Archive for the 'Sports' Category
What a day for the Green Bay Packers and the NFL. Today GB traded their legendary QB, Brett Favre, to the NY Jets. Back when Favre retired soon after the hugest Superbowl upset in NFL history, there was a sense on how long Favre could stay retired. He just had one of his best NFL years, statistically, last year and was one game away from being in the Superbowl. So it was only time before Favre would get that “itch” back to play again.
Who knows who is to blame on how exactly this trade came about. You really can’t blame GB for trying to move on and hand over the reins to their young QB, Aaron Rodgers, but I am sure there is a ton of criticism on how it was handled. Bottom line Favre wanted to play somewhere, anywhere. Now he is a Jet and will make them a better team, no question about that.
But when I noticed Favre on the cover of ‘09 Madden NFL football game, the “Cover Jinx” immediately came to mind. I mean, since 2000, almost every single player that was featured on the Madden cover, either had a terrible season, or simply got hurt and did not finish the year playing. Now Favre is on the cover, and I am not saying he will have a terrible year or worse, get hurt, but will actually be playing for an NFL team other than GB, for the first time in his 17-year career. I wish him well and the NFL is better off having such a great player still in the NFL. But this cover jinx is not on Favre, but rather the GB Packers and their fans.
Last month I wrote about how World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) is catching up to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in regards to popularity and having the most well-rounded Mixed Martial Artists (MMA). Back then, WEC had a Featherweight (145-lbs) Championship fight between Urijah Faber and challenger Jens Pulver as the main event. It was showcased live on Versus channel. Although it was some quality fights, the upcoming UFC Fight Night on Spike TV will also be televised live on Saturday (07/19/08) that will show exactly how much more skilled the UFC fighters really are. Their main event is a fight no MMA fan should miss.
The main event is between the Middleweight (185-lbs) Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva (22-4), who I believe is the pound-per-pound best MMA fighter in any league. Since he has either knocked out (or TKO’d) or won by submission on every fight since he joined the UFC in June of 2006 (6-0) at the Middleweight (185-lbs) division. He is now moving up into the very competitive Light Heavyweight (205-lbs) division against hard hitting James “The Sandman” Irvin (14-4-1), who is definitely no slouch. Irvin is coming off a dominating win over Houston Alexander (8-1), TKO in only 8-seconds, on April 2nd, 2008. This should be a very interesting fight to see if Silva can handle this hard hitting division.
There are also some good and up coming fighters on this fight card. The first being Brandon “The Truth” Vera (8-2), who is a very good MMA fighter. He had a lot of potential, until losing to former Heavyweight Champion Tim “The Maniac” Silvia (26-4) and again to Fabricio Werdum (11-3-1) in a controversial loss. But Vera is skilled in all faucets of MMA and will face against a little known fighter named Reese Andy (7-1). I don’t see Vera having a problem with Andy, so we should see Vera back on the winning track.
Ultimately, this fight card should be an exciting and entertaining one. There will be a few fighters from the Spike TV reality show The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), fighting against each other, which should be good to watch. The quality of fights on UFC is better then WEC (even if slightly) on average, but far better then all the other leagues. I know the true MMA fans will tune in to watch, but I encourage even the curious fan to watch as well, to see what MMA is all about. The quality and technical aspects of the fights will be easily seen. If anyone is interested in the entire fight card, click here. I will certainly be watching!
The New York Yankees will play host to the All Star game next week. Not only will they be celebrating the All Star game and all of its attractions, but also this being the last year the NY Yankees will be playing at this stadium. Their new stadium, which is being built next to the existing stadium, is scheduled to open for the 2009 MLB season. Here is a series of photos of the new stadium, enjoy:
Here is a series of photos of the new stadium for the NFL Dallas Cowboys. It is scheduled to be open for the 2009 NFL season. Since football starts in September, this upcoming season will be the last played at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas. The new stadium will be in Arlington, TX. This stadium will have the largest scoreboard in the world. Enjoy:
Last night CBS aired the first ever prime time Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight from the Elite Extreme Combat league on a major network. I saw it, but the quality of fights were not of a high level. Kimbo Splice was the main attraction of the night, with it being his fourth professional fight.
The elite and most popular league is Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), with World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) a close second. Tonight WEC will air a live fight on Versus network. It will be highlighted by a Championship fight between Featherweight (145-lbs) Champion Urijah Faber (20-1) against former UFC Lightweight (155-lbs) Champion Jens Pulver (22-8-1). This will be a heck of a fight, matching probably two of the best fighters in that weight class from all MMA leagues. This fight alone will top any of the CBS’ Elite Extreme Combat fights last night. Plus there will be a Bantamweight (133-lbs) Championship fight between Champion Miguel Angel Torres (33-1) against Yoshiro Maeda (22-4-2). Torres is a stud, although I really haven’t seen Maeda fight, this should be a good fight to watch.
UFC is known to match up quality fights in order to win a bigger fan base. The problem is that UFC almost always shows these fights on Pay-Per-View at about $50 a pop. They do have The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV, that has gained the most exposure, and the last episode is a live telecast of the two last fighters trying to become The Ultimate Fighter. WEC is taking a different approach of showing their fights live on Versus. It is a cable channel on a higher tier then basic cable, but at least they are not charging by fight. Although UFC is probably the most popular league for the elite MMA fighters, WEC is catching up in a hurry. Tonight’s fights will show exactly how good the fighters are in this league.
The Los Angeles Lakers took commanding lead against the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs tonight. They won game four in SA by a score of 93-91, taking a 3-1 advantage in the Western Conference Finals. Although the Spurs are a veteran team and can come back from this deficit, it will be very difficult winning game five in Los Angeles on Thursday (5/29). Lakers only need to win one game out of the next three, and two of them are in LA.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics are all tied at 2-2 with the Detroit Pistons. Game five is scheduled to be played in Boston tomorrow (5/28). The winner of that game is most likely going into the NBA Finals. The Pistons have been there before and are the veteran team. Although the Celtics have many veterans on their team, this is their first year playing together. Should be a great game.
But the most exciting NBA Fianls series, would be between the Lakers and Celtics. They are both the #1 team in their respective conferences. They both have a rich history of winning NBA titles, Celtics leading with 16 titles (11 in 13 years) and the Lakers are second with 14 (5 in Minnesota & 9 in LA). That would be a great and exciting NBA Finals.
The USA Soccer team is playing England on Wednesday (5/28) at 1200 EST on ESPN Classic. Usually this should be an easy game for England; they are 6-2 against the US and last lost to them in 1993. But U.S. has come a long way in soccer. They are now a respected soccer team. This game includes LA Galaxy teammates, Brandon Donovan (U.S.) and David Beckham (England), who represent more than half the offense of the Galaxy this season. It will be a milestone game for Donovan, which will be his 100th National-Team appearance. Beckham (33-yrs old) just surpassed that milestone in March, playing against France. But Donovan will be the 4th youngest player to accomplish that feat at the young age of 26. U.S. have become a force to reckon with in National soccer competition. Hopefully they can prove that against England.
Does anyone think it is strange that no MLB team can use the services of Sammy Sosa or Barry Bonds? I mean these are two of the only five baseball players in MLB history, to have hit over 600 home runs in their career. I know they are both up there in age (Sammy-39 & Barry-43), but they surely can help a team at DH, can’t they? I think there is a more serious reason why no team has seeked out their services. It maybe their association to steriod use, that have teams hesitant on calling them. Anyone else have any other reasons?
After an incredible “unbeaten” regular season in 2007 for the New England Patriots, their only loss was to the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. They are now listed as the favorite to win it all in 2008. But that hasn’t happened in a very long time. In fact, the last team to have lost a SB and won it the following year, was the “unbeaten” Miami Dolphins of 1972, which NE was trying to match or beat (since they now play more regular season games). There have been several teams to have made it back to the SB after losing there the previous year, the last being the Buffalo Bills who actually played four straight SB’s from 1990-1993, but lost them all. As did the previous teams that have accomplished that task, such like Denver Broncos (1986-87) and Minnesota Vikings (1973-74). The odds are in favor of the SB winner to make it back to the SB (not necessarily winning them both), the last being NE, winning them both in 2003-2004. In fact, it has become extremely difficult just making the playoffs the year after losing the SB, and actually winning a playoff? It’s even more difficult. Ever since the Bills lost those four straight SB’s (all to NFC East teams), the next four SB losers made the playoffs, half winning one game in the playoffs. But after those four, only two of the next eight SB losers made the playoffs, and only the 2006 Seattle Seahawks won a playoff game, thanks to Tony Romo’s (Dallas Cowboys) botched game-winning field goal attempt.
So why are the Patriots favored this coming season? Because they were the “BEST TEAM EVER TO NOT” win a SB. History shows the odds are against the Patriots to even make the playoffs, let alone win it all. We’ll see what happens. I can’t wait for the 2008 NFL season to begin!
I read an article about Kansas 2008 title run star Darrell Arthur. Apparently, he had his grades changed at his Oak Cliff High School (in Dallas, TX) in order to allow him to play basketball. Oak Cliff has already lost its 2006 State Title for what they call “unmerited grade changes”. Now they are being investigated for their 2005 State Championship, which included Arthur. The NCAA is now looking into it. Since Arthur did not really pass Algebra, he was not eligible for a Division I basketball scholarship, thus jeopardizing Kansas’ 2008 title. Arthur has since enlisted into the NBA draft, but will not hire an agent, which will allow him to remain eligible to stay playing another season at Kansas. It will be interesting where the outcome of this investigation will lead.
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