From Coggins Noggin

I AM BACK

Apr 12

Written by:
4/12/2011 12:02 AM

Well, what has been going on in the sports world since my last post? I am sorry I haven’t been able to do anything lately, but taking Allegra from Rx to OTC has been A LOT more time consuming that ever imagined. If anyone is an allergy sufferer (as this guy is), head to your local Harris Teeter, Food Lion or Kerr Drug and give it a try.

Saturday afternoon was spent watching the Masters and Saturday evening was spent wathcing Strikeforce Diaz vs. Daley. That fight, while Diaz won with a first round KO, was an old-fashioned slugfest and awesome to watch. If you have Showtime, look for the replay. More about the Masters and MMA later, but I wonder how many people watched both as I did? I am pretty sure that there would not be a large overlap in attendance at a live event should they ever appear in the same town on a weekend.

Did you have Charl Schwartzel in your Masters pool because the man that got, “the field,” won our pool? Sunday at the Masters lived up to its billing as must see TV from 2 PM on. Guys were chipping in from around the greens, holing out from the fairways, bombing putts, just everything you want to see on Sunday. As Tiger rolled in his put on nine to close out his front side with a 31, there was a feeling that this could be green jacket #5 for Mr. Woods. Rory McIlroy began to implode with his triple bogey on ten and all of a sudden, Rory had brought ten players back into contention. Tiger’s putter disappeared on the back nine and essentially eliminated him from contention. All of the young guns that were in the running faltered along the way except one: Charl. Schwartzel did something that no one has ever done and birdied the last four holes to get to -14 and win his first green jacket and a lifetime exemption to Augusta every April. Anyone that questions Rory McIlroy and how much of a standup guy and a star in this game he will be in this game for a longtime needs to check out this link and the quote below it. http://twitpic.com/4jqjuf. After Rory’s win in Charlotte last year I began to follow him more closely, but this picture makes me want to see this guy win and win a lot. I am not sure that at age 34, I would have shown the class and patience that this 21 year old displayed yesterday after what had to be a torturous back nine.

UFC bought Strikeforce, so what does this mean for the future of MMA? The UFC officials say that is will be business as usual for the foreseeable future, but many are wondering if we may see some unification bouts or “Super Fights,” in the future. Scott Coker, the CEO of Strikeforce, thinks that if the fans demand it, then it will happen. I am really torn on this entire deal and how this could alter the landscape of MMA in the future. Competition is great for bettering everyone’s game and this seems to place all of the top fighters under the UFC umbrella. While Strikeforce is already benefiting from the UFC marketing power, is this merger going to be good for the sport moving forward? The UFC has always been regarding as the Major League of fighting and all other promotions have been viewed as minor leagues. How will things work out for fighters when their contracts are up and they can sign with either Strikeforce or UFC, what bargaining power does any fighter have now? I cannot see anyone allowing a fighter to play both sides and how would this not be viewed as potentially some sort of collusion to keep costs down? Some guys, like a Paul Daley, who was banned for life from UFC after sucker punching Josh Koscheck, and Keith Jardine, who was released from the UFC (and both fought at the Strikeforce event this past Saturday evening) what options do they have going forward when their contracts are up? If you are banned from Strikeforce or UFC, will that ban or punishment eventually cover both brands? Do Super Fights really make sense, as the positive is in creating a major push for someone winning, but you are essentially tossing out a weight division in the losing organization? There are some potential fights that could make a lot of money for a lot of people. I think it is going to be very interesting to see how things evolve with MMA moving forward.

UConn won the National Championship in what was one of the worst college basketball games I have ever watched. Now I can watch almost any basketball game, but that was horrible. My favorite part of the entire tournament was the addition of Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley to the studio team. They are great working together and brought some awesome one-liners and lightened the mood and made it fun to watch games again and listen to their insight.

Moving forward, I am going to try and add some different sections to this. I want to do some golf course reviews, take in some more live sporting events around the region and blog from those events. Sports are supposed to be a release for many of us and I want to make sure these are fun and insightful. If I come across some great golf courses, I want to pass that info along to these readers. Hope everyone enjoys this and continues to read and please provide any feedback to Ben@southernsportsjournal.net THANKS !

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The First of Many....(Hopefully)

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