Friday, April 30, 2010

5 MMA Fights Fred Wants to See Happen

One of the things that Dana White of the UFC and all proponenets of MMA have trumpeted about their sport as it has grown is its desire to put together the fights the people want to see. They state that, unlike boxing where these super fights are only ever discussed or are put together when fighters are well past their prime, MMA gives the fans what they want. Well then here are 5 fights that I think would be good for MMA and it's fans.

1. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar or Shane Carwin or Cain Velasquez...
Ok so that's 3 fights but basically what I want to see is Fedor fighting one of the new generation of heavyweights. People have been screaming that they want to see Fedor fight one of these guys, especially Lesnar, for some time.

Fedor's career resume is undeniable. He beat the best that the Pride heavyweight division had for years including Big Nog, Cro Cop, Mark Coleman, etc. But now there is a new generation that is bigger, faster, stronger, and just more athletic. Fedor will always be known as one of the all time greats but if he wants to still be known as the current best he has to fight these young bucks of the division because in the court of public opinion, which is what pays the bills, they are the top of the division. Unfortunately for the fans it seems that his representation with M-1 isn't worried with that at this time and it doesn't even look like we'll get him against Alistair Overeem in Strikeforce which isn't a huge deal but would have been something I guess.

2. Georges St. Pierre vs. Anderson Silva
Anderson Silva is so bored with the 185 division that once he has control of a fight he turns the cage into dancing with the stars. His next fight against Chael Sonnen promises to be the type of snooze fest that will make you wonder if you ever want to buy a PPV headlined by the one-time human hightlight knockout reel Silva anytime soon.

Georges St. Pierre has cleaned out the 170 lb. division so thouroughly that we as fans have to look forward to his next defense of the title being against the winner of the Paul Daley-Josh Koscheck fight AFTER the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. At least let's hope Daley wins so we aren't looking forward to a less than riveting St. Pierre-Koscheck rematch.

So why is this fight not happening? Both fighters are in the UFC so we don't have the issues that exist with any of the Fedor fights. Both fighters have said they'd be intersted in taking the fight. Heck, Anderson Silva even agreed to cut to 170 lbs. to take the fight which makes St. Pierre happy because he didn't like the idea of moving up in weight. Let's not forget also that this is a business and let's face it, if this fight didn't break a UFC record for PPV buys it would definitely get close. Everyone wins. The UFC makes money. The fans get a dream fight while both fighters are in their primes. The fighter's make money and are provided with a challenge that both have seemed to be lacking for some time. Dana White and Joe Silva please don't keep us waiting.

3. Chael Sonnen vs. Jake Shields
This one probably doesn't end in an exciting 1st round finish and many are probably disagreeing with me about this fight but sometimes I just love watching fights where two evenly matched guys with similar skill sets go at it to see who is better. This would most likely end up being a 3 round war. Both fighters have excellent ground control, just ask Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson. If Sonnen loses as expected to Anderson Silva he'll be looking for a big bounce back fight. If Shields ends up in the UFC as expected he'll want to make a name for himself coming in as the Strikeforce champion and what better way to do it than by taking out the previous number 1 contender in 185 lb division.

4. Jose Aldo vs. Manny Gamburyen
The reason I put this fight on here is because Manny deserves a title shot after his impressive first round KO over former 145 lb. champion Mike Brown. While I don't hold a lot of hope that he can beat Aldo, Manny is not a fighter to be taken lightly and his toughness and strength make him a threat to anyone in the division.

On Aldo's side a win over Manny would help in expanding himself as a household name in MMA. Gamburyen has name recognition due to his stint on the Ultimate Fighter which would also help in the promotion of the fight. Building Aldo's name also helps the WEC who was successful with their first foray into PPV. In fact they should go ahead and make this the headliner for their next PPV with a Joseph Benavidez-Dominick Cruz rematch on the card as well.

5. Urijah Faber vs. Miguel Torres at 135
There was a time in the not so distant past that this was a dream fight between the 145 lb and 135 lb champions that were a combined 58-2. Cut to the present and Faber is 2-3 in his last 5 having lost the title to Mike Brown, a rematch to Brown, and then most recently losing to Brown's conqueror Jose Aldo. Torres finds himself in the midst of a two fight losing streak which is twice as many losses as he had ih his first 38 fights.

What makes this fight so intriguing to me is that I believe Faber would thrive with a drop to 135 lbs. and Torres needs a win over a good fighter to begin his climb back to the top of the division. Also I think this could be the most thrilling fight for the fans on the list as both are unorthodox, exciting fighters. I think this would be a great headliner for a free WEC card on VS.

Honorable mention fights include a Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard rematch, Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emilanenko, a Nick Diaz vs. KJ Noons rematch, Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin winner, and Rampage Jackson/Rashad Evans winner vs. Lyoto Machida/Shogun winner (In fact go ahead and have the two losers fight each other as well).

Baseball Realignment

Since 1995 Baseball has been divided in 6 divisions, 3 in each league. Each division consists of 5 teams, with the exception of the NL Central and AL West. They have 6 and 4 respectably.
How is this fair at all?
You play teams within your division more often than teams outside your division. In time you see the same pitchers more offer, you find batters weaknesses more often, realize a first basemans tendancies on pickoff plays etc. What I am saying is the teams in the NL Central have to dedicate more time and effort in disquising these things (signals, pitch calls etc). In contrast the teams in the AL West have the luxury of playing all but 3 teams fairly infrequently. Tendancies, signals, weaknesses are less obvious.
Now I'm not at all saying that having one less team in the NL Central will make the Reds, Brewers, Pirates and Astros more competitive, but it would make Tony LaRussa's job a little harder. He is by far and away the best coach in that division and has 4 extra games per team to see that Brandon Phillips has trouble with high heat or that Prince Fielder can hit a inside curve. This is a huge advantage.
I played Little League in a small community known as Mingo Junction, OH. There were 4 teams and the Orioles had a Coach by the name of Mike Melko. He was the best coach that league had. He would pitch around people, throw shifts on for every batter...because he saw them so regularly. Now I'm not saying that Mr.Melko wasn't a good coach. He was. I didn't even play for his team and still learned alot from him but would he had been that successful in a 10 team league with the same number of games? It's hard to say, but if I were a gambling man (haha) I'd probably say no. It's a numbers game. A game of percentages and scouting. If you even the playing field in that aspect, it would make the whole division more competitive.
During this blog I did single out the Cardinals. Now I have no disrespect for St.Louis, their baseball team or the people of (I think Sam Bradford is soft but that is next week). In fact it may be the best baseball city in America. I'm a big Reds fan and love playing St.Louis (big series this weekend!!) win or lose it's always great. Two of baseballs storied franchises playing on a bright spring day. You can't beat it.
The point of this incoherant rant is that it would just be a little more on the level if the division only had 5 teams. Four other teams you are most concerned with beating, 4 other teams you prepare for all winter, 4 other teams that you spend most of your effort scouting.
My cry to Major League Baseball is move the Astros to the NL West and ship The Colorado Rockies to the AL west. Geographically it makes perfect sense. It's been done before or realignment with the Brewers and how they didn't see this as a problem I don't know.
Take my thoughts for what it's worth, a disgruntled Reds fan looking for an edge...and fairness in an uncapped league.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Fabz' Take on Big Ben

What Big Ben did was not act accordingly with league policy on behavioral matters. He may have committed a crime, he certainly made a bad decision and to be perfectly honest I believe he'll do it again...

But...

I am growing increasingly annoyed at the whole "he is tarnishing the Steelers good name" talk.

The Steelers are undeniably one of the most storied franchises in sports history. From their 4 Super Bowl wins in the 70's, to their long list of Hall of Famers, to their 2 most recent championships, and so on and so on. This is fact, but what is also fact is the rampant steroid abuse by the players of the first dynasty, the close relationships The Chief had with underworld figures of his era, and the constant involvement of Coach LeBeau's hessians of head on head collisions.

Mr. Rooney, the Chief, was very close friends with William G. "Big Bill" Lias of Wheeling. Big Bill was a rather interesting character. He is the reason for the slogan "Wide Open Wheeling". He owned a piece of the action on every bookmaking joint from Charleston, WV to Youngstown, OH. He was a close associate of Detroit's infamous Purple Gang, he had connections with Al Capone's gang in Chicago, and operated every brothel in the Ohio Valley. Sure, people in this era associated with gangsters. You almost had to in order to keep the peace, but Mr. Rooney spent personal time with Mr. Lias and his wife. He loved Wheeling Downs racetrack and vacationed with Big Bill to his home in South Florida. Again, I would like to emphasize the fact that I personally am in no way condemning this sort of company (I'm Italian, from Steubenville and my Dad worked at Wheeling Downs for many years), but the simple fact of the matter is that this is viewed by society as "guilt by association". Big Bill had many people killed, that is no secret. In a botched assassination attempt of his only enemy, Paul "No Legs" Hankish's legs were blown off (I'll get to him later). This sort of thing was known. No convictions and charges are something totally different. It was just known. You didn't mess with Big Bill...The Chief's self proclaimed "best of friends".

History: In 1970, Big Bill Lias died of a heart attack, so Paul "No Legs" Hankish took over the city. Gambling, prostitution and by this time drug trafficking. Now I can't honestly say one way or the other if Hankish and Rooney were close in anyway, but at his trial in Federal Court (1990), Mr. Rooney's name came up more than once. He was described as a "good customer, one of my best".

One of the best customers of a man found guilty of racketeering, hijacking, prostitution, cocaine trafficking and long list of other convictions. Which brings me to my next point...where did the steroids come from?

In the 70's the Steelers had an outstanding team. Fast D, powerful offense, good coaching etc. But they were always bigger, faster and stronger than everybody else...except the Raiders (who are a "non-classy" franchise according to most). On numerous occasions, players of that era talked of the rampant steroid abuse occurring and it usually happens when one of them is clinging to life from long term steroid abuse side effects. It was worse than baseball. Baseball is a finesse game. You still have hit the ball. You still have to throw and catch the ball. Football is a game speed and strength. Steroids help a whole lot more. It's fact. Now I played high school football and I'll be the first to admit, that I was a bad kid. Well not bad, mischievous I guess. My coach knew everything I did. In and out of school. Noll knew. He had to know. As the vein in your head is throbbing I have to say the Coach Noll was a good coach. He was a good coach plain and simple. Even with the best of players I couldn't have done what he did, BUT he turned his head in order to gain achievement...or was he ordered to by his boss? The Rooneys knew too.

Head on head collsions.

Am I the only one who lives within an hour of Pittsburgh that has noticed every time you watch one of these hits on Sports Center it involves the Steelers? Ok, maybe not every time, but a lot. Now I understand it is not illegal, but it is frowned upon? What is that? Fine them...every time. In 5th grade you were taught to tackle head up. Put your face in the numbers. See what you hit. Not put your head down so your 185 lb body can hurt the other person (Hines Ward). But of course, until somebody of prominence (Brady, Manning) gets hurt by it nothing will be done. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is the coaches’ fault...which trickles up to the owners. The Rooneys.

So, saying that, how can you say Big Ben is tarnishing the Steelers good name? Seriously? Take your hard hat off and wake up people. In my opinion Big Ben is a jag off and a rapist. But my opinion doesn't convict anybody and neither does public opinion. Unless of course it's spread across the board.