2010 becomes 2011 continued

Boxing continues to be one of Americas forgotten sports. In one of my first posts on this blog I wrote about how Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. needed to fight to save boxing and nearly a year later the fight still hasn’t happened. Both have fought and both have won easily, but they have yet to fight each other. To make boxing even more irrelevant the heavyweight division is still without a major superstar. So the question is…

Will Pacquioa and Mayweather fight? Will the Klitschko brothers fight each other and give people something to talk about.

Answer: Pacquioa’s next fight has already been determined and that is against and over the hill Sugar Shane Mosely(Less sugar and more molasses last time I checked). Mayweather on the other hand will be fighting the law after numerous allegations were brought up against him. Will these two fight? I say yes, just not when anyone cares anymore. I feel like this will be a fight that happens late in both of their careers when they are not the tremendous fighters they are today.

As for the Klitschkos… noway this happens but wouldn’t it be great to see them duke it out? Not only would it unify 3 belts but what would be better than watching two brothers beat the hell out of each other!

Celtics won round 1… Lakers won round 1 and 1/2 and round 2. Round 3? Both are on a collision course once again to meet in the finals. This year however both paths are far more difficult, So the question is…

Will the NBA Finals be Lakers vs. Celtics?

Answer: No! Not only are the Lakers are too old, but they still have to go through the west. The Spurs are better, the Mavericks are playing defense, and the Thunder are better. The Celtics have to go through, wait for it…THE EAST! I know shocking right! The not only have to battle the Magic and the Bulls, but there is this little team in Miami that is starting to figure things out. One of the two may make it but I have a hard time believing that both will get there.

You remember this guy right? He was and still is the best golfer in the world. Sure he had a rough 2010, but who didn’t really? Sure his was far worse than most people on the planet but whose to say he can’t bounce back. So the question is…

Will Tiger Woods fix his golf game and start winning again?

Answer: PGA Tour you have been warned. Tiger fell off so much that other golfers actually started talking smack! If struggling through an entire golf season wasn’t bad enough, other golfers actually not fearing Tiger was the last straw. I foresee Tiger going bananas this year and leaving a clear path of destruction in his wake. Wins, Wins, and more wins.

Bonus question: Will Tiger Woods start dating again?

Bonus Answer: Now I would love nothing more than Tiger to start dating either Lindsey Lohan or Brittney Spears, but after the year he had I just can’t imagine him dating so soon. If he does date however I expect the women to be someone from high society without any history of any shady past whatsoever.

AND FINALLY……..

Both the NFL and NBA are in golden eras and both are in jeopardy of not having seasons next year. So the question is…

Will the NBA and NFL have lockouts next year?

Answer: David Stern and Roger Goddell call Bud Selig and ask him how 1994 was, PLEASE!!! No one wants to see a strike. In the NFL it would mean players like Tom Brady, Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, and Andre Johnson wasting prime years of their careers. In the NBA it would be a loss for Lebron James, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, and Kobe Bryant. Both leagues have never been better so hopefully these labor negotiations can be worked out before we lose any basketball or football.

2010 was a great year in sports and hopefully 2011 can be even better. Hopefully we will soon be able to find out the answers to all these questions! Happy New Years from SOGJ!

2010 becomes 2011

Its been a while and a lot has happened that has not been blogged by your favorite writers here at SOGJ but a new year means a fresh start.

Sitting around deciding what to write about has been the hardest part of jumping back onto the blog. I didn’t whether to write a year in review or a prediction of things to come so I decided to combine the two ideas. The year that was and the questions the create for next year.

1. Brett Favre’s NFL Future

For 20 years Brett Favre has played in the NFL and finally after this season that may come to an end. After an amazing 2009-2010 season Brett came back after his annual, “I may reitre”, “I don’t know what I am doing”, “I want to play.” fall fiasco to play one of the toughest seasons ever by an NFL player. Now it is no secret I am not a fan of Brett Favre but I have to give the man respect for being an absolute warrior playing through multiple injuries that individually would sideline most men but he played with all of them. A fractured ankle, a concussion, a sore shoulder, a sore elbow, a fractured foot, and a broken reputation(thanks Jenn Sterger). So the question is…

Will Brett Favre retire?

The answer: Most likely I think he will. Now that being said it would not surprise me in the least bit if we see number 4 in purple and gold next year.

After a stellar college career Tim Tebow was suprisingly drafted in the first round by the Denver Broncos. Former head coach Josh McDaniels traded up to the first round to get the Captain of Team Jesus, even though most projections had him as a 4th round pick at very best. Most of the uncertainty was based around the fact that it took Tebow 3 days to wind up and throw the football. So what did Tebow do? He changed his throwing motion and eliminated his hitch. This was a positive sign that Tebow one day may be an effective NFL QB. Then the Broncos signed starting quarterback Kyle Orton to and extension, effectively ending any chance for Tebow to start for the foreseeable future. Flash forward 6 months, fire Josh McDaniels, take the Broncos out of the playoffs and Tim Tebow gets his chance to start and after two games he has looked good! So the question is…

Will Tim Tebow be a starting quarterback in the NFL for the next ten years?

The answer: I think yes. From what we know about Tebow is that he has the will of Rocky Balboa, the determination of a stubborn child, and Jesus on his side. He wants to prove all of America wrong that he can play.

Coach K has had 2 and a half of the best coaching years in the history of basketball. First he led the Redeem Team to the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal, then he led the his Duke Blue Devils to the National Title, and he followed that by leading Team USA to the World Championships. He will soon break the record for all time wins by a coach in NCAA history and his team is currently ranked number 1 again. So the question is…

Will Duke win another title and is Coach K the greatest coach ever?

I think that Duke will repeat in a walk. They are clearly the best team in the country, with the deepest lineup, and the best players. As far as the greatest coach ever I think he is certainly making a case for it. If in 2012 he leads Team USA to another gold medal there are few other coaches who have done what he has accomplished.

To be continued…

Old dudes throwing down!

On Jan. 16th in Uganda, Evander “the real deal” Holyfield, 47 years old, will fight Francois Botha, 41 years old, for his WBF heavyweight title.

Why is it that boxers want to fight till they are 65 years old? I think this in one of those questions that really doesn’t need to be answered because other than two hot girls and a little kid beating up a big kid there may be no fight more enjoyable than two old dudes beating each other up. Think Grumpy Old Men with boxing gloves.

I think they should think about Old Celebrity Boxing! Why not? Who doesn’t want to watch a couple of old dudes beating each other up, other than the fact that at any moment someone might break a hip.

Following this fight Holyfield hopes to fight the unburied corpse of Rocky Marciano. Marciano is favored already in this fight 5-1 odds.

super talent = mega douche nozzle

Tiger is no different than his uber-talented forefathers.

With great power comes great responsibility…or a license for you to be an enormous Big Gulp sized jerkass.

Take a second to think about the biggest sports stars of the last twenty years. Not just your every day all-star, but the guys that you only have to say one name to know.

Here’s a list: Jordan, Tiger, Bonds, Favre, Gretzky, Magic, Agassi, Beckham, Kobe, and Tyson.

You could even go back farther if you would like: Wilt, The Babe, Mantle, and Namath.

So what gives? Why are these guys who are so highly regarded for their athletic abilities such complete and total shmucks?

I think that it is because they are constantly being coached and told what to say and do, and when they finally just don’t give a rat’s ass anymore they tend to act out against the persona that has been created for them.

Some gamble (MJ, Gretzky) some sleep around with some questionable women-folk (Magic, Tiger, Kobe, Wilt, Babe, Kobe, MJ), some turn to substance abuse (Babe, Mantle, Agassi, Namath, Bonds, Favre), some are just crazy and beat people up (You know who you are Iron Mike.), and some are just British. (Oh, Becks. You sexy futbol star.)

The problem is that we can never even imagine how these freaky uber-competative athletes feel. None of us can even come close to their wealth or talent level. I think that this is a trend that will continue as long as we live in an ultra-sensitive, mega informed society.

Think about some of the names that you may be hearing in the future: Federrer, LeBron, Nadal, Landon Donovan (Best American soccer player ever, maybe.), Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Dwayne Wade, or Kobe…again.

I think any or all of these athletes should be on watch and really think about how they are living their lives. Because if history has shown us anything it’s that it repeats itself. I have already stated in a previous article my future pick for athlete falling flat is the one and only Tim ‘Second only to God’ Tebow, now we just have to wait and see.

The Missing Muhammad Ali Opponent: “Sweet Jimmy”

If you read only one story on the internet tonight, please make it this one.

ESPN.com’s Outside the Lines reporter Wright Thompson spent the better part of six years looking for a former opponent of Muhammad Ali nicknamed “Sweet Jimmy” who seemingly disappeared in Miami, FL since fighting Ali in the 1960’s. His search took him all over the most downtrodden and scary parts of Miami to find an almost non-existent man.

The ensuing story is very eye opening and is a fantastic read. Sports journalism like this needs to be supported. Please give it a look.

Jerruh Jones Wants to Watch a Fight

Jerry Jones seen here in front of his palace.

This is epic. Write this down. This may be the only time in my life that Jerry Jones and I agree on something.

The Dallas Cowboys owner, and world’s largest ATM, has offered fight promoters $25 million to host the Manny ‘Pac Man’ Pacquiao vs. Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather super-duper-fight at the new Cowboys Stadium in March 2010.

(The date of this fight is crucial. If the fight were to be held at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in December the promoters were concerned that the fight would have no winner.)

Jones is willing to lower the mammoth punter’s targets video screens (Which would cost a pretty penny.) and install 9,000 temporary seats around the ring. He would then try to fill the stadium to its normal capacity of 110,000 people. That’s almost 120,000 people in one freaking stadium to watch a boxing match.

If this were to be agreed upon by the promoters this would be amazing, not only for boxing, but for sports as a whole. The venue would turn an already mega-event into an astronomical uber-event.

I can’t wait to see if the promoters will go ahead with the deal, and for the sake of the sports fan, I hope they do.

"I WANT YOU! AND I WANT YOU!"

(Side note: Holding the fight at Cowboys Stadium would be awesome for this possible side effect: Jerry Jones being taken to his ringside seat in a ceremony inspired by Apollo Creed’s ‘ode to America’ from Rocky I. Stop pretending like he wouldn’t do it. You’re just lying to me and yourself.)

The End of the Sweet Science? Boxing’s Last Great Hope

Go ahead, name five current boxing champions…no guesses? Okay, then name three…still nothing? How about one? I bet you said Manny ‘Pac-Man’ Pacquiao.

That’s it. That’s the only champion most mainstream sports fans would think of.

Some every day people may come up with the names of past legends like Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield (They of course would be completely wrong considering Tyson hasn’t held a belt for ten years and Holyfield, though still fighting, because he apparently has a thing for long term brain damage, is no longer a champion). If you said Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather you would be wrong also. Even America’s favorite boxer/celebrity dancer doesn’t even hold a championship belt.

How about this question: How many weight classes are there in modern professional boxing? Answer: 17. Are you freaking kidding me? I thought that soccer rules were hard to follow, but with 17 different divisions containing hundreds of fighters in each division it makes FIFA look like an intramural league.

Never mind the 17 different weight classes, there are five governing bodies of boxing that recognize a champion. It’s like when the WCW would have a TV Champion (Ric Flair…woooo!), a U.S. Champion (Scott Hall), a World Champion (Sting), a Cruiserweight Champion (Dean Malenko), and a Tag Team Champion (Hall and Nash). What the hell is a TV Champion anyways?

Let’s try some math, stay with me here. 17 x 5 = 85. There are 85 world title holders at any given moment in professional boxing. (Yay! Everyone gets a ribbon for participation!) That’s a lot for the casual fan to keep track of.

And then there is this: boxing is just not violent enough for modern America. Here is why: In the mixed martial arts world (which has overtaken boxing in popularity by far) fighters go all out. They try to rip the other fighter’s head off. I understand that strategy is a big part of MMA and fighters use take-downs, submissions and techniques from a wide variety of fighting arts, which makes it fun to watch, but all-in-all it is just way more aggressive and violent than modern day boxing. (I personally love the old UFC before the gloves and rules. Take a look at a couple of YouTube videos of Tank Abbott sometime. Dude was crazy.)

Boxers today are not as fearless as they used to be. Example: Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Tyson, Holyfield, Sugar Ray Robinson, Marciano and Roy Jones Junior. Those guys were fearless.

Ali was so fearless he would tell you how he was going to beat you up, and then he would go do it. He would actually predict the round he would knock you out in for good measure.

Tyson in yet another defeat to Little Mac.

Tyson was just plain scary. The fact that his video game self was easier to beat than the actual guy is saying something. (Note: Maybe the best fighting game to ever grace a video game console is Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out for the original NES. Also, check out the new Wii version, not a bad follow up. Oh, Glass Joe.)

Roy Jones Jr. is a particularly tough fighter. He fought Bernard Hopkins in 1993 with a broken hand and defeated him to win the vacant IBF middleweight belt. Seven years later Jones Jr. fractured his wrist a week before fighting David Telesco in 2000. He still won the fight via decision.

Frazier getting his world rocked during the "Thrilla in Manila."

Joe Frazier fought partially blind after the 13th round against Ali in the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ in 1975. Ali also told reporters after the fight that it was the closest to dying that he has ever been. Once more to make sure everybody is paying attention…Frazier fought blind. You would never see allowed in modern boxing.

The majority of today’s fighters, especially the heavyweights, more concerned about getting hit than they are about destroying their opponent. This has turned into two massively large humans walking around the ring leaning in and leaning out.(It looks kind of like a junior high school dance when the boys really want to dance with the girls but they are afraid. Their so called ‘friend’ then shoves them out to the dance floor and they then hurry back to the wall from which they came.) It has just lost all entertainment value.

This leads me to my point: boxing’s last great hope is Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather v. Manny ‘Pac-Man’ Pacquioa I. (I am hoping that there will at least be three of these epic battles.)

The fight, which is close to being finalized with be scheduled to take place in March of 2010, is boxing’s last chance to win back the interest of the American sporting fan. They are two of the best and most popular fighters of our generation (Pacquioa is so popular he is actually running for a senate seat in his native Phillipines. He will train and campaign at the same time. Really? Wow. Come on, he is the man.). Pacquioa is so tough he performed a love song on Jimmy Kimmel Live last month (Find the video, it’s worth it. He took himself way too seriously, but you try telling him that he can’t sing.).

Yep. Looks like an even fight to me!

Mayweather is a very skilled fighter. He has won six different titles in five different weight classes. He went to the WWE and fought the Big Show. Now, I know what you’re saying: “Isn’t wrestling is fake?” Scripted, yes. But if the Big Show (7’0” 485 lbs.) had fallen on ‘Money May’ (5’7” 145 lbs.) he would have died on impact. Just stating a medical fact…)

This fight has to happen, the sport and it’s promoters cannot drop the ball on this one. Boxing is laying everything on the line with these two fighters. They have each had the last two largest grossing Pay-Per-View sales for individual fights. Now they will hopefully meet in a clash of personalities and styles in the ring. For the sake of boxing, I hope it happens and I hope it’s a great fight. It needs it.