THE GOOD LIFE

See You In November, Mayweather/Pacquiao

After much hype, hysteria and hope from the Boxing community, the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight that was to take place on March 13th on Las Vegas was pronounced dead by Bob Arum and Top Rank Boxing.

I want you to do a Google search on Mayweather vs. Pacquiao right now and see the legion of wounded Boxing fans showing all eight steps of the grieving process. People are really beside themselves over this fight not happening over a simple drug test. Does that sound right to you? Doesn’t sound right to me either. Didn’t sound right to begin with honestly.

Manny Pacquiao has never had the air of Performance Enhancement surrounding him or his camp. No whispers, no suspicion, maybe a few comments about how large his head is, but nothing serious. It was a very interesting turn of events when Floyd Mayweather’s camp, backed by the powerful Golden Boy Promotions asked for a thorough Olympic style drug testing to be conducted for this fight which includes several blood samples when Pacquiao isn’t known for being a dirty fighter.

Now for the average joe who’s faced with the prospect of a $30 Million dollar payday, they could drain all the blood from my body for that much money. I don’t for a second believe this was about the blood testing or allegations of PED usage. The battle is much, much deeper than that.

Through the subcutaneous layers of Mayweather’s bold claims and Pacquiao’s unwillingness to budge are two larger forces at work; Bob Arum’s old guard, Top Rank and Oscar De La Hoya’s new guard Golden Boy. Golden Boy represents Mayweather while Top Rank represents Pacquiao and both fighters have given their respective promoters millions in revenue for the epic battles they’ve waged in a Boxing ring. This fight wouldn’t be the first time that Top Rank and Golden Boy have co-promoted a fight, but I believe in this Sports climate where Boxing’s popularity is at an all time low, the winner of this fight could be propelled into super stardom and with that, their promoter to reap the benefits from future fights.

In my opinion, Top Rank is fighting to remain relevant in the Boxing world. When compared with Golden Boy whose fights appear frequently on HBO, Top Rank’s own Pay Per View events are struggling for buys and look poorly attended. If not for Pacquiao, Top Rank doesn’t have another superstar Boxer to really bank their promotion on. Kelly Pavlik? Chavez Jr.? Not even in the same atmosphere as Mayweather. Top Rank’s glory days of Ali, Frazier, Mancini, Foreman, Leonard, Hagler and Hearns are long gone. Two of their bigger names De La Hoya and Mayweather defected to De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions which has become the largest Boxing promotion in the World.

Top Rank seems out of touch, like Boxing has evolved and left Bob Arum behind. When Golden Boy promotes Latino boxers, they promote them along side their standard events, seeing the importance of not segregating that all too important legion of Boxers. Top Rank regularly promotes their “Latino Heat” pay events that are embarrassingly low budget and held in a dusty, claustrophobic Bull Ring in Mexico where I question whether or not the fight is even sanctioned.

WIth all the glory and ultimately, control over Professional Boxing’s climate for years to come at stake, this three ring circus of hype was well orchestrated between Top Rank and Golden Boy to generate a hunger and desire for this fight. Why give the people what they want right when they want it? Why not make them wait a little longer. Maybe that $59.95 Pay Per View price can move up to $69.95 because people demand to witness this fight. It’s all about Money, Timing and Control.

By effectively dividing the Boxing world into three groups, Pro-Mayweather, Pro-Pacquiao and Pro-Mayweather/Pacquiao, you generate three rabid fanbases that are at each other’s throat right now debating on who’s to blame for this fight not going down. Meanwhile, Golden Boy and Top Rank sit back and wait for the demand to build even more before revisiting this megafight again.

When the smoke clears, I guarantee you that Boxing will never be the same. When one hand is raised, one promoter will reign supreme over Boxing for years to come. This fight is too important to let one promoter play a game of chess and expose your King to unnecessary threat. Bob Arum has played far too many rounds of Chess with fellow promoters and my guess is he stood a better chance of clearing the board and flipping over the table rather than trying to guard his King in a match he couldn’t win. When all is said and done, one fighter and one promoter will be left with the cruicial Checkmate.

Not A Good Look: The US Military On Wheel of Fortune

Wow. Keith Law, what do you have to say about this?

My thoughts exactly.

On To The Nexus One

Engadget does what they do best and they put up a review of HTC/Google’s Nexus One handset. It’s not enough for me to want to leave my iPhone behind despite the 7” screen, 5MP camera and Android 2.1 ecosystem. The lack of multi-touch, apps and the fact that it’s an HTC handset makes me want to steer clear of the Nexus One altogether. On a positive note, I hear the search functions and flash animations on the phone are really neat.

*yawn*

This “iPhone Killer” is still behind the curve in design, content and user interface.

VIDEO: Raekwon - "Surgical Gloves"

This is what I’m going to bump when I roll up on anyone who voted Eric Karros for the Hall of Fame. Off the Album of the Year 2009, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II.

"(Roberto) Alomar Wasn't A First Ballot"

AmyKNelson

Ppl wondering @ Alomar. Had a convo with a HOF voter this past wknd, who said Alomar wasn’t a 1st ballot for him. That was his argument

Major League Baseball revealed the Baseball Writers Association of America’s selection for who would be inducted into the Coopertown’s Class of 2010. Writers are instructed to select ten players who they believe are worthy of being inducted into the Hall of Fame and a player must receive votes on 75% of ballots cast in order to receive the honor.

Roberto Alomar gave Major League Baseball seventeen of the best years of his life. In 10,400 plate appearances, Alomar has a lifetime .300 BA/.371 On Base Percentage/.443 Slugging Average with over 2700 hits, 210 home runs and over 1134 RBIs. Alomar was rewarded with eleven straight All Star Game appearances, ten Golden Glove honors, four Silver Slugger awards. Can someone tell me why Roberto Alomar doesn’t deserve to be inducted on his first ballot?

Don’t even get me started on legendary Twins pitcher/color commentator Bert Blyleven missing out on the 2010 class by a mere five votes. Blyleven has a lifetime 3.31 ERA with over 2,700 strikeouts, where is the guesswork as far as voting for such a career to be immortalized? Barry Larkin? Fred McGriff? Shit, not even close, Larkin and McGriff landed 51% and 21% percent of the vote respectively.

What I really want to know is, who in God’s name voted for Eric Karros? Robin Ventura?Kevin Appier? Those combined ten votes would’ve put either Blyleven or Alomar into the Hall. Instead, a few homers lacked the onions to do what’s wright and they decided to give a pity vote to a hometown favorite. I think It’s completely disgusting. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe didn’t pull any punches when he tweeted:” More BBWAA embarrassment. Our system is broken. Too many dopes who don’t cover the game vote.”

Look, I’m very happy for Andre Dawson as he had a long, outstanding baseball career that is Hall of Fame worthy. My gripe is that a segment of Baseball writers are running out of titles and milestones to hold sacred. Home Run Crown, tainted. The Steroid Era has made a few of these writers overvalue the power of titles and awards that they vote for.

The honor of being voted into the Hall of Fame in your first year of eligibility is a very high honor. Rickey Henderson, Oakland A’s legend was bestowed that very honor last year when his name appeared on an overwhelming 94% of ballots cast. I don’t have any emotional tie to Roberto Alomar, but taking a look back at his career and what he meant to Baseball during one of it’s most difficult decades he deserved this honor. When it comes to the Hall of Fame, you don’t vote for whether or not you think Alomar deserves the honor of being a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee, you vote for the best player on the ballot, period.

The BBWAA should be ashamed of themselves for letting such an episode play out. Nobody gives a shit about your lofty standards for who should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. All we care about is seeing our heroes who put in many years of service get recognized without the political bullshit that some of you hack writers live and die for. How about we put you on edge waiting for an honor only to break your heart year after year until you get it right.

BBWAA, let’s get it right for next year.

BREAKING: Gilbert Arenas Suspended Indefinitely

ESPN via Associated Press just broke the news.

Late Pass: Vampire Weekend's "Cousins" Video

The not-so-new video for Vampire Weekend’s “Cousins” caught my eye, now I’m demanding that it catches your own.

Contra in stores January 12th on XL Recordings.

Eighteen People You'll Meet In Facebook Hell

GQ publishes what everyone is thinking when they ran this all too true piece in December’s issue. Do you see a bit of yourself in any of these types?

What's Good? 1.04.10

While you’re busy averting your eyes from Tiger’s Vanity Fair cover, here’s what’s good for Monday, January 4th.

Like I mentioned earlier, ‘The Pebble Beach Bad Boy’ Tiger Woods is on the cover of this month’s Vanity Fair which was shot by photo-legend Annie Leibovitz. I’d nominate this Myspace meets Deadliest Catch shot for the weekly Not A Good Look award, but 44% of Huffington Post readers think this photo makes them feel like they’re climing the rope in gym class. *shudder* Out of all the embarassing shit that’s come out since Thanksgiving, this has to be by far the biggest L Tiger’s taken above everything because there’s no reason the most successful Pro athelete in history should be posing like he’s posted up on an American Apparel ad.

In less disturbing news, the Mayweather/Pacquiao fuckery continues, but help is on the way in the form of mediator Daniel Weinstein. Weinstein is a retired federal judge who will oversee a meeting between the Mayweather and Pacquiao camps in Santa Monica, California to come to a resolution. AOL Fanhouse broke the news about the meeting last night. Both sides are clashing over a dispute regarding the level of drug testing, specifically blood testing that must be done before the two sign on for the largest payday in Boxing history. If Pacqiao wants to keep the haters quiet, sign on for the Olympic testing and beat Mayweather at his own game. There’s too much money on the table and too much anticipation built up to let a moment like this go to shit. If I see another pre-hype package showing Manny throwing darts with his opponent, I’m gonna swear off Boxing for good. That’s a damn lie, but don’t test me.

One of our favorite Super Producers, Just Blaze just did a house music set for the Fool’s Gold Christmas Party not too long ago. Now he’s hitting us with “Exhibit G, F, P (Guido Fist Pump)”. Get yr PLUR on.

The Adrian Beltre Sweepstakes (did I type that?) is drawing to a close and only the Angels, Red Sox and Orioles remain in the hunt after the Oakland A’s couldn’t agree to terms with the veteran Third Baseman. Beltre put up a line of .265/.304/.379 with 8 HR and 44 RBIs with the Mariners last season and by the looks of his suitors, Beltre is seeking a hitter friendly park to call home.

Finally, Peter Gammons will make his MLB Network debut on Wednesday when the Network will unveil the Hall Of Fame Selections. I wish him the best of luck as he joins the team with strongest Baseball coverage on TV.

That is what’s good for January 4th, 2010.

UPDATE: Red Sox have come to terms with Beltre. One year, $10 Mil. Solid defensive upgrade and he should experience a nice bump in offensive stats thanks to the hitter friendly Fenway.

Black Monday Has Arrived, RIP Jim Zorn's Career

Welcome to TGL’s Black Monday coverage sponsored by

It’s Black Monday across the NFL and it’s time for Owners and GMs to put a few careers on hold. Jim Zorn was put on notice weeks ago, so his dismissal is far from breaking news, but it still warrants a proper tribute from Bone Thugs & Harmony.

Word was just delivered from the Texans that Gary Kubiack got a vote of confience from Texans owner Bob McNair. There’s still a tough breaks pending for Tom Cable, Eric Mangini, Raheem Morris and Lovie Smith.

The smart money is on Lovie getting his pink slip today, as the Chicago Bears just looked dreadful all season. Sure, you could blame the absence of Brian Urlacher, the absence of Jay Cutler’s talent and the absence of a decent recieving core…but the quickest fix in the National Football League has always been to leave the Coach to hang and call it a “rebuilding year”. I expect Eric Mangini and Raheem Morris to get a pass because both pulled off some improbable wins without a stable quarterback. Mangini has promise with Jerome Harrison after his break out season in the backfield.

As for Tom Cable? If not for the wins against the Eagles, Bengals, Broncos and at Pittsburgh, he’d be walking the plank for sure but when Al Davis is involved all bets are off.

Stay tuned at TGL for all of your Black Monday needs.