago and I have feeling that Schiano is going to decide that Dodd is the right fit for this Rutgers team, but the one thing that Schiano has to do is make a decision and stick to it, if not things could get out of hand like they did at Texas a bunch years ago.

Professional Tailgating: The Legend of Chas Dodd Continues to Grow

Last time out Chas Dodd led Rutgers to a come back win over UConn and on Saturday that was no different as Dodd led Rutgers to a come from behind win over Army at the New Meadowlands.

This might be the last time we see ads for Rutgers with Tom Savage on them

 Never thought I would see an old school Expos jacket at a Rutgers game, it was good to see

 In a huge stadium, Chas Dodd still very very small

 The Army Cadets blended into the New Meadowlands gray seats. If you look hard enough you might see them

In a serious moment, OTWT would like to send their thoughts and prayers to Eric LaGrand and his family after he suffered a serious neck injury during the game. 

From Colonel Reb to this

Six years after getting rid of Colonel Reb, Ole Miss finally has a new mascot and its a bear, yes a fucking bear. How the hell can an SEC school have a bear as a mascot. Colonel Reb had the best mustache of any mascot in the country and to replace them with this stupid kids mascot is not right, just for that Ole Miss should be shown the door and be dropped to C-USA.

Professional Tailgating: The Chas Dodd Era?

So Tom Savage could not start for Rutgers and Chas Dodd took over and turned into an overnight sensation. Here are the sights from the game Friday night.

The band heads into the Stadium

 Chas Dodd warms up for his first career start

If its a "blackout" then why is Rutgers wearing all red uniforms

 Ten minutes before game started there a huge amount of empty seats, this is unacceptable

 Chas Dodd is so small you can not find him in this photo

Professional Tailgating: Dr. No

The OTWT Tailgating crew went to its first baseball playoff game on Wednesday night and boy did we strike gold as Doc Halladay threw a no-hitter. Here are some of the sites of the night.

Former Phillie Scott Rolen signs some autographs

Doc Halladay goes to work

The Magic Stub

 

I was there tonight and this proofs it. Halladay is a monster. More on it tomorrow.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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 :(
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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.