posted by Baggiesboy

(Lads and lasses, there’s a football game of note going on this weekend, or so we are told. Not to be outdone, we sent our crack No Mas football correspondent off to cover the festivities. Of course, our crack football correspondent is Baggiesboy, and for the Bag, football is a game played with the feet. And thus, predictably, Media Day in Tampa was a bit of a blur for our Bag. I guarantee you this, however – he was without question the only bloke on the pitch whose mind was on the Albion of dear old West Brom. -L)

Back on October 22, 1977, my beloved West Bromwich Albion beat Manchester United 4-0 at the ‘Theater of the Absurd” known as The Hawthorns. I missed the game. My even more beloved sister, Anne, got married that day. And on her wedding anniversary for the last 31 years (and counting), I’ve asked her the same question: you couldn’t have got married a week earlier? A lot’s changed in three decades, but on Tuesday night the Albion hosted Man. U. once again, and again I missed the game. I was at the Super Bowl XLIII Media Day.

This unmatched NFL hype extravaganza combines the dizzying spin of Will Ferrell at full salchow in Blades of Glory, the anarchic genius of the late, great Spike Milligan, and the hollowness of an empty coconut shell. In other words, it’s one of life’s guilty pleasures.

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posted by Large

Dudes, I have two pieces up at The Sporting Blog today that I thought would be of interest to Masians, one an update on the Margarito controversy and one on the very sad news that Mickey Rourke has reneged on Wrestlemania.

Also, Rooster raised the question of “where is the No Mas soccer guy (a.k.a. Baggiesboy) on the Beckham situation?” in a comment last night, which is ironic, because I did a long interview with His Royal Bagness about Beckham yesterday morning. I will be putting that up at the Sporting Blog tomorrow. It’s fantastic stuff, as you will find out. Baggiesboy, not surprisingly, is uniquely situated to comment on the whole affair from soup to nuts.

A final tease – my HBO piece on the Margs debacle is deep in the works. It’s coming. I have very good shit in the can.
———————————————————————————————-

Margarito Suspended, Cotto Rematch Off?
“Now, the news of the suspensions of Margarito and Capello casts that bout in serious doubt. Lou DiBella, promoter of WBC welterweight titlist, Andre Berto, came out today and announced that Berto would be available to fight Cotto on July 13th if Margarito’s suspension holds and rules him out of contention.”

Rourke Backs Out of Wrestlemania
“The point is that the myth of Mickey Rourke is one of grandiloquent, tempestuous failure, a squandering of everything for the glory of nothing, man’s God-given prerogative to wallow in his own filth. It’s not exactly the noble way, but when the righteous path being forsaken is Hollywood’s golden road, where all that glitters is usually, on closer inspection, a pile of fly-infested crap … well, an air of nobility always will hover around the man who thumbs his nose at that Valhalla.”

posted by Large

Our man Faust from Minnesota was right to point out in the comments to my piece last night that I should have devoted a little more ink to Sugar Shane, because after all it was his night. He brought the pain to Margarito, stood his ground like a man’s man’s man, and pretty much fought a flawless fight all around.

The thing is, where (like many of you I imagine) I was absolutely shocked by Margarito’s performance, I can’t say I was surprised in the least by Shane’s excellence. Shane is always excellent. He’s a consummate professional , always in tremendous shape, always fighting with intelligence and urgency, and always going for the throat when the opportunity presents itself.

It was the indisputable fact of the first two items on that list above that started me thinking he could beat Margs. He outlasted Cotto in a meat-grinder of a war, and so maybe, I thought, he can go the distance in a similar war with Margarito. And his ring-smarts are impeccable, on a par with Bernard’s, so maybe, going up against a guy who has so many holes in his game like Tony, he’ll combine the exact right approach with the discipline to execute it and get the job done.

The third item on the list, though, was what ultimately tipped my prognostification towards Margarito. Shane has never been able to stay out of the el mas macho sweepstakes, even when it behooved him to do so. He has a warrior’s heart and when someone starts smacking him around, he smacks back with authority. We saw that in the first six rounds of his fight with Cotto, six rounds of simply unfathomable boxing skill and will on display that was all-out nuclear war until Mosley, in a self-protective move, finally backed off from the onslaught.

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posted by Large

Let the Monday, or in this case, early Sunday morning quarterbacking begin. Plaster of Paris in his gloves? Looking more emaciated at 47 than De La Hoya did? And getting… knocked the fizznuck out??!?!!?! Jesus man, my head is spinning like I just got punched by Shane Mosley a couple hundred times.

Oh wait, that wasn’t me. That was Margarito.

Look, I sensed it, I even bet on it, and oh how I wish I’d had the nads to prognosticate on it because then I could get all “kneel before Zod” on my brothers here at the Mas and feel all righteous and Zodly (Ricky Roe can step up to that mike). As it is, all I can do is count my money and admit that though I certainly felt like Shane had a good chance, I never would have bet a red cent on him getting the stoppage, not in a million years.

In the very first round, I started to wonder, though, because it just didn’t look like a Tony Margs kind of affair. He always starts slow, but even then he’s stalking, moving forward at angles, geometrically trapping his man over and over again and forcing him to fight his way out of trouble.

Here, well, it was immediately apparent that Shane was stronger than Margs, and what’s more, he looked bigger, which was almost as bizarre as Pacquiao looking bigger than Oscar last month. And Shane used that advantage to good effect, stepping into Margo’s lunges rather than away from them and often just manhandling him around the ring. The pattern was established early, Shane letting Margs walk to him, getting off first (and second, and third…), and then smothering his man before he got any chance to work. Lather rinse repeat.

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posted by Large

I’m very surprised that the predominant attitude here at the Mas towards my Margs/Mosley part-one piece was along the lines of, ‘ninja please!” Seems as if the great mass of Masians don’t have much of a sweet tooth on this one, with none other than Ryan, our crack prognosticator on all things Margo, calling for Sugar Shane to get stopped in the ninth.

I certainly understand the sentiment. When trying to envision how a fight might go down, I always find it useful to entertain the possibility that each man might at least equal his finest performance and decide which fighter would prevail in that case. For Margarito, of course, that career performance is a fight we are exceedingly familiar with. And to put it plainly, if Margs pulls another Cotto-type night out of his ass, well, Shane Mosley will not be winning the fight, not if he goes into the ring riding a loaded rhinoceros. I think we all agree on that.

As for Mosley, his best outing was the first De La Hoya fight, I suppose, and that is probably what weighs down his chances in my mind more than anything. While Margarito’s greatest moment in the ring occurred six months ago, Shane’s is eight years gone. He did look mighty good against Cotto, mighty good indeed, but even that is over a year ago. And though he finished his most recent fight in style, it’s true that he had problems with Mayorga. To be fair, though, Mayorga will give you some problems, especially at 47, where he is gigantic. The man is awkward and strong and crazy. I get the sense that mixing it up with the Matador is like playing speed chess with someone who’s brazen but otherwise has no idea what he’s doing. People like that constantly mess with your rhythm because you’re used to your opponents doing things that make sense and these bold fools do everything wrong. It can take you a while to get the feel of that kind of game, and you can even get behind, despite the fact that you’re an infinitely superior player.

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posted by Large

The trajectory of my prognosticational pendulum for Margarito/Mosley has swung in a much similar arc to the one it took for Margarito/Cotto.

Until about a week before Margs/Cotto, I felt pretty certain that Cotto would pull it out on superior speed and overall boxing ability. But then, as the fight grew nearer, my doubts began in earnest. If Cotto wilted in the face of Shane Mosley in the late rounds, I started asking myself, how will he deal with Margarito’s relentlessness? Could Cotto box effectively for 12 solid rounds, given the fact that a stoppage of Margo was unlikely? Did he have enough gas in the tank to stay mobile for an entire fight against a much bigger man who is the pressure fighter from hell?

As most of you probably know, I stuck with my gut and went with Cotto in my prognostification. And as all of you definitely know, Margarito ended up winning for all of the reasons that I had begun to suspect he would.

With this model in my brain, I find myself at a real crossroads in making my pick for this Saturday night. Until this past week, I don’t think it ever really occurred to me that Shane had a chance to win. I’d give lip service to the idea here and there in columns – “if Margarito doesn’t bring his best on January 24th, he could easily lose” – but I never seriously entertained it as a possibility.

Now, I admit, I am seriously entertaining it and then some. My rationale hinges on the relationship of what has become a fascinating menage a trois in the annals of welterweight brutality – Cotto, Mosley and Margarito.

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posted by Large

So said Collazo’s trainer at the end of the seventh round, and cheers to that. What a fucking fight. There were at least two rounds, three and ten, that are very early round-of-the-year candidates, and though I imagine it will be overshadowed by some of the upcoming blockbusters we anticipate in ’09 (maybe even a certain blockbuster going down this Saturday night in L.A.), at the very least it seems destined for some honorable mention status in the 2009 Fight of the Year sweepstakes.

Onto the judging controversy. Here’s my scorecard:

Berto/Collazo
9/10
10/9
9/10
8/10
10/9
10/9
10/9
10/9
9/10
9/10
10/9
10/9
—–
114/113 Berto

In other words, I’m good with the decision, and I’m even good with it being unanimous, although I certainly agree with the prevalent opinion that 116-111 for Berto, submitted by judge Bill Clancy, is a bad score. But I also thought that Berto being docked a point for holding in the fourth round was a farce, so all things being fair, I would have had him winning by two points, 115-113. I’d also like to add that I thought two rounds, the eighth and the twelfth, could have been scored 10-8 for Berto because he so thoroughly dominated Collazo in each. In the end, I thought Berto won a great fight conclusively and I was very impressed with him, because, as Collazo’s trainer most poetically pointed out, this was a balls-to-the-wall type of affair from the opening bell.

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posted by Large

Really, Manny?
Over at The Sporting Blog today, I wrote about what I see as the interesting battle lines shaping up in what appear to be stalled negotiations between the Pacquiao and Hatton camps for their proposed May 2nd bout in Vegas. Pac is thinking 60/40, Fatton sees it 50/50, and away they go. Smart money would have Hatton backing down, in that Pac just inherited the earth by conquering the De La Hoya empire, but I’m thinking Hatton has some serious chips to bargain with here considering that he is 1. A major attraction who will make a mega-fight with Manny, and 2. Shitty at boxing. Not since Floyd took on Gatti (or Hatton for that matter) has big money come with such little risk.

But anyway, what I feel that Masians will be more interested in is who Manny might opt for should the Hatton deal fall through. Obviously, Floyd is the enticing option, but let’s take it back to some comments from Freddie Roach last week, namely these comments:

“Manny wants to fight Margarito. Manny thinks he can outbox him. Margarito is a big welterweight. He’d have a lot of advantages physically, but Manny doesn’t really worry about that.”

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posted by Baggiesboy

(Boxing, boxing, boxing blah blah bloody blah… where the bloody bleedin ‘ell is Baggiesboy already with our football updates innit? Well enough of your squawking out there, Mr. No Mas Bubble N Squeak, because the Bag is back in all his glory, and you know how he roll. Brother Bag is just our S-O double-C E-R D-O double jizeee, D-O double jizzee… -L)

The Times Square ball drop is complete. A frigid, state of the art, kick-off to the last year of the new century’s initial decade that cost north of $5 million just for the new, bigger, brighter ball (and a remodeled roof to house it.) Silver mylar rectangles are no doubt still frozen onto the ‘Crossroads of the World’s” sidewalks (and quite possibly some New Year’s revelers as well.) But while Ryan Seacrest ponders if sub-zero temperatures are worth braving to succeed the brave Dick Clark, it’s time to consider the future of another American idol: Landon Donovan.

Back in January 2007, the Los Angeles Galaxy landed the biggest coup in the history of Major League Soccer, the signing of David Beckham. Who knew it would be the bust of the century? Not me. And I don’t think Beckham’s new teammate did either. On the afternoon of the former Galáctico’s debutante ball at the Home Depot Center, I spent a few hours with Donovan shooting a profile piece for the premier episode of ‘David Beckham’s Soccer USA.”

The Redlands-native couldn’t have been more cordial. He drove the crew and myself around Los Angeles, answered every question and chatted amiably with the odd fan that recognized him as we shot b-roll at Huntington Beach. Clearly well versed in the dark arts of dealing with the fourth estate, Donovan said all the right things about Beckham and delighted in stoking the US-Mexico rivalry. He also made it clear that the only place he wanted to play his soccer was Los Angeles. The man who loves to dribble made it perfectly clear that he hated Leverkusen drizzle. And he experienced plenty of it in two stints in the Bundesliga; most of it spent out in the cold.

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posted by Large

No Mas Fighter of the Year: Manny Pacquiao
As I pointed out in my year-end awards over at the Sporting Blog, I can’t remember a time when Fighter of the Year has been such a clear-cut, unanimous decision. There’s not really even a close second. Calzaghe? For two incredibly boring wins over old fighters? Margarito or Hopkins for one stirring win each? Ninja please. In 2008, there was Pacquiao and there was everyone else, end of story.

The amazing thing to me is that Pac Man probably would have won FOY honors even without fighting De La Hoya, or anyone for that matter, in December. He had a Fight-of-the-Year caliber victory over J.M. Marquez in March and then moved up a weight-class to completely demolish an unspectacular but nevertheless respectable and hard-as-nails lightweight champion in David Diaz. If he’d finished his 2008 there, I still think he wins the FOY debate, with Margs and possibly Vic Darchinyan having reason to quibble.

But shit – you throw in that win over De La Hoya and you have one of the best single years a boxer’s had in a long, long time. Pacquiao orbited into the stratosphere with that fight, went from one of the best fighters of his generation to interplanetary demi-god in the space of eight electrifying rounds. Not only that, but he set himself up to have first dibs on Fighter of the Year in 2009 as well (along with a right to expect some very, VERY big paydays), with a gigantic Ricky Hatton fight looming in the spring, and then the giganticest fight of them all potentially waiting after that with one Lord Funny Money May. (God, I start to drool just at the thought of a Mayweather-Pacquiao 24/7 – can you imagine the shit that Flizz-noyd would cook up to diss Pacquiao… not to mention how utterly uninteresting, and incomprehensible, Manny would find Floyd’s taunts?)

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