Rivaling pure Dominance

In the event that you missed UFC 145 in Atlanta over the weekend, allow me to explain what happened in the main event. Suga Rashad Evans spent months running his mouth, talking trash about Jon Bones Jones and was hell bent on taking back "his" belt. he crawled into the ring as Jones does and for the record, it was not nearly as slick as cool as when Bones Jones does it. From the word go, Jones was dominant. 

 The fight was not nearly as exciting as we had hoped and the feeling out process lasted the entire fight. Some would lead you to believe that this was a boring fight, but I am here to disagree with that and explain what really happened in the octagon. Jon Jones prevented Evans from engaging him by slamming elbows in his face. He prevented Evans from using his tremendous wrestling skills by keeping his distance and it was nearly impossible for Evans to even attempt a take down. When Evans did attempt to take Jones to the ground, he was met with a fierce knee to the chest and that was followed up by even more vicious elbows that put fear in the heart of a once fearless Evans. I forget the exact moment that it happened, but Jones had Evans in a guillotine choke, it appeared as though Evans' was going to have the life choked out of him, then jones let him go, pounded him with leg kicks, more flying elbows and pure dominance. At the end of that round I realized that Jones did something that's rarely done in MMA. He decided not to finish his opponent. Not because he couldn't, not because Evans countered with something he couldn't handle and not even because it was too late in the round for a submission. He let him go because he wasn't done torturing Evans.

 I can understand how you might disagree with that last statement, but only if you didn't watch the entire fight or simply watched the highlights on TV. Jones was dominating this fight from the get go, throwing elbows that looked like closed fist punches, landing them square in the face of Evans and then he did something I've never seen before. He got Evans in the clinch and began to "throw" shoulders at his chin, stunning his opponent maybe five or six times consecutively before Evans even knew what was happening. It was pure brilliance. It was plain to see that Evans couldn't get anything going. When he did throw punches that landed, they seemed to have very little impact on Jones and a step further, they were single punches, not thorough combinations.

Jones won the fight by unanimous decision after a five round masterpiece and it leads me, as well as many others, to ask the question. Who will be the next victim to face Jon Bones Jones? Sunday morning I read an article that stated Dan Henderson would be next up, but by the time the fight happens he will be 42 years of age, far from in the prime of his career and not unlike every single man who steps in the octagon to face Jones, he will have a significant size disadvantage. Many rumors are circulating that Jones may be asked to gain some weight (or not drop so much weight before a fight) and compete with the heavyweights. As exciting as that sounds, I think Jones has earned a chance to compete as a light heavyweight for at least another 4-5 fights, despite the lack of competition in that division. I say this because the kid, yes kid, is still just 24 years young and is still learning the sport. His body will continue to grow, he will gain some weight as he matures and before we know it, he will be smacking around the likes of Junior Dos Santos, Cain Velasquez and the other giants of that division. But for now, he's the greatest light heavyweight champion this sport has ever seen and he's far from hitting the peak of his abilities. 

Giant Observations

I made my way to AT&T Park last night with one purpose. To watch Roy Hallday dominate the San Francisco Giants. Yes, Tim Lincecum was pitching but I couldn't care less. In my opinion, he's an overrated, over hyped kid who's best days are behind him.

I got to the park early enough to watch both pitchers prepare for their start. Having never seen Halladay in person I was curious to watch his pregame routine. It was really cool to watch. He starts out stretching is body and then he plays catch with his catcher. They start tossing the ball from about 20 feet and with every few throws Halladay moves back a few feet. They ended up about 180-200 feet apart playing long toss for the better part of 20 minutes. Then, Halladay slowly walks over to the mound, gets comfortable and throws a few to his catcher, while his catcher is standing upright. The catcher gets into his crouch and that's when Halladay gets his game face on. The picture below is from my seat and it's obvious that I wasn't close enough to analyze his every move, but I observed a pitcher with a plan of attack. He threw about 12 fastballs in a row, then switched to offspeed pitches. After about 12 of those, he gets in the stretch and mixes it up a bit. Fastball outside corner, followed by breaking ball and then a fastball to the inside corner. I was impressed by his efforts and it gave me an insight into the routine of one of the best pitchers in  baseball.

As Halladay finished his throwing, I noticed Lincecum stretching along the third base line so I paid close attention to him as I was literally 100 feet from him. He started off by stretching his legs out a bit, kinda like we did back in the day. Just enough to stretch and tell coach we stretched, but nothing serious. He headed straight for the bullpen mound and began to toss the ball to his catcher. It didn't appear as uniform or deliberate as Halladay, but he looked to have good life on the ball. Quickly he got up on the mound and started throwing fastballs, which missed the target at least five times in a row as I noticed Buster reaching for the ball and his glove moved, a lot. He wasn't in the bullpen for longer than five minutes and he was gone.

In the first inning, both pitchers struggled. Lincecum didn't have his command, his fastball was between 88-91 and he threw a good amount of sliders. He got hit around a little bit, his outfielders didn't help him much and he struggled. I noticed something very interesting. It's fair to say that neither pitcher had his best stuff going last night and that's actually a great opportunity for a fan to see what his pitcher is made of. When Lincecum isn't on his game, his body language tells the entire story. He appears to be frustrated, his facial expressions are priceless as his snaggletooth appears more and more frequently. He moves his body around a lot as if he's not feeling right. Halladay on the other hand is flawless. His facial expressions are the same regardless of the situation. He was giving the homeplate umpire the mean mug as he wasn't getting the call on balls that were close to the strikezone, or so they appeared. He didn't have his best stuff, but he got guys out. He worked through difficult innings and that's the sign of a true professional. Lincecum did a pretty good job after the first inning, but to be completely honest, it doesn't appear as though he is comfortable on the mound right now and I feel like it's because he doesn't do well when things aren't going his way. I don't like him, I don't think he's nearly as good as Giants fans would have you believe. I'm curious to see if he learns how to pitch out of jams in a different way than he has this month. I know it's April, but if i were a Giants fan, I'd be concerned.

Mega Numbers

No, I am not about to discuss the insanity of the United States largest lottery jackpot in history. I bought a few tickets and dreamed the good dream, but it's not something worthy of discussion just 5 days prior to The Real opening day of major league baseball. I'd like to discuss the contract that Matt Cain signed with the San Francisco Giants today. 6 years $127 million and the language can be found at your favorite sports website, but I won't dissect each year and the actual money being paid. I will say that his agent is an extremely smart cat, getting San Francisco to sign off on a deal this large that includes the ever important no trade clause. 

The Giants are in the stretch run of the Barry Zito contract disaster and most Giants fans likely would have assumed that never again would the Giants offer a pitcher than much guaranteed cash and lock them off for that long. Yes, this is a different beast. Matt Cain is a professional in every sense of the word. If you didn't watch him every fifth day and you only knew his name from watching his highlights on ESPN, you would assume that a guy with a career record of 69-73 and an era of 3.35 is not worthy of a contract that large. But, if you live in the Bay Area and are a Giants fan (or if you are a guy like me who just watches a lot of their games) you know what he means to this club. His career record should be expunged from the record books forever because the Giants have provided 3.73 runs for him, lowest in all of baseball. That doesn't do justice because I can't begin to explain how many times I'ver seen him lose 2-1, 3-2; 4-3.

This contract is a microcosm of who the San Francisco Giants are and clearly who they will be in the future.   At this stage in the game, the San Francisco Giants have $57 million of their payroll locked up in 3 guys, all starting pitchers. Barry Zito makes $22 million, Matt Cain $15 million and Tim Lincecum $20.25 million. In recent years, the 2010 World Series championship included, offense has been an issue for the team and has prevented them from taking full advantage of their all star caliber pitchers. San Francisco avoided Albert Pujols, for good reason. They turned their heads when Prince Fielder was on the market for them to enjoy and this has been the pattern ever since they signed Barry Bonds way back in the stone age. For the next 7-10 years this team has decided to grow their own players on the farm, avoid huge contracts for sluggers and that's terribly disheartening news for Giants fans across the country. I understand that pitching wins championships and the blueprint for success in San Francisco is crystal clear. This team will win or lose based on how their pitching performs. Unless this team is willing to spend more of the money they claim they don't have and spend it on guys who can hit and drive in runs, they will continue to fall short of the gold ring. 

I thought for sure the Giants would allow Matt Cain to reach free agency and let him walk next winter. I practically guaranteed that he would wear a Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox or even Dodgers jersey in 2013, but I admit I was wrong. I will continue to believe that San Francisco doesn't have enough offense to compete at the highest level and until they break down and start spending some of their "rainy day" fund, the fans will continue to be frustrated and angered by the lack of offense put forth by this club. 

The Hunger Games

No no, I am not talking about the Suzanne Collins book series that hits the big screen this Friday, but I hear that's gonna be a good one. I am talking about Alex Smith and his hunger for an NFL superbowl ring. A lot has been published on the internet about Alex meeting in Miami with the Dolphins, his ego has been bruised because SF pursued living legend Peyton Manning and now it appears as though Alex Smith is playing hard to get. Alex has every right to be butt hurt. He had a very good season in 2011, played a very important role in a successful season and two weeks ago it appeared as though Alex would return and it would be business as usual. As a fan, I am more butt hurt at Alex than he can ever possibly be at this great, proud franchise. The guy had 6 seasons of crappy football and the team gave him more money than he or his family could ever spend. At the end of that deal, they gave him an opportunity to continue his football career, handed him more money and asked him to put up or shut up. Why am I speaking so much about money? Because this is a business after all and to quote the great Gordon Gecko "don't get emotional about business Buddy boy, it clouds your judgement."

Alex Smith has an opportunity to return to a franchise that has the greatest stable of stud QB's in the modern era of professional football and to bring Superbowl #6 to this great town. If he signs the current deal that's on the table today, (it's been reported that San Francisco has offered him 3 years $24 million with $10 guaranteed) he can attempt to bring the coveted Lombardi trophy back where it belongs. Also, he will be the first San Francisco 49er QB to start a season in a new stadium, assuming the stadium in Santa Clara opens on time to start the 2014 season. If you want to prove a point, prove it on the football field. You will not win in Miami and the current Niners roster is set up perfectly for you to succeed. Get your ass back to SF, sign the deal they have waiting for you and prove to the fans that you are better than we think you are. Complete some more 3rd downs, get us back to the playoffs with a much tougher schedule and a target on the teams back, win ring #6 that we have been chasing since Gary Plummer ripped the monkey off Steve Young's back and all will be good with the world. Stink up the joint as you have for 6 of your 7 years as a pro and we will run your ass out of this town. That being said, good luck with it Alex.

Conference tournaments suck, don't they?

That's what ESPN and the talking heads are saying today but that's only because Kentucky and North Carolina lost the title games and were beaten by teams that were fighting for their lives. Let's dissect this with an open mind though.

If you are St. Mary's and coach Randy Benett, building a program from scratch in a small town (Moraga to be precise), in a conference that is known by most as the conference Gonzaga plays in and you win a conference tournament, does that suck? Does it suck that you were on national TV (quite possibly an international affair) for all the world to see? Does it suck that the players on that team are able to relive that moment for decades to come, knowing that for their seniors it could be the last time the play organized hoops at a very high level prior to entering the workforce? It doesn't suck. In fact, taken a step further, it's truly an incredible experience for a team that has been building itself from the ground up, has made the NCAA March Madness tourney 6 of the last 8 years and coaches of that program get an opportunity to tell prospective recruits all about this when they settle down for cake and coffee in the living room of their family. West coast biased you say? Read on friend.

Let's talk about Vanderbilt (also known to the bracketologists as Vandy) for a second. Vandy knocked off the #1 overall seed Kentucky on Sunday and punched their ticket to the dance with a glorious and exciting victory. Would they have gone dancing had they lost that game to top ranked Kentucky? Sure, they had a great season and were likely a sure thing, but that's not how it looked in this video. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=320710096

See, conference tournaments are not simply an opportunity for the likes of Duke, Carolina and other top rated teams to take a few days off to recharge their batteries before one of them goes on a 6 game winning streak to cut the nets down in New Orleans the first Monday in April. It's about bringing excitement to a fan base, punching a ticket to the most exciting playoff (take note here BCS chumps) scenario that is easily the most amazing tournament known to mankind.

Let's go further East and talk about what UCONN shall we. UCONN is a powerhouse program that doesn't need to put themselves on the map. They know first hand what happens when a team gets hot. This time last year, they won the Big East tournament and went on a ridiculous run to win the 2011 National Championship title. Yes, they won 12, yes 12 consecutive games and that was as impressive as anything I have seen in recent years. In fact, it also improved the draft position of their biggest stud, Kemba Walker.

I strongly disagree with so many of the "experts" today who claim that conference tournaments are meaningless. They might be meaningless for the big programs and in all honesty, who really cares about Kentucky, Carolina, Duke and Syracuse anyway? I don't. I care more about Cinderella ensuring that her dress fits just right and the conference tournaments do just that and they also provide an opportunity for us to see if her slipper fits just so. Conference tournaments are a grand opportunity for college basketball to rev their respective engines before the DJ starts jamming tunes at the big dance.

Nick Diaz falling fast, no end in sight

Nick Diaz is likely the most misunderstood fighter I've ever come across. I remember watching Mike Tyson as a young sports fan, wondering to myself "what the hell is wrong with this guy?" It wasn't until years alter and his career played out for all to see that we learned about Iron Mike's dark past. Nick Diaz is a lot like Mike Tyson, with one very large exception. Iron Mike loved attention from the media. If you stuck a microphone in his face he would go on and on about, well, often nothing at all. Nick Diaz is not that way. Prior to his Welterweight title fight with Carlos Condit last weekend in Vegas, UFC did something very smart. They pretty much stole the HBO 24/7 format and called it UFC: Primetime and followed both fighters in the weeks leading up to their scheduled championship fight. It was pure genius. We got a chance to hear about Carlos Condit and his childhood, we saw his father, the media attention starving former aide to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson ( I honestly think they mentioned that like 13 times) and we got a glimpse into his plush life. Nice house, almost cute wife and young child. On the other hand, we learned about Nick Diaz, the real person under the hard and seasoned exterior that he wants you to think is the guy you hate. I watched all the episodes and never once did he mention his mother or father. In fact, the only time he mentioned a family member (other than UFC lightweight champion brother Nate) was when he mentioned that his aunts and uncles were kinda crunchy granola and often ate rice cakes because they were concerned about their diet. I never imagined that I could relate to an athlete as fierce as Nick Diaz, never thought for a second that we had anything in common, until I realized that we are a lot alike. I wrote an article yesterday breaking my anonymity and telling the world of the demons I faced and the addictions to alcohol and drugs. When I watched Nick Diaz sit in front of the camera and attempt to explain why he is so angry, I couldn't help but accept that we may have walked the same path, just in a different part of town. I heard the darkness of his past when he spoke of his childhood; the desperation to fit in with other kids and the inability to make friends because he felt angry all the time.

If you follow UFC closely, you already heard about Nick Diaz testing positive for marijuana after his loss to Carlos Condit and the 1 year suspension that may follow because this is the second failed drug test of his career. I can't help but feel for this guy and wonder if he is able to be saved from his dark passenger. Far too often, we see an athlete on TV and we automatically label him a bad guy based on public perception and leave it at that. I feel compelled to admit that I think Nick Diaz is actually one of the good guys. He's genuine, authentic, and that's a tough pill to swallow primarily because he's the polar opposite of who we want him to be. GSP fans would prefer Nick Diaz to wear a suit and tie to press conferences, answer questions with a large vocabulary and smile for the cameras. It begs the question. If Nick Diaz is real then are the other fighters fake? That's a topic for another day and clearly we will never have a crystal clear answer, but in short I think the answer is yes.

Nick Diaz has made it known that he doesn't like his opponent, in fact he hates them. He doesn't like media attention, following rules, acting like he is someone he is not and he hasn't exactly done much to change, despite UFC President Dana White's endless encouragement to change. Nick Diaz is likely out of the fight game for the duration of 2012 and that's a shame. Not because I won't get to see one of my favorite fighters whoop some ass, but because the further out of the picture he falls, the more unlikely it is that he will get the help he so desperately needs. But then again, I presume he wouldn't be a big fan of getting the help he needs either. I would enjoy nothing more than watching Nick Diaz return to the octagon in 2013 a new man, a changed man, but that's likely not how this story ends. More than likely Nick will never find himself because more than likely, he's not looking for himself.

Josh Hamilton's fall from the top, an understanding of the unknown

Josh Hamilton, major league baseball player. Josh Hamilton, AL MVP, homerun derby champion and superstar millionaire athlete. Josh Hamilton, recovering drug addict and alcoholic. A good old fashioned Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde story, as the story of most addicts tends to be. How does a man with this much talent separate those characteristics? That's the question that the average fan is asking himself each time they read or hear that Josh Hamilton has relapsed and pictures of a shirtless Hamilton taking body shots off of a woman, not his wife, flood the internet. The other question that fans are asking is a simple one, in their eyes. Can't the guy just not drink? That's a very difficult question to ask if you do not have personal experience with alcoholism and drug addiction. If you have a 9-5 job, love baseball, played the game your entire life and never made it to the professional level, you probably think that $80 million and all the perks that come with being a professional athlete would keep you from drinking, no matter what the circumstances. The reason why an average Joe is able to say that with conviction is because he doesn't suffer the Ism. I have personal experience with alcoholism and drug addiction and I speak for myself only. $80 million, all the fans kissing my feet, countless women adoring my every move, playing the game I love so much would never, ever be enough for me because once I get it in my head that I want a drink, none of that matters. Not the family who loves me, not the team that signs my paychecks, definitely not the fans kissing my feet. All of those things I just mentioned become white noise and my mind is unable to concede that all of that really does matter to me. On an intellectual level, I can probably understand it, but my heart and soul don't have the ability to make sense of it, not even a little bit. I know what you are saying, he has a wife and kids, isn't that enough to prevent him from drinking? He knows that each time he drinks he ends up in terrible situations, isn't that enough? Honestly, it's not and never will be enough. As an alcoholic and drug addict, I know that my mind works different than a normal drinker. A normal drinker is able to go out and have a few drinks, feel that they are getting a bit too intoxicated and simply stop so that nothing bad happens. They are able to wake up with the worst hangover of their life, turn over and say "I'm never gonna do that again" and not take a drink for months! As an alcoholic, maybe I was able to do that once in a while, but more often than not, I was not able to think of the consequences of my actions, the thoughts or feelings of spending every last dollar on alcohol, the pain I put others through when I drank too much, verbally abusing my girlfriend, family and friends doesn't even cross my mind; it just doesn't. I get this feeling that no matter how many times I have shown that I cannot drink like a gentleman, that each and every time I put a drop of alcohol in my system, I turn into a different person, the person I told you and everyone else I never wanted to be. So, that brings us to the other night. When Josh Hamilton entered the bar to meet a teammate for dinner, it's definitely possible that he thought to himself, this time it's going to be different. Despite every example to the contrary. It's also possible that he walked into that bar spiritually fit and was confident that he wasn't going to drink and of course, it's entirely possible that he planned this in his head for hours, days or even weeks. Nobody knows the answer to that difficult question, but I do know this. Unless you have worn the pair of shoes he walks in, you don't know anything about what it takes to not take a drink, one day at a time and God willing, you never will know.

I didn't write this blog today to point fingers at others, to tell people that I know better than you do. I actually started writing this today to do the exact opposite. To help people understand or at least try to give people a better idea of what went down and how this works. It's easy to ask simple questions like "why doesn't he just stop drinking if it's so dangerous?" " how can he continue to put his family through this pain and suffering?" It must be difficult to accept the  truth, which is he doesn't know why and can't control the outcome once he takes the first drink. I heard a sports talk radio host talking about this topic and comparing it to his chewing tobacco addiction in college. I wanted to jump through the radio and strangle the guy with both hands until every last breathe was taken from him. Why? Because addiction is one of the most misunderstood topics of discussion in the world today and unless you have personally experienced the pain and suffering that walk hand in hand with addiction, I don't think you are allowed to talk about it as if you have experienced that deep, dark, emptiness that we have.

I would like to give credit to his team, The Texas Rangers. I hate that team, I really do. I hate all teams from Texas. What I have for the Rangers today is a great deal of respect and admiration. They have taken a calm approach to a situation that could easily have turned into chaos. Shayne Kelley was hired today as a major league staff assistant to the team, in other words, he will act as a babysitter for Josh Hamilton. This may work out great or it may not work at all. For all we know Josh will be drinking again in a few days, weeks, months or years. The reality of the circumstances are very simple. Alcoholism is crippling and kills people every single day of the year and it's not pretty. Many of us who suffer from alcoholism never recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body, despite our greatest efforts to rid ourselves of the obsession to drink. I haven't had a drink or a drug in 1,255 days and while to some that may seem unimportant and to others who know me, that seems like a miracle, I can't say for sure whether or not I will drink today. A lot of medical folks like to call alcoholism a disease, but unlike most diseases, there isn't a cure for what I have. I can't take a pill or radiation treatment or anything else to ensure that I won't drink again. Early on that was the most crushing blow I ever felt, knowing that I will never get better, that I will never be normal. After a little time and some experience, I find that to be the greatest gift I've ever been granted. It reminds me that today could be the last time I enjoy the birds chirping outside my window, the last time I feel the sun shining on my face or the last time I write a blog entry for you to read. The unknown is often perceived as scary or it can be perceived as a gift. It's your choice.