TUF Episode 11.4

This week's episode began with Team Ortiz's Nick Ring giving teammate Jamie Yager a stern talking to about cheering against his teammate, in this case, James Hammortree, because fo his friendship with Brad Tavares. Yager, in the end, looked as if what Ring said sunk in, but I don't believe it for a second. While this show is about individual competition, Yager should be rooting for his teammate. However, once the first round of fights is over, it's every man for himself, so I can also see where Yager was coming from. He can just save it until then, but for now, he should cheer on his team.

We were treated with 2 fights this week, the first of which was Team Liddell's Rich Attonito versus Team Ortiz's Kyacey Uscola. Attonito went ahead fairly quickly, as in the second minute he hit Uscola hard to knock him down. Attonito then tried to move in for the knockout, but Uscola was able to withstand the barrage of fists, eventually getting back up to his feet. Uscola was once again put to the ground as Attonito threw him to the mat in a way that made everyone watching squirm because Uscola basically landed on his head. Uscola was able to get out of this as well and gained side control, pinning Attonito against the fence. What happened after that.....was a little fuzzy - literally.

While Attonito was still on the ground and appeared as if he was attempting to get up, Uscola threw some knees and appeared to hit Attonito while Attonito was still grounded, earning Uscola the disqualification. Attonito would later say everything was fuzzy after being kneed in the head and therefore couldn't finish the fight. Uscola immediately asked for a replay to see if he indeed hit Attonito in the head, but no replay was given. From what I saw, that second knee may have only hit Attonito in the glove, never in the head, but maybe the first one did hit him there. While on The Ultimate Fighter podcast, Attonito said he was hit in the head, I'm not so sure. I'd have to see it again.

In an even more interesting turn of events, Attonito finds out after the fight he has a broken hand and may not be able to compete any further in the show. If that's the case, I think Uscola should be able to take his place. While he didn't look the greatest in the fight, it looked as if he was starting to turn it around.

This week, there was also the case of Uscola's missing sweatshirt. Uscola comes back to the house after a practice, searches in Yager's room's closet, and finds it there, prompting a stealing accusation towards Yager, basically because Uscola doesn't like him. We find out that Kris McCray was the one who mistakenly took the sweatshirt, but the tension between Yager and Uscola continues in front of their coach, Tito Ortiz. Ortiz is unable to end the squabbling to the point where Uscola says he hopes Yager loses his fight against his opponent Charles Blanchard, the second fight of the episode. Maybe Ring should also give Uscola a talking to about rooting against your teammates.

Anyway, the Yager-Blanchard fight doesn't last very long, as Yager knocks Blanchard out fairly quickly, not only giving Team Ortiz their first win of the season, but also giving them control of picking the next fight.

It should be interesting to see how Ortiz will pick the next fight, as Team Liddell is a bit undersized. Ortiz may be thinking about taking advantage of that.

TUF Episode 11.3

This week's episode kind of started on a depressing note, as Team Ortiz fighter Chris Camozzi had to leave the show due to an injury to his jaw where had he been hit hard enough, it would have broken. This is a very unfortunate event for Camozzi, who initially looked to be a great fighter and I wish him the best.

As for Team Ortiz, they needed a replacement and brought in Seth Baczynski, who lost in his fight to get into the house. There isn't much to say about Baczynski other than his fight versus Court McGee was very close and it could have gone either way.

Moving on, I'm very happy everyone to my knowledge is at least healthy now. I don't need to hear any more about guys complaining about their injuries like last week. Anyways, this week's fight included Team Liddell's Brad Tavares and Ortiz's James Hammortree.

This was a good, not great, fight. There wasn't a ton of striking, but a lot of ground action that went back and forth. Tavares won a close first round that honestly could have gone either way, although I felt like he did enough to win it because he threw Hammortree to the mat and was able to attempt an unsuccessful rear naked choke. Hammortree would turn it around, gaining control of Tavares, but as we would see later in the fight as well, Hammortree had a tough time keeping Tavares on the ground.

The second round wasn't much different, but Hammortree did just enough to win the round, forcing a sudden death round three.

This round was once again extremely close as Hammortree took Tavares down a few times, but Tavares was able to escape every time. Eventually, Tavares ended up against the fence and delivered Hammortree some small strikes, which, in the end, may have won him the fight in a 10-9 unanimous decision.

Tito Ortiz was clearly upset with the ruling as he felt Hammortree should have won because of the takedowns. I really don't blame him, but it could have gone either way.

After the fight, Team Liddell now stands at 2-0 and keeps control of picking the matchups.

Aside from the fight, I have noticed that Ortiz seems to be a lot more vocal in coaching his fighters during their fights. I'm sure Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell is yelling out to his fighters, but all I could hear is Ortiz. I have to give kudos to Ortiz on that fact, because if anything, as I noticed, it just drowns out anything Liddell is trying to tell his fighter.

It's also a good thing I didn't write this until today, because I found out yesterday that Ortiz has bowed out from his fight with Liddell at the end of the season, once again completely disappointing me. I couldn't wait for the Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson fight last year and I couldn't wait for the Ortiz vs. Liddell fight this year. For the second straight year, I've been disappointed. You can't get me excited by showing the coaches in each other's faces the entire season and then having one quit the fight.

According to UFC President Dana White, we'll find out why Ortiz pulled out during the season as he kept mum on the reason, which is very uncommon for him. White did announce Rich Franklin as the replacement for Ortiz, which for me, is definitely a step down as Franklin has lost two of his last three fights. However, it kind of makes sense to me because neither guy has had a fight in a while, Franklin last fighting last September and Liddell hasn't fought in a full year this coming Sunday. Naturally, I'll be cheering on the Iceman.

TUF Episode 11.2

Well, the teams have been chosen and it seems as if Team Liddell is the underdog according to both Tito Ortiz (what else is he supposed to say?) and Dana White, the main criticism being Team Liddell's average height.

Granted I'm a bigger fan of Liddell than Ortiz, I would still have to say that I don't think height really has a great impact in MMA. Sure it has some impact, but as we saw in this weeks episode, it really didn't matter.

Chuck sent out his number one pick, Aussie Kyle Noke (above), up against an injured Clayton McKinney, which was obviously a smart decision - get the injured while they're still hurting.

I do have to mention that before the fight, I was really hoping it wouldn't start out the way a lot of them did last season, where the fighters essentially circled around each other for the first few minutes of their fights and basically nothing happened. This fight was no exception and once again, I was let down for the first few minutes and yelling at my TV, "Somebody do something!"

Now, I understand some guys like to take a few seconds and feel out an unfamiliar opponent in order to find out what their tendencies are, but I don't think it should take a few minutes. Get to fighting already.

Anyways, after the first few uneventful moments, Noke and McKinney finally went at it and got to the ground. Noke didn't waste any time in trying to put McKinney in some sort of submission move, and eventually gets the triangle choke on him, forcing the Florida native to tap. Looks like being a former body guard for Steve Irwin and wrestling crocodiles paid off for now.

As for McKinney, he had spent the entire few days leading up to the fight complaining about how much his shoulder hurt and possibly having a torn rotator cuff, but he wasn't going to let it bother or defeat him. Turns out it was only a bone bruise and must've bothered him because he sure didn't look confident in the ring, pretty much only throwing kicks Noke's way.

This episode also opened up the possible rivalries within the house as fighters Chris McCray, Jamie Yager, and Brad Tavares pulled of the season's first prank and blew air horns in the middle of the night, waking everyone previously asleep. Obviously it made some of the fighters very angry, notably McKinney and Kyacey Uscola, and it looks as if it only gets more intense from here according to the previews for later on in the season.

Either way, this season looks to be like it could be a good one and I can't wait for next week to see what will unfold.

TUF is Back!

I can't believe I forgot about it, but as I was channel surfing the other day I came across The Ultimate Fighter season premiere and couldn't have been happier.

For those that don't know, my financial situation isn't the greatest, therefore, it's difficult for me to pay for a live Ultimate Fighting Championship event, as well as even have the time to watch one due to my work schedule.

So when I saw the 11th season of TUF has begun, I was very excited. After seeing coaches Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson in each other's faces all last season, I'm hoping Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz are going to be the same way.

The season premiere gave me exactly what I needed as well - bashing, bleeding, and a broken nose (actually, it looked way more than broken). Anyway, I'm now able to watch some UFC without knowing the victor beforehand, and it feels great.

I don't know as of yet which fighter I will pick as my favorite, but I do know I'll probably end up rooting for Team Liddell. I mean, how can you not love the Iceman? Plus, I don't know how much smack Ortiz will be able to talk after being away from the sport due to injury and losing to Forrest Griffin in his comeback fight in UFC 106. Then again, Liddell left the sport and competed on "Dancing With the Stars". Not that I don't like Ortiz, I just like Liddell more.

I'm also excited for this season due to the fact that Roy Nelson isn't in it. Couldn't stand that guy all of Heavyweights. I'll give him credit for the knockout he delivered to Brendan Schaub in the finale, but otherwise he just sat on people and never listened to any of his coaches.

It looks as if this season will be a great one, as there were some fantastic fights in the first episode. I hope it only continues to get better, and I keep those hopes high, because as viewers saw what's coming up this season at the end of the first episode, we get to see another door get destroyed. To me, that means it should be good.

Can't wait. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIttttttt's tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!

Unearned Interceptions

So, for a while now, I've been thinking it may be a good idea for the NFL, or football in general, to introduce a new stat to the league, the unearned interception.

Just as baseball pitchers don't have runs counted against them when a teammate commits an error, I feel quarterbacks should get the same treatment when their receivers make a mistake that leads to an interception. In this way, a quarterback's true ability would show.

Now obviously there would have to be a set of rules that would constitute what would be an unearned interception, but I would start with: If the ball hits the receiver in the hands and he should have caught it, it's the receiver's fault and should not be counted against the quarterback.

If the ball is tipped by a defender at the line or at any other spot on the field by a defender, you guessed it - quarterback's fault. I would also place blame on the quarterback if he throws a pick while being hit.

To me, it's very deceiving to see a stat line where a quarterback may have a few interceptions in a game, but some or most weren't his fault.

Obviously, there would also be a lot of changes to other stats as well. For instance, quarterback ratings would be higher and Brett Favre's interception record would be a lot tougher to reach.

With all the new rules coming into the league lately (most of which I disagree with), I would approve of this one. Let's not punish quarterbacks making a good throw.

A Hindsight Look At the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament So Far

After watching the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament so far, and even before the tournament started, I was extremely confused at this years' seedings. And after what's occurred the last few days, I guess I had reason to feel that way.

I don't know if the Tournament Committee knew what they were doing this year when they set up this years competition. For one thing, how did New Mexico get a 3 seed? Wisconsin a 4? And Washington an 11 after winning the Pac 10 tournament? We're even seeing now that Cornell is clearly better than a 12 seed.

First, we'll talk about New Mexico. There's no way that team should have been seeded that high. For one thing, they're in one of the weaker conferences. Second, they lost in the semifinals of their conference tournament. Third, the only big non-conference win worth mentioning for them is Texas A&M. Otherwise, they played nobody and even lost to Oral Roberts. Not the makings of a 3 seed if you ask me.

Next is Wisconsin. My first question after seeing the seeding was, "How can you give them a 4 seed when they didn't even win a single game in the Big Ten Conference Tournament?" Sure they had big wins versus Duke, Maryland, Purdue, and Michigan State at home (I'm not counting the Evan Turnerless Buckeyes as a big win since they're almost nothing without him), but can you really give a 4 seed to a team that finished 7-4 in their last 11 right before the tournament? Sounds more like about a 6 to me.

Lastly, let's take a look at Washington. Sure they had a really slow start in conference play, but after starting 3-5 in the Pac 10, they finished 11-2 in the conference and went on to win the Pac 10 Championship. They were one of the hotter teams in college basketball and I just think it's a bad idea to give such a low seed to a team belonging to a major conference. And don't forget they beat Texas A&M in non-conference play. It just wasn't a fair matchup for New Mexico.

I don't blame the Tournament Committee for giving Cornell a 12 seed due to the Ivy League's past in the tournament, but now it looks like they're clearly a better team than their seed entails because they aren't just winning, they're mopping up.

So so far, it just looks like a really bad year as far as seeding goes. With the exception of Wisconsin losing, I think it's been a great tournament and one of the more exciting ones in the past few years. All I'm going to ask is that the committee put some more thought into where they place the teams they feel are qualified to make the tournament.

Baseball's Big "Concern"

U.S.-born, black baseball players. It's not a new topic, but for some reason or another it's a growing "concern" becoming more prominent today.

So after I heard Angels outfielder Torii Hunter mention black latino players as "imposters" in Major League Baseball in regards to the lack of black African players, I once again had to ask myself the question, "Why is this even a concern in baseball?"

I thought America was a place where race didn't matter, so why is it a problem if black athletes want to play sports other than baseball? What, are people going to start forcing African-Americans to play the game? So many would rather play football or basketball. Big deal.

In 2007, the MLB consisted of 8.2 percent of U.S.-born, black athletes. That number inflated to 10 percent last year.

Now, I in no way consider Hunter's opinion as my own, but you know what? I think regardless of race, baseball is going to play whoever the best player is. If they happen to be black Latin players, so be it.

Hunter's comments also indicated he believes Latinos are getting the edge over black players because teams can sign them for, "a bag of chips." In the bigger picture, Americans as a whole, whether black, white, blue, purple, etc. are becoming less prominent in the MLB. The fact that Latino players can be signed from 16 years old without having to go through the amateur draft may be a reason.

You think the National Hockey League would like to see more black players in their game? You betcha. The thing is, at least for hockey, is that it just doesn't appeal to the urban community. For one thing, hockey is more expensive to get in to, as equipment can cost upwards to one hundred dollars. Baseball isn't as expensive, but it's a lot easier to play basketball or football in the urban community because all you need is a small basketball court or any type of field for football. Baseball diamonds are harder to find because of their size and hockey rinks are going to be extremely rare.

So if baseball wants to fix their "problem" they'll need to go out and "fix" it themselves through building fields and introducing it to the urban community, among other things.

MLB: "Wait, but that would cost money. Well, we can't have that. I like having all my money and I want more."

Well, it may be your only option if you want to "correct" this.