10.22.2008

"The World Serious..."

As Bugs Bunny would say is upon us! However, I am not that into it. I am trying to cheer, for my wife, and in-laws sake for Philadelphia, as the Phillies are playing the Tampa Bay (Formerly Devil) Rays at Tropicana Field. Now, folks familiar to me will know that I went to college at Temple University in Philly. I found it a fun, but tremendously UNDERWHELMING town. This is something that I like to remind my friend Mary about all the time! Nonetheless, I will root for the Phillies, to keep everything mellow on the home and in-law front. Why not, right?

Interestingly, the Tampa Bay Rays, have a Japanese infielder named Akinori Iwamura. I've always been fascinated by the idea of the foreign player playing baseball in America. I know the Japanese have a long history of baseball in their own country, but to play here? In a strange land? How does the players (there are several of 'em in the majors now) live? Do they constantly travel with interpreters? I guess the team has to pay them too, right? Do they try to learn English at all? In a parallel sense, former NY Mets Manager Bobby Valentine now coaches in Japan, has learned Japanese, and loves living there!

Sadly, in MMA news, we saw Elite XC go out of business this week. They had very few good fights, and they promoted that Kimbo Slice farce guy which pissed a MMA purist like me off to no end. Apparently they ran up a $55 million dollar deficit in under 2 years! Crazy, huh?.

Looking forward to seeing Anderson Silva fighting on the UFC card this weekend! One thing about "The Spider", he does not play around. He goes for the kill, either to submit, or knock you out. I've never seen an mma fighter so awesome!

The election news keeps on getting better and better. Huffington Post is saying how the NY Times Sunday Magazine will have a big article about the disintegration of the McCain Campaign, and the "Schizophrenic" Leadership of Steve Schmidt! I LOVE IT!!!! I truly will be working for the Weekend now!!! LOL

10.19.2008

Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins keeps on beating Father Time!

I gotta give a mega shout out to one of my favorite fighters. Bernard Hopkins, aka "The Executioner", who is 43 years old, went out, and DOMINATED 26 yr old Middleweight Champ Kelly Pavlik. Reports show that he basically dominated the entire fight. This does not surprise me. I will always remember his KO of Felix Trinidad at Madison Square Garden in 2001. Trinidad, who is Puerto Rican, had 20,000 New Yorkers at the Garden cheering for him. By the time he was KO'ed, the audience was eerily silent. Amazing sports moment.

Of course, the big news in politics today is that Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President on "Meet the Press" this morning. First, let me start off by saying that I do have some misgivings about Mr. Powell. After all, it was his speech in front of the UN, that made the US case for war in Iraq. We now know that the info he shared was not correct. Whether he literally knew it was incorrect, or if he thought the information was truthful, I do not know. However, it is a blight on his otherwise honorable list of achievements.

I must say that I found his endorsement of Obama incredibly nuanced, and heartfelt. Powell covered all of the bases. You could tell that he truly had agonized over the endorsement. From the ridiculous choice of Sarah Palin as VP, to the whole "Obama is a Muslim" myth, to the robocalls that the McCain campaign is doing (employing the same firm that smeared McCain w/ the black baby out of wedlock myth in 2000!); Powell hit all the bases.

I wish that more of our local, state and national leaders could speak as plainly, and as directly as Mr. Powell did today. He transcended race, political party, and personal agenda today. He deserves kudos!

It is AMAZING, I just found out that the McCain Campaign countered the Powell endorsement of Obama by announcing that Katie Barberia, a TELEVNOVELA actress in Florida had endorsed McCain!!! LOLOL!!!!

A final shout out to Chris Leben for a great fight on the Spike TV UFC card against Michael Bisbing. While Chris came up a little short, he showed tremendous heart, and determination. I hope that not only will he finish up all of the tattoo's that are on his chest, but that he will continue to find success in sobriety!!!