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Home / Archive: 17. May 2009
By Stoker MacIntosh… Rising young superstar Alfredo “Perro” Angulo, who is now 15-0 (12 KOs), continues his reign of terror in the Jr. Middleweight Division when he puts his undefeated record on the line May 30 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood, Florida.
The Spanish word “perro” translates to dog in English and the 26-year-old undefeated Angula will be facing a Rottweiler sized task in fighting 29-year-old Puerto Rican, Kermit “The Killer” Cintron, who is 30-2-1(27KOs).
Cintron, who was once trained by one of the best in the game, Emmanuel “Manny” Steward, is now trained by Ronnie Shields, who is also an excellent guy to have in your corner.
The tough as nails Cintron has been on somewhat of a roll himself recently with two 12 round decision wins over Sergio Martinez in February, and Lovemore N’dou in November of last year.
It’s also noteworthy to mention Cintron has only two losses, both knockouts to disgraced fighter Antonio Margarito, who is now appropriately nicknamed “Margo-cheato” by hardcore fans.
The exiled Fighter and his trainer were both suspended from the sport due to evidence of glove loading with a Plaster-of-Paris type substance precluding a fight with Sugar Shane Mosley in January.
In February, former No.1 ranked IBF welterweight Cosme Rivera (31-12-2, 23 KOs) caused some anxious moments for the young up and coming Angulo, by causing a cut over the right eye in round one.
Angulo was scheduled to fight Ricardo Mayorga, however, Mayorga pulled out ten days before the fight after demanding a larger purse from his promoter Don King.
Regardless of the cut which was bleeding profusely—and the fact that his corner was having trouble controlling it—Angulo beat Rivera thoroughly in an entertaining bout that was stopped by the referee at 2:38 of round five.
As a rule, anytime a Puerto Rican and Mexican fighter get together in the ring, you can almost be sure of a dog fight taking place.
Since his pro debut in 2005, Angulo has been giving fans their money’s worth, and the fight against Cintron shouldn’t be any different.
The hard-punching Mexican Jr. middleweight Angulo has an “Irish” Micky Ward-style double left hook to the body, which forces his opponents to drop their hands while he administers the Coup de grâce—a heavy right-hand bomb, either thrown straight or as a jaw-breaking right hook.
Angulo has the confidence of a winner and the heart of a future champion; he fights with a certainty that he feels the end result will be the same no matter who he faces, with his arm being raised in victory.
A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory.— Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
By Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter…
In light of the San Jose Shark’s latest early exit from the playoffs one has to believe that big changes will be coming this off season. The regular season has been kind to the San Jose Sharks; in fact, since the lockout season of 2004/05, San Jose has put together records of 53-18-11 (117 points) in 2008/09, 49-23-10 (108 points) in 2007/08, 51-26-5 (107 points) in 2006/07 and 44-27-11 (99 points) in 2005/06. When you add it all up the Sharks have a total of 197 wins in 4 seasons, exceptional by any teams standards. The only other team to have more wins than the San Jose Sharks over that same period? The Detroit Red Wings. Funny, when I think of the Red Wings I think of an extremely successful franchise, a franchise that oozes confidence and knows how to “Win”; when I think of the Sharks I think of a franchise that disappoints year after year, a team that hasn’t got a clue how to “Win” when the chips are down, a team that seems to lose it’s way once the playoffs roll around.
It is commonly believed that the San Jose Sharks have completely collapsed in the playoffs, the reality is San Jose has been bad, but not completely inept. Many NHL fans, for whatever reason, seem to think the Sharks have been ousted in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs four years in a row, the fact is, the Sharks were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the first time just this year. The Sharks had a playoff record of 2-4 in 2008/09, 6-7 in 2007/08, 6-5 in 2006/07 and 6-5 in 2005/06, not great, but hardly the complete collapse many believe. In fact, when you look at each of San Jose’s loses, you’ll find that San Jose lost to some very good teams. In 2005/06 the Sharks lost to the Edmonton Oilers in 6 games (Edmonton went on to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals that year), in 2006/07 the Sharks lost a hard fought series to the Detroit Red Wings (Who were favored to beat San Jose), in 2007/08 the Sharks faced the Dallas Stars and a very “Hot” goalie in Marty Turco (Probably should have won this one, but lost in 6 games) and this year the Sharks faced arguably the best 8th seeded playoff team in NHL history in the Anaheim Ducks, losing in 6 games. So, as you can see for yourself, San Jose has always faced extreme competition along the way to the Stanley Cup, yes, it’s true the Sharks have come up small in each situation, but one could argue that the Sharks are a team that has been a victim of bad luck with terrible match-ups to deal with just as easily as one can argue the Sharks have been a disappointment.
With 197 wins in 4 seasons one has to believe the Sharks ought to have at least one Stanley Cup final to show for all of their hard work, alas, the Sharks have nothing but bitter/disappointing memories and some very bitter fans that remember each letdown like the first time you burn yourself on the stove. To say the Sharks fans are screaming mad is an understatement, in fact, many Shark fans have all but had it with the likes of Center Joe Thornton- who has scored a total of 388 points over the past four regular seasons with the Sharks, Goaltender Evgeni Nabokov- who has a total of 87 Wins, 16 Ties and 13 Shut Outs over the past two regular seasons to go along with a stupendous Goals Against Average and Save Percentage; and Winger Patrick Marleau- who is the Captain of the Sharks and the teams longest serving member with 871 Career regular season games in a Sharks uniform and 276 Goals and 610 Points to show for his efforts. These are three All-Star talented players, none of them with a whiff of ego, all of whom, for whatever reason, continually come up short in the playoffs, or do they?
Joe Thornton, who many, including myself, have recently described as a “Choker”, has netted a total of 35 points in 41 career playoff games with the Sharks, not “Brilliant” totals, but decent nonetheless, certainly not as bad as his reputation suggests. Marleau? He too has decent totals in the playoffs, in 92 career games Marleau has 62 points, which equates to about 0.75 points per game, again not “Great”, but suffice to say not “Brutal” either. Evgeni Nabokov? His totals are pretty average for a playoff goaltender, with a career playoff record of 32-31, and a decent enough 2.23 Goals Against Average and .915 Save Percentage. Surely, given the results, all three of these players should be and have to be better if the Sharks are to be successful. Sometimes the numbers lie, in the case of Thornton, Marleau and Nabokov, it’s fair to say that while each player has been “Good” in the playoffs, none of them have been “Great” and all of them are guilty of not having their best games when the chips are down.
Going forward, San Jose Shark ownership and management will have to make some very tough decisions. Last years dismissal of Head Coach Ron Wilson was the first step in changing the environment in the San Jose locker room, this off-season it may be time for the Sharks to make key roster changes. How can ownership and Management sell the fans the same old same old, especially in a tough market, in a bad economy? Sharks fans, while loyal, are only human, I mean, you can only be let down so many times before you stop believing, right? For their part the Sharks have scheduled a “State of the Sharks” at the HP Pavilion for Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m., which will be open to the public/Sharks fans. Expected to be in attendance are Sharks President and CEO Greg Jamison, Executive VP and General Manager Doug Wilson, Head Coach Todd Mclellan, Players Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Dan Boyle, that ought to be an interesting night of second guessing and finger pointing! Suffice to say I do not expect huge changes like shipping Joe Thornton out or Nabokov out, but it would not surprise me to hear Sharks fans question the clubs leadership, which may mean Patrick Marleau will be rumored to be on his way out…again!
The Sharks have no first round draft choice this year so it will be difficult to land a player in this years draft that will be an “Impact” player, the Sharks do have a few prospects on the farm, such as AHL affiliate Worcester Sharks and AHL All-Star selections Right Winger Ryan Vasce (24/47/71 points) and Defenseman Derek Joslin (11/19/ 30 points), but they are still thought to be a year away from earning a regular spot with the big club. If the Sharks want to change the environment they will have to sign some free agents and/or trade some dead weight off the roster. Of the current roster players, Jonathan Chee-Choo will likely be looking for a new address, Jeremy Roenick will surely retire, off-season acquisition Rob Blake will need to be re-signed, Claude Lemieux was a nice story but you gotta think he’s going to head back into retirement, like it or not, changes are coming to San Jose. As far as Free Agents go the pickings are slim this season. What the Sharks need is a character guy, and the Free Agent list is void of any key character guys. Best bet? The Sharks could go after some scoring depth with a move to sign Center Mike Cammalleri or perhaps a guy like Alexei Kovalev? Another move might be to consider more defensive depth, perhaps a player like Mike Komisarek? The Sharks may also opt to acquire a little more toughness to help them win the battles in front of the net and along the boards, a player like veteran Right Winger Ian Laperriere or perhaps another veteran leader in Left Winger Brendan Shanahan, who’d be a huge upgrade from Roenick and Lemieux, wouldn’t he??? Your guess is as good as mine. Keep in mind that the Sharks are belly-up to the Salary Cap, so if the Sharks do make changes they are more likely to go the trade route, which is not easy to pull off these days. If the Sharks re-sign Blake the Sharks might be left with very little money to sign a free agent, so don’t get your hopes up too high Sharks fans.
One thing is for sure, the Sharks are in a sticky situation, a team that wins 53 regular season games and finishes first overall in the NHL is not far off from being a very prosperous team in the playoffs. Tinker with the roster too much and you risk losing the chemistry this team has formed, on the other side of the coin if you do not make some changes you risk getting the same result come playoff time, it’s a slippery slope, one that should prove interesting this off season.
Until next time,
Peace!
By Barney Corkhill… For nine months and 86 minutes I was hopeful, if not expectant, that Liverpool’s long wait for a Premier League crown would finally be over.
At certain times during the season, it seemed as if the perennial underachievers would finally do what many said they would never do again and win a league title.
In the 19 years since a Liverpool player last lifted the top division’s trophy, the fans, players, and staff alike have suffered much disappointment. Sure there has been a couple of FA Cups, a League Cup, a UEFA Cup and even a Champions League along the way, but, as every year goes by, the one we want most is the one which keeps getting away.
The desire to see Steven Gerrard lift the trophy above his head grows stronger every year, and it finally looked as if our dreams had been answered when, at one point, we were sitting pretty seven points clear at the top.
Then Manchester United came back.
A fourteen point swing within the space of a month or so meant that Liverpool were now the team seven points behind, and United were looking unstoppable.
Then they slipped up.
Would they, for all the talk of their experience of being involved in a Premiership title race before, throw it away?
It almost seemed that way, until Federico Macheda got that late goal against Aston Villa. Make no mistake, that goal won Manchester United the title.
Deep down I definitely believed that, but I still harboured some hope on the surface. I thought that Man City would get a point in the Manchester derby, and that Tottenham would also hold United.
Then all my hopes rested on Arsenal getting a win against the Red Devils.
One by one, however, these lifelines were ruthlessly cut by Sir Alex Ferguson’s machine. They came from behind to beat Tottenham, and went on to beat Manchester City.
It was then more out of hope than expectation that I watched the Manchester United vs. Wigan game the other night.
Wigan took the lead, and the flame of faith valiantly flickered on. United, inevitably, equalised, and the flame was dimmed somewhat.
It wasn’t until the 86th minute, however, that it was extinguished. For the first time this season, I had conceded the title to United. Michael Carrick’s late strike seemed to mock Liverpool fans across the country.
All season, indeed for the last few seasons, Liverpool have been known for their never-say-die attitude, fighting to the last second, and often getting late goals.
Now, the two most important goals of United’s league season, Carrick’s and Macheda’s, had come with barely any time left on the clock.
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I realised that, for the first time in my life, I actually got the opportunity to taste it. Never had I had the first-hand experience of seeing Liverpool so close to claiming a league title.
The mere fact that, with just two games to go, we can still, mathematically, win the title, is something that should be celebrated, and something that will stand us in good stead for next year.
Although I fully expect the Premier League trophy to be loaned out to Old Trafford for a third consecutive season, it is still possible for them to blow it. They face Arsenal next, who will be looking to bounce back from their humiliation against Chelsea, and then face Hull on the final day, who could be a wounded Tiger fighting for survival.
The chances are slim, after all, United only need one point from those two games to secure the title.
Will Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher complete the set of trophies possible to win as an English club footballer? Unfortunately, we know that Sami Hyypia won’t, the Liverpool legend will leave the club at the end of the season.
As for Gerrard and Carragher, while it may not happen this season, there is always next year.
After all, the 20th time’s a charm.
It’s the final four, the semi-finals in the NHL hockey playoffs. The drive for Lord Stanley’s cup has come down to four teams. Chicago vs. Detroit and Pittsburg vs. Carolina. Who you got? Make your predictions now! It just doesn’t get much better than this. For more of your ice hockey entertainment, I bring you The Hotties of Hockey Part 2.
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