Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Miguel Cotto

Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. followed up with their own intense battle, but neither underdog was able to quite pull off the upset in the end.
Cotto and Mayweather didn't really provide much entertainment until the middle rounds when Cotto was at his best. Mayweather frustrated Cotto early with his unique defensive style. Blocking his body with the same defensive posture perfected by "The Mongoose" Archie Moore, Mayweather leaned back with his shoulder up and twisted out of the way of the worst shots from Cotto.
Cotto landed a few great shots to the body, but Mayweather kept a sharp jab in his face and found the right hook-left uppercut combo frequently. Cotto went back to his corner in the first with a welt already visibly forming near his left temple.
Cotto began finding more holes in the second round, but Mayweather thwarted his advances by ducking down to Cotto's waist and clinching to a break. Cotto caught Mayweather against the rope at one point and picked him right up off his feet at another. Still, nothing seemed to really hurt Mayweather. Rounds 3 and 4 went to Floyd due to his ability to land more accurate shots and stay out of Cotto's effective range.
Cotto unleashed his best on Mayweather in the fifth round to no avail. Mayweather won most of the exchanges working behind a nice mix of quick jabs and power jabs. Cotto did manage to bloody Floyd's nose, though. His aggression might have been enough for at least one judge to give Cotto the round.

Arguably the pound-for-pound greatest boxer in the world, Floyd Mayweather, returned to the ring last night (Sat., May 5, 2012) to do battle against Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the super welterweight championship on the line.

Mayweather came in with a jail sentence hanging over his head and a 42-0 career record to protect against a younger, stronger and hugely dangerous fighter in Cotto. He would need to dig deep into his bag of tricks to pull out victory number 43 but ultimately, that's exactly what he did.

The two pugilists engaged in a classic war that needed all 12 rounds and 36 minutes to be decided. "Money" shot out of the gate early with his usual stick and move style that gave Cotto trouble, enough to put him down on the scorecards in the first few rounds.

But as the bout wore on, the Puerto Rican started taking pages out of his opponents book, playing defense and staying loose on the outside. It worked, too, flustering Mayweather and leading to a few lost rounds in the middle of the contest. The seemingly inevitable happened, though, as "Money May" stepped on the gas pedal and got to counter punching, dipping his head behind his shoulder and avoiding the majority of Cotto's big punches.

Ultimately, the outcome was never in doubt ... not really. Cotto had come to fight and put his best foot forward, providing perhaps the toughest test of Mayweather's career. Ultimately, though, the best boxer in the world maintained his spot as the king of the sport with a unanimous decision victory by scores of 117-111, 117-111, 118-110.

Kirk Cousins On Washington Redskins

Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins will be a starter within a few years on Saturday morning.
Cousins – the winningest quarterback in Michigan State history – said he had some contact with the Redskins at the Senior Bowl in January, when he played for the North team. The Redskins coaching staff coached the South team, but during that week, Cousins spoke to Mike and Kyle Shanahan often.

Actually, if history repeats itself in the place from which most American history emanates, maybe Cousins will be the starter.  After all, Frerotte ended up supplanting an ineffective Shuler.
Yes, it’s highly unlikely that it will happen with Cousins and Griffin.  But not as unlikely as it would have seemed in 1994, when Shuler was the can’t-miss prospect and Frerotte was the seventh-round afterthought.

The Redskins are set for starting linebackers with three-time Pro Bowl pick London Fletcher and third-year man Perry Riley inside and two-time Pro Bowl pick Brian Orakpo and 2011 rookie standout Ryan Kerrigan outside in coordinator Jim Haslett’s 3-4 scheme. However, Fletcher turns 37 next month and Washington lacks depth beyond jack-of-all-trades Lorenzo Alexander.

Mike Shanahan described Griffin as a franchise quarterback Thursday, but he is fond of competition, and now there will be a talented young passer to push Griffin. The Redskins re-signed veteran Rex Grossman, who knows the offense well, and also have John Beck under contract. But Beck, who went 0-3 as a starter for Washington, now faces a very uncertain future with the team.

Bryce Harper Make MLB Debut Tonight With Washington Nationals'

Bryce Harper is heading to the major leagues today with the Washington Nationals, who are recalling the 19-year-old outfielder from Triple-A Syracuse and putting third baseman Ryan Zimmerman on the disabled list..
Harper was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft. He hit .286 in spring training this year. The Nationals wanted him to get some more time in the minors, but with their top two hitters — Zimmerman and left fielder Michael Morse — sidelined by injuries, the team decided to bring up Harper.

When Bryce Harper was 13 and 14, which is not so long ago, he traveled across the country, without his parents, to play baseball in the best tournaments, the best leagues, for 15- and 16-year-olds. The other kids teased him. The other parents were jealous. Harper could gain acceptance if he played baseball well. Then he would fly to another tournament, put his uniform on in the car on the way from the airport to the field, and start over. That was a challenge. That was pressure.

Saturday night, Harper will be where he believes he belongs. Does he? We’ll have to see. “There’s no better place to get groomed than the big leagues,” Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth said. If Harper fails and gets sent back down to the minors, he will still believe he belongs. It will not ruin him. “He needs to be challenged,” one person close to Harper said.
There is no downside for it to happen now. If he’s ready, great, the Nationals have added offense to a team that desperately needs it. If he is not, he will handle it. His world will not end.

In that regard, Harper will benefit by being more famous than pretty much everyone on the field. He calls Albert Pujols by his first name. He wore a hat with an uncommon logo this spring, and when asked for an explanation, Harper said, “Kobe and Beckham wear it.”
He’ll walk to the plate Saturday night at Dodgers Stadium. He may or may not be ready. He will have handled tougher situations on a diamond. What will happen? Who knows?

Delmon Young arrested, accused of hate crime-related assault in New York

Detroit Tigers outfielder Delmon Young was arrested and faces a hate crime-related charge in connection with a dispute outside a hotel along New York’s 6th Avenue early this morning, a New York police spokesman told the Free Press.

According to the report, the victim called 911. Cops quickly responded to the scene and arrested Young for aggravated harassment. Investigators are considering charging the athlete with a hate crime.
Young reportedly was taken to Roosevelt Hospital to sober up before he was booked and charged with assault in the third degree.

He was the first overall pick in the 2003 draft, and in recent years finally rounded into a very solid major league contributor. Young played a key role in the Tigers' near-run to the World Series last season, hitting three home runs as the Tigers beat the Yankees in five games in the Division Series, and two more in their six-game loss to the Rangers in the AL Championship Series.

Young is not in the lineup for tonight's game against the Yankees. It was unclear what triggered the incident at the Hilton New York at about 2:30 a.m., though it began with a group of four men and a panhandler wearing a yarmulke.
The detective said police interviewed witnesses, and Young was still “being processed” at mid-morning.
Young faces an “aggravated harassment hate crime” charge and will be processed through central booking later today, Cavitolo said.

The charge is a misdemeanor.
The victim, described as a 32-year-old male, was “knocked to the ground, and an arrest” was made outside the Hilton New York. He suffered an elbow injury and refused medical attention, Cavitolo said.

Brandon Weeden

Brandon Weeden At 28 years, 195 days, he became the oldest player ever taken in the first round of the modern NFL draft. He was selected in the same MLB draft as Prince Fielder, Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels, Curtis Granderson and one of the main characters from "Moneyball".

Once the NFL draft got past quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, it was like a day on Wall Street. Everybody wanted to make a trade.

The wheeling and dealing started even before the Colts opened the proceedings as expected Thursday night by taking Luck and the Redskins followed by selecting RG3.

Behind closed doors, general managers around the league were gabbing away, jockeying to position their teams to land the most coveted player on their draft board.

When it was over, there were eight trades involving 12 of the league's 32 teams and draftniks breathlessly trying to keep up with the organized mayhem. It all started when Minnesota swapped its No. 3 choice for Cleveland's No. 4 pick. The Browns, who also gave up a fourth, fifth and seventh-rounder, desperately wanted Alabama running back Trent Richardson. The Vikings still got the guy they sought in Southern California tackle Matt Kalil.

Weeden was selected with the No. 22 pick by the Browns. He'll join third-overall pick Trent Richardson as rookies likely tasked with getting Cleveland back to the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Weeden is expected to enter training camp as the team's starting quarterback, especially in light of recent quotes from Browns GM Tom Heckert in which he said the team would consider trading McCoy.

The Oklahoma State quarterback didn't make our list of the 50 best draft prospects, but he earned praise from scouts for his quick release and accuracy.

Browns fans scared off by Weeden's age can take solace in one fact: He's not as old as Chris Weinke was when he was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in 2001. The Florida State quarterback was older than Weeden by three months, but went in the fourth round, not the first.

A third quarterback went eighth where Miami stayed put. The Dolphins took Texas A&M's Ryan Tannehill, who played wide receiver for most of his time in college. His coach at A&M, Mike Sherman, is the Dolphins offensive coordinator.

Carolina selected Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, the nation's leading tackler. Buffalo chose cornerback Stephon Gilmore of South Carolina and Memphis defensive tackle Dontari Poe went to Kansas City before the next trade occurred.

Philadelphia moved up from 15 to 12, giving Seattle two later picks, then took Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox.

Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd went to Arizona, then the Rams finally got involved, taking LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers.

New England's first deal was with Cincinnati to get Syracuse DE Chandler Jones at No. 21, and the second was with Denver to draft Crimson Tide linebacker Dont'a Hightower at No. 25.

Joel Ward Talks Racist

Joel Ward speaks with USA Today about the racial garbage on Twitter after Game 7: "It doesn't faze me at all. We won, and we are moving on. … People are going to say what they want to say." He also said Jeff Halpern showed him the Tweets on the team plane and apologized that Ward had to see them.

I think I’m about to write 17 consecutive blog posts that say the same thing, but here’s the basic message: the mood of Washington sports fans on the Internet late Wednesday night was as giddily happy as I can ever remember.
Within 24 hours, sports fans will have seen see the Caps vanquish both the Stanley Cup champs and their game 7 demons, the Nats improve to an utterly absurd 14-4, and the Redskins draft the most likable Heisman Trophy-winning franchise quarterback in recent memory.

"There is no lying about it. …I'm definitely the one black guy in a room with 20 white guys," Joel Ward said. "There are definitely some cultural differences, such as taste in music, but I've neard heard anything derogatory."
He says he has no concern about his safety moving forward in the playoffs.
"I'm pretty laid-back and I get along with a lot of people," Ward said. "I don't fear anything like that, and I have a good group of guys to protect me."
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, in a blog post about the situation, called people making the comments "unforgivable."
“I hope they are now publicly identified and pay a huge price for their beliefs," Leonsis wrote. "There should be zero tolerance for this kind of hate mongering. Their messages should now stay glued into the algorithms to place a forever warning and a mark upon these people and their actions. They shouldn’t be able to escape their keystrokes.”
The Bruins also said they were "very disappointed" in the comments.
“These classless, ignorant views are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization,” read a team release.
Several of the tweets were aggregated at Chirpstory.com; by Thursday afternoon, many of the offending accounts had been deleted.
The comments started shortly after the 31-year-old Ward, in his first season with the Capitals, backhanded Mike Knuble's rebound past Thomas, giving Washington a 3-2 win.
"When I saw the puck there, I just took a whack at it," Ward said after the game. "It was a sense of relief, a great accomplishment."

The NFL Draft

The NFL draft begins Thursday night with the first round, continues Friday night with the second and third rounds, and runs through Saturday, when the final four rounds will be held at Radio City Music Hall. The Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams both went 2-14 last season and had the top two picks, but the Rams traded the second spot to Washington.
While Andrew Luck and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III will be the stars of the show, this year's draft will be more about defensive players than quarterbacks. In fact, only 3 QB's are expected to be picked in the first round while as many as four cornerbacks could have their names called early.

The New York Jets reached out Sunday to Alabama running back Trent Richardson, fueling speculation they will try to orchestrate a blockbuster move to trade up.
Richardson said Wednesday he received a call from the Jets soon after arriving in New York for pre-draft festivities.

It's common for a team to call potential picks a few days before the draft, but it's unusual to contact a player seemingly out of reach.
The Jets, picking 16th in the first round, are exploring the possibility of moving up for Richardson, according to league sources. But it's a long shot, considering they'd probably have to jump 11 or 12 spots.

Before an inexplicably large television audience and scored to the dulcet analytical tones of Chris Berman and Mel Kiper Jr., the Indianapolis Colts will take Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck with the first pick of the NFL Draft on Thursday. Shortly after that, the Washington Redskins will select Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III with their first pick. At which point … well, Berman and Kiper will still be there, loudly, but things get pretty cloudy pretty quickly. This is generally the case in the mis- and disinformation-muddled days before the draft, which are traditionally home to both a great deal of uncertainty and some middle school-level psy-ops from front offices.

Uncertainty is, of course, the name of the game in the draft even when anonymous scouts aren’t talking down various players for reasons owing to peevishness, strategy or both. First-round picks don’t provide any real guarantee of success, and the odds of teams scoring an impact player decrease as the draft drags on.

Ivan Rodriguez Retires in Texas

Ivan Rodríguez, a 14-time All Star catcher, ended a 21-season playing career doing what he does best from behind home plate.
Pudge made one last throw  to second base at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
The Rangers then honored him with a pregame ceremony that ended with the unique first pitch. Rodríguez initially went to the mound while Michael Young, the team's longest-tenured player, set up to receive the pitch. But that didn't seem right, so Young ran out to second base and Rodríguez, already wearing a catcher's mitt, went behind the plate to a huge cheer and made a familiar throw across the diamond.

After 21 years in Major League Baseball with six teams, catcher Ivan Rodriguez formally retired on Monday, returning to his original big league team in Texas to say goodbye after 14 All-Star games and 13 Gold Glove awards.
Rodriguez, who played a record 2,427 games behind the plate, said farewell at a news conference at the Ballpark in Arlington before the Texas Rangers' game against the Yankees on Monday.

Rodríguez was surrounded at the podium by his wife and his three children, including his 19-year-old son who is a prospect in the Minnesota Twins organization. He thanked his parents and brother who sat in the front row for supporting him since he started playing baseball at age 5 in Puerto Rico.
Rodríguez plans to remain in baseball in some capacity, and Rangers president Nolan Ryan said there have already been some preliminary discussions about making that happen. 

Rodriguez is considered one of the best all-around catchers ever, thriving as a potent offensive player while garnering a record 13 Gold Glove awards for fielding.
He was named the 1999 American League Most Valuable Player after a season with 35 home runs, 113 runs batted in, 25 steals and a .332 batting average, and finished with a career batting average of .296 and 2,844 hits.
The strong-armed backstop threw out 41.7 percent of attempted basestealers, the best career figure since the statistic started being kept in 1974.

Rodríguez was only 16 years old when the Rangers signed him after a tryout camp in Puerto Rico in July 1988. Less than three years later, he was in the major leagues.
Rodríguez was quickly among the team's top prospects. He was the youngest player in the Texas League when the Rangers brought him up after getting constant reports that he made contact and was ready to catch in the big leagues.

Deion Sanders Arrested After Domestic Incident

The estranged wife of former football star Deion Sanders was arrested on domestic violence-related charges Monday night, hours after Sanders sent a series of bizarre tweets saying she assaulted him.

In one of the messages posted on his verified Twitter account, Sanders even posted a picture of what he said were his children filling out complaints to give to police in Texas.

Pilar Sanders was booked into jail Monday night on suspicion of assault family violence, a misdemeanor, according to booking records at the Collin County Jail.
The couple has three children together. Sanders also has two other children from an earlier relationship.

The couple married in 1999 and starred in a reality show, "Deion & Pilar Prime Time Love," that aired on the Oxygen network.The marriage, however, soured, and the two are in the midst of a very public, bitter divorce.In February, Pilar Sanders filed a suit against her husband and his aunt, Laura Jones. She said the aunt attacked her in their 10-bedroom, 29,000-square-foot home in Prosper, Texas, while Deion Sanders watched.At the time, the two-sport star tweeted that his wife was the aggressor and the aunt was in the home merely to fix his phone.
Deion claims Pilar and her friend jumped him in front his two sons….and took to Twitter to prove his innocence:
Pray for me and my kids now! They just witnessed their mother and a friend jump me in my room. She’s going to jail n I’m pressing charges!
I’m sad my boys witnessed this mess but I warned the police department here that she was gone try n harm me and my boys. This is on my mama!
Filling out police reports now! Thank God for this platform to issue the Truth.

James Harden Dropped by Metta World Peace

James Harden fell hard to the floor as Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka of the Thunder moved toward World Peace. Other players quickly stepped in and, although World Peace argued that the elbow was inadvertent, he was given a flagrant foul type 2 and ejected. No doubt a significant suspension will follow.

 Metta World Peace is a ticking time bomb. How many times is he gonna be allowed to pull this crap? The guy has problems and needs to go work at McDonalds. Just lucky that he didn’t snap Hardens neck. You don’t see hits like that in the MMA! The commissioner needs to grow a pair and get stuff like this under control.

It's unlikely that Harden will play in the Thunder's two remaining regular-season games at home, beginning with Tuesday night's matchup against the Sacramento Kings. James Harden was the victim of Metta World Peace's vicious elbow during the second quarter of Sunday's 114-106 double-overtime road loss to the Lakers. The Thunder swingman dropped to the court and stayed down for about a minute before heading to the locker room. Oklahoma City (46-18) hasn't announced whether Harden, who leads the NBA as a reserve with 16.9 points per game, has a concussion.

James Harden stayed down and play was stopped for several minutes while the referees separated Lakers and Thunder players who were arguing and the flagrant 2 determination was only made after the collision was reviewed on a video monitor at center court.
Harden, who had 14 points, did not return to the court in the second quarter. Harden was diagnosed with a concussion, according to the Thunder. He will fly back with the team to Oklahoma City and his status for the Thunder's final two regular season games is uncertain.
Harden was the first player to leave Oklahoma City's locker room after the game and did not address the media

Metta World Peace Elbowing James Harden

Lakers forward Metta World Peace delivered a blow to the side of the head of Oklahoma City guard James Harden that earned him a flagrant-two foul and an immediate ejection. A suspension of one game or more is likely.

World Peace, who had 12 points late in the second quarter following his third dunk of the game, pounded his chest alternately with both fists. Then, as James Harden was moving toward the baseline, World Peace swung his left arm above his shoulder and struck Harden in the left side of his head, sending the Thunder guard crashing to the court.

The incident with 1:37 left in the first half sparked all types of reactions. As Harden was motionless on the court, World Peace stood in a boxing stance as Thunder forwards Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka rushed toward World Peace. The fans at Staples Center and Lakers teammates seemed to think it was just an accident, something World Peace indicated with his body language to officials afterwards

Seeing it live, it appeared that World Peace's elbow was nothing but an accident. Maybe he was too giddy over his dunk to realize Harden was there. Maybe he didn't realize how far out he was swinging his arms. Maybe he didn't know his own strength. The replays appear to show otherwise. Harden bumped into him. World Peace backed into him. Then he cocked back his arm before delivering the blow.

World Peace post 12 points on four-of-10 shooting, five rebounds and three steals while holding Durant to a three-of-eight shooting clip. But the Lakers will miss that presence in the second half and likely beyond.


When the NBA looks at the replay, they're not going to care about intent. For better or worse, they're not going to care about his reputation, either. They're going to care about what World Peace did. And it was inexcusable.
In a moment when emotions completely overwhelmed him regarding his third dunk, World Peace cocked his arm and then reared back to deliver the vicious elbow. Say what you will about World Peace being caught up in the heat of the moment, not realizing his own strength or even realizing Harden was within striking distance. But logic suggests otherwise. Because of that, World Peace will have to pay a heavy price.