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A Huge Weekend Coming Up: What Does it Mean?

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
0915martinjpg2 300x198 A Huge Weekend Coming Up: What Does it Mean?

Josh Freeman

TAMPA, Fla. — There is nothing better than a long weekend. You don’t have to go to bed early, you don’t have to get up early and there is usually enough sports on the tube that there isn’t one dull moment.

This weekend here in sunny Florida, the Houston Texans take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon, but don’t worry, there’s more. Lots more.

In fact, there’s a load of NFL games on TV, more than enough college football to fill your boots, plus hockey and fighting — both boxing and MMA. The CFL playoffs begin, Tiger is hot in Australia while John Daly is off in Oz playing Kevin Costner’s character in Tin Cup.

While we remember our fathers and grandfathers and all the people who fought to keep Canada free, we can also take comfort in the fact they left us a nation that loves sports — and really loves to argue about it.

So with that in mind, here are five outstanding sporting events taking place this Remembrance Day weekend.

Let’s have an argument.

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Tiger Woods

1. Tiger Woods Heats Up in Australia:

I know, the world is full of Tiger haters, but I’m afraid I’m not one of them. I hope Tiger shoots 62 every time he tees it up just to piss off the people who hate his guts. I also can’t watch golf on TV unless Tiger is in contention. Televised golf these days would put hyperactive children to sleep if Tiger isn’t playing.

So heading into the weekend, Tiger has gone 68-67 at the Lakes Country Club in Sydney and at nine under, he holds a one-shot lead over Peter O’Malley.

He talked after Round 2 as if he was ready to win again.

“I think experience comes with managing myself and my game,” Woods told reporters at the post-round news conference. “I’ve been there a few times and I understand how to do it. All the things that can happen, I’ve experienced a lot of it.”

Go get ‘em Tiger.

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Anthony Calvillo

2. The CFL Playoffs Start:

The Winnipeg Bombers don’t play again until Sunday, Nov. 20 when they play host to the CFL’s Eastern final at Canad Inns Stadium. More than 27,000 tickets have already been sold for that game and no doubt, it will be a sellout. Bomber fans have waited since 20o1 to cheer for a first place and this year they’ll be at the stadium screaming themselves horse.

Buck Pierce says he’ll be ready to start at quarterback when the Bombers face the winner of this Sunday’s Eastern Conference semifinal between the Montreal Alouettes and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Alouettes are favored by 5.5 points. Game time is 12 Noon. Meanwhile, in the Western semifinal Calgary will play at Edmonton at 3:30. The Eskimos are favored by 2.5.

It says here that Montreal and Edmonton will emerge victorious this weekend, but both teams will lose in the Conference finals. That means we’re looking at a Winnipeg-B.C. Grey Cup on Nov. 27 at B.C. Place Stadium.

You heard it here first.

3. Two Gigantic Saturday Night Fights:

This Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines returns to the ring for a re-match against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez and it will be a dandy. It’s being billed as Pacquiao-Marquez III at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and it’s the rubber match at 144 pounds for Pacquiao and Marquez.

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Manny Pacquiao

The first time Pacquiao fought Marquez in 2004, he knocked him down three times and settled for a draw. The second time, in 2008, Pacquiao won by split decision. There are some who think Marquez is a better fighter. Both Big Will Prince and I picked Pacquaio to win by a unanimous decision. This will be a long, hard, wonderful fight by two of the best pound-for-pound warriors on the planet.

Meanwhile, on the MMA side of the ledger, the UFC heavyweight title will be up for grabs on Saturday night in the first UFC on Fox main event with champion Cain Velasquez taking on top contender Junior Dos Santos. There will be nine preliminary bouts but only one main event – that’s for Velasquez’s UFC heavyweight title and on Streetz 104.7 this week both Big Will and I picked the veteran warrior, Cain Velasquez, to defend his belt,

However, our fight expert, Marc-Andre Drolet from The Fight Network, said he was ready to place a bet on Dos Santos in an upset.

The fight is free on Fox on Saturday, live from the Honda Centre in Anaheim, Cal.

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Claude Noel

4. The Jets Play in Columbus:

The 5-8-3 Winnipeg Jets, coming off a heartbreaking 6-5 overtime loss in Buffalo on Tuesday night and a dud — a 5-2 loss to Florida — at home on Thursday, take to the road to face the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

The Jets can’t afford to sleep walk through this one like they did against Florida on Thursday.

After all, they get one game on the road and then return to Winnipeg to face Tampa on Monday, Washington on Thursday and Philly next Saturday. The road game will be the easiest of the next four.

After Thursday’s loss head coach Claude Noel said: “We were not good from the goaltender out, what do you want me to say?”

Thank you, coach, for the thoughtful, candid, honest response. I watched the game at Buffalo Wild Wings in Orlando on Thursday night and the locals laughed at my favorite hockey team. They had better be better on Saturday or a desperate Columbus team will rip them.

Meanwhile, there is still talk in Jets circles about moving Dustin Byfuglien from defense to forward, but head coach Claude Noel doesn’t want to make the move because Byfuglien “Doesn’t want to play forward,” and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff doesn’t want to make the move because he likes Byfuglien on the ice 22-24 minutes a night on defense while he’d only play 15-17 minutes at forward. Which, of course, didn’t matter much in Buffalo after two of Byfuglien’s mistakes cost the Jets a pair of goals.

This debate will continue for awhile.

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Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings

5. Indy to 0-10, Green Bay to 9-0:

I’m not convinced the Jacksonville Jaguars are any good, but I am convinced they’re better than the 0-9 Indianapolis Colts. However, the Colts aren’t going to go 0-16 this season (my Lions have already EARNED that notoriety) and if they’re going to win a game this year, this is it. It goes Sunday at Noon (CST) and yet if they were playing it in my back yard, I wouldn’t open the drapes to watch it. This might be one of the worst NFL games this season.

Meanwhile, on Monday night, the Green Bay Packers play host to the Minnesota Vikings. Green Bay will win because Aaron Rodgers will throw a pantload of TD passes against that dreadful Vikings defensive secondary. How about 48-36 Green Bay?

The Packers will improve to 9-0 and will only have two semi-difficult games in their final seven. We could be witnessing another 16-0 season.

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What a Saturday! One of Those Days You Don’t Forget.

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Donna Chief is one of those people who is hard to forget. Saturday night, I finished the day talking to Donna Chief. People who know her today, know her as  the vice-principal at Seven Generations Education Institute in Northwestern Ontario. But 27 years ago, she was an enthusiastic young woman from Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation who gathered the courage to call Roy and Evelyne Holenski and ask if they could use another pitcher on their Smitty’s women’s fast pitch team.

Saturday night, she was inducted into the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame along with a team called McKay United — nine Metis brothers from Crane River, Man., who made up a national championship team.

“This is a really big deal,” Chief said, just before the official Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Canad Inns Polo Park in Winnipeg on Saturday. “It’s a big deal because I didn’t realize I had a career.

“Then, when I sat down and kind of put together everything I’d done, it occurred to me that I did have a career. I was 19 and playing for me team from Dryden-Fort Frances and we were playing a tournament that Smitty’s was playing in. I was pitching and we beat the Kern-Hill Jays and I kind of thought that maybe I was good enough to play for Smitty’s.

“So I worked up the courage and called the Holenskis and they said they had room for me. I was so excited. I pitched for them for two years and then something amazing happened. Evelyne got a call from Susan Schultz, the coach at Mayville State University, who asked, ‘Is there anyone on your team who is good and isn’t doing much with their lives,’ and Evelyne said, ‘Yes, Donna.’ Well, I thought I was doing a lot with my life, but it turned out to be the greatest thing that ever happened.’ I pitched in a tournament in Fargo a couple of weeks later and Susan offered me a full scholarship at Mayville.

“I went down there and stayed for 12 years. I also got my degree and became a teacher and now I’m a vice-principal. None of that would have happened without softball and without the Holenskis.”

Talking with Donna was a great way to finish a spectacular Saturday, a Saturday that might be hard to forget:

1. Detroit Tigers righthander Justin Verlander threw a no-hitter at the Toronto Blue Jays. It was a masterpiece: One walk erased by a double-play. 27 Up, 27 Down.

It was Verlander’s second career no-hitter and one senses there will be more. People are already talking Hall of Fame. If he doesn’t blow his arm, there is little doubt.

2. A 20-1 longshot named Animal Kingdom (boy, were the Disney people ever happy with this winner) won the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby. Paid $43. John Velasquez, who was supposed to ride Uncle Mo until he was scratched, gave Animal Kingdom a sensational ride, proving jockeys can win races with courage and skill.

The jocks who ride at the Derby are the big league ballplayers of the horsey crowd. Saturday afternoon, Velasquez proved how good they can be.

3. Manny Pacquiao is now 53-3-2 in his illustrious career after winning a lopsided 12-round decision over Sugar Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao dropped Mosley with a left hook in the third round and the challenger was never a factor in the fight again. With the easy win, Pacquiao retained his WBO Welterweight title, but more importantly, he also maintained the title of “the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.”

4. The Cleveland Indians won again. This time 5-4 at the Big A in Anaheim. The Indians are now 22-10, tied with the Fightin’ Phillies for the best record in baseball. After falling behind 2-0, the Tribe came back to win thanks to big hits by Shin-Soo Choo, who is hitting .226, and Carlos Santana (the greatest name ever for a guy playing in the home of the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame) who is batting .217.

I still don’t believe they will keep this up. But it sure is fun watching no names, has-beens and never-weres eat up Major League Baseball.

5. Speaking of no-names, has-beens and never-weres, how about the Nashville Predators? Sure, the Preds aren’t out of the woods yet, they still trail the Canucks 3-2, but on Saturday night, for the first time in franchise history, they won an elimination game (they were 0-5 heading in).

With a pair of third-period goals by Joel Ward (who?), the Preds beat the Canucks 4-3 in Vancouver and extended the Western Conference semifinal to a Game 6 in Nashville on Monday night.

If Barry Trotz pulls this one off, there will be absolutely no doubt that pound-for-pound, Trotz is the best coach in the NHL.

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Busy Weekend, Lots to Know

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

When one wakes up on a Saturday morning in the sports business and knows he’ll go non-stop for the next 17 hours, he also knows there is nothing better in the world.

Let’s check the daytimer:

10 a.m. Winnipeg Goldeyes Open House, team practices from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

2 p.m. Radio in Ottawa with A.J. Jakubec on the TEAM 1200.

3 p.m. Assiniboia Downs, 137th running of the Kentucky Derby.

7 p.m. Induction Ceremony for the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame.

In between all that we have to sneak around to watch the Canadian Football League draft,  the Nashville-Vancouver Stanley Cup playoff game, the Sugar Shane Mosley-Manny Pacquiao WBO Welterweight Title Fight, the Oklahoma City-Memphis and Miami-Boston NBA playoff games and a whole slate of Major League Baseball games that just can’t be missed.

It’s one of the days that when it ends, you say to yourself, “Thank the Lord I’m alive and someday, if things ever get quiet, I just might get to play golf.”

While we rush around from place-to-place, here’s what we need to know:

1. We like Dialed In in the Derby because ever since Big Brown, we have always bet the Florida Derby champion at Churchill. Haven’t always won, but in a 19-horse race that is as good a strategy as any.

2. The Canadian Football League draft, although billed as “a franchise-changing day” for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, is and, well, isn’t.

It IS because the Bombers finally have some draft picks. It ISN’T because players who are selected in the Canadian draft tend to a) fail miserably or b) play for every other team in the league at some point in their career, anyway. Perhaps the best player drafted No. 1 overall in the last 10 years was Steve Morley by Calgary and he now plays for the Bombers.

3. Vancouver can eliminate Nashville at home tonight and probably will. Despite the brilliance of Preds head coach Barry Trotz, the Canucks are just better at every aspect of the game.

4. Now that Dallas has the Lakers’ backs to the wall at 3-0, can Memphis take out Oklahoma City. Memphis hadn’t won a playoff game in franchise history until this year and now the Grizzlies have won a series. If they can win two games at home — starting tonight — they just could be the first NBA Cinderella team in a long, long time.

5. Pacquiao will take out Mosley in three rounds.

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Hatton Meets Pacquiao on May 2. Could be the Fight of the New Century

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It is, perhaps, the most anticipated legitimate boxing match in decades.

I say legitimate, because the recent Manny Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya 150-pound event was just that: An event. A one-time exhibition. It was not a title bout. People watched Pacquiao take out the aging (or aged?) De La Hoya, much like they’d watch a car wreck. It was ugly and interesting at the time, but so one-sided, it was hardly memorable.

 

However, what we will witness on May 2, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, could very well be the best boxing match of the new century. It’s the pound-for-pound king, Manny Pacquiao (48-3 with 36 knockouts), against the hard-nosed British entertainer Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs), going nose-to-nose for Hatton’s WBO junior welterweight (140 pound) belt. 

 

Two decades ago, this fight would barely create a ripple. However, in this new age of talent, speed and star-power, a fight between the two best little men in the game now carries the cachet that the heavyweight crown once carried alone. 

 

In fact, with the heavyweight division now dominated by slow, gigantic Russian bears who simply pummel their opponents into submission, a scientific battle between two skilled, fast and tough 140-pounders is enough to get the heart racing. This fight has all the ingredients – athletic skill, two international superstars and two young men who have become heroes in their own lands.

 

This will be an epic encounter between two small pit-bulls, each with the heart of a lion. The Filipino, Pacquiao, is coming off his “Great Statement,” the demolition of the legend, Oscar De La Hoya. After Manny took Oscar apart in eight rounds back in November, De La Hoya’s career came to an abrupt end. Pacquiao is the only four weight-division champion of Asian descent in the history of the sweet science and what he did to De La Hoya that night was the stuff of boxing legend.

 

But this time Pacquiao will not be in the ring alone. Across from him, staring him down, will be the biggest British boxing phenom since Joe Calzaghe, and experts will tell you that Hatton is far superior in every way to Calzaghe. When Hatton, the latest fighter to wear “the Hit Man” moniker beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. and filled the MGM Grand Garden in December of 2007, he stepped out of Calzaghe’s shadow and into his own universe. Pound-for-pound, he might be the greatest British fighter of all time.

 

The Las Vegas oddsmakers clearly see Pacquiao as the better pure boxer, and the tougher fighter In fact, right now, Pacquiao is listed as the odds-on favourite at 2/5. A Hatton victory sits at 7/4, which represents solid value, but shows that the exerts believe he’s outmanned.

 

But since 2007, Hatton has improved dramatically and, in an amazing turn of events, is now trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr. He’s such a showman — so much fun to watch — that his antics inside the squared-circle often get in the way of his brilliant technical skills. But make no mistake, even though Hatton’s reach is two inches shorter (despite the fact he’s an inch taller than Pacquiao) than his opponent’s, he is a world champion for a reason. He has speed, excellent skills and a big heart. 

 

And Pacquiao knows it.

 

“I expect Ricky to be coming forward and to fight me toe-to-toe,” Pacquiao said during last week’s international conference call from Manila. “I like that. I’m not looking for a knockout. I don’t want thoughts of a knockout distracting me from the job at hand. I tell you I don’t want any distractions in my mind.”

Pacquiao told the international media that he expected Hatton to “walk into my punches because of his aggressive, come-forward style.”

Not surprisingly, Hatton guarantees that he will be aggressive.

“Both of us refuse to go backwards and that is the key to the fight,” Hatton told The Mirror. “Whoever ends up going backwards is going to lose. Manny fights toe-to-toe and so do I. But I punch harder and have more technical ability. My superior technical ability is going to shock Manny more than the size and power aspect.”

On May 2, live on HD pay-per-view at the new Upper Deck Sports Bar at McPhillips Street Station (on that spectacular 16-footX9-foot HD screen), two of the greatest boxers alive today will meet up in what should be one of the greatest fight of this, or maybe any other decade.

Tickets are on-sale now at McPhillips Street Station Casino. It would be a shame to miss this one for this one will be memorable.

 

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Pacquiao destroys de la Hoya. Winnipeg celebrates the victory.

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Last Saturday night, I had the opportunity to attend the Oscar de la Hoya-Manny Pacquiao “Dream Fight” at Winnipeg’s McPhillips Street Station Casino. Frankly, it was one of the most enjoyable evenings I’ve had in quite some time.

 

Not only was the new back-projector screen in the concert bowl at the Casino sensational — best picture on any large screen in Winnipeg — but the crowd itself was an eye-opener.

 

It was estimated by Casino staff that as many as 1,400 members of Winnipeg’s Filipino community attended the fight, lining up early to get their free seat passes in the second floor bar and in the Concert Bowl.

 

From 7 p.m. (when I arrived) until the fight started at about 11:05, the crowd was quiet. No one spoke loudly or got drunk, no one was belligerent with staff, no one dared make a boastful prediction or cheer de la Hoya.

 

However, when Filipino singer Karylle sang the country’s national anthem, the crowd came to life and from that point on, the atmosphere was electric. These people cheered every punch Pacquiao landed and rose to their feet when de la Hoya refused to come out for the ninth round. It was a sensational performance by a brilliant fighter and these folks expected nothing less.

 

Pacquiao is no longer just a Filipino star, but an international icon and in Winnipeg last Saturday night, he belonged to each and every one of the 1,400 folks at McPhillips Street Station Casino.

 

Since the fight, we’ve learned two things: No. 1, he’s probably going give away a large chunk of his winnings to the poor in the Phillipines and No. 2, that the event didn’t reach the financial success of de la Hoya’s loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2007. At least, not yet.

 

The promoters’ goal was 1.5 million pay-per-view buys, but HBO announced Wednesday that the fight drew 1.25 million pay-per-view buys and $70 million in revenue. The live gate for the fight at Las Vegas’s MGM Grand Garden Arena (15,001) was better than $17 million. Promoters were hoping for $100 million in PPV and $15 million at the gate.

 

However, despite the doom and gloom, Pacquiao’s brilliant victory over the aging (and, I’m afraid, washed up), de la Hoya is still the third bestselling non-heavyweight pay-per-view bout in history.

 

According to HBO, only de la Hoya-Mayweather (2.4 million pay-per-view buys) and de la Hoya-Felix Trinidad (1.4 million in 1999) topped Saturday’s bout among non-heavyweight fights and only one other de la Hoya fight (versus Bernard Hopkins in 2004) met or exceeded 1 million buys.

 

In fact, break even was 650,000 buys and according to promoter Bob Arum, “when every number is counted, the fight could go well north of 1.5 million.”

 

De la Hoya has long been the draw, but now the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world can probably do it on his own. And with a title fight in 2009 against the British sensation, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, there is a legitimate chance that Pacquiao could become the greatest boxing draw of all-time.

 

And of course, that’s something the people at McPhillips Street Station Casino last Saturday, could have told us a long time ago.

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