Brock taps, Lakers lucky, Giants win (FATALITY!)

Weekend sports musings

UFC 81 - Mir gets Lesnar to tap to a kneebar in the first round. Lesnar's strength and ridiculously massive arms really stymied Mir from securing an armbar in any shape or form, but Mir eventually managed to pick Brock's ankle and roll into the leglock for the submission. Brock looked good though, taking Mir down at will and pretty much dominating the entire fight until Mir got his ankle. I think we can chalk this one up to inexperience on Brock's part, but his raw ability is pretty frightening. There was one point in the fight when Brock secured half guard and absolutely abused Mir with a flurry of fast hammer fists (I'd hate to see what he'd to do guys in full mount). Perhaps more importantly, the typically brash Lesnar showed a ton of class after the loss, rightfully calling Mir the better fighter and just being all-around gracious. If he fully dedicates himself to fighting and takes his training seriously, Brock definitely has all the tools to be champ sometime down the line. Best of luck to him. Elsewhere on the card, Nog gets his face properly destroyed for 2 and 1/2 rounds before choking out Sylvia for the interim title. Thank God.

The Grizzlies giving Pau Gasol to the Lakers for practically nothing is pretty sickening. I hate to even consider the notion, but on paper, the Lakers could arguably be the best team in the league once Andrew Bynum comes back. The worst part is that Kobe is now surrounded by guys who are either too young (Bynum), too comfortable as sidekick (Odom), too classy (Fisher), or too passive (Gasol) to step on Bryant's toes. Meaning? In spite of the almost unfair collection of talent, the chance of team implosion is fairly minimal. I was looking forward to seeing Phoenix kick Los Angeles out of the playoffs for the third straight season, but if the Gasol experiment works out and Bynum comes back healthy, I'm not entirely sure I want a piece of the Lakers this year. We'll see.

Obligatory Super Bowl XLII thoughts: My distaste for both teams has been fairly well documented, but I have to admit that I was rooting pretty feverishly for the Giants by the time the 4th quarter was halfway through. What can I say? I enjoy seeing Brady hit the turf. I'm happy for Plaxico Burress though. He's the one guy that I wish were still a Steeler, especially in light of Roethlisberger's recent requests for a taller receiver. Oh well. In the end, I do feel a little indebted to NY for saving me from this nightmare of a season. I'm going to use a variation of the "several kicks to the groin" analogy again, because it's what I feel most accurately describes the overall experience of watching the New England Patriots nearly ruin the NFL this year. It was like the strongest, most deadly fighter in the world ruthlessly kicking you in the balls 18 times, but then for some inexplicable reason, you muster the fortitude the block his 19th kick, protect your balls, and finally, in a moment of infinite glory, you rip his heart from his chest like you're Kano and pop the thing like a f***ing zit. Indeed, the New York Giants are much like Kano; he's kind of lame and you wish it were Sub-Zero in there instead, but a win's a win. Well done.

平泳ぎ／ぎよおらひ

I don't know if it's the strangely appropriate B'z song that's playing in the background or what, but this clip never fails to crack me up.



I retired my goggles quite some time ago, but this video actually makes me want to learn how to swim backwards. Interestingly, when I was much younger and swimming competitively, I amassed a rather alarming collection of 1st place ribbons with this very stroke. Had I decided to continue to pursue swimming, I think a backwards (or sideways) breaststroke might have been a natural progression. After all, if you've got an unbeatable stroke - which at the time, I certainly thought I had - why not do it backwards to change things up a little? =) I think swimmers probably go a little crazy from spending too much time in the water, but as a former swimmer myself, I can totally understand this guy's train of thought.

The Next Big Thing?

It's Super Bowl weekend, but given that it's also New England vs New York, apathy doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about Sunday's game. I'm not saying that I won't watch, because Super Bowl Sunday is more or less Christmas to us sports fans. After all, you might hate your gifts, but you'd never be able to justify skipping Christmas itself right? Either way, I'm much more intrigued about Saturday's UFC 81 card, which features Brock Lesnar's debut in the octagon.



Questions about Brock's striking game aside, the more I think about his match-up with Mir, the more interesting the fight becomes. Mir is a noted Brazilian jiu-jitsu guy, but I can't help but feel that Lesnar's freakish frame and strength will make him tough to submit. He has virtually no neck to speak of, which means that it's going to be difficult to choke him out, rear-naked, guillotine, or otherwise, and if Mir attempts a triangle from his back, it's likely that Brock will simply lift him off of the ground Rampage-style and put him out via a slam. Mir is no small dude at 255, but given that Brock made a name for himself by executing absurd feats like running powerbombs on the 400+ lb Big Show, the one thing we can't question - along with his NCAA pedigree - is Brock's freakish strength. I hate to use something scripted like pro-wrestling as a basis for determining one's shoot fighting ability, but in this case, it paints an accurate picture of how legitimately strong Brock is. Throw in his speed and agility, and Lesnar is the definitive blue-chipper. He might not beat Mir on Saturday due to his inexperience, but I definitely think that Brock will eventually make some big time noise in the MMA world. Maybe it's the pro-wrestling fan in me, but I'm really pulling for him. People might question Brock's mental aptitude, and though he might not always give the most eloquent interview, I'm fairly convinced that you can't compile a 106-5 amateur wrestling record by being nothing more than a powerful idiot. At the very least, the arrival of Lesnar provides certain intrigue, something that the UFC's heavyweight division has sorely lacked after Couture's departure.

:07 Seconds Or Less, 3 weeks to prep.

Reading:
:07 Seconds Or Less
by Jack McCallum

I finally got a copy of the McCallum book a little while back, and I ended up plowing through the entire thing in a day. I'm not going to pretend that 300 pages is a lot, or that it was even a marginally difficult 300 pages, but I kind of wish that I could maintain a more leisurely pace when reading. The gauntlet of literature courses that I took in college effectively rendered me incapable of reading for fun. But I suppose it's better to read too fast than to not be able to read at all. 07 Seconds is great book though, not at all unlike Phil Jackson's The Last Season, only with a cast of players that you won't wholeheartedly loathe. Oddly enough, it's Alvin Gentry who's the funniest cat in the locker room, with Eddie House coming in a distant second ("Boris brought the French pastry on Amare's ass."). Most fans are partial to the 04-05 team w/ Q and JJ that turned the league upside down, but the 05-06 squad featured in this book remains my favorite Suns team to date.

I'm gearing up for my JET interview later next month. For whatever reason, it hadn't seemed particularly real or imminent throughout the application process, but now that I've actually landed an interview, the pressure is kicking me right in the grill. I'd been able to shrug off not getting internships and whatnot in the past, but I don't think that I'll take failure lightly this time around. I've got roughly 3 weeks to get ready.

So sick like Ne-Yo say (again)

Listening to:
Shout Out Louds
Howl Howl Gaff Gaff

My week? Rugged. I think that I've been getting progressively sicker as this January drags on. I imagine that I could be wrong, but this is probably the sickest that I've been since high school. Needless to say, it thoroughly sucks a fat one...but on the plus side, it hasn't exactly been dull either. I've had the rare opportunity to see how many boxes of extra-strength TheraFlu I can run through within the span of 7 days, not to mention the privilege of getting to change my sweat-drenched shirts every hour during the middle of the night because I may or may not be dying. It's kind of like being afforded the chance to break a ton of personal records, only they're all the unfortunate, obscure records that you have no real reason to be proud of.

update: I woke up this morning sounding exactly like Lemmy, so I've spent the bulk of the day walking around the house singing Motorhead songs. It doesn't quite offset the misery of having the flu, but it's better than nothing.

メロンジュース。飲んだ事無いけど。

Listening to:
メロン記念日
メロンジュース
track:「アンフォゲッタブル」

本当はメロン記念日あんまし好きじゃないけど、この「アンフォゲッタブル」って曲はかなりいいぞ。ちょっとガキ臭い理由かもしんないけど、こうゆう深い意味無しの楽しい歌もたまに聞かんとあかんな。別に元気を出してくれる曲が必要ってわけじゃないんだけど、こうゆうハロプロのアーティストが歌う、自分を「あっ。ポップはやっぱりシンプルだね。」っと言い出せる曲がなんとなく好きなんだ。



このPVの柴田さんはけっこうカッコかわいいって感じっすね。（ほとんどセンターにいる子です。）

Cloverfield

Cloverfield
(spoilers below)

Great take on the giant monster genre. Godzilla meets Blair Witch is hardly a ringing endorsement, but Cloverfield is one of those rare cases of two wrongs making a right. The monster is clearly the star of the movie, but the great thing about Cloverfield is that the focus is kept on human emotion on the street level. Destruction is the film's key selling point, but it's certainly a different breed of carnage with the buildings and the teeth coming down around and on top of you. Surprisingly, the entire cast does a passable job despite the total absence of A-level talent. Lizzy Caplan (of Mean Girls fame) is starting to resemble Zooey Deschanel a bit, so I naturally tend to find her somewhat attractive. As such, I was a little disappointed when she gets bitten, infected, and subsequently explodes midway through the movie. They don't really explain why, which is kind of what makes the flick so great. There's no Morgan Freeman narration to walk us through, nor is there a brainy scientist running around with his "I told you so!" exclamations. As a result, the rampant "wtf!?" reactions from the main cast are sort of echoed by the audience. With Hollywood churning out so many grand, big budget spectacles that fail to engage viewers, Cloverfield is actually a bit of a rarity. Not to build up the film as something that it isn't, because it's still a total popcorn flick, but it's a fun (albeit often nauseating) and fresh movie that'll no doubt be the subject of discussion at many a water cooler tomorrow morning. I'm still a little partial to The Host, the South Korean monster film from a couple years back, but it's pretty awesome that a movie outside of Asia is even close. Definite recommendation for at least a rent sometime down the line, but Cloverfield's the type of sensory overload that's better suited to the big screen. Check it out.