Sports Memorabilia at Hollywood Collectibles

Early reports (courtesy a SI article) were apparently a little premature:

Which is why most of the fight community tuned in to a news conference Wednesday in Las Vegas for the Oct. 11 Affliction 2 "Day of Reckoning" only to hear that the fighter would not only not be attending, but also that he has not yet been signed by the promotion.

SI.com reported Tuesday that the boisterous light heavyweight had become a free agent on Monday and was hours away from announcing a deal with Affliction, though the report was later updated to describe Ortiz’s signing as a possibility.

Legal counsel for Affliction Entertainment said Wednesday that Ortiz’s signing was only a "rumor," and that when he was released from his contractual obligations, the promotion would be interested in signing him.

So, I deserve some culpability for running with the story. But I do have to wonder what Tito and other sources told SI, which compelled them to run with it. I still believe Affliction is the best fit for Tito all things considered, but this is bizarre.

In a Sports Illustrated article that reports that negotiations are almost secure for Oscar de la Hoya to face Manny Pacquiao on December 6, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer decided to speak on that matchup, and why Antonio Margarito wasn't considered an option.

Schaefer had this to say:

"We have made it clear [to Top Rank] that we think Margarito has some unfinished business. Frankly, I find it disgusting how people are overlooking Paul Williams. Oscar wanted to fight Cotto because he was undefeated. But Williams beat Margarito. Just because Margarito beat Cotto, why does that make him the best welterweight? Why isn't it Paul Williams? He had that first round knockout of Quintana and he already beat Margarito. So I think it is very disrespectful of Williams. Those two should fight again."

OK...

For real, I don't even disagree with Schaefer that Margarito and Williams should tangle again, particularly since Margarito is not going to get a big payday against Oscar and Williams' other option appears to be Michael Jennings, who isn't quite a Gary Lockett-level mandatory but isn't a whole lot better. (If the Lockett Scale for mandatories was a 0.0-5.0 scale, Jennings would be about a 4.2 Lockett.)

But this is so transparent that I can't help but just laugh at it. I hate slamming Oscar for not fighting the best guy available, because the concrete fact of the matter is that he's made a career out of taking on great challenges. He fought Mosley twice, Trinidad, Vargas, Hopkins (which was foolish), Mayweather, Whitaker, Quartey, and a host of others. Hell, let's even give Oscar the respect and continue: Gatti, Carr, Chavez twice, Camacho, Castillejo, Campas, Paez, Gonzalez, Coley, Mayorga, Sturm...

It also leads me to another brief aside, the stupid claim they first made that Oscar didn't want to end his career fighting another Mexican. Like he was doing Mexican fans a favor or something, you know?

He beat the tar out of an old Julio Cesar Chavez on two occasions. He fought Vargas and Campas in recent years. The fact that Margarito is Mexican only had something to do with this decision to not fight him because Oscar's final fight would have had him as "the villain" to some of the staunch Mexican fans that love guys like Margarito and have never warmed to de la Hoya, no matter what.

Oscar also could have avoided all of this if he hadn't said that "the winner" of Cotto-Margarito -- his words, not anyone else's -- would be a great December opponent. He meant to say that if Miguel Cotto won, he'd fight him. Schaefer's saying now that Cotto would have been considered because he was undefeated.

Where's one of those eye-rolling emoticons?

Oscar choosing Pacquiao even paints him into a corner where he can't say, "Well I don't want to fight at welterweight." Now he has to fight at welterweight!

It is somewhat sad that Oscar de la Hoya's final career moves are going to forever be questioned. No matter what happens in a fight with Pacquiao, he won't escape the fact that he fought a much smaller man in order to avoid someone else. It seems like we've seen this before. (And yes, this will be a license to print money just as that was.)

Schaefer interjecting Williams is sort of a nice distraction method, because who will really disagree? OK, Margarito can't fight Oscar. He should fight Williams, the man who beat him last year and holds a welterweight title himself. We can all get on board with that?

So we're left with the feeling that Richard Schaefer is speaking the truth, letting his voice ring loud for the poor boxing fan who can't speak for him or herself. He also ignores Williams' loss to Quintana when wondering why many think Margarito is now the No. 1 welterweight, and not Williams.

Schaefer is doing a great job here trying to make Oscar-Manny seem viable. Listen, I know a lot of people are taking a real dump on this fight, and that some (like ESPN's Dan Rafael) really like it for any number of reasons. I am somewhere in the middle.

I do think Manny could beat Oscar. For one thing, I don't know how Oscar's body will respond to getting down to 147, and I don't think he has any real firepower left. Manny is a pop-pop-pop fighter whose awkward style has translated into his better skillset as the years have gone on.

But we're talking about a guy that has one fight in his career over 130 pounds and came into boxing at 106. I know it's about money and a few other, less important things. Still, I can't shake that gnawing feeling that this fight just isn't right somehow, and that win or lose, Oscar will never live down some of the backlash he's going to receive. If I were Oscar or Schaefer, I think I'd consider those things a little more than how many Mexicans would boo me were I to fight Margarito. "The Golden Boy" has the pick of the litter when it comes to opponents, and he's choosing someone he outweighs on fight nights by 20 pounds.

Yeah, I pander. So what? You know pandering can be a felony? Kinda like pimping. On to the story:

Brazilian Twins

(Brazilian synchronized swimming twins Bia and Branca Feres)

Is there anything really left to say?

via machochip.com

via machochip.com

There is a short article that there will be a quiz on later, and more importantly, MORE PICS here.

and video, says jbox

Affliction VP Tom Atencio held a press conference at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas today, where he confirmed a couple of rumored fights for Affliction's "Day of Reckoning" PPV on October 11th. The card revealed thus far looks like this:

WAMMA Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender's Bout
Andrei Arlovski vs. Josh Barnett

Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Matt Lindland vs. Vitor Belfort

Jason High vs. Mike Pyle

Paul Buentello vs. Roy Nelson

The Buentello/Nelson bout seems to have come together in very short order, but is obviously a major upgrade from the previously rumored Nelson/Jay White scrap. That fight will headline the undercard portion of the event, which Atencio announced will air on HDNet prior to the PPV portion of the broadcast. Again, this should be a huge improvement over the first show's free telecast which was mangled by Fox Sports Net, who chose not to air it live in a number of US markets. Atencio still would not confirm the signing of Tito Ortiz.

In other potentially great news for Affliction, MMAJunkie and 5 Ounces of Pain are reporting that former IFL champs Jay Hieron and Chris Horodecki have all but signed with the upstart promotion.

Dana White just got finished with an explosive radio interview on Hardcore Sports radio. I don't have a link yet, and I joined halfway, but here are some highlights:

--He is obviously very unhappy with Roger Huerta. He basically called him a moron for complaining and bitching about PR. Said he hasn't beat anyone to justify millions of dollars that he's demanding, but if he beats Kenny Florian it's a different story. (This week in the Observer, Dave Meltzer reported Huerta is asking for a bigger contract than BJ Penn has.)

--Rampage Jackson is "okay" now. After he was arrested, he was in psych evaluation, and they found there was no psych problem. It was exhaustion and dehydration that caused delirium, and he will be at UFC 87. He has legal problems, but he is physically and mentally better. From the sound of this, they are 100% behind him.

--Tito Ortiz is the "biggest moron on planet earth." On Celebrity Apprentice, he didn't talk because he didn't want to be exposed for being "completely f***ing retarded."  

--Says Affliction lost over 4 million dollars, and guarantees they will be out of business soon.

--UFC will focus all their efforts on the rest of Canada and getting MMA legalized up there.

*** UPDATED, 3:19 PM PDT by Chris Nelson ***

An MP3 of the full interview is now available here.

There was a piece a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal that took up a topic I addressed last year in my old blog (those hacks are always several months behind me), namely, the physique of presumptive democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.  

My argument back in December was that Barack almost fit the physical mold of most American presidents.  Oval Office-holders have typically tended towards slightly taller and more muscular than average, but Barack, who is reportedly around six-two, probably weighs 175 or 180 (accurate measures of presidential weights are hard to come by), meaning he's a little slighter than average.  I offered to help him put on a few pounds of carefully-placed beef.  

The WSJ views it differently, suggesting that Obama's physical fitness may be seen by voters as another way in which this "elitist" candidate sets himself apart from the common man, citing the example of Bill Clinton as the relatable "everyguy," whose taste for fast food and evident difficulties with his weight made him all the more like us.  The argument is that middle-America thinks this health-and-fitness nonsense is maybe a smidgen precious and self-important.  Back in '04, Robert Gibbs, then an advisor to John Kerry, panicked when his candidate appeared to be assuming a healthier-than-thou stance: 

[A]t the Iowa State Fair, famous for its deep-fried Twinkies and beer booths, Mr. Gibbs noticed Sen. Kerry buying a $4 strawberry smoothie. He made a frantic call to campaign staffers: "Somebody get a f-ing corn dog in his hand -- now!"

Bonnie Ford's writing has frequently saved ESPN from embarassing itself to cycling fans, and today her work reaches a whole new level of awesome. She posted her latest installment in the year-long Slipstream/Garmin Chipotle series, and this one -- a day-by-day Tour diary -- is an utter home run. It's long, and I'm only up to Magnus Backstedt's hors delai (can I get a hankie? for real), but I had to stop to write this post. Also lunch is over. Anyway, read it when you can. Huge PR score for Vaughters and co. If Columbia don't invite her into the inner sanctum next year, they're nuts.

I have always been a big believer in drafting running backs with your first four picks.  Since there are always quality quarterbacks available in the middle rounds, I have never seen a reason to draft a quarterback before round five.  This is the year I’m changing my mind, this year I’m taking a quarterback early.  Possibly very early.

I think either of the quarterbacks here in Tier 1 can be taken in the first two rounds of your fantasy football draft.  Exactly where they should go depends on the details of your league size and scoring, but if you have either of these guys on your team at the start of round three you’re in good shape.  In alphabetical order (and yes, there are only two):

Tom Brady, NE -  Brady had probably the greatest season in the history of fantasy football last year.  How do you draft a guy like that?  Taking him in the top four picks would be a mistake, but drafting him in the first round would not be.  There’s good news and bad news for Tom (and potential Tom owners) this year.   The bad news is that every coach in the league has spent six months reviewing the way the Giants stopped him in the Super Bowl.  The good news is that few teams have the personnel to actually do it.  Will Brady throw for 4800+ yards again?  No.  Will he throw 50 TDs again?  No.  In most fantasy leagues, is he better than nearly every single running back out there? Yes.  Still don’t believe me?  Then how about the fact the Patriots have the easiest schedule in the league  this year – with their opponents having an absurdly weak .387 winning percentage.

Peyton Manning, Ind – People are worried about his bursa sac and about Marvin Harrison’s injuiries/gun issues and about…look, none of it matters.  Manning’s knee will be fine.  He doesn’t need training camp -- trust me, he knows the offense.  He doesn’t need Marvin Harrison; the Colts won last season without him.  Anthony Gonzalez will more than pick up the slack at WR and Dominic Rhodes (who caught 36 passes during his final year in Indy) is back to increase the options out of the backfield.  The Colts have the second toughest schedule in the league this year, but they had the fifth-toughest schedule last year and still won 13 games.  In Peyton Manning’s ten-year career, where does 2007 rank in terms of passing yards?  Eighth.  I think Manning is going to rebound this season and with all the questions surrounding him, he could be a (relative) steal.

Watch U.S. Olympic Kayaker, Brett Heyl, explain how he's able to shift his weight onto his right butt cheek while maintaining his center of balance directly over his left butt cheek. I bet he's got the Wii Fit age of a 16 year old.

Also, how great would a kayak game be on the Wii? Plant your butt on the balance board and use a specially designed Wiimote paddle. That would be the bees knees.

By now, fight fans are all too aware of the knee injury which Japanese featherweight icon Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto suffered in the lead-up to July's DREAM.5 show. The "pop" Yamamoto heard in his right leg after landing awkwardly during sparring for his eventually-scrapped bout with Californian Joseph Benavidez wound up being a torn ligament, which required immediate surgery and will most likely keep him on the shelf into 2009.

But Yamamoto updated his personal blog yesterday and revealed that he underwent another simultaneous operation which few, if any, were aware of - this one to repair a nagging left wrist injury sustained in training last September for a fight with Bibiano Fernandes. (Yamamoto fought with the injury and took an unsurprising unanimous decision.)

Oh, and he bought a NintendoDS:

I bought NINTENDO DS to kill my time. I play the role of a mayor in a game called "SimCity."

I didn't tell this before, but I had my left wrist operated on as well. I was injured my wrist during my training last September, a week before a fight with Bibiano Fernandes. I had kept training for my fight and I even had a fight without taking care of properly. I knew something was wrong. I couldn't throw powerful punches by my left hand because of the pain. Finally I had an operation to get rid of bones which don't stick together. I'm glad that I could have both my knee and wrist treated.