Front Page Story: Epic Fail

The Bruins had it all in their hands up 3-0 in game seven against the Flyers and then the wall came caving in and the Flyers stormed back and won 4-3. The Bruins had a 3-0 lead in the series and blew that, it will go down as on of the worst FAILS in the history of sports.

The Phily Daily News

The Boston Herald
The Boston Globe

Memorial Cup is here

The Memorial Cup starts tonight with the defending champion Windsor taking on the host Brandon. Its one of my favorite events and is always a great way to see the future of hockey. Rogers Sportsnet previews the fun.

Professional Tailgating: MLS here we come

For the first time in Only Time Will Tell history, the tailgating crew headed to an MLS game, well not really an MLS game more like a US Open Cup game. The crew headed to Harrison to check out the new Red Bull Arena and came away more then impressed. I think that its nicer then some stadiums in the Premier League.

It looks like someone dropped a spaceship in the middle of Harrison

Nothing says soccer pregaming like a bar that services Brazilian beer

and Portuguese beer

Love the color coded seats, very nice touchThe benches are nicer then most Premier League benches
Supporters celebrate a goal

I feel like a traitor

So today I went to Dunkin Donuts for a beverage. As getting they lady was getting my beverage I notice something was different about the cup it had a New York Yankees logo on it. For a split second, I thought of asking for a different cup but did not. So I had to drink a beverage out of a Yankees cup, I feel terrible, like part of my soul has been ripped out. I have to apologize to my friends at Sox and Phils for allowing this to happen, it was not a choice and I will not allow it to happen again.
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Deuce, Deuce, Deuce, Deuce

Fulham's Clint Dempsey is set to become the first American to play in a European final later today. I honor of his achievement here is the video that he did before the start of the 2006 World Cup. Go get them Deuce.

The Hoop Group now holds all of the cards

This week Robert Morris University named former CBA guard Andy Toole as their new head coach, replacing Mike Rice who took the thankless job of turning Rutgers into a winning program.

With the hiring Toole (photo to the right as a player at Penn) becomes the fifth coach with ties to The Hoop Group to be named a head coach at the NCAA Division I level. He joins former RMU head coach Mike Rice (Rutgers), Greg Vetrone (Fairleigh Dickinson), Chucky Martin (Marist) and Jesse Agel (Brown).

"The Hoop Group (based in Neptune) is the worldwide leader in basketball instruction. 2010 will mark our 48th summer of hosting the country's premier basketball camps. Hoop Group Skills Camp offers a fun, instructional, rewarding experience in our unique camp setting in the Pocono Mountains! Develop your game the Hoop Group way while creating memories that will last a lifetime. Hoop Group Skills Camp - Campers Today...Stars Tomorrow,'' according to their website.

Between 2004 and 2006, Toole spent two years with The Hoop Group in Neptune, N.J. He served as the director of the Eastern Invitational Basketball Clinic, where he handled logistical management for the nation's largest high school exposure camp. As director, Toole maintained relationships with elite high school and AAU coaches. Also in 2004, Toole served as the director of Rebounds, a 28,000-square foot facility where high school players focus on development, according to the Robert Morris website.

I know smaller schools have to look at different places to find their head coaches like Wagner did with the hiring of Danny Hurley from St. B's but with the hiring of so many coaches with ties to the Hoop Group, question has to be asked. Is hiring someone with ties to the Hoop Group just like hiring someone who is an AAU coach, while I'm not saying that anything is wrong with this, it just seems strange that so many coaches at lower Division I schools have been hired with ties to the Hoop Group. It just seems weird to me, that is all I'm saying.

The 2010 Memorial Cup in Jerseys

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

Windsor Spitfires (home)

Windsor Spitfires (road)


Calgary Hitman (Home)

Calgary Hitman (Road)

Manchester City Fans wish it stood like this

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

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

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

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

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

Soccer takes over Vanity Fair

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

Please Make it Stop

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

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

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

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

Professional Tailgating: The Doctor is in the house

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

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

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

Nothing says baseball like a four wheeler that shoots pork products

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

I may have missed on this one

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

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

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

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

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

Professional Tailgating: Rutgers Lacrosse

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

So we now have a Champions League Final

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

Rutgers Spring Game In Videos

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

Joe Martinek makes a great cut on a run


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

Jevan Sneed and John Walsh might need to talk

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

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

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

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

Professional Tailgating: Rutgers Spring Game

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

Bottle caps mark the spot of tailgates past

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

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

68 is nicer then 96

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

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

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

A Great World Cup Spot

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