Miguel Cotto 30-0 25 KOs  vs.  Shane Mosley 44-4 37 KOs

 

There's a fight tonight...A big fight tonight...Man how I love me some big time fight nights...especially when it reminds me of "throwback" fight nights.

Boxing is dead? Who the hell said? Not me...like McDonald's ..."I'm loving it".

Boxing is still king. King of the ring. Long live the king...just not that wild haired Don fellow thing.

Lace up the gloves and nothing else matters. No kicks to the head...No super-atomic slams...No tricky-dickey submission holds...No choke-outs...Let's just shoot the hands...Only the hands... That's what makes it so sweet... The sweet science... I like your style...Now try mine.

Styles make fights or so I've been told. Try this one on for style. Tonight we get to see "Sugar" Ray Leonard take on Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran all over again. Except this time the year is 2007. It's the same fight...only the names have been changed and they're not innocent.

"Sugar" Shane Mosley battles Miguel "No Nickname That I Know Of" Cotto. If I had to pick one it would be a short list. A list of one as a matter of fact. In the ring Cotto is an assassin to the body. He's the "Body Snatcher". Taking your breath away is what he does. A punch in the side...a punch to the gut...a punch below the belt...you'd better watch out.

Ask Zab "Super" Judah all about that. Just back in June Zab wasn't feeling so super. After zapping Cotto's chin...Cotto's suspect chin...a couple of times over again...Cotto decided to take the fight to Zab's "little friend"...Far below the belt just wasn't nice...Once wasn't enough so he did it twice. 

Zab's voice rose two octaves and the tempo was set. A barrage to the body that he'd never before met. Zab "Super" Judah crashed like a jet.

Now here is Shane Mosley. The modern day "Sugar" fighting the modern day Duran. Duran was tough as nails too and dirty as a snake. Sugar is quick as lighting just like his namesake. Sugar packs a wallop to complement his speed. He'll do whatever it takes based on the need. He can box you all night or he can turn out your lights. Make you look silly or display all his might.  A knockout... a knockout...that's what I'm talking about.

I already told you that Cotto's chin is soft. The light hitting DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley made Miguel do the two-step in early 2005 after chopping his jaw. Some guy named Ricardo Torres had him down twice later that same year. The thing is that Cotto got back up. Wobbly as a weeble but he got back up. Showing great survival instincts he managed to recoup. Came out madder the next round and opened his can of whoop...there it is.  Patented punches to the body...whoop there they is.

This isn't Corley tonight. This isn't Torres tonight. This is the best Cotto has ever faced tonight. This is one of the best of this generation tonight...This is maybe one of the best ever tonight...This is Cotto's chance to tell the world...LOOK AT ME TONIGHT!!!

How's it going to go? I'm not certain and I'm not even sure that I care. All I know is that Cotto better not get caught coming in early cause that could make it an early night. Did I tell you his chin is fragile as glass? Why yes I did...I know that I did... but the longer the fight goes on the more if favors the "Body Snatcher".

Speed kills and Shane's got plenty... but you know what kills speed, don'tcha? A few well placed hooks to the body that's what. With Cotto in the ring there will be a bit more than the little... in fact it's quite a lot. 

Styles make fight and this fight is styling. It could last one round or it could last twelve. All I know is that it's going to be a war...a bloodbath per se...a long or a short one...I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Now pay your $50 you cheap bums you. Get some friends to chip in is what you should do. There's other big names on the under card too. Boxing is dead? Nah... that  just isn't true.

Prediction: Lots of Oohssss...Aahssss...Ohhssss...and Yo-ssss

May the best style win.

 

Player haters why do you hate? So much gets made out of knocking star athletes, teams or coaches off their lofty, self-created pedestals. The problem is that no matter how many people claim to "hate" these individuals, there's always a fan base ready to step up in their defense. I'm typically the first person to defend just about anyone, but the real reason that some attract so much ire has nothing to do with the standard accusations that we've become accustomed to.

Take for example the "you're just jealous approach". What exactly should we be jealous of? Is it millions of dollars that we've never possessed? Is it fame and advantages that we'd more than likely be uncomfortable with? You don't miss what you've never had. Besides, if that were the case then we should basically hate every athlete since even most bench warmers make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, if not far more. Nope, that can't be it.

Maybe it's because we're tired of certain teams constantly tar and feathering our favorite squads. Take it from me I know that feeling. I'm a New York Jets fan. I watched Dan Marino gather a disproportionate amount of his career stats at Gang Green's expense. When Buffalo was losing four Super Bowls in the early 90s my crew practically went oh for the decade against them. Don't even get me started with everyone's favorite team to currently hate... the New England Patriots. I may not have "liked" Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Tom Brady but they have nothing but my respect.

How about the theory that nobody likes the guy on top? If I remember correctly even Knicks fans almost masochistically enjoyed watching Michael Jordan dismantle Patrick Ewing and friends on the Broadway stage. We waited with baited breath to see what magic His Airiness would pull from his bag of tricks to stick yet another dagger into our hearts. You just couldn't avert your eyes from the train wreck waiting to happen. You'd peek out from between your fingers and grudgingly appreciate the history you were watching.

It's not even the perceived arrogance involved. In the sports world the literal definition of the word arrogant is actually a necessary evil. Without arrogance all athletes lose their edge. If you do not unconditionally believe in your heart that you are at least the equal of the person standing in front of you... then you've already lost. Arrogance may not be the most enviable trait in mankind's repertoire but in athletics it's a cap where one size better fit all.

What is IT then? What brings otherwise sensible people to almost blind fits of rage whenever they discuss that certain someone they despise? Depending on who's doing the talking, IT is a word that gets conveniently replaced by positive adjectives such as proud, confident and competitive when it suits our purposes. That word is smug.

Smug: well satisfied, or too obviously pleased, with oneself

Self-absorbed people

Making ridiculously rude and

Unnecessary choices that

Gratify only them

Smug is Kobe Bryant putting his desires in front of the team to participate in running Shaquille O'Neil out of Los Angeles, even if Shaq's ego played an equally significant and petty role. For that matter smug is also what allowed his reputation to be further sullied by brazenly putting himself in a situation where he could be accused of rape... even if the girl in question was possibly a mentally unstable young girl looking to set him up.

Smug is Alex Rodriguez's notorious double-speak...during a year of tremendous statistical significance... where he practically single handedly carried the Yankees on his back...culminated by the widely criticized negotiations with Joe Torre...following a season of unjustified booing and catcalls at the hands of his very own fan base...that finally saw public opinion sway to his side.  Smug is then choosing to make his "opt-out" announcement on the day that the rival Boston Red Sox won a second World Series title and demanding 350 million dollars as the starting point of negotiations. Talk about a fleeting moment of renewed popularity.

Smug is New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick making a mockery of long held standards in the NFL. Smug is including Tom Brady on his "injury report" for roughly 5 straight seasons as "probable" due to a shoulder injury... just because he can. The whole world knows by now that Tom Terrific is just hunky-dory... especially after 33 touchdowns in only 9 games. Smug is shoving a cameraman in the back of the head to shake Jets coach Eric Mangini's hand after a game, simply to "prove" that you're really a "good" guy. Smug is running up the score against any and all opponents, including fellow legendary coaches such as Joe Gibbs, simply because you have a vendetta against the league because you got caught cheating...whether it was insignificant or not.

Smug is a cat with your canary in its mouth... staring at you with an expression that says, "Who me? Ain't I cute?"

Smug is why some people "hate" those that we blindly root for. Now wipe that smug look off your face every time you look in the bathroom mirror... just because your favorite team happens to be really good at the moment... because it won't last forever... and sooner or later you'll have to admit the truth

(In my imagination half of New England just gave me the finger).

 PLAY BALL!!!

 

I'm not exactly the most knowledgeable college football fan in the world. Unfortunately when it comes to the subject my favorite team is actually the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I can't even remember the exact reason why I like them in the first place. It seemed liked a good idea way back when Lou Holtz rejuvenated the program and brought them back into national prominence from the depths of Scrubville. Tim Brown, Rocket Ismael, Ricky Williams and Jerome Bettis were so easy to like. Maybe I simply chose to root for the team that so many loved to hate. Maybe I enjoyed the movie Rudy a tad too much. Maybe I just didn't know any better. Whatever the case may be this latest debacle is downright embarrassing.

In case you missed it or were asleep all weekend, Notre Dame lost 46-44 to Navy in triple overtime on Saturday. This just happened to end a losing streak that dates back to the presidential administration of John F. Kennedy.

Speaking of a Bay of Pigs...what exactly is head coach Charlie Weis doing? Isn't he part of the Bill Parcells coaching tree? Perhaps it's the Bill Belichick coaching tree that I'm thinking about. Then again isn't that one and the same? If Israelis and Palestinians are technically inter-connected after all these centuries, then shouldn't the same hold true for any coach... that used to coach... under any coach... that once coached... under Bill Parcells? Dang... if I'm confused then maybe you are too. At this moment I'd settle for a disciple from the Rich Kotite coaching tree.

Anyway, back to the portly Charlie Weis. I thought he was supposed to be a great coach. I also thought Notre Dame was allegedly an institution of higher learning that blamed the flaws of its football team on rigorous academic standards. If everyone in South Bend is so smart then how in heaven's name did they hire a nincompoop like Weis? Didn't he take Winning Football 101 back at Parcellsichick U.? Sounds more like Notre Dumb to me.

With approximately 40 or so seconds left in regulation the score was tied 28-28. Notre Dumb had the ball on the Navy 25-yard line after being stopped on 3rd and long. Rather than kick a potential game winning field goal of  slightly more than 40 yards, the coaching guru Weis elected to go for the first down instead of go for the win. What!?!? In that situation I think you should make an attempt at 3 points even with a mediocre kicker. Why the hell is he on the team in the first place?.  Keep in mind that the kicker already has a career long of 48 yards. Needless to say the Notre Dame quarterback got sacked and the rest is history. Well... at least it finally changed history...for Navy that is.

I understand that the Irish were already a despicable 1-7 entering the game but this is ridiculous. There's a reason why Navy hadn't beaten the Irish since long before the Vietnam War was close to ending. I think it has something to do with the fact that high school kids who actually want to play top-level collegiate football do not apply to the Naval Academy anymore. Apparently Charlie Weis is having trouble out-recruiting a military school that hasn't figured prominently in the collegiate football scene since the long gone days of Roger Staubach. Either that or he has no idea what he's doing on the sidelines. Personally I think it's quite a bit of both.

The Notre Dame athletic director needs to seriously consider firing Charlie Weis' under-performing ample arse. If they could run former head coach Ty Willingam out of town then what exactly does this qualify as? Let's not forget that this is Weis' third year at the university. In his first two seasons he went 9-3 and 10-3 with personnel he inherited from the recruitment efforts of his predecessor. If he was supposed to be such a drastic improvement, then one win after nine games during his third year on the job is thoroughly unacceptable. He shouldn't take the phrase, "Win just one for the Gipper" so literally.  It really is okay to win a few more. Charlie isn't exactly coaching the Temple Owls... although something tells me that this match up would be a lot more competitive than we could've ever imagined. 

Charlie the "Un-Weis (conveniently pronounced Wise in this instance) must go. I can't think of another who would have done as poorly a job considering the high expectations and fanfare with which he assumed the position.  Given the current state of affairs the only position that comes to mind is missionary.  Unfortunately for the Notre Dame faithful he's created a mess that could take a long time to clean up.

 

A-Rod was telling the truth when he said he really wants to be in New York. That doesn't mean he isn't talking out of both sides of his mouth as he's often been accused. He does want to stay in the Big Apple...just not as a Yankee.

New York City is where his ambitious heart has always longed to be. It's the site of the largest media microscope...a habitat where attention starved individuals such as Rodriguez often find themselves. It's also the home of Derek Jeter...A-Rod's not-so-well-hidden obsession.  In recent years this has been portrayed as Much Ado About Nothing, but the envy is still there and always has been.

Let's take a stroll down Memory Lane. When Jeter and A-Rod first came up they quickly became fast friends. The handsome, scrappy, "American pie" (Jeter) and the handsome, slugging, "this kid could be the best ever" (Rodriguez) probably enjoyed picking up women with the same frequency that most of us pick up dirty clothes from our bathroom floors. Ironically, I believe it was a woman that ultimately sent the widely speculated grudge match past the point of no return. Aren't women often at the root of these things? 

It was prior to the 2001 season that Rodriguez (and Jeter) signed their enormous contracts. A-Rod's contract would become an albatross that people would never stop reminding him of. Jeter's nearly as obscene deal became an afterthought in baseball history. However, derogatory comments made by Alex before the season started about Derek in Esquire Magazine live in infamy. You know...something about how "It was unfair to compare the two since Jeter's power numbers weren't even close to his and that Derek wasn't even the main guy other teams feared when they faced the Yankees" (paraphrasing here but that was the gist). In all honesty it was probably a valid opinion...even if lacking any class. Especially since the guy was his best friend.

The ensuing history regarding the "rift that would not be spoken of" was easier to track from then on. It was still 2001 and Rodriguez had his sights set on an up and coming Latina singer by the name of Joy Enriquez. It's alleged that he went out of his way to meet her. The problem is that she also wound up meeting Jeter, his notorious partner-in-Wine & Dine. That is where the story got really good. According to sources, the sexy Enriquez was more interested in Jeter than she was A-Rod. As a result it was Jeter she wound up dating, which was likely a damaging blow to Rodriguez's fragile ego.  Kind of like Marcia and Jan Brady from The Brady Bunch, I can see Alex stomping his foot whining "DEREK...DEREK...DEREK!!!"

What's that saying..."Hell hath no fury like an egomaniac scorned... for his best friend that he recently dissed big time"? Yeah, I think that's it.

You have to admit, for awhile Jeter was living a charmed life. He ran through beautiful women like an express train through a subway tunnel. Championship rings were collected as easily as ring-pops. His face was the most recognizable in all of baseball even if he wasn't even close to being its best player. All A-Rod did was put up huge numbers while getting significantly less exposure and publicity. He was yet another great player, stuck in a smallish market, that most people rarely got to see in action.

Let's keep in mind other bits of "evidence' demonstrating A-Rod's obsession with one-upping Jeter in any category not associated with homeruns and RBIs.

Prior to both the signing of his enormous contract with the Texas Rangers and the Esquire fiasco, it was the New York Mets that Alex wanted to play for. The Mets happened to be his favorite childhood team. What better way to upstage his buddy Jeter and his 4 World Series rings, than to steal the city from him by playing for the cross town club? The problem was that he asked for far too much in the eyes of then GM Steve Phillips and manager Bobby Valentine. The salary expectations, plus demands from A-Rod for office space at Shea to run his "marketing empire", seemed too arrogant and prima Donna-ish to the Mets hierarchy...so they passed. Only after Alex was spurned, did the Rangers come calling with 252 million reasons to temporarily forget Jeter.

The problem with playing in Texas from 2001-2003 is that...well...they sucked. If there had been little opportunity for face-time in Seattle playing alongside Ken Griffey Jr., it was much worse in stifling Arlington, Texas. Rodriquez put up legendary statistics that once again went mostly unnoticed. Meanwhile in those same 3 years Jeter played on division winners that won 2 AL pennants (losing to Arizona and Florida in the 2001 & 2003 World Series respectively). A-Rod wanted out of The Lone Star State (how fitting) and badly.

Next stop the Boston Red Sox for little more than a day. Aaron Boone's infamous game 7 ALCS homerun in 2003 left Red Sox Nation smarting. Back before they hated A-Rod they lusted for him. The feeling was mutual. He wanted a chance to play for a winner and rightfully so. This also provided another opportunity to get back at Jeter by playing for the hated rival of the Yankees. Alex even tried to give some of his contract back to sweeten the deal (Tell me he wasn't obsessed). Unfortunately for him the greedy players' association put the kibosh on his trade to Boston. Sawx fans would later claim they never wanted him in the first place (yeah right... but I guess it all worked out).

Plan B in his "I must have vengeance" vendetta was: If I can't beat him then I'll join him. Yankees brass was more than willing to once again upstage their Boston brethren. Jeter, seeing an opportunity for more rings, likely feigned happiness. A-Rod fully intended to take the town by storm and become the Big Apple's favorite son. It's an understatement to say it didn't quite work out that way. However, the plan came perilously close to working. If not for an invasion of Midge Flies in Cleveland during game 2 of this year's ALDS, nobody can say for certain what might have happened. Perhaps the Yankees would have won that series in five games... beaten Boston in the ALCS... and won the World Series to punctuate A-Rod's second MVP season in the Bronx. Hey, if biting insects can appear from out of nowhere like a plague from the bible then this was certainly a possibility.

Now he has opted out of his contract and in his typical tabloid fashion. Will A-Rod be a Cub? How about an Angel? Reunite with Torre in Dodger Blue? You so crazy if you're buying that one. You do remember that Clueless Joe publicly humiliated A-Rod in the 2006 playoffs by dropping him to 8th in the batting order, don't you? Could he still re-sign with the Yankees or get taken in by the Red Sox? Yeah, maybe when pigs mate with midge flies. There is only one logical destination and that is with the New York Metropolitans. Alex is just waiting for the right moment.

It's so easy a caveman could do it. The Mets have the cash. They will move David Wright over from third base to play second. Instantly their infield has arguably the greatest regular season player in history, the slickest shortstop in all of baseball (Jose Reyes) and the best hitting second baseman in the game this side of Philadelphia's Chase Utley. Don't think for a second that David Wright cannot physically make the transition or that he would be unwilling to do so. He is a great athlete and a true team player.

Oh, and most importantly...A-Rod gets one final chance at finally beating Jeter. If he takes the Mets to a World Series title, he will dethrone Jeter as the King of New York. Mets fans will be sure to thumb their noses at Yankees fans by treating Alex with nothing but love.

However, if he keeps coming up with post-season clunkers he'll be forced to continue living the equivalent of a modern day Greek Tragedy.  Mets fans will be sure to take care of that too. The great "hero"...destined to meet with perpetual doom and gloom. And to think it all started out like Helen of Troy except this time her name was Joy and she was from Latin America.

Joy of Troy has a good ring to it. Will A-Rod finally find true joy? If you believe in bad karma then probably not.