The Old-Fashioned 3-Point Play

TOF3PP is two topics from the sports world, and one from American pop culture.

The Bucket

Die-hard boxing fan. Definitely one of the subcultures in the sports world I struggle with being a part of the most.

On one hand the boxing calendar consistently presents me with the equivalent of a NBA Playoffs’ Game 2 of whatever opening round match up you want to throw out there – even the 4 vs 5.

I usually can sit back and allow the different fighters, their respective camps/training teams and managers and promotional companies to run the sport of boxing (into the ground), knowing that until the marquee bouts can get fully agreed to and given both a venue and date, there are some young prospects eagerly vying to climb into a weight class’ Top 10 discussion.

Despite all the post-fight machismo we saw displayed towards knockout specialist Gennady “GGG” Golovkin by former middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in the ring immediately after his destructive knockout of welterweight contender Amir Khan, I am now content that an Alvarez-Gennady showdown is more than likely to happen around the same time as the release of Marvel’s highly anticipated Black Panther film – sometime in early 2018.

I am even okay with letting Team Canelo, or Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, sort out whether they fight an aging Manny Pacquiao (another welterweight) next, or one of the other titlists in his own division. That would be the 154-pound junior middleweight division – for anybody confused – which includes a bevy of exciting fighters including the Charlo twins Jermall and Jermell, Erislandy Lara, Julian Williams, and the highly inactive Demetrius Andrade.

All of that will eventually get sorted out, as well as boxing’s most electrifying showdown: Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev. These light-heavyweights are currently the #4 and #2, respectively, pound-for-pound fighters in the world per Ring Magazine.

What I am vehemently not okay with is the ongoing Floyd Mayweather, Jr versus UFC star Conor McGregor talk. Mayweather’s fast-growing outfit, Mayweather Promotions, recently held an event on Showtime Championship Boxing showcasing Lara and the Charlo twins on May 21st. I would not have normally given a potential Mayweather-McGregor boxing match up much credence, until I heard the Mayweather Promotions boss telling Showtime’s Steve Farhood the fight is highly possibly.

Honestly, this is nothing to fret about. My mind is made up. If the fight does come to fruition I will sit this one out – ENTIRELY. I’m hopeful that boxing fans and MMA fans will form an allegiance, do the right thing by not supporting this event, and make such a fight go down as a failed experiment. Multiple reports have surfaced about McGregor approaching Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach to possibly prepare the Irishman to box the 49-0 Mayweather, there are videos of sparring partners discrediting McGregor’s boxing skills and/or power, and even ESPN’s Teddy Atlas has now weighed in on the event’s likely outcome.

Personally, I can’t devote a great deal of time to breaking down this fight, I just fail to see how any non-boxing fighter or a mixed martial arts trained fighter can compete in a match without being able to use 75-80% of his/her skill set to beat an all-time talent whose been boxing for well over 25 years.

Fight fans REVOLT!

I have already unintentionally given you the two points of this piece’s The Bucket, belaboring my moderate frustration with the Canelo Alvarez/junior middleweight division/Triple G arc.

However, how can I ignore the thrilling NBA Western Conference Finals currently tied at 3-3 with the Oklahoma City Thunder heading back to Oakland Monday night May 30th to face the Golden State Warriors in a decisive yet unexpected Game 7? According to Odds Sharks the Dubs are a 7-point favorite with the contest going down in front of a raucous home crowd at the Roaracle.

Both teams have won one game in the opposing team’s gym with the Dubs’ W being under far greater duress, a late-game comeback to stave off elimination – as a regular season 73-9 team – in front of one of the NBA’s more boisterous home crowds. The difference is the Warriors and their lethal shooting Splash Bros. – 2016 unanimous MVP Stephen Curry and “Mr. 37 Points In A Quarter” Klay Thompson – have a better track record of closing out opponents after coming back from playoff series deficits. Last year the Warriors trailed both the Memphis Grizzlies and Cleveland Cavaliers 2-1 before closing out both series in Game 6.

I like the Warriors to move on to The Finals for a rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers at full strength, but there could never be a greater moment for OKC’s Kevin Durant to prove that he deserved a spot on the first unit of the All-NBA teams.

The And 1

The 2016 Billboard Music Awards set Madonna up for failure, treating her like a sacrificial virgin and offering her up to the cruel immaterial world of social media. The BBMA’s ignored the online pleas and campaign of Prince fans to swap out Madonna for somebody better, and while I thought there were better options to run with, I didn’t think the final outcome would be as bad as it was – even Stevie Wonder joining Madonna on-stage for some version of “Purple Rain” missed the mark.

We don’t know what artists were strongly considered but may have had touring or scheduling conflicts with the air of the BBMA’s. Or, was it the fact that most of the obvious choices – with the exception of say a Lenny Kravitz – who happen to be black artists or RnB (yes, that genre still exists) acts would have largely been unknown to the BBMA’s viewers. D’Angelo comes to mind. Minnesota’s Mint Condition was an option. Maybe Gary Clark Jr or Tom Morello should have been onstage for some guitar work. Chaka Khan!

I won’t waste too much time on who should have been there, but I think Billboard did Prince and his legacy a disservice by disregarding the caliber of musician he was, and the level of performance that he demanded from his band mates. I could have ignored Madonna’s vocal performance, but you simply cannot put together those lackluster musical arrangements for one of history’s most elite music recording superstars that turned in a brilliant showstopper performance for George Harrison’s tribute at the 2004 Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The world had spent several weeks mourning the loss of Prince, the BBMA’s should have striven for a performance that would have left the audience with one set of marching orders: Let’s Go Crazy!

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