Maddux Sports Blog

The UFC scored a huge victory yesterday, and they didn’t even have to do anything. Former UFC fighter Josh Barnett was supposed to be in the main event of the next Affliction card against Fedor Emelianenko on August 1. Barnett was briefly a UFC heavyweight champion, but he was stripped of that title and booted from the UFC when he tested positive for steroids. He moved on to Pride and then to Affliction after burning that UFC bridge, and he established himself as a top heavyweight outside of the biggest organization. In his pre-fight drug test this week he again tested positive. That means he obviously can’t get a license for the fight, and he was booted from the card. Affliction didn’t have the time to replace him, so they took the unusual step of cancelling the entire card. That’s a huge blow for a fledgling organization, and it could even be a fatal one. EliteXC was forced to declare bankruptcy after less of a setback than this one. Whether Affliction survives or not, this only serves to further establish the UFC as perhaps the only legitimate MMA organization out there. At the very least, they are by far the most professional. The best possible outcome of this is that Fedor Emelianenko would finally get frustrated by not fighting in the biggest and best and would join the UFC like he really needs to do. That would open up a world of possibilities – Randy Couture, Brock Lesnar and so on. There is no better place for him to be, and no other way for him to prove that he is what everyone thinks he is – the best heavyweight in the world, and perhaps the best fighter period.

(more…)

I really don’t get this whole David Beckham situation. (if you missed it, Beckham was booed throughout his first home game since returning from Milan yesterday) Or rather, I don’t get why people are so upset about the guy. It all comes down to expectations, I guess. What has happened hasn’t been great, but absolutely none of it is even the least bit surprising or unpredictable. In fact, if you didn’t see most of what has happened coming then you just didn’t spend the effort to understand the situation.

(more…)

If you were well above the average age of competitors in your sport then you should probably just have stayed at home on Sunday.

First, Lance Armstrong had to endure what must have been the most frustrating 20 minutes of his career. He and teammate Alberto Contador were virtually tied in Tour de France overall standings, and there was still some public debate about who would be the team’s leader – the one who the rest of the teammates work for to ensure he can win. There is no question about that anymore. Armstrong and Contador, who don’t seem to like each other much, were wheel to wheel for much of the long ride. The final 10 miles or so of the race were pretty much straight up hill. Again, Lance was climbing with Contador and looked very comfortable and relaxed. Suddenly, Contador made a bold move to break away. Armstrong had the legs to at least give chase and try to chase Contador down, but tradition dictates that you don’t try to chase down a teammate if he makes a break. That left Armstrong to sit there and stew as his shot to win the Tour likely went right out the window. This was almost certainly a team-dictated strategy and not one that Contador pursued on his own, but it still had to kill a competitive guy like Lance. He’s used to winning this race, and he is unlikely to have many  more chances to do so.

(more…)

I like old guys in professional sports who can still get the job done. On the other hand, I get peeved with old guys who don’t know when to hang it up. Of course, “old” is a relative term. Late 30s to 40s is old in most sports, whereas in most other aspects of life people in that age group are still considered young. It all has to do with peak physical performance, which for most happens in their late 20s to mid 30s. There have been some old guys in the new lately. Here they are.

(more…)

The third funniest thing I heard yesterday was that Richard Gasquet, the tennis pro suspended for testing positive for cocaine, decided to use the kissing defense. He claims that he was out partying one night when he kissed a random girl who had just happened to have recently snorted cocaine. Remnants of that cocaine were, he claims, still on her lips, so it was transferred to him when he went for the lip-lock. The next day he was drug tested and that’s why he says that test was positive. That sounds like the kind of theory that only a coke addict could come up with.

(more…)

Just a few quick notes from today. I haven’t been watching any traditional sports all day. Instead, I spent the day at the Calgary Stampede, the self-proclaimed ‘Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth’. There I was watching the rodeo and the chuckwagon races – like I did several times throughout the last 10 days. Today was the final day, and that meant that championships were given out in earnest. The rodeo gives away $900,000 in the six traditional events (calf roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, barrel racing, and bull riding for you city slickers) in less than an hour – exciting stuff. The chuckwagon races are a true and bizarre spectacle – one of those things that everyone should see at some point in their life. There is also a betting aspect, albeit a very informal one. There is no legal betting on the chuckwagon races, but virtually everyone there does betting of some time with those with them, and there are a few different ways to set up a very pleasing an potentially lucrative bit of action – friendly, but hopefully not too friendly. Calgary is sometimes a good place to live and sometimes not so much, but during the 10 days of the Stampede every July it shines.

(more…)

I can’t wait to see Tim Wakefield pitch in the all-star game. He’s a pleasure to watch, and he deserves to be there for the first time. There isn’t a high profile knuckleballer in the NL right now, so it could be fun to see some of these big guys facing a knuckleballer – perhaps for the first time ever. It’s the little stories like this that have to be relied upon to make the all-star game interesting, because as a whole it’s not a great event in my eyes.

(more…)

It was a pretty good day for a pair of friends today.

I had no doubt in my mind before today, but the argument has been made even more compelling – Roger Federer is unquestionably the greatest male tennis player of all time. If you didn’t see the match today then you really missed out. Andy Roddick, to his tremendous credit, played about as well as he could possibly have played. He was aggressive, accurate, and focused – three things that don’t always come in one package for the talented American. No matter what he did, though, Federer was there to match him. Roddick got close to a breakthrough a couple of times in the final marathon set, but whenever he pushed the Swiss star to the brink, Federer would fight his way out. Federer is so ridiculously creative – it’s almost as if he invents shots for particular situations, and as if he adapts his entire game to suit the needs of a particular situation. He wasn’t having an easy time handling Roddick’s blistering serve on Sunday, so he ratcheted his own serve up and, incredibly, almost doubled the number of aces Roddick had. It was a truly epic battle between two warriors, but you couldn’t shake the feeling from he very start that n matter what Roddick tried it wouldn’t quite be enough. Unbelievable.

(more…)

There’s a lot going on in the world today, so let’s touch on a bunch of it briefly:

Aroldis Chapman – This is the Cuban left handed pitching savant who defected from the Cuban national team while at a tournament in the Netherlands this week. The hype is huge on this guy – they are calling him the left-handed Stephen Strasburg. He seems to intend to come to the majors, and there will surely be a Dice-K-esque bidding war for his services. There are some strange elements to the story. First, he is being reported as being 21, yet when he pitched at the World Baseball Classic he was listed as 26. He also wasn’t particularly good against major league talent at the WBC – 5.68 ERA in almost seven innings. That’s obviously a small sample size and all, but it gives you reason to at least pause in the face of the hysteria.

(more…)

I really don’t understand the Bucks. They traded away Richard Jefferson, so they have a lack of scoring to make up. They drafted a point guard, so they have some depth there. So what did they do? Offered a contract to their free agent point guard and not the solid scoring threat. Ramon Sessions will likely be back with the team, but Charlie Villanueva has been cut loose. Very bizarre. I was certain that it was going to go the other way. It looks like things could end up very well for Villanueva – he looks like he will take he mid-level exception in Cleveland.

(more…)