News of the World says Good Bye

The News of the World is set to close its doors and here are some of the back pages of sports coverage over the years. There are some great headlines and telling stories that mostly ended up being true, including Manchester United selling Ronnie.

What to expect from Strasburg next year

Our friends at The Nats Blog tell us what Jordan Zimmermann's pitch limit means for Stephen Strasburg return next year. I guess we should not expect more then a 160 innings out of Strasburg next season.

Professional Tailgating: Rain Rain Go Away

The OTWT Tailgating Gang was supposed to head the BlueClaws game tonight but Mother Nature would not allow that. The game was called and rescheduled so we got there and hand no game. So here is a some of the sites of sounds of  a rain out.

Check out the kid on the left, Cole Hammels. He was on the cover of the 2004 BlueClaws preview magazine along with Gavin Floyd and Taylor Buchholtz

The Star of the Show: The Tarp

Some rain delay entertainment: The Lion King 

The only running we saw all night


 The field look like a lake 

No More Crazy Rumors?

Now that James Murdoch has closed the NOTW, where am I supposed to get my crazy soccer transfer rumors.

A different kind of sports language

Sports are full of different types of terminology. Some of its stupid, while others are fun and interesting. Nascar has its own type of terminology, when it comes to superspeedways like Daytona. Nascar's superspeedways terminology sounds like a gay porno.

If a newcomer to the sport tuned in for the first time on Saturday, they would think that announcers were reading a script for a gay porno instead of calling a race. Every other word out of commentators mouth was either "hooked up", "from behind", or "pushing." At one point one of the commentators said that "Mark Martin like to be the pusher", now that sounds really gay.

What could make the race sound gayer, the talk of lube and yes the race on Saturday night had that too. The commentators said that the front and backs of the cars have grease on them so they don't get stuck together. Its ok to laugh, cause I was all night as the race was going on.

For all of the talk of how macho NASCAR, their superspeedway terminology is a little on the gay side.

A far fall for Hargreaves

Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has turn to YouTube in order show people he is healthy. Its a far fall for one of the best holding midfielders in the world.

A mid-table corner

I was at a BBQ today and the house was located at the corner of Everton Place and Fulham Street, now that is what you call a mid-table corner.

Is PSG the Manchester City of France?

Two years ago, the fate of Manchester City changed when a big money group purchased the club. Fast forward to this upcoming season and all of the money that was spent in the transfer market has paid off as the club will be playing the in Champions League. The same might be happening in France with Paris Saint-Germain.

Taarabt to PSG?
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On 31 May 2011, Paris Saint-Germain announced that Qatar Investment Authority bought a controlling 70% stake in the club. Colony Capital and Butler Capital Partners, who bought the club from television channel Canal+ in 2006, remained as minority shareholders with 30% and 4,2% of the stakes. QIA is estimated to hold in excess of $60 billion of assets, an amount that will significantly increase by 2011 as the state completes its expansion projects to become the world's largest LNG exporter with 77 million tons output capacity. The Qatar economy has been one of the most dynamic, where the GDP has risen from $8 billion in 1995 to an estimated GDP of $52 billion. The groups has been rumoured to put in a bid to buy Manchester United. 


Now the group is rumoured to be sinking a lot of money into the club in this transfer market. After years of being an after thought, PSG has been linked with Manchester United Dimitar Barbatov, Juventus's Mohamed Sissoko and QPR's Adel Taarabt. In the past the team would not be able to spend this much in a transfer window but with the funding in place they are more than happy to spend.

Now this is pitch movement

Check out the movement on this wiffle ball pitch, simply amazing.

Phil Jones: United's new midfield enforcer?

It looks like its going to be a summer of rebuilding for Manchester United, but it appears they may have already addressed a huge issue, a holding midfielder. With Owen Hargreaves injury issues over the last couple of years, United has been lacking at this spot. But their first singing on the season may have addressed. On 13 June 2011, United confirmed that they had reached an agreement to sign Blackburn Rovers' Phil Jones for £16.5m ; the deal would be finalised upon his return from international duty.

While most people view him as a defender, Jones might be able to slide into United's holding midfield roll. According to Football-Lineups.com, Jones started 24 games in the Premier League last year: 6 games at CB and 18 CM.

Some people view Jones as a defender, but I'm in favor of letting him play as a holding midfielder. One of the things that is lost on people is that Sir Alex likes bigger center backs and Jones does not fit that bill, being only 5ft 11in. With that in mind, I have a feeling that Sir Alex brought him in to be the next Owen Hargreaves.

So the rebuilding has begun and it looks like Phil Jones is set to be a one of the building blocks for both the present and the future.

Beltway Family Fued

For the next decade, the Harpers and the Bundy's are set to battle it out on the baseball field.

Last year, the Nationals selected Bryce Harper with the first overall pick and we all know how that is going. This year the franchise used a 30th round pick on his brother, Bryan Harper. Bryan Harper is a left handed pitcher at the University of South Carolina. Bryan Harper has a 5.40 ERA and 18/17 K/BB ratio as a reliever this season.

Down the Beltway, the Orioles are putting together their own family, the Bundy Family. In 2008, the Orioles selected righ hand pitcher Bobby Bundy. This year the Orioles used their first round pick to select his brother Dylan (pictured below).

The Bundy brothers have already come outswining against the Harper family.  According to the Washington Post, Dylan Bundy (below) said he we would hit Harper if he blew kisses at him after hitting a home run. 

“Well, if I was pitching the next game, I’d hit him all four at-bats,” the high schooler told Steve Davis on Baltimore’s 105.7 The Fan.

Dylan's brother joined in the fun.

“Same thing,” the other Bundy said. “The kid can’t do that. You know, that was a little over the top. I mean, I guess he did get hit in previous at-bats and maybe he felt like it was for nothing, but still, in baseball etiquette you don’t blow a kiss to the pitcher like that. It’s just not something you do.”

If all four of these prospects meet up in the next couple of years it could be fun, the only issue is that Bryce is the only one that swings a bat, which could be dangerous for him.

MLB Draft notebook

The first and sandwich round of the MLB Draft are in the books and here a couple of quick thoughts on what happened.

• Welcome to Major League Baseball in 2011, its all about pitching and that showed with the top four players selected all being pitching, including three college pitchers that are going to move fast through each of their systems.
• I guess Gerrit Cole choice to turn down the Yankees after they selected him in the first round in 2008 turned out well for him. Cole was the number one overall pick in the draft. 
• At the start of the season Anthony Rendon was the number player on most people's board after a season that featured injuries Rendon dropped to the Nationals at six. It was a dream for the Nats front office. 
• MLB Network coverage of the draft is getting better each year they do it, love seeing Gammons on the show. He has always loved the drafted.
•  People are going to kill the Giants for taking St. John's SS Joe Panik, but they usually do some weird things in the draft and more times that not they turn out well.
• Both Massachusetts high school pitcher Tyler Beede and Texas high school outfielder Josh Bell sent letters out saying that they were not signing and attending college, it worked out well for Beede who was drafted by Toronto in the first round, while Bell slid out of the first round.
• The draft needs to get more players at the draft, it would make it g

OTWT Mock MLB Draft

The Scouting Staff of OTWT has been locked away in the its bunker for the last couple of days, going over the top prospects in the upcoming baseball draft and coming up with its annual mock draft. Last year, we did it and it did not turn out that well. So here goes.

1 Pittsburgh Pirates: Gerrit Cole, RHP, UCLA

2 Seattle Mariners: Danny Hultzen, LHP, UVa

3 Arizona Diamondbacks: Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice

4 Baltimore Orioles: Sonny Gray, RHP, Vanderbilt

5 Kansas City Royals: Tyler Jungmann, RHP, Texas

6 Washington Nationals: Alex Meyers, RHP, Kentucky

7 Arizona Diamondbacks: Dylan Bundy, RHP, Owasso (Oklahoma) HS

8 Cleveland Indians: Jed Bradley, LHP, Georgia Tech

9 Chicago Cubs: Bubba Sterling, OF, Gardner-Edgerton (Oklahoma) HS

10 San Diego Padres: Trevor Bauer, RHP, UCLA

11 Houston Astros: Francisco Lindor, SS, Montverde Academy (Fla)

12 Milwaukee Brewers: Taylor Guerrieri, RHP, Spring Valley HS (SC)

13 New York Mets: George Springer, OF, UConn

14: Florida Marlins: Archie Bradley, RHP, Broken Arrow HS (Okalahoma)

15 Milwaukee Brewers: Larry Green, OF, Berrien County HS (Georgia)

16 Los Angeles Dodgers: Tyler Anderson, LHP, Oregon

17 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Brandon Nimmo, OF, East HS (Wyo)

18 Oakland Athletics: Mikie Mahtook, OF, LSU

19 Boston Red Sox: Matt Barnes, RHP, UConn

20 Colorado Rockies: Kolten Wong, 2B, Hawaii

21 Toronto Blue Jays: Josh Bell, OF, Dallas Jesuit HS (TX)

22 St. Louis Cardinals: Javier Baez, SS, Arlington Country Day HS (Fla)

23 Washington Nationals: CJ Cron, 1B, Utah

The front pages sum it up

The front pages of the today's Winnipeg Free Press and the Atlanta Journal Constitution sum up the plight of the Atlanta Thrashers franchise. In Winnipeg, news of the franchise coming to the Canadian city was the whole front page. While in Atlanta, the story of the franchise leaving was a front page story below the fold and seemed unimportant. That sums up the whole situation in a nut shell, no one in Atlanta cares about hockey.

Winnipeg Free Press

AJC

Maybe OTWT was right

Back in May 2008, OTWT spotlighted Max Scherzer when he made one of his first starts in the big leagues as a member of the Arizona Diamonbacks. In the post, I said that Scherzer has the ability to become a top of the rotation type of pitcher.
After struggling with Arizona going 9-15, Scherzer was traded to the Tigers and has continued to grow. This year he is 6-2 with a 3.68 ERA. So he seems to be starting to be the player that OTWT thought he would be, hey its a take a couple of years longer, but he is finally starting to come around.

Professional Tailgating: Maybe I should have stayed longer

It all started as a normal baseball game between the Reds and Phillies but little did I know that it would end well after I went to sleep

Nothing beats some trivia

 Bull's BBQ

 It all looked normal

We left in the ninth inning and after getting home I went to bed so I had no clue what happened until after I put on MLB Network and for one I was glad I did not stick around.

This sums it up

Barca are the kings of Europe again and maybe a team of a generation.This is the front page of a Spanish delay and its sums it up.

One Word: Believe

While the book makers have Barcelona the favorites, I for one "believe" that United will make us proud in the Champions League final. This is the mosaic from the 2008 Champions League in Moscow and it brings back good memory for any United fan. Glory Glory Man United.

Will Sir Alex go 4-4-1-1

The countdown is on until Saturday epic battle between Manchester United and Barcelona in the Champions League Final. While Barcelona formation appears to be set, Manchester United's formation appears to be up for debate. Will United play two up front, will Giggs make the starting 11. So here is what I would do if I was Sir Alex

Van de Sar

Rafeal                    Vidic                             Rio         Evra

Valencia             Carrick                      Fletcher             Park

Rooney

Hernandez

By going with this formation, Carrick and Fletcher could be supported in the middle by Park Ji Sung if its need and Rooney could then move out the wing. The bench would feature: Berba, Smalling, Giggs, O'Shea, Nani, Scholes, and Kuszcak. I would go with 4-4-1-1. This would be the formation that gives United the best chance to lift Mr. Big Ears again.

Please be nice to your trophies

As the European soccer season winds to a close, people are collecting trophies all over the place and some players are having a hard time handling the trophies.

Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenberg drops Dutch title trophy


Sergio Ramos drops the Copa del Rey


While its not a soccer trophy, the Spokane Chiefs break the Memorial Cup in 2008, classic, one of my favorites