UFC 99

I watched most of UFC 99 against my better judgement, even with what I felt was a lack luster card. I have to say it was not as bad as thought and we learned a few things about some fighters that might have and might not have a future in MMA well at least UFC.

First off Cain Velasquez was able to take the fight to top heavyweight contender Cheick Kongo. Cain was only 5-0 coming into this fight and many thought the larger more experienced Kongo would take it to Cain and knock him out. Well Cain's new record is 6-0 and what is more important is he showed that he is not a flash in the pan fighter that will not make much of himself. He was able to take Kongo down at will, keep him down with ease, and even land some decent ground and pound (not enough to knock him out) to take a unanimous decision. We now know that he is going to be a contender for Frank Mir's (I mean Brock Lesners) title. He still has some work to do and will not get a title shot yet but with some work on his stand up and striking game he can be a serious threat for years to come.
The other main thing we learned is that Kongo might not be as big of a threat as he was beleived to be. He was not able to finish Cain off even after landing a few really stiff shots in the beginning of each round.... His ground and take down defense was so weak that it looked as if a welterweight could take him down. Back to the Wolfslair for Kongo to get more work.

Rich "Ace" Franklin beat Vanderla Silva by decision also and this fight was as expected (by me)... two aging fighters both past their title primes and shows that fighters and promoters keep fighting and makign fights to sell the PPVs and not the best fighters filling out cards..... Franklin might still have something left but he is not a contedner at 205 adn he has lost to the 185 champ (Anderson SIlva) twice already so where does he go???

Well at least we have UFC 100 to look forward to on July 11th... That has potential to be the best card of all time... my predictions on that card will come closer to that date.....

Tidbits from a great sports weekend.

What a weekend we just had in sports. I will touch on some of the great moments.

First Tiger, What can one say about the greatest golfer of all time. Down four strokes at the beginning of final round. He dominated the course and flew past the competition. Next up for him Bethpage black and the US Open.

Roger Federer won his record tieing 14 th Grand Slam title. This poses two very interesting question. Is he the best tennis player of all time? Some will argue his competition isnt as good as Samprass' was but Federer is still going to play tennis for a few more years at least and inturn will probably win 2-4 more majors.
A side note is who wasn't thinking about Monica Seles when the fan ran on the court and put a hat on Roger. I cannot believe security took so long to get that idiot off the court.

The Phils took 2 out of 4 in LA against the best current team in baseball and if it wasnt for Not SO Lights Out Lidge it would have been 4 games against the DOdgers and We would have the best record in Baseball. It shows even though this team isnt having as many career years as there were last year The team is still the team to beat at least in the NL.

I am not commenting on NBA FINALS, NHL CUP, AND NASCAR because who cares bout those sports really.

Marketing with no money.

Owning a small business in a struggling economy is tough. What makes it even tougher is being a fairly new business with at this point little extra capitol to spend on advertising.

My personal opinion is that people need to work very hard at developing an imagine of taking extreme care of your customers to such an extreme that all they ever think of is spending their money with me because of the exceptional service. The "WOW" factor is something that every business owner today really needs to look into further to make sure that they succeed and also that when the economy turns around you are a step ahead of everyone else. Wowing the consumer might not double your business overnight but it will retain customers for you and keep them supporting you evertime they need your service. It will also develop a reputation for your business which then you can use to your favor when there is the money available to advertise.

What are your thoughts and other ways to improve your business cheaply and or free.

p.s. For those that do not know I am a Fox's Pizza Den owner in Kennett Square, PA and have been open for just over 14 months.

Best Fictinoal Presidents

I know it has been awhile since my last post. It has been a busy few weeks at my pizza shop. I have a few minutes so I am going to try and through something together here
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I was watching Independence Day last night and began to think how much I love the movie. It has many great elements. One major part I loved was Bill Pullman' perfomance as President Whitmore. He played the role really well and had one of the best pep talk speechs prior to the final attack in movie history...... (you all know the line).
This made me think of who else has played the role of a president and done it well.
A few that come to mind....
First President David Palmer played by Dennis Haysbert. In the first few seasons of 24 President Palmer played such a major role and commanded the screen so well I have to say he is my favorite fictional president of all time. Id even vote for him today even thought he doesnt exsist.
President Robert Fowler played by James Cromwell. Sum of all Fears is a good movie and Cromwell is an excellent actor. He plays the role well but also has played a president in many other roles... He makes the list just on acting skills and abilty alone.
Obviously Bill Pullman from Independence Day.
President James Marshell played by Harrison Ford in Air Force One. The commander in Chief never kicked ass so much.
Darrell Hammond played Bill Clinton on SNL many many times and although it is not a fictinoal president he did it so well it almost single handedly brought me back to watching SNL after stopping for many years because of what I thought was a decline in humor.
I have to stop there but anyone with other suggestions please give them. The presidential role is important to any movie or TV show no matter how minor of a role in the movie they have.

Greatest band of all time

On the Preston and Steve(www.prestonandsteve.com) yesterday they had Steel Panthers... the greatest rock and roll band of all time. They may have been around for quite some time but this is the first I heard of them and have to say the art of parady and or comedic music is not done well anymore... Sandler is good, Weird Al is average but this shit is great. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck8T45DJjH4&feature=related is the link to a music video of theirs... watch it and laugh your ass off... I am a terrible person for loving this I know.

How clean is your house?

I have found a new show (its not new, just new to me) on the BBC "How clean is your house" Its about these two British Ladies, Kim and Agie, going into peoples filth holes and helping them clean them up and teaching them how to properly clean their houses. These houses are just complete shambles, filth doesnt describe the rat droppings, mold, traash, trash, trash, trash, trash, and more trash in these peoples houses. How do people live like this and even worse some of these people have kids living with them some even young. How has noone done anything to punish these people for making kids live in it.. its cruelty. Just watch one episode and you will puke, be disgusted, and maybe liek me enthralled to watch over and over again. It is on at 4pm and 430pm everyday Monday through Friday on the BBC. Watch an episode and tell me what you think and if you are as disgusted as me.

Hall of Fame worth???

Yesterday one of the best clutch pitchers of my generation retired. Curt Schilling most recently of the Boston Red Sox called it a career after battling many injuries the past year or two. The current debate is whether his career is hall of fame worthy or not.
First to determine whether or not he belongs in the hall you need to determine what credentials one must have. So lets look at Curt's career. After bouncing around between Balitmore and Houstons majors and farm systems for a few years he joined the Philadelphia Phillies in 1992. He was by no means expected to have a great career but was expected to be OK. He went and pitched 16 seasons with the Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Boston Redsoxs. He finished his career with 216 wins, 3116 strickouts, 3 20+winning seasons, 3 300k seasons, and all doing this with 7 seasons of under 100 innings pitched because of countless injuries. The telling stats are his postseason numbers. He made it to 4 world series. One with the Philles and Diamondbacks and 2 with the RedSoxs. He had an 11-2 record, 120 strikeouts in 133.1 innings pitched, had a 2.23 ERA, and had a under .215 opponenants batting average. His record is the best all time among pitchers starting at least 10 postseason games.
Now to break those stats down... He was dominant when healthy. When people say he didnt win 300 games and that is the goal for HofF pitchers one should think what he was on pace to win without injuries. He also reached the magical 3000k's mark even being hurt so often. Then you look at how he carried so many teams through the playoffs. With out him the Diamondbacks probably would not have won their wrold series title. He was mister clutch performer coming in with great pitching performances in the most important times. Taking out the drama of the bloody sock night and he still went out injured and threw 6 shutout innings in a must win game for the RedSox.
So take him out of the equation for his teams and do they win... one wouldnt know but my best guess is no. He was so important in performance and also as a club house guy that his presence was very important. Does he deserve the Hall nod??? I say yes yes yes because stats are important and he has them but also importance should play just as important of a role with the voters. And he was one of the most important figures in baseball for so many years.

The Music World.. where would it be today

I was listening to some FooFighters the other day and it began to make me think. Where would the music world be today if so many of the greats of different eras had not met an early demise. Lennon, Joplin, Hendrix, Cobain, etc... So many to name. I am a huge fan of the FooFighters and would they even exsist today if Nirvana wasnt forced to break up after the untimely passing of their lead. Dave Grohl might still be just a drummer in NIrvana. Also would certain passing stars music be looked at the same if they hadnt passed. Joplin and Hendrix are even more loved today than when they were alive. Its like the old saying somehow goes.. an artist or painter is not really famous until they die. Would the Beetles have had a reunion tour (I hope not).
Just some random thoughts on some music... what do you think?

MM-aRch Madness

WMMR is doing their anual MM-aRch Madness tournie which pits bands against one another. They play two songs from each band and then let the listeners call in and text in votes for who is better. Then they move on. They are grouped into the 70's bracket, 80's, 90's and 00's. I really enjoy this yearly event and find it exciting to see the comparisons on which bands are more popular than others. As always the debate rages on how bands like Pearl Jam gets knocked out by Tool, David Bowe beats the Rolling Stones, and U2 looses to the likes of Ozzy. It just shows how some fans are really passionate of certain musical acts. I personally even find myself texting in who I want to win every so often. I believe with who is left that the final four bands remaining will be Green Day out of the 90's bracket, Zeppelin out of the 70's, AC/DC out of the 80's and the FooFighters out of the 00's, with AC/DC winning the whole thing. Check out there site and see which upsets are the biggest and who should win and let me know.

Cheating in sports

My good friend Brian O'Rourke brought up a good topic on his blog recently about cheating and telling our youth it is ok to cheat (not that he supports it just about something he read of someone who does). It really got me furious and made me start typing. My blogs might not be the most well written but they will clearly tell you how I feel....


It boggles my mind as a big sports fan and a person who loves competition why people cheat or do not play honestly. A big example of this is the current issue with steriods in sports. The problem I have is yes baseball has cracked down and is trying to rid the game of it which I applaud but why is it ok to use them in football. In football a person like Shawn Merriman of the San Diego Chargers was found to have used performance enhancing drugs. He was suspended for 4 games (which is the NFL rule for first time offenders). The whole time all anyone spoke of the situation was about how him returning from the suspension would help the team win more games. Nothing was mentioned once about how he cheated or how this shows a total disrespect for the game. What kind of example is this setting for the youth of America? Whether they like it or not athletes are role models. Cheating of anysort should be treated much more sternly....

Another example is of Albert Haynesworth now of the Washington Redskins. Several years ago while playing with the Tenessee Titans he stomped on the head of an opposing player while that player was down on the ground and defenseless. Yes, the other player was wearing a helmet but still he was hurt severely. What was the result of this? A less than sufficient suspension and after two years Albert signs a 7 year 100 million dollar contract. Yes he was rewarded with 100 million bucks for stomping on a defenseless person. Yet again showing the youth that it is ok to cheat or bend the rules because if doing so puts you ontop of the sport you will be financially rewarded for it.

Back to baseball for a second. Yes Alex Rodriguez was found to use PED's and he will face the boo's of the crowds for years to come but when he hits a walk off homerun later this year (or anyother awesome play) he will be cheered and cheered. He still is earning in excess of 20 million dollars a year. So as long as he can take the booing it doesn't matter because he still will have more money than he needs for a long time.... I am not against athletes making millions of dollars, because it is what it is, the pro athlete paycheck.

Pete Rose bet on baseball as a manager (I'm sure he did when he played too but wasn't caught) and was caught. He is banned from the game forever. Arguably the best hitter of all time cannot enter the hall of fame because of his mistakes. This is OK in my book because he broke rules, cheated, whatever you want to call it. So now why is he banned and others get away with so much.

So in summation what I am trying to say is that the professional sport athletes are telling the youth today it is ok to cheat. They are role models for our youth and need to represent as such. The penalties are not nearly harsh enough to make someone not cheat because cheating could put someone at the top of a sport and make a crap load of money.. that is what every youth wants (to be the best).