I'm not a boxing expert. I don't watch a lot of big-time fights, largely because they're on pay-per-view, and I refuse to pay $64.95 to watch a star fight a guy I've never heard of.
When I heard Manny Pacquiao was fighting something called Timothy Bradley, Jr., Saturday, and it was nearly $70 to buy the fight, I didn't do any further investigating into the event. I hadn't heard of Bradley, and even if I had, I doubt I would have bought it.
Naturally, Bradley won. Naturally, it was a split decision. Naturally, the internet blew up.
Want an informed opinion on the bit? Find someone who saw it and knows how to break down what they saw. I'm not that guy. I just think the whole thing is interesting.
Even though I have no idea if Pacquiao was screwed over in this fight, I do know one thing. Promoter Bob Arum would be well-served to close his yapper. He immediately started talking about a rematch in early November, and since he promotes both fighters, it's safe to say he will be making a few dimes on that event.
Again, I did not see the fight, but to me, any conspiracy talk starts with the guy who stands the most to gain from a rematch. That's not Pacquiao. It's Arum. If he's wise, he stops talking about it, even though he's said he wants an investigation. It doesn't help, because the dollars still all point in his direction.
The National Collegiate Hockey Conference will announce Monday that its first postseason tournament will be held at Target Center in Minneapolis. The announcement has been expected for some time, as Target Center has been linked to the NCHC for a while, even going back to before the Big Ten officially announced that its tournament would rotate between the XCel Energy Center (St. Paul) and Joe Louis Arena (Detroit). It's not a surprise.
Many fans have been disappointed by the talk, and they won't be happy with the news of this deal being official. However, the NCHC's decision makes a lot of sense from a business perspective. The Minneapolis-St. Paul airport is one of the easier ones to fly into for out-of-town fans, especially those of Denver and Colorado College. UMD, North Dakota, St. Cloud State, and even Nebraska Omaha are a pretty easy drive away from the Cities, plus the schools all have plenty of alumni in the area.
Not only that, but the NCHC will probably be more capable of attracting corporate sponsors to an event in the Twin Cities than it would to one that rotated among campus sites or went to a smaller venue in a smaller city.
I am not a Target Center fan, but there are renovations coming. I don't know the specifics, but they can't hurt. The building needs to be spruced up.
The WCHA Final Five has been a cash cow for the league since its inception, but the league has missed out badly, as evidenced by the fact that the event hasn't sold out a game since 2008. The NCHC now is charged with filling more seats in a building no one associates with hockey. It could be a tough sell, but the new league has to hope it can do a better job than the old league -- the one six of the NCHC's eight teams left to start this new endeavor -- did.
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