“Believe in yourself. Believe in your own potential for greatness. Believe that you can change the world. It is something that is within each of us.”
– Evan Tanner 1971-2008
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Created 11/29/08. This blog is a 100% independent blog that is not run by, sponsored by, endorsed by, or affiliated with any other web site, organization, corporation, or entity. All views & opinions expressed in the blog are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any other person or organization. All rights reserved. For entertainment purposes only.
All predictions for sports or MMA events made by the author are also for entertainment and fantasy sports game purposes only and should not be used as the basis for any real-life betting/wagering.
A little over an hour ago, the news broke that Abe Pollin, longtime owner of Washington Sports And Entertainment, which included Verizon Center, the NBA’s Washignton Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals, and the old Capital Centre/USAir Arena (now an outdoor shopping center), is dead. Pollin died earlier this afternoon in his suburban Washington, DC home. He was 85.
I admittedly poked fun at him because of the Wiz and their performance in recent years by calling him “Dishonest Abe”, but he was a great man who did a lot for the Washington, DC area. He and his wife Irene were very active in the community and did a lot of charity work, and Pollin is in the B’nai Brith Hall Of Fame (I think that’s what it’s called), which recognizes outstanding contributions from Jewish-Americans. I have very fond memories of Capital Centre, attending many Capitals games as a child with my father (great times those were) and one Wizards game back when they were the Bullets, as well as other events. I only have been to one event at Verizon Center (a Georgetown baketball game years ago) but it really set off an amazing revitalization of downtown Washington in and around the Chinatown section of the city. And although I didn’t always agree with his decisions running the Wizards, I still admired his dedication, he wanted to own the team until they won another NBA Championship (their last and only one to date was in 1978). He also was very active with Abe’s Kitchen, his charity that helped provide meals and other services to the needy in the city.
The Wizards will host Philadelphia and old coach Eddie Jordan tonight, it’ll be the first time in a very long time, if not ever, that Pollin won’t own the team or probably be there to watch…a testament to the legacy of a great man. He will be very greatly missed.
Thanks for many great memories and for all you did for us and the area, Abe. We’ll always be very grateful. R.I.P. and God Bless…
UPDATE: The funeral will be Friday (November 27) in Washington. A public service is planned for December 8 in Washington, possibly at Verizon Center, the arena that essentially was his life’s lottery ticket. He gambled everything he had on it, paying for it completely out of his own pocket, in the hopes it would revitalize downtown DC like it did. As for the Wizards and Washington Sports & Entertainment, ownership is TBA but it’s likely going to wind up with Caps owner Ted Leonsis, who has/had right of first refusal aka first chance to buy the Wizards when Pollin died or retired.
Further proof that the 2-0-9, one of my old stomping grounds (and the area I still call home when I am able to return to my native California…209 is the area code for Stockton and areas surrounding Sacramento, by the way), breeds some damn tough mofos. This short clip of Stockton resident and MMA fighter Nick Diaz was shot during a recent triathlon in Hawaii he participated in, he said racing in XTERRA is tougher than any guy he’ll ever face in MMA. See why in this footage shot from his mountain bike as he goes overboard, but gets right back on and gets going again. Or maybe it was the marijuana. Either way, see for yourself in this short clip after the jump. Enjoy.
Saturdays and Sundays. They’re once again about the pigskin. And laundry. And some yard work. But mainly, they’re about the pigskin. And maybe you should clean the garage while you’re at it. Anyway, what better sport for Joe Average Junkie to prognosticate over than football? So we’ll officially continue here with predictions for NFL Week 12, which starts Thursday, and College Week 13, which starts Friday. The college predictions will be only for Top 25 matchups featured in the Yahoo Sports College Football Pick ‘Em game. Let’s pick some pigs!
Although it’ll be a while before he’s back in UFC, the good news is Corey Hill is about to return to MMA a year after the gruesome injury that was career-threatening. And he’s nearly 6 months ahead of schedule. Click below for more.
This clip is doctored/Photoshopped, but that makes it funny. The latest singer to get on my “GO AWAY!” list, some girl by the name of Taylor Swift, won an MTV VMA (Video Music Award) recently. That didn’t impress Georges St. Pierre, who made his feelings known with his signature line (note the bad editing on this part), and caught others’ attention. The edited but funny clip is after the jump. Enjoy.
Another weekend of football is in the books, so it’s time to see how our resident pigskin prognosticator fared. Click below for the weekend results (updated with Monday’s NFL result).
Or “Makes You Wonder Why Randy Couture Divorced This Woman…” Kim Couture’s the one on the right in this photo at the Strikeforce Challengers Weigh-Ins last night (event’s tonight): One of the very few times I would bet against Randy Couture. That’s his wife Kim sporting a rather nice outfit to the weigh-ins. Will she wear it out for the fight? Most likely not…but how awesome would it be? The girl she’s facing on the left? Kerry Vera, who happens to be the wife of fellow UFC fighter Brandon Vera, who Randy just beat last weekend. Vengeance tonight, perhaps? Should be fun. (But Daaaaamn, we’ve been making all this fuss over that Carano girl and look what we’re missing…)
Normally a little “home cookin’” is welcomed when one has been on the road a long time. But in UFC’s case as they return to the mothership-Las Vegas-for tomorrow night’s UFC 106 the cooking hasn’t gone down well. Injuries, illnesses and other issues have decimated what once was an outstanding-looking card (the main event was to have been Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin for the UFC Heavyweight Championship) and it’s now rather pedestrian. The latest blow came just yesterday (Thursday) when Karo Parisyan pulled out of the card and is probably done in UFC, costing Dustin Hazelett a fight. He’ll still get paid though. So now the event is headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin 2 in a match which one thing is guaranteed-someone or something will run. Click below for quick predictions of what’s left of the card.
It’s that time again! The medical suspensions for UFC 105 have been handed out by UFC, which served as the sanctioning body since there isn’t one for MMA in England. Click below for the long list. Read the rest of this entry »
Apparently Boba Fett is an MMA fan, as he was spotted in Shane Roller’s corner at WEC 44 last night:
OK, it was really Marc Laimon, but from a die-hard Star Wars fan major props on the getup. Had to share it…I guess they were expecting Han Solo in Danny Castillo’s corner.
Saturdays and Sundays. They’re once again about the pigskin. And laundry. And some yard work. But mainly, they’re about the pigskin. And maybe you should clean the garage while you’re at it. Anyway, what better sport for Joe Average Junkie to prognosticate over than football? So we’ll officially continue here with predictions for NFL Week 11, which starts Thursday, and College Week 12, which starts Friday. The college predictions will be only for Top 25 matchups featured in the Yahoo Sports College Football Pick ‘Em game. Let’s pick some pigs!
Another week of football is in the books, so it’s time to see how our resident pigskin prognosticator fared. Click below for results from the weekend (updated with Monday’s NFL result).
Another of the very popular chiptunes on the scene, especially among fans and listeners, is “Plastic Pop”. The versions I’ve heard range from interesting to funny to downright grating, and there’s quite a variety in styles of the remixes-I’ve heard versions that sound like hip-hop with computer vocals at one point (cool), fast-paced “happy hardcore” (fun) and slow tear-inducing love ballad (can’t stand it) among others. Today my choice is the middle one, here is “Plastic Pop”, composed by Tomas Danko, arranged/remixed here by blasterNOX:
Once you arrive at this page, click on the song name under “Title”. The song will load and begin playing in a few seconds. Click on “File” > “Save Page As…” to save the MP3 (this assumes you’re using Firefox).
This is one of 2 songs by blasterNOX and one of over 2500 songs you can listen to and download for FREE on RKO, no registration required. There is one catch though: To keep bandwidth costs reasonable there is a limit of 50 downloads per IP per hour (a download is when you listen to a song even if you don’t save it to your PC). But unless you’re only listening to a few seconds of a song before going to another one, not really a problem.
(Disclaimer: Per their own disclaimer/fine print, all songs on RKO are assumed to be freely distributable. They generally are submitted by the composers/arrangers/remixers themselves)
For more on blasterNOX, visit his/their website at the following address (but be advised that it’s written in Hungarian or whatever language they speak in Hungary…it’s not English): http://www.rave.hu/
The plan was to do this one last week but the day I did the last one fell on the holiday, so that messed up things just a little bit. Now then, time for a make-up…
A lot of news came out of the UFC 105 press conference. Unfortunately, most of it was bad. Very bad…
First the good:
The Bonus Of The Night winners, each gets $40K:
Fight-Bisping vs. Kang
KO-Siver
Sub-Etim (Default, he had the only submission finish)
Attendance: They claimed 16,693 paid for a live gate of $2 million. Attendance-wise, that’s probably a record for England.
If the plan from before 105 holds, Dan Hardy gets the next shot at GSP. I’m thinking spring 2010.
The return date for England is probably 2nd quarter of 2010, meaning between April-June.
The bad and very bad:
UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is out indefinitely, and that’s going to be perhaps a long time. Hospitalized after collapsing while at some property he owns in Canada, unknown what happened but word is it’s serious. Not known yet if it’s career or even life-threatening, but just the thought of it’s scary. Hopefully Brock can fully recover and soon.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is off UFC 108. Severe staph infection, probably will need antibiotics via IV as it’s in the bloodstream. That sounds just as bad.
Shane Carwin, who was mentioned as a replacement for 108, won’t be available. He just had knee surgery.
This all leaves Cain Velasquez without an opponent yet again in a fight to perhaps determine the challenger for Lesnar-Carwin had all gone as planned. The only worthy name left I can think of to face Cain now is Junior dos Santos (Cain just beat Ben Rothwell, Stefan Struve is rising fast but probably needs one more fight, Pat Barry is out a while with injuries, don’t even start thinking about Mirko Cro Crap-and besides, word is he’s got Rothwell in February). No word on the title picture yet, it’s going to depend on once Dana White finds out more about Lesnar’s condition. The most likely scenario would seem to be creating another interim title, as stripping Lesnar would seem to be a last resort. We’ll see what happens but, through no fault of UFC’s, it’s all starting to fall apart again in the HW division just as it was all coming back together and looking outstanding.
