Here and there thoughts on everything….

Have to start with the World Cup. I am not a soccer fan, but when the World Cup comes around, I pay attention. Also factor my copious amount of free time, and I caught the World Cup fever (waking up at 4:30AM to watch the early games). When Landon Donovan scored that goal against Algeria, I hadn’t been so happy with a soccer goal since color war at camp. I really thought the USA had a good chance against Ghana, after all, Ghana had only scored on two penalty kicks in the group play. Well, we know how that turned out. Ghana was the better team. Altidore did nothing, Howard had a terrible game and its another four years till soccer matters in the USA. That being said, had the USA gone a couple games deeper into the tournament, that Donovan goal vs Algeria would have had more meaning. With the exit as it stands, it will be forgotten.

As for the rest of Cup, Argentina and Brazil look like the two best teams. That being said, Spain looked mighty impressive yesterday. Brazil has the easier road to the finals, so it if Argentina is there, they will be battle tested. That being said, I am rooting for Uruguay. Diego Forlan has been the player who impressed me most who I had never heard off. Messi, is the best player, no question asked. Still, other “stars” did not live up to the hype. If you haven’t been watching, you really should. Soccer may be a bit boring, but it’s all worth it for the goals.

How freaking unlucky can a team get? Pedroia, Buccholtz and V.Mart all get injured on consecutive days. Buch should be OK, V.Mart is gone for a couple weeks, but Peds is gone for a while. Still, the Sox have been fighting on. I will write more on them in an individual post (we are almost at mid-season).

Went to San Diego this past weekend. The Zoo is amazing, SeaWorld is a notch bellow. If you haven’t been, they are both well well worth it. Polar Bears at the zoo were my favorite.

I picked up the new Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs issue. Don’t bother. All I have to say is that “Don’t Stop Believing” is not in the top 500. That is just insane. It’s one of the greatest songs off all time. I am not even the biggest Journey fan, but that song would be on my top 10 list. Rolling Stone sucks off Dylan, the Stones and of course, the Beatles.

This weekend, Carwin vs Lesnar, I am taking Lesnar. Interestingly, I read that Paul Heyman is his personal marketing manager. WWE storyline that came true.

Man, Federer has fallen. Out in the quarter finals for the second straight Slam. They guy makes the semi’s for every slam for 7 years or something… now he misses 2 in a row. In tennis the fall is fast.

NBA free agency is here. All I have to say is that if the Knicks don’t get Lebron, I will ALMOST feel sorry for their fans. That is saying something because I loathe the Knicks. Still, they have sucked for the longest time, everything has been building for this summer. They don’t deserve Lebron et al, but those fans have been treated worse than Ike treated Tina. Still, I do hope the end up with Amare Stoudemire. He stinks, and Knicks fans know it.

Ok, thats it. Just some scattered thoughts to get off my chest.

As 2010 kicked off, everyone wanted to give the best of the ‘00s list. It’s a fun thing to do because you get to take the clean decade and evaluate it. So with that, I tackled who would be the UFC fighter of the ‘00s (obviously, only UFC fights count).  I really wanted to come up with a point system that could somehow rank the fighters. What I came up with is probably terribly flawed, but it certainly has some merit. At the very least, it’s an indicator for how successful they were.

The Points

3 Points for every win- winning is the name of any game, so credit must be given. Sure, there are going to be bad decisions, and other “fluke” wins, but I win is a win.

-1 Point for every loss- while a win is a win, not all losses are bad.

0 Points for a Draw- like kissing your sister, no points.

1 Point for a KO, Submission, or TKO- credit should be given for ending a fight.

-2 for a 1^st round loss- while not all losses are bad, first round losses suck.

1 point for a title fight- winning titles is pinnacle of the sport; usually you have to earn title fights, so credit should be given.

2 Points for a successful titles defense- winning the title is one thing, defending it is much harder.

So there you have the point system. In a perfect world, I think its pretty fair. As with any decade awards, longevity helps.  In the instances with interim belts, they are counted as title fights, and when co-champs faced each other; both guys are defending (GSP v Serra for example).  The one thing I did not factor was the subjective; quality of opponent. I wanted to take out any subjective point for this exercise. Lastly, I didn’t rank every fighter. I tried to rank all champions, but some I did skip (Miletich, Serra, Belfort, Barnett and Lesnar) due to lack for fights in the time period. So, who is the total points winner?

Read More