The decision to not show undercard fights proved to be incredibly stupid since Dos Santos won by knockout after only 64 seconds. Velazquez foolishly left himself wide open to attack and Dos Santos took advantage of the opening and quickly took down his opponent. Since the fight, UFC commissioner Dana White has been acting like the little whiny bitch he usually is, making all sorts of excuses for not having undercard fights appear on the broadcast, including blaming Fox. UFC tried this trick 2 years ago with CBS, but the aftermath of that fight had ridiculous antics that reminded people too much of professional wrestling and set UFC and mixed martial arts back by several years. Fox took a huge chance on a 7 year deal, but as long as they schedule multiple fights for their events, they should be fine.
In the other fighting sport, the sweet science of boxing, Manny Pacquiao faced off against Juan Manuel Marquez for the 3rd time. Marquez has repeatedly insisted that he should have won both of their previous fights, which were a draw and split decision victory for Pacquiao, respectively. In this 3rd fight, the crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Marquez, so when Marquez ended up losing on majority decision, they loudly booed the results. The fact of the matter is that even though Marquez did land some huge punches, boxing is scored by rounds and in most people's scorecards, the fight was a draw or 1 round edge to Pacquiao, especially considering Marquez's incredibly shitty 12th round. Based on the judge's scorecards, that ended up true with 1 judge scoring in favor of Pacquiao due to the 12th round. Had Marquez actually tried to win in the 12th, he would have won the fight. Pacquiao definitely didn't look his best, so if Floyd Mayweather still dodges Pacquiao at this point, he will forever be known as the most hated undefeated boxer ever and contributor to the death of boxing.
Oh man, college football. In college football, the mantra is that you're only as good as your last game. Records don't mean much if you're beating nothing but bad teams or losing to top-tier teams. But come on Stanford and Boise State. With Alabama losing to LSU, you've got to win every game to even be considered for the national championship! For once, the new BCS standings make sense, with Stanford and Boise State taking big drops and their victors making huge climbs. Stanford and Boise State losing made the potential national championship game between LSU and Oklahoma State that much more expected and retarded. LSU can't score touchdowns against even decent defenses, but Oklahoma State allows lots of points. It's a college version of Raiders vs Buccaneers, but because it's college, the game could really go either way.
If you bet $400 that the entire NFC West were going to win their games today, you could have won $8,000. It wasn't a smart bet considering that the Seahawks were facing the Ravens, the Cardinals were without Kevin Kolb against the Eagles at Philadelphia, and the 49ers were only 3.5 point favorites against the Giants. Yes, you heard right. The Seahawks beat the Ravens, the "best" team in the AFC, the Cardinals beat the Eagles in Philadelphia, the Rams beat the Browns by 1 point, and the 49ers beat the Giants by a touchdown.
Playoff races got a hell of a lot more interesting, seeing the Lions have a pitiful performance against the Bears, the Jets blow it against the Patriots, and the AFC West being a stupidly close race. As it stands right now, here are the playoff standings:
AFC
- Houston Texans
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- New England Patriots
- Oakland Raiders
- Baltimore Ravens
- Cincinnati Bengals
NFC
- Green Bay Packers
- San Francisco 49ers
- New Orleans Saints
- New York Giants
- Detroit Lions
- Chicago Bears
Do any of those 6 teams in the AFC look at all impressive? The Texans have had a really easy schedule with only 2 of their 7 wins coming against teams with winning records, 2 of said easy victories against the Dolphins and Colts. The Steelers have been swept in the season series by the Ravens and lost to the aforementioned Texans. The Patriots have had a pretty tough schedule, but back-to-back losses against the Steelers and Giants with a rebound against the Jets aren't impressing anyone. The Raiders are in the incredibad AFC West which is still wide open thanks to the Broncos embarrassing the Chiefs. The Ravens may have swept the season series against the Steelers, but they lost to the Jaguars and Seahawks and nearly lost to the Cardinals. The team is clearly as bipolar as the Cowboys, but no one in the media is willing to admit it. The Bengals are an incredibly young team facing disaster with multiple injuries. At this point, no one in the AFC is safe and highly unlikely to win the Super Bowl.
In the NFC, the Packers are unquestionably the best team in the league, but week by week more flaws are exposed, particularly with the Packers' defense. Tomorrow, the Packers face the Vikings. Last time, the Vikings nearly pulled off the upset victory and if their offensive coordinator is any good, they could pull off the upset this time. The 49ers are an overtime loss to the Cowboys away from being undefeated and find new ways to improve week to week, but their secondary isn't improving. The Saints are a good team, but that loss to the Rams just one week after blasting the Colts is very telling about the team's arrogance. The Giants are a great team in a tough division with an even tougher schedule, so it remains to be seen if they will even qualify for the playoffs. The Lions are... a fraud. They went the first quarter of the season undefeated until they were halted by the 49ers and lost the next week to the Falcons. Coming off their bye week, they played like shit and acted like shit against the Bears, acting like brats when they were losing big against a divisional rival. The Bears have looked better and better each week, quietly being one of the better defenses in the league and have a very peculiar stretch ahead of them as they run the AFC West gauntlet the next 4 weeks.
Basically, at this point I have no idea who will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl because they're all so mediocre. In the NFC, my favorites to go to the Super Bowl are the Packers, 49ers, and Bears, all winning if they make it.
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