Perhaps my most powerful experience of soccer fandom, amidst years of following MLS, the English Premier League, and the World Cup, came in a college basketball arena at the University of Portland (UP) in the early winter of 2005. Along with a thousand locals, I watched a projected ESPN feed from Texas of a national championship game where my little University team (~3500 students) was playing the giants of UCLA (~38000 students).

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On Sunday I went to the final round of matches in Group C at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. It really is quite a facility. I've been there for three different sporting events (NFL football, college basketball, and soccer), and I participated in a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium last year, so I've seen the UP stadium from a variety of perspectives. Click to continue reading...

This is the first of what we hope will be a few book reviews of books involving MLS this summer. According to the publisher we were sent a pre-sale copy book on the 6th of this month to review but have yet to receive it and since much has already been written about it we have decided to run the review of someone who did receive their pre-sale copy, Kartik Krishnayer over at MLSR partner MajorLeagueSoccerTalk. Click to continue reading...

Excellent sports' writing is not simply about analyzing players, teams or organizations. It's largely about painting a picture that fits into society's perceptions of the surrounding world. It's about writing a narrative and properly explaining the parts. It's about playing historian and social critic while discussing competitions and complex organizations.

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On English language websites yesterday the big news surrounding ESPN is about the network acquiring Setanta's package to air Premier League matches in the UK. But perhaps bigger news was made stateside as ESPN returned to showing regular European league football for the first time since losing La Liga rights in the early part of this decade.

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Many industry observers were surprised earlier this year when Fox Soccer Channel not only held off ESPN's bid to swipe the US television rights to the English Premier League, but wrestled the Champions League away from the worldwide leader in sports. But ESPN may be ready to get back in the game as the financial difficulties at Setanta Sports could leave the broadcast rights to 46 EPL games up for grabs. Click to continue reading...

... And no, I'm not freaking about it. Yet.
I think you need a good half-season of attendance numbers to really judge where everyone is at. This allows time for games on a variety of days, allows teams to see quality and/or regional opponents; allows games in better weather; and some of the other competing sports clear out as college basketball, the NBA and NHL end. Click to continue reading...

With Selection Sunday only a couple of days aways and last weekend being the quarterfinals of the FA Cup, it got me to thinking. How fun would the NCAA Tournament be if it was held in a blind draw like the FA Cup.
For almost a decade, the selection show has been a national institution everyone goes around talking about the last four teams in and the last four teams out, now we could extend that process for a couple of hours. Click to continue reading...

Some sports days are better then others and Sunday was one of them. United vs. Chelski, Eagles vs. Giants in the divisional round, and then North Carolina vs. Wake Forest. With all of the games it will be a three shirt day. Here is a time line of the days events:
9:19: Church is over pregame meal time. Click to continue reading...

Last week, we went mobile, now we have decided to start a Twitter site that will allow us to send up dates to the site from a Blackberry or mobile phone. All of the updates will appear on the right hand side of the site, under the Twitter headline. We will be able to update from different tailgating events and even while watching games, so look out world here we come. Click to continue reading...

Only Time Time Will Tell went on line Nov. 4, 2006 at 9:58 p.m. blasting Mark Jones for the way called a football game. Almost two years later, the Only Time Will Tell Crew has attended countless sporting events and watched millions of hours of events on television, the crew has decided to go mobile. Click to continue reading...

On April 15, I posted the matchups for the 10th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge, an event won by the ACC every year so far. Member schools from that conference have gone a combined 56-30 over that span, thoroughly dominating their brethren from the Big Ten en route to the Commissioner's Cup.
You can take a look at that post here (http://englishsoccertalk. Click to continue reading...

These are truly the dog days of summer. With apologies to Arena Football, baseball and cycling (Tour de France) are the only major sports going on right now, and we're waiting until late summer/fall when the sports calendar will really get busy again.
With this in mind, I'm sure you, like me, have an abundance of free time on your hands. Click to continue reading...

With news slowing down in the soccer world in this lull period between the Champions League final and the start of Euro 2008, I wanted to bring a piece of news that I saw a little while ago to the forefront. This story, of course, concerns me a little bit as a Michigan Wolverines basketball fan and should concern those of you who are expecting John Beilein's team to have a better season next year as well. Click to continue reading...

The slate of games for next year's annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge was released today and I have to be honest, there's only a couple of big-time matchups and I'm fairly disappointed. In past years, there have been four or five different games that were truly must-see TV early in the season, but that won't be the case this time around. Click to continue reading...

Not that I'm complaining, but the Premier League isn't fooling anyone. Somehow with their so-called "random" schedule, Sunday will be the second time this year that the "Big Four" will play against each other. Manchester United will host surging Liverpool at Old Trafford and Chelsea will have their chance to reel in suddenly slumping Arsenal as the Gunners head across London to Stamford Bridge. Click to continue reading...

After a sloppy 55-47 win over Iowa yesterday in the First Round of the 2008 Big Ten Tournament, the Michigan Wolverines advanced to today's quarterfinal against Wisconsin, the 6th-ranked team in the country and the #1 seed in this tournament.
I'll be honest. I'm as big a Michigan fan as there is, but I didn't believe for a second that they'd beat the Badgers today. Click to continue reading...

As sure as the sun will rise and set every day, a Rafa Benitez-coached team will not give up a 2-0 lead in a Champions League tie. I've criticized Benitez's tactics in the Premier League on many occasions and will continue to do so when the situation calls for it in the future, but this man simply is built for two-legged ties and knows exactly how to get the job done in Europe. Click to continue reading...

I'm heading down to the Richmond Coliseum this morning for the first two rounds of the Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball tournament, so I won't be posting for the rest of the day.
Four games today and four games tomorrow, nothing better than watching win-or-go home college basketball. Click to continue reading...

I know I mentioned this already today, but the most recent episode of the Canes Rising podcast, featuring myself and host Kartik Krishnaiyer, is actually out right now for you to listen to or download.
I didn't think it would be available until Tuesday, but once again, I've been proven wrong. Click to continue reading...

Just wanted to let everyone know that if you're interested, a college basketball podcast featuring myself and host Kartik Krishnaiyer (from CSRN and US Soccer Spot) will be available for your listening pleasure within the next few days over at canesrising.com.
I was a guest on the show earlier this month and Kartik and I had a good discussion about the ACC and the Big Ten, particularly the different styles of play in both conferences and some early NCAA Tournament talk. Click to continue reading...

Very, very slow news day today.
Nothing much to talk about right now as it's an FA Cup weekend, and I already covered these matchups a little bit after the draw for this round was conducted. The first legs of the UEFA Cup Round of 32 ties will be finished up tomorrow as half were played today. Click to continue reading...

Each team in the Big Ten Conference is now either three or four games into an 18-game league slate and things are really starting to become clear.
The Big Ten is extremely down this year. In past seasons, this league routinely sent six or seven teams to the NCAA Tournament but with new head coaches and young rosters all across the conference, it looks like the Big Ten will get four teams (at most) into the Big Dance. Click to continue reading...

Well first off, I want to congratulate the University of Michigan Wolverines football team for winning the Capital One Bowl (formerly the Citrus Bowl) in Orlando yesterday, beating the virtual home team, the Florida Gators, 41-35. The win was a great way to send out Coach Lloyd Carr, whose retirement as head football coach begins today, and the senior class led by Jake Long, Mike Hart, Chad Henne, and Shawn Crable. Click to continue reading...

The Central Michigan Chippewas accomplished what fellow Michigan state school Oakland couldn't do as they went into Crisler Arena and beat the host Michigan Wolverines 78-67 yesterday. CMU guard Giordan Watson scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half and the Chippewas were able to hold off a furious late Michigan rally to improve to 4-5 on the season. Click to continue reading...

Led by 24 points and eight rebounds from freshman guard Manny Harris and 22 points from DeShawn Sims, the Michigan Wolverines shot their way to victory over Oakland (MI) last night, winning 103-87 to improve to 4-6 on the season.
Much like Michigan did against a more athletic, more talented Duke team last weekend, the Grizzlies put up a valiant fight for about the first 10 minutes of the game against the bigger, faster, and stronger Wolverines. Click to continue reading...

The Michigan Wolverines dropped to 3-6 on the season after their 95-67 loss today to #6 Duke as the Blue Devils stayed undefeated, improving their record to 9-0.
Both teams came out of the gate as cold as ice from the field and that allowed Michigan to hang around for the first seven or eight minutes of the game. Click to continue reading...

It's over in Cambridge as the Harvard Crimson pulled out a big win for Tommy Amaker against his former team, the Michigan Wolverines, 62-51.
Hats off to the Crimson fans that packed the Lavietes Pavilion this afternoon. The small gym holds only 2,050 people and every seat was filled, although to be fair, Michigan had a sizeable contigent that traveled as well. Click to continue reading...

After Michigan's disappointing 77-64 home loss to Boston College in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge (won for the 9th year in a row by the ACC), the Wolverines' record now stands at 3-4 heading into a game against another Boston-area school tomorrow (5:30 PM, ESPNU).
John Beilein's team has played like the group of youngsters that they are this season. Click to continue reading...

Well, if you're a fan of Michigan Wolverines basketball or of college basketball in general, the answer is you. The Great Alaska Shootout is another one of these early-season tournaments for teams to claim some quality wins and build a legitimate NCAA Tournament profile. This year's edition (which starts tonight), hosted by the University of Alaska-Anchorage, has all the makings of a pretty good tournament. Click to continue reading...

Michigan's game at #5 Georgetown tonight (7:30 PM, ESPN 360) will probably end in a victory for the host Hoyas, and I think most Michigan fans know this and are realistic about what to expect from a very young Wolverines team not just in this game, but over the whole season.
New coach John Beilein has a young nucleus of players in Manny Harris, Kelvin Grady, and DeShawn Sims, to build on and I have no doubt that in a year's time, Michigan will make a return to the NCAA Tournament. Click to continue reading...

Well, it wasn't such a good weekend for the University of Michigan Wolverines football team (37-21 loss at Wisconsin), but they'll head into their yearly showdown with archrival Ohio State on Saturday afternoon (Noon, ABC) with a chance to win the Big Ten outright and book their second trip to the Rose Bowl in two years.
The basketball team, however, got their season under new coach John Beilein off to a flying start, demolishing Radford 82-55 on Friday night and outshooting a game Brown team 72-57 yesterday afternoon. Click to continue reading...

Well it is for me at least, anyway. Teams were allowed to officially begin practicing two weeks ago and the school I root for (in all college sports) is the Maize and Blue, the Michigan Wolverines of the rough-and-tumble Big Ten Conference. Last year's NIT trip (yet another one) under then-coach Tommy Amaker capped off a season well short of expectations and as a result, Amaker got fired. Click to continue reading...