This Week in No Mas

3/25
Sentimental Education
On the anniversary of Mike Tyson being released from prison in 1995, Large looks back at an Esquire interview that Pete Hamill did with Iron Mike while he was incarcerated and discovers a drastically different Tyson than the one in our imaginations. "He tells Hamill that when he gets out of prison he wants to go to college, that he wants to go back to Paris so he can visit the Louvre, that what he misses most about his life is bullshitting with his friends and flying his pigeons and talking to Camille Ewald (Cus's companion). All in all, he sounds like a crack addict who has gotten clean and is dizzy at the prospect of a different, more rewarding existence."

Good Times, Bad Times, Sunday Times
I-berg directs our attention to a Sunday Times piece on former Cubs prospect Adam Greenberg. "His tragedy combines Cubs fans' and Jewish mothers' worst nightmares and eerily parallels the misfortunes of Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, who never made it past the on-deck circle (but was immortalized in baseball's favorite tour de schmaltz, Field of Dreams)."

3/26
HOYA SAXA: Jesuits Gone Wild
Our resident D.C. resident and college basketball maniac, Unsilent, documents the Georgetown madness outside his window after the Hoyas beat UNC in OT.

K.O.W. - Pure Magic
To celebrate the announcement that ABC is getting back into the fight game to televise Antonio Tarver's next bout, we celebrate the Magic Man in our Knockout of the Week by going back to his one-punch demythologization of Roy Jones.

3/27
Ninety Freaking Three
On his 93rd birthday, we send our warmest regards to No Mas icon, Budd Schulberg, and reprint a passage of his that fills us with esprit de corps. "I'll be looking for him, along with the ghosts of Homer and Lord Byron, at the next writers conference at Caesar's Palace, or MGM Grand, or wherever the next epic encounter captures the imagination of the writers who see The Fight as a microcosm, an intensification of the life forces we struggle to understand."

3/28
Sweet Redemption
The anniversary of Marquette NCAA final victory over UNC in 1977, the last game of Al McGuire's storied career.

Mr. Woods, Mr. Federer... meet Mr. Phelps
Michael Phelps is putting on a show at the World Championships in Melbourne that defies the imagination. As far as Large is concerned, Mark Spitz's seven-gold-medal record is now officially an underdog in Beijing.

Deep Tennis with Steve Tignor
Steve looks back at the greatness of Rod Laver and Lew Hoad, the Sampras and Federer of another time. "Laver does share two things with Federer and Sampras: (1) He was a shy man and a gentleman, the opposite of what we’re told top professional athletes need to be to succeed. (2) Laver, Federer, and Sampras were all the Sandy Koufaxes of their eras."

3/29
Sharpshootin' with The Franchise
As you might imagine, just days before the grandaddy of 'em all, Franchise is pretty worked up. In this week's column, though, he showed a measure of restraint and tackled all of the big business news in the MMA world before getting down to the many Wrestlemania-related matters at hand.

Four MC's with Reasons to Bring This Game to Its Knees
Unsilent's Final Four preview, a.k.a Beat Street Breakdown. "As good as Jordan Farmar was (and you know I love my Jewish ballers) Darren Collison is a prototypical Ben Howland point guard. He runs the offense more efficiently than any of the other talented guards heading into Atlanta and he's got the balls to let it fly when that's what the team needs from him."

Cowardice and Treason
The anniversary of the day (early morning) when the trucks rolled into Baltimore and snuck the Colts out of town to Indy. "Has there ever been such a craven act on such a grand scale in the modern era of sports business?"

Jews for Michael Ray
I-berg - journalist, playa, Jew - vouches for the cred of alleged Anti-Semite, Michael Ray Richardson. "Now because he has the temerity to say that Jews are good lawyers, Jews are industrious people, Jews use their wits to get ahead in a world where they are more often hated than loved, we are going to excommunicate him from basketball like he’s Tim Hardaway or Al Campanis."


3/30
The No Mas Top 23 Wrestlemania Moments
WM 23 is this Sunday, and so the 'Chise wrapped up his epic 23 moment countdown today in style by breaking out the top five. People, I'm not going to spoil anything here - just believe me when I tell you that the shit is positively shocking and not to be missed.