Forgot to mention this earlier: Hermes Franca is having knee surgery February 23 in Miami, performed by Dr. John Uribe at the Sports Medicine Institute. Once we get on the horn we'll see how that went am I'm interested in hearing how he thinks Jeremy Stephens will respond from his submission loss to Joe Lauzon on February 7. It's a quick turnaround for "Lil Heathen" as he takes on TUF Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero April 1.
Alex Rodriguez's press conference is today at 1:30. Joy. The sooner this nonsense is put behind everyone, the better. But A-Rod needs to take that next big step, not play the game of hop scotch he did with Peter Gammons.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Weekend notes
Today I watched, when I wasn't channel surfing or dozed off, one of the absolute worst performances I've ever seen put forth by the Rangers, a team that clearly is in serious trouble. Only the Rangers can allow a 3-on-5 goal like the one when Mike Richards took control off a blocked shot, split his defenders and beat Henrik Lundqvist with a flutter over his left shoulder.
That was the Flyers' first goal of three in a span of 1:49. After Richards' goal I turned on Invincible on FX. At the commercial break I switched back to NBC. It was 5-0, Flyers. The Rangers and Tom Renney were completely at a loss. The fans serenaded Renney and the incompetent, over-the-hill GM Glen Sather with chants once reserved for Isiah Thomas.
Interesting postgame comments from Renney, who realizes the end could be near. I've been steadfast about giving Renney until the end of the season for the Rangers to make a full and fair evaluation. Renney has been the coach since 2004. It's inevitable players begin to tune out the coach, as this group has done with Renney. And Renney is with plenty of faults. His defensive system is suffocating to his own personnel. He leaves the wrong players on the ice (read: Wade Redden and Aaron Voros) on the ice during critical situations. He's never held his underachieving veterans (Redden, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Michal Rozsival) accountable, nor has sent them a message with a benching or a healthy scratch. Yet he'll keep Petr Prucha in a jacket & tie and refuse to tweak the system to best fit his young and energetic players.
Everyone shares the blame in this mess and the philosophy is always you can't fire the players, so fire the coach, with the thinking that a changing of the lead voice will slap new life into the team. But someone explain to me what difference Jim Schoenfeld, Renney's assistant, would make at this point of the season. The true culprit is Sather, who put together this budding disaster and has left the Rangers choked in salary cap hell. Of course, since he works for the Dolan Dummies, don't expect him to go anywhere.
In the MMA world, UFC 95 is this Saturday in London, and I'll have features on Diego Sanchez and Chael Sonnen (fighting Joe Stevenson in the main event and Demian Maia, respectively) posted on Junkie this week. UFC president Dana White confirmed show No. 100 for July in Las Vegas with welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre to fight on the card, but in lieu of top contender Thiago Alves, a third bout with B.J. Penn may be in order.
My take: Forget this Vaseline controversy and keep the divisions intact. If Sanchez beats Stevenson, he deserves the next shot at Penn's lightweight crown, if not Kenny Florian, while Alves was assured a shot at GSP. Quick take on Penn: He may never be the same following GSP's destruction of him. Sanchez's trainer, Saulo Ribeiro, touched on this during our interview and insists his fighter can defeat Penn if they fought tomorrow.
That was the Flyers' first goal of three in a span of 1:49. After Richards' goal I turned on Invincible on FX. At the commercial break I switched back to NBC. It was 5-0, Flyers. The Rangers and Tom Renney were completely at a loss. The fans serenaded Renney and the incompetent, over-the-hill GM Glen Sather with chants once reserved for Isiah Thomas.
Interesting postgame comments from Renney, who realizes the end could be near. I've been steadfast about giving Renney until the end of the season for the Rangers to make a full and fair evaluation. Renney has been the coach since 2004. It's inevitable players begin to tune out the coach, as this group has done with Renney. And Renney is with plenty of faults. His defensive system is suffocating to his own personnel. He leaves the wrong players on the ice (read: Wade Redden and Aaron Voros) on the ice during critical situations. He's never held his underachieving veterans (Redden, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Michal Rozsival) accountable, nor has sent them a message with a benching or a healthy scratch. Yet he'll keep Petr Prucha in a jacket & tie and refuse to tweak the system to best fit his young and energetic players.
Everyone shares the blame in this mess and the philosophy is always you can't fire the players, so fire the coach, with the thinking that a changing of the lead voice will slap new life into the team. But someone explain to me what difference Jim Schoenfeld, Renney's assistant, would make at this point of the season. The true culprit is Sather, who put together this budding disaster and has left the Rangers choked in salary cap hell. Of course, since he works for the Dolan Dummies, don't expect him to go anywhere.
_______________________
In the MMA world, UFC 95 is this Saturday in London, and I'll have features on Diego Sanchez and Chael Sonnen (fighting Joe Stevenson in the main event and Demian Maia, respectively) posted on Junkie this week. UFC president Dana White confirmed show No. 100 for July in Las Vegas with welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre to fight on the card, but in lieu of top contender Thiago Alves, a third bout with B.J. Penn may be in order.
My take: Forget this Vaseline controversy and keep the divisions intact. If Sanchez beats Stevenson, he deserves the next shot at Penn's lightweight crown, if not Kenny Florian, while Alves was assured a shot at GSP. Quick take on Penn: He may never be the same following GSP's destruction of him. Sanchez's trainer, Saulo Ribeiro, touched on this during our interview and insists his fighter can defeat Penn if they fought tomorrow.
_______________________
Meanwhile in Yankeeland, pitchers and catchers are in camp, and CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett look relaxed and ready to compete in the Bronx. Of course, the center of discussion is Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod will address a huge media throng Tuesday in Tampa, which is hopefully the first big step in putting his sorry predicament behind him. This being A-Rod, it's never cut and dry, but my hope is by the time I'm back on the beat April 1 for the new Yankee Stadium's grand opening, more of the talk will be about baseball and less about a terrible situation that will not go away.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Ranger Danger
SNY.tv published this yesterday afternoon. The Rangers take the ice tonight against the high-octane Washington Capitals as a team with big problems. They're not scoring. Offseason additions not name Markus Naslund have failed miserably. And unfairly, Tom Renney is on the hot seat. At this rate Henrik Lundqvist has to pitch a 1-0 shutout for the Rangers to earn two points.
The Rangers were projected to be a sixth or seventh seed in the East anyway, but when you consider that they spent much of the season atop the Atlantic Division, their fall has been precipitious and has exposed their weaknesses: no go-to scorer and nobody who can carry a team on broad shoulders.
Sean Avery has already been labeled a savior. What? If he clears re-entry waivers and and rejoins the Rangers, he'll be a big help. But cries of "Hurry Sean hurry" are a bit ridiculous. If Glen Sather can steal Vincent Lecavalier from the Lightning, there's your savior.
Speaking of Sather, he should have been out of the front office a long time ago, but what do I or any of us know?
The Rangers were projected to be a sixth or seventh seed in the East anyway, but when you consider that they spent much of the season atop the Atlantic Division, their fall has been precipitious and has exposed their weaknesses: no go-to scorer and nobody who can carry a team on broad shoulders.
Sean Avery has already been labeled a savior. What? If he clears re-entry waivers and and rejoins the Rangers, he'll be a big help. But cries of "Hurry Sean hurry" are a bit ridiculous. If Glen Sather can steal Vincent Lecavalier from the Lightning, there's your savior.
Speaking of Sather, he should have been out of the front office a long time ago, but what do I or any of us know?
Sunday, February 8, 2009
A wild weekend roundup
Finally some quiet in what's been a chaotic week in sports, except for more reaction towards A-Rod's latest fling with drama. More on this in a bit, a situation that unlike chatter about his love life, shouting "Ha!" or if he's really a fraud is very real and very serious.
It was a great night of fighting Saturday in Tampa and UFC Fight Night 17. Joe Lauzon carved up Jeremy Stephens with Jiu-Jitsu that would earn bows from the Gracie family. Anthony Johnson TKOed the capable Luigi Fioravanti in the first round. What impressed me about Rumble and Cain Velasquez there most were their harsh evaluations of their performances. Too many fighters enjoy small tastes of success and think it's a breeze. Then they get pounded into the middle of next week and their development is set back at least a year.
The MMA world was tame compared to the stuff that happened in New York City alone. First, you had the knee-jerk reaction towards Joe Torre's "tell-all book." Then Kobe Bryant and LeBron James combine to shred the Knicks for 113 points. From there, Sean Avery may be on his way back to the Rangers, a smart decision if they can pull it off.
The Rangers are 0-3-1 in their last four games, the latest a hideous 10-2 embarrassment in Dallas, while scoring a total of four goals, one that came with 10.5 seconds left against the Thrashers. Should Tom Renney be on the hot seat? I don't think so. What makes anyone think Jim Schoenfeld or Pat Quinn, or anyone else. will make any difference whatsoever? I've said this since Day 1: Give Renney the season and then decide.
You think the Rangers have problems? To quote one of my mentors, "It's always something in Yankeeland." The Yankees come off a tremendous offseason in which their revamped their pitching staff and solved a ton of problems with one player, Mark Teixeira. Instead of tossing away zillions, billions and trillions, the Yankees spent their money wisely this time. (OK, five years was too many for A.J. Burnett, but he's an upgrade over Sidney Ponson.)
Instead of opening Spring Training this week talking about a complete upgrade, it'll be a circus thanks to Sports Illustrated's revelation that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steriods in 2003. This is one of the greatest players of our generation, and maybe ever, and we oh so wanted to believe in someone after having Barry Bonds forced down our throats. Alas, A-Rod is now forever tarnished, but there is something he can do to remedy this fairly quickly: Be accountable, admit you made a big mistake and take your medicine. As soon as A-Rod goes 3-for-4 with four RBIs everything will be convienently forgotten.
But should A-Rod play the deny or "I have nothing to say" game, it's going to be harder and harder to hide, and the distractions around the Yankees will grow to nearly intolerable proportions. That's completely unfair to Burnett, Teixeira and CC Sabathia, the big-ticket players who decided they wanted to play in the Bronx to compete for a championship. Now there's the risk they'll be in the middle of the A-Rod melodrama. Should that happen, it would be a damn shame, but remember that A-Rod came begging to Hank Steinbrenner and showed remorse over his ill-timed opt-out. He got a 10-year deal for his penance. And now the Yankees have to deal with the side effects.
It was a great night of fighting Saturday in Tampa and UFC Fight Night 17. Joe Lauzon carved up Jeremy Stephens with Jiu-Jitsu that would earn bows from the Gracie family. Anthony Johnson TKOed the capable Luigi Fioravanti in the first round. What impressed me about Rumble and Cain Velasquez there most were their harsh evaluations of their performances. Too many fighters enjoy small tastes of success and think it's a breeze. Then they get pounded into the middle of next week and their development is set back at least a year.
The MMA world was tame compared to the stuff that happened in New York City alone. First, you had the knee-jerk reaction towards Joe Torre's "tell-all book." Then Kobe Bryant and LeBron James combine to shred the Knicks for 113 points. From there, Sean Avery may be on his way back to the Rangers, a smart decision if they can pull it off.
The Rangers are 0-3-1 in their last four games, the latest a hideous 10-2 embarrassment in Dallas, while scoring a total of four goals, one that came with 10.5 seconds left against the Thrashers. Should Tom Renney be on the hot seat? I don't think so. What makes anyone think Jim Schoenfeld or Pat Quinn, or anyone else. will make any difference whatsoever? I've said this since Day 1: Give Renney the season and then decide.
You think the Rangers have problems? To quote one of my mentors, "It's always something in Yankeeland." The Yankees come off a tremendous offseason in which their revamped their pitching staff and solved a ton of problems with one player, Mark Teixeira. Instead of tossing away zillions, billions and trillions, the Yankees spent their money wisely this time. (OK, five years was too many for A.J. Burnett, but he's an upgrade over Sidney Ponson.)
Instead of opening Spring Training this week talking about a complete upgrade, it'll be a circus thanks to Sports Illustrated's revelation that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steriods in 2003. This is one of the greatest players of our generation, and maybe ever, and we oh so wanted to believe in someone after having Barry Bonds forced down our throats. Alas, A-Rod is now forever tarnished, but there is something he can do to remedy this fairly quickly: Be accountable, admit you made a big mistake and take your medicine. As soon as A-Rod goes 3-for-4 with four RBIs everything will be convienently forgotten.
But should A-Rod play the deny or "I have nothing to say" game, it's going to be harder and harder to hide, and the distractions around the Yankees will grow to nearly intolerable proportions. That's completely unfair to Burnett, Teixeira and CC Sabathia, the big-ticket players who decided they wanted to play in the Bronx to compete for a championship. Now there's the risk they'll be in the middle of the A-Rod melodrama. Should that happen, it would be a damn shame, but remember that A-Rod came begging to Hank Steinbrenner and showed remorse over his ill-timed opt-out. He got a 10-year deal for his penance. And now the Yankees have to deal with the side effects.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Today on Junkie: Faith in Stephens
My report on Hermes Franca was posted last night. I'll know more by the middle of next week when he sees a second - and maybe a third surgeon - to determine who will perform the surgery. Franca and his camp are exploring every avenue and not taking any chances. Even in his mid-30s, Franca still has a career in the cage ahead of him and many athletes, with the right rehab program, have come back from ACL surgeries stronger than before.
Franca is in Tampa., Fla., for Fight Night 17 to support his protege, Jeremy Stephens, for his fight with Joe Lauzon. Lauzon was supposed to be Franca's opponent until the latter was felled by the torn ACL in his right knee.
Franca is in Tampa., Fla., for Fight Night 17 to support his protege, Jeremy Stephens, for his fight with Joe Lauzon. Lauzon was supposed to be Franca's opponent until the latter was felled by the torn ACL in his right knee.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Smokin' Joe and Classy Adam
Lots to catch up on. It's been a busy week and it's only Wednesday.
Adam Graves was bestowed a well-deserved and long-overdue honor, a tribute that saluted not only a key player in the Rangers' Cup run in 1993-94 and once the franchise record holder for goals in a season (52), but a very classy, humble and tremendous human being.
Joe Lauzon is fighting Jeremy Stephens Saturday night in Tampa. It was supposed to be Hermes Franca until Franca was forced to pull out with a torn ACL. Bad blood was exchanged between the two on The Underground. Good-natured kidding was blown completely out of proportion in this case.
Speaking of Franca, he met with Dr. Paul Meli today in Fort Lauderdale. Next Tuesday he's seeing Miami Dolphins Team Physician, Dr. John Uribe to discuss the inevitable surgery that he expects will keep him out for six-to-10 months. I'm working on a full report for Junkie.
Anthony Johnson's fight against Luigi Fioravanti has been moved up to Saturday's main card. This is a great chance for Rumble to showcase his skills, writes my Junkie colleague John Morgan. A win will further boost Johnson's profile, not to mention my story for FIGHT appearing in either March, April or May.
Dr. Johnny Benjamin, has a great argument for MMA to finally get sanctioned in New York State. In a nutshell, one crusty clown of a state Assemblyman named Bob Reilly is stuck on the outdated perception that MMA is human cockfighting and "barbaric" when in fact it's far less dangerous than boxing. All this ignorant character needs to do is review the 37 states that have legalized the sport, including our neighbors in New Jersey. Holding events in this state and seeing the UFC work its way into Madison Square Garden will open doors to a huge fan base, not to mention slap life into the failing economy.
As a wise man once said (Charley Steiner): "If it's too logical, it never gets done."
Adam Graves was bestowed a well-deserved and long-overdue honor, a tribute that saluted not only a key player in the Rangers' Cup run in 1993-94 and once the franchise record holder for goals in a season (52), but a very classy, humble and tremendous human being.
Joe Lauzon is fighting Jeremy Stephens Saturday night in Tampa. It was supposed to be Hermes Franca until Franca was forced to pull out with a torn ACL. Bad blood was exchanged between the two on The Underground. Good-natured kidding was blown completely out of proportion in this case.
Speaking of Franca, he met with Dr. Paul Meli today in Fort Lauderdale. Next Tuesday he's seeing Miami Dolphins Team Physician, Dr. John Uribe to discuss the inevitable surgery that he expects will keep him out for six-to-10 months. I'm working on a full report for Junkie.
Anthony Johnson's fight against Luigi Fioravanti has been moved up to Saturday's main card. This is a great chance for Rumble to showcase his skills, writes my Junkie colleague John Morgan. A win will further boost Johnson's profile, not to mention my story for FIGHT appearing in either March, April or May.
Dr. Johnny Benjamin, has a great argument for MMA to finally get sanctioned in New York State. In a nutshell, one crusty clown of a state Assemblyman named Bob Reilly is stuck on the outdated perception that MMA is human cockfighting and "barbaric" when in fact it's far less dangerous than boxing. All this ignorant character needs to do is review the 37 states that have legalized the sport, including our neighbors in New Jersey. Holding events in this state and seeing the UFC work its way into Madison Square Garden will open doors to a huge fan base, not to mention slap life into the failing economy.
As a wise man once said (Charley Steiner): "If it's too logical, it never gets done."
Monday, February 2, 2009
Wild Weekend
It turns out I went 5-for-5 in my UFC 94 predictions. What stood out in the main card was Clay Guida taking it to Nate Diaz and proving he's ready for the top contenders in the lightweight division. Though he was running on empty by Round 3, Jon Jones was dynamite and boosted his profile with a decision win over Stephan Bonnar. Georges St. Pierre left no doubt he is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world with his destruction of B.J. Penn, though Penn remains the lightweight champ whose best days are far from over.
The highlight of the night was Lyoto Machida's fiurst-round knockout of Thiago Silva. The Dragon's fighting style has been panned as boring and frustrating to fans for reasons I cannot understand. Like him or not, Machida is the real deal and he's getting a shot at the light-heavyweight title if Keith Jardine defeats Quinton Jackson at UFC 95. Should Rampage retain the strap, he'll meet champion Rashad Evans, but Machida should be in line for a fight with a significant opponent. Lots to choose from in that division. Personally, I'd love to see him against Forrest Griffin - or perhaps Jon Jones or Matt Hamill.
Another busy week on tap. I have a feature with Joe Lauzon in the works to promote his UFC Fight Night main event against Jeremy Stephens this Saturday night. Part of this story was how Lauzon's original opponent, Hermes Franca, was forced to back out with a torn ACL, but that didn't stop him from making disparaging remarks about Lauzon and his brother, Affliction fighter Dan, over The Underground MMA fourm. The normally laid back Lauzon shared a strong respose, which has me tracking down Franca for a reaction.
The highlight of the night was Lyoto Machida's fiurst-round knockout of Thiago Silva. The Dragon's fighting style has been panned as boring and frustrating to fans for reasons I cannot understand. Like him or not, Machida is the real deal and he's getting a shot at the light-heavyweight title if Keith Jardine defeats Quinton Jackson at UFC 95. Should Rampage retain the strap, he'll meet champion Rashad Evans, but Machida should be in line for a fight with a significant opponent. Lots to choose from in that division. Personally, I'd love to see him against Forrest Griffin - or perhaps Jon Jones or Matt Hamill.
Another busy week on tap. I have a feature with Joe Lauzon in the works to promote his UFC Fight Night main event against Jeremy Stephens this Saturday night. Part of this story was how Lauzon's original opponent, Hermes Franca, was forced to back out with a torn ACL, but that didn't stop him from making disparaging remarks about Lauzon and his brother, Affliction fighter Dan, over The Underground MMA fourm. The normally laid back Lauzon shared a strong respose, which has me tracking down Franca for a reaction.
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