They have taken to calling the state for world professional boxing "alphabet soup". There's the WBO, WBA, WBC and IBF. All of them naming champions and contenders and seldom do the twain meet. For that reason most boxing enthusiasts look to Ring Magazine for the true picture.
Last Friday night in Montreal the IBF named Lucian Bute their junior middleweight champion after a TKO win over Alejandro Berria. While Berria had been listed the IBF champion, Ring Magazine did not recognize him among the top ten contenders. The best junior middleweight is the immensely talented Joe Calzaghe of England. Calzaghe has held the WBO title for ten years; successfully defending it 20 times. In two weeks he'll fight Ring's number one contender Mikkel Kessler of Denmark, the holder of the WBC and WBA titles.
So, while it's a Montreal feel-good story that Bute is undefeated and has a piece of a world title, in Ring Magazine all it got him was a one-notch bump in the rankings--to 4th. High altitude to be sure, but there's still a lot of work to be done.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
October 23 2007
The problems that Guillaume Latendress and Maxime Lapierre have had finding consistancy in the NHL re-enforce theories about rushing the careers of young athletes.
Forget about hockey for a moment and consider the brutal mishandling of the Michelle Wie in golf. Egged on by parents and agents, she was forced, not only to onto the LPGA tour at the age of 14 but also in a monumental case of poor judgement she also played on the men's tour.
Wie turned 18 last week and a once promising career is now in shambles. Her scoring average was 76 this year. She did not shoot one round in the 60's. Wie made a tournament cut only twice. Rather than deal with the family any longer her agent quit this week after only one year.
There is a lesson here, one that has been taught dozens of times through the years. Unfortunately like many lessons there are those who fail to learn from them and find themselves doomed to repeat them. And, repeat we have seen and will continue to see as long as the dreams of parents and agents outstrip the welfare of their charges
Monday, October 15, 2007
October 13 2007
This week in the Gazette our friend Red Fisher is listing the greatest trades the Canadiens have made over the years which got me to thinking about the worst. And without a doubt the worst was Patrick Roy to the Colorado Avalance. Next to the Flyers trading for Eric Lindros it was probably the worst trade in NHL history. The Canadiens at the time had the perfect management storm; a president Ron Corey; a general manager - Rejean Houle and a coach- Mario Tremblay none of whom had a clue. Houle had been general manager only 5 weeks at the time.
So it became Patrick along with team captain Mike Keane to the Avalanche for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky and Andre Kovalenko. Looking down from the Forum Pressbox the next home game my first thought was ---for the first time in my memory there was not one potential Hall-of-Famer on the Canadiens. That was the major damage. The heart was taken right out of the organization.
Twelve years, six coaches and two general managers later the team is still trying to regain it's stature. They finally seem to be on the right track but, for all of those great trades over the years, the Canadiens were stung badly one time and it turned out to be a franchise breaker.
So it became Patrick along with team captain Mike Keane to the Avalanche for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky and Andre Kovalenko. Looking down from the Forum Pressbox the next home game my first thought was ---for the first time in my memory there was not one potential Hall-of-Famer on the Canadiens. That was the major damage. The heart was taken right out of the organization.
Twelve years, six coaches and two general managers later the team is still trying to regain it's stature. They finally seem to be on the right track but, for all of those great trades over the years, the Canadiens were stung badly one time and it turned out to be a franchise breaker.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
October 6 2007
Gambling and sports have long been uncomfortably wedded. For worse more than better. The possibility of easy money led to the Black Sox scandal in 1919; the college basektball point-shaving scandals of 1951 and 1978; Pete Rose in the 80's. The NHL had Don Gallinger and Billy Taylor in 1948 and Rick Tocchet last year.
Until recently the incidents were isolated but there have been six major betting scandals in the last seven years including Italian and German soccer, South African cricket and, of course the NBA's Tim Donaghy to name a some.
And now, tennis.
The Russian mafia reportedly offered Noval Djokovich two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars to throw a match in Moscow this year. The watch was put on Nikolai Davydenko after strange betting patterns before one of his matches in Poland.
Where the money's big the crooks will flock. It's unavoidable. The
sports talk stations feature dozens of commercials for on-line gambling.
The Quebec government flogs ttheir lotteries with a whispered and insincere "you have to be eighteen to gamble" at the end. And every day we become a little more cynical. And we have to ask ourselves "are the athletes doing their best or, are gamblers ensuring that they aren't."
Until recently the incidents were isolated but there have been six major betting scandals in the last seven years including Italian and German soccer, South African cricket and, of course the NBA's Tim Donaghy to name a some.
And now, tennis.
The Russian mafia reportedly offered Noval Djokovich two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars to throw a match in Moscow this year. The watch was put on Nikolai Davydenko after strange betting patterns before one of his matches in Poland.
Where the money's big the crooks will flock. It's unavoidable. The
sports talk stations feature dozens of commercials for on-line gambling.
The Quebec government flogs ttheir lotteries with a whispered and insincere "you have to be eighteen to gamble" at the end. And every day we become a little more cynical. And we have to ask ourselves "are the athletes doing their best or, are gamblers ensuring that they aren't."
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