Tonight is WWE Money in the Bank live on pay-per-view! The Money in the Bank match is one of my favorites so this PPV is a must-see for me. Add in the return of one of my all-time favorites in Rob Van Dam and we have a show I am completely pumped for. However, my thoughts on this show have become a little strange in recent days. With Anderson Silva finally losing his UFC Middleweight Championship last weekend people have started talking about how crazy it is that he was champion for so many years since so much in their lives has changed between when he won and lost the belt.
In looking at this show’s main event between WWE Champion John Cena and Mark Henry, I realized I was in middle school when Cena won his first WWE title. I just got my bachelor’s degree and this dude is champion and has never missed years like Shawn Michaels or The Rock, or rumbled in the mid-card for a while. Cena has been top dog for so long, and it is now hitting me that I’ve seen so much John Cena that I have lost nearly all interest in what he does. But we’ll get to way too much on that later. Let me run through the card and toss out some scattered thoughts.
Pre-Show Match: WWE Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns vs. The Usos:
The Shield has reached the point where it is ok if they lose matches since they’ve been built up so strong for months. Because of that, I don’t see them losing the tag titles in a pre-show match. The Usos have proven to be pretty enjoyable, and if pre-show matches were longer than about 6 minutes I would be more excited for this. I don’t understand why the WWE does half-hour pre-shows and spends so much of it showing promo packages and having wrestlers who won’t be on the card talk about what matches they are excited for. Either just do that and don’t have a match, or do less of that and make the matches seem more important. Even with a short time to work this should be a fun little tag match though. Shield retains.
Chris Jericho vs. Ryback:
Chris Jericho is my favorite wrestler ever so I am always excited for any match he is in. I feel like this feud has been sort of random and hasn’t really been promoted, so I don’t really have much to say about it. Ryback badly needs to win this match, considering he hasn’t won a match on PPV since Money in the Bank a year ago. Jericho will make him look good and hopefully this is a nice jumping off point to get Ryback on track. Ryback wins.
Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel vs. The Miz:
I think I like Axel. But there’s a slight problem there. You can tell he is working very hard and all, but I don’t know if I like him because he’s good or if it is just because Paul Heyman manages him, and he’s the son of Mr. Perfect, quite possibly the most awesome wrestler ever. It definitely seems like WWE really likes Curtis Axel though, so I think we know where this match is going. I don’t much care for Miz but this will be a solid match. Axel retains, hopefully by way of Perfect-plex.
Divas Champion AJ Lee vs. Kaitlyn:
This has actually been a pretty good feud, which kind of blows my mind since WWE never puts any kind of effort into things involving the Divas. I remember Lita and Trish Stratus main evented Raw once, and I remember Trish’s feud with Mickie James. That is about all that has ever stood out in my years watching wrestling when it comes to Divas, but I missed like ‘08-‘10 so maybe there was something there. It is kind of nice to see the women get things to do. AJ and Kaitlyn have made the Divas title interesting and this will actually be a Divas title match that is worth something. I don’t think tonight is the end of their feud and I think they will pull this out until SummerSlam. AJ retains.
World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow vs. Antonio Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger vs. Wade Barrett vs. Fandango vs. Dean Ambrose:
Money in the Bank matches are always fun, so this should be good. Of course the big question becomes who will climb the ladder and get that briefcase for a World title shot any time in the next year? It seems like Rhodes and Sandow are about to enter into a feud with Cesaro and Swagger, so I think that whole group will cost each other somehow. And as much as I love Cesaro and hope he wins, they kind of killed his stock for a few months so I don’t have faith they’ll pull the trigger on him. Fandango has proven to be far more entertaining than I ever expected when those first promos were airing, but despite the attention the WWE has gotten from him I don’t think he’s a future World Champion, and if he is then it isn’t within the next year.
That leaves Wade Barrett and Dean Ambrose. Ambrose is United States Champion and seems like the biggest blossoming star in the Shield. Barrett has been a mid-carder forever, Intercontinental Champion a few times, and has been on that bubble of breaking through to the main event for a while. I don’t think Ambrose really needs the win since he is absolutely badass on the mic and the Shield has done such a great job getting over thus far that he can enter into the main event naturally down the road. Barrett has been around longer and they have kind of had nothing to do with him lately so I think a win here would do a lot for him. Barrett wins.
WWE Championship Money in the Bank “All Stars” Ladder Match: Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk vs. Sheamus vs. Christian vs. Randy Orton vs. Somebody Replacing Kane (Big Show?) vs. Rob Van Dam:
With the show happening in Philadelphia, home of the legendary ECW, RVD is going to get a huge reaction when returns. I know I’ll be pretty pumped myself. I don’t pay attention to TNA so I have no idea if RVD is in any kind of shape or can even still go, but for the moment I am pumped for his return. I don’t think he’s going to win this match at all since this is like Jericho returning at the Royal Rumble, but it is still good to see him back. As for who will win, I’m a little confused now. Going into the match it seemed pretty clear Daniel Bryan would win. The dude is over like rover and has the best match every night. He is primed for a huge push.
But he stood tall to end Raw this past Monday, and whenever that happens it usually means that person will lose at the PPV. But whoever replaces Kane isn’t going to win, Christian isn’t getting a WWE title push all of a sudden, Sheamus has nothing to do and I don’t think winning MITB is the plan WWE has for him, and CM Punk has his thing with Brock Lesnar. Granted the title shot is good for a year, but still you can usually see these things coming. That leaves Orton and Bryan. Why would Orton win? That’s really all I can think to say about him in this match. This whole thing has been built up for Bryan to win, and I think he’ll break the curse of standing tall on Raw before the show. Bryan wins.
World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler:
It is good that they turned Del Rio heel again since his face run got pretty stale alarmingly quick. I really hope that isn’t going to be the case with Ziggler’s face run though. It is nice that they are finally letting Ziggler talk and do things other than just sell moves like a madman. It is hard for me to take Del Rio seriously pretty much ever since being a big MMA fan I just think of him fighting Mirko Cro Cop and getting his head kicked in. But Del Rio’s alright, and since this double turn is so fresh I don’t think they’re going to blow off the feud tonight. There’s still too much going on with Ziggler’s relationship with AJ for this to end now. It has SummerSlam written all over it. Del Rio retains, possibly because AJ does something to cost Ziggler.
WWE Champion John Cena vs. Mark Henry:
I know this is the “cool” thing to say, but I really can’t stand John Cena. I don’t mean this in the typical “Cena’s character is so stale he needs to turn heel” way. I mean it in the sense that I’ve reached the point where I’ve seen too much Cena. Even if he turned heel, he would have to come out on Raw and give the AA to an entire truck load of puppies or something for me to really be interested. Even then he’d still be the main character in the show, and since I remember when the dude was just starting out in freaking 2002 seeing John Cena all over the main story doesn’t really interest me anymore.
Cena is a good wrestler and all, but we’ve seen this movie about 800 million times: Cena runs into an opponent who is so big and strong and intimidating, said opponent leaves Cena dead on the Raw before the PPV, Cena overcomes the odds and wins because he never gives up and never surrenders, comes out on Raw the next night as a bunch of people in the crowd boo, he says it is an “interesting crowd,” and both he and Michael Cole will say something to the effect of if you like it or not he’s the champ and you have to respect it.
Cena moves the merchandise so you can’t knock the WWE for keeping him on top for so long; this is a business. And I feel bad ripping on Cena too much since all of the Make a Wish stuff he does is really amazing, and it isn’t like he’s some shit performer either. I’ll just say simply: I don’t give a crap about what Cena does like 90% of the time and I don’t really dig seeing him in every main event still.
As for Mark Henry, I remember when he was Sexual Chocolate and I spent most of my life watching wrestling not giving a crap about him either. Was Mark Henry always pretty cool and I just never realized it, or is this something that has just started up in the last few years? Either way, I really enjoy seeing Mark Henry these days, and that is a pleasant surprise for me. His fake retirement was one of the most awesome Raw segments I have seen, and it instantly sold me on a match I didn’t think I’d ever want to see. Henry has worked his ass off to get where he is today and he really deserves a run with the WWE Championship, even if it would only last about a month until he drops it back to Cena or Daniel Bryan wins it.
But as awesome as Henry has been for a while now, we need to be real here. WWE always plays up that whole “There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and Undertaker winning at WrestleMania” thing, but it is time to add on a fourth item to that list: John Cena doesn’t lose after he gets smoked multiple times on Raw and his opponent is built up as some unbeatable monster.
Henry will probably dish out a lot of power moves and crush Cena early, Cena will fail to get him up for the AA once or twice, and after nearly succumbing to the World’s Strongest Slam Cena will dig deep and find the strength to deliver the Attitude Adjustment and win. Cena retains.
So that is the entire card. I don’t expect any title changes since I feel like they are trying to build up to an exciting SummerSlam next month, which I’m cool with as long as the matches tonight are good. Money in the Bank matches are hard to really screw up so those will be fun to watch, and the rest of the card has nothing actively terrible so I’m excited for the show. Hopefully it is good.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Monday, July 8, 2013
New Era for New England Revolution
For the last few years the Revolution have struggled in
league play, everyone knows that. This
long run of poor form for one of the most storied franchises in Major League
Soccer has caused their fan base to dwindle and left fans around the league
saying, “Oh we play the Revs next week, easy win.” What happened to the four-time MLS Cup
runners-up? Or the team that brought in over
15k a game in the early days of the league, even when the team was performing poorly? After years of mediocrity, the glory days of
the Revolution are slowly but surely coming back into focus.
As someone who did not follow MLS prior to 2008-2009, I do not have a memory of a time when the Revolution was a team to be feared. That was just after their final go-around at the top of the league. Since then the team has struggled to find an identity. Until this season.
Somehow, the Revolution have finally found a working roster. They score goals, they can defend, they win games, they sign well-known players, and they (rumored) are close to finding a stadium location. Most importantly, however, the core of players they have found is very young, and very talented.
This year’s MLS Draft saw the Revolution take defender Andrew Farrell, an intimidating outside back. At the time he was expected to be a good right back, but over the course of this season he has become so much more. He has blown away the expectations of many. He is composed on the ball, shows his dribbling skills from time to time, and has come within inches of scoring his first MLS goal. He gives the Revolution a very athletic and threatening outside back who is not afraid to come forward. Not to mention he is only 21.
Moving into the midfield, the Revolution have a lineup that has hit its stride as a fast and fluid collection of quick players. Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe are the anchors of the midfield, as the lineup around them is constantly shifting. Ryan Guy, Chris Tierney, Scott Caldwell, Clyde Simms, and Kalifa Cisse all make their fair share of contributions. This core of midfielders has great chemistry and has found ways to get the ball forward quickly to take advantage of the speed on the roster.
As someone who did not follow MLS prior to 2008-2009, I do not have a memory of a time when the Revolution was a team to be feared. That was just after their final go-around at the top of the league. Since then the team has struggled to find an identity. Until this season.
Somehow, the Revolution have finally found a working roster. They score goals, they can defend, they win games, they sign well-known players, and they (rumored) are close to finding a stadium location. Most importantly, however, the core of players they have found is very young, and very talented.
This year’s MLS Draft saw the Revolution take defender Andrew Farrell, an intimidating outside back. At the time he was expected to be a good right back, but over the course of this season he has become so much more. He has blown away the expectations of many. He is composed on the ball, shows his dribbling skills from time to time, and has come within inches of scoring his first MLS goal. He gives the Revolution a very athletic and threatening outside back who is not afraid to come forward. Not to mention he is only 21.
Moving into the midfield, the Revolution have a lineup that has hit its stride as a fast and fluid collection of quick players. Lee Nguyen and Kelyn Rowe are the anchors of the midfield, as the lineup around them is constantly shifting. Ryan Guy, Chris Tierney, Scott Caldwell, Clyde Simms, and Kalifa Cisse all make their fair share of contributions. This core of midfielders has great chemistry and has found ways to get the ball forward quickly to take advantage of the speed on the roster.
The Revolution have finally found their players, now it is a matter of keeping them. Andrew Farrell has proven to be a monster at the back, Kelyn Rowe and Lee Nguyen have kept the team running smoothly and quickly, and the partnership of Juan Agudelo with Diego Fagundez has sparked an offensive juggernaut. Dimitry Imbongo has had a good run of form as well, pushing the preseason favorite to be the Revolution’s top goal-scorer, Bengston, off the lineup for the time being.
As far as the hunt for a new home goes, there has been
little official word beyond “we are looking”.
Fans of the Revs and MLS alike eagerly await an announcement, and with
the renaming of a street at one of the proposed locations to “Revolution Drive”
it seems there may be something happening still. The street that has been renamed is in
Somerville, and would be a great location for the stadium.
Right now the Revolution are one of the most exciting teams to watch, and it is hard to imagine that they will not be top contenders in a year or two. They play fast, they play with flash, they have young talent, and they are possibly about to find a new stadium. A new-look roster, great team chemistry, and possibly a brand new stadium, there is potential in New England, and it is starting to show.
And who doesn’t love a thrashing of the LA Galaxy?
The Boy Who Cried Wolf: An attempt to look into the mind of Anderson Silva
“I didn’t think this was how the reign would end.”
That seems to be the common sentiment among many MMA fans following Chris Weidman’s stunning second round knockout victory over Anderson Silva this past weekend at UFC 162 to become the new UFC Middleweight Champion. As Silva did what could be called his “classic” taunting routine and danced around with his hands at his side, Weidman caught Silva with a left to knock him clean out and end Silva’s UFC record 16-fight win streak, as well as Silva’s record 10-fight title defense streak.
This was Silva’s first loss since being disqualified after knocking out Yushin Okami with an illegal upkick in 2006, and his first actual time being beaten since 2004. After a remarkable run of dominance that saw Silva become the greatest fighter in the history of the sport, his own arrogance cost him against Weidman.
Going into the fight, many thought it would be Weidman’s outstanding wrestling and submissions that would allow him to beat the 38-year-old champion, so it came as a shock to many when Weidman won the fight standing. As a die-hard Silva fan, I always figured that when he lost it would be pretty much in the exact fashion that it went down over the weekend. How long can you realistically keep taunting people before it comes back to haunt you? He’s had close calls before so this was bound to happen.
Weidman’s wrestling and ground-and-pound were a huge threat to be sure, as well as his submissions, but Silva has shown great takedown defense when he wants to. Look at the second round of his second bout with Chael Sonnen, or even the second round of the Weidman fight. If Silva doesn’t want to go down, he can be very tough to bring down. What has made Silva the G.O.A.T. is the fact he can pretty much always dictate where he wants a fight to go when he wants to finish it.
However against Weidman, Silva did not fight like the Anderson Silva we know and love. I am not one of these conspiracy theorists screaming Silva threw the fight or anything like that, but Silva acted like an idiot, even more than he has in pretty much any other fight ever and it was really weird. Silva has long put his hands down and baited opponents into hitting him, so really it was only a matter of time before somebody did it and made him pay. His taunting and showboating were off the charts, even by Silva standards, and that is why he got caught by that left and lost. But saying Silva acted like this because he didn’t take Weidman seriously seems like too easy of an explanation for the sudden demise of the all-time great.
This isn’t to say Weidman is not a terrific fighter and did not do a terrific job. He had good ground-and-pound in the first and even locked in a dangerous knee-bar. While Silva was pretending to be hurt and flailing around, Weidman set up the left that ended up really hurting Silva beautifully. That back-fist Weidman threw caught Silva completely off-guard and left the opening for the punch that ended it. Weidman was no fluke, and Silva says he does not want a rematch and even if he was to challenge Weidman in a rematch I’m not really sure Silva would or could win.
But this fight was bizarre to watch since in that second round Silva stuffed the takedown attempts but did not really try to press the action in the clinch and instead went ahead and acted like an arrogant fool. Sure, he threw some kicks at Weidman, but he didn’t really try to hurt him or go for the kill like we’ve seen before. People keep talking about how Silva has a history of disrespecting opponents, but since the fight against Damian Maia three years ago where he tired himself out dancing he hasn’t just taunted without trying to at least do some damage. Other than some hard leg kicks Silva’s striking didn’t really play to any of his strengths or accomplish anything.
The most confusing moment of the fight was when Silva had Weidman in the clinch and just let him go and started taunting. No punches or knees thrown, nothing. Maybe Weidman would have caught the legs and taken him back down, but we’ll never know. Conspiracy theorists and fans alike have now started to debate what Silva was doing in this fight. Did he take Weidman lightly and was trying to psych him out? Did he quit?
Going into the fight, Silva was talking about his legacy, said this wasn’t really his biggest challenge, said he’s done it all and there is nothing left for him, strangely let Weidman hold the belt with him in pictures, and was talking about super fights at other weights with Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre or even boxer Roy Jones, Jr. The strangest pre-fight moment came in this interview, where at the 5:02 mark he says Weidman winning would be perfect and that he wouldn’t pursue a rematch because he is “tired.”
Silva has notoriously trolled the media for years, but when a dude is 38 and has been in his prime for the better part of a decade, you have to start paying attention to what he says. When a fighter starts openly talking about their legacy and saying they have done everything there is to do, it usually is a sign that the end is coming. Anybody who thought Silva was going to coast to a victory should have paid attention to Silva’s words before the fight and reassessed what might happen. It reminded me of Randy Couture talking about his legacy and how he just wanted interesting fights, only to get laid out by Lyoto Machida and then just retire.
Yes Silva totally trolls people all the time, but maybe it is because I am the type of sports fan who always thinks the absolute worst is about to happen but I didn’t take this stuff as trolling. Holding the belt with Weidman probably was just a troll move, but a lot of the other stuff didn’t seem like Silva doing what he always does; it was all very, very weird.
And I am not trying to say Silva didn’t care or wanted to lose, it seemed more like he just lost the fire. It happens to all of the greats sometime. It is worth checking where his head was at to see why he acted the way he did in the cage. I am sure he did take Weidman lightly on some level. But at the same time, he seemed pretty relieved to not be champion anymore. In a speech that wasn’t quite a retirement speech but certainly made it seem like his drive to fight wasn’t there anymore, he said he wants to spend time with his family and has no interest in fighting for the belt again. At the post-fight presser he said that fighting for the belt comes with a lot of pressure and he is too tired to keep doing it, but maybe he will change his mind on the rematch.
People are calling bullshit on Silva’s talk of being tired and not being interested in fighting for the belt anymore, but keep in mind after the first Sonnen fight Silva was complaining about training and being away from his family after his grandmother died, so this feeling building over two years isn’t totally weird.
He’s also had to deal with seeing his good friend Minotauro Nogueira fade out of the limelight. When Silva was going to retire in the mid-2000s, Minotauro Nogueira convinced Silva to come train with him and his brother and rejuvenated Silva’s passion for the fight game. We’ve seen Silva sobbing out of joy from Big Nog winning, so to see a good friend go from never being finished to getting knocked out or submitted in four of his last seven fights and essentially be done fighting has to have some effect. As Nogueira’s legendary career seems to be pretty much over, is it totally unbelievable that maybe Silva’s passion is waning as well?
People point to Silva having a 10-fight contract with the UFC still as a sign that his passion is very much there, but at 38 and in the tail-end of his career does anybody expect him to fight that many more times? People say that somebody doesn’t just lose their drive when they are winning for so long. Did Michael Jordan not retire in 1993 after the Chicago Bulls won their historic third straight NBA Championship? We don’t know what was going through Silva’s head so we’ll never really know if he’s serious about being “tired” until we see where he goes in a few months.
Anderson Silva has been at the top of his game for a long, long time. To be 38 and riding high for so long has to take a toll on you mentally and physically, especially when you’re preparing for championship bout after championship bout. And he had contemplated retirement before so he has kind of always had his mind on life after fighting. Ultimately I am sure his taunting came from partly taking Weidman lightly and thinking he could easily whoop ass, but maybe slightly more from just putting on the show and going through the motions since there comes a time when you don’t have the eye of the tiger to back it all up anymore.
Before, during, and after the fight Silva seemed pretty weird about everything. He has reached that point in his career where this is nothing to prove, and he even said as much going into the fight. That is usually the sign that the end is nigh. Of course Weidman brought the fight to the King and beat the greatest fighter in history and nobody can ever take that away from him, and even more historic than just ending Silva’s win streaks is the potential fact that he may have snatched Silva’s passion for fighting.
If Silva was trolling going into the fight, he certainly doesn’t seem to be trolling now. After weathering the early storm from Weidman in the first, Silva’s antics felt more like him just doing a Silva routine and seeing what happened than him really trying to just win. It was like he came to terms with his own mortality as a fighter and thought, “If I can bait him into doing something stupid and beat him, cool. If not, I guess I am cool with that too.” He probably still very much wanted to win, but it seemed like there was a sense of understanding that he isn’t going to stay on top forever buried in there.
He wasn’t actively trying to lose, but by the time the fight was over he had already come to terms with the fact he’s pushing 40 in a young man’s game and has already cemented his place as the UFC’s greatest fighter. Silva is almost like The Boy Who Cried Wolf since he has trolled the media for so long, people doubt he is serious when he says things that make it seem like he doesn’t really want to fight anymore. Maybe going into the fight Silva really was serious about not caring if he won or lost by this point, hence him being so cool with losing afterwards?
And this is most certainly not to say Chris Weidman would not have beaten an Anderson Silva that 100% absolutely wanted to be there. His strengths played into Silva’s weaknesses perfectly regardless. But for Silva to not really try and take advantage on the feet for several minutes and just taunt and play around more than he ever has in a fight, then to be so cool with losing shows that maybe years of dominance and getting old really have taken a lot of the passion he once had.
For a legendary figure like Anderson Silva to lose like this there has to be a better explanation than, “Oh he was just playing around like an asshole and got hit,” right?
That seems to be the common sentiment among many MMA fans following Chris Weidman’s stunning second round knockout victory over Anderson Silva this past weekend at UFC 162 to become the new UFC Middleweight Champion. As Silva did what could be called his “classic” taunting routine and danced around with his hands at his side, Weidman caught Silva with a left to knock him clean out and end Silva’s UFC record 16-fight win streak, as well as Silva’s record 10-fight title defense streak.
This was Silva’s first loss since being disqualified after knocking out Yushin Okami with an illegal upkick in 2006, and his first actual time being beaten since 2004. After a remarkable run of dominance that saw Silva become the greatest fighter in the history of the sport, his own arrogance cost him against Weidman.
Going into the fight, many thought it would be Weidman’s outstanding wrestling and submissions that would allow him to beat the 38-year-old champion, so it came as a shock to many when Weidman won the fight standing. As a die-hard Silva fan, I always figured that when he lost it would be pretty much in the exact fashion that it went down over the weekend. How long can you realistically keep taunting people before it comes back to haunt you? He’s had close calls before so this was bound to happen.
Weidman’s wrestling and ground-and-pound were a huge threat to be sure, as well as his submissions, but Silva has shown great takedown defense when he wants to. Look at the second round of his second bout with Chael Sonnen, or even the second round of the Weidman fight. If Silva doesn’t want to go down, he can be very tough to bring down. What has made Silva the G.O.A.T. is the fact he can pretty much always dictate where he wants a fight to go when he wants to finish it.
However against Weidman, Silva did not fight like the Anderson Silva we know and love. I am not one of these conspiracy theorists screaming Silva threw the fight or anything like that, but Silva acted like an idiot, even more than he has in pretty much any other fight ever and it was really weird. Silva has long put his hands down and baited opponents into hitting him, so really it was only a matter of time before somebody did it and made him pay. His taunting and showboating were off the charts, even by Silva standards, and that is why he got caught by that left and lost. But saying Silva acted like this because he didn’t take Weidman seriously seems like too easy of an explanation for the sudden demise of the all-time great.
This isn’t to say Weidman is not a terrific fighter and did not do a terrific job. He had good ground-and-pound in the first and even locked in a dangerous knee-bar. While Silva was pretending to be hurt and flailing around, Weidman set up the left that ended up really hurting Silva beautifully. That back-fist Weidman threw caught Silva completely off-guard and left the opening for the punch that ended it. Weidman was no fluke, and Silva says he does not want a rematch and even if he was to challenge Weidman in a rematch I’m not really sure Silva would or could win.
But this fight was bizarre to watch since in that second round Silva stuffed the takedown attempts but did not really try to press the action in the clinch and instead went ahead and acted like an arrogant fool. Sure, he threw some kicks at Weidman, but he didn’t really try to hurt him or go for the kill like we’ve seen before. People keep talking about how Silva has a history of disrespecting opponents, but since the fight against Damian Maia three years ago where he tired himself out dancing he hasn’t just taunted without trying to at least do some damage. Other than some hard leg kicks Silva’s striking didn’t really play to any of his strengths or accomplish anything.
The most confusing moment of the fight was when Silva had Weidman in the clinch and just let him go and started taunting. No punches or knees thrown, nothing. Maybe Weidman would have caught the legs and taken him back down, but we’ll never know. Conspiracy theorists and fans alike have now started to debate what Silva was doing in this fight. Did he take Weidman lightly and was trying to psych him out? Did he quit?
Going into the fight, Silva was talking about his legacy, said this wasn’t really his biggest challenge, said he’s done it all and there is nothing left for him, strangely let Weidman hold the belt with him in pictures, and was talking about super fights at other weights with Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre or even boxer Roy Jones, Jr. The strangest pre-fight moment came in this interview, where at the 5:02 mark he says Weidman winning would be perfect and that he wouldn’t pursue a rematch because he is “tired.”
Silva has notoriously trolled the media for years, but when a dude is 38 and has been in his prime for the better part of a decade, you have to start paying attention to what he says. When a fighter starts openly talking about their legacy and saying they have done everything there is to do, it usually is a sign that the end is coming. Anybody who thought Silva was going to coast to a victory should have paid attention to Silva’s words before the fight and reassessed what might happen. It reminded me of Randy Couture talking about his legacy and how he just wanted interesting fights, only to get laid out by Lyoto Machida and then just retire.
Yes Silva totally trolls people all the time, but maybe it is because I am the type of sports fan who always thinks the absolute worst is about to happen but I didn’t take this stuff as trolling. Holding the belt with Weidman probably was just a troll move, but a lot of the other stuff didn’t seem like Silva doing what he always does; it was all very, very weird.
And I am not trying to say Silva didn’t care or wanted to lose, it seemed more like he just lost the fire. It happens to all of the greats sometime. It is worth checking where his head was at to see why he acted the way he did in the cage. I am sure he did take Weidman lightly on some level. But at the same time, he seemed pretty relieved to not be champion anymore. In a speech that wasn’t quite a retirement speech but certainly made it seem like his drive to fight wasn’t there anymore, he said he wants to spend time with his family and has no interest in fighting for the belt again. At the post-fight presser he said that fighting for the belt comes with a lot of pressure and he is too tired to keep doing it, but maybe he will change his mind on the rematch.
People are calling bullshit on Silva’s talk of being tired and not being interested in fighting for the belt anymore, but keep in mind after the first Sonnen fight Silva was complaining about training and being away from his family after his grandmother died, so this feeling building over two years isn’t totally weird.
He’s also had to deal with seeing his good friend Minotauro Nogueira fade out of the limelight. When Silva was going to retire in the mid-2000s, Minotauro Nogueira convinced Silva to come train with him and his brother and rejuvenated Silva’s passion for the fight game. We’ve seen Silva sobbing out of joy from Big Nog winning, so to see a good friend go from never being finished to getting knocked out or submitted in four of his last seven fights and essentially be done fighting has to have some effect. As Nogueira’s legendary career seems to be pretty much over, is it totally unbelievable that maybe Silva’s passion is waning as well?
People point to Silva having a 10-fight contract with the UFC still as a sign that his passion is very much there, but at 38 and in the tail-end of his career does anybody expect him to fight that many more times? People say that somebody doesn’t just lose their drive when they are winning for so long. Did Michael Jordan not retire in 1993 after the Chicago Bulls won their historic third straight NBA Championship? We don’t know what was going through Silva’s head so we’ll never really know if he’s serious about being “tired” until we see where he goes in a few months.
Anderson Silva has been at the top of his game for a long, long time. To be 38 and riding high for so long has to take a toll on you mentally and physically, especially when you’re preparing for championship bout after championship bout. And he had contemplated retirement before so he has kind of always had his mind on life after fighting. Ultimately I am sure his taunting came from partly taking Weidman lightly and thinking he could easily whoop ass, but maybe slightly more from just putting on the show and going through the motions since there comes a time when you don’t have the eye of the tiger to back it all up anymore.
Before, during, and after the fight Silva seemed pretty weird about everything. He has reached that point in his career where this is nothing to prove, and he even said as much going into the fight. That is usually the sign that the end is nigh. Of course Weidman brought the fight to the King and beat the greatest fighter in history and nobody can ever take that away from him, and even more historic than just ending Silva’s win streaks is the potential fact that he may have snatched Silva’s passion for fighting.
If Silva was trolling going into the fight, he certainly doesn’t seem to be trolling now. After weathering the early storm from Weidman in the first, Silva’s antics felt more like him just doing a Silva routine and seeing what happened than him really trying to just win. It was like he came to terms with his own mortality as a fighter and thought, “If I can bait him into doing something stupid and beat him, cool. If not, I guess I am cool with that too.” He probably still very much wanted to win, but it seemed like there was a sense of understanding that he isn’t going to stay on top forever buried in there.
He wasn’t actively trying to lose, but by the time the fight was over he had already come to terms with the fact he’s pushing 40 in a young man’s game and has already cemented his place as the UFC’s greatest fighter. Silva is almost like The Boy Who Cried Wolf since he has trolled the media for so long, people doubt he is serious when he says things that make it seem like he doesn’t really want to fight anymore. Maybe going into the fight Silva really was serious about not caring if he won or lost by this point, hence him being so cool with losing afterwards?
And this is most certainly not to say Chris Weidman would not have beaten an Anderson Silva that 100% absolutely wanted to be there. His strengths played into Silva’s weaknesses perfectly regardless. But for Silva to not really try and take advantage on the feet for several minutes and just taunt and play around more than he ever has in a fight, then to be so cool with losing shows that maybe years of dominance and getting old really have taken a lot of the passion he once had.
For a legendary figure like Anderson Silva to lose like this there has to be a better explanation than, “Oh he was just playing around like an asshole and got hit,” right?
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Gotta Get Out of Los Angeles: Thoughts on Dwight Howard's Free Agency Circus
The NBA free agency period has started and all of the focus is planted squarely on Dwight Howard. After a saga that has spanned several seasons and included driving Stan Van Gundy out of Orlando and acting like a petulant child because he feels he’s owed the right to contend for a championship, Dwight finally gets to choose the team that can hopefully carry him to the promised land. The Lakers are trying to convince him to stay, but Howard still set up meetings with a few teams, and yesterday met with the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, and Golden State Warriors.
Today’s meetings are the Dallas Mavericks, as well as the Lakers, who have already made a few quick plays at Howard. There are currently billboards all over Los Angeles begging Howard to stay and be the star to carry the Lakers into the future as Kobe Bryant’s career winds down, but if Howard has any sense at all he will bail on Tinsel Town.
Other teams can offer Howard a 4-year, $88 million deal, but the Lakers can tack on another year as well as another $30 million. Word is that Howard’s prime focus right now is winning, and if that is the case then he needs to forego that extra 30 mil and sign with Houston, or maybe get the Lakers to work a sign-and-trade with Golden State.
Leaving Los Angeles is at least what Howard has to do. Howard does not like playing in Coach Mike D’Antoni’s system and he wants to contend for years to come. D’Antoni does not understand defense and has never been able to make a team that didn’t have Shawn Marion and Steve Nash look like a legitimate threat. And the cast around Howard is not built to contend next year or really probably any year soon. Kobe Bryant’s contract is an albatross that hinders LA’s ability to make any good moves to put up a supporting cast, and the team desperately needs one.
Kobe Bryant has played 17 seasons, and adding in playoffs and international play we’re looking at roughly 20 seasons. He has a ton of mileage on his body, and who knows how well he will play coming back from his torn Achilles this year. Mike D’Antoni has a history of not resting players, and when Kobe was essentially playing entire games when LA made the hard push to get into the playoffs, he got hurt badly. That is not a situation that inspires confidence.
Steve Nash is going to turn 40 during the ’13-’14 season, and his bad back isn’t going to magically improve as he keeps getting older. Factor in his hip and hamstring issues and again this is not a situation that inspires confidence in the Lakers as contenders. And Pau Gasol is 32 with bad feet, and Ron Artest is 33 and insane. The Lakers are not exactly spry chickens prepared to go hard into the future. And there is essentially no bench other than Steve Blake and the 37-year-old Antawn Jamison. But the Lakers are looking into bringing back Jordan Farmar for what that’s worth.
Old age and poor coaching are going to keep the Lakers from being a legitimate threat in the West. And even if D’Antoni doesn’t suck or the Lakers fire him and get Phil Jackson, how long are they realistically going to compete at the highest level? Next season maybe, and then where do they go? You need them to make big free agent plays to keep contending. There is a lot of risk involved with staying in LA.
Houston, however, is a young and exciting team that people have high hopes for already, and the addition of Dwight Howard would make them pretty devastating now and in the future. If the Rockets added Howard outright a starting lineup of Jeremy Lin, James Harden, Chandler Parsons, Howard, and Omir Asik would be pretty nasty. Granted Howard and Asik would be the worst free throw shooting tandem ever, but that defense would be unstoppable.
Even though that line up would be solid, the Rockets are currently exploring trades for Lin and Asik in order to add another star to join up with Howard and Harden. Howard and Harden together already makes your team pretty awesome in the NBA 2K games, but if they can add another star to the mix they would be set to contend for a while. Either way, a Howard-Harden combo in Houston with a good supporting cast would have potential to be a big threat in the West for years to come. And Kevin McHale coaching that team would be solid since the Hall of Fame big man would have a better understanding on how to use Howard than D’Antoni.
Then there is Golden State. The Warriors became the darlings of the NBA Playoffs this season behind exciting offensive weapons like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Harrison Barnes. Even Andrew Bogut played well during that playoff run and didn’t get injured somehow. Golden State even had a good regular season and is an up and coming team, and adding Dwight Howard would only mean good things. The Warriors apparently want to offer a sign-and-trade with the Lakers where they would give up Bogut and either Thompson or Barnes, though rumor has it the Lakers are not interested.
While it would be unfortunate to lose Thompson or Barnes, adding Howard to the mix would make the Warriors a massive threat. Then you’ve got Curry, one of those two aforementioned guys, David Lee, and Dwight Howard. Much like Houston, that is a young and exciting team that could contend for a long time. If Steph Curry stays healthy and David Lee plays up to the money he has been owed, the Warriors may be the best destination for Howard. They are already a tough team that can give anybody a scare, and putting in the best center in the league elevates them to elite status, and Mark Jackson is a total upgrade from Mike D’Antoni.
The Mavericks and Hawks have the cap room to sign Howard but there is not much else going on. Atlanta is losing Josh Smith, and while an Al Horford-Howard front court would be pretty good, are they realistically going to beat Miami or Chicago or Indiana? Dallas is in a similar boat as they have cap room to make some moves, but there isn’t much there right now. Dallas wants Rajon Rondo, but all in all there is too much uncertainty surrounding the supporting cast whereas Houston and Golden State are ready to add him in right now.
We’ll soon know where Dwight Howard wants to ply his trade for the next several years, ending a free agency debacle that has been even crazier than what LeBron James put the sporting world through three years ago. If his head is screwed on right he will get out of Los Angeles, even if Steve Nash is tweeting that they will build him a statue in 20 years. The Lakers are one of the legendary franchises in sports, but realistically if Howard wants to start playing for championships he needs to ride the wave of youth and better coaching and play for a team that can last for years to come.
Today’s meetings are the Dallas Mavericks, as well as the Lakers, who have already made a few quick plays at Howard. There are currently billboards all over Los Angeles begging Howard to stay and be the star to carry the Lakers into the future as Kobe Bryant’s career winds down, but if Howard has any sense at all he will bail on Tinsel Town.
Other teams can offer Howard a 4-year, $88 million deal, but the Lakers can tack on another year as well as another $30 million. Word is that Howard’s prime focus right now is winning, and if that is the case then he needs to forego that extra 30 mil and sign with Houston, or maybe get the Lakers to work a sign-and-trade with Golden State.
Leaving Los Angeles is at least what Howard has to do. Howard does not like playing in Coach Mike D’Antoni’s system and he wants to contend for years to come. D’Antoni does not understand defense and has never been able to make a team that didn’t have Shawn Marion and Steve Nash look like a legitimate threat. And the cast around Howard is not built to contend next year or really probably any year soon. Kobe Bryant’s contract is an albatross that hinders LA’s ability to make any good moves to put up a supporting cast, and the team desperately needs one.
Kobe Bryant has played 17 seasons, and adding in playoffs and international play we’re looking at roughly 20 seasons. He has a ton of mileage on his body, and who knows how well he will play coming back from his torn Achilles this year. Mike D’Antoni has a history of not resting players, and when Kobe was essentially playing entire games when LA made the hard push to get into the playoffs, he got hurt badly. That is not a situation that inspires confidence.
Steve Nash is going to turn 40 during the ’13-’14 season, and his bad back isn’t going to magically improve as he keeps getting older. Factor in his hip and hamstring issues and again this is not a situation that inspires confidence in the Lakers as contenders. And Pau Gasol is 32 with bad feet, and Ron Artest is 33 and insane. The Lakers are not exactly spry chickens prepared to go hard into the future. And there is essentially no bench other than Steve Blake and the 37-year-old Antawn Jamison. But the Lakers are looking into bringing back Jordan Farmar for what that’s worth.
Old age and poor coaching are going to keep the Lakers from being a legitimate threat in the West. And even if D’Antoni doesn’t suck or the Lakers fire him and get Phil Jackson, how long are they realistically going to compete at the highest level? Next season maybe, and then where do they go? You need them to make big free agent plays to keep contending. There is a lot of risk involved with staying in LA.
Houston, however, is a young and exciting team that people have high hopes for already, and the addition of Dwight Howard would make them pretty devastating now and in the future. If the Rockets added Howard outright a starting lineup of Jeremy Lin, James Harden, Chandler Parsons, Howard, and Omir Asik would be pretty nasty. Granted Howard and Asik would be the worst free throw shooting tandem ever, but that defense would be unstoppable.
Even though that line up would be solid, the Rockets are currently exploring trades for Lin and Asik in order to add another star to join up with Howard and Harden. Howard and Harden together already makes your team pretty awesome in the NBA 2K games, but if they can add another star to the mix they would be set to contend for a while. Either way, a Howard-Harden combo in Houston with a good supporting cast would have potential to be a big threat in the West for years to come. And Kevin McHale coaching that team would be solid since the Hall of Fame big man would have a better understanding on how to use Howard than D’Antoni.
Then there is Golden State. The Warriors became the darlings of the NBA Playoffs this season behind exciting offensive weapons like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Harrison Barnes. Even Andrew Bogut played well during that playoff run and didn’t get injured somehow. Golden State even had a good regular season and is an up and coming team, and adding Dwight Howard would only mean good things. The Warriors apparently want to offer a sign-and-trade with the Lakers where they would give up Bogut and either Thompson or Barnes, though rumor has it the Lakers are not interested.
While it would be unfortunate to lose Thompson or Barnes, adding Howard to the mix would make the Warriors a massive threat. Then you’ve got Curry, one of those two aforementioned guys, David Lee, and Dwight Howard. Much like Houston, that is a young and exciting team that could contend for a long time. If Steph Curry stays healthy and David Lee plays up to the money he has been owed, the Warriors may be the best destination for Howard. They are already a tough team that can give anybody a scare, and putting in the best center in the league elevates them to elite status, and Mark Jackson is a total upgrade from Mike D’Antoni.
The Mavericks and Hawks have the cap room to sign Howard but there is not much else going on. Atlanta is losing Josh Smith, and while an Al Horford-Howard front court would be pretty good, are they realistically going to beat Miami or Chicago or Indiana? Dallas is in a similar boat as they have cap room to make some moves, but there isn’t much there right now. Dallas wants Rajon Rondo, but all in all there is too much uncertainty surrounding the supporting cast whereas Houston and Golden State are ready to add him in right now.
We’ll soon know where Dwight Howard wants to ply his trade for the next several years, ending a free agency debacle that has been even crazier than what LeBron James put the sporting world through three years ago. If his head is screwed on right he will get out of Los Angeles, even if Steve Nash is tweeting that they will build him a statue in 20 years. The Lakers are one of the legendary franchises in sports, but realistically if Howard wants to start playing for championships he needs to ride the wave of youth and better coaching and play for a team that can last for years to come.
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