Thank GoatDiesel Its the Weekend! You work too damn hard all week! So on the weekends you deserve to sit on your ass, drink beer and watch sports. At least that’s what the Diesel tells himself every Friday night. Well come to think of it, I do that all week too….Anyway….I am here to give you a run down of all the great sporting events on this weekend that you CAN’T miss, well you can but I will be mad at you. I’ll put a star beside the ones I am going to be watching. Here we goooooo………………..
Saturday
*NHL Playoffs - Washinton vs. Pittsburgh (1pm ET CBC, NBC) - Look for Bettman in the crown with a huge smile and object covering his “excitement” probably a bag of popcorn
NHL Playoffs – Chicago vs. Vancouver (9pm ET CBC, VS) - Game 2 of my favourite series in the second round. I love Chicago’s youth and I love Canadian teams so I am happy the longer this series lasts. Game 1 saw the inexperience of Chicago seem to really hamper them at the start of the game but then saw them storm back in the 3rd only to be robbed my Luongo, like everyone else in the world.
*Kentucky Derby – (Coverage starts at 4pm but post is 6pm ET on NBC) – With 3-1 favourite I want Revenge being scratched from the race a few days ago with an ankle injury Pioneer of the Nile is still the dog in the horse race??? Anyway, I have my money on Regal Ransom, General Quarters and Papa Clem in no particular order but if any of them wins, you are DEFINITELY going to want to find me tonight because the drinks will be on the house!!!
*NBA Playoffs – Boston vs. Chicago (8pm ET TNT, Score) – This series has been one of the all time best first round series in NBA history. So far they have played in 7 OT periods and Game 6 was 4 hours long, Too say these teams will be tired is the understatement of the year but I can guarantee you this is ends up being the event of the night. I know for sure I will be sitting some where with a BUNCH of empties scattering around talking about how good a 3 point shooter I am and if I was 6′5 I would be the next Ray Allen.
*Boxing – Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton (9pm ET HBO) -These two little guys will going at it in Las Vegas tonight with Pacquiao looking to become the only fighter since Oscar De La Hoya to capture titles in 6 different weight classes. While Manchester’s favourite fighting son, Hatton, looks to defend his belt at 140lbs and show the world hes not “a fat, beer drinking, lucky bastard”. The Diesel will be in the crowd tonight for the fight…at a friends house….watching on TV….CHEERING FOR PACQUIAO!!!
Sunday
NHL Playoffs – Anaheim vs. Detroit (2pm ET, TSN, NBC) – After a very close game 1 Anaheim will look to prove to the world they aren’t a fluke and a lot of people forget this, almost, exact same team won the cup a very short 2 years ago. Detroit one ups Anaheim, they won LAST YEAR. I look for Detroit to overwhelm Anaheim’s aging defence and goal tending with a barrage of shots and to take the win.
*NHL Playoffs – Carolina vs. Boston (7:30pm ET, TSN, VS) – Game 1 went according to plan 4-1 Boston (the same way this series will end) Look for more of the same onslaught from Boston’s quick, young frontline and there bruising defence. I figure the sooner the better for these guys anyway, that way Eric Staal can find some bachelor parties to crash with his brother Marc.
*NBA Playoffs – Miami vs. Atlanta (1pm ET ABC) – Unless you live in Miami or Atlanta I don’t really think anyone has paid much attention to this series but DAMN its been brutal. Some times these game looks more like Monday Night Raw then NBA playoffs. This game 7 will be MUCH of the same as neither of these teams want to lose to each other. I think Wade is just too good to go out in the first round, look for Miami to take it in Atlanta then IMMEDIATELY LEAVE THE STATE!!! Looks like we finally have a new, GENUINE, rivalry in the NBA at least.
NBA Playoffs – Dallas vs. Denver (3:30pm ET ABC) -Let the second round begin! To tell you all the truth I could care less about this series. My friend DarkMan and I, who I frequent Raps games with, always end up bitching about how boring the Raps are to watch because of Bosh but we always trump that with having to deal with living in Dallas and watching the Mavs. I don’t think there is a team I WOULDN’T choose over the Mavs to watch night in night out. I hope Denver takes them in 4 and we never see a Dirk Diggler in the playoffs again, unless he is a 2 fiddle on a team.
Peace!
- Retirement?
What was that? Seriously? What did I just watch? I thought they were billing this as a “Super Fight”? It was really more like a “Super Ass Kicking” or a “How To Box Video” starring Manny Pacquiao and some guy who looked like Oscar De La Hoya’s older brother. Now I am not a boxing aficionado by any means but I am a sports fan I know one thing, that was EMBARRASSING!!! For those of you who may have missed it. On Saturday night there was supposed to be a fight to declare the unofficial “pound for pound champion in boxing”. (Yes! Boxing is still around) The problem was, only one fighter showed up and here’s a hint, it WASN’T Oscar De La Hoya.
Foreshadowed by a undercard full of lopsided fights that ended quickly and watching Jim Lampley and the HBO crew scramble for 45 minutes, you knew this fight wasn’t going to be pretty and you were right. As soon as I saw the tale of the tape, I saw the writing on the wall. A MUCH shorter Pacquiao (5′6″,’stache not included) gained 6.5lbs overnight and De La Hoya gained only 1lb. By fight time there was only a pound advantage for Pacquiao but there is something to be said when the bigger (5′10″) who normally fights at a higher weight class can’t even match the 6lbs the much smaller and naturally lighter Filipino was able to gain. Was he too tired to eat? Did he even care? Was this all getting boring for him? All of those questions scare me and are my biggest problems with boxing as a sport.
When you look at De La Hoya’s career you can by no means say he has ever taken the easy road. He has defeated 18 current or former champions and I am not insinuating he is a ducker like Fedor Emelianenko in MMA but when you look at the payouts he is receiving at this point in his career, you might agree with me when I ask how hard he is willing to train when he is guaranteed to make $20M+ win or lose. Granted he is a boxer, probably the most competitive breed of athlete in this day and age, to get punched in the face for a living you have to be either competitive or crazy. And with his interviews and massively successful promotional company (Golden Boy Promotions) he is certainly not the latter. When I saw he was rumoured to be paid $50M win or LOSE for his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May of 2007, I definitely questioned what was really bringing these fights about.
At least the Mayweather fight was for a title, so you could almost believe it wasn’t just for the ridiculous pay out. You can almost believe the Golden Boy was motivated by the talk he may have lost it and wanted to prove he was still the pound for pound the best fighter in the world when he fought the Pac-Man. But when you actually watched what transpired Saturday night, that all went out the window like one of Larry Merchant’s crazy-ass, long-winded questions.
How can we fix this? I am not sure boxing can be saved but I have a thought to make it more interesting and it is borrowed from the sport some say is taking over for boxing, MMA. In MMA, a majority of the fighters are paid PEANUTS compared even to the guy who rings the bell at main events in boxing. That isn’t because the promoters are ripping these guys off (well maybe a little) but because the sport is still in its embryonic stage. They do have a great way of making these guys fight a lot harder than most boxers, win bonuses. UFC for example, gives out a win bonus (usually it doubles the fighters base pay), a Fight of the Night bonus, Knock Out of the Night bonus and even a Submission of the Night bonus for usually $10,000. When you’re getting paid only $6,000 to step up and fight, that’s a pretty nice chunk of change and it not only gives these underpaid fighters more of a reason to make the fight exciting but to genuinely care how hard they train and what happens in the ring (or Octagon).
Now I am sure some boxers get cuts of pay per views, gates and all that but I mean bonuses off each other, almost like a bet. I read a rumour that De La Hoya and Pacquiao agreed to put up 10% of their respected purses for the fight and I thought that was great but as far as I know it was only that, a rumour. Take this exact fight, from what I heard, De La Hoya was promised 60% of the cut and Manny of course 40% but the side bet would even it out at 50%. Of course 50% of say $100M isn’t too shabby no matter how you cut it but when you are putting up 10% of the money you can earn it also becomes a pride thing. I know when I make my weekly $5 bet at work regarding anything from who goes the bathroom first to who talks first, I try my hardest to beat those other bastards. Not only because the $5 will get me one more beer that Friday but because I don’t wanna have these guys to wave that money in my face like I always do to them.
Maybe my money scheme won’t save boxing or even make it more interesting but they have to do something. Because showing up, getting out-punched 229 to 39 and having to throw in the effing towel in 8th round of a fight you were never in and still getting paid millions, is about as interesting as watching as my co-workers faces go blue after their morning coffees after a “First to pee bet”. Ok, maybe not even that interesting. So do us a favour Golden Boy, either train harder, fight competition that fits your style or join Blanche, Rose, Sofia and Dorothy in retirement. (Golden Girl’s reference…YES!!!)
Peace!
