The Suspension Heard Around The World!

The NBA and it's commissioner Adam Silver completed their investigation of the Donald Sterling case.  The NBA has banned Sterling for life and fined him 2.5 million dollars.  Silver also urged the rest of the NBA owners to vote Sterling out and force him to sell the Clippers.  Silver said that a 3/4 vote is needed and he fully expects to get that number.
I feel the punishment was appropriate.  Adam Silver needed to really bring down the hammer  if he wanted to get a grip on this situation, and he did.  The reaction from the rest of the world seems to be the same.  Everyone is happy with the ruling.  I'm sure in the near future more stories will come out about Sterling but the NBS and the Clippers need to just move on as fast as they can.
The only negative attention the ruling is getting today is that people knew Sterling was a racist and the NBA never did anything about it so why now.  Well I'll tell you why.  This story was to big to ignore.  The other thing is what could the NBA have done?  There were two cases before involving Sterling and racism.  The first one went to court regarding Elguin Baylor and Sterling was told by group of his peers that he was not at fault.  The other one was settled so fast that the NBA didn't even get a chance to review it.  There hands were tied in both situations.  Can we really blame the NBA for not doing anything about this?  The reality is many people know of someone that needs help and they do nothing until the shit hits the fan.  The NBA responded to a situation that needed there attention and they got it right.  The moral of this story is to becarefull of what you say and who you say it to.  People will do anything for 15 minutes of fame.  Donald Sterling learned that the hard way.

The Rebirth of Boxing.

For those of you that don't remember boxing used to be a major sport in the United States.  In the 1980's and 90's boxing was at its best.  You had a lot of well known fighters such as Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Iron Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and George Foreman.  There were great fighters in all divions.  Even here in Arizona we had a fighter from Phoenix who was a world champion and considered one of the best of his time.  Michael 'Little Hands of Stone" Carbajal dominated the little weight and put Phoenix on the map as a boxing city.
The last 15 years or so haven't been so great for the world of boxing.  Street fighting became UFC and many boxing fans jumped shipped and quickly made UFC more popular than boxing. There were many fans like myself that didn't buy in to the UFC hype, but the majority of boxing fans did and many people thought of boxing as a dying sport.  There were a few guys such as Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd  "money" Mayweather to say the least that stayed loyal to their sport.  They kept training and kept boxing and because they didn't give up on boxing the sport is back.
That's right boxing is back!  Most people just here of the major fights that usaully happen in May and September but what most people don't realize is that there is a great fight card televised evry weekend by either Showtime or HBO.  Boxing is starting become a big money making sport again and it's not just because your big names such as Canelo Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao. Bernard Hopkins or even "Money" Mayweather.  It's because of guys that have worked hard and made big names of themselves by winning when no one expected them to.  Some of these fighter's are Adonis "Superman" Stevenson, Lucas Matthysse, Kieth "One Time" Thurman and Adrien "The Problem" Broner.
The rebirth of boxing was also made possible by the promoters.  Top Rank and Golden Boy are the main promoters and there battle to put the best fights out is a major win for boxing fans of all ages.  Here in Phoenix there are few promoters that are trying to put Arizona back on the boxing map.  One of them is called Iron Boy Promotions.  I have been to one of their fights and it was an awesome time.  They continue to put together good cards and promote Arizona boxers all at the same time.
The only problem I have with boxing right now is that I'd love to see an Arizona born boxer make it big;  Perhaps one day that will be Jesus "El Martillo" Gonzales.  Boxing is finally making it's comeback and it may get even better if we ever get to see a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight.

College Football And It`s New Playoff System

Beginning this college football season we will have a four team playoff to determine the national champion.  For you traditional football fans, don't worry we will still have plenty of bowl games to watch.  Here is how it's going to work.  College Football has selected a committee of 13 people that will rank the top 25 teams, stating midway through the season.  At the end of the season the top 4 teams will go to the playoffs.  On New Years Eve the number one team plays the fourth ranked team, while the second and third ranked teams play each other.  A week or so later the two winners will play for the national championship.
So I mentioned earlier that a 13 person committee has been selected to determine who makes the playoffs.  The committee consists of mainly Athletic Directors.  there is also a cuople of former coaches and even a former QB in Archie Manning.  There are plenty of familiar names among the committee, such as Pat Hayden, Tom Osborne, Barry Alvarez and Tyrone Willingham.  But probably the most famous name doesn't have any connection to college football.
Condoleeza Rice is a former Untied States Secretary of State and is one of the committee members.  I'm not sure why she was chosen, but it makes you wonder how much of a role politics will play in the selections process.  Rice may be very qualified to take on this role, but just the fact that she does not have a football background tells the average football fan that she is not qualified.  I wish the NCAA would have put more thought into this selections.  I wonder if she was chosen to have a women on the committee because she is the only female.  If this is the reason they could have picked a women that is connected to college football instead of a women that was in politics.

Tidbit Tuesday 4/22/2014 Pat Tillman Edition

Did you know 10 years ago today the nation lost an athlete, a war hero, a role model and an all around outstanding person.  Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan April 22. 2004 when his Army Ranger team was carrying out a mission.  Many people were touched deeply by this news because of Pat Tillman's story.  Pat Tillman was a football player who started his career in Tempe, Arizona.  He played linebacker for the Arizona State Sun Devil's and quickly became a fan favorite with his inspirational play and his long hair.  When Tillman graduated from ASU he was drafted by the Arizona Cardinal's.  He was then moved to safety and made an immediate impact for the Cardinal's. 
Then Pat Tillman's life was changed forever on September 11, 2001.  America was attacked by terrorist and Tillman gave up a great deal of money to enlist in the Army with his brother, who played minor league baseball for the Cleveland Indians.  Ten years later Pat Tillman's memory is still not forgotten.  The citizen's of the United States are very gracious to Tillman and all who have served in the armed forces.  RIP Pat Tillman.

If You Build It........They Will Come!

"If you build it .....they will come.  If you build it.....they will come".  In case you don't remember this phrase it is from one of the greatest sports movies ever made.  The movie is called Field of Dreams.  It's about a farmer who hears voices telling him the famous quote.  If you build it they will come.  It refers to a baseball field and when he builds it they do come.  The Chicago Black Sox and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson show up.  The movie does a great job of reminding how important baseball used to be to an average American citizen.  This is a great movie and if you have not seen it you definitely should.  The reason I mention this is because the movie came out 25 years ago today.  there is a lot more to the movie and it will bring out the die hard baseball fan in you.