American Sports Thread

[AZOffaly]

Yeah, hockey lost a season recently enough, and the NFL had a scabs season as well I think, or a few weeks of it anyway. However, the NFL has risen to be *the* pre-eminent sport in the US, and I don't think either the owners or the players really want to see an impact on the season. There'll be a lot of hassle, and possibly an impact on training camp, but I'm convinced the season will go ahead.

[Declan]

Tom continues his Chicago love fest - good stuff:

Rose in full bloom delights the city of Chicago

TOM HUMPHRIES

LOCKERROOM : The Bulls' mercurial young point guard is driving the team, and his home town, back towards the promised land

ANYBODY WITH a fondness for American sports will have noticed how occasionally in the major cities the success of one local franchise will prompt good times in the franchise for completely different sports.

The best recent example is Boston where the Red Sox ended decades of cursed starvation, the Patriots and Tom Brady yomped to gridiron success and the Celtics revived their wonderful hoop rivalry with the LA Lakers. Being a Bostonian must have been the next best thing to being a Dub when the hurlers and footballers top their leagues.

The next city to benefit from the knock on effect might be Chicago. One of the greatest and most beautiful of the world's places to live. Following on the slightly surprising Stanley Cup win for the local Blackhawks last year, the town's beloved Bulls are showing signs of life again.

A week of so ago at the United Centre on the fringes of town, the Bulls got together some famous faces to mark the 20th anniversary of the franchises first NBA title. HE showed up. He being Michael Jordan, for whom that victory was the first move away from the Bulls being Michael Jordan plus supporting cast. The rest of his side learned to play with him (even though they always struggled without him) and as a group they went on to secure five more titles before 1998, the sequence coming as two streaks of three-in-a-row.

That dynasty passed into history. In US sports, surprisingly, rebuilding isn't just a case of opening the chequebook and casting come-hither looks at superstars. The wage structures and the draft system democratise the game. By the early part of the new century the Bulls had gone two years without so much as putting three games in a row together. In the year 2000, with the good days already digested and forgotten, the Chicago public waited patiently as the Bulls went after what they hoped would be two of four available stars: Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Eddie Jones. One by one they found excuses to go elsewhere. Chicago was left feeling bruised.

Now with a Chicagoan hoopster in the White House and a new mayor in town, the Bulls are looking good, sitting second in their division, fractionally behind the Boston Celtics. What has added to the pleasure of the city, however, has been the fact the revival has been led by a local hero. Derrick Rose was born in the city and reared in the city and has the slightly-tainted past which Chicagoans find it easy to understand and to forgive.

Rose is a point guard who has improved year on year since the Bulls took him as first choice in the draft of 2008. To get first choice in the draft you have to be in the basement of the game's ranking system. That's where the Bulls were at the time and the speed of their rise since then is testimony to what they have wrung out of their young star already.

Rose, like Jordan, isn't especially tall and he leads the Bulls with a radically different mindset. Tex Winter, an old backroom coach at the Bulls, used to chide Jordan with the words, "There's no I in team, Michael", to which Jordan would habitually reply, "Yep, but there is in win". Rose on the other hand has had to be tutored in selfishness. He went to school locally in Simeon High and having been recruited early to college passed incessantly in the team's games in order to highlight the abilities of his comrades and offer them an escape from the world he would be leaving behind.

He went on to the University of Memphis where his abilities led the team to the best winning season in college hoops history and to the final four where they were beaten in the final, just their second defeat in 40 games.

He deferred to players senior to him and seldom bothered buffing his own stats. Still, he showed enough to be able to quit college after his freshman year and go as first pick in the draft.

The Bulls found what every other side had found. Rose didn't take games by the scruff of the neck. He played without ego or selfishness. He brought them back to the promised land of play-offs basketball in each of his first two seasons. They urged him to be more selfish.

This season he has paid heed.

Chicago is a tough town to be a prodigy in. Expectation is as tangible as bad weather in the lives of young players. Every kid who shows some ability is reminded of what a graveyard the city has been for young talents. Literally and figuratively. A kid called Ben Wilson once had the hopes of the city on his shoulders back in the 1980s. He was shot and killed in school one day before he even reached the NBA. As the Jordan era was winding down, the city turned it's hungry eyes to a kid called Ronnie Fields who was following Kevin Garnett (lost to other franchises) through school at Farragut High. Fields got no protection, listened to everybody and mismanaged himself into oblivion. The kids in the classic 1990s documentary Hoop Dreams? Chicagoans.

Derrick Rose, from Englewood on the city's south side, dodged all those bullets and pitfalls. He is the youngest of four brothers and as such was protected obsessively. He was shielded from every sort of bad influence, his movements were monitored, his friends checked out, his schoolwork checked.

The kid had a mobile phone but only to play games on. All calls came through his brothers' phones. All calls were screened. It sounds obsessive but in the neighbourhoods of Chicago a young phenomenal basketball player is seen as a meal ticket not just for his family, but for any hustler and bandit who can latch on hard before the money starts pouring in.

In the end, after being recruited by most of the big American colleges, Rose went to Memphis and gave them that incredible season. The following year, however, that piece of history began to unravel. An investigation into the SAT scores (players need a minimum number of points in the American equivalent of the leaving certificate in order to become eligible for college and scholarships) of Rose and three other players showed discrepancies. It appeared that Rose was so well looked after in school that somebody else sat the SATs for him. The University of Memphis saw it's record season expunged from the books but by then Rose had jumped to the NBA and, in the process, come home to Chicago. There he has learned to be hard and selfish on the court and is dragging the Bulls back towards the glory days. In that sports mad city, no lasting taint attaches itself to the star point guard who will deliver a return to paradise. The Bulls are back. The hero is local. The future is bright. His past is another country. Getting through school without being shot or pimped into obscurity is enough for now.

Only in America.

[mc_grens]

Rose is the real deal.

This season's top MVP candidate, he's a cracking player.

[Galwaybhoy]

In the Mixed Martials Arts World the biggest player is the UFC, with the second biggest promotion with some of the best fighters in the world being Strikeforce. In an unexpected move UFC just purchased Strikeforce.
What does this mean and why am I posting here?

Well with the NFL lockout on the horizon I can see the UFC launching Sunday fights to capture a portion of the audience. They now have a huge roster of exciting fighters and a host of super fights and matchups the fans want to see. I could be wrong but it's a possibility........

Dana White is as cute as a fox, if the NFL season does not go ahead this would not suprise me.  MMA and UFC in particular is in a boom period, have we seen the peak of this period yet?  Doubtful.  UFC do huge PPV buys.  Heres the top ten for the last two years in all sports.

Top 10 PPV buy rates, 2009

1. UFC 100: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir, July 11, 1.6 million

2. Boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, Nov. 14, 1.25 million

3. Boxing: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, Sept. 19, 1.05 millon

4. UFC 94: Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn, Jan. 31, 920,000 buys

5. UFC 101: Penn vs. Kenny Florian/Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin, Aug. 8, 850,000

6. Boxing: Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton, May 2, 825,000

7t. UFC 107: Penn vs. Diego Sanchez, Dec. 12, 650,000

7t. UFC 97: Silva vs. Thales Leites/Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Rua, April 18, 650,000

9. UFC 99: Lyoto Machida vs. Rashad Evans/Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra, May 23, 635,000

10. Wrestling: WWE WrestleMania 25, April 5, 582,000 buys


Top 10 PPV Buyrates 2010

1. Boxing: Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley, May 1, 1.4 million buys

2. Boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito, Nov. 13, 1,150,000 buys

3. UFC 116: Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin, July 3, 1,100,000 buys

4. UFC 114: Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans, May 29, 1,050,000 buys

5. UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez, Oct. 23, 1,000,000 buys

6. UFC 124: Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck, Dec. 11, 785,000 buys

7. UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy, March 27, 770,000 buys

8. Boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey, March 13, 700,000 buys

9. UFC 107: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, Aug. 7, 600,000 buys

10. UFC 118: Frank Edgar vs. B.J. Penn/Randy Couture vs. James Toney, 535,000 buys

WWE buyrates continue to fall even for Wrestlemania their biggest PPV of the year.  Boxing can still pull in huge numbers but with only a couple of superfights each year they don't do it nearly enough.  However UFC dominate both lists and as I said the popularity of MMA and UFC still has not peaked.

[The Iceman]

Heading to the weigh-ins now on Friday for UFC 128. Couldn't get tickets at a reasonable price but will order them in to the house and have some of the lads over.

[AZOffaly]

Anyone watching March Madness on ESPN lads? The greatest run tournament in sports in my opinion, certainly in American Sports. It started on St. Patrick's Day, and continued through to Sunday in the early rounds. They are down to the 'Sweet 16' now, and will be playing this and the 'Elite Eight' this week from March 24-27. Then it's onto the Final Four in Houston on the weekend of April 2nd.

The number 1 seeds have progressed safely, except for Pittsburgh who went down in a shocker to Butler, although Butler had been to the NAtional Championship game last year. The other #1 seeds, reigning champions Duke, Big 10 Ohio State and Big 12 Kansas are all safely through to the Sweet 16. Other surprises so far, in a competition that always produces great games and upsets, were #11 Marquette taking out #3 Syracuse in the 'East' Regional. There's also been a double upset in the 'South West' conference as #11 Virginia Commonwealth and #10 Florida State upset #3 Purdue and #2 Notre Dame respectively. In fact, with #12 Richmond and #13 Morehead State taking care of #5 Vanderbilt and #4 Louisiana, the South West last 4 includes a #1, #10, #11 and #12.


The Sweet 16 is

East Region
#1 Ohio State University v #4 Kentucky
#11 Marquette v #2 University of North Carolina

Southwest Region
#1 Kansas v #12 Richmond
#10 Florida State v #11Virginia Commonwealth

West Region
#1 Duke v #5 Arizona
#2 San Diego State v #3 Connecticut

Southeast Region
#4 Wisconsin v #8 Butler
#2 Florida v #3 Brigham Young

[Declan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12812053

Interesting to see how this turns out

[thejuice]

I see Ochoconco is thinking of taking up soccer. Good luck to him is call I'll say. Carson Palmer still threatening to retire.

[David McKeown]

Anyone watching March Madness on ESPN lads? The greatest run tournament in sports in my opinion, certainly in American Sports. It started on St. Patrick's Day, and continued through to Sunday in the early rounds. They are down to the 'Sweet 16' now, and will be playing this and the 'Elite Eight' this week from March 24-27. Then it's onto the Final Four in Houston on the weekend of April 2nd.

The number 1 seeds have progressed safely, except for Pittsburgh who went down in a shocker to Butler, although Butler had been to the NAtional Championship game last year. The other #1 seeds, reigning champions Duke, Big 10 Ohio State and Big 12 Kansas are all safely through to the Sweet 16. Other surprises so far, in a competition that always produces great games and upsets, were #11 Marquette taking out #3 Syracuse in the 'East' Regional. There's also been a double upset in the 'South West' conference as #11 Virginia Commonwealth and #10 Florida State upset #3 Purdue and #2 Notre Dame respectively. In fact, with #12 Richmond and #13 Morehead State taking care of #5 Vanderbilt and #4 Louisiana, the South West last 4 includes a #1, #10, #11 and #12.


The Sweet 16 is

East Region
#1 Ohio State University v #4 Kentucky
#11 Marquette v #2 University of North Carolina

Southwest Region
#1 Kansas v #12 Richmond
#10 Florida State v #11Virginia Commonwealth

West Region
#1 Duke v #5 Arizona
#2 San Diego State v #3 Connecticut

Southeast Region
#4 Wisconsin v #8 Butler
#2 Florida v #3 Brigham Young

Superb tournament, pity about the result in the Arizona v UT game but apart from that its been decent this year.  Very surprised to see Baylor not make it there this year, awful lot of talk about how good their recruiting class was last year from what I remember they picked up the number 1 and number 3 ranked prospects in the nation.

[AZOffaly]

The first four 'Elite Eight' teams are through, in the West and SouthEast regions. In the west there were a couple of 'upsets' as Number 1 Duke took a hard fall as #5 Arizona took care of them 93-77. In the other Regional semi final out west, #3 University of Connecticut beat San Diego State University (the #2 seed) 74-67. U of A now faces UConn on Saturday for a spot in the final four.

In the SouthEast Regional semi finals, #2 Florida held serve against #3 Brigham Young University 83-74, while #8 Butler continue to recreate their march of last year with a 61-54 victory over #4 Wisconsin. Florida and Butler will now face off on Saturday for a spot in Houston as well.

[Declan]

http://stats.cleveland.com/cbk/story.asp?i=20110303050032894354708

That story about BYU is just mad. Can you imagine a similar story for Sigerson/Fitzgibbon?

[AZOffaly]

http://stats.cleveland.com/cbk/story.asp?i=20110303050032894354708

That story about BYU is just mad. Can you imagine a similar story for Sigerson/Fitzgibbon?

In fairness to BYU, you might disagree with them, but they are very committed to the Mormon belief system and values. They regularly lose athletes when they goe on the Mormon missions, and obviously they upheld this particular directive as well, even though it obviously hurt them.

[Declan]

Absolutely AZ but it just sounds bizarre

[AZOffaly]

Absolutely AZ but it just sounds bizarre

Almost cultish.

[Capt Pat]

Baseball season is almost here. Is anyone interested in doing a gaa board fantasy baseball league?