Pacquiao Has Nothing On Little Mac

I am obliged to post anything even remotely tied to Punch-Out. Soon, there will be a new release for the game that my Dad used to refuse to let me play due to the "violence". Well Dad, I'm sorry but I went around you back and played it anyway. I turned out fine, I mean look at me now...oh damn, you were right Dad, you were right.

[From our friend Echowood at Yesbutnobutyes]

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Justifying or Justified: 3 Observations from the Weekend

We've all gotten into arguments disagreements with a loved one where we're trying to justify our actions, even if we know deep down that we're wrong. Here's three observations from the weekend and I need folks to tell me if I'm justifying or justified in my beliefs.

1. The John Wall Breaking and Entering story doesn't concern me one bit. Wall, was cited for B&E after being observed walking out of a vacant house. There was no forced entry and nothing appeared to be missing. To me this is little more than kids being kids. This pails in comparison to Wake Forest's Al Farouq Aminu being arrested for shooting a woman with a BB gun, but because of Wall's undecided status people will want to make a mountain out of a molehill. If anything, I'm betting on the officer that stopped them being a State fan.

2. The Denver Nuggets will prevent Kobe from winning a championship. Denver's playing with a dash healthy serving of nasty these days and have already frustrated two of the best in the west (Paul and Nowitzki) and the Black Mamba could be next. When Dahntay Jones (or as I like to call him Gerald Henderson's defensive doppleganger) puts Kobe on his backside, who on the Lakers is going to step up and be the enforcer? Andrew Bynum in his first playoffs, Pau 'please don't touch me' Gasol, Trevor Ariza? The only possibility other than Kobe having the sole responsibility is Derek Fisher and no offense to Fish, I'm not sure he's got it in him. When these two teams meet, the series will undoubtedly take a toll on 24 and that won't bode well as they look forward. I'm not ready to say that Denver will win the series, but this team is underrated when it comes to experience. Both Chauncey Billups and Kenyon Martin have played in multiple NBA Finals, Carmello has performed well on big stages at the college and Olympic level, how nervous can Nene be before a game considering he conquered cancer and the same goes for Chris Anderson after beating his inner demons. That leaves J.R. Smith, who clearly has no conscious and would gladly hoist from near 30 with your life on the line. If the Lakers want to advance and have anything in the tank for the Cavs... er, I mean East Winners someone will have to step up to protect Kobe.

3. Boxing will never die. It will go dormant for long periods of time, but it will never die. When a great boxer is fighting, people will emerge from their two year pugilist slumbers and flock to TVs like moths. On Saturday with every sport but football represented, it was Manny Pacquiao that stole the show. He was better than Ovechkin v. Crosby, better than Bulls v. Celtics, better than the NASCAR Richmond race, the Quail Hollow Championship and yes, even the Kentucky Derby. Mine that Bird is a great story, but the race did have two favorites scratch, and the "sloppy" conditions were perfect for a smaller horse. A big part of upsets are who you beat and as it stands now Mine That Bird hasn't beaten any horse of note. Back to boxing, the sport has multiple problems, but when a great walks into the ring after a long night of hapless undercard bouts, all those problems melt away. When the Sweet Science is being practiced by a master, there are few things in sports that can top it and that's why when someone says, "Boxing is dead" from now on, I'll feel compelled to correct them.

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Sometimes You Forget: Young Mike Tyson

Last night as Xtra Medium was playing Street Fighter II and NBA Hangtime on his new laptop I found myself switching between playoff hockey and TWWL's collection of Mike Tyson's knockouts. These were the young Tyson, before jail and insanity took over. It truly took us back to see the way Tyson dominated early in his career. He was solid force of nature and anything that got in his way he destroyed. Catfish was of course quick to point out that most of the guys he was fighting were not exactly top caliber pugilists. One of them, John Alderson who is featured in the clip below was a coal miner from West Virginia. XM and I theorized that big John used to get into fistacuffs at the local tavern after a long day in the dark mines and would win so people naturally told him, "Hey you should box professionally!".

Even taking into account some of the competition being sub-par, Tyson dominated in a way few, if ever, have seen. The young Mike was in control thanks to his training team, mainly his caretaker Cus D'Amato and Kevin Rooney. Watching Tyson in these young fights, he was using the 'peak-a-boo' style effectively and had you never seen what he turned into afterwards, you would have thought he was a mentally stable person. He was gracious in defeat and even offered help get them to their feet and good wishes to his opponents after defeat. There were signs of the troubles ahead though during the program. After one fight, one of the first people into the ring was Louis Farrakhan. The last shot in the clip below is one of Don King hoisting Tyson up after a win. D'Amato died in late 1985 and many saw that as the beginning of the problems for Tyson. Later he went on to fire Rooney and after that his fighting ability turned from sweet science to knockout-seeking brawler.

I was at this point that the bloodsuckers and remoras attached themselves to Tyson and led the chain of events that began with the Buster Douglas knockout and ended with how we know him today: broke and an easy target of mockery. From looking at Tyson's background it is not hard to beleive that he had mental problems from the beginning and when ex-wife Robine Givens shared her opinion that Mike was bi-polar. If he had had the proper guidance of people like D'Amato and Rooney, perhaps things would have turned out different, but if you look at the way he dominated in these early matches, it was only a matter of time before he was given ungodly amounts of money and made to feel impermeable. Perhaps it was inevitable that Mike would fade into "bolivion". At least we can reminisce below about his young years when he was Kid Dynamite' and how we all enojoyed playing Punch-Out.

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