The Daily Nooner
- First let me say how sad I was to see that the great Hunter S. Thompson took his own life on Sunday evening. I have read a number of articles about him in the last 2 days and all of them combined do not do him justice. The man was a literary genius. All of us who write anything wish that some day we could carve out a style of prose as brilliant as his. He was unconventional not for the sake of being so, but just because that’s who he was. I enjoyed reading his books and even more so reading his wild take on the modern sports world in his weekly ESPN column “Hey Rube.” As in life, Hunter S. Thompson died on his own terms; I mean really did you think he would have it any other way?
- Today marks the 25th anniversary of The Miracle on Ice. This is a story nobody can ever got tired of. It is a just the greatest moment in sports history. It is exactly why we watch sports in the first place and why we care so much about it. On any given day any one team can defeat another. I enjoy so much hearing people talk of this experience and watching the game itself or any type of documentation about this team including the theatrical release Miracle.
- On Sports Center last night that had a poll of what were the most intriguing baseball stories of spring training. This stemming from the fact that Jason Giambi just reported to Yankee camp and that Barry Bonds will be addressing the media today as he reports to Giants camp. The one that bothered me on the list was the “Red Sox & Yankees war of words.” Hummmm, that is real interesting, because the last time I remembered it was the Yankees basically offering no comment as the classless bum from Boston flapped their gums about why Alex Rodriguez was not a Yankee, and how he bragged about his off-season workout regiment. Well let’s get a few things straight here. Some may say I am just a bitter Yankee fan spouting off at the mouth because the Sawx won the series and they came from 3-0 down to beat the Yankees. Well, not really. Am I a little bitter because the Sawx beat my Yanks? Certainly. Am I over it by now? Certainly. Do I really care what Trot Nixon thinks of A-Rod? Certainly not. Because in the end 30 years from now are people going to be talking about Bronson Arroyo and Trot Nixon or Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter? It seems to me that even after winning the World Series the Red Sox still suffer from that same inferiority complex. They seem to think that everyone will forget that they are World Champs. No, nobody will forget, you guys won and you deserved it, nobody is taking anything away from you. Why do they feel the need to just berate the Yankees at every turn? Throughout this week with the Red Sox shooting from the lip and the Yankees going about their business you see clearly which organization has more class.
- God, I hate the stupid NFL. Again this league has done it too me. We all know how much I hate parity, and people ask me why all the time. This is why, Derrick Mason the leading receiver in football last season had to be cut by the Tennessee Titans in order to salvage their salary cap situation for this season. I think this is the dumbest thing in the world and nobody can convince me otherwise. Teams every year have to cut starters in order to be able to play next season. Does this not smack of stupidity to anyone else? Am I the only one who sees this? I don’t mind if you have system where some over priced vet who is making little contribution to your team has to be let go, or even some young bench player who could be a starter but you are stashing him on your bench has to be cut. But to cut someone like Mason or Samari Rolle an 8 year starter for your team that is silly. I hate this stupid system, a few years ago after the Giants went to the Super Bowl that had to cut 9 starters, nine!!! That is dumb, and again nobody will ever be able to convince me otherwise.
AND
- Speaking of great sporting events to never get tired of, I watched the Thrilla in Manila last night on ESPN Classic. This fight was an absolute war. Anyone who thinks they are tough just needs to watch this thing and see what toughness is. My father always old me about this fight and many other of Ali’s great fights and I had seen bits and pieces and heard people talk about, but last night was the first time I watched it form start to finish. Holy crap, these two guys were nuts. In the middle portion of the fight Ali looking dead tired (not rope-a-doping) just got pummeled for 4 rounds by Joe Frazier. Smoking Joe just got in on his body and went to work on his ribs and stomach, the pain for Ali must have been unbearable. Then in about Round 11 Ali got a second wind and started hitting Frazier with those crisp stinging Ali jabs, but all Frazier kept doing was coming at Ali. You could see Ali’s frustration as he would hit Frazier and his head would snap back then forward and Frazier would never miss a beat as he came toward Ali. Most times people pause or even stumble backward after those jabs, not Smoking Joe. Over the last 3 rounds of the fight I am convinced Joe Frazier could not see out of either of his eyes, they were that swollen, he literally fought Ali by feeling where he was and making body contact and throw hooks and uppercuts to the body. After round 14 Eddie Futch (Frazier’s trainer) called the fight immediately. I believe he was truly concerned for the man’s life. In Ali’s corner Angelo Dundee and Bundini Brown lifted Ali off the stool to raise his arms in victory, but Ali just collapsed to the ground. And he had just won the fight. I was so excited to see great boxing, I wish we still had that nowadays, because growing up I was always a fan of The Sport of Kings.
- Today marks the 25th anniversary of The Miracle on Ice. This is a story nobody can ever got tired of. It is a just the greatest moment in sports history. It is exactly why we watch sports in the first place and why we care so much about it. On any given day any one team can defeat another. I enjoy so much hearing people talk of this experience and watching the game itself or any type of documentation about this team including the theatrical release Miracle.
- On Sports Center last night that had a poll of what were the most intriguing baseball stories of spring training. This stemming from the fact that Jason Giambi just reported to Yankee camp and that Barry Bonds will be addressing the media today as he reports to Giants camp. The one that bothered me on the list was the “Red Sox & Yankees war of words.” Hummmm, that is real interesting, because the last time I remembered it was the Yankees basically offering no comment as the classless bum from Boston flapped their gums about why Alex Rodriguez was not a Yankee, and how he bragged about his off-season workout regiment. Well let’s get a few things straight here. Some may say I am just a bitter Yankee fan spouting off at the mouth because the Sawx won the series and they came from 3-0 down to beat the Yankees. Well, not really. Am I a little bitter because the Sawx beat my Yanks? Certainly. Am I over it by now? Certainly. Do I really care what Trot Nixon thinks of A-Rod? Certainly not. Because in the end 30 years from now are people going to be talking about Bronson Arroyo and Trot Nixon or Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter? It seems to me that even after winning the World Series the Red Sox still suffer from that same inferiority complex. They seem to think that everyone will forget that they are World Champs. No, nobody will forget, you guys won and you deserved it, nobody is taking anything away from you. Why do they feel the need to just berate the Yankees at every turn? Throughout this week with the Red Sox shooting from the lip and the Yankees going about their business you see clearly which organization has more class.
- God, I hate the stupid NFL. Again this league has done it too me. We all know how much I hate parity, and people ask me why all the time. This is why, Derrick Mason the leading receiver in football last season had to be cut by the Tennessee Titans in order to salvage their salary cap situation for this season. I think this is the dumbest thing in the world and nobody can convince me otherwise. Teams every year have to cut starters in order to be able to play next season. Does this not smack of stupidity to anyone else? Am I the only one who sees this? I don’t mind if you have system where some over priced vet who is making little contribution to your team has to be let go, or even some young bench player who could be a starter but you are stashing him on your bench has to be cut. But to cut someone like Mason or Samari Rolle an 8 year starter for your team that is silly. I hate this stupid system, a few years ago after the Giants went to the Super Bowl that had to cut 9 starters, nine!!! That is dumb, and again nobody will ever be able to convince me otherwise.
AND
- Speaking of great sporting events to never get tired of, I watched the Thrilla in Manila last night on ESPN Classic. This fight was an absolute war. Anyone who thinks they are tough just needs to watch this thing and see what toughness is. My father always old me about this fight and many other of Ali’s great fights and I had seen bits and pieces and heard people talk about, but last night was the first time I watched it form start to finish. Holy crap, these two guys were nuts. In the middle portion of the fight Ali looking dead tired (not rope-a-doping) just got pummeled for 4 rounds by Joe Frazier. Smoking Joe just got in on his body and went to work on his ribs and stomach, the pain for Ali must have been unbearable. Then in about Round 11 Ali got a second wind and started hitting Frazier with those crisp stinging Ali jabs, but all Frazier kept doing was coming at Ali. You could see Ali’s frustration as he would hit Frazier and his head would snap back then forward and Frazier would never miss a beat as he came toward Ali. Most times people pause or even stumble backward after those jabs, not Smoking Joe. Over the last 3 rounds of the fight I am convinced Joe Frazier could not see out of either of his eyes, they were that swollen, he literally fought Ali by feeling where he was and making body contact and throw hooks and uppercuts to the body. After round 14 Eddie Futch (Frazier’s trainer) called the fight immediately. I believe he was truly concerned for the man’s life. In Ali’s corner Angelo Dundee and Bundini Brown lifted Ali off the stool to raise his arms in victory, but Ali just collapsed to the ground. And he had just won the fight. I was so excited to see great boxing, I wish we still had that nowadays, because growing up I was always a fan of The Sport of Kings.
1 Comments:
Coming from the biggest boxing fan to ever read this sight, if you're looking for an absolute war, watch the first Ali-Frazier fight, the one Frazier wins with a left hook in the 14th or 15th round.
That's the major difference between the world of boxing now and then - They cut 3 rounds off championship fights for a reason that is still unclear to me. Another place to catch great fights is the Legendary Fights series that HBO runs. They're 1/2 hour stories about one fight during HBO's 25 years of broadcasting boxing - That includes Gerry Cooney and Larry Holmes and Julio Ceasar Chavez vs. Meldrick Taylor. That's the fight that Taylor is beating the snot out of Chavez for the entire fight, then gets knocked in the final round and the ref stops the fight. Chavez went on to make money, beating Ocsar De La Hoya in another controversail fight and Taylor is a complete mess.
The Red Sox complaints have one base and that's it - the fact that they won their first World Series in forever, but they're not the main attraction headed into spring training. Instead, everyone is talking about Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds and the focus on Tampa with the Yanks and their two steroid boys, Giambi and Sheffield (let's not forget that he used the 'cream').
As a member of the media, those stories are big because that's what seems to be the word around the water cooler. Since the Red Sox don't have anyone believed to be on steriods, no one is camping out at their camp, sending back reports from pitchers and catchers.
Think about it - if BALCO wasn't busted and steriods wasn't in anyone's mind, Sportscenter would have done a five-part series about the Red Sox and how this time of the year was always filled with thoughts that this is the year we finally win and how fans are reacting to the fact that next year was last year. They would have done the whole ball controversy and how the team has changed their mentality from the sluggers of the 70s, 80s and 90s to a more compact team that thinks pitching first. Then they would have dug up Bill Buckner and all the other Red Sox that were involved in heart breaking losses and how they're recovering.
I'm just coming up with this off the top of my head, but instead of Collen Domingez interviewing Bill Lee and him staring at her rack, the focus is on steroids and the Yanks.
I'm not saying they're right to complain. I'm just saying they expected something and it's not coming. Maybe when Fox starts their baseball coverage...
Did we really cut 9 starters after the 2000 season? That's amazing, but two of them were old as dirt offensive lineman, right? I'm probably wrong, but you're smarter and fatter than me.
MARLON BRANDO OUT...
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