I went over to Lowe's today to take care of my mulching needs. I wound up this excursion by getting something from Scotts called "Color Enhanced Mulch". This stuff claims that other mulch turns gray within a month, but this stuff will still be the same color one year from now. I considered rubbing it into my hair, but thought better of it.

Meal of Links

The Cleveland Marathon and all of it's associated races were run this a.m. But a cop sent some 10K runners in the wrong direction. Those folks ended up running an extra 2.5 miles. How does that happen?

The Floyd Landis doping case really turned bizarre this week. Especially with an appearance by Greg Lemond that was supposed to say Landis admitted he doped and no comments about Lance Armstrong, but morphed into Lemond admitting he was sexually abused as a youngster and that someone in Landis' camp had threatened to go public with that info. Although, that is where the spotlight now shines, instead of original doping allegations. But that's what happens when you have a sport that is so entwined with doping. All the stars are falling by the wayside, after the latest round of investigations.

Michael Moore takes on healthcare in "Sicko".

Exercise Yard

Last night was a contrast in fighting styles by middleweights on HBO. The first, a slugfest by two up-and-comers. The second, in the words of Jim Lampley, a "dreadful" outing. And that one was the title bout.

We now have a NE Ohio fighter who is getting some deserved national attention, middleweight Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik from Youngstown. Last night was his biggest test to date, the KO artist from Colombia, Edison "Pantera" Miranda. My God, a fight where there were actual punches being thrown. Pavlik took it to Miranda from the opening bell, backing him up and easily winning the first two rounds. Miranda looked like he figured something out in round three and his workrate increased. Lemme tell you, they were trading bombs the whole time, with Pavlik going to the wrong corner after that one. Pavlik then dripped blood from his nose the rest of the fight, while Miranda was getting hit with everything and his eyes were starting to close by the fifth. Pavlik knocked Miranda down twice in the sixth, and the ref finally ended it in the seventh, with Miranda really unable to do anything. This should set up a title bout for Pavlik, a fight I cannot wait for.

Why? Because I do not like the current champ, Jermain Taylor. Last night, he
took on Cory Spinks, and this bout blew hard. I cannot remember a fight this boring in a long time. Spinks, of course, had the live rapper for his entrance, and there was more action in his dancing on the way in than the fight had. Taylor just didn't throw punches. By the seventh, Taylor's trainer, Emmanuel Steward, got out from his usual friendly HBO commentator persona, and pleaded with Taylor to throw punches, cussing up a storm and basically leaving the ring early between the 11th and 12th rounds. His main theme was he had an opponent who was running and couldn't hurt him, therefore, cut the ring off and hit him. He didn't do it. It was the second ugly fight in a row for Taylor, who really doesn't want Pavlik, and Larry Merchant got him to admit he'll fight not the best opponent, but the one that'll get him the most cash. I think that was his already limited fan support leaving the building after that comment. Wouldn't surprise me if Steward quits the Taylor camp, Taylor moves up to fight Joe Calzaghe, and Pavlik somehow gets screwed in all of this. I mean, it is boxing.

Oh, there was also controversial scoring in the Taylor-Spinks fight. The first score was read 111-107, in favor of Spinks. My first thought was the judge scored a zero for Taylor in the 12th. Then in a WTF, Lamps said the judge had it 117-111 for Spinks, and if that was the case, the man should never judge a professional fight ever again. It concluded a strange night for HBO. It was a small, late-arriving crowd in Memphis, and not enthusiastic at all. Then, the heavily promoted Taylor does nothing for me. Hell, I still think Winky Wright beat him. So, they are stuck with a champ that most people do not like. Meanwhile, the fight on the undercard was infinitely more interesting than the title bout itself.

Lots of room on the Pavlik bandwagon. Get in early.

Visitor

None, it's a cloudy Sunday.