Happy Monday to all! This weekend’s edition of “The Fight of the Century” ended up being a dud. Floyd Mayweather Jr. threw the equivalent of a shutout, at least in my humble opinion, defeating challenger Canelo Alvarez easily, in what ended up being a “majority decision”. One of the judges, the totally unqualified and incompetent CJ Ross, scored the fight 114-114. She is the same “judge” that gave Timothy Bradley Jr. a decision win over Manny Pacquiao in another controversial decision. How this woman still has a job that does not entail asking the question, “would you like fries with that?” is beyond me. What is boxing waiting for to publicly fire this woman?
In my humble opinion, (as well as ESPN’s), the judges’ card should have read 120-108. Here’s ESPN.com’s coverage:
Best line of the day belongs to ESPN boxing expert Dan Rafael:
“Even after the atomic bombs were dropped, CJ Ross had World War II a draw.”
What’s next for Mayweather Jr?
Let’s go to the NFL.
The Dolphins are 2-0, both victories on the road, after beating the Indianapolis Colts yesterday, 24-20. Ryan Tannehill matched Andrew Luck pass for pass, and the Fins’ second-year QB managed and directed his team’s offense very effectively. Tannehill finished 23-34 for 319 yards with one TD and no interceptions. Luck was 25-43 for 321 yards, also threw a TD pass, but was intercepted once.
Tannehill’s improvement is nice to see, and it is very evident in this stat: He completed 8-9 passes that were more than 10 yards downfield, including 3-3 while throwing to Mike Wallace more than 10 yards downfield.
Here’s the Herald game story:
Here is more on the Dolphins, from Armando Salguero:
The Fins will finally be at home this week, in what promises to be a difficult battle against the Atlanta Falcons and their potent offense, led by QB Matt Ryan. Game time on Sunday, at the Seven Names Stadium, is 4:00 pm, and it will be on FOX, Channel 7 in South Florida.
Here are this week's results:
Here are this week's results:
Speaking of picks, I am 4-2 against the spread so far this week, but a perfect 6-0 straight up.
vs the Spread Straight Up Season Total
WEEK 1 3-2-1 4-2 ------ -----
WEEK 2 4-2 6-0 7-4-1 10-2
Only tonight’s MNF extravaganza remains:
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati -6 8:30 pm ESPN 8:30 pm
After blowing an eleven-point lead in the third quarter last week before losing to the Chicago Bears, look for the Bengals to bounce back this week against the Steelers. Pittsburgh lost C Maurkice Pouncey, RB LaRod Stephens-Howling, and LB Larry Foote last week in their loss to the Tennessee Titans. Cincinnati minus the 6 points sounds like the way to go here.
Here’s ESPN’s NFL Nation Blog, with more news from all around the league:
Of course, we can all continue to sleep at night, knowing full well that Aaron Hernandez remains in jail, where he belongs.
TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: We know that this is the first time since 2010 that the Dolphins have started a season 2-0, winning their first two games away from the Seven Names Stadium. When is the last time the Dolphins had a streak of winning more than their first two games on the road? The answer comes later, alligator.
Let’s go out to the ballgames.
The Fish lost three out of four to the Mets this past weekend, yesterday’s loss was a 1-0, 12-inning affair. The Marlins were an atrocious 0-12 with runners in scoring position, and managed to leave 11 runners on base. The owner and his minions need to add some real players over the winter that can hit, advance runners, run the bases, catch the ball, throw the ball . . . in other words, players that know how to play the game. The opportunity to not lose 100 games is rapidly disappearing. With 13 games to go in the regular season, the Fish would need to go 8-5 in order to avoid reaching the century mark in losses.
The Marlins are now in Philadelphia to take on the Phillies in a three-game series that begins tonight before going on to Washington, DC to take on the Nationals in a four-game weekend series. Here are the probable starters for the series against the Phillies:
MONDAY Sam Dyson vs Cliff Lee 7:05 pm
TUESDAY Brian Flynn vs Roy Halladay 7:05 pm
WEDNESDAY Nathan Eovaldi vs Kyle Kendrick 7:05 pm
The Marlins are still the worst offensive team in the majors, and one of the worst in major league history. After scoring a grand total of 7 runs over the four game series against the Mets this past weekend, the Fish have been held to three runs or less 94 times this season, and their record in those 94 games is 18-76. Taking it one step further,
When scoring three runs in a game - 7-18
When scoring two runs in a game - 9-18
When scoring one run in a game - 2-23
Of course, they lead the majors in getting shutout, having been blanked 17 times so far this season. Ouch.
The Marlins are still at the bottom of the list in runs scored in MLB, scoring only 479 runs in their 149 games, an obscene 3.21 runs per contest. Here are the rest of the bottom-dwellers:
TEAM W-L Runs
Marlins 55-94 479
White Sox 58-91 543
Phillies 69-80 563
Padres 68-80 567
Twins 64-84 573
In contrast, the Boston Red Sox (92-59) lead MLB with 791 runs scored and the Detroit Tigers (86-63) have plated 748. The Sox have played two more games than the Tigers.
In the Major Leagues yesterday, here are the capsules and summaries from all the games.
Today’s games around the majors,
It is now official: Jose Fernandez’ next start will be on Marlins opening day, March 31, home at Marlins Park, against the Colorado Rockies.
Here is the complete, month-by-month 2014 schedule for the Marlins:
The Red Sox honored Mariano Rivera in his last appearance at Fenway Park yesterday. Well done, Red Sox.
Is the American League mediocre?
The Atlanta Braves are quietly building a new dynasty:
Wladimir Balentien set a new home run record in Japan, blasting his 56th and 57th homers this season yesterday. Just who is Wladimir Balentien?
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports wonders where Joe Girardi will manage next year:
Sammy Sosa looks very, very scary:
Speaking of scary, in honor of last Friday, the 13th, here are some of the weird superstitions of some MLB players:
Here are the up-to-the-minute standings in MLB:
Here are the individual league leaders in MLB:
The Herald’s Manny Navarro and Susan Miller Degnan have the latest scoop from the University of Miami, as the Canes return to the practice field and will enjoy a bye week this weekend:
Just because the Canes aren’t playing this week, doesn’t mean that Coach Al Golden isn’t working:
After getting trounced 34-13 by division 1-AA Bethune Cookman on Saturday, all is definitely not well at the Westchester campus. The negative reaction from the FIU faithful is getting both louder and more negative. The web site asking for the firing of FIU’s athletic director Pete Garcia - www.firepetegarcia.com - is getting more hits every day, along with the growing sentiment that many people in the university have had more than enough of the present Athletic Department hierarchy and staff.
The Panthers travel to Louisville next Saturday to take on the University of Louisville. FIU has the honor of being the biggest underdog in NCAA football this week, as Louisville is favored by 42 points over the Panthers. Remember, this is is the same Louisville team that FIU beat two seasons ago. Please tell me again why Mario Cristobal was fired.
Here’s the latest from FIU:
Here’s the latest from Tallahassee and FSU:
From Gainesville and the University of Florida:
No change in the top-five in college football this week. Here are this week’s top-25 rankings:
Here are the complete results for NCAA football this past week:
In Miami Heat news, LeBron James got married this weekend in San Diego. I did not attend, as my invitation probably got lost in the mail:
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I’m selling three lots totaling a little over five acres in the beautiful North Carolina mountains, overlooking the New River, a quick 35-minute drive from Boone and Blowing Rock. Click here to see some photos and feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
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THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION: We know that this is the first time since 2010 that the Dolphins have started a season 2-0, winning their first two games away from the Seven Names Stadium. When is the last time the Dolphins had a streak of winning more than their first two games on the road?
In 1999, the Fins won their first FOUR games on the road, and were 7-1 halfway through the season. Unfortunately, they finished in a tailspin, ending the season with a 9-7 record.
Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.
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