I have to apologize to my friends out there who love World Cup Soccer and College Football. I know little of these things and therefore can not irritate you with commentary on those subjects. Other than it looks good for the USA this time around to at least get out of the first round. I have heard that the US team is a bit overrated and this could be the perfect opportunity to prove those naysayers wrong. On the other hand I do have one opinion on College Football. But first…
The Fight of the Century?
It’s official! Both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have agreed to work out really hard and then beat the crap out of each other with gloves on March 13th next year. It hasn’t happened yet, but rest assured that this will be billed as the fight to end all fights and 12 reasons why you should never watch MMA again. But I say thee nay.
There is something missing from the Fight of the Century equation. There is nothing around the corner. Like MMA, boxing is at its best when the weight class is littered with talent. Be it the Heavyweight class or the 147 lbs. this fight is at, there just aren’t enough worthy competitors in the eyes of the average sports fan to ‘save’ boxing.
That takes nothing away from how magnificent this fight will be, because no matter who wins it will be a great one. But for this fight to have any lasting impact you almost have to hope for controversy, for the ending to come into question so that a rematch can be scheduled. If not this fight is the end of the fireworks finale, not the beginning.
Was the tough coach too tough?
Mark Mangino has resigned from his post as the Head Coach of Kansas University Football. The story was that he poked a kid in the chest with his finger and made some seriously offensive comments to one or more of his players. It looks to me like this is something he would have been warned about in the 90’s, but in this day and age, a warning isn’t enough.
Mangino turned the program around, some would go as far as to say he put KU on the football map. But there are a lot of politics involved with college sports with boosters and the like. There is simply more to deal with. Mangino might be guiltier of not playing the game behind the scenes well enough. I mean isn’t he training and cultivating football players.
We’re lucky enough to live in a society where you don’t necessarily have to be tough. But when you choose to be tough (i.e. a soldier, a cop, a football player) there are prerequisites. Being demeaned is the least of those prerequisites by far. When I hear this story from the outside looking in, I can’t help but think that some kid some where simply needed to grow a pair.
History? Why not?
So Eli Manning wins the first game ever played in the Dallas Cowboy’s brand new stadium. Too bad he’s not a Cowboy. According to Manning a locker room attendant asked him to christen the moment by signing his name somewhere in the visiting players locker room along with the date, the score etc.
The Cowboys are using it as motivation against the injured Giants as if they need it. The Cowboys had better win against the wounded Giants. This is a potentially amazing story that you might want to remember years from now. With all the factors involved in this season, everyone is going to remember who won the Super Bowl this year; especially the Cowboys can whip a 40 year old man, or a midget from Louisiana.
The Cowboys are one of the NFL’s storied franchises, so crap like this tends to have historic implications. All I’m saying is don’t be surprised.
