...having proven my point that the issue of so-called "reparations" really makes some folks batshit loco just to have the discussion, when billions of dollars in shrink-wrapped hundred-dollar bills just get pulled of a pallet in Iraq and that's called "patriotism", there's something rotten at the core.
When Obama decides that having a spine wasn't so much fun after all, when Clinton continues to run for Audie Murphy instead of the Demoratic Nominee for President of the United States, when "Toys In The Attic" McCain is probably going to first snowball the election and then turn the Middle East into a sheet of glass, no matter how poor a college hoops handicapper I am, I'm sticking with my promise.
A glance at the Women's NCAA round of 16.
For 8: Pretty straight forward. UCONN easy over Old Dominion, Rutgers easy over GW, Maryland easy over Vanderbilty, Stanford easy over Pitt, NC easy over Louisville, LSU likely over Oklamhoma State, Tennessee easy over Notre Dame, Duke by a whisker over Texas A & M.
The possible bets here are laying Maryland -7 1/2 flat and taking Oklahoma State +10 1/2 flat.
For 4: UCONN easy over Rutgers. Maryland and Stanford is a pure coin-flip. NC easy over LSU, Tennessee easy over Duke.
For 2: UCONN easy over either MD or Stanford, NC maybe by a whisker over Duke which will have had a tougher assignment against Texas A &M previously.
For the Championship: If it comes down to UCONN v NC, I'd make UCONN a -$1.73 favorite. Figure 4 points or so.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Disenfranchisement has it's virtues, and last night's fight card at Atlapa was no exception. I went as a guest of the PRD regulars and Roberto "Arana" Vasquez, who finally made the wise decision to move up to super-flyweight, having failed to make 113 last fall causing a whole to-do. He made short work of Jesus Lora and came back completely sound without a scratch or a bruise even. Lora's not the great super-fly in the world but Arana's performance was dominant, a second round TKO which he could have phoned-in is not going to hurt his ranking at all and should place him about the #5 Super-flyweight in the world and as your top #4 right now are:
1 Alexander Munoz 1243 32 (27) - 2 (0) - 0
1998 29 orthodox Venezuela
2 Cristian Mijares 1216 34 (14) - 3 (0) - 2
1997 26 southpaw Mexico
3 Fernando Montiel 965 36 (27) - 2 (0) - 1
1996 29 orthodox Mexico
4 Jose Navarro 799 26 (12) - 4 (0) - 0
2001 26 southpaw United States
The plan from what I hear is to have a two-fight tournament with Vasquez against three of the above 4 for the belt which would have to include Munoz, I suppose.
Good decision all around as otherwise, the road to the flyweight-belt necessarily leads through Nonito Donaire who could be the best pound-for-pound fighter going right now. It would be hard to put Donaire too far behind Mayweather, Jr., and Pavlik.
The full results of the card were:
Thursday 27 March 2008
Centro de Convenciones Atlapa, Panama City, Panama
Light Middleweight Nilson Julio Tapia 8 (7) - 1 (0) - 1 W Milton Nunez 11 (10) - 1 (1) - 0 TKO 1 10
~ time: 1:44 ~
~ WBA Fedelatin light middleweight title ~
Super Flyweight Rafael Concepcion 10 (6) - 2 (1) - 1 W Jean Piero Perez 12 (9) - 3 (1) - 0 TKO 3 10
~ time: 0:48 ~
Super Flyweight Luis Concepcion 11 (8) - 1 (0) - 0 W Freddy Canate 4 (1) - 8 (3) - 0 TKO 1 8
~ time: 2:16 ~
Super Flyweight Roberto Vasquez 25 (18) - 2 (0) - 0 W Jesus Lora 6 (3) - 4 (4) - 0 KO 2 8
~ time: 1:52 ~
Light Welterweight Edwin Gamboa 5 (3) - 2 (0) - 0 L Nestor del Cid 5 (1) - 12 (2) - 1 SD 6 6
Super Featherweight Jorge Samudio 16 (7) - 2 (1) - 1 W Omar Jimenez 3 (2) - 12 (4) - 0 UD 4 4
Light Flyweight Luis Alberto Rios 4 (3) - 0 (0) - 0 W Erick Flores 3 (0) - 2 (0) - 0 UD 4 4
Super Flyweight Ricardo Nunez 10 (9) - 1 (1) - 0 L William De Sousa 15 (13) - 10 (3) - 1 TKO 1 4
~ time: 0:37 ~
Bantamweight Shantel Martinez 4 (0) - 2 (1) - 0 W Kathia Montuto 1 (1) - 4 (1) - 0 UD 4 4
Super Bantamweight Marcos Sune 1 (1) - 1 (0) - 1 L Isaac Montenegro 2 (0) - 2 (1) - 1 SD 4 4
The horrible shocker of the night was Ricardo "El Matematico" Nunez's loss to DeSouza in all of 37 seconds. DeSouza had been ranked somewhere near 700 and El Matematico at 19 was considered by many to be the most promising fighter here since Roberto "Arana" Vasquez. Luis Concepcion, a 21-yo super-flyweight was again impressive over a much weaker Colombian, Freddy Canate, at 2:37 of r1. He'll probably move up to around #70 in the world after this one but at a super-flyweight at 21 will probably settle into the bantam or super-bantam weight class but he's got a lot of time to improve.
Look close enough at today's left-wing tabloids and you may see your Uncle Kelso at the the Vasquez table, with a bunch of notable stars and pols. Christ you have to be like Jack Nicholson or Brad Pitt to get to do this in the USA! And Kelso, who's barely a gnat on dog's shvantz, gets to do this stuff all the time. Which was the "greatest country on Earth" again? I'm not saying anything, just saying, you know...
Other than from Diane Tomlinson, I get two kinds of comments about my boxing posts: (1) No Comment (2) A Do-Gooder's lecture. What's cool about boxing down here is that light-weight boxing is to Panama what prime-time TV is to the USA. Panama has the largest per-capita proportion of champions of any country in the world. This is see-Jane-run stuff, but every culture is different, and while I recognize that it's probably "good", Balinese shadow-theater just doesn't give me the enjoyment on any level that the sweet-science does.
An autogrpahed Arana Vasquez t-shirt has just been hung up on the wall of Kelso Jr's room here.
Kelso's Nuts love you
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27 comments:
I'm reminded of a kick-boxing tournament I attended in Korat, Thailand in 1963. Back in those days, it was unusual to be able to see that kind of violence in a public venue.
I have an 2-degree separation from the current under 21 Australian kick-boxing champion. I've never seen it live. I guess Asia or Oceania is really the only place that the standard is any good.
I've also enjoy women's boxing quite a bit. It gets a bad rap for being to slow with no punching power but I disagree. I've seen the best, Laila Ali, and she is just incredible, incredible speed and precision. I don't think they can find any one at that weight who can beat her. And because boxing is such a big deal here, the standard of women's fights is very high. The one on last night' card didn't feature anyone particularly special but you could see the level of training here in each of them. A Panamanian fighter may be good or not good but he or she will always be prepared and will always fight intelligently. And no matter who's fighting, they take incredibly good care of these kids. Referrees are pretty quick to stop fights if there's a chance of someone getting really hurt and the level of medical care and nutrition is mind-boggling.
Colombia on the other hand is just an abbatoir. A 20 year old kid can easily have 40 bouts behind him. There's no sense of career preseveration whatsover, they just want to fill cards and see violence, which I why this kid Tapia's people were smart to send him to live and train in Panama. He's been trained perfectly and with only 13 fights in him or so, should get a title shot within a couple of years.
Boxing has a couple of other virtues. One is the level of sportsmanship on display. You get a lot of knuckleheaded bullshit in these press conferences and at the weigh-ins before big US fights, and theres always Tyson and Golota's excellent examples, but for the most part, the degree of respect these competitors have for each other is pretty amazing.
The other virtue of boxing is that it gives a fan who opposes the wars (like me) an absolute lay-down argument against chicken hawks. I've lost count of how many times I've said to guys who are real supportive of the wars something innocuous like "Mayweather's pretty awesome," and I'll get a blank stare. So, I'll say "you know FLOYD MAYWEATHER, the champion welterweight? The best fighter in the world?" And he'll say "oh, I don't like boxing. It's too violent."
I live in UCONN country! Those Women are some Badd-ass Sisters! They always hold it down, but they don't get as much credit as the Men...who by the way LOST!
when Clinton continues to run for Audie Murphy instead of the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States,
What a great line!
As for the boxing handicap stuff, I'll clip it and bring it with me when I lay some money down with m y local bookie.
Talking about degrees of separation, what's your connection to nada surf again? At the Stephen Gaynor school fundraiser, I bought 4 tix to see and meet them next week plus a collection of all their CD's and a t-shirt, all a bargain at $150.
I am listening to the cd right now and it's excellent, really really good.
By the way, have you listened to the indie band of the moment, Vampire Weekend? I think they're great, and even have a song, M-79 about the crosstown bus! The frontman Ezra Koenig is from NY and they all met at Columbia. How do like them apples?
PS since you like conspiracies, here's David Byrne's take on Spitzer. Very credible in my view.
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was referred to as client number nine in the prostitution sting this week. Assignations run around $4,500 for the top gals in this house, so I ask myself: why haven’t we been provided the names of clients one through eight? It goes without saying that all are wealthy men, and there are probably a few other politicians among them. The prostitution ring — the Emperor’s Club V.I.P. — was under federal wiretap, so they MUST know the identities of the others. There are probably a lot more than nine clients too, eh, so why have their identities not been released? Though they vigorously deny it, it sure smells like a Republican setup.
Alberto Gonzales was Attorney General at the time this investigation was begun — he who fired a whole slew of high level federal prosecutors because they wouldn’t kiss Bush’s ass. It’s just the sort of thing he would do, with the quiet urging of Karl Rove or Dick Cheney. The dirty trickster Roger Stone — whose work goes back to Nixon days — has been after Spitzer for some years. He was behind a threatening phone call to Bernard Spitzer, Eliot’s father, regarding campaign contributions to his son’s election campaign for attorney general in 1994. Here is part of the voice message he left: “There is not a goddamn thing your phony, psycho, piece-of-shit son can do about it. Bernie, your phony loans are about to catch up with you. You will be forced to tell the truth and the fact that your son’s a pathological liar will be known to all.” Stone was being paid by a group of Republicans to bring down Spitzer, and now he may have succeeded. (He was also involved in orchestrating protests against the Florida vote recount, the debacle that allowed George Bush to become president.)
Like a lot of politicians and people in power, it seems Spitzer believed he could get away with some shit. He should know that if he’s going to play moral crusader, he’s got to be a saint. People like Roger Stone are all too willing to make a quiet call and tip off whomever at the slightest slip or indiscretion of their enemies.
ahh yes, roger stone, he and his wife are one of my favorite republican "swinging couples" ... what a loser that guy is.
G'sB:
Ex-Mrs.Kelso #2 was Nada Surf's publicist and when I lived in Vegas I went out to dinner with them before and hung out with them after their show at the Hard Rock.
I haven't been following music for about a year and a half now. I'll check out your suggestion.
I know all about THE BIBLE COLLEGE GIRLS, man. These people are absolutely twisted. I helped Litman, Asche with their defense of a complex gambling case and heard all about what you wrote. It's all true. They are so relentless that in this particular case the IRS wanted no part of it because they felt Justice was insane.
That rupture has widened quite a bit since Bush took office and especially since Gonzo/Mukasey. The prosecutors are beserk and the IRS are basically bureaucrats who want to collect the money.
Justice doesn't give a crap about that. They want maximum punishment for political stuff and vice stuff.
I've heard it's why the IRS "self-compliance" divsion made such a half-assed effort in the Wesley Snipes case.
Keep your eye on US v KPMG, et al., to see how this in-fighting plays out. IRS wanted the case in tax court; Justice wanted every single person at KPMG involved in the tax shelters to go to prison but for KPGM not to have to pay for their employees defense. The Bush Administration may "love Israel" but they like the idea of Jewish accoutants suffering!
Case went to criminal court and it has not gone the gov'ts way so far.
I'll be very curious to find out who 1-8 are.
Spitzer's problem is that he's a loon. Like Giuliani. Other reformers who aren't the choir boys they claim to be do suffer but not so bad.
ANITA: The Mr & Mrs Roger Stone classified ads are a thing of beauty!
Ok, I admit that I tuned out when you turned in to sports, but those first two political paragraphs are pure genius.
"...the issue of so-called 'reparations' really makes some folks batshit loco just to have the discussion, when billions of dollars in shrink-wrapped hundred-dollar bills just get pulled of a pallet in Iraq and that's called 'patriotism', there's something rotten at the core."
I, personally, am not in favor of reparations, though the subject doesn't make me "batshit loco." You start calculating the worth of the labor of people's long-dead ancestors, and the next thing you know, we'll have to calculate how much we owe the Native Americans for the land we stole from THEIR ancestors.
The "shrink-wrapped hundred-dollar bills being unloaded from pallets in Iraq" DO, however, make me batshit loco. It's not patriotic to bankrupt one's country in pursuit of a senseless, criminal war.
"When Obama decides that having a spine wasn't so much fun after all,"
Maybe he'll reconsider!
" when Clinton continues to run for Audie Murphy instead of the Demoratic Nominee for President of the United States,"
Ha! I love it! Audie Murphy, dodging sniper fire on the tarmac!
"... when "Toys In The Attic" McCain..."
Make that "Bats in the Belfry."
"... is probably going to first snowball the election and then turn the Middle East into a sheet of glass,..."
Then we can all kiss our asses goodbye.
Z: Thanks, but one question: "who's 'we'?"
Who's we?? I'm thinking the entire world population, with the possible exception of Osama bin Laden and Fidel Castro.
I say that because, as a child of the fifties, I fear a full out nuclear holocaust, as soon as some dipshit decides he can turn any given area "into a sheet of glass." If you can assuage my fear, I will be grateful.
Z: I meant "we?" in the context of Manifest Destiny. My ancestors were 8000 miles away when that happened and I am no longer a United States resident.
Sorry, I can't assuage your worries about a nuclear holocaust.
None other than that great humanitarian Pat Buchanan said "compared to McCain, Bush is Ghandi"
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hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!
hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!
hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!
hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!
hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!
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hooray, your writings on theater and writing much missed!
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