Archive for June, 2007
I’m writing this blog at the Atlantic City airport, waiting to board my plane back to Fort Lauderdale. I think this is the first time I’ve done actual “work” on a laptop while waiting for an airplane. (I know… this blog isn’t really work. I agree.) We’ve been in Atlantic City since Wednesday night, and now it’s about 3:00pm on Sunday. That’s a little too long to be in Atlantic City, but that’s for another blog.
Last night Dan and I went to Boardwalk Hall to watch The Cage Fury Fighting Championships. Quite the experience. You probably know by now that Miami’s Kimbo Slice defeated Ray Mercer in about a minute. I felt kind of bad for Mercer. Kimbo came out of his corner like a tornado and I don’t think Mercer knew what hit him. After a few wild punches, Kimbo threw Mercer to the floor, and soon after Mercer tapped out. It was over. After the fight, you could see Mercer jawing at Kimbo, yelling that Kimbo took the cheap way out by taking him to the floor. Mercer wanted Kimbo to fight with his fists. The problem for Mercer was that this was an MMA (mixed martial arts) fight, and Kimbo had trained for it. Mercer was not prepared, and he paid for it.
The night was a pretty crazy experience. You can imagine the type of crowd that Cage Fury Fighting brings out… There were several fights in the crowd during the undercard. It was a fun night though. There was an energy in the hall… and also unbridled human lust for violence. That was a little off-putting, but I guess that’s why everyone was there.
My favorite part of the night was one of the fights on the undercard. A fighter named Nicky (don’t recall his last name) entered the ring in a monkey mask. Apparently his nickname is The Mad Monkey. I can’t get the sound out of my head of the creepy guy sitting behind us, yelling, “Yeah, Mad Monkey!” “Yeah, Mad Monkey.” The Mad Monkey upset his opponent and became the new champion of some sort of weight class. Did I mention that The Mad Monkey entered the ring throwing bananas to the crowd?
Dan and I got to the hall around 10pm… The tickets said the card started at 8pm. We sat through about 7 or 8 undercard matches before Kimbo took on Mercer. (A few too many undercard matches, I would say.) Kimbo entered the ring to “This Is Why I’m Hot” by Mims. He looked muscular. Fierce. Ready. He seemed angrier than The Mad Monkey.
Didn’t take long for it to be over. Kimbo celebrated… The crowd cheered him… and then we filed out onto the Atlantic City boardwalk. All in all, a fun field trip. I’m glad we did the show from The Borgata for two days. I’m glad we came up here to represent South Florida in support of Kimbo. I hope Kimbo fights a sanctioned fight in Florida, as I think the hometown crowd would go nuts. (I don’t know if Cage Fury Fighting is legal in Florida.)
I’m curious if anyone reading this blog ordered the pay per view. If you did, post a response to let me know how it was. Would you order again? Would you want to see Kimbo fight again? That’s all I got… I’m tired after a long four days in Atlantic City. What did I learn? Kimbo is truly a bad ass. And there’s an MMA fighter nicknamed The Mad Monkey. And he threw bananas.
June 25th, 2007
The Dan LeBatard Show is hitting the road this week… Dan and I will be doing the show live from The Borgata in Atlantic City this Thursday and Friday. (Stugotz isn’t making the trip.) The reason we’re going to Atlantic City is to check out Miami’s legendary street fighter Kimbo Slice take on former heavyweight champ Ray Mercer in the Cage Fury Fighting Championships.
If you listen to the show regularly, then you know who Kimbo is. He’s a street fighter right out of Miami… His videos on YouTube are legendary. (If you haven’t seen them, go to www.youtube.com and search “Kimbo.”) Kimbo has been on the show with us, and he was great. He had great stories to tell… and I think he’s going to have a great future as a fighter/actor/entertainer. (I could see him making one of those “Mr. T” type jumps into fame.)Kimbo is fighting Saturday night, June 23, in Atlantic City against former champ Ray Mercer. Ray Mercer was also on the show recently– If you didn’t hear him (or Kimbo) you can listen to the archived interview right here at www.790theticket.com/showaudioarchive.php?show=The+Dan+Le+Batard+Show+with+Stugotz
My gut feeling, originally, was that Ray Mercer was going to win the fight. I just figured that even though it’s cage fighting, a former heavyweight champion will still have more skills than a street fighter. But after hearing Ray Mercer on the air with us, and finding out that he’s 46 years old, I now believe that Kimbo is going to win this fight. (Mercer has lost MMA fights before.)
If you want more information on the Kimbo-Mercer fight, check out the website www.cagefuryfighting.com. It has all the details, including video of the pre-fight press conference. It’s all pretty cool. I think this fight is going to put Kimbo on the map in a big way.So, my question for this week’s blog is: Are you interested in this fight? Dan has been talking about cage fighting and mixed martial arts a lot on the air lately. He recently wrote in The MIami Herald that fights like this are going to supplant the big boxing fights that our parents grew up with. Do you agree? Are you interested in the Kimbo-Mercer fight? Will you be purchasing the fight on Pay Per View? Is this something that’s going to be hugely popular years from now?
Please chime in with your thoughts… And GO KIMBO!
June 18th, 2007
Here’s what bothers me most about The Sopranos series finale: Some jackass media critic is going to write how “genius” it was to end it that way. Some “brilliant” caller to the show is going to say how “he gets what David Chase” was trying to say. Some air personality is going to try to explain to me how “a show like that can’t be wrapped up in a neat little package.” Bullshit. What a letdown. I feel like canceling HBO.
I can’t even write a blog now, because I just finished watching it. I called my dad immediately because I needed to talk about this travesty with someone. He was as confused as I was. I called several friends… they were all pissed. What a disappointment. What a terrible way for this show to go out. I would have preferred to find out the entire show was a “dream” rather than feel this empty at the end.
So go ahead and post whatever you want to post in response to this blog. Tell me why the episode was actually great. Tell me why “I just don’t get it.” Tell me what a genius David Chase is.
If you missed the series finale of The Sopranos, let me recap it for you:
1) Meadow doesn’t know how to parallel park.
2) The entire Sopranos family enjoys onion rings.
What a waste.
June 11th, 2007
I have come to the conclusion that baseball managers do not matter at all. Not at all. Dan LeBatard has been railing for years that baseball managers are inconsequential, and I completely agree. I didn’t always agree, but after a while, the more you think about it, that’s the only conclusion you can come to.
Lou Pinella is the example. The perfect example. When he had quality players in Seattle, he was a good manager. When he had crappy players in Tampa, he was a lousy manager. In Chicago, I think he’s going to become a national joke. Take the fight between Zambrano and Barrett in the dugout the other day. Did Pinella lose control over his team? Did he ever have control? Does it even matter? No. If the Cubs don’t pitch well and they don’t score runs, they won’t win games. Lou Pinella has ZERO to do with it. It doesn’t matter if his players never fight with each other… or if they always fight with each other. It just doesn’t matter. If the pitchers pitch well, and the hitters hit well, then the Cubs will win. I repeat, Lou Pinella has NOTHING to do with it.
How about the other team in Chicago- The White Sox. They won the World Series two seasons ago. Ozzie Guillen was hailed as a genius. Then they underperformed last year. And they’re under performing this season. Is it Ozzie Guillen’s fault at all? The White Sox have actually gotten better since they won the World Series– they added Jim Thome. So do you blame Ozzie that the White Sox are under .500 this season? If you do, tell me exactly what he could have done differently to change how their season has been going.
It’s difficult to finally admit that the manager means nothing in baseball. It goes against everything we’re taught since we were kids. But it’s the truth. The manager has nothing to do with it when a team wins a game… and conversely, they have nothing to do with it when they lose a game. Take the Marlins comeback against the Chicago Cubs in 2003. What did Jack McKeon have to do with that comeback? Nothing. It was the players. It was lucky bounces. It was Bartman. It definitely didn’t have anything to do with Jack McKeon.
Lou Pinella is the best example, though. I’m laughing at how much the Cubs paid him. I’m laughing at how they think installing a new manager will change things. Look at the Cubs since Genius Lou has taken over, and tell me how he’s improved them. They are as big a joke this season as they’ve ever been. And next season, if the Cubs turn it around, and the pitchers are healthy, and Alfonso Soriano plays well, and they score a lot of runs, maybe they’ll win their division. And maybe they’ll win the National League. And maybe they’ll win the World Series. And Lou Pinella will have had nothing to do with it.
June 4th, 2007
