Last night my buddy Chris and I sprang for UFC 82: Pride of a Champion in HD. A bit pricey but good clean fun. And this morning I’d like to send out a slew of memos.

Memo to Jon Fitch: It’s totally cool to say that you didn’t mind fighting a no-name guy because you’re fighting for the purity of the sport and don’t care about winning the belt, but that’s somewhat compromised when, with the next question, you say you think it’s time you got a title shot.

Memo to Evan Tanner: Rethink your comeback.

Memo to Alessio Sakara: They stopped the fight because your arms were down at your sides and Chris Leben was hard at work merging your head with the canvas. I understand you don’t remember any of that, but that’s because you were unconscious, so don’t complain.

Memo to Heath Herring: Great fight and congrats on the close decision, but you have to stop complaining when guys take the fight to the ground. Yes, you might want to stand and trade blows, but the beauty of MMA is that your opponent can have a different strategy. If you want to fight standing up, you need to figure out ways to keep the fight there instead of whining to the crowd that you wanted to put on a good show.

Memo to Anderson Silva: You’re the real deal, but I’m sure you know this. That is all.

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Holy cow. Crazy stuff happening in the race for the title in the world’s best two leagues. Man Ure’s 5-1 hammering of Newcastle last weekend and a 3-0 stroll over Fulham yesterday has all but closed the gap between them and Ars*nal, who were lucky to grab even a point yesterday against Villa. This sets up a very nervy last 10 games to the season and I’m quite looking forward to it.

(By the way, Fulham—current employer of Americans Kasey Keller, Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Johnson, and Clint Dempsey—are serious relegation contenders. They had a shot to lift themselves from the mire after their inspired win over Villa, but remain seven points from safety. Not good. At all.)

Speaking of high drama, La Liga is worth a look. Real Madrid has been on the skids as of late and Barcelona has steadily making up ground. At the start of the day, Barcelona trailed Madrid by only two points. In the opening minutes of their respective games, Madrid went down 1-0 and Barcelona went up 1-0, results which would have put them top of the table had they finished that way. They didn’t. Robinho inspired Madrid to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory, whereas Barcelona crashed 4-2 to Atlético Madrid, Real’s arch rivals.

I have notified my wife that I’m looking into whether Louise Erdrich is single and whether she’s accepting suitors. I’m reading The Beet Queen at present, which has set my crush on her in stone, and I fully plan on reading Love Medicine and The Bingo Palace whenever recreational reading comes back into my life.

Oh, I also have Four Souls and The Painted Drum on CD checked out from the library. So yes, this crush if for real.

Current Mood: Okay |