Category: mma

mma

Welcome to the big leagues, UFC

Posted on by Beau Dure

MMA has a long-standing paradox. A monopoly of power would be a good thing in the sense that fans would have true world champions to celebrate. Yet it could be a bad thing in the sense that fighters could have little leverage over their pay and treatment, and MMA-related businesses could be pushed around.

And so the MMA community has had mixed reactions to the news that Zuffa, the corporation that has built the UFC into the world’s dominant MMA brand, has bought Strikeforce, the No. 2 MMA promotion in the world.

The deal doesn’t quite turn the UFC into the NFL of its sport — the world still has hundreds of promoters of varying sizes. It’s basically the NBA — clearly the best in the world, though other countries have a few good players as well. On a given day, a champion elsewhere might beat the NBA’s best (see Barcelona vs. Los Angeles, 2010), but on the whole, the NBA is the destination for the world’s best.

It’s an imperfect analogy because other major sports have teams that must compete to sign players. Major League Soccer, with its single-entity structure, is an exception but faces much more competition from overseas teams and leagues.

Whatever the structure of the league, most dominant U.S. sports brands have faced legal action and labor strife. The NHL missed a whole season. Congress uses baseball’s antitrust exemption as an excuse to stick its nose in the commissioner’s business. MLS faced a player lawsuit in its early days and went down to the wire to avoid a work stoppage last season. The NFL … well, I’ll assume most people follow the news at least in passing.

I asked about this prospect in yesterday’s conference call. The UFC’s Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White were confident that the future would be a smooth one, pointing to all the other promoters out there who could offer fighters another option.

And at the lower end of the talent pool, where most fans would worry most about fighters’ welfare, that’s surely true. The higher end is less of a concern. The UFC didn’t get where it is by short-changing its top talent, and it won’t stay there by starting now.

But near-monopoly power over the elite levels of the sport will ensure that the UFC will have to be careful. Any predatory practice could trigger an opportunity for a salivating law firm.

So the deal could create the best possible scenario. Fans could have undisputed world champions and a clear hierarchy of talent in each weight class. The pressure on the UFC to treat fighters, sponsors, broadcasters and fans appropriately will come not from a would-be competitor of Strikeforce’s stature but from watchful lawyers.

Over the past five years, the UFC has gone from controlling perhaps 50-60 percent of the world’s MMA market to roughly 90 percent of it. Japan’s once-dominant Pride declined and was sold to the UFC, and the promotions that sprang up in its wake have been teetering since inception. A long line of would-be challengers in North America, ranging from the outright hostile (EliteXC) to the benign but successful (Strikeforce), has either been beaten by the UFC or joined them.

The story of the next five years: How will the UFC manage its near-absolute dominance?

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mma

Sanchez-Kampmann: MMA judges, statistics and damn lies

Posted on by Beau Dure

One certainty about close decisions: They’ll be followed in the blogoTwittersphere by cries of incompetence and wails to reform the judging system. Sometimes they have a point (Pham-Garcia, Beebe-Easton, Dunham-Sherk, Fukuda-Ring). Sometimes they’re just overblown wails from folks who don’t want to admit someone else might have an argument.

The latter is the case in three recent UFC main events: Edgar-Maynard, Penn-Fitch and last night’s Sanchez-Kampmann fight. (The only other major fight this year with a contested decision was Griffin-Franklin, but in that case, the only people who think Franklin won work in his corner.)

One thing these fights have in common — they’re very good fights. Edgar-Maynard was fight of the night, with a thrilling comeback from a champion who was all but knocked out in the first round of five. Penn-Fitch was compelling, with Fitch needing and getting a 10-8 round to force the draw after Penn’s surprising takedown strategy gave him the edge through two. Sanchez-Kampmann was so good that Dana White has given the fighters nearly half the gate.

My colleague Sergio Non and I think Sanchez won, and we’re joined by Josh Gross, Dana White and 52% of those voting at Sergio’s blog. We’re not joined by Jordan Breen, who would like to tell the judges and all of us who agree with them that we don’t know what we’re watching.

A complicating factor here is statistical. Compustrike says Kampmann outstruck Sanchez 33-18 overall (19-15 in power strikes) in round 2, then 34-19 (14-17 deficit in power) in round 3. That would suggest Kampmann won round 2, while Sanchez could take round 3 based on power strikes and his takedown. (Round 1 isn’t in dispute: Kampmann dominated, though not quite enough for a 10-8 round.)

FightMetric’s numbers are a little different. They have Kampmann ahead in round 2 — 27-22 total, 26-22 “significant.” If you look at the graphic and break out the “power” numbers, Sanchez wins 20-17. But the “decision” tab awards the round, barely, to Kampmann.

Round 3 is virtually even in strikes — 19-19 total and 19-19 “significant,” though again, Sanchez has the edge in “power,” 17-7. And Sanchez’s takedown, and the round is his.

The numbers differ between the services, but that’s helpful. Strikes that are clear from one vantage point may be less clear from another, and it helps to get multiple angles.

But the stats are still limited. What they don’t show is that Kampmann spent far too much of rounds 2 and 3 backing away from Sanchez. He says he wasn’t hurt in round 2, but he certainly seemed to be. And in round 3, the takedown he finally surrendered after several failed attempts from Sanchez showed that one fighter was still fresh and one wasn’t.

Those are subjective observations. But if we take those out, then we’re left with amateur boxing. Tap tap tap — hey, I’m winning 3-0!

So here’s the question: Can you change the system to make it so that Penn-Fitch, Edgar-Maynard and Kampmann-Sanchez have clearer winners?

Let’s try: The Japanese style of scoring “the whole fight”? Not really. Edgar’s late surge still balances out Maynard’s early dominance. Penn won maybe nine minutes of his fight against Fitch, but Fitch won the last six more decisively. Reverse that for Kampmann-Sanchez.

A half-point scoring system that so intrigues Josh Gross? He says that would make last night’s bout a draw.

Going five rounds instead of three? It didn’t help with Edgar-Maynard — the challenger took a 10-8 round and a 10-9, and the other three were 10-9 for the champion. Fitch likely would’ve gone on to win, though it’s hard to tell if Penn’s approach would’ve changed. (Fitch would always be an overwhelming favorite against Penn in a five-rounder, anyway.) Sanchez had taken the momentum against Kampmann, but had he also given everything he had in those last two rounds?

Judge primarily by “damage” (though that gives ammunition to anti-MMA lawmakers)? OK then, Penn beats Fitch, having busted up his face in a round many people thought he lost. Sanchez was more visually “damaged” than Kampmann, but Kampmann certainly seemed to be in rough shape at times.

No solution really gives us a definitive winner in a close fight. But I’ll offer three anyway:

1. Four-round main events. Yes, four. Then let judges judge the whole fight as a tiebreaker if it ends up 38-38. This prevents the typical three-rounder in which one fighter convincingly wins one round while another fighter takes two close rounds, then wins 29-28.

2. Judo system. MMA, like judo, is supposed to be about fighting to a finish. Judo has specific criteria for finishing a fight — a fully controlled throw, a hold on the mat for 25 seconds or an opponent’s submission. That’s an ippon. Judo also has a waza-ari (half point) for a throw that isn’t quite an ippon or a hold of 20 seconds. Two waza-ari = one ippon. If the fight ends with one fighter having one waza-ari and the other having none, the waza-ari wins. Then there’s a yuko, which serves as a tiebreaker if each fighter has one or no waza-ari.  So in other words, you’re rewarded for coming close to a finish.

The judo system might work for some of these fights. Penn would get one or two yuko in the first two rounds, but Fitch would get a waza-ari for the third. Kampmann would get a waza-ari in the first and would win out over Sanchez’s yukos in the second and third.

And yet, we’d still find something to argue about. So that brings us to the entirely tongue-in-cheek suggestion:

3. Penalty kicks. Hey, if you really don’t want a draw …

The more important part is the long term. Dana White says Kampmann won’t be treated like a loser, which hopefully means he won’t get the typical “three straight losses and you’re out” treatment that most UFC fighters get. (Kampmann lost a split decision last time out against Jake Shields, another close one that could’ve gone his way.) Getting dominated in a fight should push a fighter farther down a ladder than a fight decided by a virtual coin flip.

And that is, once again, a subjective judgment. Can’t avoid it.

 

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mma

‘The Ultimate Fighter’: Season 13 cast

Posted on by Beau Dure

Spike just released the cast list for the new season, and so like every other MMA blogger without a full-time office job, I’ve been scouring Sherdog and elsewhere for info about each guy. Here’s what we have — good luck pinning those the records on any TUF cast:

– Nordin “Fists of Tangier” Asrih: 16-5-1 (he says 16-6-1); 32-year-old German with a lot of European fights, including one M-1 Challenge loss. Notable losses include Tomasz Drwal and Lucio Linhares.

– Shamar Bailey: 10-3, with a couple of fights in Strikeforce. Beat John Kolosci on the Fedor-Rogers undercard. 0-2 in 2010.

– Len “The Liger” Bentley: 9-4 (he says 8-4), with one Strikeforce: Challengers bout (a win vs. Marques Daniel). Faced future TUF fighter Cody McKenzie and lost by, what else, a guillotine choke. Army vet.

– Mick Bowman: 7-2 (he says 8-2), continuing the pipeline to TUF from from England’s Wolfslair. Like Michael Bisping and others, he says he has sacrificed everything to be here.

– Keon “The Black Assassin” Caldwell: Spike says he’s 8-1, but Sherdog says he’s 2-1, with two wins in 2008 and a loss last year.

– Chris “C-Murder” Cope: 4-1; last fight was a TKO win over Ron Keslar on Strikeforce’s Fedor-Werdum card.

– Zach Davis: 4-1; a Lloyd Irvin fighter who never fought in Virginia on a UWC card? How am I supposed to scout him?

– Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson: 10-2; had seven fights in 2009. Notable opponent is Karen Darabedyan (loss).

– Clay Harvison: 6-1 (he says 8-2); spread out his fights over four years. At 30, he’s second-oldest on the show after Asrih.

– Myles “Fury” Jury: 9-0 (he says 8-0); Spike gives age as 22, and yet Sherdog lists a fight for him in 2005. Most of his fights in King of the Cage. No fight longer than 2:55 – 4 TKOs, 2 tapouts due to strikes, 1 armbar, 1 guillotine, 1 neck crank.

– Ryan McGillivray: 11-4-1; Canadian with experience in MFC and TFC. Sherdog gives nickname as “The Kid,” but now that he’s all of 24 years old, perhaps he’s shedding that tag.

– Ramsey Nijem: 4-1 (Spike) or 4-0 (Sherdog); another Utah fighter testing himself in TUF. Once shared a card with two TUF vets — Josh Burkman (who won) and Junie Browning (who did not). Also just 22. Palestinian refugee.

– Charlie “Superstar” Rader: 16-5 (Spike) or 13-3 (Sherdog). Either record is impressive. Knocked out TUF vet Josh Rafferty on Bellator card in September. Based on records, he might be the favorite.

– Javier “Junty Boy” Torres: 3-0 (Spike) or 2-0 (Sherdog). Two first-round wins in 2010.

See More: TUF+13

Enjoy the official introductory video. Looks like we also saw a good bit of Torres in the intriguing audition video, from which none of the other interviewees made the cut. Look carefully at the video, and you’ll see Dana White and Joe Silva perusing their records from Sherdog.

Other roundups:

– Michael David Smith, MMA Fighting: Digs up YouTube footage of Caldwell.

(Will update in a bit.)

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mma

A farewell to Fedor? Plus other Strikeforce thoughts

Posted on by Beau Dure

One unfortunate aspect of being a latecomer to MMA is that I clearly missed some of the best fighters in their prime. I know Chuck Liddell dominated for years, but the first time I saw him in person, Rashad Evans knocked him unconscious. A couple more KOs later, he’s done.

Fedor Emelianenko is a more complicated story. Though he looks like your middle-aged uncle, he’s only 34, not too old for a sport that sees many fighters remain competitive past 40. But his glory years were a long time ago.

Since beating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on New Year’s Eve 2004, the only fighter he has beaten who has had significant wins after facing Fedor is the erratic Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. Everyone else was on the downside of his career (Mark Coleman, Mark Hunt, Tim Sylvia) or not an appropriate matchup (Hong Man Choi, Matt Lindland). Andrei Arlovski was beating Fedor he flew into a Fedor punch, and the man with the vampire teeth has been knocked out three straight times since then. Brett Rogers gave Fedor fits.

Then, at last, came the losses. Fabricio Werdum may have been lucky to land a submission while Fedor was in what seemed to be a good position. But tonight, Antonio Silva manhandled him. The second round teetered close to a 10-7 round, which is as rare in MMA as a T-shirt without a garish design.

Given Fedor’s sporadic activity, the result of nagging hand injuries and his stubborn management, it’s been difficult to assess his dedication to training and his form. Tonight, you’d have to conclude that he’s just not the old Fedor. Had he signed with the UFC, there’s no reason to think Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin or Junior dos Santos couldn’t have done to Fedor what Silva did to him tonight.

Strikeforce’s Scott Coker is insisting we’ll see Fedor again in the organization. At this point, it’s hardly worth it. Fedor hinted strongly at retirement in his postfight comments, and that wouldn’t be a bad decision. Another option: Could anyone blame Fedor if he took a couple of ceremonial farewell fights in Japan and Russia to say goodbye where he was most successful?

Strikeforce simply can’t afford to tie its fortunes too tightly to a fighter who is anything but the crafty, invincible legend he was six years ago. They’re not repeating the mistake of EliteXC in overhyping a fighter (Kimbo Slice) who had never done anything to warrant legend status, but they have to be prepared to move on. The foundation has to be strong enough to stand on its own.

Similarly, the announcing team Showtime has in place does Strikeforce no favors by treating it soooo seriously. That extends to the ring announcers who spend a couple of minutes per fight telling us that the guy walking to the cage is “respected” or “heavy-handed.” Then Gus Johnson gets Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock to explain again how big this Strikeforce event really is. The more they talk about it, the less we’re inclined to believe it.

The funny thing is that Strikeforce looks and sounds much better for the prelims on HDNet, with Michael Schiavello and Bas Rutten on the mikes. They are by no means disrespectful to the fighters, but they have fun. They allow fans to share their excitement rather than imploring them to be excited.

To their credit, Ranallo and Shamrock are perceptive commentators. When the technical skills aren’t there, as was the case in Chad Griggs’ wild-swinging win over Gian Villante, they say so. But when they lurch into salesman mode, they do so rather awkwardly.

Ideally, Schiavello and Rutten could call the fights, with Ranallo doing interviews and Shamrock giving analysis between fights or between rounds. Make it entertaining, and it’ll sell itself.

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mma

UFC 126 on three days’ reflection

Posted on by Beau Dure

What we learned and what happens next after UFC 126:

– Former WEC fighters looked great. Chad Mendes and Demetrious Johnson plowed through Japanese stars Michihiro Omigawa and Kid Yamamoto. Donald Cerrone’s maturation process continued in a clinical but thrilling win against Paul Kelly. Miguel Torres left Antonio Banuelos punching at shadows.

– Jon Jones hasn’t been fast-tracked quite as quickly as Brock Lesnar, but his rise is similar. Even his one loss, he looked dominant. Ryan Bader was supposed to challenge him with superior wrestling and dangerous stand-up, but it never materialized. He has cleared out the second tier of light heavyweight challengers, and once the new rankings come out, he’ll be the highest-ranked 205er who has not yet held the 205 belt. Given that, his title shot against Shogun Rua seems early, but not too early.

– Worst corner chatter of the card: Rich Franklin’s corner saying he won round 2. He didn’t, and he didn’t seem to realize he needed to finish Forrest Griffin to beat him. Easier said than done, of course. Hard to tell where Franklin goes next, but he’s still a viable veteran who could give an up-and-comer a good test.

– The 205 title picture is as murky as ever. If Jones wins, Rashad Evans says he’ll change weight classes — perhaps back up to heavyweight, where he won The Ultimate Fighter — rather than face his friend and teammate. Maybe Griffin gets the next shot to reclaim his title?

– Let’s quit pretending Anderson Silva is going to wipe people out from the first second. Unless someone steps forward and presses him, as Forrest Griffin did, Silva is going to go through a feeling-out process with everyone he faces. Most fighters are going to be cautious against him, so you’re going to see a minute or two of circling before something happens. But when he catches you, good night.

– The first karate technique I ever saw was demonstrated by a middle-school classmate. He leaped with his left knee up as if to kick with his left, then slammed his right foot upward. (Fortunately, he was demonstrating on air, not a classmate.) I’ve often wondered if that would work in MMA. Silva’s knockout of Vitor Belfort makes me think it might. It helps, of course, to be as quick as Silva.

– So now the biggest potential fight in UFC history — Silva vs. Georges St. Pierre — hinges on whether GSP can beat Jake Shields. No pressure.

– The brilliance of the UFC at this point is that we talk about what happens next. In boxing, on the rare occasions in which two interesting fighters face off, the next superfight is always too far away to discuss. We’d talk about Pacquiao-Mayweather, but with all the stakeholders involved, we know it’s likely never to happen. Silva-GSP, on the other hand, is basically one fight away.

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mind games, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, winter sports

Midweek Myriad: Marta, Nadal, handball, 1260s, etc.

Posted on by Beau Dure

One of the joys of following a hundred sports or so is that you’re not stuck dissecting the Super Bowl to the point that it becomes joyless. Instead, we have all this:

– Marta signs with Western New York. A WPS shocker. Good news from a media point of view because it means more of us will be paying attention to veteran Rochester reporter Jeff DiVeronica, who jokes on Twitter that Marta will push him up to 1,000 followers.

The conventional wisdom would be that Marta would sign with The Club Formerly And Still Partially Known As The Washington Freedom But Also With Magic Jack In The Name (TCFASPKATWFBAWMJITN) so that Dan Borislow would have a marquee player to market in South Florida and perhaps somewhere in Washington once the team hires marketing and sales staffs and finds venues in which to play. Instead, Borislow has given us the best WPS smack talk in the league’s brief history, via Our Game: “This came as a total surprise. I am glad she will be playing in the league. She will discover we are the team to beat, so I hope she is at the top of her game when she plays us.”

For all the talk in MLS about “Rivalry Week,” maybe we should be circling the calendar for TCFASPKATWFBAWMJITN’s visit to Rochester.

– Nadal loses. And it’s a pity. Tennis could use a Grand Slam charge from the charismatic, humble Spaniard, but an injury has derailed his Australian Open campaign. Nadal didn’t want to use the injury as an excuse, but he wasn’t fooling opponent David Ferrer. Class acts all around. (NYT)

– Winter X Games time. And the NYT notes that several more X sports may be joining the Winter Olympic program. No word on women’s ski jumping, though that sport has a better-defined set of rules and so forth.

The Summer Olympics might be too big. The Winter Olympics aren’t, and it’s hard to begrudge slopestyle its place. But if the IOC adds the X sports without women’s ski jumping, the excuses will ring hollow.

– Handball heaven. It’s only $20 away. At least the highlights are free, so I was able to scout semifinalist France in their win over my buddies from Iceland in a rematch of the 2008 Olympic final. (Dan Steinberg also enjoyed covering that team in Beijing and linked to my highest-read blog post ever.)

Iceland plays Croatia for fifth place on Friday. The semifinals the same day: France-Sweden, Denmark-Spain.

– Also this weekend:

  • Cyclocross World Championships. The muddier, the better.
  • U.S. Figure Skating Championships, in my former hometown of Greensboro.
  • Luge World Championships. U.S. sliders not having a particularly good year.
  • Paralympic Athletics World Championships.
  • Millrose Games.
  • Strikeforce: Middleweight and welterweight title fights, plus Herschel Walker.
  • Final weekend of Tata Steel chess classic, where U.S. player Hikaru Nakamura shares the lead in an elite group.
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cycling, mind games, mma, olympic sports, soccer

Myriad most popular

Posted on by Beau Dure

I’ve crunched a few numbers to figure out pages that drew at least 0.1 percent of my total page views for the year. (The percentages are slightly lower than they should be due to some extraneous stuff in the stats — scripts, other ways of reaching a page, etc. — so 0.1 may actually be 0.15 or so.)

Here are the top pages, with an unofficial category added to show the post’s topic. You might notice a pattern.

MMA 1.6 /2010/11/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-8-its-a-trap/
MMA 1.43 /2010/06/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-10-iceman-1-crab…
MMA 1.32 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-9-if-only-tito-c…
MMA 1.31 /2010/04/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-4-the-doors-of-p…
WCSoc 1.1 /2010/04/the-marketing-of-landon-donovan/
MMA 0.94 /2010/04/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-5-epic-struggle/
MMA 0.9 /2010/04/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-3-not-that-there…
MMA 0.85 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-8-wild/
MMA 0.82 /2010/10/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-6-choke-choke/
MMA 0.81 /2010/04/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-2-get-off-my-bac…
MMA 0.81 /2010/09/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-2-bruce-decoy/
WCSoc 0.79 /2010/05/1994-2010-world-cup-rosters-usa-getting-better/
MMA 0.79 /2010/10/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-7-kos-gets-a-bre…
MMA 0.79 /2010/03/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-1-14-fight-whirl…
MMA 0.78 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-7-medic/
MMA 0.73 /2010/09/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-1-fight-x14/
MMA 0.67 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-6-overwork-pays-…
MMA 0.64 /2010/10/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-4-maturity-rocks…
WCSoc 0.56 /2010/09/world-cup-economics-and-skepticism/
Oly 0.54 /2010/08/beach-volleyball-hitting-another-ebb-in-usa/
WPSoc 0.48 /2010/09/wps-seasons-change-freedom-advance-scurry-says-goodbye-…
General 0.4 /2010/05/friday-myriad-ufc-giro-and-a-field-of-their-own-in-wps/
MMA 0.36 /2010/06/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-semi-finale/
WPSoc 0.35 /2010/11/why-the-washington-freedom-should-not-collapse/
MLS 0.34 /2010/05/mls-week-10-the-meek-shall-inherit/
General 0.34 /2010/07/friday-myriad-up-all-night-for-aussie-rules-mma-le-tour…
MLS 0.33 /2010/05/mls-week-9-east-shifts-back-to-ohio/
General 0.32 /2010/06/monday-myriad-marry-lolo-beat-phelps/
MMA 0.3 /2010/04/bellator-nets-nice-ratings-despite-uneven-distribution/
MMA 0.3 /2010/05/the-curse-of-fedor-former-opponents-faring-poorly/
MMA 0.3 /2010/05/ufc-113-rua-rules-koscheck-controversy-and-the-case-for…
General 0.29 /2010/07/monday-myriad-no-soccer-withdrawal-here/
MLS 0.29 /2010/08/announcing-the-mls-ratings-project/
General 0.28 /2010/06/friday-myriad-enjoy-the-usa-ghana-game-for-what-it-is/
WPSoc 0.27 /2010/05/how-two-wayward-wps-investors-could-hurt-the-u-s-womens…
Cycling 0.27 /2010/07/tour-stories-schlecks-angry-stomach-lance-on-vacation-t…
General 0.26 /2010/03/welcome-to-sportsmyriad/
Chess 0.25 /2010/04/why-this-world-chess-championship-is-so-exciting/
General 0.25 /2010/06/friday-myriad-french-finals-final-cup-tune-ups/
WCSoc 0.25 /2010/05/alejandro-bedoya-stealth-marketing-and-the-u-s-world-cu…
MLS 0.25 /2010/05/mls-eight-worthy-playoff-teams-pre-cup/
USSoc 0.25 /2010/04/throwing-open-the-u-s-open-cup/
Cycling 0.24 /2010/05/floyd-landis-confession-lets-no-one-off-the-hook/
General 0.24 /2010/06/friday-myriad-usa-england-ii-liddell-franklin-i-track-f…
WPSoc 0.24 /2010/05/marons-world-tour-loans-to-africa-teams-in-iceland-and-…
MLS 0.23 /2010/04/mls-week-5-no-sleep-til-seattle/
MLS 0.23 /2010/11/a-modest-mls-playoff-proposal/
WPSoc 0.23 /2010/12/selling-wps-tickets-with-no-staff/
General 0.23 /2010/09/are-sports-monopolies-necessary/
MLS 0.23 /2010/07/mls-fans-shut-the-up/
General 0.23 /2010/07/friday-myriad-morning-tv-friendly-soccer/
MMA 0.22 /2010/05/judging-the-rashad-rampage-ufc-conference-call/
General 0.22 /2010/06/friday-myriad-world-cup-by-day-mma-by-night/
MMA 0.22 /2010/09/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-3-tyson-for-tea/
Cricket 0.22 /2010/07/my-fractured-relationship-with-ian-bell/
IntSoc 0.22 /2010/04/book-review-a-beautiful-game/
General 0.22 /2010/04/friday-myriad-europa-but-no-pirate-twins/
General 0.21 /2010/05/monday-myriad-sparkling-play-in-wps-short-sighted-decis…
General 0.21 /2010/03/tuesdays-headlines-moscow-mourns-man-u-in-munich/
IntSoc 0.21 /2010/04/what-makes-a-soccer-game-change-besides-messi/
General 0.21 /2010/03/randy-couture-kimbo-slice-and-lacrosse-closer-than-you-…
General 0.21 /2010/05/monday-myriad-world-series-of-poker-schedules-around-wo…
MLS 0.2 /2010/08/panic-at-rfk-olsen-replaces-onalfo-with-d-c-united/
WCSoc 0.2 /2010/07/fifa-world-cup-2011-announces-mascot-a-cat-an-elegant-c…
MMA 0.2 /2010/11/defending-koscheck-the-standing-up-for-his-guys-theory/
General 0.19 /2010/05/friday-myriad-i-see-italy-i-see-france/
MMA 0.19 /2010/12/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-semis-everything-zen/
General 0.19 /2010/03/welcome-to-sportsmyriad/feed/
MLS 0.19 /2010/05/mls-week-7-seattle-sets-the-bar/
MLS 0.19 /2010/10/colorado-1-0-columbus-squander-squander-squander/
MMA 0.18 /2010/05/whats-on-ufc-114-culture-clash-at-mandalay/
Oly 0.18 /2010/11/2012-medal-projections-old-cold-war-battles-jamaica-hea…
Chess 0.18 /2010/04/world-chess-championship-delayed/
General 0.18 /2010/05/monday-myriad-twenty20-just-not-cricket-injury-free-gir…
Oly 0.18 /2010/05/live-diamond-league-debut/
WCSoc 0.18 /2010/05/book-review-chasing-the-game/
USSoc 0.17 /2010/09/immediate-questions-after-the-usl-bombshell/
General 0.17 /2010/04/the-perils-of-predicting-prospects-futures/
General 0.17 /2010/05/friday-myriad-must-be-better-than-thursday/
MLS 0.16 /2010/07/mls-still-not-sturdy-enough-to-wish-for-another-teams-d…
Tennis 0.16 /2010/06/isner-mahut-and-wimbledon-triumph-of-will-or-failure-of…
MLS 0.16 /2010/08/mls-in-the-silverdome-raise-the-roof-yall/
MMA 0.16 /2010/10/the-actual-cause-for-concern-beneath-the-brock-lesnar-p…
USSoc 0.16 /2010/10/does-the-usa-need-a-no-10/
MLS 0.16 /2010/11/settling-all-mls-dilemmas-in-one-easy-fix-maybe/
MMA 0.16 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-quarterfinal-catchup/
General 0.15 /2010/06/the-frustrations-of-free-lance-blogging/
WCSoc 0.15 /2010/07/record-low-for-world-cup-scoring-still-in-sight/
WPSoc 0.15 /2010/07/game-report-freedom-0-red-stars-0/
USSoc 0.15 /2010/08/there-is-no-try-adu-or-not-adu/
General 0.15 /2010/05/monday-myriad-trash-talking-backfires-in-chess-order-re…
WPSoc 0.15 /2010/10/wps-best-xi-and-the-evolving-u-s-womens-national-team/
Oly 0.15 /2010/04/lashawn-merritt-male-enhancement-and-unanswered-questio…
WPSoc 0.15 /2010/04/wps-welcomes-the-sound-of-sponsors-in-season-2/
General 0.15 /2010/04/thursday-no-fooling-around-here/
MMA 0.15 /2010/10/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-5-nam-better/
General 0.15 /2010/03/tuesdays-headlines-moscow-mourns-man-u-in-munich/feed/
General 0.14 /2010/05/friday-myriad-diamond-debut-four-soccer-trophies-on-the…
General 0.14 /2010/08/friday-myriad-epl-madness/
MLS 0.14 /2010/04/mls-week-4-cool-is-a-rule-but-bad-is-bad/
MLS 0.14 /2010/06/twitter-tabloids-and-landon-donovan/
WPSoc 0.14 /2010/04/wps-week-1-best-womens-league-ever/
WPSoc 0.14 /2010/07/freedoms-misfortunes-touch-gold-pride-too/
USSoc 0.14 /2010/07/u-s-open-cup-and-why-lower-division-teams-are-happy/
General 0.14 /2010/04/monday-myriad-bolt-flies-while-u-s-nets-wins-in-tennis-…
MLS 0.14 /2010/05/mls-week-6-how-long-can-red-bulls-surge-last-before-cra…
Poker 0.13 /2010/07/paralympic-poker-player-cashing-in/
MLS 0.13 /2010/06/mls-marquee-matchup-real-salt-lake-and-r-e-s-p-e-c-t/
General 0.13 /2010/04/friday-myriad-get-your-track-shoes-and-chess-pieces/
MLS 0.13 /2010/04/whats-better-about-the-dynamos-new-stadium/
General 0.13 /2010/07/friday-myriad-not-out-of-our-league/
WPSoc 0.13 /2010/09/briana-scurry-bids-farewell/
MMA 0.12 /2010/04/could-judges-have-botched-the-aldo-faber-fight/
MLS 0.12 /2010/11/the-big-mls-playoff-and-schedule-announcement/
WPSoc 0.12 /2010/05/wps-bompastor-goes-mindless-solo-reviews-dave-matthews/
WPSoc 0.12 /2010/07/womens-soccer-small-world-wouldnt-want-to-paint-it/
WCSoc 0.12 /2010/11/time-to-transition-to-a-post-fifa-world-or-world-cup-an…
MLS 0.12 /2010/05/mls-eight-worthy-playoff-teams-pre-cup/feed/
WPSoc 0.12 /2010/12/mad-about-the-freedom-place-the-blame-on/
General 0.12 /2010/08/friday-myriad-bolt-vs-gay-silva-vs-sonnen-dps-vs-dps/
MMA 0.12 /2010/08/mma-not-pro-wrestling/
MLS 0.11 /2010/11/is-mls-too-physical/
MMA 0.11 /2010/04/thursday-bring-on-bellator/
MLS 0.11 /2010/09/player-ratings-d-c-united-columbus/
MMA 0.11 /2010/11/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-9-1-1/
MLS 0.11 /2010/07/concacaf-the-mls-graveyard/
Oly 0.11 /2010/08/diamond-league-gay-pearson-upset-bolt-jones/
Oly 0.11 /2010/08/womens-ski-jumpers-the-phoenix-of-olympic-sports/
USSoc 0.1 /2010/04/tales-of-soccer-survival-misls-milwaukee-wave/
Chess 0.1 /2010/05/after-alleged-world-title-blunderfest-chess-world-turns…
Oly 0.1 /2010/08/diamond-league-the-pen-penultimate-meet/
Oly 0.1 /2010/06/can-four-woman-beach-volleyball-make-a-comeback-if-gabr…
General 0.1 /2010/07/who-are-you/
WCSoc 0.1 /2010/09/world-cup-economics-and-skepticism/comment-page-1/
Rugby 0.1 /2010/07/bledisloe-bash-begins-in-tri-nations/
USSoc 0.1 /2010/08/why-dont-we-have-a-soccer-blog-like-this/
General 0.1 /2010/04/wednesday-now-officially-renamed-messiday/
MLS 0.1 /2010/09/player-ratings-chicago-toronto/
Cricket 0.1 /2010/08/a-curse-on-cricket/
Darts 0.1 /2010/07/phil-the-power-taylor-prepares-once-more-for-battle/
WCSoc 0.1 /2010/06/virtual-viewing-party-usa-england/
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mma, olympic sports, soccer

SportsMyriad’s 2011 plans

Posted on by Beau Dure

So you’ve opened all the presents and thought, “Well, that’s nice, but what I really want is to know what SportsMyriad is planning in 2011. We’ve seen nine months of erratic updates and programming. What now?”

Basically, you’re going to see three big content initiatives:

1. 2012 medal projections. The goal is to be FiveThirtyEight.com for Olympic sports, though Nate Silver is a brilliant stats wizard and my last big mathematically hurrah was AP Calculus, all of which I’ve forgotten.

2. MLS team guides. A mix of facts and subjective analysis (or idiotic opinion, depending on what you think of it) for all 16 teams. I mean 18. 19? Anyway — look for that in March.

3. More MMA. Expect The Ultimate Fighter recaps to continue through Season 13, along with some other occasional content. My next book will be on MMA, and I expect to keep writing on a free-lance basis here and there.

And I’ll have occasional posts on this and that, mostly as time and info permit.

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mma

Chael Sonnen’s “Nobody told me” defense

Posted on by Beau Dure

A bit of context for today’s California hearing in which UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen made his case to have his suspension reduced or waived:

1. If this were a USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) or WADA (World) case, Sonnen would be toast. Ignorance would be no excuse.

2. That said, USADA and WADA have spelled out their rules in painstaking details, and the chain of authority is clear. Sonnen has come up with plausible scenarios to suggest the chain of authority was confused somewhere between Nevada, the UFC, California and some doctors of unknown employ. And you never want to hear a commission member say, “Moving forward, we need to have a rule.”

3. THAT said, Sonnen’s story had a few unfortunate assumptions and admissions on his part. He assumed that California’s system of notification was the same as Nevada’s. And he really doesn’t want to appeal to the legal system with the notion that he didn’t disclose something, even as an incremental step in the whole process, because he was worried that another fighter might peek over his shoulder.

The bottom line here is that Sonnen is asking for leniency on the basis that he was confused. California likely has no precedent that fits this case, and the commissioners will have a lot of discretion to set that precedent.

Given that, Sonnen really needed to come across as sympathetic. He needed to let his lawyer poke holes in California’s processes while he appeared humble and contrite.

Did he do that?

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mma

‘The Ultimate Fighter’ Season 12 semis: Everything Zen

Posted on by Beau Dure

We start with GSP telling Kyle Watson and Jonathan Brookins not to expect their coach to take sides. Time to be selfish, GSP says. You’re really on your own.

On Team Koscheck, they’re also on their own but not so happy about it. After a meandering training session, the fighters are tired of hearing from Team GSP — not about the fights but about all the great stuff they’re doing in training and all the great coaches who visited.

Marc Stevens, who was thrilled to be reunited with his college wrestling coach at the beginning of the show, can now do a vicious impression of him. Koscheck comes in and attributes it to alcohol. Then he asks everyone to do shots.

Meanwhile, Brookins is in his meditation spot. In future seasons, we’ll surely see people stake a claim to that tree. The easygoing Nam Phan trots out to greet him, which Jonathan seems to welcome. Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres comes out to “look for black widows,” which doesn’t seem to welcome.

Continue reading →

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