PAPER TIGER: FLOYD THE “FRAUD” MAYWEATHER

Has there ever been a bigger fraud in the history of professional sports than Floyd “Money” Mayweather?  I doubt it.  Mayweather’s current status as the best “pound for pound” fighter proves how far the sport of professional boxing has fallen.  I’ve never seen an individual deemed “great” who never beat the “greats” of his time.  Muhammad Ali was the “greatest” because he actually FOUGHT the greatest much less BEAT them.  Ali fought Frazier, Liston, Foreman, Holmes, etc.  Joe Louis fought the greats of HIS time as did Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, etc.  Even the pathetic, punch drunk Evander Holyfield fought the best fighters of his day.

Not Mayweather though.  Floyd “Fraud” Mayweather is content to compile a resume of decision victories over mediocre, lifeless fighters he can’t knock out.  I mean, Miguel Cotto isn’t bad but there is no WAY he should take the best “pound for pound” fighter in the world a full 12 rounds.  The knock against Mayweather is that he lacks knock out power unless it’s outside the ring in the streets against one of his baby mamas or the poor sap who popped his father in a sparring match.  Mayweather’s argument that he Pacquaio shouldn’t make as much money as he does by splitting the purse 50/50 in a match doesn’t hold weight.  Why the hell does Floyd the “Fraud” care about how much Manny makes?  If you can sit on MTV Cribs with $400,000 cash strewn about your bedroom why the hell should you care?  This is the sign of a hater and a ducker and dodger.  Secure your legacy by beating the BEST there is.

With every passing day Floyd looks more and more like an aging fighter with weak hands trying to hold on to his legacy before some young stud comes along and cleans his clock.  Floyd is better at stalling then he is at throwing right hooks at his baby mama or a legitimate opponent.  Losing a boxing match as a professional fighter is as inevitable as death and taxes to us normal people in the real world.  What Floyd and his mishandlers fail to realize is that nobody’s going to look back and say “Wow, Floyd beat Miguel Cotto and “Irish” Danny Spivey” and regard him as great.  With every passing day he’s looking more and more some perverted 20-something college frat boy tool who measures his manliness by carving notches in his bed post of all the easily duped teenage girls he conned into sex.  Only Floyd measures his by beating up on some mediocre sap thrown his way.

Look back at all the great individual performances by professional athletes in the last 75 years and what makes them the GREATEST is that they BEAT the BEST.  Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali are probably the greatest professional athletes ever.  They not only BEAT the BEST they RELISHED THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMPETE AGAINST THE BEST.  There maybe a fighter out there better than Manny Pacquaio but right now Manny is the best the boxing world has to offer.  I hope Floyd uses his jail time to realize the tarnished legacy he is leaving behind.

AVENGERS: PURE AWESOME

I couldn’t get enough.  I had to go back for more.  Twice in one day first at midnight and later at 10:20pm I went to see The Avengers.  And funny thing is I’ll probably go back again.  The Avengers exceeded all my expectations and pretty much raised the bar beyond reach for the rest of the summer’s superhero flicks.  Even Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises will likely come up short.  Mid-thirty something Marvel Comic book fans such as myself have waited impatiently for years to see our childhood heroes in a well put together film.  Both the X-Men and Spiderman series failed and became stale and cheesy.  The Fantastic Four was just awful.  And even the Hulk had to suffer through a horrible premiere in 2003 and Edward Norton in 2008.

But Josh Whedon put together a hell of a film and the brilliance of it was that he was able to not only accurately capture the full qualities of each character but that he was able to give each character an equal amount of time allowing each to shine in the film.  Furthermore, the acting was well above the standard for what anyone can expect for a summer superhero movie.  Each actor fit his/her character perfectly.  I was most impressed with Chris Evans who was able to make the transition from the wise cracking Human Torch to the clean cut leader Captain America.  Robert Downey Jr. was brash and arrogant as Tony Stark/Iron Man.  Samuel L. was cool as usual playing Nick Fury while Chris Hemsworth is the PERFECT Thor and Tom Hiddleston was sadistic and sick as Loki.

But the biggest and freshest surprise of the film was Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk.  FINALLY MARVEL STUDIOS GOT THE HULK RIGHT!  The Hulk LOOKED like the Hulk and not the monstrosity in the 2003 production or the whiny pouting goliath in 2008.  He was proportionately accurate and smashed without hesitation or remorse.  His fight scene with Thor was awesome and watching the Hulk and Thor wreak utter havoc on Loki’s army was a child’s comic book fantasy come to life.  Whedon was brilliant in portraying Captain America as a man struggling to adapt to a new time but still being the awesome leader he is.

Even after 2 1/2 hours of pure awesomeness Whedon left the best for last when halfway through the credits he revealed the Avengers’ next foe.  I already had spent the duration wetting my pants begging for more but the revelation of Thanos just about blew my socks off.  I’m already looking forward to the sequel but until then I think I’m going to have to chalk up another $13.50 for 2 1/2 hours more of superhero bliss.

Negative Thinking Destroys Relationships

It has been my experience that negative thinking can ruin any relationship be it marriage, friendship, working relationship, etc.  We live in a society that overwhelms us with useless information a large portion of which involves images and sound bytes of people in conflict.  Whether it be nations at war; partisan politics; or so-called reality television we live in a culture that not only feeds on but embraces the destruction of relationships.

As a society we have become so conditioned to conflict that we crave it.  Cage fighting and YouTube clips of brawls and beat downs are in high demand along with so-called reality television shows showing women denigrating one another.  Such sensory destruction is the topic of social media chatter and water cooler conversations.  God has been completely removed from the picture and replaced with conflict.  Then as a society we wonder why divorce has become the norm and the family structure has all but dissolved into nothing.

It is my belief that a person who remains in a continuous state of conflict is blind to all the positive things life has to offer.  Furthermore, an entire society in perpetual conflict is apt to repeat the mistakes of past societies.  For all the great things America is it’s faults are equally as distressing because conflict has become embedded in its DNA.  Consequentially conflict is a filter down characteristic and it has filtered down from the highest rungs of our society into the minds of our children.  Thus, conflict leads to violence and as a people we not only crave but we demand violence.

All of this stems from conflict and conflict stems from negativity.  Simply put, there is too much negativity in our day-to-day relationships with one another.  By simply starting to erase the negativity in our day-to-day relationships with one another we can possibly the larger conflicts inherent in our society.  But it has to start with positivity and it has to start with our willingness to sit down and talk out our problems rather than fighting or shooting each other or blasting each other over social media or sending warships into other nations.  Until we demonstrate that we have the willingness to have constructive and meaningful dialogue with one another our society and our world will continue to erode.

Jimmy Valvano’s Cocaine and Petrino’s Hookers

The revelations of Bobby Petrino’s misuse of school funds to finance his adulterous affair with a 25-year old University of Arkansas grad should come as no surprise to anyone following the three ring circus that is NCAA Men’s Football and Basketball.  NCAA Men’s Football and Basketball programs are havens for pedophiles, dope pushers, psycophants, handicappers, sex-fiends, pimps, gangsters, and outright criminals.  Petrino’s actions should surprise no one who has followed his career; the man is an unscrupulous opportunist, a rudderless submarine without a moral compass or a shred of integrity in his flawed DNA.  What is debatable is where Petrino ranks with the crowded gangster syndicate that already includes Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Jim Boheim, Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, Joe Paterno, Jim Calhoun, Bernie Fine, and Jerry Sandusky.

All the so-called “great” men who get paid millions of dollars in cash and incentives to run these programs have less integrity than the most hardened convict.  Most lifelong convicts at least have the gall to say exactly what these are but these men, these predators conceal their immorality and criminality behind smooth talk and slick smiles.  Take for instance The Ohio State Buckeyes new Men’s Head Football Coach Urban Meyer who is nothing more than a snake in a den of snakes.  The world was puzzled as to why Urban Meyer would leave the tropical paradise that is the University of Florida (in Tallahassee).  As a justification Meyer gave the tired old excuse that he was leaving Florida’s vaunted football program behind to “spend time with family”.  Next thing you know Meyer is working as an analyst for ESPN which equals the rigors and traveling demands of an NCAA Football coach.

Then Meyer’s name began to surface as a possible replacement for Jim Tressel once revelations of Tressel’s gangsterism in Tattoo-Gate were becoming known.  Meyer like any other snake initially denied he would return to coaching only to do a complete 180 a couple weeks later and accept the job.  Of course Meyer would claim that he “discussed” the possible job opportunity with his wife and family, a story that made absolutely no sense.  Now it has been revealed that the reason Meyer left Florida is because he absolutely destroyed the program by making it a haven for thuggery.  Former Florida standouts and current New England Patriots Brandon Spikes and Aaron Hernandez are the marquee-name thugs Tressel allowed to run wild at the University of Florida barracks. The stories of Spikes and Hernandez’ sex-capades and drug abuse are slowly being revealed.

I’m sure Meyer is thanking Petrino for taking the heat off of him with the revelations of his financing his adultery.  Much like the Pennsylvania elite who financed Jerry Sandusky’s Pay-to-Pedophile program are thanking these coaches for pushing the publicity away from what is undoubtedly the biggest child-trafficking program this side of Afghanistan.

Of course the media, particularly the Axis of Evil that is Disney-ABC-ESPN went to great lengths to conceal modern day Peter the Hermit Jerry Sandusky’s role in pimping out young black boys to sick, rich men for over a decade.  The “Mothership” as it’s called, couldn’t afford to prioritize the health and well being of innocent children over the billions in cash it rakes in each year from NCAA Men’s Football and Basketball which is over 1/2 its programming.

No if the least Petrino did was use school funds for a 25 year old prostitute maybe we shouldn’t be too hard on him.  After all, at least he didn’t pimp out adolescent boys to rich pedophiles.  So we shouldn’t be surprised because the only difference between Petrino and say a Jim Boheim is that had it not been for an ill-fated motorcycle crash the whole affair would have remained under wraps.  In the case of Jim Boheim there is no one incident to tie widespread drug abuse among former Syracuse players to him probably because there was no “middle man”.  The “middle man” in Petrino’s case turned out to be the 25 year old harlot, Jessica Dorrell, he was banging behind his wife’s back.

Petrino like the other snakes that came before him (and undoubtedly the ones that will come after) first used plausible denial then when his dirty deeds became exposed put on the old I’ll-apologize-in the media-to my wife-and the school bullshit act.  Yeah, Petrino is sorry alright, just like the University of Arkansas president who hired him.  Which begs the question, if so many NCAA Men’s Football and Basketball coaches are corrupt what does that say about the school presidents who hire these bastards?  That maybe another question for another time but it is worth mentioning.

The roll call of crooked NCAA Men’s Football and Basketball coaches rivals the roll call of prison gang leaders at California’s infamous Pelican Bay Prison.  And if Jimmy Valvano were alive he’d be the ring leader.  Every year ESPN shows the clip of Jimmy V running around looking for someone to hug after Olaujuwon, Drexler and Phi Slamma Jamma threw the game against his crappy North Carolina State Wolf Pack some 35 years ago.  Maybe the reason Jimmy V couldn’t find anyone to hug is because all his players were strung out on the cocaine he gave them to recruit them to his half-ass program.  Just like maybe you and I would have to be snorting that same coke to be foolish enough to think that Petrino will be the last NCAA coach to be exposed for criminal behavior.  I don’t know about you but I never liked cocaine.

Positivity Breeds Success. Does Success Breed Happiness?

Life is about trial and error.  Many of us go through life and learn from our mistakes while others repeat them over and over again.  I have often found that the one mistake I make repeatedly is that I allow doubt and negativity cloud the potential for success.  I have discovered that whenever I make a plan, stay focused on the plan, and think positive I am successful.  Negativity rarely breeds success and often breeds contempt, anger and eventually hatred.  Conversely positivity breeds confidence (not arrogance) which in turn leads to success.

The concept of success means different things to different people.  For some people success means material wealth or financial stability.  For others success means getting a promotion or getting married.  The point is success is a concept that is a direct construct of psychology and character: state of mind and character determine what an individual views as success. For instance, a drug dealer who lives in the cutthroat world of narcotics trafficking may define success differently from a recovering cancer patient. Success means many different things to different people. Who you are as an individual defines your perception of success.

One misconception is that success equals happiness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many Americans idolize Hollywood and celebrities and their lifestyles. Many Americans also think that success gained through fame and fortune equals happiness but the evidence proves otherwise. If success equaled happiness then why did Whitney Houston, Chris Farley, Jim Belushi, Amy Winehouse, Tom Sizemore and others search for happiness or relief in drugs and alcohol? Surely their vast riches and fame should have been enough. The problem is that they placed the world rather than God at the center of their lives.

Using celebrities is a great example because Americans are fascinated with Hollywood and celebrity lifestyles. The problem is that drug and alcohol abuse and debauchery are prerequisites for success in Hollywood. Thus, success does not automatically guarantee happiness and often does not bring one spiritual peace. The question about whether success equals happiness is a subjective one and is only determined by the individual and how he or she defines success and happiness. These concepts have different meanings to different people. But no matter what the meaning developing and maintaining a positive outlook ultimately determines how successful one is.