ONE FIGHT IS OVER...

...BUT ANOTHER IS BREWING.

## MLB umpires may make mistakes, are sometimes confrontational and never seem to go away, no matter how old they are, but I've never felt they were dishonest or made decisions based on outside "influences." Nor have I ever heard of anyone else accuse them of being corrupt.
But professional boxing judges---well, that's another story. In fact, the fight game is as corrupt as any major sporting event, from the commissioners, to the promoters, thru the managers, and even down to the boxers themselves. Since much of the sport is subjective, most of the time, it goes unnoticed. But even when the suspicions of foul play are as evident as the Bradley-Pacquiao fight this past weekend, nothing will ever be done about it. Even the Nevada State Athletic Commission's executive director, Kevin Kizer, plans no probe or examination of the scoring of the fight.
"I had Manny ahead, but that's fine," Kizer told the newspaper. "All I can say is I think every judge should strive to get better. Every fighter who loses a close fight like that wants to look at the judges."  That's fine except that every outside source, boxing analysts from every section of the media, had Pacquiao winning by a wide margin. If ever a sport needed a national commission and an unbiased National Commissioner, it's professional boxing. They could start with these three simple steps:
1) All fight promotions and contracts be approved by the commission.
2) All judges trained and approved by the commission
3) ONE, and only ONE, association and ONE champion in each division, with the commission to determine championship matches.
That would solve most of the problems. ...It'll never happen.
 
## Okay, that fight is over, but a more entertaining one is on tap. MLB has changed the rules of the draft. Let's not go into what the changes are, or how the draft works, suffice to say that it's designed to keep bonuses in line and help the lower market teams sign their high draft choices. This does not sit well with agents, especially uber-agent, Scott Boras (everyone genuflect now, please). The battle looms over the Pittsburgh Pirates selection of pitcher Mark Appel. Appel was expected to be chosen first or second in the draft, and was likely to get a signing bonus of upwards of $8 million. Instead, he lasted until the 8th pick and will probably get an offer of $2.8 million from the Pirates. The Pirates could ignore the guidelines and give him his $8 million, but the penalties are so severe that this is almost impossible. The Pirates are allotted only $6.56 million for all 11 of their picks combined. No one believes that Boras (bow your head) will let this go unchallenged. Pirate GM, Frank Coonelly, is considered to be as stubborn as they come, so this may be a better fight than the one in Las Vegas.  The ultimate winner will be clear-cut:  it'll be the one with the most money.
 
## The Yanks completed a sweep of their 2nd biggest rival - the NY Mets - this weekend, using 8 homeruns to subdue the crosstown opponents. Frankly, the Mets were not expected to challenge for the division title and this series may have exposed their weaknesses, of which there seemed to be many. Not enough hitters, a leaky defense and a bullpen that scares no one.
 
## A FEW INTERESTING NOTES
The Mets' Ike Davis looked positively helpless at the plate this weekend and is hitting only .162 with an on-base pct. of .244.  The Mets refuse to send him down, believing that would devastate the young man and prefer to have him work out his problems at the major league level. Major league pitchers are not known for their sympathies towards struggling rookie hitters, so I don't see this as a viable solution. It won't do Davis' confidence any good to finish the year hitting below .200.
 
AJ Burnett won 3-2 yesterday and has a 6-2 record with an ERA of 3.61. Good work AJ, even if he did accomplish it against minor league competition, the KC Royals...and the National League.
 
It's a shame we didn't get to see an attempt at a Triple Crown Saturday.  I'll Have Another was retired to stud  after injuring a tendon. No truth to the rumor that he injured it in a pick-up basketball game. Unlike Pro-basketball players, horses don't go to stud until AFTER they retire.
 
***THEY SAID IT***
"Talks have broken down between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association. Actually, the talks never got started — the referees’ microphones didn’t work."  -- Brad Dickson
"Three Ohio State football players were arrested for public urination and trying to elude police.
Apparently the Buckeyes' running game still needs a little work."  -- Dwight Perry
"Maria Sharapova finally won the French Open. Thus she completes the career Grunt Slam."  -- RJ Currie
"In 2012 SF Giants fans have gone from “Let Timmy Smoke” to “Timmy’s pitching, we’ll need to smoke.”  -- Janice Hough
"The NBA postseason continues. This is the time of year when the casual observer of the game starts to pay attention. But enough about the refs."  -- Alan Ray 
"The 49ers tried to woo Peyton Manning, but coach Jim Harbaugh still insists they intended to keep quarterback What's-his-face.  -- RJ Currie
"Q: What do Seattle and Miami have in common?  A: They're the only cities in America rooting for the Heat."  -- Dwight Perry
"The University of Colorado is trying to sell its basketball court, with a minimum bid of $5,000. Colorado  recruits: That’s the first sign you did not sign with a basketball school — you find the court listed on eBay."  -- Brad Dickson

CP-