sportsblogger

   On this Thursday, there is plenty of news to discuss and it just so happens to be the best day to get to it all, Shocking/Not So Shocking Thursday. Today, we get to explore the top stories from most sports and we will get to do that in a humorous way as always.

Shocking: Jose Canseco will venture into Mixed Martial Arts and face 7′2″ Hong Man Choi at the DREAM Promotions 10th event which will feature an open-weight tournament.

Not So Shocking: Japanese MMA fans love a freak show, but allowing a former baseball player/steroid user/boxer to take part in an MMA show furthers the stereo-type that MMA is not to be taken serious.

Shocking: Boston Celtics PG Rajon Rondo was not suspended or given a flagrant foul for his actions against Chicago Bulls C Brad Miller.

A Second Shocking: After watching the foul a few times, it is obvious that the play in question was in fact at least a flagrant one foul, that was proved by Millers dazed face.

Shocking: May the Brett Favre rumors begin as he was released by the New York Jets yesterday after just one season in the Meadowlands.

Not So Shocking: Favre has said that this retirement is indeed final, but as soon as the Minnesota Vikings come calling, do you think he will not listen?

Not So Shocking: A report today says that in a new book to be released soon, that Alex Rodriguez has taken steroids since High School.

A Second Not So Shocking: Really? Let’s be honest with ourselves here, do we really need a book to tell us that Rodriguez is a liar? I wouldn’t doubt that the book is true, but cashing in more on this story does not help your own cause anymore, so just accept the fact that we have all been lied to for quite some time. Thanks Bud!

Shocking: Ohio State Mens Basketball player/bench warmer/blogger, Mark Titus, was banned from entering the NBA Draft.

A Second Shocking: Titus was banned for the NBA’s fear of making a mockery of the NBA Draft. I guess the NBA learned from Darko Milicic that players entering the Draft can make a mockery of the sport.

J.M.Saucedo

   It is always a great discussion that gets notice from even the most novice of NBA fans, what is considered a hard foul and what’s just a flagrant foul? This question has been put to the frontlines today after two controversial plays were made yesterday.

   The first play has already cost Orlando Magic C Dwight Howard a one game suspension in which he will serve during game 6 of the Magic’s series with the Philadelphia 76ers. Howard was seen getting tangled with 76ers C Samuel Dalembert and afterward Howard threw a cheap elbow at Dalembert.

   What really got plenty of people upset was the fact that Howard was not thrown out of the game and instead was hit with a technical foul. This kind of play should not be allowed, nor should the referee’s feel affraid to throw out a top player from a game.

   That brings us the the Boston Celtics vs Chicago Bulls game last night where Celtics PG Rajon Rondo tried to clothesline Bulls C Brad Miller. In all honesty, there was no ill intent on the foul and Rondo was trying to play the ball but it still could have been called a flagrant foul.

   Miller was seen on the sideline and you can immediately tell that he was at least a little dizzy from the hit to his head. My question is what qualifies as a hard foul and what is a flagrant foul? How can there be something such as a hard playoff foul, but not a hard mid-season foul?

   These are questions that always have a fine line, for instance you can smack someone on the side of the head and not have a flagrant called against you, but then you throw an elbow at someone and only get suspended for one game. Whether its the playoffs or not, the NBA must serve justice to any person who deserves it.

J.M.Saucedo

   When my brother was kind enough to text me this morning about breaking UFC news, I couldn’t believe what I was reading! After a lack-luster fight with Thales Leites, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva will fight former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin.

   The fight itself will likely take place on August 8th at UFC 101 where UFC Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn will defend his title against Kenny Florian. Whether you believe that this fight should take place or not is up to you, but I feel two ways toward this fight.

   On one hand, this is going to be a fight that will push Anderson Silva to his limits as Griffin is not going to lay on his back and let Silva bring the fight to him. Griffin, however, stands a very tall and long 6′3″, where as Silva is typically the taller fighter at 6′2″, will be smaller.

   That will be an unlikely disadvantage for Silva because he usually has the size and reach advantage against most of his opponents. How Silva decides to handle being the shorter fighter is going to dictate the pace of the fight and should make this match an all out war.

   My other problem is that, and whether you agree or not, Griffin is a former Champion that could easily be one win from a title shot. Silva has not fought an elite fighter at 205 lbs. and should not be thrusted into a title fight if he does defeat Griffin.

   Griffin does deserve a title shot if he defeats Silva and more importantly, Silva needs to work his way up to a title shot. Either way you go with this fight, it has all of the markings of a huge pay-day for the UFC as it places the pound-for-pound best fighter in the World against possibly the biggest star in Mixed Martial Arts.

J.M.Saucedo

   If it wasn’t the NFL Draft, or the NBA Playoffs, or the NASCAR race this weekend, my inbox would be pretty light but it wasn’t. There was plenty of News makers and breakers this weekend, so I will attempt to write about most of the biggest stories from this weekend.

Mark Sanchez and Matthew Stafford- Although it was Stafford that was the first overall pick in the draft to the Detroit Lions, Sanchez was indeed the spotlight stealer. Sanchez was picked by the New York Jets and immediately became the newest toast of New York City.

For that, Stafford and Sanchez are up in our market.

Arizona Cardinals- How does the Arizona Cardinals start this next season after one of their most successful seasons ever? They get a player that could potentially be one of the biggest steals of the draft in RB Chris Wells of Ohio State with the second to the last pick in the first round.

Wells will bring a power running game that the Cardinals lacked, for that they are up.

Chicago Bulls- What else can you say after yesterdays 2 overtime victory for the Bulls over the defending champion Boston Celtics? The game itself will likely go down as one of the best games in NBA Playoff history and propelled the Bulls to a two game tie with Boston.

The Bulls are up in our Market!

NASCAR at Talladega- Talladega has to be one of the most dangerous tracks for NASCAR drivers as they are always running at high speeds with dense amounts of traffic. That was the case yesterday when Carl Edwards was spun out of control in the last lap by Brad Keselowski who would win the race.

Talladega is always a fun race to watch, but maybe it’s too dangerous for the drivers. The race is up while NASCAR is down due to safety concerns.

Last Week: Chuck Liddell and the UFC are still down after his last loss; Orlando Magic are tied in their series with the Philadelphia 76ers and are still down; New Yankees Stadium is still down as fans can’t afford the new high prices; Drafting Matthew Stafford was the turning of a new page for the Lions and they are still up.

J.M.Saucedo

   If everyday was a Shocking/Not So Shocking Thursday, we would have no reason to search on other sites for our sports news. But since there isn’t always a Shocking/Not So Shocking Thursday, check out Sportsnewsdaily.today.com, it is a terrific site for Sports news.

   Now let us get to Shocking/Not So Shocking Thursday.

Shocking: The Kansas City Chiefs have finally traded All-Pro TE Tony Gonzalez after months of declaring that they would not trade him.

A Second Shocking: Gonzalez’ new team, The Atlanta Falcons, will have a solid, and new veteran target for QB Matt Ryan for 2009.

Shocking: ”Spirit”, the Atlanta Hawks mascot, decided to spread his wings last night, the only problem is that “Spirit” is an actual Hawk.

Not So Shocking: While attempting to lure the Hawk, “Spirit” decided to perch himself on the backboard during the 1st quarter of the Hawks and Miami Heat game causing a slight delay. If it was Sports Market Monday, I’d say the Hawks and “Spirit” were soaring!

Shocking: High School Basketball star, Jeremy Tyler will skip his senior season to play Professional Basketball in Europe until he is eligible for the 2011 NBA Draft.

A Second Shocking: Yes, you read that right! We now have High Schoolers skipping out on High School to become Pro-Basketball Players. Next is going to be 8th graders skipping High School all together, it is completely terrifying on what Pro sports has become.

Not So Shocking: It was not a shock to me that the Detroit Lions have started contract negotiations with QB Matthew Stafford as their first pick in this years NFL Draft.

A Second Shocking: Stafford, was the consensus no-brainer move for the Lions after a dismal 0-16 season that proved teams really do need a talented QB to win.

Shocking: One of the best College Basketball players to watch in a long time, Stephen Curry of Davidson, will head to the NBA.

Not So Shocking: Curry should be a top ten pick in the Draft, and as a fan, I can not wait to see him take his scoring abilities to the NBA.

Shocking: WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emeilianenko and WAMMA Lightweight Champion Shinya Aoki will face off in a “special exhibition” on April 29th.

A Second Shocking: As the headline reads on MMAJunkie.com, “Only in Japan”, and that is clearly the best statement that describes this freak-show of an event.

J.M.Saucedo  

   When the Playoff Series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz started there wasn’t many people who thought the Jazz stood a chance, including the Jazz Head Coach. Everyone thought the Jazz would just be out-classed by the Lakers but that is clearly not the case.

   The Jazz have held their own in the first two games of this series and although they are usually fighting back from an early deficit, they are indeed fighting. Utah could have just mailed in this series and just been satisfied with making the Playoffs but they haven’t.

   The Jazz are most likely not going to upset the Lakers but they are playing with pride and will not be pushed around by Los Angeles. Not bad for a team that no one could have thought be able to even hang with the Lakers who are starting to hit full stride.

   As for the Lakers, they have impressed me with their abilities to regain most of their cohesiveness they had at the start of the season. 7-footers Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol have looked like a dominant force that the Jazz have struggled to handle so far.

   Kobe Bryant has been a bit uncharacteristically quiet so far in this series, but if I was a member of the Jazz I’d be a little afraid. Usually, Kobe likes to take over on the road and this series will head over to Utah on Thursday where the Jazz are historically tough to defeat.

   So whether you consider yourself an NBA fan or expert, you probably didn’t think that the Jazz would put up this much of a fight, because I didn’t. Los Angeles will have to expect that every team is going to have the same type of enthusiasm and fight throughout the Playoffs.

J.M.Saucedo

   UFC 97: Redemption should have been called UFC: Confusion after Saturday nights show was a complete disaster with the Main Event looking like a joke. As mentioned in yesterdays Sports Market, UFC 97 was also headlined by knockout loss of the very popular Chuck Liddell.

   Although Liddells loss and seemingly impending retirement greatly hurts the organization, the actions of UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva aren’t making things any easier for the UFC. Silva’s last two performances are confusing to say the least.

   Many people are crediting these two bad performances to the fans being spoiled by Silva’s previous fights ending in spectacular knockout fashion. What I am not buying is the competition the UFC is continuing to put infront of Anderson Silva.

   There are plenty of competitors in and around the 185 pound division, names like Dan Henderson (who actualy won a round against Silva), Yushin Okami, Demian Maia, and Michael Bisping who can do something that no one has ever did to Anderson Silva, bring the fight to him.

   My focus is, however, on two fighters in this division and that is Henderson and another Silva, Wanderlei Silva that is. Henderson, as I mentioned before, has a rock solid chin and has actually stepped in and brought the fight to Anderson Silva and won a round.

   Henderson was not destroyed by Silva, and should have earned a rematch with Anderson Silva before Thales Leites or anyone else for that matter. My wild-card is Wanderlei Silva, a fighter who will begin to compete at the 185 lbs division after his fight with Rich Franklin at a 195 lbs catch-weight.

   Wanderlei Silva is the closest fighter that resembles a Chuck Liddell type of fighter, someone who is going to bring the fight to you. After sub-par performances by Anderson Silva, maybe he needs someone that’s going to push him around and force him to fight, unlike Leites.

   That is my theory, you do not have to move Anderson Silva up in weight or move Georges St-Pierre up to face-off with Silva, just make good with what you have. Continue to develop fighters at 185 lbs, and also wait for Yoshihiro Akiyama to get used to life in the UFC because he can bring a fight to Anderson Silva too.

J.M.Saucedo 

   The best thing about taking the weekend off from Sportsblogger is that the News piles up on me, and that is also the bad part of taking the weekend off too. There is just so much going on during the weekend in sports and this weekend was no different.

Chuck Liddell and the UFC- After watching the greatest super-star in Mixed Martial Arts history get knocked out for the third time in 5 fights, it was clear his career was over. Liddell will likely end his storied career in the UFC and the UFC will struggle to find a bigger star than Liddell for quite some time.

Liddell and the UFC are down after his loss.

Orlando Magic- The Magic are one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference this year but the Philadelphia 76ers have other plans. Orlando was upset in the first game of their series yesterday as Andre Igoudala hit a game winning shot with 2.2 seconds left to steal game one for the 76ers.

Losing home-court advantage is not a great way to start the Playoffs, the Magic are down.

New Yankees Stadium- “The House That Tax-payers Built” has had a bad first week and the 200 million dollar pay-roll is looking like a big bust. Yankees pitching looks like a joke, there was 20 homeruns launched in the first 4 games at New Yankee Stadium and the Yankees are only a game above .500.

New Stadium, Same old, over-priced Yankees. New Yankees Stadium is down.

Detroit Lions New Uniforms- After you lose every game in a season, sometimes it is best you shed your skin and begin anew. The Lions have released their new look uniforms and logo in hopes to inspire change to this terrible franchise.

The new logo and uniforms are a great start to help forget last season, the Lions are surprisingly up.

Last Week: Angel Cabrera is still up after winning the Masters; Citi Field is doing a lot better than Yankees Stadium and it’s still up; Strikeforce has leveled off a bit; The Boston Celtics are still down after losing in Game One; and the NFL Draft’s stock is rising as April 25th approaches.

J.M.Saucedo

   It is time for the best day of the week here on Sportsblogger, Shocking/Not So Shocking Thursday. There is a lot of news today and as usual, we will try to get to everything that is making headlines in the Wide World of Sports.

Shocking: John Madden will retire from the broadcast booth this year after 30 seasons as the color commentator for NFL broadcasts.

A Second Shocking: Maddens replacement will likely be Cris Collinsworth; Collinsworth is a former NFL WR who could swear to himself in the mirror that he was the greatest who ever played the game. What a great way to honor a man like Madden who won a Super Bowl as a head coach and has the highest win percentage as a head coach by replacing him with a man who swears he has done the same, good job NBC.

Shocking: With the NBA Playoffs set to kick off this Saturday, the defending champion Boston Celtics have a major problem in preparing for their match-up with the Chicago Bulls.

Not So Shocking: The Celtics problem is the injured knee of PF Kevin Garnett that has forced the Celtics to prepare for the Playoffs without Garnett.

Shocking: The New York Yankees opened their brand new Yankees Stadium today in typical Yankees fashion of recent years, they are losing as of 1 p.m. to the Cleveland Indians.

Not So Shocking: Fans flocked to the opening of “The House that tax-payers built”, as was expected, to see what their tax dollars went to build.

Shocking: NHL Playoffs started yesterday amid plenty of people, myself included, wondering what channel the games would be on.

Not So Shocking: I was under the impression that the NHL Playoffs would air on NBC and searched for them all over but instead found that they were on the hidden channel of Versus, thanks a lot NHL for hidding your Playoffs!

J.M.Saucedo

   If ever there was a more hyped event for the NFL than the release of the schedule for the up-coming season, then I have yet to hear of it. In all fairness, every thing the NFL does here in the United States is big, but I can not even imagine the most die-hard fan sitting down and watching it.

   I found myself trying to figure out why there is a need to have a whole ESPN show over an hour long dedicated to breaking down next years schedule? What is the purpose if we still do not even know who will be the first QB taken in the draft, let alone the first overall pick.

   There is sometimes a bit of over thinking on the behalf of ESPN, and surely the schedule release show is among that series of overthinking. Like always, there was a prediction of how this schedule would fit for certain teams and more importantly, who would be hurt by it.

   I don’t need to be told by any analyst that the schedule is going to brutal for the Dallas Cowboys in December or the Denver Broncos might start the season with a record of 3-1. It is just a pain to hear how the Broncos season will start yet they have not settled their QB situation.

   Then there are other problems with the NFL’s scheduling and that is of course the fact that the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts are facing off yet again. This rivalry is over, there is no need to continue to force feed us this Brady vs Manning business any more.

   So my question was, is the schedule release more Zaz than Pa-Zaz? The answer was simple. The NFL schedule is just a ploy to keep the NFL on our minds in April while most of us have our heads in the NBA and NHL Playoffs and the start of the MLB season.

J.M.Saucedo