MMA out from the underground and into the mainstream

The UFC has exploded in the last couple of years, as the sport of Mixed Martial Arts has finally started to shed the "Human cockfighting" image it held for the better part of its brief history. After it's rocky beginnings, a unified set of rules has led to the legalization of professional MMA in a number of states and provinces across North America.

Even so, with Pay-Per-View venues rising exponentially, and the UFC regularly beating boxing in PPV revenue, it has taken a while for mainstream media to acknowledge the legitimacy of MMA as a mainstream sport. Finally in the last few months this has changed for the better. First with ESPN forging a partnership with iconic MMA website sherdog.com (arguably the best source online, along with mmaweekly.com, for MMA news info) and other sports outlets such as Roger's Sportsnet, TSN, The Score, and Sports Illustrated Magazine now covering the UFC and other MMA promotions, the sport is taking off to an all new level.

Whether avid boxing fans (and often anti-UFC fans) like it or not, mixed martial arts is taking over as the leading combat sport and with the regular exciting fight cards and the never-know-what-to-expect atmosphere of just about every fight, you don't often get the boring "superfights" (de la Hoya/Mayweather anyone?). MMA is here to stay and you can only expect it to get bigger as the general public becomes more educated on the different aspects of the fight game.

Mailbag: Is A-Rod still the AL MVP?

After A-rod's huge start, he's cooled off in the last month and a half. Should he still get a lot of MVP attention, or does he need to step it up the rest of the way to take home the award? -- Mike F., Calgary, AB

Alex Rodriguez started this year on a massive hot streak, dinging 14 homers in April alone. Sports writers were quick to call the 31 year old the 'Savior of the Yankees' after their dismal start to the season. It seemed like each time you turned on the television there was a highlight of A-rod cracking another long ball. He was, without a doubt, baseball's best player at the time, carrying the Yankees to a better record than they deserved, given the injury problems they incurred with their rotation. Since April however, Rodriguez has managed to hit only 8 more homers, and sits only one ahead of Milwaukee's Prince Fielder for baseball's home run lead. He's also seen his average fall from an impressive .372 on May 1st, to the .290s all of last week. Two multi-hit games in a row have pushed his average back over .300, however his production is nowhere near where it was early this season. And let's be honest, many players come out of the gate at the beginning of the season either in a funk or on a tear. Rodriguez happened to be the latter this season, exactly when the Yankees needed him to be, and that reason (complimented by his record-setting home run total in April) was why he warranted so much early MVP talk. But that's why the season is 162 games. A-rod has cooled, the Yankees are just plain bad--and sorely out of contention, and Rodriguez, in many people's eyes, no longer deserves to be considered the MVP front-runner in the AL. Much of the consideration lately has been going to Detroit's Magglio Ordonez, who's currently batting .368 with 54 rbi's for a team who is in contention. I don't doubt that Ordonez will also cool off, but we have seen time and time again that one of the key factors for the players in the MVP race is playing for a contending team. After all, how valuable could a player be to his team if they're nowhere near .500?
My dark horse pick this year for the AL MVP is Grady Sizemore. This guy has improved every year in the league, and once again he's on pace to best himself. His home runs are right where they should be, and his steals are way up. He's hitting close to .300 as well for the surprising Cleveland Indians. The only knock on his game is his arm in center field, but his speed and the routes he takes to fly balls certainly limit this liability. If the Indians remain a first place team come playoffs, and Grady keeps up his current pace, my money's on him for AL MVP.

That all said, why not take a look at a few other forerunners for the awards this year so far, including NL MVP, and the AL and NL Cy Young.

NL MVP: I like Prince Fielder a lot. His power stroke has really matured this year and the Brewers are the surprise team of baseball. With their strong pitching rotation and back end of the bullpen, combined with their youth and talent in the field, I don't see them relinquishing the lead in the weak Central. If this lead holds, and Price keeps clipping, I like his chances. However, let's not forget a certain Cardinals player who's gotten off to a slow start, but will almost certainly make a push come the second half of the season. I'm of course talking about Mr Consistency, Albert Pujols. He's starting to come out of his slump, and I don't imagine it will be long before his average jumps to the mid .300s and his power stroke returns.

AL Cy Young: It's almost impossible to bet against Johan Santana even though he too has gotten off to somewhat of a slower start. One player to watch is Dan Haren. He's posted ridiculous numbers so far this season including 6 wins, a miniscule 1.70 ERA, and a microscopic 0.87 WHIP. His strikeout numbers are up, and if the Athletic's offense can grab him a few more wins (he's had three quality starts result in a no-decision, including one game of eight-inning shutout ball), the he could definitely challenge for the award. I doubt his ERA and whip will stand, but I wouldn't be surprised if he finishes the year with an ERA in the low 3's. Two other pitchers, who probably have a better chance of consistently putting up greater numbers than Haren this year are Anaheim's John Lackey and Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia. Lackey has already notched nine wins, and Sabathia, in his last start, really seemed to put it all together in a shutout of Kansas City. Granted, it's Kansas City, but this is a former 17 game winner with a lot to prove on a talented young team.

NL Cy Young: I really don't think this one is much of a contest. Jake Peavy has been absolutely lights out this year, sporting a 1.97 ERA to go along with 7 wins and 95 strikeouts. This thing is his to lose, and he won't if he stays healthy.

Have a question you want answered? Want to voice your opinion? Write to me at scoring.position@hotmail.com.

The Sens need a wakeup call, and a new goalie

In one of my earlier posts I stated that Ray Emery was the key to the Sens' chances to win the cup. When I wrote that, I had my reservations regarding Emery and his ability, but he had seemed to play solidly enough up to that point in the playoffs. I said he needed to have a good series for the Sens to win.
That said, I'm not shocked the Ducks are up 3-1 in the series. I am however shocked that the three wins the Ducks have slid by with have not been blowouts. Has the Ducks' coaching staff not noticed that Emery shells out bigger rebounds than Shaq in his prime, facing the Nets? Ryan Getzlaf has the idea, stepping over the blue line, putting on a single move to gain some space from his defender, then letting loose a hard slapper. If the Ducks had a body crashing toward the opposite side of the net more often in those cases, we'd be seeing 4-1 and 5-1 blowouts. Before this series began, many people (myself included) were talking about Giguere's immobility moving side to side in net. You got a first-hand example of that tonight on a weak Heatley goal, (Did you see that thing go in the net? It was wobbling and flopping harder than a Euro-league striker), but surprisingly enough it has been Emery's immobility that has cost the Sens in this series. More than once has a Duck player put on a single move in front of Emery, causing him to commit, then slide the puck through his five-hole (case and example tonight, goal number two for McDonald). I realise that its a tough situation to be in as a goalie, facing a player head on, but my argument lies more in the fact that Emery is supposed to be the Sens' number one goalie, not out of necessity, but based on performance, and he has let in far too many weak goals this series. I don't expect the Sens will win another game unless one of two things happen: Either Heatley, Alfredsson and Spezza get out of their funk and earn their paycheck giving us a few shootout-type games, or Emery's defensemen step it up, play some hard-nosed 'd' and allow nothing to get -to- Emery.

Don't be surprised if the cup is lifted on Wednesday in California.

Disagree with me? Post your comments.

I'm a little confused...

...at whether this AA coach who launched a tirade on an unsuspecting ump is trying to: a) fire up his team, b) argue an injustice, or c) prep his application to Fox for a new reality tv show entitled: Rambo - The Double A Years
People are calling this the greatest managerial meltdown ever. I call it a lowly attempt at 15 minutes. 14:59... 14:58....

Hockey Night at 24 Sussex

So who else caught Gord Miller's visit to 24 Sussex to watch Game 2 with PM Stephen Harper and his family? I was really disappointed in the entire piece. I understand that a certain amount of respect had to be maintained in such an environment, but Gord Miller seemed as awkward and uncomfortable as Harper did. The PM also dodged giving a straight answer as to whether he was a Leafs fan or a Sens fan, as if he were being cornered in a Parliamentary scrum. Personally, I would have preferred to have seen Jennifer Hedger making the visit.

Is Chone Fig'Gone'?

For those of you who drafted Chone Figgins as your primary steals provider in fantasy leagues, let me start by saying, "I'm sorry for your luck". After all, who could have predicted this collapse? In his last two seasons, Chone hit for an average of .290 and .267 with 114 stolen bases. And when he broke two of his fingers in spring training this year, most certainly did not predict that it would cost him a month of the season, his average and all but 3 stolen bases. Now some indications coming out of Los Angeles suggest that his third base job may be all but gone. Eric Aybar who's spent the majority of his time with the club this year at second base filling in for the injured Howie Kendrick has begun taking grounders at third. Aybar played well at second in Kendrick's absence, compiling a .261 average with 11 rbis and a pair of stolen bases (certainly better than Figgins' current .133 batting average).
So where does this leave the fan favourite? Figgins has experience in the outfield, but when one glances at the players the Angels are currently fielding in left, center and right, it's hard to imagine Chone can challenge for more than spot starts in any of those positions. After all Vladi is Vladi, Gary Matthews amid steroid allegations has played extremely solidly, and mister "3 and 2", Reggie Willits has burst on the scene hitting .333 so far this season.
It's unlikely to expect Chone to be phased out of the Angels offense altogether, but don't be surprised if coach Mike Scioscia limits him to spot starts and sharing time with Shea Hillenbrand at DH until he regains his stroke. Afterall, broken fingers or not, Chone's speed and basepath awareness should be there just the same.
So for those of you wondering if it's finally time to give up on the speedster, my advice would be, if you have the roster spot, hold on to him for another week or so to see how Scioscia handles him, (afterall Hillenbrand has not played well thus far), and for those of you with a short bench, it may be time to say goodbye as things are certainly not looking promising.

Two to grab in your fantasy baseball pools

Two weeks ago the Twins dipped into their minor league reserves for one of their top pitching prospects, Scott Baker. Baker has shown a lot of promise in his career in the minor leagues and had a tonne of hype leading into this season. Don't be surprised if this hype transfers into a handful of wins in his next ten starts, but definitely don't expect him to be the next Francisco Liriano either. With the Twins' offense really coming alive (much thanks to Justin Morneau) you can count of Baker to get the run production, and will hopefully throw some solid innings to back it up. Pick him up in your shallow AL only leagues and he definitely warrants consideration in mixed leagues.

This week the Brewers called up their top hitting prospect, Ryan Braun. Unlike Baker, Braun is a no-brainer to pick up in all league formats. He tore it up last year in triple-A hitting 22 homers, and was off to a torrid pace again this year, hitting .342-10-22 in 34 games. If Braun hasn't already been snatched off of waivers in your league, grab him now and expect him to take fifth spot in the batting order behind JJ Hardy and Prince Fielder. Not a bad lineup spot to cash in some runs.

Stanley Cup predictions

Sens in 6 - overhand_right
"I think Emery is going to stay on fire... J.S. is going to steal a game or two, but won't stay consistent enough to win the cup. But it will still be the toughest series for the Sens thus far."

Sens in ?? - RedCap
I have a story. Yours Truly was Seventeen years old, working alone in the kitchen of Belleville’s Boston Pizza sometime between midnight and 1a.m., when a young waitress leans through the expo window to get my attention.
“Brock!” she says, but not so loud as to attract attention.
“BROCK!” once more, as I make my way over.
“Brock, Jason Spezza is here!” she says as her eyes widen.
“Who is Jason Spezza?” I have to ask.
“He plays for the Belleville Bulls of the OHL! He is really good!”
“Ok…what is he like?”
Now at this point, her expression changed from excitement, to somewhat of a sad realization:
“He’s a dick.”
OK so here‘s my point. The Sens will win the cup, and Spezza will more than likely play a huge role in the win. The Spezza/Alfredsson/Heatley line has been the most exciting set of forwards throughout the entire post-season. Obviously Pronger & Friends will be matched up with the Sens starting forwards, which will allow second line centre Mike Fisher more room to throw his weight around and sneak in a few nice goals along the way.

Ducks in 7 - metzeger
"I don't doubt the Ducks' grittiness and toughness. I do however have my concerns with J.S. Giguere. If Ottawa exploits his immobility in the net moving side to side, it could be a short series resulting in a Sens victory. The biggest argument I have for the Ducks is their blue liners. To exploit Giguere's weakness, the Sens are going to have to get scoring opportunities, and with Pronger and Neidermayer banging with Ottawa's top line, I like the Ducks' chances in a long series."

UFC 71...The year of the Upset continues!

This is my 1st post of many! I'll be covering mostly the world of Mixed Martial Arts, obviously with a emphasis on the UFC but also other aspects such as smaller shows, Canadian MMA and anything else related.

Last night marked the long-awaited rematch between Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and reigning 205-pound champ Chuck "the Iceman" Liddell. But before the main event got underway, there were a number of other fights that did not disappoint. First off was Canadian Kalib Starnes taking a decision win over Chris Leben. While I was hoping for Starnes to take the victory, the judge's decision was definitely controversial, with the Canadian himself saying after the fight that he felt it should have gone to "The Crippler." It was an exciting fight nonetheless. The fight between Karo Parysian and Josh Burkman had the potential for fireworks and was definitely a great fight. Both fighters fought hard but Karo showed why he's been talking about a title shot all week. I'm looking forward to see who the UFC matched Karo with in the future, since it seems just about every time he goes out there it's an exciting fight.

But on to the continuing story of MMA of 2007: The Upset. First it was Dan Henderson over Wanderlei in Pride, and then Matt Serra, Gabe Gonzaga and arguably Randy Couture taking huge upset wins in the UFC. UFC 71 was no different. First, relative unknown Houston Alexander was making his UFC debut against Keith Jardine who is one serious fighter. No one gave Alexander a chance but he came out and proved everyone wrong with a huge knockout. This guy is nuts on his feet but apparently has no ground game. If he can get some wrestling skills and work on his jiu jitsu he could be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

And now the main event of the evening. There were lots of people on both sides of who they wanted to win this fight. But it seemed most people I talked to that wanted Rampage to win, still thought Chuck would be too much. I personally thought chuck would win by knockout within the first three rounds. I figured it would be a battle until Chuck caught Rampage with one of his patented right hands. Well Rampage sure proved to a lot of people the fight in 2003 was no fluke. Chuck made a mistake going to the body and with his hands dropped, Jackson took advantage. Although many could say this was not really an upset, I still think Chuck was the favourite going in. Now I'm looking forward to the Rampage/Henderson fight and hope that now we get to finally see a Chuck/Wanderlei battle that's been talked about for years now. Only time will tell.

Cat bounced from Shea

I've caught this video a few times on sports weekly highlights and I had to post it on here. A cat is caught trying to catch a game for free while hiding in a roll of astroturf last Sunday at Shea Stadium. Brings new meaning to 'getting bounced from the game'.

Youth line key to Ducks' success

Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Dustin Penner. A year ago they were promising newcomers playing limited minutes, and to some, perhaps, were relative unknowns. Such is not the case this season. Currently, the three form the 'youth line' for the Anaheim Ducks and have consistently provided a boost of energy for the talented team when called upon. Great plays seem to develop when these three are on the ice.
Expect to see some fireworks from this line starting Monday.

Emery key to Sens cup chances

The Ottawa Senators have broken their old playoff label as 'chokers' by advancing to the Stanley Cup finals against the Anaheim Ducks. But do they have what it takes to win the series by outplaying one of the NHL's most physical teams? Well, according to EA sports they do. The Vancouver based company performed a simulation of the finals with positive results for the Sens. Ottawa took the series in five thanks to strong goaltending on the part of Ray Emery. And while the results of the actual series will probably not quite hold true to the simulation, Ottawa's chances in real life, like the simulation, rest on Emery. His play has been decent so far in these playoffs, but Emery is no Brodeur or Luongo, and you can be sure he has yet to face his greatest challenge. How he fares is key to the Senators' bid for their first Stanley Cup since 1927.

Ducks' key to success to follow.

Rocket not long for Fenway

Roger Clemens will stay in the minors for at least one more start. Scheduled to make his season debut with the Yankees against his old team, the Boston Red Sox next weekend, Yankees GM Brian Cashman decided to postpone the aging pitcher's first start after a poor outing for Double-A Trenton earlier this week. He will instead start for Triple-A Scranton. The 7 time Cy Young award winner, who last pitched for the Houston Astros will likely make his debut outing during the Yankee's second round of interleague play, sometime in early to mid June.

FANTASY: For those of you who drafted Clemens in your mixed fantasy leagues, I don't need to tell you to hold on to him for this stretch. And if he isn't currently occupying a spot on your roster, now may be the time to make a play for him. A shaky AA outing and a fear of his aging arm might be enough for you to nab the all-star for a reasonable price. A word of warning though, it was 2003 when Clemens last pitched in the AL. During that time he pitched with the Yankees and was the owner of a near-perennial 4.00 era. And while many writers are calling Clemens the 'savior of the Yankees' this year, don't count on him to fill the same roll on your fantasy team.

Welcome

Welcome to 'In Scoring Position', a sports blog dedicated to bringing you not just sports news and information, but also analysis and opinions on the day's wheelings and dealings. This blog will seek to inform not just of the current events, but also provide a fantasy outlook for those who are newcomers to the world of fantasy sport, and those who are already hardcore fantasy sports gurus.

This blog will focus mainly on sports that are in season, but there will also be important headlines from elsewhere in the sporting world covered.

It is our hope, here at ISP to not only inform, and perhaps educate, but to entertain as well. Thanks for visiting.

--Paul Wilson