Guarantees Suck!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 - by Little Joe
After going down 2 games to 1 to the Magic, Cleveland Cavs All Star guard Mo Williams came out a guaranteed that the Cavs would win game 4 and win the series. What if they don’t? Not everyone can be a Joe Namath, Mark Messier, or the great Muhammad Ali, and come through with there guarantees, here are a few that failed;
Anthony Smith guaranteed his Steelers would be victorious over the undefeated Patriot. Patriots route the Steelers 34-13, and Smith found himself beat like a drum and victimized over and over again as he became Brady's favorite target.
In ’97, Patrick Ewing said “See you in Chicago” meaning his Knicks would beat the Heat in a game 7 and head to the Eastern Conf. Finals to face the Bulls. Of course the Heat won. In 2000, Ewing ended his career by guaranteeing a victory in game 6 over the Pacers in the Eastern Conf. Finals. Unfortunately Patrick missed his final 6 shots and the Knicks lost 93-80.
Ray Buchanan wore a dog collar to media day For Super Bowl XXXIII, where he declared that the underdog Falcons would defeat the highly favorite Broncos. Come Super Bowl Sunday, the Broncos manhandled the Falcons, and once again a guarantee came up short.
My personal favorite was an in game guarantee. Heading into a Playoff OT in Greenbay vs. his old team, Seahawks Matt Hasselbeck guaranteed victory after winning the coin toss by saying, “We want the ball, we’re gonna score!”. Instead, Hasselbeck threw an interception that was returned for the game-winning touchdown by Al Harris, which was the first time that a playoff game was won on a defensive touchdown.
As a huge Lebron fan, and a guy who is pulling for the Cavs to win it all, I hope that Williams guarantee comes true, but I have to say that I am tired of the guarantee, it’s play out! Go out and play the game, don’t talk it, just do it! Mo Williams, despite averaging 17 pts a game, is only shooting 32% from the field needs to pick his game up as well as every other Cav not named Lebron if his prediction is going to come true. King James, averaging 41.7 points, 7.3 assists, 5.7 rebounds and shooting 53% is the only player on the Cavs at this point who should be issuing any guarantees. I know the sports guarantee will never leave, but I wish that these players would just shut up and play! As we all know, there are only 3 guarantees in life, you die, Megan Fox is hot, and the Phantom is old!
There's no more Ricky Hatton!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 - by Little Joe
Saturday, May 2 2009, a straight left courtesy of the Pacman, Manny Pacquiao, knocked the popular Ricky Hatton out, and may of ended his great career. At 30 years of age, and after his second lost in 4 fights, most critics are saying that Ricky should hang the gloves up. I'm not one of them. I'm not leaning either way, but if he ends up retiring, I want to say thank you Ricky and reflect on the greatest event I've ever experienced.
December 8 2007, I was fortunate enough to attend a Hatton fight, which is much more then a fight, it's an experience! The Rise Guys show was broadcasting live at the MGM Grand to preview the worlds most popular fighter, Ricky Hatton, and the worlds pound for pounds best fighter, Floyd Mayweather Jr. Reports were that over 30 thousand Brits flew over seas to watch their underdog hero take on the hated American. The MGM Grand Garden Arena only seats 17,157. They didn't care that most of them wouldn't even see the fight live, they had to be there to support their man. And all they did was drink and sing.........all day! We would wake up with these drunk Brits singing, "There's only 1 Ricky Hatton!". We would go to bed with them signing, "There's only 1 Ricky Hatton!". The bars were slammed always, they never slept. And leading up to the fight, you truly felt like they hated each other, that it wasn't just hype. Then Friday before the fight, the weigh in proved it was hate not hype!
The line for the weigh in started before our show. The weigh in was at 1pm, our show starts at 5 in the morning. After the show, and a couple of beers (had to try to catch up with the Brits), FP and I made our way to the weigh in. We didn't enter through the media access, FP and I somehow maneuvered ourselves with the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Lennox Lewis, Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Shane Mosley and their entourages, and entered from underneath the arena. You can feel the thunder from the thousands stomping and hear the roars from the different songs and chants they had for their man. When we actually made our way into the arena, unbelievable! Thousands of Brits, and maybe a handful of Mayweather fans, and it was on! The near fight pre fight, as they eyeballed each other and pushed and shoved, entourages getting involved, it was awesome! The weigh in was almost as big as the fight!
Saturday morning, hung over from Oscar De La Hoya's party that somehow we found ourselves rolling VIP, got ready for the fight! Well, more like Saturday afternoon. Head still pounding, but we bounced back had a couple more beers, and put the suit on to head down stairs to the fight. The singing, the chants, loudest they had been, and that was just entering the arena for the fight. Diddy, Beckham, Tiger, Jack......they all were there. It was huge! Tom Jones sings God Save The Queen, but he was canceled out by the 16 thousand plus Brits singing. Tyresse, sang our anthem, however you couldn't hear him due to the boo's from.......you guessed it. A classless move from a group for the most part who were very classy. Drunk, but classy until then. Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton came out to a punk version of Blue Moon. Arco at it's loudest never was as loud as MGM was that moment. Then the champ, the hated American, "Pretty Boy" Floyd "Money" Mayweather entered the arena to Born In The USA, and it turned ugly. The boo's were almost as deafening as the eruption was for Hatton. Have to say, I was pulling for Floyd at that moment just because of them booing the anthem. But during the fight they never stopped. "There's only 1 Ricky Hatton!", the entire fight! In the 10th, a much better fighter knocked Ricky out.
After the fight, they continued to sing and support their man, and talking with them, they gave all the credit to Mayweather. Prior to the fight, you could find them in the bars celebrating their man, and after the fight, the same thing. Still in the bar celebrating their man, true passionate fans. Experiencing a Ricky Hatton fight, (and that's what it is, an experience) was the most amazing event I have ever been to, he's a freakin Beatle! The atmosphere, incredible! If he does plan on retiring, good for him. His only 2 defeats were to the best fighters in the world! He has had a great career, made enough to give all his fans Guinness for the rest of their lives, and is still young to enjoy his life outside of boxing. If he does decide to hang them up, 1 of the greatest sporting events ever, and the greatest most passionate fans ever will be done too. And for that, I am extremely thankful to have been apart of and seen the phenomenon that is Ricky Hatton.
Rob Schneider
IN STUDIO-Actor and comedian Rob Schneider reflects on his days at the ballpark with his father and talks about his expecations for the Giants this season.
Frank Caliendo
The Rivercats are holding try-outs for a new P.A. announcer and Charles Barkley, Al Pacino, President George W. Bush and Bill Walton all want the gig.
John Feinstein
Author John Feinstein talks tourny and Tiger with the Rise Guys.
Len Elmore
CBS college basketball analyst Len Elmore is in Buffalo for first round play and talks tournament expansion.
Dave Attell
Comedian Dave Attell joined the Rise Guys in studio to talk about his upcoming appearance at Punch Line Comedy Club.
Jon Brockman
Kings rookie Jon Brockman discussed the Kings loss to the Lakers and gave his thoughts on the LA fans that invaded ARCO.
Scott Howard-Cooper
NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper talks John Wall and brackets.
Lorenzo Romar
University of Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar was proud his team battled adversity in the PAC-10 tournament and he said he's not a fan of expanding the tournament to 96 teams.
John O'Hurley
Actor John O'Hurley discusses his golf game, his "J. Peterman" character on Seinfeld and performing in Chicago at the Community Center Theater in Sacramento.
