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....