Rebuilding a Hurricane

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

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

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

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

Nobody likes the UEFA Cup and there is a reason

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

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

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

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

A Song from the Terraces

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

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

Chelski

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

Leeds United

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

Liverpool

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

Manchester United

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

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

The Special One Says Goodbye

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For complete scores from the first day go here.

The Champions League can mean only one thing: Ugly Shirts

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

Tim Tebow is the real Chuck Norris

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

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

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

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

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

The City Kids are Ok

While people talk about all of the money that the new Manchester City ownership has spent on players, the key to their success this season has been the growth of the four City Academy Players. Micah Richards (pictured above), Micheal Johnson, Kasper Schmeichel, and Neduma Onouha have lead the turn around of the other team from Manchester.

Richards and Onouha give the Citizens something that they have never had before, athletic ability, in the past City was a slow teams that did not feature speed and toughness, now the two give them that. Johnson offers them the guts that every good Premiership teams need, while Schmeichel, the "Friendly Goaltender", has given the team the a solid goal keeper. Schmeichel also has great bloodlines his father was the great United keeper Peter Schmeichel.

The Academy at City was only started less then 10 years ago, but has produce good players including Stephen Ireland, Joey Barton and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Experts talk about the great players that West Ham Academy has produced over the years, but Manchester City is quickly becoming a great Academy.

College Football Week Three: Maybe Petrino was right for leaving

Maybe Bobby Petrino knew something when he left for the Atlanta Falcons, the Louisville defense is terrible and that showed that again on Saturday. Last week, the Cards defense made Middle Tennessee State look like the great St. Louis Rams offenses. This week they gave up a ton of yards and points to the Kentucky and dropped their annual rivalry game.

Here is the a look at some of the other stories from this action:

• Was the State University of New Jersey really trying to run the score up.
• May be the Golden Domers are really bad.
• Coach Bill has still yet to win the big one for Big Red.
• UCLA is really not that good.

The next Vince Young?

Small school high school football in Pennsylvania is not the most popular thing in the state, but a quarterback is making people take a look at small school football. Terrelle Pryor has made some people forget about the large football factories in western Pa. He has gotten so big that someone has even started a Web site dedicated to him.

Pryor is the top ranked players in the country in football and basketball.

Pryor has been tearing up the state for the last two years, here is video proof. Pryor combines a powerful arm and a great athletic ability. Some people have compared him the former Texas quarterback Vince Young, while others think that he could end up playing football and basketball in college. Among the college Pryor is looking at is Penn State, Ohio State and West Virginia.

Putting a positive spin on a bad game

Every week college football coaches head into the studio to talk about the game that they just played on their weekly coaches show. But for some its harder to put a positive spin on things then others.

On a Saturday morning there is nothing better to do than sit down in front of the TV and watch coaches explain what happened the week before.

While its easy for Bob Stoops, Mack Brown and Urban Meyer to sit down and talk about all of the positives that came from the game, the humor of watching these shows comes from listening to coaches like Charlie Wies (above), Greg Robinson, and Bill Doba explain why they lost the game.

This week on the Notre Dame Football Show with Charlie Weis, the gang reviewed the Irish's performance in State College. One of the great things to come out of the show, was Weis said that their performance against Penn State was better then their performance against Georgia Tech, which is really not saying. Another interesting point from the show that was that Penn State Speedster Derrick Williams was limited to one catch during the game, but he did have a game changing punt return.

So as you see, college football coaches show can feature their own little bit of comedy.

Professional Tailgating Week 2:The Ship has come in

The second week of any season is usually a let down, but in the tailgating world week two is a way to get in a rhythm for the rest of the season. The second week of the season brought Navy to the banks of the Raritan River. The State University of New Jersey beat Navy and continued to climb in the national ratings and Tailgaters continued to get ready for the meat of the upcoming schedule.

Who Cares if the game is not for another five hours?

The chair for the fallen Tailgater, Endy in the Outfield. (A moment of silence please)

It's the perfect game sport.

The unsung Tailgating hero, the maintenance man.

It might not be the Trojan Horse, but its Rutger's horse.

College Football Week Two: The Return of the Huskies

Say goodbye to longest winning streak in the nations and its thanks to that ole Notre Dame cast off, Tyrone Willingham. Washington beat the feel good story of last year Boise State in Seattle Saturday afternoon. Here is a look at the other stories of interest from week two:

• Randy Shannon has some more work to do at the U.
• Lloyd Carr should just clean out his office now.
• Charlie might need to go back to the Chocolate Factory.
• Coach Fran just escapes in College Station.
• South Florida might have the best team in the Big East.
• The Ole Ball Coach might have an SEC Championship team.

Wildcats Running Wild

Last year, the Arkansas coaching staff developed the "Wildcat" formation, with running back Darren McFadden taking snaps at the quarterback positions. McFadden collected more then 2,000 yards and completed 7 of 9 passes for 69 yards and three touchdowns, with help of the "Wildcat" Formation.

Over the summer, a couple of other teams started to jump on the "Wildcat." Georgia Tech is using the formation with Tashard Choice and Clemson has used it with CJ Spiller and James Davis.

The best thing that the "Wildcat" Formation does is allow a team's best players to get their hands on the ball as much as possible and all of this was invented by former high school coach and current Tulsa offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.

Malzahn introduced the concept the Arkansas last year and it took off, leave it to the a former high school coach to have a ground breaking idea.

Mike Martz loves the white guys

Every football season you can count on a couple of different things: Al Davis will do something crazy with the Raiders, the New York Giants will turn into a bunch of cry babies, and Mike Martz (above with rookie quarterback Drew Stanton) will have a white slot reciever set the league on fire. During his time as the leaders of the greatest show on turf, he had Proehl and Curtis, now with the lions he has Mike Fuerry.

There is one thing for sure, the numbers never lie.

• Ricky Proehl, Rams, 2001: 40 catches, 563 yards, and 5 touchdowns.
• Kevin Curtis, Rams, 2005: 60 catches, 801 yards, and 6 touchdowns.
• Mike Fuerry, Lions, 2006: 98 catches, 1,086 yards, and 6 touchdowns. Check out his performance against the Cowboys in the final week of last season.

I'm just wondering where i can sign with the Lions and catch my 80 passes.

NCAA Football Week One: The Football Championship Sub-Division is not that bad

The Football Championship Sub-Division (formally 1-AA) is not that bad just ask Michigan, besides the Appy State historic upset at the big house, there were other story lines of note during the first weekend of the college football season.

• Washington might have its first real quarterback since Marques Tuiasosopo in Jake Locker. Locker did what ever he wanted to a bad 'Cuse defense. The performance gave the Huskie Nation some hope.
• Maybe the best running back in American is an easy Choice, just ask the Golden Domers.
• This Little Pig saved the day for Mizzou.
• Cal has a ton of speed to burn.
• So much for that high powered offense of Okie State.
• Colt Brennan keeps putting up Play Station numbers.
• It was a lot easier for Todd Dodge at South Lake Carroll, because they never had to play Oklahoma.

Tailgating Professionally at Rutgers: Week One

So Rutgers first game was not the greatest in the world, but at least the tailgating was well worth the hour and a half trip.

Everyone in New Jersey loves a good traffic jam

The perfect tailgating supplies

The straws that stirs the drink was even there for the big game

When did fans start running out and buying kickers jerseys

Every great tailgating spot must have the perfect restroom facilities

I thought that I would never see a ticket scalper at a Rutgers game, let alone a game against Buffalo, but this an actually scalper.

Did you know that Rutgers, now has the same policy as the U, no weapons

Despite a terrible games, fans packed Rutgers Stadium

All year long, Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump and Endy in the Outfield will be chronicling the Rutgers Tailgating experience.

Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole

During the transfer window in 1996, the Red Devils were chasing Alan Shearer and could not get him so they turned to a blonde haired paper boy from Norway. That paper boy was Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Ole would turn out to be one of the best signings that Sir Alex made.

During that magical night in Barcelona in 1999, Ole came on as sub and capped off United dramatic comeback in the Champions League Final, capping off the Treble. During his time at United he won six league titles, two FA Cups, a League Cub, four Community Shields, and of course one Big Eared Trophy.

Earlier this week, Ole said goodbye to the pitch at the Theatre of Dreams. Ole may be gone but he will never be forgotten. Not bad for a second choice, who won more trophies then the first choice.

The Kids are going to be ok

One of the things that makes college Football so much fun is that every year the names on the back of the jerseys change. During National Signing Day, fans of teams all over the country can not help but get excited about what the future of their program is going to be. While some freshmen take a little while to make an impact other come out of the box flying. Here is a look at some of the true freshman that are going to make a huge impact in college this season.

• Arrelious Benn (pictured above), WR, Illinois: The DC Native will give Juice Williams a great down field target to throw to. Benn shocked many people by picking Ron Zook over many other coaches. Video of him going crazy in high school.
• Anthony Davis, OL, Rutgers: The biggest recruit in the history of the program. Announced during the High School All American game last year that he was picking the once laughing stock program over Ohio State and USC.
• Joe McKnight, RB, USC: Like USC needed any more running back, national signing day came and this Reggie Bush clone fell in their laps. He will line up all over the field at running back, wide reciever and return kicks. Video of him making high school players look stupid.

The Ole Ball Coach is ready

While the season is fast approaching, its great to relive the first visor throw from Ole Ball Coach