All Sport Report

After some serious miscues in my predictions in the sporting world of late, I finally managed to get one right - well not exactly right, I did call for a knockout, but at least I successfully managed to pick the winner:

Following more than three long months of predictions, trash talk and hype the Golden Boy and the Pretty Boy finally stepped into the ring Saturday night in Las Vegas, in front a sell out crowd and God knows how many PPV viewers.

Much to my surprise, it was a solid fight from beginning to end with Floyd Mayweather Jr squeeking out a narrow split decision victory. See I’m from the Mike Tyson generation, where more often than not the weigh in lasted more than twice as long as the actual fight, so I’m still a bit mystified when a championship fight of this caliber is not only a close fight, but entertaining past the third round.

The difference in the fight was, as expected, in Mayweather’s lightining fast hands and skillfull defense. Floyd landed an incredible 43 percent of his punches to De La Hoya’s twenty-one percent.

Oscar and his special guest (Floyd Mayweather Sr) both thought the Golden Boy won the fight with harder and cleaner punches, but two of the three score cards begged to differ.

This was De La Hoya’s third loss in his last five fights, and with Golden Boy Promotions going strong I find myself wondering how much longer he’ll stay active in the fight game. Floyd Mayweather Jr had already indicated that this fight may be his last…

I think we should give the two of them a couple weeks vacation and then put them on the nation wide hype tour again for De La Hoya/Mayweather II in January ‘08. Come on all boxing fans know that you haven’t really beaten someone until you beat them two out of three.

Floyd Mayweather Jr, Oscar De La Hoya, boxing, welterweight, light middleweight, Golden Boy, Pretty Boy

Tomorrow night will be the biggest, most anticipated fight of the year if not the decade. There has been constant talk and speculation about this fight, the likes of which boxing hasn’t seen since the days of Muhammed Ali.

There was a week long tour of the combatants filled with more hype than any fight that has preceeded it. Tensions mounted from the “trainer swap” - Mayweather’s father had been estranged from his son for several years, and offered his services to help De La Hoya beat Jr, for the small sum of two million dollars. When De La Hoya didn’t want to agree to the astronomical training fee, Floyd Sr ended up back in the gym with his boy and the most recent flip and or flop may have Floyd’s daddy showing up as a guest of the Golden Boy.

The big question in my mind as a fight fan is - Can this fight possibly live up to the expectations we as boxing fans have put upon it?… The answer, I don’t think so.

Oscar De La Hoya is one of the greatest fighters of all time, without question. He won an Olympic Gold Medal at the 1992 Barcelona games, and over the course of his 15 year professional career he’s fought his way to an outstanding 38-4 record with 30 KO’s.

The list of fighters he’s dismantled in his forty-two fights reads like a who’s who of boxing champions including: Julio Cesar Chavez, Pernell Whitaker, Hector Comacho, Arturo Gatti and Fernando Vargas.

Oscar is the only man in boxing history to hold championships in six different weight classes, and he’s only been knocked out once in a career that spans a decade and a half. He’s only lost fights to three men (Shane Mosley twice) and only been really decisively beaten once, by Bernard Hopkins.

The problem for Oscar is that all of the things I described above, as impressive as they are, are in the past. The Golden Boy has had problems coping with faster fighters (like Mosley) and not only is Floyd Mayweather Jr a bit faster than Oscar, he’s four years younger and, from what I’ve seen throughout the hype - Floyd wants it more, and he believes that he’s walking out of that ring the winner.

There are maybe one or two guys in professional boxing today that are better fighters than Floyd Mayweather Jr, and unfortunately for the Golden Boy, he isn’t one of them. If Mayweather comes out and fights his fight, I don’t think that De La Hoya stands a chance - Floyd Mayweather Jr hands Oscar the second knockout loss of his career in the eighth round.

Saturday night when the opening bell rings, after all the dust of the trash talk has settled, the only thing that’s going to matter is who’s better, who wants it more and right now that guy is Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Here’s just a sample of what the Golden Boy is in for tomorrow night:

Mayweather, De La Hoya, Pretty Boy, Golden Boy, boxing

Roger Federer hasn’t lost a match on a grass court in nearly four years, Rafael Nadal hasn’t lost a match on clay in two… So what happens when you pit these two tennis greats against each other on a court of grass…and clay.

Well, you get one of the most bizzarre, intruiging and entertaining exhibition tennis matches since the Billie Jean King squared off against Bobby Riggs in the “battle of the sexes”. This crazy split-court match cost quite a bit more money to put on, but like King vs Riggs, it attracted a lot of attention (a sell out crowd of more than seven thousand were on hand) and the underdog came out on top.

It took nearly three weeks and over a million and a half dollars, but in Palma De Mallorca a tennis court was constructed of one half grass, the other half clay.

The number one and number two ranked tennis players in the world adjusted as well as can be expected while switching back and forth between the two drastically different surfaces, having to change shoes with each switch, but in the end it was Rafael Nadal (No. 2) that took the victory.

There were mistakes and unforced errors as was to be expected with the unusual circumstances of the match, but it was hardly an easy victory for Nadal. Coming into this split surface match, Nadal had never lost to Federer on clay and never beaten him on grass. Nadal had to earn this exibition victory: 7-5, 4-6, 7-6.

tennis, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, grass court, clay court, split court

In baseball, football and hockey it’s not unusual for a struggling player to be seranaded with a chorus of boos, to be verbally assaulted and insulted, even to hear some vulgarity, but that’s usually where it ends. In the world’s most popular sport, however, things can get a bit more intense.

Former French national goalie, Fabien Barthez, was talked out of retirement to play for Nantes, but after a 2-0 loss to Rennes this past weekend put his team in last place in the French League, fear for his safety has sent him back.

A few key mistakes by the veteran goalie first led to some verbal harrassment from fans, but when a small crowd surrounder Barthez’s car while he was attempting to leave the stadium and threatened to “rub him out”, kicking the vehicle and trying to pull the goalie out, Barthez decided it was time to call it quits.

He told AP reporters that booing and whistling at him through matches could be accepted, that it was part of the atmosphere, but what he went caused him not to feel secure anymore.

The team offered him private security through the end of the season, but Barthez declined. He said he would rather leave than to have to live like that.

Nantes, soccer, Fabien Barthez, goalie

The defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals had begun the season with a less than impressive fashion.

The team currently sits with a record of 10-14, five and a half games out of the division lead, in a three way tie for last place. The ace of their pitching staff, Chris Carpenter, is on the disabled list as is another big arm from the starting rotation - Mark Mulder.

At the outset of the weekend a two word headline appeared in a St. Louis newspaper “No Chance”, speaking of the Chicago Cubs and their World Series hopes. The struggling Cubs were coming into town for a three game weekend series, and they now had extra motivation in the form of a newspaper article.

Cardinals’ manager Tony Larussa lashed out at the media before the series began, and in a story straight from a movie script - the jilted, insulted Cubs won the first two of the scheduled three meetings. The teams didn’t make it onto the field for the third.

Early sunday morning Cardinal’s relief pitcher Josh Hancock was involved in a fatal car accident. The twenty-nine year old’s SUV struck the back of a tow truck and Hancock was presumably killed on impact. Police reported that Hancock was driving at or very close to the speed limit, and there were no open containers in the vehicle. It appears Hancock just didn’t see the truck until it was too late.

This is the second time the Cardinals’ have lost a player in the last five years - in 2002, 33 year old pitcher Darryl Kile was found dead in a hotel room from heart failure.

In 2002 the Cards coped with the difficult loss and went on to win the central division and were later beaten by the Giants in the National League Championship Series.

The Cardinals were picked by many, as defending World Series Champions, to have another strong season in 2007 but they’ve got a long and difficult road ahead of them. After postponing the final game of their series against the Cubs on Sunday, the Cards dropped the first of a 3 game series agains the division leading Brewers.

The Cardinals will wear Hancock’s number 32 on their arms for the rest of the season to pay homage to a young man who will be remembered as a great friend, a great teammate and an integral part of their 2006 success.

St Louis Cardinals, Josh Hancock, World Series Champions, Darryl Kile

The number two ranked tennis player in the world bagged his third Barcelona Open title in a row by beating Argentine Guillermo Canas in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

This was Nadal’s 72nd straight win on a clay court, he hasn’t lost a match on clay in two years and he hasn’t lost a set since the first match of the French Open final last year to proverbial tennis superman Roger Federer.

Nadal just keeps increasing his own lead in the record books, his most recent win putting him nineteen victories over the number two in consecutive matches on clay (Guillermo Vilas - 53 in 1977).

Canas took the whooping in stride and remarked to AP reporters “At least playing against Nadal at his best will only serve to help me reach a level that I would like to reach with my own game.”

If you’ve never seen Rafael Nadal play on his surface, here’s a bit of action from the ‘07 Monte Carlo Final in which he took down the number one ranked tennis player in the world(Federer):

With his win at Barcelona, he becomes only the fourth player to take home the coveted title three times, and only the second to do it three times in a row. If he could convince to tennis gods to do away with grass and hardcourt, Nadal would take over the ever elusive number one ranking in no time.

Barcelona Open, Rafael Nadal, Gullermo Canas, tennis winning streak

The baseball season is almost twenty games old and right at the moment, there isn’t anyone hotter that the Yankee’s Alex Rodriguez, despite the fact that the Yankees are on a six game losing streak A-Rod is on fire. In my humble opinion, the secong hottest team in baseball is the red hot Philadelphia Phillies - who are riding a streak where they’ve won five of their last six. No surprises there, on another site, I predicted A-Rod to shine as this years AL MVP, and, much like the Phils animated shortstop, I predicted the Phils to run rampant in the east.

The surprise comes at who is the next hottest:

Forty-two year old Barry Bonds has seven homeruns over the course of the Giants first 17 games putting him at 741 for his incredible career, just fourteen away from tying Hank Aarons all-time record.

Bonds has homered three times in his last six games and has led the Giants to eight straight wins, making them the hottest team in the game right now, in either league.

Honestly I thought Barry was through, after missing virtually all of the 2005 season, and managing only 26 home runs last season, which was his lowest total since 1991, I thought maybe he didn’t have anything left in the tank. But if you’ve learned anything from coming to this site, it’s that I can most certainly be wrong. (I predicted the Phoenix Coyotes to make the playoffs for God sakes)

Bonds has been on an offensive tiraid, along with his seven homers, he has 15 RBIs and is batting .346. If Barry’s body can sustain this pace, he’ll have the all-time homerun crown all to himself by the end of May.

Barry Bonds, baseball, Phillies, Giants, A-Rod

Rafael Nadal was the obvious pick to win the Barcelona Open, he has won the last two in a row and he was working on a 67 match unbeaten streak coming into the tournament.

If there was any doubt in anyones minds who the best tennis player is when it comes to the clay court, The second ranked player in the world put it to rest emphatically in the first round of the Barcelona Open.

It took Rafael Nadal just about as long as my lunch break to dismantle his first round opponent, Kristof Vliegen. Nadal extended his clay court win streak to 68 with the 6-1, 6-2 trouncing of his Belgian opponent.

With this victory Nadal one-ups the record he owns in the open era, notables who are behind Nadal at a distance are Guilermo Vilas at 53, and Bjorn Borg at 46 in a row, no active players are even remotely close to Nadal.

Rafael Nadal, Barcelon Open, clay court, tennis, winning streak

After not having fought a professional fight in more than a decade, heavyweight Tommy Morrison is set to step in the ring for the second time in just over two months. Morrison had been suspended indefinitely after having tested positive for HIV in 1996.

Morrison was reportedly tested several times with negative results over the recent months and given license to fight in West Virginia for February 22, it was Morrisons first fight in more than a decade and resulted in another win by way of knockout for “The Duke”

Tommy will fight the second fight of his incredible comeback this weekend in Houston - if he passes the required tests in order to be licensed in the state, which will include a blood test for the presence of HIV. Morrison says that he will have no problem taking and passing any of the required tests and Dickie Cole of the Texas Combative Sports Department reportedly told espn.com that Morrison would be treated the same as any other fighter applying for license.

So if Tommy holds true to his word and passes the required tests, he will face Dale Ortiz in a four round fight at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Houston, and continue what could become the greatest comeback in sports history.

Here’s a brief look at some of the amazing knockouts Tommy delivered before his decade long hiatus from the boxing ring:

Tommy Morrison, the Duke, boxing, comeback, heavyweight champion

“L’Equipe” reported on Monday that follow-up testing on back-up urine samples submitted by last years Tour de France winner were found to have traces of synthetic testosterone.

Seven back-up samples were tested and the lab reported clear evidence of the synthetic hormone.

Landis questions the results, because the lab refused to let his expert be present while the test was being conducted. The lab of Chatenay-Malabry maintains that the original agreement was to have Landis’ expert accompanied by two experts from the USADA and since the USADA experts didn’t show, they weren’t required to let Lands’ expert in.

The lab at Chatenay-Malabry has been accused of false positives in the past and is criticized by a number of professional cyclists, including seven time Tour champion Lance Armstrong.

If the positive results hold up, Landis will face a two year ban from competitive cycling and he will be the first rider in the century plus history of the Tour to be stripped of his crown.

I would think with the strict anti-doping policies strongly maintained in every country where competitive racing takes place, the riders would think twice before using a banned substance. The Tour de France is the biggest cycling event worldwide, it would take a pretty naive and desperate rider to think he could get away with using an illegal substance to win a race of that magnitude.

Maybe if Floyd Landis gets stripped of his Tour de France title, it will make other prospective riders think twice before considering using anything but intense training sessions to try and score a victory.

Floyd Landis, Tour De France, cycling, doping, anti-doping, synthetic hormone, synthetic testosterone

At UFC 69 on Pay Per View, Matt Serra shocked the world with his surprise victory over George “Rush” St. Pierre to take a slice of UFC Gold. If you were one of the hardcore MMA fans who couldn’t believe their eyes at the sight of Serra’s underdog triumph, then your world was turned upside down on Saturday night.

Zuffa put on UFC 70, from Manchester England, and for the first time in UFC history, a major event was televised free here in the States. The show was titled “Nations Collide” and pitted fighters representing different countries and cultures against one another.

There were some big names fighting - England’s own Michael “the Count” Bisping scored a victory to the delight of the fans. Andre “the Pitbull” Arlovski fought to an incredibly boring decision victory over Brazillian jui-jitsu expert Fabricio Werdum.

Four time Oklahoma State Wrestling Champion Matt Grice’s unbeaten streak came to an end when he was submitted by Liverpool native Terry Etim with a guillotine choke in the first round.

I found myself saying “no wonder Zuffa is televising this for free, there aside from the Bisping fight, there hasn’t been anything worth paying for on the card.” Trooper that I am, I hung in there for the last fight. Cro Cop - the most viscious striker of all time in the heavyweight division was going to beat the hell out of poor Gabriel Gonzaga, and that’s why we all tune in to MMA - to see someone get their a$$ kicked right?

The stage was set for Cro Cop to beat down Gonzaga and get his shot at Randy Couture’s UFC Heavyweight Title, most likely at UFC 72 a few months down the road. Since Zuffa signed on Cro Cop, the only question in the fan’s minds was “when is he going to take the heavyweight gold?”

Well it ain’t gonna be anytime soon. Gonzaga knocked Cro Cop out cold with a viscious kick to the head. It was one of the most wicked kicks I’ve seen in a long while. I had a vide on here this morning, but the friendly folks at Youtube saw fit to pull it, rendering my link useless. If you go to youtube and type in UFC 70, or Cro Cop vs. Gonzaga you should have no problem finding it, but let me warn you, it’s pretty nasty.

Needless to say I was glad I hung around until the bitter end. Two UFC events, two major upsets and UFC 71 coming right around the corner. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict Chuck “Iceman” Liddell will lose his Light-Heavyweight belt to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 71, I know the UFC has been billing Liddell as the scariest light-heavy on the planet for a long time now, but with the way the last two main event’s have gone, my money is on “Rampage”

UFC, Cro Cop, Gabriel Gonzaga, Bisping, Zuffa

Unlike my hockey predictions, at least all of the teams I picked to be in the hunt in hoops are still there. Now lets have a look at the brackets and see how it’s gonna go down.

We’ll start with the East:

- Detroit over Orlando in six

- Cleveland sweeps Washington

- Nets over Toronto in seven

- Miami over Chicago in six

Round two:

- Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and the supporting cast of the Nets upset number on Detroit in five

- Heat over the Cavs in six

Eastern Conference Championship:

Just like I predicted in January Miami will be the Conference Champions by walking all over the Nets in five

Now the Confernce that matters:

West Round 1:

- Dallas sweeps Golden State

- Phoenix over the Lakers in five - sorry Kobe, the scoring title don’t mean nothin’ when your playing Steve Nash and the Suns

- Denver surprises San Antonio in seven

- Utah over Houston in six

Round 2:

- The Mavs are just too much for AI and Melo - Dallas takes down Denver in five

- Phoenix takes out the Jazz in six

Western Conference Championship

- In a seven game series that will prove to be ten times more exiting than the finals Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs knock off Steve Nash and the Suns in dramatic fashion at the buzzer in game six.

NBA Finals

Dallas makes Miami look like school kids, turning off the Heat in five to take the crown.

The Championship should really be decided between the Mavs and the Suns, foregoing the inevitable embarassment of the Eastern Conference. Three teams to make the playoffs from the east have records of .500 or worse while the three top teams from the West all have far better winning percentages than the top team in the East.

NBA playoffs, NBA predictions, playoff predictions

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below:

The Philadelphia Phillies have begun the season in a dismal fashion - a 3-9 record with only one win at home. The ace of their pitching staff, Brett Myers, has been shelled in his last two starts; their runners LOB is in double digits nearly every game, they are barely hitting above .200 with runners in scoring position and they have the worst bullpen in baseball.

The only thing the Phillies seem to be fighting for is to keep their head above water, and they are losing that battle.

Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel has been criticized in the media for not cutting loose on his players when they don’t perform up to expectations and for the fact that he’s too nice, too laid back. Well all that came to a head in a press conference after a 8-1 loss to the division rival Mets Tuesday night.

The verbal altercation began during the press conference when Eskin suggested Manuel rip into the players in the clubhouse to shake things up. Charlie responded first by saying that he did throw the occasional clubhouse fit, then by challenging his long time critic to a fit. Fightin’ Charlie asked Eskin to stop by his office, said that he would be waiting for him.

The two later met up in the Phillies clubhouse, where Manuel actually had to be restrained by two of his coaches.

I, for one, would like to see Charlie Manuel beat up on Howard Eskin. I think that would fire up the team more than yelling at them after a pitiful on field performance. A manager that’s willing to fight for his team is someone who get’s respect. plus there could be an added benefit - if Charlie breaks Eskin’s jaw in the fight, Howard will have no choice but to keep his damn mouth shut!

Phillies, Charlie Manuel, Howard Eskin, Phillies manager fight, Philies fight

After a diving attempt to snag a fly ball, then slipping while trying to throw the ball back to the infield, Cubs center fielder Alfonso Soriano suffered a three to four inch strain in his hamstring that will likely have him spending some time on the disabled list.

Soriano, who was the Cubs major off-season aquisition and the reason many people pick Chicago to be competitive in 2007 hasn’t really gotten off to the start that many people had expected. The Cubs signed Soriano to an eight year contract worth more than 130 million dollars, in part because of the monster year he had with the otherwise less than entertaining Washington Nationals last season. In 159 games in ‘06, Alfonso hit .277 with 46 homeruns and 95 RBI in one of the larger, more pitcher friendly stadiums in Major League Baseball, he also managed 41 doubles and 41 stolen bases making him one of the most potent offensive threats in the National League last year.

So far this season, in twelve games with the Cubs, Soriano is batting only .245 with no homeruns and only one RBI. Probably not the numbers the Cubs expected from the player with the biggest paycheck on the roster and now he’s heading to the DL with a bad wheel. That means he’ll likely miss at least ten days, and he probably won’t be nearly as much of a threat on the base paths for a few weeks while he fully recovers from the injury.

There’s a good chance that Soriano will be his old self again - pounding homeruns and stealing bases with the best of them, but right now I’m happy the Phillies didn’t shell out 136 million on him.

Cubs, Alfonso Soriano, free agent signings, baseball injuries