There is a reason I do not bet on professional sports. There are simply too many variables to control for. The outcome is wholly out of a given gambler's hands.
To point. The baddest and toughest woman on the planet Ronda Rousey, destroyed her opponent Cat Zingano in 14 seconds during Saturday night's UFC 184 pay-per-view event.
Zingano rolled the dice and lost. She chose to throw caution to the wind in her opening gambit. I respect that decision. Did she have any other viable options?
After the bout, Zingano sounded like a man who prematurely ejaculates with his new paramour after only 14 seconds of coitus, declaring "I want to do it again!"
I doubt that Zingano, like most men in that position, will be given a second go round at yee old rodeo.
Ronda Rousey is so dominant that she will likely have to take a page out of my idol Muhammad Ali's book: stretch out the fight to make all parties involved look good, please Vegas, and get paid more money in the long run.
By contrast, Mike Tyson could destroy opponents in less than a minute without consequences. Why? The men's boxing bench of that era had more depth. Mike Tyson could always be fed some entertaining prey. Now, in these early years of woman's MMA, Rousey does not have such a luxury.
I would suggest that she must--and should be privately implored--to make her opponents look more competitive and respectable in the ring. In the end, one should always do what is good for business...both personal and for their sport.
I love a good rivalry.
Spy vs. Spy is a great comic.
Godzilla versus Mothra has never failed to impress and please me.
Interestingly, Godzilla versus King Kong had a very bad "kabuki" finish where there were two different endings to that iconic match-up depending on if one saw the American or Japanese version of the movie.
Ali versus Frazier is wondrous and painful--on so so many levels.
For those of us compelled to the Black Freedom Struggle and the colorline, the last few weeks brought us several interesting bouts. They vary in quality; they all entertain in their own way.
Ta-Nehisi Coates "debated" Shelby Steele about the topic of "reparations" on ABC's "This Week". Steele looked like a damn fool, one who was thoroughly outclassed.
MC Hammer faced off against "black respectability politics" in a very odd (to my eyes) conversation with senior scholar and first ballot "smart folks Hall of Fame member" Dr. Orlando Patterson.
There, MC Hammer, and hip-hop more broadly, detour what could have been a good conversation about Patterson's new collection at the online magazine Salon.
Clarence Thomas, the greatest Uncle Tom of all time and legendary self-hating negro who is the inspiration for the character "Stephen" in Tarantino's movie Django Unchained, has been waging a one person war against the Black Freedom Struggle and the Civil Rights Movement's legacy since his tenure began on the United States Supreme Court.
Juan Williams plays the role of cornerman in the sickening essay "America's Most Influential Thinker on Race" that was featured by The Wall Street Journal.
The pile of mouth rotting ahistorical, intellectually dishonest, white racist, political feces that Williams rubs all over his body for the pleasure and approval of Clarence Thomas (and their white supremacist boosters) must be read and seen first hand to be believed. My own accounting of said horror could not do it justice.
Do you have any information, either of public or personal import, that you would like to share? Discoveries? Interesting news items? What is your favorite rivalry, fight, or conflict either real or imagined?
My favorite modern historical counter-factual is what would would have happened if the United States and the Allies rearmed the Germans immediately after World War 2 and took on the Russians as Patton and Churchill had desired.
What is yours?
25 comments:
If this is the fight I saw a vid of, I'm very concerned that they were fighting without head protection.
This fight was very very "safe". Funny thing, sometimes that happens...
I've been waiting for your semi open thread.
I watched fox news the other day, they were ratcheting up the Christian\ Muslim rivalry. Hot damn! Were they ever absurd.
They had a retired lieutenant on and they were pushing this whole Isis is massacring Christians and seeking to control a route to the west to attack European Christians. They called the destruction of historical artifacts genocide against Christians and cited the destruction of culture as a form of genocide.
They could never say these things about America. I've never seen them reference massacres of Muslims by Isis.
The one I saw ended in a knockout. Even one knockout can cause dementia, parkinsons, etc. in later life. Poor Muhammed Ali no longer "floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee."
Do you have any information, either of public or personal import, that you would like to share?
Yes: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/24/amelia-boynton-selma_n_6725086.html
What is your favorite rivalry, fight, or conflict either real or imagined?
I immediately thought of the the phony US-USSR Cold War. It's a little known fact that the Cold War was mostly of US design. The Soviet's motto was, "Communism in one country and didn't have designs of imperialism other that their Eastern Bloc buffer zone." The US inflated the Soviet's numbers and capabilities in order to justify their imperialism —in the name of containing the Soviet Union.
Muhammad Ali was my childhood hero. I gave up watching boxing when I learned of the long term damage from repeated head blows. I've almost given up football as well. I'm conflicted. I'm also a vegan wannabe but I just can't get there. Speaking of meat...
I made your Beef Bourguignon last night. It was utterly fabulous and decedent! I stayed pretty true to your recipe. Homemade hot sauce and no commercial condiments. It's so easy to make your own hot sauce. One can blend chillies with just about anything (carrots for example) and put it in a jar. Some fancier recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/homemade-red-hot-sauce-recipe.html
http://jeanetteshealthyliving.com/2014/11/ghost-chile-carrot-hot-sauce.html
Dinner was topped off with homemade blended margaritas and Denzel Washington's The Equalizer.
My favorite alternative history thing is from the fall of man series: where cold loving aliens called the chimera infect Russia and steamroll Britain and the USA. Its a compelling sci fi series precisely because we're losing so badly and even the plot armored hero only delays the inevitable
Ann Coulter vs Aisha Tyler on CNN is a matchup that stands out for me. (Smiley throws a few softball pitches, but Tyler is pretty on point)
http://www.popmodal.com/video/5122/Ann-Coulter-on-Larry-King-wTavis-Smiley-and-Aisha-Tyler
Everytime I think of Coulter I get the filthy image of JJ Walker rutting on top of her. Burns the eyes.
I need to read that. There are two fun books I read over a week last summer, one is about a hypothetical Allies vs. Russians war, the second is what if Himmler had taken over Germany after Hitler was killed during a bombing raid. Good fun.
Homemade hot sauce. You are innovating!
I am glad you liked it...or was it a placebo effect wherein the meal is so horrible that you convince yourself that it is great :)
I have worked years on that recipe. Much trial and error. Did you use celery and carrots?
Well Russia at the time did have the worlds largest and most battle hardened army. The soviets were at their peak power and I think its good we didn't follow Churchills advice.
Also resistance fall of man is a series of games and books. Just look up on YouTube for Harry Stillman speeches for a taste of horror
Missed that one. There is an interesting debate about head trauma and MMA as compared to boxing...with the latter being assumed to be much more dangerous because of the gloves and repeated strikes over time.
I will look them up.
The U.S. 7th Army was no joke at the time either. The book I read postulates it would have come down to Allied air power, nukes, and production capability...sound familiar?
No the us was no joke, but likely nukes would have been the only thing winning the war. The soviets had a massive army, good intelligent, some of the worlds best tanks and the resulting allied victory probably would have been a phyrric victory at best. Not to mention soviet production was nothing to scoff at. Not to mention that unlike the nazis the soviets wouldn't be fighting on two fronts
Once they shifted West during WW2 was truly over for Germany. The book is pretty good--written by a military historian I believe--and nothing gets sugar coated. If I recall the U.S. hits the Russians in the East, causes all sorts of mayhem near Iran, and just rolls with the blows while getting overrun early. The air power and nukes are what settles it.
I'm thinking about this Byron Allen suing Comcast, Al Sharpton, NAACP and the Urban League thing, and it's reminding me of how a lot of black people I knew reacted to Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearings- "He's black, he says he's being racially discriminated against, and that's all I need to know".
Did the book make any possibility of a Russian victory? The Athenian people thought that they could wipe out the Peloponnesian league at sea and avoid land battles by hiding behind a wall; Athens was later crushed by the Spartan's and their allies. History is full of belligerent societies who thought they had what it took and failed.
Wasn't a fcuk yeah America! book. The Soviets also lost because of political infighting when they were closer to winning than they realized.
Well Stalin did basically lay the foundation for the collapse of the USSR. Well you've sold me. Because if I have to read another America fuck yeah book I'll blow my brains out
Did you use celery and carrots?
Yes except I cut them into long skinny strips like in a Chinese restaurant - I highly recommend it. The wine was on sale: Red Rooster Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 dry red wine from Bulgaria. Fresh thyme, rosemary and tarragon. I even made buttered egg noodles with lemon pepper. I'm embarrassed to say that I skipped the mushrooms. I don't like them.
I am glad you liked it...or was it a placebo effect wherein the meal is so horrible that you convince yourself that it is great :)
No, man. It was really fabulous! I even scored points with the missis. Sad to say though, the food, the alcohol and the movie put her straight to sleep.
If anyone wants to find the recipe, here's a direct link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=834JPDAqngs&feature=youtu.be&t=1h17m
Feel free to share another recipe in the future. That was good fun and well worth the effort! ;)
Cosign.
Until Rousey beats Cyborg I'm seeing none as competition. Cyborg does have a steroid blemish on her resume. Still would be a nice match up minus PEDs.
Byron Allen is a willful coon tool. He is allowing himself to be used by racist white supremacist conservatives to file a bogus lawsuit in what will be a failed effort to try to get Sharpton taken off the air at MSNBC. That may still happen, but coon tool Byron won't be the reason why.
Trying to get Sharpton taken off the air is the very least of it. He's trying to force these companies to carry his crap-ass programming by claiming that they racially discriminated against him by not carrying his crap-ass programming.
Here's what he said in that CNN interview yesterday:
They are murdering us in the street and murdering us in the boardroom
How dare he compare what happened to Mike Brown...Trayvon Martin...Eric Garner... to Comcast rejecting his crap-ass programming.
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