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We’ve been talking about the Gina Carano – Cris “Cyborg” Santos fight for quite awhile now, and August 15th is right around the corner. Here’s the latest preview video for the fight: 
I’m still really curious about how people are going to receive this. While I’m all for it, I think that there are still a ton of people out there who would prefer to stare at Gina Carano rather than watch her fight.  Tags: August, corner, Cyborg, Equal, fight, Gina Carano, Gina Carano - Cris, MMA, opportunity, preview, right, Santos, ton, video, youtube, Categories: MMA Leave a comment We’ve already talked about how the uber-awesome Mike Swick reacted to Brock Lesnar’s stupid post-fight rampage, and now another big MMA star is calling Brock’s win “a defeat for martial arts.” It appears that Mirko “Cro Cop” is looking to get in the octagon with Lesnar.
You know, this would probably be the first MMA fight in which I routed for a draw because I didn’t want either fighter to win. I don’t think that there is any chance that the master of head kicks could beat Brock. He would taken down and mercilessly beaten until the referee stopped it. Cro Cop would come into the fight weighing 230 lbs. That’s nearly 60 pounds less than what Lesnar would weight on the night of the fight. That ends poorly for Cro Cop. After which he’d probably threaten to leave the UFC because the competition is too tough. Ohh…sick burn. Tags: blockquote, Brock, Brock Lesnar, career, chance, competition, Cop, course, Cro, defeat, Don, draw, fight, fighter, Hates, head, man, master, Mike Swick, Mirko, MMA, night, Octagon, Ohh, opponent, Power, quality, Rampage, referee, result, School, skill, sport, star, struggle, technique, UFC, victory, win, Categories: MMA Leave a comment As the final fights are being signed for UFC 102, an injury replacement suddenly has me interested in what is probably an undercard fight. Krzysztof Soszynski will take on Brandon Vera at UFC 102 on August 29th.
Soszynski is an injury replacement for Matt Hamill who hurt his knee. Since participating in 8th season of The Ultimate Fighter, Soszynski is 3-0 in the UFC with victories of Brian Stann, Shane Primm and Andre Gusmao. Throughout his fights, he’s shown solid striking and improved jiu-jitsu, winning two of his fights by submission. While he is 31, I find myself oddly infatuated with him. I think that his toolbox is full, and he trains with a great camp in Team Quest. He could be a main card player with a victory over Vera. Vera is 6-3 in the UFC in both the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions. He’s 2-1 since moving down in weight with his only loss coming to perennial gatekeeper Keith Jardine. Vera specializes in Muay Thai and is dangerous on his feet. Both of these guys love to stand and trade and this should be an explosive fight. If Soszynski pulls it out, he has to be viewed as a prospect. Tags: aligncenter, Andre Gusmao, August, Brandon Vera, Brian Stann, camp, class, fight, fighter, gatekeeper, Heavyweight, height, img, injury, Keith Jardine, knee, Krzysztof Soszynski, light, loss, Matt Hamill, Muay, player, prospect, quest, replacement, season, Shane Primm, style, submission, team, Thai, toolbox, UFC, Ultimate, Undercard, Vera, Vera Set, victory, Categories: MMA Leave a comment We’ve completely avoided this topic for quite a while now. It’s not that we don’t like the trade deadline, It’s just that there is no way I can see Halladay being traded.
A ton of Yankees and Met fans are screaming that their team should go out and get Halladay. I can’t believe that people haven’t learned yet. The way that you win in modern baseball is by building a farm system and keeping cheap, young players under control. Instead, older, reactionary fans insisting that if you don’t get the biggest name out there every time one is out there, you are a failure as a general manager. Let’s take a look at what these teams would have to give up in order to get one of baseball’s top pitcher: New York Yankees – Any package that the Yanks would have to send to the Blue Jays would have to center around ethier Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain. Then, add one of the Yanks premier position prospects in Austin Jackson or Jesus Montero. Yanks GM Brian Cashman would also likely have to add a couple more pitching prospects like Zach McAllister to the trade. Hell, the Jays might even ask for young power arm Dellin Betances. Another thing that not enough people around New York are talking about is the fact that the Blue Jays and the Yanks are in the same division. It’s not like Halladay’s contract is only for six months. He’s signed through 2010. Do you think the Blue Jays want to see him five or six times a season? I wouldn’t. New York Mets – Well, we know that Blue Jays made an offer to the Mets that consisted of the pu-pu platter of crap. The package was reportedly Fernando Martinez, Bobby Parnell, Jon Niese and Ruben Tejada. The Mets must think a lot more of these prospects than the rest of the world does. They should have made that trade 100 times out of 100. The other possibility is this: The Mets are financially hurting. They just lost approximately $700 million in the Bernie Madoff scandal. There is a chance that they simply can’t afford to add salary at this point. So, there you are. No matter how many times people call WFAN or 1050 ESPN Radio, these facts are not going to change. I see exactly zero way that Roy Halladay ends up in New York. Moreover, the really steep price that the Blue Jays are asking for makes me believe that there is no way he goes anywhere. Tags: Austin, baseball, Bernie Madoff, Betances, Bobby, brian cashman, center, Chamberlain, chance, contract, control, couple, crap, deadline, Dellin, division, espn, ethier, fact, failure, farm, Fernando Martinez, hell, href, Jackson, Jesus, Joba, Jon Niese, look, lot, manager, matter, Met, mets, Montero, name, New York, offer, order, package, Parnell, Phil Hughes, pitcher, position, possibility, Power, premier, price, radio, rest, Roy Halladay, Ruben Tejada, salary, scandal, season, system, team, thing, Time, ton, topic, trade, way, WFAN, while, world, Yanks, Zach McAllister, Categories: MLB Leave a comment It’s amazing how a weak card can become a strong one with the addition of one really good main event. Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson will have a rematch of their contreversial UFC 93 bout at UFC 103 in Dallas, Texas on September 19. For those who missed the first one, Henderson won via split decision and Franklin was angry. The normally level headed former middleweight champ cursed and cameramen and locked himself in his dressing room after the fight. Since then, Franklin took a unanimous decision over Wanderlei Silva in a catchweight (195) bout at UFC 99 in Germany. Henderson has also fought just once since, but his night has much shorter. In front of the biggest audience in UFC history, Henderson knocked out talkative Brit Michael Bisping in highlight reel fashion. That right hand may have put him in the same category as Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva and GSP in terms of being a main stream attraction. Both of these fighters are at interesting places in their careers. Franklin is in the process of making the jump from the 185 lbs division to the 205 lbs division. That decision was most likely made in an attempt to keep Franklin away from middleweight champ Anderson Silva. However, Silva’s teammate, Lyoto Machida, is building a dynasty of his own at 205 lbs. Henderson just won a fight that many thought would make him the number one contender to Silva, but the timing is off because Silva will be fighting on August 8th against Forrest Griffin at 205 lbs. Depending on what happened in that fight, Henderson could have been looking at a six month layoff before getting his title shot. UFC 103’s other main card fights include Josh Koscheck taking on the returning Frank Trigg, and Mirko “Cro Cop” returning to the UFC to fight Junior Dos Santos. Tags: Anderson Silva, attempt, attraction, August, bout, brit, Brock Lesnar, cameramen, catchweight, contender, contreversial, Cop, Cro, Dallas, Dan Henderson, decision, division, Dos, event, fashion, fight, Forrest Griffin, Frank Trigg, Germany, GSP, hand, Headlines, Henderson, Hendo, highlight, Josh Koscheck, jump, layoff, level, Lyoto, Machida, Michael Bisping, middleweight, Mirko, night, number, rematch, Rich Franklin, Santos, September, split, stream, teammate, Texas, thought, timing, Wanderlei, Categories: MMA One comment so far Last year, in Chris Drury’s first as Ranger’s Captain, he was flanked by Alternate Captains Scott Gomez and Markus Naslund. This year, with Gomez jettisoned to Montreal and Naslund deciding to retire, coach John Tortorella has a big decision ahead of him. No, picking two players to wear an “A” on their jersey won’t be the difference maker in going to the Stanley Cup Finals or blowing a 3-1 series lead in the 1st round, but it could signal a changing of the guard at Madison Square Garden. Ever since the lockout, veterans have worn the A. Jaromir Jagr, Steve Rucchin, Darius Kasparaitis were the 3 Alternates in the Captain-less 2005-06 season. Since then, Brendan Shanahan, Marty Straka, Gomez, and Naslund have worn it. All older players, all on Broadway for a short time (although Gomez’s wasn’t planned that way). This year, Tortorella can do the easy thing and give Wade Redden (please no) or Marian Gaborik the “A”s to wear, but I hope he doesn’t. Logic says your best player should always get to be a Captain or Alternate (or, in Tom Renney’s case, your highest paid players), but it doesn’t always have to be. For example, can you guess who Washington’s Captain is? No, not Alex Ovechkin. Chris Clark is the Captain. Chris Clark, who scored 1 goal and added 5 assists in 32 games last year. Who makes a good choice? People who’ve paid their dues, who are probably going to be Rangers for a while, and who give 100% effort every shift. Scratch Redden off the list. Has less heart than Barry Bonds. Blair Betts would’ve been a great choice. However, since he probably isn’t returning, he can’t put the “A” on his sweater. (He did last year for a few games, though.) Brandon Dubinsky, Sean Avery, and Marc Staal would all make good choices. Avery, maybe not so great, but if he gets it, I’ll be the first to say it’s a good move. He plays hard every game, he loves being a Ranger, and we know he’s here to stay this time. However, the 2 I think should get it are Ryan Callahan and Dan Girardi. You can’t argue with Callahan getting it, can you? He defines what a Ranger should be. Plays hard not just every game, but every shift. Scores goals. Happy to be in New York. Loves playing at MSG. Doesn’t complain. Hits everyone in sight. Doesn’t take bad penalties. And Girardi? Well, the main reason is because he’s one of my 3 in NHL ‘09. (I’m the Captain, and Girardi and Joe Thornton are my “A”s.) But I love Girardi. I love his poise, his hitting, his passing. I love how he was undrafted and then just came out of nowhere to join the team. I remember how he was picked to the AHL All-Star Game, then got called up in late-January ‘07 and had to miss the game. He was happy to be called up, but upset his family and friends wouldn’t get to watch him in the All-Star Game. Plus, I think his talent, as of right now, is better than Staal’s. You can debate me on that, and you might be right, but I think he is a better defender right now, and if every player on the blueline played like him, this team would be a lot better than it was last year. Just my 2 cents. Would love to hear your choices. Tags: blair betts, brandon dubinsky, Captain, chris drury, dan girardi, jaromir jagr, Marc Staal, Marian Gaborik, markus naslund, martin straka, ryan callahan, scott gomez, steve rucchin, Categories: NHL Leave a comment |
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July 21, 2009, at 7:00 pm
