Recap Time

Used SuperPhoto on a photo to make this awesome watercolor.

I'd thought about possibly trying to do a monthly recap here but just going back a few days of my G+ posts makes that kind of unfeasible. So I think maybe I'll do a recap of the best posts from the last week or so, give or take.

In honor of Alan Rickman's untimely death the other day, I watched Dogma (full movie on YouTube) last night for the first time in years and it was still very funny (though, as noted by a friend, a little too clever for its own good).

Politics
Netflix Founder Drops $100 million to Join Billionaire Crusade to Privatize Our Public Schools 

I went to a Donald Trump rally and saw a man wearing a plastic bag as a shirt. (with images, tweets) - this is both fascinating and really pretty disturbing and doesn't even include the newest addition to the Chucklehead Sideshow that is Trump 2016, the Freedom Girls (warning, link is to a YouTube video I can't help but believe is performance art but is apparently real)!

MMA/UFC Links
Nik Lentz issues "non-negotiable" demands to BJ Penn

The Conor Ultra Super Mega Hype Train Rolls On - Coach: After 'warm-up fight' against Rafael Dos Anjos, Conor McGregor could make a run at the UFC welterweight belt. Conor will get destroyed by RDA and any dreams he has of multiple titles will be pounded out of him. And, for the record, Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar both have fully legitimate beefs with the UFC capitulating to McGregor's bullshit demands. Defend your new strap or give it up.

And, lastly in mma news, Chris Weidman is 'really happy' he lost to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194

IKEA Kura double decker playhouse - epic makeover time!

Ned Overend is the Champion Cyclist Who Never Grows Old - a great article about a guy who was kicking butt on the trails when I was a kid and is STILL kicking butt on the trails today! The article includes some good training tips (HIIT yo!).

New Word:
Testimoney - paid for testimony, duh!

New Recent Videos:
Heavy Surf Pounds Its Beach
Washed Out Stairs to Its Beach
SUP Surfing Fall and a Not Fall
Some of the Big Swell Hitting Santa Cruz
A Coupla Waves in Cowells

Videos I've watched:
Santa Cruz Tsunami Up Close 2011
Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and Conan Help a Student Driver
AK-47 Underwater at 27,450 fps
Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
Carp Attack [Carpe Diem]
Lego Mindstorms Bridge Layer

See ya in around a month or so!

A Resharing Experiment from Google+

This morning's overlook photo, beautiful but pretty chilly.

I am active on Google Plus, there are lots of active there and I really like the community that's developed.

Because I share quite a bit over there every day, the blog over here feels forlorn and semi-abandoned. Until I can build out an IFTTT recipe to repost my G+ posts here, its a time consuming and labor intensive practice to re-share posts here.

But, for shits and giggles, I thought I'd give it a try today.

What I've posted so far today:
NoTubes - Tire Sealant, Path of Death Puncture Demo

Improved GWX Control Panel does an even better job at keeping Windows 10 off your PC - I hate Microsoft since they've decided that spying on users is okay. And they'll try to install software on your Win7 or, shudder, 8 machine to give them access now. I will not ever be upgrading to Win10 because I don't want Microsoft to be able to record my office or home for their own damned reasons. Not acceptable. Same reason why the Amazon Echo speaker will never be found in my house.

Ben Carson's "helper" guide...

A couple of posts from yesterday:
Kaleidoscope: See Things Differently (4K) - a pretty darned amazing and beautiful BMX video, yeah.

Ronda Rousey gets KO'ed Mortal Kombat style!

Will Ronda Rousey follow in Gina Carano's footsteps after violent KO loss?

And another MMA post (there were fights this weekend with utterly unexpected finishes, the gif to the right there is one of them).
UFC Quick Quote: Cain Velasquez claims champion and teammate Daniel Cormier has been 'hard to deal with' but this has to be taken with a grain of salt. Cain and DC are long time teammates and good friends. And, watching Cain talk, its clear he's having a little fun with his friend. I look forward to Cain rematching against Werdum and annihilating him. If all goes as expected, DC, Cain and Luke Rockhold will all be champions in their weight classes within a few months, these guys all train together at AKA in San Jose and Cain and Luke are local guys.

Things I Am, Officially, Over

Yep, its time for a kvetchy post about shit I'm tired of hearing, reading or otherwise learning about. Some might be elaborated on, some might need no explanation.

Big Sports Weekend Coming Up!

This Saturday is going to be one of epic sporting awesomeness! We are going to the San Francisco Giants FanFest during the day and then there is the rather superb card of fights on tap for UFC 126. Seriously, this card is rocking! And, oh yeah, there's a little football game on Sunday to determine the greatest team in the entire universe (or America). I'm a Steelers fan and expect a great game with the Steelers emerging victorious!

UFC FNftT 2 Predictions

With tonight's UFC Fight Night for the Troops II nearly upon us, I thought I'd post my calls. I am bummed that the Riddle/Brown fight was scrapped when Matt Riddle hurt his hand in training. There was a Twitter campaign to have Dana White call Ben "Killa B" Saunders back to the big show to take on Brown but the Keyboard Corps were unable to sway Dana White's mind so there's one less fight on the card.

The calls below are not complete as the first three fights feature fighters who I've had very, very little exposure to and any prediction would be shooting in the dark. I've also not entered any of these picks into the UFC's Fantasy Game since the system has been badly broken for a while now, I'm just not going to waste the time until they get it fixed up.

Anyway, on with the picks!

Melvin Guillard vs. Evan Dunham
Prediction: Dunham by TKO in Rd. 3
   
Mark Hominick vs. George Roop
Prediction: Roop by TKO in Rd. 2

Tim Hague vs. Matt Mitrione
Prediction: Mitrione by Unanimous Decision
   
Pat Barry vs. Joey Beltran
Prediction: Barry by TKO in Rd. 1
   
Cole Miller vs. Matt Wiman
Prediction: Miller by Unanimous Decision
   
Mike Guymon vs. DaMarques Johnson
Prediction: Guymon by Submission in Rd. 3
   
Yves Edwards vs. Cody McKenzie
Prediction: Edwards by Unanimous Decision

Fight of the Night: Dunham/Guillard
Knockout of the Night: Barry
Submission of the Night: Guymon

So there ya go. We'll see how I do later on, seems like its been a little while since there have been any fights on, I'm just looking forward to seeing some action!

What are your calls?

Quick UFC 125 Predictions

Not too much time so I'm just gonna blast them out.
Edgar vs Maynard - Maynard by Unanimous Decision
Leben vs Stann - Leben by TKO in Rd. 3
Vera vs Silva - Silva by TKO in Rd. 2
Daiz vs Kim - Diaz by Submission in Rd. 2
Guida vs Gomi - Gomi by Unanimous Decision
Davis vs Stephens - Davis by TKO in Rd. 2
Grispi vs Poirier - Grispi by TKO in Rd. 2
Baroni vs Tavares - Tavares by TKO in Rd. 1
Brown vs Nunes - Brown by Unanimous Decision
Roberts vs Soto - Roberts by TKO in Rd 2
Volkmann vs McKee - McKee by TKO in Rd. 2

Fight of the Night: Leben vs Stann
Knockout of the Night: Tavares
Submission of the Night: Diaz

Some great fights on tap tonight. Very much looking forward to Nate Diaz taking on Stun Gun. And seeing how Marcus Davis looks and performs at 155. Then there's Chris Leben taking on Brian Stann, another good fight there. And, of course, seeing if Frankie Edgar's hyper butterfly style can defeat Gray Maynard's take 'em down and beat 'em up style.

Who do you have tonight?

Making a More Compelling Reason to Buy UFC PPV Events

People tend to respond better to offers of carrots rather than threats of sticks. The UFC could heed this simple lesson and focus less on hunting down and prosecuting stream jackers who mirror fights online for free and instead focus on making a more compelling argument to not jack the stream (why yes, that does sound filthy).

Add an extra value to the purchased and legal stream, a free tshirt from the event, xx percent off an item at the UFC store, access to archived fights, 15 minutes in a closet with ring girl Arianny Celeste. I don't know, I'm just brainstorming. Anyway. The way to more buys is to look at the good side and see what can be done to encourage more of the good and not worry so much about the bad.

UFC 124 Predictions

Time for another prediction post for this weekend's rather exciting UFC 124 showdown between Georges St. Pierre (the best fighter on the planet) and trash talking fraggle heel, Josh Koscheck. Without too much further lead-in, here are my calls for tomorrow night's fights. These are the same calls I entered into the UFC Fantasy pick'em and I've been finishing in the top 100 the last bunch of fights so there's that.

Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck
Prediction: St. Pierre by Unanimous Decision
Reason: GSP has been unbeatable since that freakish and annoying loss to Matt Serra. I think Kos is a tremendously dangerous opponent for him though as Kos has superb wrestling, is strong like a bull and comes at you with a fury. But GSP is the number one ranked fighter on the planet for a reason. I think GSP will handle Kos, frustrate him and decision him though GSP could be pissed off enough to let his hands go and knock Kos out (remember that wicked KO by Thiago Silva Paulo Thiago (ed note: Ooops!)? GSP is stronger!).

What a Night, Oh Man!, What a Night!

As if the Giants working hard to win game six of the NLCS to advance to the World Series against the Rangers wasn't enough (believe me, it was!) there was also one of the most amazingly stacked fight cards in the history of the UFC on last night as well.

I had the Giants game on the big screen tv in all its HD glory and rode the Giants Torture Roller Coaster all the way through until Juan Uribe put the Giants on top in the 8th with a solo home run. It was torture but it was the sort of delicious torture that you just know is going to end up the way you want it to, with a victory.

UFC 121 Predictions

Unlike the rather soft card of UFC 120, this next fight card for UFC 121 is stacked! Up and down the card there is so much awesomeness to take in that it just blows me away. Totally, totally stoked for these fights! 

What's that, Mr. T? Enough with the jibber jabber? You got it.

265 lbs.: Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez
Prediction: Lesnar by TKO in Round 4
Reason: While I like Cain Velasquez quite alot and he is an almost local guy (Salinas is the next town over from mine), I am having a hard time seeing where he can win this fight. He's got a great gas tank and excellent wrestling but he's substantially smaller than Lesnar and Lesnar throws absolute bombs with those hands of his. I'd like to see Cain win this fight but I'd also very much like to see Lesnar vs. Carwin II as well.

205 lbs.: Matt Hamill vs. Tito Ortiz
Prediction: Hamill by TKO in Round 2
Reason: Tito talks a great fight but I don't think Tito has the physical assets to back it up anymore. He has excuses for the last four years of crappy fights but excuses don't mean jack. Hamill is an incredibly strong guy with a better wrestling game and heavier hands. I see this one as a pretty lopsided ass-whooping and Tito on the getting rather than giving end of it.

265 lbs.: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Brendan Schaub
Prediction: Schaub by TKO in Round 1

Reason: Wow, this is a tough fight to call. Gonzaga is a beast when he is on (see the highlight reel destruction of Mirko Cro Cop for a stellar example) but he isn't always on in the Octagon. Schaub is a rising star with a ton of potential and complains that his fights don't last long enough because he goes in, throws a bomb and the other guy goes nigh-nigh.

170 lbs.: Martin Kampmann vs. Jake Shields
Prediction: Shields by Unanimous Decision
Reason: Shields is a champion, he's taken down a bunch of big names. Kampmann is a tough Dutchman but has been beaten by the top echelon. This could be a really good fight but I think its going to end up being a bit of a snoozer.

170 lbs.: Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago

Prediction: Thiago by Unanimous Decision
Reason: Time was that Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez was the top of the heap in terms of bringing every last ounce of himself to the fight. And he still does bring it all but what he brings isn't as much as it used to be. He is ping-ponging between divisions trying to find a home and keeps getting beat in both divisions. He needs to choose one and commit himself 100% to it. Thiago is a severe ass-kicker who fights in the Octagon as a release from his regular job as a special unit cop in Brazil (the ones who kick in doors and take really, really nasty people down).

185 lbs.: Ryan Jensen vs. Court McGee
Prediction: McGee by Unanimous Decision

185 lbs.: Patrick Cote vs. Tom Lawlor
Prediction: Lawlor by TKO in Round 2
Reason: I make no bones about the fact that I'm a Lawlor fan. He's a funny guy out of the Octagon but takes his fights very seriously when it is time. Cote is a dangerous fighter and this fight could go either way so I'm going with my sentimental pick.

265 lbs.: Gilbert Yvel vs. Jon Madsen
Prediction: Yvel by Submission in Round 3
Reason: Madsen's a strong wrestler but is very fresh to the mma game on the big stage. Yvel has been there, done that, got the t-shirt and then cut the t-shirt up into a workout tank top. He has a wealth of experience and, though Madsen may be more powerful, experience and skill trumps raw power.

155 lbs.: Sam Stout vs. Paul Taylor
Prediction: Stout by TKO in Round 3

170 lbs.: Mike Guymon vs. Daniel Roberts
Prediction: Guymon by Submission in Round 2

185 lbs.: Chris Camozzi vs. Dongi Yang
Prediction: Yang by TKO in Round 3

Fight of the Night: Lesnar vs. Velasquez
Submission of the Night: Yvel
Knockout of the Night: Hamill

Got something different? Post it in the comments or leave a link. I'll come and check it out.

UFC 120 Predictions

That's right campers, it is time for some predictionating!

185 lbs.: Michael Bisping (185) vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Prediction: Bisping by TKO in Round 2
Reason: I may not like Michael Bisping but that's got nothing to do with his ability to fight, I just think he's a douchebag Brit. That said, I think he's going to come out fired up and throwing leather since he's on his home turf and doesn't want to look like a punk.

170 lbs.: Carlos Condit vs. Dan Hardy
Prediction: Hardy by KO in Round 2
Reason: I'm not sure what's up with Carlos Condit, he went from being virtually unbeatable to being rather beatable. Sometimes when that Loss cherry gets popped, a whole bunch of other losses just follow naturally and I'm not saying it'll happen here but Condit appeared, to me, a little cautious in his last couple of fights I've seen (admittedly I may have missed some). I also think Hardy's going to be similarly fired up and while he is a wanker, he's also a very, very dangerous striker with "Go sleep, nighty-night" power in both hands.

170 lbs.: John Hathaway vs. Mike Pyle
Prediction: Unanimous Decision
Reason: Pyle's no pushover and Hathaway's no joke, this is gonna be a good fight. This could be a Fight of the Night.

265 lbs.: Travis Browne vs. Cheick Kongo
Prediction: Kongo by TKO in Round 3
Reason: I'm not too familiar with Travis Browne. He's got a great record but is stepping up into a whole other level of combat with Kongo. Kongo is a kickboxing star with great striking and a world of experience which, I think will be the difference in the end.

170 lbs.: James Wilks vs. Claude Patrick
Prediction: Patrick by TKO in Round 3

155 lbs.: Spencer Fisher vs. Kurt Warburton
Prediction: Fisher by Unanimous Decision

205 lbs.: Fabio Maldonado vs. James McSweeney
Prediction: Maldonado by TKO in Round 3

205 lbs.: Cyrille Diabate vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Prediction: Gustafsson by Split Decision

155 lbs.: Mark Holst vs. Paul Sass
Prediction: Sass by Unanimous Decision

265 lbs.: Rob Broughton vs. Vinicius Kappke de Quieroz
Prediction: Submission (Choke) in Round 1

Fight of the Night: Fisher vs Warburton
Submission of the Night: Queiroz
Knockout of the Night: Hardy

There ya go, folks. Check back and see how I did, submit your own predictions or a link to yours and I'll come and check them out. At UFC 119, I ended up #62 out of some 11,000 players on the UFC Fantasy Picks.

Some of the other folks I follow and have checked their calls:
Zach at the Sports Jury
MMAHotstuff at ESPN's MMA Blog

Update 10.17.10: Well, I barely stayed above .500 on my picks but, because of how I picked the finishes, I still did really well on the UFC pick'em. Well enough to break the top 50 and even the top 40. I ended up #36 of just under 8900 players. Which is pretty freaking good. I missed all three of my of the Night calls though, oops.

The fights were pretty decent. I enjoyed watching Carlos Condit knock Dan Hardy out cold. Seeing Mike Pyle just pwn John Hathaway for three rounds was impressive, more so considering Hathaway's previously unblemished 14-0 record, now 14-1. And sorry, I'm just not very impressed with Michael Bisping, he does the look and the act and everything but that's what it feels like, a big act. I don't think he's got the heart to be a champion, he'd like to be one but I don't think he's got it in him.

The big thing is that with 120 out of the way, we've got the rather much more star studded and awesome 121 coming in fast on its heels! Here's the card:
265 lbs.: Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez <--- Awesomeness! Cain is a bad man, Brock's a bad man!
205 lbs.: Matt Hamill vs. Tito Ortiz <--- Hamill should pwn Tito. It should be fun to watch.
265 lbs.: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Brendan Schaub <--- Schaub's an up and comer, Gonzaga's a wild bear!
170 lbs.: Martin Kampmann vs. Jake Shields <--- Holy shit, this is the fourth fight on the card!?!
170 lbs.: Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago <--- Holy shit! This is the fifth fight on the card!?!
185 lbs.: Ryan Jensen vs. Court McGee
185 lbs.: Patrick Cote vs. Tom Lawlor <--- Big fan of Filthy here but he'll have his hands full with Cote.
265 lbs.: Gilbert Yvel vs. Jon Madsen <--- Big step up for Madsen, Yvel's gonna be a big task.
155 lbs.: Sam Stout vs. Paul Taylor <--- Holy shit, this fight didn't even make the telecast?
170 lbs.: Mike Guymon vs. Daniel Roberts
185 lbs.: Chris Camozzi vs. Dongi Yang

Full post on this massive card later this week.

UFC 118 Predictions

Some pretty interesting fights on tap at this weekend's UFC 118. As usual, I've got some predictions to make. These are the same calls I entered into the UFC Fantasy game and I've now broken into the top 100 in the last two events so I'm hoping to continue the trend.

Let's get to the calls.

Frankie Edgar vs BJ Penn
Prediction: BJ by Submission
Reason: BJ might just tear Edgar's head off. He's coming into this fight pissed off and a pissed off BJ Penn is a damned scary sight on the other side of the Octagon. I am not dismissing Frankie Edgar but I think he got a little underestimated last time and I think BJ is going to leave nothing to chance.

On Tap for This Week

Note, NOT Dodger Blue.

After last week started off pretty well, I got a little ill mid-week and it mostly kept me on the sidelines until yesterday. Not sure what the deal was, it felt like my brain was too big or something and would send shooting pain through my body if I moved my head too quickly.

Not too much fun, especially with one or two little boys constantly clamoring for "uppy" or horse back rides or for me to toss them around like tiddlywinks (which they surprisingly love).

But this week is gonna be big, fun and awesome with a little work thrown in to make the fun time that much more fun by comparison. And I'm jumping back into my training schedule after last week's near complete washout. I will take it a little easy to start but will need to start getting in some hard workouts as the race is just about six weeks off now.

We are very likely going to go to see the Giants play the Dodgers tomorrow night which should be lots of fun, especially if the Giants bat's spark up a little hot streak. Heck, I'd just like to see Pablo Sandoval get on a tear, he's so due, he's getting calls from collection agencies!

And any week that includes the San Francisco Giants playing against the Los Angeles Dodgers is gonna be a week to get "up" for. Ideally we'll see the Giants crush the Dodgers three games in a row, and by crush I mean double digit whoopings!

Plus, "The Lost Boys" will be shown on Wednesday at 9pm at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, Corey Feldman will intro the movie! It should be one of those wonderful Santa Cruz memories and I'm looking forward to seeing the movie again, this time shown mere feet from where it was filmed! Plus, its totally got vampires AND motorcycles AND the Feldman/Haim super Corey twin power so suck on that Twilight!

This coming Saturday is going to be a blockbuster day. Combined with Grady's sixth (how in the heck did he get to be 6 already?) there's this little thing called UFC 116 that is headlined by 530 pounds of men in Brock Lesnar taking on Shane Carwin for the unified UFC Heavyweight Championship. These are some big, big men and they will be throwing bombs at each other. Someone's getting their lights turned off and I'm betting/hoping it'll be the classless ass Lesnar getting put down and out.

Since we've already had a party for the boys, Saturday will likely be less friends and more family oriented stuff. Maybe a beach trip, maybe some bike riding, maybe something else altogether but definitely an all-family event.

And in between now and then there will be lots of training going on! I feel healthy again, I feel ready to rip it up. I'm throwing some road semi-slicks on my Ibis Mojo to do some training rides for the style of bike stage in the Santa Cruz Sprint Triathlon (one long dead straight ride out and then swoopy, curvy awesomeness along West Cliff back in) and I will be working on both my swim stroke and my running. I am going to shave minutes whenever and wherever I can. I expect to do well in this race!

Time to get on it!

The Mara-Kvetch Express

Yes, just yes, yes, yes. Gina Carano kicks ass!

There's a bunch of stuff going on in the world, some good, lots bad, some that I just can't be arsed to give a shit about even though many, many other people are quite literally dancing in the streets. Plus, there's a Domo-kun you can print out and make, really, click the More link below, I promise.

Yes, the Lakers won the NBA championship again. Big whoop-de-do. Basketball sucks. Its a game for the freakishly tall, of which I am quite clearly not. Kobe Bryant wins another ring. Yeah for him, I wonder if he's going to celebrate by sodomizing another pretty white girl (against her will or not)?

The World Cup is going on and is accompanied by the angry buzzing sound of something called a vuvuzela. Until a week ago I had no idea what those incredibly stupid annoying things were called. They don't bother me though because I'd rather watch the "No signal" text bounce around my television screen than watch 22 grown men play an hour and a half long game of keep away. Seriously, soccer is the most watched sport on the planet? Are we really this lame? No, don't answer that.

UFC 115 Predictions

Here we go again! Another stacked UFC card. Headlined by the return of the Iceman, Chuck Liddell, after a full year layoff to rest, recover and let his body fully heal after a series of knockouts. There are some really good matches tonight and I'm jacked to enjoy the fights. My predictions for the fights are below. I have entered the same predictions at UFC's Fantasy Game. Get your picks and see if you can beat me!

Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin
Prediction: Liddell by TKO in Rd. 2
Reason: This is very tough fight to call. Both fighters are on the down slope of their careers (but don't tell them that), Chuck's taken the last year off to let his body heal up and to get in quite impressively ripped shape. Rich is a pro, an extremely well-rounded and talented striker. Like many fights, this one is going to come down to who lands the big punch first. I'm going with the Iceman but it could just as easily be Ace.

Patrick Barry vs. Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic
Prediction: Barry by TKO in Rd. 3

Martin Kampmann vs. Paulo Thiago
Prediction: Thiago by Submission in Rd. 2

Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel
Prediction: Rothwell by TKO in Rd. 1

Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald
Prediction: Condit by Submission in Rd. 2

Evan Dunham vs. Tyson Griffin
Prediction: Griffin by Unanimous Decision

Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman
Prediction: Wiman by TKO in Rd. 2

David Loiseau vs. Mario Miranda
Prediction: Miranda by TKO in Rd. 3

Peter Sobotta vs. James Wilks
Prediction: Wilks by Unanimous Decision

Ricardo Funch vs. Claude Patrick
Prediction: Patrick by TKO in Rd. 1

Jesse Lennox vs. Mike Pyle
Prediction: Pyle by GomerTKO in Rd. 3

Fight of the Night: Liddell vs. Franklin
Knockout of the Night: Pyle
Submission of the Night: Condit

Check back and laugh at me if I do really bad! You can also post your picks in the comments too.

Update: Went 6 for 11 on the night after a truly stellar 5-0 start. Oh well, could be worse, I could have gotten my lights turned off and my lip split like Chuck (we still love you, Iceman!). My calls were good 102 out of 15000+ on UFC's Fantasy Pick'Em.

Sports Wrap

This was a pretty good weekend for sporting activities. With the Sharks pushing hard to make it past the second round of the NHL playoffs, the Giants going into the weekend with a series sweep and the fourth winning series in a row and a rather stacked UFC 113 card, this was a good weekend to slug out and make sweet love to the television remote.

If only those pesky kids didn't keep wanting stuff...

Between my wife's Saturday appointments and Sunday being both Mother's Day and Sullivan's fourth birthday, there wasn't a whole ton of time for me to do me stuff. Not that I'm really complaining too much. Well, maybe a little.

The Giants nearly got swept by the Mets after losing the first two games but they pulled out the win yesterday even though Tim Lincecum didn't get the win like he totally deserved. Just like his last start but that's baseball, sometimes you do everything right and you still don't get the win.

I didn't get to watch any of the Sharks games because we don't have the cable anymore but I followed them online and did log in to catch a few minutes of live action every so often. After the 7-1 drubbing the game before, the Sharks re-established themselves and took care of business against the Red Wings.

But the main event of the weekend was UFC 113 featuring some big match ups. The fight between Koscheck and Paul Daley was billed to be a barn burning slug fest. The rematch between Lyoto Machida and Shogun was also looking solid. I'd not given Kos much of a chance in his fight having seen Daley walk through his last couple of fights. But Kos had a great game plan and applied it perfectly. A striker clearly has the advantage when the fight is on the feet but he is at a clear disadvantage when put on his back. And all I could think of when Daley was on his back was Houston Alexander who is damned scary on his feet, he throws wicked hands and has truly devastating knees. But when he's on his back he's like a turtle. And once the fighters figured that out, he was done. We'll see if Daley can reload his game and overcome this loss. But apparently he won't ever fight in the UFC again because of his classless antics after the fight was over. Cheap shots and sucker punches are never, ever a way to endear yourself to fans or Dana White.

And Kimbo Slice fought again in the UFC. He also lost again in the UFC and looks like he's not going to get another chance to fight for the UFC. I give Kimbo lots of props for his heart and effort but he's never going to be even a middle of the road mixed martial artist. He's a decent backyard brawler but he will get his ass handed to him every time by a dedicated mixed martial artist.

And, as always, Tom Lawlor spiced everything up with his antics, humor and sweet, sweet mustache. Shame he wasn't able to capitalize and get the W as well. He had been working Doerkson but got caught and then got choked out. Oops. He's still a fan favorite but he needs to get some wins rolling! And I'd like to see the Marcus Davis versus Jonathan Goulet fight sometime.

And let's not forget or overlook Dallas Braden's perfect game yesterday against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (one of the hottest teams in all of baseball right now). This is the guy who got national interest when he yelled down A-Rod for walking over his pitcher's mound on the way back to the dug out a couple of weeks ago. A-Rod was headed back to his dugout after getting thrown out at 3rd and thought it would be a good idea to walk over the top of the pitcher's mound. Only Braden didn't think so and started to shout at him to get the hell off his mound. And many people thought Braden was finding something to get pissed about. Maybe he was but I think he had a good point. The pitcher's mound is his office, he had it set up the way he wanted, A-Rod had absolutely no business or need to go walking through his office. That was just lame and yet another sign that A-Rod's a self-absorbed douchebag.

On the personal exercise front I still find myself lost in the post triathlon malaise. My legs feel tired, my brain feels tired and I know I need to get some exercise but I just can't see to pull the trigger and make it happen. I think I may need to find another race to focus on to start training for in order to kick the jams back out and get back on the training track.

I'm hoping that we are able to get back on a regular-esque schedule this week. I think we all need to re-settle down and get back to something more resembling a routine. It'd be helpful for me, that's for sure.

UFC Fight Night 21 Predictions

The UFC and Spike are kicking off another season of The Ultimate Fighter tonight and are putting on a free UFC event to start the season off right. Here are my predictions for the fights tonight.

Main event:
155 lbs.: Kenny Florian vs. Takanori Gomi
Prediction: Florian by TKO

Main card (Televised):
265 lbs.: Roy Nelson vs. Stefan Struve
Prediction: Nelson by smother submission

185 lbs.: Nate Quarry vs. Jorge Rivera
Prediction: Quarry by TKO

155 lbs.: Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver
Prediction: Pearson by Unanimous Decision

Under card (May not be broadcast):
155 lbs.: Rob Emerson vs. Nik Lentz
Prediction: Lentz by Unanimous Decision

155 lbs.: Gleison Tibau vs. Caol Uno
Prediction: Tibau by TKO

155 lbs.: Rafaello Oliveira vs. Andre Winner
Prediction: Winner by TKO

155 lbs.: Ronys Torres vs. Jacob Volkmann
Prediction: Volkman by Unanimous Decision

185 lbs.: Gerald Harris vs. Mario Miranda
Prediction: Harris by TKO

170 lbs.: Charlie Brenneman vs. Jason High
Prediction: High by Submission

185 lbs.: Lucio Linhares vs. Yushin Okami
Prediction: Linhares by TKO

Update: The annoying thing about tape delayed sports events is that, with Twitter and real-time sports sites, there's almost no way to avoid seeing who won and who lost well before the events. In this case, I knew every winner and loser and didn't even end up trying to watch the fights themselves. Which kind of sucks.

Anyway, how'd I do? Looks like I called 8 for 11 on the night. I did not predict Roy Nelson's big knockout of Struve and I did not see Nate Quarry getting schooled by Jorge Rivera. I'm not unhappy with my predictions but I am unhappy that the night had been ruined before I'd gotten a chance to watch the fights.

That and why does Spike lock down their damned content so much? It is annoyingly difficult to find an online feed to watch the shows on Spike.

UFC 111 Predictions

Great, great card lined up for tonight's UFC 111. Headlined by a couple of big time fights in Hardy taking on GSP and Mir and Carwin going at it. Saunders and Fitch as a late replacement bout along with Diaz and Markham means this ought to be a fun card all the way through.

Should be a night of fights that will not disappoint. Here are my predictions for the night's fights.

Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy
Prediction: GSP by TKO

Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin
Prediction: Carwin by KO

Ben Saunders vs. Jon Fitch
Prediction: Saunders by TKO

Fabricio Camoes vs. Kurt Pellegrino
Prediction: Pellegrino by Submission

Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek
Prediction: Miller by TKO

Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham
Prediction: Diaz by Submission

Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown
Prediction: Almeida by Decision

Jared Hamman vs. Rodney Wallace
Prediction: Wallace by Decision

Tomasz Drwal vs. Rousimar Palhares
Prediction: Drwal by Decision

Matt Riddle vs. Greg Soto
Prediction: Riddle by TKO

There ya go.

Update: It was a great night of fights, wish I could have seen the undercard battles as well but that's how it goes sometimes. I ended up pulling a 7-3 here and a very solid 8-1 on the ESPN pick'em. The Carwin massacre of Mir was impressive, fast and demonstrated how much power Carwin has in those short punches. Mir looked huge but it wasn't anywhere near enough to slow down the Carwin 1st round stoppage train.

The GSP/Hardy fight was impressive but more so because GSP dominated another strong fighter nearly from opening bell to final bell. Dan Hardy never got a chance to open up and launch his bombs. GSP took him down at will, controlled him from the top position and basically had complete control the entire time. Watching GSP fight is like watching BJ Penn fight at lightweight, there's just nobody close to his level.

It was a bad pick to take Saunders over Fitch because Fitch is a smothering kind of overpowering guy, he does pretty what GSP does, take them down and control them. Not as dynamic and not as complete as GSP but Fitch is a very, very good fighter.

It was a good night of fights, wish I'd been able to rally up some pals to drink and play cards but that's alright, I was able to concentrate on the fights.

My UFC Fight Night Predictions

An odd Sunday telecast of mixed martial arts action, UFC on Versus: Vera vs. Jones (though we are all excited that the UFC is back on Versus!), is fast approaching and yet another card stacked with some fights that look pretty exciting on paper from the main event on down. Which makes for a fun night but a tough card to predict.

But I'm gonna give it a shot anyway because that's just how I roll.

Main Event:
Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones
Prediction: Jones by TKO

Junior Dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Prediction: Dos Santos by TKO

Chieck Kongo vs. Paul Buentello
Prediction: Kongo by TKO

Alessio Sakara vs. James Irvin
Prediction: Sakara by Submission

Clay Guida vs. Shannon Gugerty
Prediction: Guida by Unanimous Decision

Eliot Marshall vs. Vladimir Matyusheno
Prediction: Marshall by Submission

Duane Ludwig vs. Darren Elkins
Prediction: Ludwig by Knockout

John Howard vs. Daniel Roberts
Prediction: Howard by TKO

Brendan Schaub vs. Chase Gormley
Prediction: Schaub by TKO

Mike Pierce vs. Julio Paulino
Prediction: TKO

Eric Schafer vs. Jason Brilz
Prediction: Schafer by Submission

Fight of the Night: Dos Santos vs. Gonzaga
Submission of the Night: Marshall
Knockout of the Night: Ludwig

And there ya go. I've been hovering just outside the top 100 in the fantasy league on UFC.com. Maybe this is the week I break into the double digits. Check back and see! And if you've got some predictions then leave a comment and let's hear 'em!

And then, just as soon as we've caught our breath from tomorrow's fights, there are some more outstanding fights next weekend with Georges St. Pierre defending his title against Dan Hardy and Shane Carwin finally locking horns with Frank Mir. March is going to go out with a BANG!

My Quick UFC 110 Predictions

Not much chit-chat for now, here are my picks for tonight's UFC 110 fights.

Big Nog over Cain
Silva over Bisping
Sotiropolous over Stevenson
Bader over Jardine
Cro Cop over Perosh
Soszynski over Bonnar
Lytle over Foster
Reljic over Dollaway
Pokrajac over Te Huna

Not taking too many risks with picks tonight. Maybe taking Silva over Bisping is a risky call since Silva's lost three of his last four. But I think Silva's going to be just too damned much for the mouthy Brit.

Fight of the Night will likely be Lytle and Foster but might end up being Cain and Big Nog.
Submission of the Night will likely be Sotiropolous and Stevenson.
Knockout of the Night will be Silva and Bisping.

Either way, it should be a pretty decent night of fights. I'm most looking forward to Bader/Jardine, Lytle/Foster and Silva/Bisping with Big Nog/Cain a close fourth.