0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/21/2011
Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed in Georgia today, having been convicted with shoddy evidence and witnesses who recanted. Last night, coincidentally, I went to see the film “Black Power Mix Tapes” at the International Film Center in New York. It is also ironic since a sports marketing firm was papering the house on […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/20/2011
Usually you can hardly talk enough about a mega-fight, and therefore, three days after Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz, there are still things that have been left undiscussed at the proper length, deep questions, like, “Did you know that the music for ‘dramatic chipmunk‘ came from the movie ‘Young Frankenstein?’” (Larry Merchant mash-up via Deadspin […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
(Above: a video Dave and I talked about separate from our WBWT Gchat session. And another one we didn’t talk about: Larry Merchant roughing up someone during a interview!) me: It’s like that y’all, it’s like that y’all, it’s like this and like that and like that y’all. David: You know, if I were five […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/18/2011
America has a funny attitude toward its athletes and whether they ought to “win at all costs.” (For all I know, so do other countries. I just haven’t studied them as closely.) Take Michael Jordan. In his long list of game-winning buckets, none might be more etched into our memories than the last one of […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
Lee Selby refused to listen to anyone but himself — an intuitive resolve that allowed him to maltreat logic and tear the British and Commonwealth featherweight titles away from Stephen “Swifty” Smith in front of the Liverpudlian’s own people. Oddsmakers had scoffed at the Welshman’s chances when laying their lines, while the handful of writers […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
I have insomnia. I’ll say that right up front, but I took a nap at 6 p.m. Saturday night just so I could make it to the 9 p.m. screening of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz and the three undercard fights — including the transmission from Los Angeles of Saul Alvarez vs. Alfonso Gomez. […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
There’s a fine line between abusing the rules and using them to their advantage, and there’s a fine line between sportsmanship and excessive generosity toward your opponent. But Floyd Mayweather, Jr., was, to my estimation, on the right side of the line against Victor Ortiz when he stopped Ortiz in the 4th round with a […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
For the untelevised portion of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz undercard, I’ve already made a number of catty and brilliantly insightful remarks on
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/17/2011
In the race for the punchline to the joke about semi-retired heavyweight boxer Nikolai Valuev looking for the Russian yeti in Siberia — “he got there, took out a mirror and job done!” or some variation — I’m in last place. But no one’s taken the visual route. The yeti, via a Google Images search […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/16/2011
(Not your usual boxing nose-to-nose staredown. Photo by Stacey Verbeek, via, with speculation) Don’t follow boxing very often, but you want to know the gist of Saturday’s mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Victor Ortiz? Follow boxing all the time, and want one place that rounds up all the links about the welterweight showdown you could […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
Italian novelist Italo Calvino once wrote that life pulls us toward decay and finally death. Well, so do pre-fight bromances. If the old saw says fighters should not have sex thirty days (or is it six months?) before a fight, the same rule really ought to apply to getting treacly with one’s opponent within the […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
So continues our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2011, Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz on Sept. 17 on HBO pay-per-view. Previously: the stakes of Mayweather-Ortiz; get to know Victor Ortiz; keys to the fight, parts I and II; the undercard, previewed; the final preview and prediction. Next: the ultimate guide. A […]
0 comments by Tim Starks on 9/15/2011
So continues our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2011, Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz on Sept. 17 on HBO pay-per-view. Previously: the stakes of Mayweather-Ortiz; get to know Victor Ortiz; keys to the fight, parts I and II; the undercard, previewed. Next: a TQBR staff roundtable. After all the tawdry family […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
British featherweight champion Stephen “Swifty” Smith returns to action this weekend, enthused no doubt to be opposing someone other than the obstinate Scot, John Simpson. He takes on Celtic champion Lee Selby at Liverpool’s Olympia, headlining a card chock full of his own relations. Paul, 30-2 (16), the eldest of a clutch of boxing siblings, […]
0 comments by Tim Starks
So continues our marathon coverage of one of the biggest fights of 2011, Floyd Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz on Sept. 17 on HBO pay-per-view. Previously: the stakes of Mayweather-Ortiz; get to know Victor Ortiz; keys to the fight, parts I and II. Next: final preview and prediction. This was going to be one of those […]
