With J Hutcherson
One of the major problems for literal contact sports like boxing and mixed marital arts is exactly what we saw yesterday in Carson, match-ups. Boxing was already in trouble due to aging draws and lack of sufficient young talent getting the kind of fights that would turn them into equally big draws. Running up a 20-0-0 record isn't as difficult as it should be, and the end result is normally a loss in the first fight that clocks as major to actual boxing people.
Easy enough to hype something only for it to end up lopsided - or even worse, not the expected result. That's MMA's current issue, trying to match fighters who will put on a show, but not get significantly set back or look off in the process. Simply put, you don't need the face of the franchise tapping out to some guy who will never shift a T-shirt.
Pro wrestling is built on the ability of the biggest names to prove it by shifting tickets and merchandise. At least in theory, those that don't lose their shot because it's bad business for all involved.
The Champions League and the UEFA Cup both have knockout play-in rounds to get to that ever-so-lucrative group stage or a reason. Even the weaker clubs that manage to get through can at least point to those play-in rounds when they're getting dinged for goal differential by the usual suspects.
CONCACAF followed that model for its new Champions League, but the World Cup qualifiers remain play-ins for all.
Anybody wanting to stress the point that there's nothing to take from yesterday's games except maybe to knock Mexico for winning light gets the obvious response. Much like combatant sports, there's always the chance at the shock knockout but people usually prefer to part with their money for better match-ups. Home and away series makes that even more pronounced.
FIFA's bureaucracy might be in place because all member nations have an equal vote, but pretending all member nations should have an equal shot is silly. No team wants to get killed in any game, much less looking forward to the sequel a week later. It's just not fair play.
What I'm Watching
Euro 2008: Austria - Germany on ESPN2 at 2:30pm. Same time for Poland - Croatia on ESPN Classic. All Times Eastern
The Wonderful World of Soccer Media: Europe
Austria dream of dealing out the schadenfreude -- from The Guardian's Daniel Taylor: It has certainly been a strange backdrop to the final round of games in Group B.
Michael Ballack admits to tensions in squad before Austria match -- from The Times' Oliver Kay: A draw would be enough for Germany to progress to the quarter-finals.
ALL THE PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES 2008-09 -- from The Daily Mail: Of the top sides Arsenal look to have the easier opening and closing day fixtures as they play at home to West Brom on August 16 and at home to fellow promoted side Stoke on May 24.
Chelsea's Luiz Felipe Scolari and Man City's Mark Hughes will get money, but no time -- from The Telegraph's Mark Hughes: Owners make it known that they want a manager with Champions League experience, which no English manager has.
The Wonderful World of Soccer Media: USA
U.S. routs Barbados -- from The Post-Telegram's Scott Wolf: "We'd like to score more goals against the better teams."
U.S. takes care of business against Barbados -- from Soccernet's Jeff Carlisle: "We wanted to make sure that we ended it here," said U.S. attacker Landon Donovan."
The Monday MLS Breakdown: McFire -- from Goal.com's Kyle McCarthy: Reyna is probably the best parallel to McBride’s situation: a player who could have stayed in Europe with various options and could have made significant wages in doing so.
Dickov may join MLS revolution -- from Sky Sports' Ben Collins: but there has also been interest in the veteran Scottish striker from MLS through Toronto FC and New York Red Bulls.
Cunningham laments missed chances for 100th -- from The Toronto Globe and Mail's Peter Mallett: "After I had a great scoring opportunity in the first few minutes, I never seemed to recover from it and it just stuck in my mind for the rest of the game."
Nash actively pursuing Vancouver MLS team, brother says -- from The National Post's Mark Masters: "Soccer is our first-love sport."
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