A UEFA Cup Knockout Round game or a Spring Training Game?

Baseball Spring Training means a couple of things, residents of the North can look at sunny Florida and Arizona and be jealous and crazy numbers. Like pitchers and batters wearing numbers in the 50s and 60s.

During yesterdays UEFA Cup round of 32 game between Tottenham Hotspur and Shakhtar Donetsk, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp decided to pay homage to Spring Training and play a squad of players with numbers that soccer players never wear.

The squad

1 Heurelho Gomes
16 Chris Gunter
21 Pascal Chimbonda
6 Tom Huddlestone
11 Gilberto
17 Giovani Dos Santos
12 Wilson Palacios
24 Jamie O'Hara
3 Gareth Bale
18 Fraizer Campbell
80 Jonathan Obika

Substitutes

30 Oscar Jansson, 51 John Bostock, 52 Dean Parrett, 59 Calum Butcher, 67 Adam Smith, 77 Ryan Mason,81 Andros Townsend

Wow there is a 77, 80 (in the starting lineup), 51, 67, and an 81. I don't know if Harry thought he was managing a game in a little warmer climate or just did not care about the UEFA, we all know what the true answer is.

Its almost time to start shopping

While the Eagles made the NFC Championship game this year, people are still seeking improvements to the team and with the start of free agency on Friday fans of the eagles are all developing their wish list and I will be no different. The thing about developing a list is that its easy to just put all of the top ranked players on it, sure would I love to see Boldin wearing #81 in an Eagles, yes but lets be serious that is not going to happen. This list also assumes that Tra Thomas and B'Dawk will both be back with the birds.

So here is the Only Time Will Tell Eagles wish list

1. T. J. Houshmandzadeh, WR, Cincy: Would be perfect fit for the Eagles offense. Could open the field up more Jackson.
2. Reggie Williams, WR, Jacksonville: Another big receiver, has not been great with the Jags but has enough natural talent to warrant a look.
   
3. Leonard Weaver, FB, Seattle: Besides receiver the positions that the Eagles have never addressed is full back. I know its not a sexy signing, but it fills a hole and just think what Route 36 could do with a good lead blocker.
4. Maurice Morris, RB, Seattle: It seems like Buck is heading down the road and Morris would be the perfect one to give Route 36 a rest.

The wild card in this list is Julius Peppers. He has said there are only a couple of teams that he would like to play for is one of those teams the birds, I think that it might be. Remember a couple of years ago on the start of free agency the birds signed The Freak, could this be a similar situation, where the Eagles are doing all of their work behind the curtain. I really don't know, but you never know with this group.

Is he worth it?

For the last eight months Miami fans have thought that their offense next season would feature uber recruit Bryce Brown, but that appears to all changing over the last couple of weeks. First Brown decides not to sign with the 'Canes on National Signing Day, fine some people don't like signing on NSD, but then the fun starts.

First his advisor, Brian Butler, says that Brown is going to visit a ton of schools and Miami remained quiet at that time, but now it appears that the Brown's are getting mad that Canes are not showing him the proper the love.

I know that our struggling offense could use a jump start and Brown would be the perfect person to that, but at what cost. Is Brown going to continue to drag this out so no one knows what their offense is going to look like next season. Today, the Browns said that they are not going to visit Miami instead head to LSU.

This situation has gotten so out of control that most Canes fans could really care less what happens to the supremely talented running back. Remember what they say if you play with fire you could get burn and if Oregon, LSU, and Tennessee are going to continue to recruit him, they might not like how the story ends.

No more pimping of the Pompey

After getting beaten by the United State in a World Cup Qualifier, Sven is looking for a new job. Tom Cruise is trying to keep David from Milan in the United States.

Everything has Championship Logos on it

A walk around any store in the southern part of the state and you will see everything from hats, shirts, shoes, bumper stickers, and soda cans with Phillies World Series Champions logo, yes soda cans. I was walking around the local Shoprite with the wife and came across this sitting on the end cap, yes a championship logo on a soda can.

It takes me back to the days of the Wolf pack soda, I had. The soda remembered the great NC State basketball team that beat Houston in the National Championship game. Nothing says celebrating a championship like soda.

Look out Kobe and Lebron

Findlay Prep in Nevada is the one of the top five teams in prep basketball. At the start of the year, the team decided to make a version of the famous Air Force One commercial and it turned out ok. Compare the two for your self below.

Their version

Findlay Prep Nike Airforce Commercial Remake - The most amazing home videos are here

The Classic Version

Separate at Birth: Old School Style

Sometimes you watch a game and it hits you who a coach looks like, well that happened a couple of days ago, when I was watching the Villanova vs. Marquette game. I keep thinking who does Buzz Williams look like and then it hit me, MC Search.

Buzz Williams

MC Search

The pictures might not tell the complete story, so when you see Marquette on just take a minute and see how much Williams looks like Search.

Same ole story

Maybe North Carolina should start playing their home games at Cameron Indoor. Last night the Heels did what they do best win at Cameron Indoor, for the four straight year the Heels went into the so called toughest place to win and beat Duke again.

Oh it makes me feel so good to know that Duke fans are all questioning what is going on and with the classes that the Heels have coming in during the next couple of years this could go on for sometime.

And you thought the NBA and NHL were bad.

During the last couple of years, the NBA and the NHL have been know as coach killing leagues. You hire a coach and then after a run of 10 bad games or so they are shown the door. Now that is happening the Barclays Premier Leagues, coaches are going left and right.

First in September it was Alan Curbishley and Kevin Keegan being shown the door. In late October the Magic Juande was shown the door at Spurs. Premier League clubs took November off and then the manager changes started in early December when Roy Keane left Sunderland and Paul Ince was shown the door at Blackburn Rovers. Managers in the league were safe in January but come February it has been a different story, yesterday as Big Phil was shown the door at the Bridge and Pompey sent Tony Adams packing.

In a 20 team league, 8 teams have changed manager this season and with the situation at 'Boro and Manchester City there is no saying that number could not be higher by the end of the year.

Some of the tenures of the managers that are being axed are less then a year, I know this is going to sound craxy, but the reason that teams like Manchester United and Arsenal have dominated the last decade is that they have stability at manager. Sure Sir Alex and Mr. Wenger do it differently but the one thing they have in common is that they have been at their clubs long enough to install a system and stick to it.

Maybe teams should look at Arsenal and United to see what stability at manager can do for a club.

Wenger Got His Arshavin, LOL

The Special One questions Wenger on his shaving habits and Sven is doing hard work to get ready for Mexico's clash with the United States on Wednesday night. As usual its quality.

EPL Transfer Window: Winner and Losers

The transfer window has finally shut and some teams in the EPL made out better then other. Here is a list of teams that got better during the window and got worst during the meeting.

Winners:

• Aston Villa: They only made one signing but it was a great one. Emile Hesky (right) only cost 3.5 million pounds and gives Martin's gang another international quality striker. What else can you say about it.
• Wigan: Sure they sold a couple of players at huge profits, but their biggest deal might be bring in Hugo Rodallega. In his first couple of games Rodallega has come off the bench and given Wigan a spark.
  
• Chelsea: Watching them this year has been a couple bore, they lack imagination and width, but that now may change with the loan signing of Ricardo Quaresma. Sure he has not worked out at Inter so far, but he could give the Blues something that have lacked.
  
• Manchester City: Bellamy, De Jong, Given, and Bridge. Sure they spent a lot of money but in the end they got back quality.
  

Losers

• Liverpool: Let Robbie return to Spurs and did nothing to replace him. This is the problem with Rafa, there is never a back up plan.
  
• Arsenal: I know they spent a ton of money on the Russian Pele (right), but spending the same amount on De Jong might have been a better fit for the Gunners. They are still lacking that hard man in the midfield.

Different Year Same Story

Over the years National Signing Day has become one of the highlights of the college football season, but sometime you run out of things to write about and to take photos of, just ask the Athens Banner Herald.

National Signing Day 2009

National Signing Day 2008

So we get it, the Herald needed somewhere to go, but these pictures are almost the same. Come on a little more thought please.

Springdale Five: Where are they now

National Signing Day is a day for college football fans to look forward to the future, but sometimes that future is not so bright and doesn't turn out they you want it to.

No group of players better shows that then the Springdale Five. The Springdale Five were a group of five players from Springdale High School in Arkansas that went on to get Division 1 scholarships, but it has not turned into roses for them.

The biggest of the group was quarterback Mitch Mustain (pitcured above), the National Player of the Year. Mustain decided to stay at home and attend Arkansas with fellow Springdale Five member Damian Williams. The pair both started as freshman, but the summer before their sophomore years things started to go a little of the boil. Williams transferred to USC and Mustain and his mother got in a public fight with then Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt and then he decided to join Williams at USC.

Late last year, the first of the much-celebrated Springdale Five saw his playing days come to an end. Bartley Webb, the left tackle for Springdale High's 2005 state championship team, recently "retired" from college football. Webb, who took part in the 2006 U.S. Army All-American game in San Antonio and has been on scholarship at Notre Dame the past two seasons, underwent shoulder surgery after this past season. The injury was severe enough for Webb's career to come to an end, though he will continue on scholarship at Notre Dame and help as a coach.

Tight end Ben Cleveland has had an ok career at Arkansas, while the final member of the club Andrew Norman has had an ok career at Tusla.

Razorbacks fans thought that Williams and Mustain were going to lead them to the promise land in the SEC, but it all ended in the train wreck. So as college football fans celebrate the newest players in their program, remember this class might could turn out to be like the Springdale Five.

Wow that was super

What can you say about the Super Bowl. Fitz showed the star that he is on a big time national stage, but in the end Big Ben made enough plays to win the game for the Steelers. Here is how the newspapers in Arizona and Pittsburgh covered the game

The Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewThe Arizona Republic

So the NFL season is now over, its time to dive head first back into the EPL and college basketball.

It's here

After a couple of weeks of no puppets, they are back with a new show, that is really no different then their old show.

Everyone is picking the Super Bowl include a Camel

Everyone is picking the winner of the Super Bowl including the presidents and many other political types, but the strangest pundit comes from a zoo in New Jersey. Princess the Camel has been picking football games all year, now she end her season by picking the Super Bowl. Princes came to national prominence last year when she picked the Giants to be the then undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl and since then she has continued to pick games, but she has lost three of her last four.

Where have you gone Loren Woods?

Arizona and Wake Forest fans all over United States are wondering one thing: ""Where has Loreen Woods gone?"" Ok well maybe that is not true. But the answer to the question is Zalgiris Kaunas of the Euroleague. Yes the Euroleague.

The Euroleague is one of the professional basketball competitions in Europe with teams from thirteen different European countries. Kinda like the Champions League of Basketball.

Woods is part of a small community in the Euroleague, players that were ok in college making big money playing in the Euroleague. One look at the rosters of the teams and it reads like a who's who's of over rated college players.

Here are just a couple of these things:

• Former Villanova guard Mike Nardi, who is Joe Wolf's Vertical Jumps's wife least favorite player of all time, is now playing for Air Avellino in Italy.
  
• Former Duke uber-recruit Joey Beard, who ended up transfering to Boston Uninversity, is now playing at AJ Olimipia Milano in Italy.
  
• Former Stanford guard Casey Jacobsen, who was a first round pick in the NBA draft, is now playing at ALBA Berlin in Germany.
  
• Former Duke guard Trajan Langdon, one of my least favorite players of all time, is now playing for CSKA Moscow.
  
• Former St. John's point guard Omar Cook, a poster child for not leaving early for the NBA, is now using his skills at Unicaja Malaga in Spain.
  

These are just a few of the American players that have made their impact on the European game, at first I thought most these guys were no longer player. If anyone is interested in seeing Casey Jacobsen on TV the NBA Network shows some Euroleague games on Saturday.

It's coming

So the Specials One ""I'm on"" show is over, the gang is coming back with their new channel and it all starts this weekend. I can not wait. There are so many question is there going to be new characters and new set. All of these questions will hopefully be answered this weekend.

Super Bowl logos through the years

This was in the New York Times this morning and its really interesting to see how far the Super Bowl's logos have come over the years.

What a Roller Coaster Ride

The scarf, the shirts and the retro kelly green jersey have all been put away for the off season. They are all of the items that went through one hell of a roller coaster ride this season with the birds.

From the opening day thrashing of the Rams to the disaster that was the Ravens and Bengals to beating Giants and Cowboys to make the playoffs and then the end of the ride a loss to the Cards in the NFC Title game after coming back to the take lead.

At one point during the season, the Raven game, you though the Eagles as you know it were done, Mc5 was benched for Kevin Kolb and it looked like the team was heading nowhere quickly. Blogs in the Eagles Nations started questioning the future of the team, was Andy going, was McNabb going, but come to find out the benching of Mc5 might have been the best thing for the team, during the second part of the season Mc5 was playing like an MVP.

I know it has taken me a little while to write a season in review piece but there was a reason why the OTWT decided to hold off on doing it. After the Cardinals game the only emotion that I felt for this team was anger and by writing at that time I would have been screaming for Jim Johnson head, but now after 10 days it's a little easier to look back on the season and the players that made the season so stressful, yet exciting.

Team MVP: Quintin Mikelll, SS, (yes that is him in his Boise State days in the photo to the right). Yes not B-Dawk or even Route 36 or even Mc5. Mikell was the player on the defense that kept that unit together. When Dawk did not play well at the start of the season Mikell was the play maker that maded the defense go.

Biggest Surprise: Brent Celek, TE: His performance in the NFC title game showed that he can make plays at the NFL level and his play means the end of the TE that everyone loved to hate, LJ Smith.

The question that everyone wants to know is what is next for the birds, its not out of the question to see the birds back at the top of the NFC East next season, especially if you look at the Cowboys and Giants pending off season.