The Noise Factor

The “Billy D. Williams” smooth line that is below my “Add New Post” section still throws me off.

On Friday I watched “The Hangover” with my brother and some friends, which meant I saw a movie that featured Mike Tyson for the 2nd straight week.

Last week I went to see the documentary done on the former Heavyweight Champion, and it was worth the price of admission. Not because it was nice to see Iron Mike talk about the past, but I am a boxing fan and grew up watching this man fight, so I found it neat.

This is a guy who leads us to believe that he wants to be a better man; he recently got off drugs. That is a big step if you consider how lethal drugs are to a man who’s had a lifetime of scars to go along with rage and anger. He also talked about regrets in his life, gave us a glimpse of the highs and lows of a boxer, and he showed his soft side when discussing Cus D’Amato.  He really loved that man.

But there was a lot to be desired as well; From the loss to Buster Douglas to now was rushed. It was like 1990 to today happened blew by at a blink of an eye. I understand the time restraints when putting together a documentary, but the most intriguing parts to Tyson’s life has been the last 20 years rather than the first 20.  They breezed through the rape stuff, Don King, his family, Holyfield & Lewis and losing all his millions.  IF there was one thing I would have liked to have seen elaborated during his younger days, it would have been the Teddy Atlas situation.  We saw Atlas in some old stock footage of Tyson but that was it.  There was nothing said about Atlas pulling a gun on Tyson over an incident involving Tyson and Atlas’s sister.

I would have preferred the movie be an extra 20-30 minutes longer - it was THAT interesting.

Now, did the movie changed my perspective of Mike Tyson?  Not really.  I always thought he was one of the best fighters I ever saw and after seeing a lot of his knockouts again it reminded me of how great he was in his prime.  I wish he had stayed with Kevin Rooney and remained as hungry as he was when D’Amato was still alive.  It seems that one or two easy decisions in his life would have changed the course of his history.  That’s probably the most frustrating thing about looking back on Tyson’s life.  Regardless, we know what went down with his career in-and-out of the ring over the last 25 years.

This movie sets up the viewer to become more intrigued with what Tyson is going to do over the next 20 years and beyond - if he lives that long.  Overall, if you are a fan of boxing you will enjoy the documentary.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers are in trouble.nbsp; After a miraculous Game 2 win the Cavs could not pick up any momentum heading into Orlando, losing both games on the road.nbsp; Now they stare down a 3-1 deficit.nbsp; I don’t count them out just yet.nbsp; Anyone that has watched enough basketball knows that if there is a slight feeling that one team isn’t done, it means that team isn’t done just yet.nbsp; I could see the Cavs come back in this series.nbsp; I don’t believe Orlando will squander this series.nbsp; They are more than capable of laying the dagger through the heart of Cleveland.br /br /Staying with NBA, does it feel almost too good to be true to think Denver can smash L.A. tonight and take this series in 6 or 7 games?nbsp; It does to me.nbsp; They will have severely outplay the Lakeshow tonight and win the game.nbsp; Otherwise L.A. will have the hammer and the series becomes less interesting.nbsp; The series would become interesting if Denver wins heading back home up 3 games to 2.nbsp; Ideal situation for any team, but a betting man would go with L.A. and take the over in points.br /br /—-br /br /Big Papi, David Ortiz.nbsp; Just read an article by Ken Rosenthal that discussed the possibility of Ortiz taking steroids due to his slump.nbsp; Rosenthal is NOT accusing him so lets clear that up right now.nbsp; A few points with Ortiz…br /br /1 - I’ve watched enough games to know that Ortiz is really pressing, and you know he is when he’s swinging at pitches he normally takes.nbsp; He’s swinging at a lot more first-pitch balls which means pitch selection has been one of his issue.br /br /2 - His first homer this year was a total bomb.nbsp; He has the power.nbsp; Does he have the swing, timing, vision and/or healthy to play near his prime?br /br /3 - If there is an injury, is it the knee or wrist?br /br /Here’s the other issue: the media wouldn’t know what hit them anyway.nbsp; They had an opening with Mark McGwire when they found out he was taking andro.nbsp; They knew about it, didn’t research the drug and didn’t press the situation.nbsp; Granted, Big Mac was gunning for Roger Maris’ record and they probably didn’t want to be known as the guy that disrupted history - especially with the state of the game during that period.nbsp; They came off a strike just 4 years earlier, if you remember.nbsp; But the media blew it, period.nbsp; Therefore, can you really trust the media to do the right thing when it comes to PED’s?br /br /Moving forward, the Toronto Blue Jays lost their 9th straight game, managing to blow their game today against Baltimore twice.nbsp; That’s impressive.nbsp; Any kind of momentum the Jays had after their 4-game sweep over Chicago is now lost thanks to this disastrous road trip.nbsp; The reasons why they have slid back down the standings are: A) Bullpen woes, B) Guys like Rod Barajas and Adam Lind are coming back down to earth, C) The starting pitching was bound to collapse with all the injuries, D) The Jays may have the weakest 3 and 4 hitters in the majors, and E) They have stopped beating up on the overrated AL Central teams.nbsp;nbsp; Welcome back to average, Blue Jays.br /br /—-br /br /Want to end with hockey and tennis.nbsp; Tonight, Detroit looks to head back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second straight year for another rematch with Pittsburgh.nbsp; The Red Wings have not only been one of (if not, the best) sports franchises over the last 20 years but they are making a case as the best hockey franchise in NHL history.nbsp; Lets remember that since Montreal stopped drafting the top Quebec junior player every single year they haven’t seen the same kind of success as they did in the 1970’s.nbsp; It didn’t seem fair that a top-notch team would have a choice between Guy Lafleur or Marcel Dionne in a draft.nbsp; Also, original 6 hockey was a big crapshoot and with 4 teams out of 6 making the playoffs anything could happen.nbsp; Since expansion, Detroit has won 4 cups and could add a 5th after this year.nbsp; Since I’ve dropped an asterisk on Montreal, they would tie with Edmonton at 5 cups during the post-expansion era.nbsp; But lets not also forget that the Red Wings have set themselves up to win in different phases in their franchise (Yzerman/Federov era to post Yzerman/Federov era), and really had to good teams that didn’t finish.nbsp; If you want to know the definition of a model franchise, look no further than the Detroit Red Wings.br /br /And it’s now or never for Roger Federer.nbsp; Not only does he need to win the French Open this year, he needs to beat Rafael Nadal.nbsp; After the way he handled himself after losing to Nadal at Wimbledon, coming back with a vengeance would be appropriate.nbsp; Federer has at least been to the French Open final and has simply run into perhaps one of the best clay court players ever in Nadal.nbsp; Enjoy Men’s Tennis folks because we may not see this kind of greatness for a while.br /brbra href=”http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/The_Dan/2009/05/27/Cavs_on_the_ropes_Big_Papi_and_more#comments”No Comments/a

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If you dropped in to check and see if I’d mention divisions from MLS I thank you for checking in but you won’t find it here.br /br /I was inspired to write this because I haven’t experienced this kind of buzz in the city of Toronto for it’s baseball team in quite a while.nbsp; It now plays third-string behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.nbsp; With those two teams faltering, the Blue Jays have shocked the city with their start to this young season.nbsp; I know better not to get caught up in the excitement knowing that the MLB season is a marathon and not a 100-meter sprint the way it is in the NFL.nbsp; Ground can be made up in a matter of a week or two.br /br /Originally I was going to go through the AL East and talk about how Boston hasn’t played their best baseball yet sits close to Toronto in the standings.nbsp; Also mention how disappointing it was to see Mark Teixiera whine about having a runner run into his glove when clearly the runner had no choice.nbsp; And we could talk about the Tampa Bay Rays finding themselves after starting off slow.br /br /But why don’t we just go through some of sports’ best divisions instead…br /br /- The MLB has the AL East and then there’s the rest.nbsp; Last year you could make a case for the top 4 teams in the East to be the best 6 or 7 teams in the American League.nbsp; This year more than ever the AL Central is being exposed as an overrated division - a distinction they should have been holding for quite some time.nbsp; All but 1 team in the Central is under .500 against the East - Kansas City is the exception, go figure!nbsp; Toronto has feasted against the AL Central, which is something Boston has yet to do since they have only played 7 games against that division, going 5-2 thus far.nbsp; So if we see Boston take control of the East it’s because they are crushing the Central division.br /br /The rest of the league is so inconsistent that I couldn’t pin-point who’s the 2nd best division.nbsp; NL East maybe?nbsp; What we know is the AL East is one of the best divisions in sports without question.br /br /- The NBA is interesting because I think this division gets overlooked every year: the Southwest.nbsp; Since the 3 division setup in each conference, the Southwest has seen 4 teams routinely make the post-season.nbsp; Once Memphis dropped off the map, New Orleans picked up where they left off.nbsp; The Texas-based teams beat eachother up every year which hurts their place in the West Conference standings.nbsp; San Antonio has won 4 titles since 1999 (2 since the alignment) and Dallas made the finals in 2006.nbsp; Who knows how good the top team would be in that division if they had a second Memphis team to play rather than a 50-win team every year.br /br /It’s safe to say the Pacific is the next best division.nbsp; Nobody would dare pick an East Conference division and say quot;wow, that division is sure tough!quot;.nbsp; Yeah, tough if you’re the Charlotte Bobcats.br /br /- If I end this with the NFL you’ll continue to read.nbsp; So I’ll sneak in a little NHL right here.nbsp; I like the Atlantic division in the Eastern Conference.nbsp; You know Philadelphia and the New York Rangers want to win badly so they put out the best team possible at the start of every season, plus Pittsburgh and New Jersey are as solid as they come.nbsp; It comes as no shock that Pittsburgh has made it this far.nbsp; New York, who placed 7th this year, nearly (and should have) beaten Washington in the first round of this year’s playoffs.nbsp; Typically that division comes strong in the playoffs.br /br /The next best division is probably the Pacific in the west.nbsp; San Jose is traditionally a strong team, as is Dallas (except this year).nbsp; And Anaheim has been a very dangerous team in recent years.nbsp; But I think the Central division has REALLY stepped it up with the improvement of Chicago, St. Louis and Columbus.nbsp;nbsp; That division could be great for years to come but we’ll wait and see.br /br /- The NFL has all the parody so to choose a team in this sport is pretty tough.nbsp; I could go easy and say the NFC East but that isn’t fair to the AFC which has been the elite conference for most of the last decade.nbsp; So I’m going with the AFC South.nbsp;nbsp; They have been consistently regarded as a tough division to play.nbsp; Indianapolis has been a model organization for over 10 years, Jacksonville has produced decent teams and Tennessee seems to reload every few years to put out some very good teams.nbsp; There have been years where Houston, clearly the worst team of that division, has played great against teams outside of their division.nbsp; That shows you how tough that division has been over the years.br /br /But every division has their ups and downs in the NFL.nbsp; Any given year we can see some tough divisions and some easy divisions.nbsp; Though we can all agree the NFC West has been traditionally weaker in recent memory.br /br /Well I’d love to proof-read and make this post better but I have a life to get to.nbsp; Enjoy…br /brbra href=”http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/The_Dan/2009/05/19/The_Best_Divisions_in_Sports#comments”1 Comment/a

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It was a surprise to find myself writing a post for the first time in several weeks.  No, not writing a post but looking at a rather interesting line that is above the space we write our post titles; it says “Billy D. Williams smooth”.

Told you that was interesting…

Speaking of which, the last few weeks have been interesting for The Dan as I have been doing my finest Smoketheblowfish impression by virtually stepping away from the blogs, focusing on personal stuff (jobs, responsibilities, etc.) and basically driving by the “old neighborhood” to see what’s up from time to time.

Nonetheless I thought it was time to share some thoughts and experienced that I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing…

NCAA HOOPS

I saw my final Michigan basketball game a few days after my last post on this site.  I ran down to Ann Arbor 4 times, surviving some of the most horrendous weather we’ve seen in quite some time.  As if going through a Detroit detour was bad enough.

As I watched the Wolverines get bounced from the big tournament earlier today it brought back the memory of watching them beat Duke a couple months back and watching the crowd storm the floor.  There’s a moment when you remember the first time you ever watch a game of a certain sport in a certain town, but that was a “first” for me.  Little did I know what was about to happen thereafter…

NHL

Traveled out of town once again, this time to Buffalo.  Or should I say, “North America’s Town”.  Sat 2 rows behind the penalty box courtesy of big bro’s boss and saw only a few penalties all game.  The closer you are to the action the quicker the game becomes.  You start to realize there are some awfully big boys who go fast on those damn blades.  Sure, I may be Canadian but I skate like an American from the deep south.  Sabres beat the Rangers in a shootout - best hockey seats to date.

World Baseball Classic

Having the event hosted in my hometown, I wasn’t exactly pumped up about it.  I knew the crowds would be terrible for the most part (it was), but I also thought the prices would be significantly high.  They were, with the exception of the upper deck.  As a guy who has probably been to The Rogers Center AKA Skydome hundreds of times for a baseball game, sitting behind the pate in the upper deck anywhere from row 8 and lower is much better than being stuck in a corner on the lower level.  Big bro took care of booking the seats and we paid about the same amount as we would for a normal game - a freaking steal when you get to see some stars for a few games.

I’m not advocating the WBC by any means.  Hell, I think they should never hold another game in Toronto ever again.  But the experience was tremendous.  Venezuela and the United States had a great ballgame despite it being virtually meaningless as both teams already knew they were advancing in the tournament.  As an avid baseball fan it was a great experience.  I can say that I have watched International baseball at the highest level (in terms of professionals).  Unfortunately, people in Toronto did not have that kind of passion which was shown by the 10 000 we’d draw every night (except for games with Canada).  And, I couldn’t afford the overpriced WBC gear they were selling at every concession stand.

NBA

The Toronto Raptors played the Detroit Pistons just over a week ago (there’s that damn Detroit again…) where I didn’t just attend the game, I was given a ticket labeled “CRTS”.  That meant I was sitting in a courtside seat for the game.  It was located across the court from the Pistons bench where teams would in-bound passes after timeouts with less than 2 minutes left in each half.  So if you saw the highlights and wondered who that dude with the pink dress shirt and sweater vest was doing, that was me.  Special thanks to one of my boss’s girlfriend for having her birthday party that night and also to my boss for scoring the ticket through a draw.  When I saw the ticket the day before I nearly came in my pants.  That’s a sticky situation if there ever was one.

The thing that stood out the most was how physical these guys are.  Granted, Detroit has always been a physical team ever since they were coached by Rick Carlisle, but you don’t grasp the true meaning of being physical on the court until you are on the court itself, dropping popcorn (which I did).  When Tayshaun Prince looks ripped, you know the dudes are big.  Side note: The Raptor mascot briefly stole my popcorn to feed the security guys, and I thought he was going to dump it on my head.  He has done that before.  Instead he handed it back a couple of ounces lighter (sorry for the metric system reference boys).

Spring Training

I don’t get to go this year.  Hell, I only went 2 years ago but in October the plan was to go.  I got promoted, my vacation days changed and it was bye-bye spring baseball.  Us Canadians could use 75-80 degree weather at this time.

Random Stories

Because of my time away from the site, I never got into some of the issues that have come up lately.  The biggest one, which has subsided over the last few weeks, has been Alex Rodriguez.  A year or so ago I remember watching old video of A-Rod in a Mariner uniform hitting a homerun at Tiger Stadium (which means it is from the 90’s), and I noticed how small he was.  Some guys get bigger naturally as they age but the size change was significant enough for me to wonder.

That said, it is tough to believe the guy only did it during his time in Texas only when you consider some of the numbers he has put up in New York - and even in Seattle as well.  I’d say he did it for a longer time frame but if I try to justify my point of view I might get slapped with a lawsuit.  So I will put it to you like this: think back to some of the more prominent players from Seattle during those days and ask yourself if you think they juiced.  You may come up with a couple names.  I have about 4 off the top of my head and none of them are named Griffey.

Another big story; Terrell Owens playing 2 hours away from where I live for the upcoming NFL season.  Good move for Buffalo but they better pray they do nothing this year or else a big season for both Owens and the Bills means the fans will be severely disappointed when he bolts for a city with bigger lights and even bigger expectations.  Buffalo has nothing to lose with this move and it is a very good move on their part.  What the town must understand is they have nothing to gain from this after the contract is over.  I don’t see Me-O staying in Buffalo past 1 season.  In Football terms this is simply a 1-night stand.  No strings attached.

Enjoy the rest of the NCAA tournament.  It is an incredible experience that we Canadians do not get to really appreciate as much as you do.  Oh, and baseball is right around the corner which means the NBA and NHL playoffs aren’t far behind.  Sports is heating up folks - catch the flames.

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Jose Canseco has possibly struck once again.

It has been reported that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for 2 anabolic steroids, according to several sources who told Sports Illustrated about the positive tests.  Apparently this occurred back in 2003 when he was a member of the Texas Rangers where he won the MVP award despite playing for a non-contending team.

There was never any real speculation that Rodriguez was using and he did slide under the radar for quite some time.  However, when we look back at The Mitchell Report, plus the steroid bust that outed a few players after the 2007 season this comes as no surprise.

Wait, The Mitchell Report!  Where was this in the report?  How was this avoided from the report?  Didn’t he have access to the positive tests?

Now there is a problem: is this report true, or was Mitchell just an imbecile?  Either way, there is more dirt than we realize.

At this point we aren’t really sure about all the details but what we do know is Jose Canseco said he was a user, A-Rod has gotten bigger since his rookie season, A-Rod’s taste in women is horrible and that there is speculation that he tested positive nearly 6 years ago.

And the tainting of America’s Favorite Pastime continues…

OTHER STUFF:

- Speaking of drugs, congratulations goes to Michael Phelps who nearly blew his entire future over hitting the bong with co-eds.  Look, you may be saying there is nothing wrong with smoking a little tree.  That is very shortsighted because there are a bunch of problems with it; First off, it is illegal.  Second, it does nothing to help his future or reputation.  Last and not least, this picture has cost him millions of dollars.  You know about Kellogs dumping him, but what you don’t know is how many other sponsors who were about to invest in Michael Phelps who backed off before closing a deal with Phelps’ agent.  I bet at least a couple of sponsors were about to finalize a deal until this thing came out.  With that said, smoking up really wasn’t worth it.

- Lebron or Kobe?  Kobe’s the better shooter, Lebron’s the more physical player.  Either way, both players are lethal.

- I know this is out-dated, but last weekend’s Australian Open would have been the greatest matchup ever if Federer had battled back in the 5th set.  I also could not believe how he broke down after the match.  I did not expect that from a guy who’s shown incredible toughness on the court time after time.  Now, he needs to win the French Open more than anyone to solidify his place with the all-time greats in tennis.

Enjoy the warm weather.

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