Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Fantasy Fishing is back!

Friday, February 6th, 2009

In about 5 days or so, FantasyFishing.com will be starting it’s second year fantasy contest.  I’m a recent fishing fan and found myself joining this new and interesting spin on fantasy sports. Yes, you’ve played in your office hockey, football and NCAA basketball pools, well now you can add fishing to that list.  If you’re not that interested in fishing, the ten million, yes that’s $10,000,000 in cash and prizes may peak your interest enough to get involved.  Thanks to Wal-Mart and The FLW Outdoor Fishing Tour for starting this up.

I didn’t win the million dollar prize last year, but I did collect quite a few smaller prizes, $75 in Wal-Mart gift cards and about $150 in gas cards.  Not too bad for a free entry and watching and learning how to catch the bigger fish.

The concept is simple, pick your team of anglers for each of the FLW Bass Tour locations and collect points based on their performance and standings.  The great part about this is, if you finish in the number one position after a tournament, you win $100,000 cash (my objective this year :) ) and you are automatically entered into the final at the end of the fishing season.

Michael Thompson of St. Michael, Minnesota

Above is last years million dollar winner, Michael Thompson after he received the big cheque for winning the inaugural Fantasy Fishing Challenge in a close finale.

As I mention before, $10,000,000 is up for grabs this year and my main recommendation is to sign up for Players Advantage.  It’s only $10 this year and well worth it, if you’re serious about trying to win the big money.  I didn’t have it last year as the cost was $30 and I wasn’t really sure if it was necessary and if I would really get involved with the competition.  Boy was that a mistake.  One of the key tools the Players Advantage offers is the ability to see which fishermen are local to each lake.  This is a very important piece of information as those fishermen know the lake very well and where to catch the biggest and best fish.  It wasn’t fun trying to find that out manually, although the information is out there, if you have time to go looking for it.

I look forward to getting this going and if you join and want to enter my personal league for some bragging rights and trash talk, just leave me an email, or a comment and I’ll send you the info.  Now let’s start fishing… virtually of course!  Good Luck!

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Sam Mitchell, coach of the year… FIRED!

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

That’s right Sam, that’s the way out. As I figured, Sam Mitchell was fired from his position of Head Coach of the Toronto Raptors.  It’s no surprise to me that he was let go… I mean with troubled financial times and all.

Like I mentioned in my previous post on this subject, it always comes down to the coach, when a team starts to lose.  And if you know anything about sports, you know that the coach is not always the problem.

The Raps have always been an under-achieving team in the grand scheme of things, and with the delusion of grandure with their European picks & drafts, things just keeps getting worse and worse.  But as I have told many of my friends that always try to argue with me about the Raptors is that people that leave the Raps, are most better off for it.  Other than the likes of Damon Stoudamire (his star has never shined as bright as when he was in Toronto) and Keon Clark, (a sad case of a brother now incarcerated).   So maybe it will be a good thing for Sam to move on.

People seem to forget that these are grown men, making big bucks to play basketball.  At that level, I don’t think it is a requirement to hold hands and breast feed these guys… okay, maybe for some of the rookies.  Sam knows the game, he gave them the plan and they haven’t executed and I don’t think it’s because Sam Mitchell is a bad coach.  The Raptors player acquisition and roster managers have a vision.  And that is the vision of creating a losing team and eventually, their key players will run for the hills.  Yes, CB4 (Chris Bosh) will be leaving the building as soon as it’s possible and keep your eyes open for any other boneheaded trades that the Raps will be making down the road too.

I just find it funny that a guy could be coach of the year in 2007 and get fired in 2008.  Quite ridiculous, but I’m sure there are people that think he should have never been given that accolade, those individuals and their lack of basketball knowledge must be happy now.  But it will be short lived, trust me on that one.  The Toronto Raptors need a shake-up from way higher than the coach to change their destiny.

I’m sad to see Sam go, but hopefully it’s a move forward for him and I know it will be a move backwards for the Raps.

Good Luck Sam!

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General Hopkins vs. Private Pavlik

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

To all of the naysayers, I hope you watched the fight between 43 year old Bernard Hopkins and 26 year old Kelly Pavlik.  It was truly a lesson in boxing skills and ring generalship.  Although Hopkins dominated the middleweight division for so many years the critics really counted him out in this fight.  He was too old, too slow and too defensive to win against a steam-rolling Pavlik, that was not going to have his record blemished by old man Hopkins.

It was a very good fight for Bernard.  He even surprised me with his aggression against Pavlik.  Bernard was not his normal self, fighting defensively and mainly counter-punching.  He went after Pavlik and although there was a little bit too much holding for my likings; (both boxers had 1 point dedections for holding and hitting) it was still good too see a veteran boxer profile his skills and teach the youngster that experience still counts for some things.  Bernard Hopkins won this fight handedly with a unanimous, 12 round decision over Kelly Pavlik.  I’m not sure what’s next for Hopkins, but I would only like to see him in one more fight.  And that fight would be against Roy Jones Jr. one of my favorite fighters. :)   Then they both can retire, no matter who wins.  And Kelly Pavlik at age 26 still has the world in front of him.  I hope this loss doesn’t discourage him.  He is a very skilled boxer and the loss to Bernard will hopefully ground him a bit and give him a little more focus and move forward.

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Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Really looking forward to this fight, although Ken Shamrock is a little bit old for this fight game right now.  I just hope he has a better showing than the his last fight against Robert Berry at Cage Rage 25, where Ken suffered an embarassing knockout.  I liked Ken in the old days when he battled Royce Gracie, when the UFC was in its infancy.  Ken was a strong fighter with dangerous ankle and leg-lock submission skills.  But after his loses to Tito Ortiz and his time in the WWF he doesn’t seem like the same man.

Kimbo Slice is a whole different kind of fighter.  Just google his name and you’ll find countless links to videos of this internet sensation delivering beat-downs to various opponents in street fights and backyard brawls.  No doubt about it, Kimbo is a tough guy, with very heavy hands and he knows how to knock people out in a stand-up slugfest type of fight.  In his limited MMA fights, he has proven himself to be a decent fighter in the ring as well, although his opponents have not been the best.

Who’s going to win? Had it been 1998 instead of 2008, I would pick Ken Shamrock hands down to break Kimbo’s ankle or separate his knee, but sadly it is not.  Although Ken seems to be a little more serious about this fight, I’m not sure he can deal with the onslaught of Kimbo’s punches.  Kimbo however has cardio issues that he has to overcome should this fight go this distance, which I highly doubt will happen.  So I’m calling for a knockout for Kimbo Slice over Ken Shamrock, in late round one.  I’m going to enjoy this one!

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Evan Tanner: RIP to a Warrior.

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

evantannerEvan Tanner is definitely not someone I would want to meet in the UFC octagon. He had heart and a never say die mentality and drive that I only see in 2 other fighters: Randy Couture and Forrest Griffin. It was very sad news to hear that Mr. Tanner; born on February 11th, 1971, passed away on September 8th, 2008. It appears that he died in the desert while on a warrior type excursion that he seemed pumped to go on. Details are sketchy at this point, but all I know is Evan was quite a talented, smart and strong individual. If you’ve ever read his blog, you’ll know what I’m talking about.  He didn’t pull any punches and let his fans and readers know exactly what he was going through, like dealing with alcoholism, not to mention that he achieved UFC champion status being a self-trained fighter.  Evan Tanner, you will be missed, but your spirit and dedication will lead others as an example of what it takes to be a true champion and that the path to get there is not paved with rose petals. Condolences to your family and friends.  Rest in peace.

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