Monday, May 4, 2009
Weekend Wrap
4:10 AM | 
Posted by
Nick Mendola
--- I thought Ricky Hatton was dead.
No hyperbole, and not to touch on a locally-sensitive subject, but Manny Pacquiao's knock-out of his British opponent was like Kevin Everett's injury all over again. I turned to Bulldog, Corey Griswold, and the other assembled in North Buffalo and asked the question on everyone's mind.
"Is he dead?"
Try as I might, I can't get into MMA -- I've decided that the ground game just isn't for me -- but Saturday night scared me. In his book of short stories, Thom Jones wrote of a prison boxer with "dynamite hands." I'm afraid that modern strength training and its advances are going to present me with a death in the ring if boxing ever regains its form, and what's to be said for that statement.
The fight was quick, and near-lethal, and I loved it. I think I'll always appreciate boxing, even just complaining about bad bouts, but something about that makes me a little sick to my stomach. In this space, I often talk about how professional athletics used to be gladiators... which of our present sports fit that bill?
---
I didn't see the Kentucky Derby live, but I'll tell you one thing -- when your buddy goes to the race and you tell him to put two bucks on the longest-shot, and a 50-to-1 horse wins.... and it isn't your long shot.... You get pretty bummed out.
So, to Atomic Rain, and jockey Joe Bravo: None of your surname for you from me.
To round off this topic, and be a corny animal lover, here's Mine That Bird, the beautiful horse who won the Derby and may not run in the Preakness Stakes.
If in fact Mine That Bird doesn't run in the Preakness, the race will lose almost all sexiness --- horse racing lives for a Triple Crown winner. You get the feeling that trainer Bennie Woolley, Jr., is just playing mind games (that works with horses), but if not, it will be a remarkable statement about the value of a healthy horse. There's also a chance, being a long-shot winner and all, that he wants to keep the stud fee high. Let's not make this completely philanthropic.
---
They (the sea horses) say defense wins championships, and if that's true, the winner of the Ducks/Red Wings series will win the Cup. It's easy to see Detroit's defense is phenomenal, but the Ducks made a shrewd trade that benefitted both teams near the deadline.
Knowing they had a surplus of forwards, Anaheim sent Chris Kunitz to Pittsburgh for then-struggling defenseman Ryan Whitney. It made sense for both teams, but Ducks GM Bob Murray showed precious little fear of upsetting Brian Burke's former championship roster by dealing a young gun like Kunitz.
Whitney was miserable at the time of the deal, and having a heck of a time getting over an injury on a Pittsburgh team that needed a shake-up. The former No. 5 overall pick was blooming as a Penguin before the injury, and has was in the second year of a six-year, $24 million deal. It's back-loaded salary wise, but the cap hit will be $4 million regardless.
If Whitney doesn't regain his form, but continues to be what he's been in Anaheim -- a point-every-two-games defender at about an even plus/minus, then Anaheim is slightly over-paying, by professional athletic standards, a defenseman. If he finds his old form after a restful offseason, the trade is brilliant.
As for the Penguins end, whether they win against the Capitals or not, they gained a Cup-winner who's been a solid 20-goal, 30-assist performer for, arguably, four years. The 29-year old is still in the first of a four-year deal carrying a cap hit of $3.725 million. He'll also fight a couple times of year when necessary, which could save Sidney Crosby the misfortune of doing something WWE-worthy to gain an edge.
---
The NBA playoffs keep moving, and while my heart is thankful the Celtics/Bulls series is over -- Go Celts -- my mind wonders if anything short of Lebron/Kobe can come close to the level of excitement.
He may be a ham, but (insert poor swine flu comment here).
Working without Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, the Celtics were forced to play small ball with the Bulls, and the results were enthralling. I couldn't stop texting anyone who gave a crap about basketball and might be awake watching to try and get them back in the door.
Beginning Monday night, with Game One between Orlando and Boston, we'll find out an awful lot about young Magic star Dwight Howard. If he is the game's best big man, he should have a field day with the depleted Celtics, and take the series in five or six, drawing too many smallish bodies and dishing to Rashard Lewis when he can't drive. I just have a feeling that Paul Pierce is going to continue to assert himself with Garnett, and Ray Allen found his playoff stroke this year, as opposed to last year's title season, when he had nothing.
---
Carlos Zambrano may have put a hiccup in an already-slow-starting Cubs campaign by dropping a surprise bunt to lead off the fifth and pulling hammy beating it out, but it only cements him as one of my all-time favorite baseball players.
---
As you may have heard me say on Sportstalk Saturday, my first view of Aaron Maybin in person was impressive. It's nowhere-near-unusual for the top pick to look great among a bunch of undrafted rookies and second-year practice squad guys, but Maybin is head-jerking-quick, and has one of those, "How did God do that?" builds. Let's just say he has the athleticism, but we'll see whether last year was an aberration within the next three years (notice I didn't type "first three preseason snaps,").
---
In case you were wondering, my Newcastle United boys took another step toward relegation with a 3-0 loss at Liverpool. With three games remaining they need to catch Hull City, who sit three points ahead of them. Short of Hull going 0-3, it'll take points at home against Middlesborough (likely three), a home win against Fulham (hopefully one) and a road win at Aston Villa (unlikely any). They'd have to hope Villa has nothing European to play for to be sure.
Hull is away to Aston Villa today (no points), home to Stoke (one to three), away to Bolton (one to three) and home to Manchester United (zero if Man Utd. needs it).
There's also an outside chance at catching huge rivals Sunderland, who are four ahead, and finish at Bolton, at Portsmouth and home to Chelsea.
---
I don't know nearly enough about Jack Kemp to give him his Buffalo due, but what I do know is that he was a class act in an often classless political world. I remember talking to Bills offensive lineman Brad Butler about his internship with Kemp's office, and if it says anything about the man, he was a true gentleman.
Growing up, and hearing my father and uncles talk about Jack Kemp, his name held a certain reverence. I never had any doubt whether he was a legend, and I'm not sure I've ever heard a negative thing about him.
Rest in peace.
Email: nick@wgr550.com
No hyperbole, and not to touch on a locally-sensitive subject, but Manny Pacquiao's knock-out of his British opponent was like Kevin Everett's injury all over again. I turned to Bulldog, Corey Griswold, and the other assembled in North Buffalo and asked the question on everyone's mind.
"Is he dead?"
Try as I might, I can't get into MMA -- I've decided that the ground game just isn't for me -- but Saturday night scared me. In his book of short stories, Thom Jones wrote of a prison boxer with "dynamite hands." I'm afraid that modern strength training and its advances are going to present me with a death in the ring if boxing ever regains its form, and what's to be said for that statement.
The fight was quick, and near-lethal, and I loved it. I think I'll always appreciate boxing, even just complaining about bad bouts, but something about that makes me a little sick to my stomach. In this space, I often talk about how professional athletics used to be gladiators... which of our present sports fit that bill?
---
I didn't see the Kentucky Derby live, but I'll tell you one thing -- when your buddy goes to the race and you tell him to put two bucks on the longest-shot, and a 50-to-1 horse wins.... and it isn't your long shot.... You get pretty bummed out.
So, to Atomic Rain, and jockey Joe Bravo: None of your surname for you from me.
To round off this topic, and be a corny animal lover, here's Mine That Bird, the beautiful horse who won the Derby and may not run in the Preakness Stakes.
If in fact Mine That Bird doesn't run in the Preakness, the race will lose almost all sexiness --- horse racing lives for a Triple Crown winner. You get the feeling that trainer Bennie Woolley, Jr., is just playing mind games (that works with horses), but if not, it will be a remarkable statement about the value of a healthy horse. There's also a chance, being a long-shot winner and all, that he wants to keep the stud fee high. Let's not make this completely philanthropic.
---
They (the sea horses) say defense wins championships, and if that's true, the winner of the Ducks/Red Wings series will win the Cup. It's easy to see Detroit's defense is phenomenal, but the Ducks made a shrewd trade that benefitted both teams near the deadline.
Knowing they had a surplus of forwards, Anaheim sent Chris Kunitz to Pittsburgh for then-struggling defenseman Ryan Whitney. It made sense for both teams, but Ducks GM Bob Murray showed precious little fear of upsetting Brian Burke's former championship roster by dealing a young gun like Kunitz.
Whitney was miserable at the time of the deal, and having a heck of a time getting over an injury on a Pittsburgh team that needed a shake-up. The former No. 5 overall pick was blooming as a Penguin before the injury, and has was in the second year of a six-year, $24 million deal. It's back-loaded salary wise, but the cap hit will be $4 million regardless.
If Whitney doesn't regain his form, but continues to be what he's been in Anaheim -- a point-every-two-games defender at about an even plus/minus, then Anaheim is slightly over-paying, by professional athletic standards, a defenseman. If he finds his old form after a restful offseason, the trade is brilliant.
As for the Penguins end, whether they win against the Capitals or not, they gained a Cup-winner who's been a solid 20-goal, 30-assist performer for, arguably, four years. The 29-year old is still in the first of a four-year deal carrying a cap hit of $3.725 million. He'll also fight a couple times of year when necessary, which could save Sidney Crosby the misfortune of doing something WWE-worthy to gain an edge.
---
The NBA playoffs keep moving, and while my heart is thankful the Celtics/Bulls series is over -- Go Celts -- my mind wonders if anything short of Lebron/Kobe can come close to the level of excitement.
He may be a ham, but (insert poor swine flu comment here).
Working without Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, the Celtics were forced to play small ball with the Bulls, and the results were enthralling. I couldn't stop texting anyone who gave a crap about basketball and might be awake watching to try and get them back in the door.
Beginning Monday night, with Game One between Orlando and Boston, we'll find out an awful lot about young Magic star Dwight Howard. If he is the game's best big man, he should have a field day with the depleted Celtics, and take the series in five or six, drawing too many smallish bodies and dishing to Rashard Lewis when he can't drive. I just have a feeling that Paul Pierce is going to continue to assert himself with Garnett, and Ray Allen found his playoff stroke this year, as opposed to last year's title season, when he had nothing.
---
Carlos Zambrano may have put a hiccup in an already-slow-starting Cubs campaign by dropping a surprise bunt to lead off the fifth and pulling hammy beating it out, but it only cements him as one of my all-time favorite baseball players.
---
As you may have heard me say on Sportstalk Saturday, my first view of Aaron Maybin in person was impressive. It's nowhere-near-unusual for the top pick to look great among a bunch of undrafted rookies and second-year practice squad guys, but Maybin is head-jerking-quick, and has one of those, "How did God do that?" builds. Let's just say he has the athleticism, but we'll see whether last year was an aberration within the next three years (notice I didn't type "first three preseason snaps,").
---
In case you were wondering, my Newcastle United boys took another step toward relegation with a 3-0 loss at Liverpool. With three games remaining they need to catch Hull City, who sit three points ahead of them. Short of Hull going 0-3, it'll take points at home against Middlesborough (likely three), a home win against Fulham (hopefully one) and a road win at Aston Villa (unlikely any). They'd have to hope Villa has nothing European to play for to be sure.
Hull is away to Aston Villa today (no points), home to Stoke (one to three), away to Bolton (one to three) and home to Manchester United (zero if Man Utd. needs it).
There's also an outside chance at catching huge rivals Sunderland, who are four ahead, and finish at Bolton, at Portsmouth and home to Chelsea.
---
I don't know nearly enough about Jack Kemp to give him his Buffalo due, but what I do know is that he was a class act in an often classless political world. I remember talking to Bills offensive lineman Brad Butler about his internship with Kemp's office, and if it says anything about the man, he was a true gentleman.
Growing up, and hearing my father and uncles talk about Jack Kemp, his name held a certain reverence. I never had any doubt whether he was a legend, and I'm not sure I've ever heard a negative thing about him.
Rest in peace.
Email: nick@wgr550.com
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