Two sports events you might have missed

A lot’s happened since my last report. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Matt Cain’s perfecto against Houston or Tiger Woods three wins on the PGA tour, along with Zach Johnson’s win at the John Deere Classic, as well as the NL blowout in the MLB All Star Game.

But you can get that all elsewhere—I’d rather talk about two underreported events in sports.

First, the big fight between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen in the UFC. Didn’t read one word about this in my local newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman—not even a sports brief.

Which is too bad, because I had to work late and couldn’t watch the fight. The next day at work, I asked if anyone knew who had won, and nobody could tell me. So I decided to see if I could find out the result organically.

I went to my local deli where the guy behind the counter practices martial arts and asked if he knew the result. He didn’t.

Then I tuned in Sports Center, and while it was the day after the fight, I didn’t hear the result during the times I tuned in. Didn’t see it on CNN or MSNBC either. Didn’t see it on local or national news.

Finally, three days later, I gave up and Googled it. Silva dropped big mouth Sonnen in two rounds, it turns out.

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly the fight of the century, but UFC deserves much better coverage than it’s getting.

You can count on me to cover the big UFC fights in this column, as cage fighting has it all over boxing these days.

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Canada won the gold over the US in international football. No, not that soccer stuff, real football, American football.

In the Under-19 Championship of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF), Canada’s junior national team defeated the US 23-17 in the finals. Amazing.

This took place three miles from my house at Burger Stadium in Austin, Texas. No, I did not go, figuring it would be an American blowout, but I did listen to it on the radio. Still stunned.

Canada jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never relinquished it, although the game did come down to a failed onside kick.

I’m not big on covering high school sports, so you probably won’t hear me mention many high school games in the future. But Canada beating the US in football is like the US beating Canada in hockey.

You have to pay attention to something like that.
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Manny loses, Mayweather’s in prison, boxing wins

Manny Pacquiao lost Saturday night to upstart Tim Bradley, and I couldn’t be happier.

It’s not that I’ve got anything against Manny. He’s a great boxer and an over-achiever who sings at concerts and sits on the Philippine Congress.

But he never fought Floyd Mayweather when both were in their prime. And that hurt boxing, a sport which is slowly turning into the red-haired stepchild when compared to the UFC’s mixed martial arts—or as I like to call it—cage fighting.

Now what? Will Mayweather fight Bradley? I doubt it. Once a coward, always a coward. Will Mayweather fight Pacquiao? I doubt it. For the same reason.

Maybe now Floyd Mayweather will finally be recognized for what he is—a great fighter when facing bums, and nothing more.

Joe Louis fought a lot of bums, the bum-of-the-month club I do believe. But he also fought Max Schmeling. Louis lost the first one, but won the second in a first-round knockout so decisively there wasn’t a third fight. There wasn’t even a need for a third fight.

Do you know what happened when Pacquiao met Mayweather? No, you don’t and neither do I. And we’ve all been deprived of that.

Let’s see if Bradley has the courage to capture our imaginations.

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It’s on, OKC vs. The Heat. Yes, I really thought the Spurs would muster one more championship, but my eyes might have been clouded by nostalgia.

I’m 100 percent behind OKC though, and do believe they will win. Kevin Durant is on fire and Russell Westbrook isn’t a slouch himself. Throw in the best Sixth Man in the NBA, James Harden, and you’ve got a winning combination.

They’ve also got one more secret weapon—Derek Fisher. He’s just a journeyman player who knows how to win, reminiscent of Robert Horry, another journeyman winner, who holds seven championship rings.

If OKC wins it all, Fisher will have six rings, one more than Kobe. That’s impressive. That’s more than impressive, that’s hilarious.
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