It was a big weekend for football, and a nice turnout for boxing and a weekend full of trade talk. Let’s pick apart these sports issues and offer a little healthy commentary shall we?
And they pile on…
So Bill Belichick has the arduous task of coaching a pro football team. He’s under paid and improperly valued by comparison. His job isn’t on the line or anything, but if you weren’t a football fan you would swear that was the case based on the bantering coming from ESPN on Monday morning.
The Patriots had the ball with the lead late in the game against the Indianapolis Colts. They were fairly deep in their own territory when the Pats were faced with a fourth and two situation. Belichick made a tough decision and that should have been the end of it. But it wasn’t. Instead ESPN ran with the Belichick Firestorm!!
Let’s be honest, this play goes the other way and Belichick is a genius. I honestly think that this is more about the fact that there is just something about Belichick that attracts ESPN’s ire than anything else. Something tells me that we’re not talking about this so much if it’s just about any other coach.
It’s almost as if ESPN and the rest of the football world is dissatisfied with Belichick as the heir apparent to Bill Walsh. He’s not glamorous or all that terribly likable. His attitude and behavior have given ESPN and its competitors fits and now their having a field day with him and it’s sad. Shame on ESPN.
The Pound for Pound champ
Manny Pacquiao demolished Miguel Cotto over the weekend and has therefore renewed talks of him being the pound for pound best there is right now. It would easily be a no-brainer if not for the existence of one Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather beat up Marquez earlier in the year and we were all waiting to see how Pacman faired against Cotto.
Now that Cotto has been shown the door the real fight can begin right? There is only one problem, if I were Floyd Mayweather I would never fight Manny Pacquiao, it’s just not worth it.
Boxing in America is a wounded animal, its best fighters aren’t American, and most of their stars are either over the hill or well Floyd Mayweather Jr. who isn’t a household name. Manny on the other hand is an international sensation that is arguably more popular here than Floyd Mayweather, he’s the peoples champ while Floyd is rich and arrogant, not exactly what people are clamoring to get behind. If Floyd loses his career is almost meaningless in this current underachieving field of prize fighters, but if Manny loses he’s still the most beloved man in his country and richer to boot. Manny has everything to gain and nothing to lose.
LeBron James on the move?
This weekend LeBron made it clear that he would not entertain questions about his trade status until the season was over. It’s going to be a long season. I’ve heard some strange rumors about where LeBron might end up, with Miami, with New York, and even with the Lakers. Let’s talk about these possibilities.
LeBron could very well end up in Miami with Dwayne Wade. Or he and Wade could end up playing together someplace else. LeBron seemed to make it clear that he wants to win before he wants to get paid, which is cute because he’s so young. He has no idea how badly he’s going to made to eat those words come the end of the season when he either stays pat or goes to the highest bidder. Either way he likely won’t go to a winning team.
James is a great player to be certain, but so was Dominique Wilkins or Charles Barkley, or to put a finer point on it, Allen Iverson. If he can’t do it with Shaq it could come down to the fact that he can never do it at the top of his game. LeBron might just be too good for his own good, someone that you just can’t build around because the talent you would need is just too expensive.
For D Wade to pair with LeBron one or both of them would need to take a pay cut and that’s unlikely because they aren’t even guaranteed to win a title for at least five years. Boston and LA will be renewing their rivalry for the foreseeable future.
