Silva, Alves prevail at UFC 90

by George Dick…

Silva defended Cote’s fighting spirit in the postfight interview in the Octagon.

“Patrick should not be booed,” Silva said through a translator. The crowd cheered Silva as he finished but ignored his advice.

“My knee just popped out,” Cote said. “I’m so sorry.”

Silva bristled at the suggestion that he was too playful in the fight.

“I came here to do my job,” Silva said. “I wasn’t playing around. I don’t come to play around. That’s why I’m champion.”

“I was in the third round with the best fighter in the world,” Cote said. “I did a good job until then.”

Cote said it was an old meniscus injury that recurred in the second round. Between the second and third round, he told his trainer he couldn’t kick. But when he landed on his leg during the third, the leg buckled.

In the co-main event, Thiago Alves (22-4) established himself as a welterweight contender with a unanimous decision over Josh Koscheck (13-3), who took the fight on short notice and was never able to take the fight to the ground.

Alves had Koscheck in trouble with an early knockdown and effectively jabbed and kicked through the first round, keeping the accomplished wrestler at bay. Alves again dropped Koscheck early in the third round.

Late in the third, a desperate Koscheck charged Alves but was beaten back by a barrage of punches. The crowd roared at the end, drowning out the horn for the end of the fight.

Koscheck replaced Diego Sanchez on the card after Sanchez suffered a rib injury two weeks ago. The “man you love to hate,” in the words of UFC commentator Joe Rogan at the weigh-in, recovered well from the hard shots but couldn’t find a way past Alves’ fists. He’s due to fight again in December on UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” card near Fort Bragg.

“I plan on fighting in December,” Koscheck said. “I’m injury-free and ready to fight.”

“Josh looked awesome tonight,” said UFC president Dana White. “People were actually cheering for Koscheck tonight if you can believe that one.”

After the fight, Rogan asked Alves if he was ready for a title shot against Georges St. Pierre. Alves put the question to the audience. “You guys wanna see that?” The crowd roared in the affirmative.

Former Michigan State wrestler Gray Maynard (7-0-1) controlled the action in a unanimous decision against the well-traveled Rich Clementi (40-13-1), whose passivity frustrated Maynard and the crowd.

Junior Dos Santos (7-1) made an explosive UFC debut, knocking out Fabricio Werdum (11-4-1) with a vicious uppercut that swung like a pendulum and dropped the heavyweight contender to his knees 1:20 into the first round. Dos Santos is a protege of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, the interim UFC heavyweight champion and current coach on The Ultimate Fighter.

Dos Santos said through a translator that he had studied Werdum’s fights and found a vulnerability — Werdum ducks when his opponent jabs. He threw the jab, Werdum ducked, and the punch landed.

“Werdum was one of the top five heavyweights in the world, and he knocked him out quickly tonight,” White said. “I don’t know what we’ll do with (Dos Santos) next.”

Former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk (37-3-1) won a close unanimous decision over Tyson Griffin (12-2) after trading hard punches through a three-round thriller. Sherk had been in the main event in his last fight, a TKO loss to lightweight champion BJ Penn in May. The fighters won the “Fight of the Night” bonus.

Also on the undercard:

• Thales Leites (14-1) quickly won a submission victory over Drew McFedries (7-5), taking him down and sinking in a rear naked choke to force the tapout at the 1:18 mark of the first round.

• Spencer Fisher (23-4) bloodied Shannon Gugerty (11-3) in the first round and escaped a guillotine attempt in the second before getting the submission with a leg triangle in the third.

• Dan Miller (10-1-1) won a battle of former IFL stars, surviving the acrobatic submission attempts of Matt Horwich (24-10-1) and gasping for air after a choke attempt in the second before clinching a unanimous decision with a ground-and-pound attack in the third.

• Hermes Franca (20-7) taunted and beat former teacher Marcus Aurelio (16-7), who had no answer for Franca’s brutal leg kicks and absorbed punishment for three full rounds before the judges gave Franca the unanimous decision.

• Pete Sell (8-5) shook off an onslaught in the first round and rebounded with a strong finish to take a unanimous decision over Josh Burkman (20-7), who had to lose two pounds after Friday’s weigh-in and was visibly tired in the third round.

KillerKilrea

by Murray Crawford… Sometimes the hardest thing to do in sports is to be consistent. Everyone has a chance to be great, and many are great for a certain period in time, but every once in a while someone comes along whom is not only great, but also great with consistency. I speak of Brian Kilrea. The Ottawa 67’s coach will be calling it a career at the end of this season, his 30th as head coach. That’s not a typo; I don’t mean 3 years or 13, 30 years. They were not consecutive; he had a brief NHL coaching career, 1984-86, and a very brief retirement between 1994 and 95. But for 30 seasons Kilrea coached a seemingly revolving door of teenagers.

In his career Kilrea has only missed the OHL playoffs once 1992-93, what followed was a decade of dominance, between 1993 and 2005 the 67s finished either 1st or 2nd every year, went to five OHL finals and one Memorial Cup. In his career Kilrea has been to five memorial cups and won two, entire junior franchises wish they could boast that kind of record. Five times he was OHL coach of the year, but only once was he recognized as CHL coach of the year. Five years ago he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Junior has the same revolving door of players that college football does, but they’re younger. So comparing Kilrea to a guy like Joe Paterno makes more sense, Paterno won 2 national championships in 42 years. It’s tough to really consider Kilrea in terms of his NHL potential or a comparable coach in NHL history. Scotty Bowman won plenty of championships, but with different teams, and he had the advantage of roster consistency and player maturity as compared to Kilrea.

What people forget about Kilrea is that he made an attempt at a career as a player, playing for none other than Eddie Shore’s Springfield Indians, the same team that was well known for it’s iron fisted owner and coach Eddie Shore. Between 1959 and 1962 the Indians won 3 consecutive Calder Cups. But Kilrea’s association with Shore goes beyond championships, in fact in 1966 Shore suspended Kilrea from play for starting a mutiny, or at least that’s how Shore saw it.

News of NHL expansion was spreading fast and the AHL was going to be the prime picking grounds for talent. Many of the Indians saw an opportunity to leverage raises. Shore didn’t like giving players money, he was a notorious penny pincher, and scratched players sold popcorn during the game. Kilrea was nominated, along with teammate Gerry Foley, to represent the players. Shore told Kilrea to leave the building.

The team rallied around Foley and Kilrea and went on strike. Shore assembled a team of replacement players and told the players that he would sue for breach of contract. Kilrea was again recruited to represent the players to contact none other than future NHLPA president Alan Eagleson. Eagleson took players statements about their mistreatment. Eagleson’s represented the players and General Manager Jack Butterfield became the intermediary between Eagleson and Shore. The result was that Shore stepped down as president and was no longer involved in day-to-day operations.

So Kilrea can be credited with both standing up to a very old school coach and bringing Eagleson further into hockey. Shortly thereafter Kilrea earned another distinction, becoming the first player to score a goal for the Los Angeles Kings.

Kilrea will hopefully be remembered as a coach who got three decades of players NHL ready. As a coach he had the distinction of coaching young Kris Draper, Alyn McCauley, Michael Peca, Gary Roberts, Bobby Smith and Kevin Weekes.

The “Real Deal” is broke

by Dick George… It is being reported that former Heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is playing the real life game of Deal Or No Deal. He is in deep financial do do. It has been reported that his $10 million estate in suburban Atlanta is under foreclosure, the mother of one of his children is suing for unpaid child support, and a Utah consulting company has gone to court claiming the boxer failed to pay back more than a half million dollars for landscaping. Just one more high profile athlete having to scale back that lifestyle to the level to which you have I have been accustomed, not the athlete. Why is it that athletes who seem to have everything are often completely unable to control anything relate to finances?

We all played our violins to death when heard of Latrell Sprewell’s financial troubles. On Halloween 2004, Sprewell, who was in the final season of a $62-million, five-year deal he signed with the New York Knicks, said he was insulted by Minnesota Timberwolves s offer of a contract extension that was reportedly worth between $27 million and $30 million for three seasons. “I’ve got my family to feed,” That quote become a national moniker for the public perception of athletes as greedy out of touch individuals. Apparently Sprewell still cant feed his family because his yacht was recently repossessed and his multi million dollar mansion is about to be foreclosed on.

While there is certainly the stereotype of the financially irresponsible NBA athlete , no professional sport is immune.

Lets take a look at some high profile athlete financial sob stories over the years:Mike Tyson\’s Bentley

1. Who my age can forget Jack”The Ripper” Clark , star player for the Boston Red Sox who back in 1992, in the second year of a three-year, $8.7 million contract with Boston filed for bankruptcy and listed $6.7 million in debts. Jack was a master of financial planning and prudent asset acquisition. His bankruptcy petition listed him as having bought 18 automobiles, including a 1990 Ferrari that cost $717,000 and three 1992 Mercedes Benz cars costing between $103,000 and $143,000. He owed money on 17 of the automobiles, was liable for about $400,000 in Federal and state taxes. He had also lost about $1 million in the past year in a drag-racing venture. Sounds like Jack would have been more at home in the NBA.

2. Johnny Unitas Hall of Fame quarterback for the Baltimore Colts filed for bankruptcy in 1991 citing numerous failed business ventures in his petition These failed bits included bowling alleys, land deals and restaurants. He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991.

3. Mike Tyson This speaks for itself. Mike’s bankruptcy was highly publicized. Despite earning hundreds of millions during his boxing career, Mike kept it simple. His bankruptcy petition simply stating: ” I am unable to pay my bills” which totaled about $27 million, according to federal court records.

4. Dorothy Hamill The women’s figure-skating gold medalist in the 1976 Winter Games, filed for bankruptcy after a series of financial setbacks. Hamill said she has experienced financial setbacks as a result of poor financial investment advice and management.

These are just a few of many athlete tales of woe. It is not a phenomenon limited to professional sports. Just ask M.C Hammer. Prior to his declaring bankruptcy, it was made public that his day to day living expenses far exceeded his 33 million dollar income. If I am going to veer off to celebrities, I certainly have to mention Kim Basinger and Michael Jackson.

When the Toronto Star ran an article alleging that a shocking 60 percent of NBA athletes “go broke” five years after retiring did we not all pull out that very tiny violin we have reserved for such occasions? The NBA players union and the NBA have both disputed that assertion. The article goes on to talk about all the people taking advantage of and “scamming” these athletes. While I have no doubt there is truth to this, I can understand how such a generalization would make the NBA uncomfortable. It leaves you with the impression that 60 percent of NBA players are not only financially inept but idiots in general. This is simply not true. While good business sense is often lacking, I view many of their mistakes as being more mistakes of trust, credibility and lack of life experience than anything else. Smart busy people who can afford to, hire people with targeted expertise to help them. This allows them to focus on their expertise. Sometime mistakes are made and bad judgment is used in who we hire and hang out with. That is not unique to the NBA or professional sports. This happens to everyone. That is life. It happens all the time. It just does not make front page when we screw up. If there is any question at all as to how badly we as the general public screw up, just look at the personal bankruptcy filing statistics.

In order to get a perspective from the inside, I contacted Jordan Woy, a highly respected sports agent and a principal in the sports marketing/management firm of Schlegel Sports. Jordan has represented numerous high profile athletes

Here is what Jordan had to say:

“I think there are several reasons why so many athletes “go broke”. First, whether it is a lottery winner, an athlete or a star entertainer, if they are not equipped with the knowledge on how to make and save money they are in trouble. When they didn’t earn it through disciplined business practices and they don’t have those skills they usually go through it quickly. Most lottery winners or athletes make a great deal of money in a short period of time. They start spending it on things that only go down in value (cars, jewelry, partying, entourage,etc) and start to evaporate the money they do have. They can carry this off until they stop earning big money. This is when the trouble starts. It is hard to believe that MC Hammer, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and now Ed McMahon are broke. These are people who earned hundreds of millions over time and it disappeared. Lavish spending and entourages were probably the downfall for the first three for sure.

Most athletes play for four to ten years if they are lucky. After they pay taxes (can be 40 to 50%), agent fees and buy their first homes, cars, outfits, jewelry and then buy friends and family things they are left with very little. When they first “strike it rich” all of their longtime friends and family expect help. Most athletes feel obligated to help everyone out at first then they wise up. They also want to keep up with their teammates. If someone buys a Bentley they have to buy one, if someone buys a $75,000 watch they have to buy one to keep up the appearance. Then of course when the career ends and they are still living in a multi million dollar house, driving 3 expensive cars (and insurance), traveling in private planes and taking Limo’s when they go out on the town reality sets in. The money dries up very quickly.

However, if athletes educate themselves and learn money management skills and make smart, safe investments along the way they are usually in very good shape. After representing athletes for over 20 years we call this our “life plan”. We take out clients on working vacations in the off season to places like Las Vegas, Cancun and on a cruise to the Bahamas to learn business networking. We have people from industries such as real estate, oil and gas, financial planning, credit repair, asset protection/estate planning, etc come to educate the players and their wives so they can learn about these business and also determine if they are interested in any of these industries for life after sports. One of the financial planners who comes always says most people die coming down from Mt. Everest not going up. The goal is for these athletes to get to their Mt. Everest AND to get down safely. ”

So what do you think? Are the financial mistakes athletes make any different than yours and mine, just on a different scale? When we hear these stories are we just unable to comprehend that someone could have that much money and spend it all? Can we learn lessons in how to live our lives from their highly publicized financial gaffes?

Do we even care at all?

Court Places Value of a Penis at $795,000

by Dick George…

BUCHAREST, Romania - A court has ordered a Romanian surgeon to pay $795,000 in compensation to a patient whose penis he accidentally severed during an operation. In July 2004, Dr. Naum Ciomu made a surgical error while operating on the man’s testicles, severing the penis instead of making an incision to the testicle. The Bucharest Magistrates Court ruled Friday that Ciomu had been “superficial” in his approach to the operation, ordered the fine and handed Ciomu a one-year suspended prison sentence.

A piece of muscle from the man’s arm has now been attached to where his penis was, but its function is aesthetic. “You don’t have to be an expert to realize that the 33-year-old victim does not have a good state of mind,” said Mihai Olariu, the victim’s lawyer.

Here’s what you can get for $795,00

• A 52-foot yacht
• Four front row season tickets to the new Yankee Stadium (actually you’d still be 13 grand shy)
• A cottage in Cabbagetown

You can’t even get Raycroft for a season…So even if the court could award you a billion dollars,  what’s the point of being a billionaire if your schlong is made up of “aesthetic” arm muscles.

Final thoughts on the NBA Finals

by Dick George…

The play of Gasol, Vujacic and Radmanovic was softer than Tim’s muffin tops. Better suited for rolling up the rim, than playing under it. Collectively they played like the kind of worthless, slimy Eurotrash that only gets aggressive with drunken North American tourist chicks. They showed all the willingness to help out defensively that their countries showed in Bosnia. Hillary just told me, she should know… she was there… getting shot at. Anyhow, Pau Borat set a new Guinness record as World’s Smallest 7-footer and the only hit Vaginacic dished out was to the water boy who tried to interrupt his tears. They were like the Swedes Don Cherry always talked about in the early years, demonstrating the NBA equivalent of being unwilling to go into the corners. Mind you the Swedes have changed since does days.

The MVP trophy sucks. When did they start giving out a trophy that looks just like the MTV Movie Award?