Sports! (General Thread)

Lol

Gonna agree with the England vs. Wales game. I feel they applied the tactic of kicking into space far too often against a Welsh team that had an actual backline.

It worked too well against France for them to try it again against Wales.

I'm not generally one to throw salt on the wound of a sports team but there's something oddly "expected" about the Dallas Cowboys and players being in trouble for things. Probably not what Michael Irvin means when he tells current Cowboys players to "do like we (3x Super Bowl Champions) did." 

For the past few days, I've been very slowly making it through the Toronto Raptors vs. San Antonio Spurs game from a few days ago. I finished it last night. That was a very interesting game to watch. Toronto gave a huge welcome back to DeMar DeRozan while still cheering on the Raptors.  There was a lot of camaraderie between both teams early on but definitely some tight moments with charges and fouls. Toronto's head coach, Nick Nurse, even got ejected due to a mistakenly dealt double technical!

I wasn't that familiar with DeMar over the past few years other than hearing he was a good player. But the more I hear about what happened with how Toronto traded him, it seems like he got a pretty raw deal. I don't blame Toronto for wanting Kawhi instead (he certainly has accomplished more in his career at this point than DeMar has) but I get the feeling that Kawhi is going to leave Toronto after just one year (especially if Toronto doesn't at least make the Finals) and then Toronto is going to be without both of them.   DeMar seems to still not have gotten over being traded from the city he loved (and loves him back) despite embracing the Spurs teamwork and players.  (How can you not like Pop! ... is a question that everyone asked before last year with Kawhi, LOL)  It's a tough situation.  People often talk about how players these days don't have loyalty to their teams/cities (which is true to a large extent) but then when you actually get a guy who clearly did, he gets traded for someone who seems ready to take off to an even bigger scene as soon as he can. 

It kind of sucks for DeMar. Kawhi is an elite player but if he doesn't stick around in Toronto after this year, it's going to feel like a bad trade, even if they do get to the NBA Finals this year.

Oh and this happened: A 360 lay-up 😎

Johnny Manziel gets banned from the CFL after being released by the Montreal Alouettes, and the dialogue given has been unclear. I think his time up north was rushed at best ever since he was picked up by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last year. So, a quick little summary of what happened:

Manziel gets to Hamilton. Former Oregon QB Jeremiah Masoli is there, but is torching up defenses. June Jones's Run n' Shoot works with 12 men, too. Manziel really wants to start, so he got traded to Montreal and replaces another former Oregon QB, Vernon Adams Jr. who was let go for Manziel. Johnny's first CFL game? vs. Hamilton, and they destroyed Montreal 50-11. Montreal finished 5-13, second to last in the East, with Manziel playing 8 games (He debuted for Montreal in Week 8), throwing 5 TDs and 7 interceptions.

Some media outlets have suggested that Manziel could play in the XFL, but I think he'd be ineligible for that league too, due to his criminal record. So, what's next for him?

Mirko Cro Cop had a stroke following his victory over Roy Nelson.  Thankfully, it appears that he will recover fully, but he has announced his retirement from fighting.

One of my top three favorite fighters of all time, in any sport. For years, I worked on emulating his kicks in sparring. Despite the Gonzaga moment(which he did avenge, much later on), losing to Fedor, and falling behind Aerts and Hoost in K-1, Cro Cop was one of the true elites of his era, still dangerous a decade out from his heyday, a true warrior who fought until he could fight no longer, an underrated personality in the sport, a dangerous, innovative striker who had top notch defensive grappling and perhaps did better than any other kickboxer in transferring his style to MMA. Add to that his insane real life background with the anti-terror police in Zagreb and the Croatian parliament, and you have a story that will not be duplicated any time soon.

And it should be mentioned that default Cro Cop in FPR was an unearthly CRITICAL beast.

With Fedor on his last leg, Rampage going into videogame streaming more than fighting, Wanderlei Silva effectively finished, Big Nog fully retired, the Pride Generation has come to its eventual conclusion. There will never be another time in MMA as exciting, another set of fighters as unique and larger than life.

Thanks for the years of entertaining us all with those perfect head kicks. As overdone as it may be to say it, Cro Cop was an inspiration to fighters and fight fans worldwide, and his days in the ring and the cage will be missed.