Lots of things happened over the weekend. Highlights included Wabash winning pretty handily over OWU, 28-7. It wasn't even as close as the score would suggest. Purdue (finally) steamrolled somebody, even if that somebody was SEMO. The Colts did not win, but I'm not expecting much out of them this year. Baseball playoffs inch closer. But, as you might have guessed from the smiling Mayweather over there, today we're going to talk about boxing.* *Well, you know, at least it's going to start off with boxing. If you've paid any attention to this blog, it's tendency to wander like a stray dog is well-established. As you may (or very likely may not have, given boxing's current standing in the media) have heard, Floyd Mayweather Jr. knocked out Victor Ortiz in the 4th round. This is not unsurprising. Mayweather is still undefeated,* which is great for any boxer still doing it at 34. He had a long layoff, but was still the 8-1 favorite over Ortiz, who seemed to have little to offer in this fight than a potential Rocky Balboa punch. *Even ducking Pacquiao, you've got to have some respect for Mayweather's talents. 42-0 (26 KO) is impressive, and remember, Floyd didn't duck anybody in his younger days. No, the question came in how the knockout was delivered. Before we continue, a small disclaimer in the interest of full disclosure. I didn't watch the fight, partly because I wasn't home, and mostly because I'd hate to shell out $50 on a match without a lot of question. I could use that $50 on things a lot more important than to watch Mayweather put another notch on his belt not named Pacquiao. I haven't seen video of the knockout because I couldn't find it quickly on YouTube* and haven't had time to really dig for it yet (you know, also being at my paying job and all). But I've certainly read quite a bit about it, so here is a summary of the fight as I understand it. *At least not one that HBO hasn't already had taken down. For the first three rounds, Mayweather outclassed Ortiz as predicted, and Ortiz did not take it well, getting visibly frustrated, when he finally found his first bit of footing towards the end of the fourth. He landed a flurry of punches and forced Mayweather back to the ropes. That seems universal. From here, Ortiz headbutted Mayweather. Most stories I have read say it was blatant,* but others were wishy-washy. The referee stopped the fight to deduct a point from Ortiz. Things seem to get very fuzzy from here. From what I understand, the fighters touched gloves, and Ortiz proceeded to try to apologize for the headbutt and give Mayweather a hug (and maybe a kiss). Mayweather proceeded to bury his gloves as far into Ortiz's face as the Mexican hero's skull would allow. Ortiz was out. Did I mention the crowd was firmly in Ortiz's corner? Because that seems universal, too. They didn't take these punches well. *Blanka-like according to Grantland's Jay Caspian Kang. Most of the controversy seems to come in the form of Mayweather sucker punched Ortiz. Boxing writers (or sports writers who are pretty knowledgeable about boxing, anyway [here's looking at you, Posnanski]) seem convinced that Mayweather was firmly within the rules. Commenters on these stories are less convinced. There seems to be some debate over whether or not the referee actually restarted the fight. Again, I didn't see it, but I would be shocked if the referee didn't get the fight restarted when they touched gloves, so I guess I'm on Mayweather's side. If you're in a fight, you can't be trying to give out free loving until you've heard the bell and the official is waving his arms. If you can't remember the dude in front of you is trying to severely concuss you, then you deserve what's coming to you. No, it seems to me that the commenters here are a bunch of sour grapes. Mayweather is not the most popular fighter, and there are good reasons for that. He has, umm, let's call is swagger. Others would call it much worse. His attitude grates on many people in and out of boxing. His constant claiming of not getting enough respect also grates on people. I've found myself on both sides of this. He is most assuredly cocky, and Mayweather doesn't quite seem to realize that an undefeated record alone is not enough to make him the GOAT.* On the other hand, you have to be awfully cocky in a sport like boxing, both to help you in the ring and draw attention out of it. And if you've seen Mayweather at work, the dude is a great boxer. No question. It seems to me that the commenters are those that don't like anything about Floyd Mayweather Jr. and just desperately want to see him lose that zero at the end of his record so he will go away. *Greatest of All Time, for the uninitiated. It's just the politics of fandom, and unfortunately, Mayweather's antics have long ago landed him on the outside of the popular circle. If he ever were to lock horns with Pacquiao, the crowd would be so pro-Manny you'd think they fought in his backyard.* It wouldn't the first time. As mentioned before, Ortiz had the crowd in his back pocket. Ricky Hatton had the crowd on his side. Mayweather seems to thrive on this. I don't think that would be an issue. I do think Mayweather would be the underdog, which would be a new role. Or at least one he hasn't held for some time. I do think Mayweather is scared of Pacquiao, which would also be new. All that said, I don't think it's as sealed as many do. Mayweather is one of the best defensive fighters of all time. Pacquiao apparently hits as if his hands were made of iron, but you may remember George Foreman was one bad mother--- (Shut your mouth!) when he fought Muhammad Ali. Ali was also a blindingly fast defensive fighter (especially in that fight) without a ton of pop (though more than Mayweather is generally credited with. . .which is probably also underestimated). I don't know if people see Mayweather as fragile, either, but that would seem to be an unfounded accusation. As far as I'm aware, he's only been knocked down once, and that seems to have more to do with fighting with a broken hand than anything. It would be a great, great fight. If it never happens (which is looking increasingly likely), it will be one of t *And given his god-like status in the Philippines, he probably has a backyard big enough to host the fight, crowd, cameras, and all. 32 of you stopped by yesterday, and 6 already this morning. In this blog's "prime"* it was drawing about 25 a day. Maybe this hiatus did some good. In any case, this is fun again. Maybe sometime soon I'll get a new header picture. I feel like this blog is pretty well built now. We can get the construction guys out of the way. *I like to throw words around pretty loosely, if you can't tell. Something else I wanted to point out on the Danville hockey post that I didn't get to (and forgot yesterday) was the geography of the league. You can see the league map there on the left. One of these things is not like the others. Of course, it also thinks Danville is more of a suburb of Chicago, too. There might be some sorely disappointed hockey players come October. Kind of reminds me of a map that ran on a certain major sports network. All right, it was ESPN. I'm sure the Bears and their fans would have been happier with that alignment was Solider Field had a UFO parked on top of it. In sports that were actually played last night, I watched the WNBA. I don't make a habit of it, but I enjoy basketball in just about every form. I actually paid a fair amount of attention to the Fever a few years ago. 1070 The Fan, the ESPN radio out of Indy, kept reporting that either the Fever won, or they were done. So it was interesting to see how the season played out with the threat of folding resting on their shoulders and their play. The team responded and came very, very close to winning the whole thing. That was enough to save the team. I haven't paid any attention until maybe a month ago when it just popped into my head to see how the Fever was doing. Turns out, they were doing very well. They are the top seed in the Eastern Conference and are taking on the New York Liberty in the first round. The Fever won last night on a last second jumper from the point guard, who is not either Katie Douglas or Tamika Catchings, the big stars. It really should not have come down to that. The Fever had the Liberty throttled for the first half, and then just came out flat in the second half. They missed around five virtually uncontested lay ups. There were lazy passes (including one off the back of a Fever player's head), dribbling into (and more damningly, picking up the dribble so there was no dribbling out of) corners, and just all around not great decisions, mostly from the point. Lin Dunn was tired of it, and I kind of was, too. Very frustrating to watch. But, all's well that ends well, and last night ended well. They'll do it again Saturday at 4 in New York. I will probably be recording that game and watching it later, but I will watch it. Well, the Phillies became the first team to clinch a playoff spot last night. They hold an 11 game lead on the Braves (who are pretty decent themselves) with 16 to play. Of course, all the Phillies clinched was at least a wild card berth, but it won't take long for them to sew up the division. I expect the Tigers to be the next team to punch their ticket, leading the Indians and White Sox by 13.5 with all of 13 to play. I didn't say I was going out on a limb or anything. By the way, isnt' that a hell of a picture with the Phanatic? Back on point, it's not news that the Phillies are a damn good team. The rotation is one we will talk about for ages. The lineup might not be as good as the one from the 2008 squad, but when you're rotation is as good as the one they've put together, that's not the biggest concern. I'm not sure how much better shortening the rotation will make the Phillies, since they were so strong from top to bottom, but it's never a bad thing when you get to pitch Roy Halladay more.* *Halladay has pitched the only no-hitter I watched from start to finish in my life, against the Reds in last year's playoffs. Of course, I was very firmly on the Reds band wagon last year. I don't have much else to write today, but my TV is being put in as I type, so I'll be able to watch some sports again. Hallelujah. Also, Wabash's home opener is on Saturday. You'll probably have to suffer through to D-III football (and basketball when we get there) talk. I know, I know. I hear you. I know the title is a lie. Just like how Irregular Webcomic! is the most regularly updated comic in the world. "Life is ironic, isn't it?" I didn't even get to what I really wanted to talk about yesterday. The point about me getting excited about hockey season is it looks like Danville (IL) is going to actually have a hockey team this year. This is opposed to last season when they had a team called the Express that didn't even make it to opening day. There have been a few hockey teams to come through Danville over the years. I've heard of the Dashers (logo pictured on left) and (Fighting) Saints. I've watched the Wings,* the Pounders, the Inferno, and I'll soon be watching the new Dashers (logo below). *The Wings certainly seemed to be the most successful Danville team, both in terms of on-ice production and capturing some talk of the town. I can tell you they regularly filled (or nearly-filled) the Arena, something which no other team has done to this point. Of course, no team has played the quality of hockey as the Wings, either. Danville may not be a hockey hotbed, but it's not hard to tell good hockey from bad hockey. They were too good to last, though. They were bought by a different group and moved to Indy to become the Indiana Ice. I haven't been to a game in Indy yet, but I hear they're still kicking ass. The original Dashers were just slightly before my time. Their Wikipedia page isn't the most helpful, either. All it tells me is they played from 1981 to 1986. In a possibly related note, I was born in '86. They were part of the Continental Hockey League, which folded in 1986 (probably a little more related than my birth). Unfortunately, information seems pretty scant on this league, despite it lasting longer than the AAHL that replaced it . The Dashers seemed to do all right based on their Wiki page, though. They won the regular season championship in their inaugural year, and took home the big trophy in '82 and '84. Two championships for a team that only lasted five years isn't too shabby. After the league folded, Danville went on to form the AAHL (this time as the Saints) with some of the other teams, but it only lasted a couple years. The new Dashers kick off their season on October 29th. They'll play in the Federal League, which I'm fairly sure is the same name as the league in Slap Shot. As I understand, it is low level minor league hockey, but seems to be a much better set up than the last pro league to come though. The Pounders were part of some Mickey Mouse league that had four teams, and to cut down on travel, there were different rosters for east and west versions of the team. It was pretty dumb and produced scores like 22-16. There was a reason we counted all of six other people in the stands for that game. I have to say, I'm actually a little bit leery of this league, and it's directly because of the Pounders experience. The league started last year (November of 2010), and I'm told has a reputation for being a "bar fight league." They did go from six teams last year to eight teams this year, so there must be something good going on. I just really hope the hockey is worth a damn, because as I just said, the last A-league was just an embarrassment. The Wings were (and are as the Ice) a junior team in the USHL, which does happen to be the top junior league in the United States. That was top-notch hockey, and the stands were filled accordingly. The Inferno (which also moved to Indy) also was a junior league, the GLJHL, which was also solid hockey. Not quite the Wings, which makes sense as it's a Tier III rather than Tier I, and the crowds weren't quite as good. But they were a decent draw, especially for a team that went 0-50 in its last year in Danville. I'm definitely excited to have a team back in the Palmer Arena, I think it's great for Danville, which needs something good going for it. You can bet I'll be there on opening night and really hoping for some good hockey. I'm more than ready. I'll also admit that I'm not-so-secretly happy that it looks like the NHL will get the winter season to itself, but that's a post for another time. I set a site record on September 3rd with 105 hits, and I have no clue why. Was I featured by Weebly or something? I really wish I knew. If anybody happens to know, please let me know, either emailing me or use the comments on the article. I went over baseball playoffs yesterday, but there's another big happening in October that I'm pretty excited about, although because of the playoffs and World Series I probably won't be paying too much attention to until at least November. And that is hockey season. I feel like I might have written the following before, but given my usual readership, it probably won't hurt to write it again. I don't really know how it happened. We didn't grow up watching hockey other than once or twice a year when my dad would get free Danville Wings tickets through work. But, somehow, both my brother and I became big hockey fans. If I had to guess, I would say it was video games. We had NHL '98* as our first "real" hockey game. Unless you count Blades of Steel, which I'm not sure I do. Fun game, but you probably don't get the most accurate picture of a real hockey game from that. I do know it was based on that game that I decided I was an Avalanche fan because of Patrick Roy, Peter Forsberg, etc. That group. Andrew decided he was he Penguins fan. *Kinda going off memory here, so no guarantees on that being right. It wasn't the one featured in Swingers, though, I know that. Now, as you might have guessed (assuming you were aware where we are) that neither of those teams are close to Indiana. That made it awfully hard to watch any hockey. Added to that, there really was no hockey to watch at all on TV other than scattered games on FOX or ESPN at the time. The Blackhawks (quite famously) didn't televise their games, which was such a huge missed opportunity (and such an obvious one) that it ought to be criminal. More on that later, but without Chicago and St. Louis being too far away for the Blues to be on at the time, there wasn't consistent hockey to watch. And yet, somehow, we both stuck to hockey. Again, mostly through video games. Andrew stuck (and has stuck, to his immense credit) with the Penguins, even through the lean years when it looked like they might leave Pittsburgh. I drifted away from Colorado as the band broke up out there. I became a sort of hockey fan free agent. Also, somewhere in there, I developed a very strong philosophy that unless there is a very good reason not to, I should support my local teams. Indianapolis doesn't have a pro hockey team, so that gave me a little leeway. The teams closest to me were the Blackhawks and the Blues.* Also by this time, I had my own place and DirecTV, which happened to give me access to both of these teams. I first watched more Blues games than Blackhawks games. I don't really know why. Maybe because I have family ties to Missouri. Maybe because I liked (and like) the Blues announcers better. But I definitely watched more Blues at first. That was probably three or four years ago now. I was living in Lafayette at the time, I know that much for sure. *These are the closest teams by a fairly wide margin. 3 hours to Chicago, 4 to St. Louis (with some extra ties there because of extended family). Detroit would be the next closest at around 6 hours, but no way in hell was I rooting for the Red Wings. And the Blackhawks were on TV by then, too. Now, I'd sort of kept up with hockey, but it was kind of hard to stay really into it without a team. When I was living in Lafayette and starting to watch those games, I decided if I was really going to embrace the inner hockey fan in me, I was going to have to choose a team. Although the Blackhawks were better that year, it looked like it was going to be the Blues.* The Blues were still pretty decent, they made the playoffs that year. But, it took one playoff game for that to change for me. I had the TV on CSN-Chicago fairly far in advance waiting for the first playoff game to start (against Columbus, if I remember right). I was still sitting at my computer, which was in the same room in that apartment, when the national anthem started. I usually don't pay too much attention to the anthem. That night really gave me goosebumps, though. It demanded my attention. The atmosphere around the UC was already electric before the game, which had me drawn in. Chicago fans always cheer through the national anthem. That night was on a whole new level, though. It was deafening through the TV, I could only imagine what it was like in the arena. I haven't even heard it to that level during the Stanley Cup run. If pure bliss were a noise, it would be the arena in that moment. And the atmosphere just kept going. I don't remember the score, but by my memory of that game, I would say Chicago won 8-0. I'm sure that wasn't actually the case, but that's just how the building and the whole telecast went. It had me hooked. I was already a fan of Kane and Toews especially, but they very quickly became my favorites. That day, I became a Blackhawk fan. *I do have a well-documented trend of picking teams that don't win anything. Of course, at the time, it had been 60 years since the Blackhawks had won, too, so it was a win-win for me. Or a lose-lose, if you want to look at it that way. Which is probably more accurate. That decision paid off quickly as the team won the Stanley Cup the next season. I almost felt ashamed, I'm not used to my teams winning, and especially not without years of heartbreak invested into it. But it still felt good. And I don't think I was the only one who liked it. You can't watch any sort of game around Chicago without seeing Blackhawks gear, or walk around the city without seeing the Indian head. They've gripped the city. I'm sure winning and being good has an awful lot to do with that. You didn't see the gear around town before or at other games. You certainly didn't see Blackhawks gear outside of Chicago like I do now. And that will fade as the team fades, I'm sure. But, I do think a huge part of it is the access to the team. They're on TV now, they're in the greater Chicago region now where they weren't before. I wonder how many millions of dollars the team has missed out on because the old owners wouldn't televise the home games (which also meant their games weren't shown at all on bigger stations). It's just a shame, but I wasn't there for it. Maybe it made more sense at the time (though I hear it really didn't). Okay, I'm getting long winded. Go 'Hawks, although I'll probably be tuning in after baseball. We also just got our bedroom furniture. I can't wait to get home and sleep in a real bed. I think I'll go for a walk! I feel fine! I feel happy! Yes, that's right, this blog isn't dead yet. It might be a little zombified like our uncertain friend over on the right, but it'l thaw out soon enough. So what of the little hiatus? Well, not too much to tell. We've been short-staffed at work, which means I've been terribly busy, which also takes away the time I usually use to write this blog. Add that to trying to take care of the wedding and honeymoon, and this blog just wasn't much fun. Since I'm not getting paid to do this, and my readership, while not non-existent, is not anything to write home about, I must be doing this for my own entertainment. Which also means that if it's not entertaining, then why am I doing it? I couldn't find an answer, and so, the (unannounced) hiatus commenced. Now, the wedding is over, the honeymoon has ended, and work is back to a much more even flow. I'd had the itch to get back to this blog, but it sure wasn't going to happen last week with work as crazy as it was. What has changed since I last wrote in the world of baseball? Since, you know, that is still the title of the blog. It looks like the playoffs are very close to set. I think we can be pretty sure of the National League consisting of Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Arizona, and Atlanta.* Not terribly surprising, other than maybe Arizona. I knew the D-Backs had some very, very good young players, but I thought they were at least a year if not two or three away. Smart money would say Philly wins the pennant, but clearly I'm not about smart money, so my pick is Milwaukee. I know I only gave them the wild card to start with, but I've really been on their bandwagon all year, ever since they got serious about pitching. Shorten that rotation, and they're only going to get stronger. Congratulations Zack Greinke, you're finally going to get that playoff shot (with a very potent offense) you've been looking for. *Atlanta is up 4.5 in the Wild Card, which isn't huge, but the Cardinals haven't given me any real reason for optimism, and time is running out. In the American League, things are not quite as settled, but it's getting close. It looks like the Yankees will take the East, Detroit has managed to throttle the Central.* The Rangers have a fairly thin (2.5 games) grasp on the West, though I think they will hold off the Angels. Boston is up 3.5 on Tampa for the Wild Card, which you might feel okay about with two weeks to go, but they are slumping at the wrong time. And the Rays are surging. Usually I would say ESPN headlines tend to hit the panic button way too early for the sake of publicity, but I would agree that it looks like the Rays will take the wild card and leave on the the World Leader's favorites out of October. *Sorry, Cleveland. I really thought you'd hang around. If I'm doing my pairings right based on those predictions,* that would pit Philly against Arizona and Milwaukee against Atlanta in the NL, and the Yankees taking on Detroit and Texas facing off with Boston/Tampa. Now, let me be the first to say I would be super, super pumped to watch all those series and probably won't be leaving home much in October. I'll also have to cocoon myself during the afternoons so I can watch the recorded games or something. When the dust settles, I say it will come down to Philly and Milwaukee for the NL, and I'm going to go out on a limb here (sorry if my Yankee-hate is showing) and say Detroit against Texas. I'll call a Tigers-Brewers World Series. Who wouldn't be just giddy to watch Verlander take on that loaded Brewers line-up three times? I know I would be. And I would say the series goes seven games for the Detroit win, with Verlander winning three games and somebody else squeaking one out. *"Prediction" being used very loosely here. And there's no guarantee in that sentence,** either. **Okay, fine, that was a clause, not a sentence. Sorry. Now that I've written if, of course it will never happen. It'll probably be te |
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