Sporctober

If you have read any of my previous blog entries you have come to the conclusion that I'm a pretty big sports fan. From football to baseball to basketball, all the way to UFC and pro wrestling -we could spend hours talking about pro wrestling and if I should call it a sport or not. While the results are predetermined, you need to be a complete athlete to perform the way the do, there is no denying that; so I do consider it a for of sports and entertainment- I love watching sports, I've played most of them (soccer, baseball, basketball, flag football, bowling) and without a doubt I love talking and writing about them.

That being said, I'm really excited by the way October is shaping up. October brings to us the MLB playoffs and the second month of the NFL season, also kicks off the NBA season (most likely not going to happen this year), so there are a ton of options on stuff to see live. The reason I'm so excited is because I'll be going to a ton of events that month:

• UFC 136 - October 8th we get UFC 136 live from Houston's Toyota Center. Just today I bought my plane ticket and made hotel and car reservations for this trip. The card is looking good so far: Demian Maia vs Jorge Santiago, Chael Sonnen vs Brian Stann, Jose Aldo vs Kenny Florian for the Featherweight title, and Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard 3 for the Lightweight Championship. If you follow MMA you know that these have the potential to be some of the greatest fights in a long time. Also during the day we get the UFC Fan Expo which should be an interesting event.

[caption id="attachment_171" align="aligncenter" width="500"] UFC 136 Edgar vs Maynard III Poster[/caption]

• Raiders vs Texans - While these are two teams I don't really care for, the game will be October 9th so I'll be in Houston to catch it. Basically any NFL game I can catch live I'll do. Reliant Stadium is a beautiful venue (was there last year for a great Chargers-Texans game), the Texans have a great high powered offense and I expect the Raiders to suck (which is good for us Charger fans) so the Texans will certainly score a ton of point. Not to bad of a quick Friday-Sunday trip up to Houston.

[caption id="attachment_173" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Reliant Stadium and Reliant Astrodome at night from Kirby Dr.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_174" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Inside Reliant Stadium[/caption]

• WWE Raw Live - every chance I get to see WWE live I'm there, so I'll take full advantage of them being in town for 2 straight nights. October 12th  is a house show (not taped for TV) but these usually provide the most interaction with fans as the wrestlers have no time constraints and can go out there and have a good time doing their thing. While they don't bring a big screen and all the stuff you see on TV, you get that interaction that more than makes up for it.


• WWE SmackDown Live - The following night, the 13th, we get Smackdown for another live show. Same as the above, the interaction is well worth the price of admission; also getting to hear some of the guys curse in Spanish is pretty funny. I'm waiting to see who comes out with a soccer jersey (Monterrey has 2 teams), a couple of years ago Michelle McCool came out wearing a Tigres jersey looking for a face pop but half of the arena booed her - I guess most people in attendance were for Monterrey.

[caption id="attachment_175" align="aligncenter" width="614"] CM Punk & Alberto del Rio in Monterrey 05/14/11[/caption]

• WWE Vengeance. On October 23 WWE will revive the Vengeance PPV (I was at the 2001 edition in San Diego, yeah the one were Chris Jericho was crowned the 1st ever Undisputed Champion, see video below) live from the AT&T Center. While at a Raw taping at the same joing in May WWE announced that the event would be Uprising but quickly changed that. The last couple of Pay Per Views have been really good, lets hope they keep the trend leading to October.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNIDaPBlJ_4]

• WWE still has not announced any other events around the PPV, but we'll most certainly get a show in Austin, maybe Laredo, McAllen or Corpus Christi. This would definitely will be a great way to close out what is shaping up to be a great month.

What cool events do you have on the radar for the coming months?

Mr Khakbaz out!!!

NFL Lockout & Free Agency

5 days have passed since the NFL and it's Players Association signed a new labor agreement (that will last until 2020), to say that this is big news for sports fans is.

I'm not that interested in talking about the fine points of the agreement but some of the changes that were made were interesting. I see 3 main points here:

• The first one being the new salary cap


• Second, the rookie wage scale


• More money for retired players

All 3 are really important and have big implications, but in all fairness it all boiled down to money. The league generates soooo much money that a .01% difference is a big deal. When I talked with casual fans on their thoughts of the lockout and how it would be resolved, most of them said that there was to much money on the table to leave it there; while I totally understand that, the fact that there is that amount is the exact problem, nobody wanted to budge and lose a couple of million here o a hundred million there.

For me the rookie wage limit is something that had to be done. You hear "the highest paid rookie in history", on literally every position, almost every year; where was this going to stop? This was a good move no doubt; the playing level is so high that many great college players are nothing more that over-paid average players, I hope this will help moderate it.

A 4 month lockout that in theory didn't cost a single game (well maybe the Hall of Fame Game), yet the players didn't have the chance to practice as a unit, there were no OTAs and guys like Peyton Manning (who had some minor neck surgery) couldn't contact the team physician with whom he had worked throughout his career, making his rehab a not-so-smooth process.

Now teams are put on the spot to sign rookies, cut veterans, renew contracts and everything that usually goes on during the off-season in only a couple of weeks. I have no doubt this will cost some of the higher drafted players some big bucks as they won't have time to negotiate a deal, it's basically take it or sitout with no time to negotiate.

Also the money being thrown around for some of these free agents is just crazy. You get a guy like Kevin Kolb, (7 career starts, 11 TDs and 14 INTs with a QB rating of 73.2) who was replaced after a couple of games last season after being named the starting QB for the Eagles by Michael Vick (who is no great QB by any means IMO), traded to the Cardinals and signing a 5 year 64M contract with 21M guaranteed. Seriously, are you kidding me? Also you got a guy like Eric Weddle (Chargers) who gets paid like he is a premier player, he is good, but not premier.

Oh well, this is how it goes. The fact is that the NFL and the NFLPA came to an agreement, no games will be lost, we have labor peace at least until 2020, and the NFL as a whole came out winning as they are the standard for how a successful league should be run -say what you want about Roger Goodell but he avoided what could have been a huge disaster.

Money will be thrown around, players will be hurt, champions will be crowned, but most importantly US FANS GET A COMPLETE NFL SEASON.

Who you got for SB XLVI?

For now, MR KHAKBAZ OUT!!!!

CM Punk promo

It's been 2 weeks since CM Punk's  and I've gone back and watched it again. To say that it was amazing is an understatement, I quite possible has been the biggest thing on WWE in the last 4-5 years. I found last weeks Cena-McMahon promo quite dull, but I still hope this turns into the biggest storyline in recent memory.

I've heard a lot of podcasts and read a lot on this subject and I truly believe Punk has either re-signed or will be back in a short short time. Nothing that goes live on WWE is a shoot, while this contained lots of insider references and backstage info it was not a real shoot, to open up in such manner implies WWE is looking to make big $$$ on this; they won't make big money if they limit this to a one night deal at Money in the Bank this Sunday.

I hope we as fans get a great payoff on what has been a great couple of weeks and WWE, for the first time in a long time, has made the fans think on what will happen, has made the conclusion or progression of this storyline somewhat of a mystery. Without a doubt the element of surprise is the biggest thing in pro-wresting and this, my friends, has surprise written all over it.

Before jumping the gun and making any conclusions based on last weeks Cena-VKM interaction and whatever will happen tonight on Raw, just enjoy the moment, live the fantasy for a while and hold on judgement until this whole thing is played out. For now, enjoy the promo
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ygbL2qFknw]
Have a great Monday and enjoy RAW, for now...

Mr Khakbaz out!!!