Glorified punching bag Tito Ortiz has been provided a forum at ESPN to lie about defend his record and provide much-needed perspective on his legendary career. ESPN green lights bad decisions all the time, so why would this situation be any different?
Follow us down memory lane, ESPN:
Desperation reared its ugly head Monday morning in a Delaware courtroom when John W. Henry-wannabe Frank McCourt made one last pathetic attempt to hold on to his three-quarter of a billion dollar play thing, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Any day now, Papa Selig will roust himself from his suburban-Wisconsin mansion and swoop in to ensure payroll obligations are met. At some point, a judge will do the same, but this time for the team’s extensive, if not fascinating, list of creditors (speaking of which: who wants to make a citizen’s arrest of McCourt if Vin Scully fails to see one dime from the $150,000+ the team owns him? I’m game). Read the rest of this entry
Sunday’s UFC on vs. featured Charlie “The Spaniard” Brenneman winning by unanimous decision over Rick Story in front of his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA . Nate Marquardt was supposed to fight Story, but instead he will be filing for unemployment, moving back-in with his parents, and polishing up his resume in-between “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” marathons on Adult Swim.
For Brenneman , UFC tried to play up the whole “Rocky” angle (underdog takes fight at the last minute, ends up going the distance) and I don’t buy it for two reasons. 1) Rocky lost the fight in Rocky I to Apollo Creed; and 2) The Spaniard looks way more like Stallone in Nighthawks then he does Rocky Balboa.
(written before the fight) Meanwhile Cheick Kongo was channeling his inner Kimbo Slice yesterday before getting into the cage with Pat Barry, which I wholeheartedly support. Kongo got absolutely rocked by Pat Barry twice before he put Barry out with sea legs. Easily the most devastating knockout since this guy.
Let’s recap; father of the year Tiki Barber would like to resume his dormant NFL career because of his pending divorce and failed broadcasting career desire to compete again. Barber shit all over his teammates, and his former coach. He smugly flaunted his Today show gig until they dropped him like 3rd period French. Now alone (not counting his 24-year-old girlfriend), broke, and hated by everyone, Barber is trying to rebuild his shattered image. Too bad, some of the guys he played with, and against, also have platforms to express their opinions.
Make me smile, NFL.com:
“I didn’t think much of him when he did play,” Sapp said. ”I mean that’s the whole point. He was a fumbler all the way through his life, and then all of a sudden, somebody taught him how to hold the ball up high and then he (left the Giants) and said, Eli (Manning) can’t lead them and they’ll never win a championship.
That kind of lends to who I’m talking about. This is the same guy. This is all encompassed into the same thing. There’s no way you turn your back on your teammates that block for you, that gave you the ball on short fields and did whatever they did. … There’s still no reason for you to attack your teammates.”
Strahan didn’t disagree with that assessment.
“Sapp is 100 percent right,” he said. “Only thing is, if it comes to playing football, he can play.”
To reiterate, Tiki Barber, 36, would like to resume his NFL career after five seasons away. He apparently has some interest from a couple NFL teams and should get down on his knees and pray to the NFL owners for opting out of their deal with the Players Association, inevitably delaying free agency and possibly training camp, and making his return much more likely.
Overrated loser Tito Ortiz made his career pummeling UFC legend Ken Shamrock in the twilight of a fine career, he literally hasn’t been anybody else since Shamrock. Their fights drew huge numbers on PPV and Ortiz was a made man after that. After losing badly to Lyoto Machida (some may dispute this because of the triangle choke Ortiz almost sunk in, but before that Machida dominated) in his first farewell to the UFC, Ortiz briefly resurfaced in Elite XC before crawling back to Dana White after the promotion crumbled.
His big “comeback” fight was against Forrest Griffin (decision); his next comeback fight was Matt Hamill (decision) He pulled out of a fight with Chuck Liddell at the culmination of the Ultimate Fighter television show last year to have back surgery and probably because Liddell already beat him, too.
He still talks just as much shit as he did when he was winning fights; so naturally, the “worldwide leader in sports” has given Ortiz a platform to voice his opinions on…himself.
Dismissively wank for me, ESPN:
But people need to look at the big details to know what’s been happening in these fights. I’ll never be someone who accepts second place — never — but, honestly, I feel I have won some of these fights.
FORGET WHAT THE RECORD SAYS, FOLKS, I AM A WINNER!
After Chuck Liddell beat me in December 2006, I took on Rashad Evans, who went on to be a world champion and has lost only once since. And I beat him. It was only a “draw” because I got a point taken off for the one, single time when I grabbed the fence. It was a draw, but I was the better fighter in the cage. I won.
Then I fought Lyoto Machida, a great fighter who also went on to win the world title. I almost caught him in a triangle and tapped him out. He admitted he thought he was going to pass out. I lost and it sucked, but I was competitive.
Next was a rematch with Forrest Griffin, whom I beat earlier in our careers. I didn’t get the decision this time, but a lot of people felt I won two rounds to one. Again, I was more than competitive with a top-5 guy.
Conceding his point about Evans and (maybe) Machida, I completely disagree about Griffin. Ortiz looked slow, and old in that bought. He looked just as bad, probably worse, against Hamill. Ryan Bader may have to go for a jog after this fight just to get a real workout in.
