A Fight Worth Watching

It's amazing how after a the popularity and financial success of the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, the up coming Cotto (29-0, 24 KOs)-Judah (34-4 25 KOs) fight can receive so little attention from the mainstream sports media. This fight is guaranteed to be every bit as exciting and entertaing as the bout between Golden Boy and Pretty Boy.

Defending champ, Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto (5'8'' 147lbs.), is a relentless, powerful body puncher who style revolves around attempting to puncture his opponents internal organs. From what I've read he has a great left hook and serious knockout potential--not from punches to the head but rather well placed shots to the liver. His main weakness is that his defense can be described as shaky at best.

Challenging Cotto for the title is 29 year old Zab Judah (5'7'' 146 3/4lbs) from Brooklyn. He draws many comparisons to Money Mayweather, and rightfully so. His hand speed is probably second only to Floyd and he may even exceed him in cockiness (who would have thought that was possible?). It was actually in his fight against Mayweather that he was suspended for hitting him way below the belt and then in the back of the head, inciting a brawl in the ring. Judah has tremendous athletic ability, but sometimes he seems like his own worst enemy.

Will Cotto's body shots take their toll and cause Judah to lower his hands in the later rounds opening him up to a potential knockout? Will Judah outbox Cotto with the technical skill he is capable of displaying? Or will his lack of discipline cause him to lose focus?

The only thing this fight will be lacking is 50 Cent--who I think we can all agree makes everything better. Still this fight has the makings of a classic for a true boxing fan and promises to be well worth the cost of the HBO pay-per-view. Saturday, 9 o'clock. Watch it.

Random Thoughts

• Not much to say about Game 1 of the finals. Lebron shit the bed and the Cavs looked outmatched in the coaching department, leading to a Spurs victory in a game they didn't shoot particularly well.
  
• Curt Schilling came one out away from a no-hitter, only to give up a single to Shannon Stewart. He recovered to induce a pop-out for the 1-0 win. It was kind of disappointing but I'm much happier that he's pitching well and the Red Sox got a win even though their offense is still sucking.
• I said that I was going to write a review of Freakonomics but I don't really have that much to say about and I don't think many people will really give a shit. I thought it was a very interesting book although the actual research is informative at best and trivial at worst. I think the most important thing the book teaches is that you cannot always accept the convenient or commonly held answer to most questions. It shows how to look at problems or questions from a neutral point of view and how to find your own answer. For that reason alone I would recommend reading it. That's all.
  
• I'm also working on a preview of the Judah-Cotto fight. Should be pretty sweet.
  

Beckham reconsiders

It looks like David Beckham may have taken notice of Billy Donovan and thought that that’s how we do things in America.
“But while Beckham insists that his US move will not harm his chances of continuing his international comeback, his return and the reception he received from the 90,000-strong crowd at the new Wembley Stadium on Friday night have made him reconsider his desire to continue playing club football at a high level.”
Apparently he believes that playing in the inferior MLS will hurt his chances of being called up to the English national team. Or maybe he came across this youtube clip.
Now, who knows how much credibility this story actually has but if Beckham is actually considering this then it is a complete joke. Why do people think that they can sign a contract and then just change their mind and expect to get out of it? It’s ridiculous and completely unprofessional. No one forced Beckham to sign anything. He did it out of free will. That sucks for him that he doesn’t think it’s a good fit anymore but he’s just going to have to suck it up. There is no chance in hell an average American can sign a contract and then just back out of it because it might not benefit them in the way that they want. I don’t exactly feel bad for him either. If someone would like to pay me 125 million dollars to live in LA and play soccer I think I would accept.
I don’t see this actually happening, however. There is no logical reason for the MLS to let him out of the contract. Just the other day I saw an ad for Columbus Crew tickets that said that anyone buying a ticket to the Galaxy game had to also buy tickets to four other Crew games. So not only will Beckham’s appearance sell out one game, it will most likely sell out five games and there is no chance in hell the Crew would have sold out those other four. This doesn’t even count the money the league will be getting from advertisers and TV due to his signing. The league is planning on building up its fan base by trying to grab the average American who is tuning in to watch Beckham play. Beckham’s signing was a long term investment for the league and I believe they want to see how it will turn out. It may not work out but they at least want to give it a shot.

Paris Hilton, Making a Joke of our Country One Step at a Time

Wow, that was quick. CNN Entertainment is reporting that Paris Hilton was released from jail today. If it seems like it was just yesterday that she started her 45 day sentence, well, that's because it basically was. The court is allowing her to serve the rest of her sentence on house arrest, citing medical reasons. The medical concern? She refused to eat her jail food! If anyone thinks she didn't have sex with the warden, that's asinine. In all seriousness though, what's the over/under on number days until the tape surfaces?

'Knocked Up' Review

If you want to see the best comedy of the year, go see Knocked Up, because it will make you laugh. Period. However, the movie’s best attribute is not that it will have you laughing the entire time, it is its ability to make you laugh in a plethora of ways. It has awkward humor, witty humor, childish humor, sarcastic humor, and yes, raunchy humor. It does all of this while maintaining a coherent story line with believable and likeable characters, and even has a good message.

It’s a story of a guy who, with a perfect set of circumstances, gets really lucky with a girl who is way out of his league. His luck runs out though when he finds out she is pregnant. From there on out we watch their struggle to ‘make it work’ unfold over nine months of awkward moments, fights, and self-realization.

The real key to this movie, aside from the hilarious script, was Seth Rogen. I’m not sure anyone else could made the character so likeable, pathetic, frustrating, and ultimately believable as he did. You can tell an actor did a good job when you can imagine them acting the exact same way in real life. The only beef I have with this movie is Leslie Mann’s character, the ‘knocked up’ girl’s sister. Every time she talked it was like nails on a chalkboard.

Bottom line, if you want to laugh your ass off, go see this movie. Just don’t see it with a family member. (You’ll know what I mean afterward.)

Note

Due to some technical problems I had to delete Denny's post and repost it. It was previously the second article on the page and I wanted it to be first since it was the most current. I was going to lose the comments though, so I just copy and pasted them to the new post. This article was written by Buzzsaw and the comments still say who they are from. Sorry about this.

The Spurs' Case

It pains me to write this article because my friends from Northeast Ohio deserve nothing more than a championship.. in something. While the Spurs are probably the best case scenario in terms of possible Western Conference opponents for Cleveland, it won't matter because the West is just too talented for anyone from the East, because...

Experience -- No one on the Cavs starting five has even a game of experience in the NBA finals. Mike Brown has been there, but I doubt he'll be talking about it since that would take away from time he could be talking about defense. In contrast to Cleveland, Tim Duncan's Spurs have been to three NBA Finals and won three championships. Basically the entire team is still intact from the 2005 team that beat the Pistons (Kerscher is still stinging from that, I'm sure).

Lebron -- I am of the camp that believes the only Cavs advantage is Lebron, and Cleveland can only go as far as he carries them. However, it will take an even greater effort than he showed against the Pistons. The Spurs let a team's stars get their points, they look to shut down everyone else completely. Take the Utah series for example:

Game 1: Deron- 34 pts, 9 rebs, 7 ast Boozer- 20 pts, 12 rebs Result: Lost by 8

Game 2: Deron- 26pts, 10 reb, 4 ast Boozer- 35pts, 15 rebs Result: Lost by 9

So, no matter how ridiculous Lebron plays, someone else is going to have to step up, which will be difficult with these match-ups:

Boobie/Hughes/Snow v Parker: Advantage Spurs- Parker led San Antonio to the Championship in 2005 and he's only gotten better, he's improved his shot to the point where he just doesn't miss from inside the three point line. He relentlessly penetrates the lane, either drawing fouls or getting easy layups. It honestly doesn't matter who tries to match up against him, Parker will titty fuck any of them.

Pavlovic v Manu/Finley: Advantage Spurs- Pavlovic plays better D, I'll give him that, but he absolutely cannot score. Manu has been killing people from three the entire postseason, and Finley is a proven scorer who will be playing harder than anyone trying to win his first championship. This should be a fun match-up to watch because, as with any match-up involving two dirty foreigners, Manu v. Sasha should give us plenty of inappropriate touching.

Lebron v Bowen: Advantage Spurs- Bowen is to defense what Lebron is to offense, he's the King. He takes the opponents best pla... just kidding, Lebron could shit on Bowen's chest and they'd call a blocking foul. Bowen will be in foul trouble the entire series and Lebron will get whatever he wants. The only thing stopping Lebron this series, or any, is himself or possibly something with the birth of his second child, but he's already said he won't miss a game. I would love to see this Cavs team play a Finals game against the Spurs without Lebron though, they'd seriously be way worse than the Grizzlies, especially with Hughes hurt.

Gooden v. Oberto/Elson: Advantage Push- Who gives a shit? These guys won't matter, but Oberto has been stepping up this postseason.

Z v. Duncan: Advantage Spurs- Z has seemingly gotten old this postseason, he just hasn't been the same. When he gets out of the lane he is still consistently hitting his shots, but like the rest of the Cavs he's been too passive. Duncan has been absolutely unbelievable this postseason, the Cavs have no chance of stopping him. Jeff Van Gundy said in SI, "In my 20 years in the NBA, Duncan is the best big to play the game." Also, I was surprised to find out that, with this series win, Duncan will be even with Shaq at four rings apiece. He will have done this three years earlier than Shaq who everyone considers a championship machine. This is pretty groundbreaking, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say Duncan is underrated.

Coaching/Intangibles: Advantage Spurs- Greg Popovich is the best coach in the NBA in my opinion, and I think Mike Brown is probably in the bottom five. I don't believe there will be any type of "Nellie-factor" here because there is a huge difference between their roles in building their previous teams. Nellie built the Mavs to what they presently are and Avery Johnson disciplined and fine- tuned them into a championship contender. Brown was basically along for the ride, learning as much from Popovich as possible. The Cavs could have signed a great, proven coach for this team (Larry Brown), but they wanted someone that would allow Lebron to be the leader. Mike Brown a great defensive coach, but not head coach... Lebron is the head everything.

The Spurs are also the beneficiaries of having home court advantage in the 2-3-2 finals format. If they take care of the first two games at home, the series is basically over (albeit most would have said that about the Pistons). However, the Spurs are 32-16 on the road this year and 5-2 on the road this playoffs... in the Western Conference, this stat is unbelievable.

Basically, I don't see much hope for the Cavs in this, their first NBA Finals series. The Spurs should take care of the first two games at home and I expect them to split the next two games in Cleveland leaving game five as the first Cleveland elimination game which should be a toss up, but I'll take the Spurs in 5.

Chicago Baseball: Neutral Ramblings

Alright I’m going to do my best to put an end to the whole Cubs/Sox argument. Let’s start with the Cub’s fan’s attacks on the White Sox. I know it’s funny to call the White Sox fans trashy, but in all seriousness, is it really fair to rip on people for being blue collar workers? So what if they have mullets? You have fat people that sit with their shirts off and shovel hot dogs down their face until they can’t move. Which is worse? I don’t really know. I think real problem here is a little bit of self-consciousness. Cubs fans were used to being the Chicago team and now you’re having a hard time adjusting to the fact that the White Sox actually won something.

Now White Sox fans seem to like to say that the Cubs suck. Well, this is pretty much true right now, but remember, you sucked for a long time too. They also like to say they don’t care about their team because they show up regardless of how bad they are. Would it be more admirable if they just didn’t come out to the ballpark for years at a time when the team wasn’t the most competitive? Mike, you say no one is impressed by the Cubs attendance? I bet the White Sox would like to have similar numbers. In the past 10 years the Cubs have had an average of 11,000 more fans per game! Even more embarrassing, after your team won the World Series, your attendance jumped by almost 8,000 per game (can you say bandwagon?) and yet you still had an average of 3,000 less fans per game than the Cubs who went 79-83 the previous year. White Sox management has to resort to promotions such as “Bring Your Dog Day”, “Elvis Day”, “Half Way to St. Patrick’s Day”, and yes, the infamous “Mullet Day”. All this to get people to get people to come to a relatively new ballpark that is much nicer than the decrepit Wrigley Field that you like to ridicule so often.

So here’s my advice:

White Sox fans: start going to the games. You should be thankful that you have management that understands that good teams are built around pitching, generally drafts well and realizes that overpaying for big name players doesn’t guarantee success. You claim to want to usurp the Cubs as Chicago’s team? The real test will be after you have a losing season or two.

Cubs fans: shut the hell up until you win something. Or better yet stop bitching about White Sox fans and start bitching to management. Year after year they pocket your money while usually failing to field a competitive team. (I know, I know, they spent money this year. How they spent it wrong is a whole different story.) Keep coming to the park, but try taking more of an active interest in your team. I know there are some really good, knowledgeable Cubs fans out there, but even the best of them spend their whole season talking up the team, only to start incessantly complaining after the first month of the season. Be realistic and demand better.

Very interested to hear comments.

(By the way, anything you want to say about the Red Sox, I've heard it before, so bring it.)

The Cavaliers’ Case

Ed. note: This article was written by Guy, who, in case you couldn't tell, is a Cavs fan. Enjoy.

There has been a lot of talk about how the Cleveland Cavaliers and their fans are “just happy to be there.” That is bull shit. The avid fans that root for this team are the same ones that watched their Tribe die in the World Series in both ’95 and ’97. Do you think we look back and weep tears of joy about that? The city is dying for a championship. If a Cleveland team ever has a close-out game in my lifetime again, I plan on being downtown for the festivities. That, or the riot after we blow it.

As for the players, a story has come out about the post-Game 6 celebrations. With the fourth quarter winding down, team employees were letting the players know that champagne was waiting for them in the locker room. LeBron quickly got the champagne removed; telling his team afterwards that they can do all the celebrating they want after they take down the Spurs. LeBron isn’t satisfied with his shitty Eastern Conference Champions t-shirt and hat, he wants a God damn ring. However, no matter how bad the city and team want it, there are still some many on-the-court issues for the Cavaliers in this series that they must control in order to win the title.

1. Supporting Cast: Hit Your Shots

Sasha Pavlovic, Donyell Marshall, Larry Hughes and Damon Jones have been downright embarrassing shooting the ball throughout the playoffs, save a few games here and there (see: Donyell vs. the Nets game 6). If this team has any chance of putting an end to the Spurs’ dynasty, they will have to shoot lights out to create an open lane for LeBron. As great as Boobie Gibson has been, you have to think he can’t keep this up by himself. Look for Sasha to remove the dick from his ass and start knocking down a few open J’s.

As far as the frontcourt goes, Drew Gooden has to show up and hit that 15 footer that he fell in love with for part of the Pistons series. Another factor will be Z and the pick and pop. Even when it’s not open, it draws a big man out and gives the Cavs a better chance at offensive rebounds after errant Larry Hughes jumpers.

2. Minimize the Coaching Disadvantage

Not something that can exactly have a quick fix. Popovich is going to own Mike Brown—no arguments there. The only hope for the Cavs is that Coach Mike has learned some “fundamentals” along this playoff journey. For one, he should maybe try to save a timeout for the end of the game. Those Anderson Varejao 88 footers at the ends of Games 1 and 2 in the Detroit series were decent looks, I suppose, but just weren’t really the offensive possession I was hoping for given the situation. Another idea might be to surround LeBron with shooters at the end of a tight game. Brown did this later in the Pistons series, which leads me to believe that he is finally getting the idea. Popovich is going to respond with quick adjustments, and Brown has to minimize this glaring advantage as much as possible.

3. Contain Mr. Longoria

It is no secret that the Cavaliers struggle with quick point guards. Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and even Ray Felton have been known to light up the Cavs in recent history. What worries me here is the injury to Hughes. I would like for him to be guarding Parker for most of the minutes that he sees, but we have seen Hughes play until his painkiller wears off, which translates into no second half minutes. The alternative defender? The pride of Canton, Ohio, the Snowman. The guy has seen NBA Finals minutes before; the last time, ironically being the one-man Sixers going down to the Lakers. We can only hope that the Cavaliers are as adorable as that Sixers team by winning Game 1, getting a hopeless sports city excited, and going on to get the wood laid to them in the next four.

I wouldn’t mind seeing the Snowman log 5-10 minutes a game in this series, even if the only good that comes from it is the exposure to Canton. Gibson could be another guy to guard Parker, considering his quickness and size (6’2—yeah right, 194 to Parker’s 6’2, 180). Gibson’s lack of experience could get him into some quick foul trouble with Parker, though.

4. Pray for Referees Bias (The Wade factor)

As much as the Spurs have been coddled by the NBA, you have to think that there is some pressure on them to make this series a fair one. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stern and Stu Jackson go overboard (call it wishful thinking), getting the officials worried into calling games in the Cavaliers’ favor. Game Six in the Pistons series served up a little bit of home cookin’ for the Cavaliers and Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry are on short leashes ever since they picked on the league’s poster boy Steve Nash.

As big of a star as Tim Duncan is, LeBron is the player that everyone wants to see. You have to think that LeBron is going to get star treatment with his Bowen matchup. In last years finals, Dwyane Wade got every call against what many thought was the better team in the Mavericks as he lead the embarrassing Heat onto an NBA title. I still cannot believe that Antoine Walker and Gary Payton shamelessly earned rings like that. And neither will you if Damon Jones and Scot Pollard’s clown asses raise that trophy after LeBron’s 20 trips to the line per game this series.

Then again, who is to say that LeBron will even cash in on 75% of those free points?

5. Get Duncan’s ass to the line

I don’t have much to add here. The guy is a great player, but he’s shooting 64.8% from the line this postseason. The Cavs have the horses to pile up fouls (Z, Anderson, Gooden, Marshall). Plus, Bill Simmons knows a lot more about basketball than I do, and he says to put him on the line and hope he gets frustrated. Whatever.

That’s about all I’ve got. To take a page out of Log’s playbook, I’ll use the “if you’ve gotten this far into the article, I’m shocked” joke. So there it is—my first article… about one of my favorite teams. I’m excited to go back and read the constant homering, so let’s finish this one off right.

If the Cavs have success with these five keys, I’ve got them in 5. Yep. 5.

Boring Information Below

The GOP presidential hopefuls had a debate tonight. Top Dems held a similiar type debate about a month ago. I think this is nuts. The election cycle is now so ridiculous that policy is being pushed to the back burner earlier and earlier.

I really hope that people start doing their own research now in preparation for the election that is in Nov of 08'. Maybe then we won't rely on a bunch of bullshit that's spread across 6-10 debates over the next 16-20 months. Remember, as Log mentioned to me, not many people are informed enough to take political positions. I blame the media and the politicians themselves, but nonetheless it's our responsibility to become informed and make the entire system more accountable.

What is the role of goverment?

If you can't give me an articulate answer to that question, you shouldn't be allowed to vote. The debates, the media, and most uniformed Americans complicate the issue. Once you really know what's is important for a government to do/ what they really need not care about, the picture becomes much more clear. Only one difficult hurdle is left to cross when answering the question. You have to remove selfishness from your answer because its not what's best for you, but what's best for the United States.

I will give my answer to the question above in a very long and boring article tomorrow. People might want to consider going out and "researching" what they believe in, and maybe even more importantly, why. It's too important to ignore.

(editing is for people who wear adult diapers)