It always such a joy to watch Liverpool lose, and that too three in a row, its absolutely delightful. I’m really happy happy except for our 2-1 loss to Aston Villa, I hope we really focus on defending set-pieces. I know Chelsea are not feared to be dangerous from set-pieces, but I really want that to change.

As if Liverpool losing wasn’t joy enough, Barca’s bubble being well and truly popped has made this a great night for football.

By the way, I still think Rafa is the right man for Liverpool and should be given a new 10 year contract in the morning, Long live Rafa.

Actually while perusing one of the 2.3 billion MVP threads on the ISH message board, I started looking at some numbers for the top three this season and then I started looking at other “elite” type players over the years and it became painfully clear to me…
There is no GOAT player, every player we consider a elite type player that ever won in the post season was surrounded by a lot of talent at one time or another in his career, the ones that never had post season success (ie: T-Mac and Dominique) are still among the rarest of the breed…

Who’s the goat is not what this posting is about..
It’s about becoming elite and really what an accomplishment it truly is to be in the conversation, take any top 50 all time list and you can move this guy up a spot, drop that one down a few, shuffle them around but the fact they are all on the list is a huge accomplishment.
Some quick numbers

In 2007 557,000 kids played high school basketball, that’s a lot of kids, that’s a lot of Gatorade, tears, sweat and blood left on the floor over a year, (this is also not counting AAU type play but I imagine that there are not enough kids playing just AAU that don’t also play high school ball that it makes much of a difference, and if it did it would only make the numbers climb) looking over some various numbers the surprising thing is that it really hasn’t gone up over the years, it’s fairly static between the 557,000 in 2007 and a little over half a million 20 years ago….

But the number isn’t really critical anyways what’s important to note is that of that mass of developing talent, many with dreams of the NBA only so many will even go onto play college level ball…

There are 1025 NCAA basketball teams, 16,600 athletes make up those teams so from the over half a million kids playing high school ball only a bit over 16 thousand of them take that next step towards a career in the NBA…
you’re starting to realize where I’m going now eh?

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Although most events were from Paris in France to Dakar in Senegal, due to political instability in Africa, the 2009 Dakar Rally is run in South America, the first time the race takes place outside of Europe and Africa.

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Boxing fight for the WBA title took place in Zurich. 46-year-old American boxer Evander Holyfield was the oldest challenger to the title, but in case of a victory he could become the oldest champion. Nikolai Valuev, however, was able to overcome Holyfield with a minimum advantage. After 12 rounds, one of the judges could not determine a winner – 114:114, and two others gave victory to the Russian boxer – 116:112 and 115:114. Thus, Evander Holyfield was unable to overcome the record of George Foreman, who in 1994 returned a title at the age of 45 years.

Nikolai Valuev is nearly 44 kilograms heavier than his opponent. He is also 15 inches taller and 11 years younger. That said, it is noteworthy that in the first round Evander Holyfield was more active than Valuev, but in the second half of the fight Nikolai Valuev was able to intercept the initiative.

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Let me begin by saying some people call these pre-season games, “Training Games”; while other people use them to get their starting team and not bother that much training youngsters.

I consider these Pre-Season Games very important for the performance and development of a team.

I’ll review some of the results. The Boston Celtics beat the New Jersey Nets 111-108 with a HOT Ray Allen scoring 32 points. It’s true that Ray Allen was an important key last season but not scoring 32 points in a game. My point is that the Boston Celtics are maybe trying to change their gameplay and try something new from last season. With an explosive defensive Kevin Garnett, the Boston Celtics are 4-1 during these pre-season games.

Another explosive team is Minnesota with a 4-1 record and Im sure that if they continue playing like this, they will be very competitive just like some games last season where they were competitive in some games but decreased their game in others.

What is really surprising is watching Cleveland’s game and record. San Antonio destroyed Cleveland yesterday 91-70 with Tim Duncan leading the Spurs while Ginobili is injured. Everybody is sure the quality of Leadership Duncan has so I don’t see any BIG problem; but… it can be a medium problema considering Ginobili can score you 30 points sometimes. The Spurs have a 2-2 record while Cleveland has no WINS!!

I still see teams like Denver and Utah scoring lot of points per game but not caring about defensive game. I don’t criticize offensive teams but a good defense is always a good tool for your offensive. The San Antonio Spurs are an example of that.

Other team that is doing good this pre-season is the Atlanta Hawk. Hope they can continue working. The Miami Heats are still doing terrible, they will need to change their style and gameplay if they really want to be competitive again.

The Phoenix Suns will be good this season. Shaquille said hes going to retire when his contract ends and I am sure he will want to finish his career the best way possible. He has been practicing free throws a lot. Amare Stoudemire also has to play better this season if the Suns really want to win the NBA Championship.

Well for now, that’s all folks.

Vitali Klitschko successfully returned to professional boxing after four years of absense. The fight between the Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko and Samuel Peter of Nigeria for the WBC title ended in the 8th round with the Klitschko’s victory.

Now in the collection of brothers Vladimir and Vitali Klitschko there are three titles: IBF and WBO titles held by Vladimir Klitschko and the new WBC title of Vitali Klitschko.

The only title in the heavyweights, which is not in the hands of the brothers Klitschko, is the WBA one, held by the Russian boxer Nikolai Valuev, who is reportedly waiting for one of the brothers to participate in a post-Soviet duel.

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SI Vault presents its ranking of the must-visit sports locations, but I don’t think they can be compared to each other. Every location is unique and special. It mostly depends on the type of sports you like.

Fenway Park

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