I don't care, and you can't make me!

There's a few things in sports that seem to be hot ass topics, but I couldn't give 2 shits about. You realize that means I have to give my opinion on said topics, right?

Mixed martial arts on CBS: Hard to believe CBS, a network whose demo is even older than me, was the broadcast outlet for something that skews so damn young. I didn't see the Elite XC show because I was at a benefit Saturday, and the only TV there was tuned to, obviously, the Red Wings.

(Note from Big Al: Not that I was able to watch much of the Wings game either, as the alcohol was flowing and the bullshit was being slung as I was talking to friends I hadn't seen in quite some time. I finally got to see "The Kill" or "The Shift" //I've seen both used in regard to Hank Zetterburg's Conn Smythe worthy 5 on 3 penalty kill// Sunday morning. All I can say is...WOW! But I digress...)

To be honest, I had totally forgotten MMA was making it's mainstream TV debut this past weekend. But from reading the blogosphere the last few days, as damn near EVERYONE has an opinion about what transpired, it seems I'm in a very small minority. Then again, I'm already in a very small minority, being an older sports blogger who remembers when boxing was king. Which also explains my "meh" feeling when it comes to MMA in general.

I'm not a hypocrite. I'm not going to call MMA barbaric, call for it to be banned. If so, then you'd have to say the exact same about boxing. As I consider boxing a sport, then MMA is as well. Sure, it's a violent sport with vastly different rules than boxing, and the fighters have a different skill set, but it's a sport all the same. A bloodsport, but still a sport.

I was able to see some of the Elite XC fights via the miracle that is the world wide web. From my admittedly uneducated in the ways of MMA view, by far the best match was between 2 women. Women put on the best, most evenly matched, fight? Good Lord, this was the best MMA has to offer?

To a person like myself, to whom MMA is more show than legitimate sport, and the type of sports fan they want to convert, the overall show featuring an overrated Kimbo Slice, wasn't the best way for the somewhat marginalized MMA to reach out. They did not put their best foot forward.

So to hear the complaints from the blogosphere claiming Kimbo Slice is an internet creation, with no true skills other than looking like a bad ass and having the ability to brawl, and is fighting nothing but washed up tomato cans? That fights were stopped at the wrong time for the wrong reasons? That the under card was full of total mismatches? That the most exciting thing to happen was seeing some poor soul's ear explode into a mass of bloody cartilage?

The first thing that comes to my mind is, "Sounds exactly like boxing...at it's worst."

To break out the hairy old cliche', the more things change, the more they stay the same. MMA apparently is just like boxing. As much as both bloodsports strive to become mainstream, neither will ever become more than a sideshow to stick and ball sports.

It's a damn shame the lousy MMA event had considerably more viewers than the hockey on NBC. The players on the ice were world class, unlike the stiffs they rolled out on on CBS.

The Lakers-Celtics "Rivalry": First off, I'll admit my bias. I'm not a fan of either team in the NBA Finals. Of course I'd have preferred the Pistons to have made the finals instead. But it's not the teams themselves that have me going. It's a specific kind of hoopla surrounding the final that, as Peter Griffin said on Quahog 5 News, "Grinds my gears."

I'm not looking forward to being beat over the head by the MSM and NBA with a so-called rivalry that hasn't actually been a rivalry since Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were in their primes. You know it, and I know it, even if ESPN/ABC attempts to convince us otherwise. No matter how many ways they try and spin it, events of 20-25 years ago do not a rivalry make.

Rather than sell the fact the best 2 teams in the NBA are facing each other in what should be an entertaining series, the powers that be would rather sell a NBA that no longer exists, except in the memories of those of us who were lucky enough to have lived through it.

For example, I have ESPN News on right now, and the 4 letter their talking heads recalling their "Favorite Lakers-Celtics rivalry moment." Every "moment" comes from the 80's. My God, I just saw a clip of Kurt Rambis, for chrissakes! Enough already!

When you have to reach back to 1987 for something memorable between the 2 teams, that isn't a rivalry. It's past history.

Big Brown's hoof: I don't care for horse racing. I never watch horse racing. I'd only be interested if I have a betting slip in one hand, and a beer in the other. Even then, I'm more interested in the beer.

Horse racing is dead and buried. Has been for years. But the MSM tries to resurrect it every spring.

For reasons I don't attempt to comprehend, the MSM is trying to make horse racing into something it isn't. Something that fans of stick and ball sports care about. Note to the media: We don't. Degenerate gamblers do, and that's about it.

The public at large only cares, remotely at that, about the Triple Crown races. Even then, only if a horse wins the first 2 races. If Big Brown hadn't have won the Preakness, who would pay attention to the Belmont?

So Big Brown has a cracked hoof? I feel for the horse, but so what? I'm more worried about the welfare of the horse, than his winning essentially a meaningless race.

There's no such thing as "The sport of kings." Horse racing is nothing more than an event for richer than sin horse owners to blow their money upon, and gamblers to do the same. Nothing more. It sure as Hell isn't a sport. So please don't try to convince me otherwise.

Thoroughbred horse racing and boxing are more alike than you may think

There are 2 sporting events this weekend that the MSM will be making a huge to-do about, the Kentucky Derby and the Oscar De La Hoya - Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight. Honestly, I couldn't give 2 shits about either of them.

I've actually been to the Derby. As an "Event," it was quite an experience, as I've never seen so many drunks per capita in my life. People were passed out everywhere, the concourses, bathrooms, all over the infield. And that was a couple of hours before the actual race.

There's an impressive level of bacchanalia in Louisville during Derby weekend. Wandering all over Churchill Downs, including the hedonistic infield, while drinking many mint juleps and people watching was highly entertaining. But as a sporting event? The Kentucky Derby left much to be desired.

When the race started, I was standing at the 1st turn. Watching 20+ premium, world-class thoroughbreds storm towards you and literally rumble past was something I'll never forget. But that was pretty much it. If I had been watching in the grandstands, my thoughts might have been a little different, but I doubt it would haver changed my opinion much, if any.

When it comes right down to brass tacks, the Kentucky Derby is about the partying and the betting. In other words, it's just a party that happens to involve a horse race. The biggest horse race, to be sure, but just a horse race. In the big scheme of things, the Derby is a blip on most sports fans radar, despite what the MSM would have you believe.

The media treats the Derby as if it's as relevant as it was 30-40 years ago. The TV networks are the worst offenders. NBC (The main rights holder) and the worldwide leader in sports treat the Derby as if it's the Super Bowl, when in all actuality, it's the equivalent of the Motor City Bowl. Why NBC feels the need to set aside a 2 hour block, for less than 2 minutes of action, makes little sense to me. Then again, most pregame shows are overlong, and don't bring much to the table other than allowing the network to sell advertising.

Thoroughbred horse racing is a dying (If not already dead) "Sport," and I'm using the term "Sport" loosely. No one pays any attention to horse racing, except for the Triple crown races, and even that low level of interest is quickly eroding.

What's even more interesting is that NBC, whom is broadcasting the Red Wings - Sharks game beforehand, will leave the hockey game at the end of regulation. At 4:30, overtime be damned, the network is switching to the Derby prerace activities.

What does it say about the relevancy of the NHL when the network that carries it will pull a "Heidi," and go to the prerace talking heads 1 1/2 hours before the start of the Derby? It says that the NHL has even less relevance to a nationwide audience than horses running in a circle. A scary thought, indeed.

Much as I called thoroughbred horse racing a dying sport, you can say the same about boxing.

I'm not going into the argument about which is better, mixed martial arts or boxing, as I don't know a damn thing about MMA. But I am aware that MMA is growing by leaps and bounds, and boxing is...Well, it's not much of anything anymore. And that's a damn shame...

It wasn't all that long ago that boxing, especially in Detroit, meant something. I watched Hilmer Kenty win the lightweight title. Not long after that, I was able to witness "The Hitman," Tommy Hearns, destroy Pipino Cuevas for the welterweight title. (Trust me, I'm not being generous when I say Hearns destroyed Cuevas. He dropped Cuevas with an absolute BOMB of a right hand. In his prime, Hearns was a freak of nature who was one of the best of the best)

But you know why I was a fan of Kenty and Hearns? Because those title fights were on regular broadcast television.

I'm sure those in Generation X find it hard to believe. Title fights not on PPV or premium cable? No f'n way! Quaint idea, isn't it? Grow boxing's fanbase by making all but the biggest of the big title fights easy to watch. But that's how it was up to the 90's.

The 80's was a glorious time to be a fight fan, as the big 3 networks carried boxing on a regular basis. You could easily follow the career arc of boxers.

We were spoiled rotten, being able to regularly watch great and charismatic fighters most weekends. Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Larry Holmes, Robero Duran, a young and scarily good Mike Tyson, Aaron Pryor (One crazy mofo), Ray Mancini (I watched the fight with Duk Koo Kim, who died after the fight) Sean O'Grady (Who took the title from Kenty, by the way), Julio Cesar Chavez, Wilfred Benitez, and that's just scratching the surface.

The 1980's were the golden age of boxing.

But in 2007? I have no idea of the weight classes. What's the difference between a super welterweight and a junior middleweight? Nothing, so why the different nomenclature? There seems to be dozens of sanctioning bodies, all with their own champions. They are just a large vat of alphabet soup. WBO, WBA, IBF, YMMV, SOB, SOL, LOL, WTF!

Worst of all, the once mighty heavyweight class is nothing more than a bad joke. Hell, boxing is a joke, period. The promoters, the boxing commissions, the judges, the referees, they are all corrupt, or willing to be corrupted. Pro wrestling is more legitimate.

Boxing is broken, and it's beyond repair.

Yet the media is pushing De La Hoya - Mayweather like it's the next coming of Hagler - Hearns. It's far from it. Is it a big fight? In today's terms, sure. When compared to the 70's and 80's, when boxing was much more mainstream? It's not even close. Ray Leonard - Roberto Duran was on everyone's mind. De La Hoya - Mayweather utterly pales in comparison.

How many of us are going to shell out the serious PPV coin? It's $54.95 on my cable system. You gotta be kidding! I wouldn't pay that much to watch Santa Claus take on Jesus.

As boxing currently stands, it's rotten from the inside out. In order to save boxing, it needs to be killed. And that's never, ever going to happen.

Is this weekend the last gasp for 2 long irrelevant sports, both once called "The Sport of Kings," that have been thrashing about in their death throes?

If you ask me, in my mind, they are already dead and buried.