Many announcements have been made across sports newscasting sites that New England’s former quarterback, Tom Brady, is behind schedule with his recovery.

Brady tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee during the first quarter of the season’s first game: bad luck if you ask me. In early October, he underwent surgery to repair his injuries, but it was later revealed that he obtained a severe infection. The infection, which was discovered in October, set Brady back another six to eight weeks filled with antibiotics and more surgeries to clean up the original infected injury.

According to NBC.com’s Tom Curran, “The infection finally cleared but as it currently stands, both the ACL and MCL remain “loose,” the league source said. Meanwhile, scar tissue that built up in the knee as Brady’s body battled the infection is still present and might need to be surgically removed.

Additionally, because of the scar tissue, Brady’s knee doesn’t have close to full mobility, the league source said. That means the process of regaining strength in his quadriceps - the most important muscle to build up after a knee injury - hasn’t begun in earnest.”

As this information stands, it looks as if Brady will not be returning for the rest of the season and possibly the 2009 season as well. He will need more surgeries and, of course, will have to undergo rehabilitation, which has not begun. This leaves one giant problem for the New England Patriots. Matt Cassel, the backup quarterback now in play while Brady is out of the game, will go up as a free agent at the end of the season.

New England has to make a choice. Stick with Cassel, and let Brady go, or do the exact opposite and let Cassel go, but stick with Brady.

It’s worthy of noting that most players after a serious knee injury don’t rebound to their full potential after returning, although it is possible. In Brady’s situation, it is very unlikely that his knee will be as mobile as it once was, and this one injury also has opened up many avenues to more in the future.

Matt Cassel has put up some great stats over the 2008 season, especially when you look at the fact that he didn’t play in a game before he stepped on the field since high school. He is without a doubt a very good football player.  Though not as great as Brady was, I’m sure he will do for New England’s future. After all, Belichek is obviously good at defining the potential of team rookies as we saw with Brady.

Only time will tell, as New England will decide what to do before the season is up.

On December 27th, the UFC is boasting the best fight card of the year.  I agree!  There are six MMA superstars facing off against one another and numerous other up and coming stars ready to do battle.  I am going to tell you my picks for the top three fights and why.

First off, the top three fights are: Frank Mir versus Antonio Nogueira, Rampage Jackson against Wanderlei Silva, and the title fight between Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans.  The experts have chosen Rampage, Nogueira and Griffin to win.  I mostly agree.

First up are Rampage vs. Silva.  I am a huge Jackson fan and would love to see him win, but they have met twice before and Silva beat him both times.  Silva is a hard working fighter and has great skill, Rampage does too, and I think this is going to be a battle.  I am looking most forward to this fight.

Next, we have Mir against Nogueira.  Even Mir himself acknowledges the tenacity and mental toughness of Nogueira.  Both of these guys match up very well, and I believe this will be fight of the night.  I have Nogueira coming out on top.

For the final fight of the night, Forrest Griffin is set to defend his title against Rashad Evans.  I personally think that Evans is one lucky guy.  I have never once been impressed with his fights.  Even his knockout of the Iceman seemed to be a lucky punch.  I know it is difficult to be so “lucky” as to maintain a 17-0 record. Regardless, I would love to see him eat some punches.  Forrest is my pick because this guy is a fighter through and through.  He should be the winner to keep the title but Rashad is bound to get lucky….again.

I want to know what you all think about who will win or lose.  My picks again are Silva, Nogueira and Griffin.  Comment on who you think will come out on top.  If there is a good response, next time I will give prizes to the one with the best picks.

In the spirit of the holiday season, Wasabi Media Group is launching the Doubly Good December Contest.  This contest will reward one reader and one writer with a cash prize of 25 dollars each.

In order to qualify for the reader’s prize, all you need to do is have a comment published* for any article posted during the month of December.  Comments will be accepted for this contest through January 7th.  One comment will be chosen randomly, and the author of that comment will receive $25!

So, start reading, and submitting comments.  The more comments you submit, the more likely you are to win.

*In order for a comment to be published, an editor will determine if the comment is relevant to the article and meets WMG’s standards for appropriate language.

**Employees of Wasabi Ventures are not eligible to submit comments for this contest.

Saturday night was fight night in Las Vegas, NV.  The reality series, The Ultimate Fighter, had the final fights to determine who gets signed on for a six-figure contract.  This year there were two weight classes and two contracts, AND I called them both wrong!

In the Light Heavyweights, Ryan Bader and Vinicius “Vinny” Magalhaes battled it out with Vinny being the underdog.  Bader is a NCAA wrestler turned MMA fighter, like many others, and is one strong competitor.  I had picked Vinny to win big time because he is a smarter fighter and absolutely vicious on the ground as a world champion Brazilian Jiu Jitsu player.

Ryan and Vinny just traded some punches and kicks with neither truly dominating the round…until  “Darth” Bader caught Vinny with a powerful punch to the temple and knocked him to the ground.  So powerful was this punch that it was deflected and still seemed to have knockout potential.  The ref stopped the bout very shortly after in the first round.

The next final bout was between Phillipe Nover and Efrain Escudero.  Phillipe was favored to win, but Efrain happened to disagree.  Phillipe is an awesome striker and a very good BJJ player.  Efrain is a collegiate wrestler turned MMA (see any trends forming?).

This fight was very exciting as there was much back and forth, even though Efrain was controlling the bout with his strength advantage.  Phillipe came very close to sinking in a much needed submission in the final round but failed.  The fight went to the judges, and there was no surprise when Efrain’s arm was raised.

I had picked both losers to win and was beat.  There was another that I wanted to lose but didn’t, Junie Browning.  On the show he was a punk.  He disgraced martial artists and dishonored another’s black belt.  I am pretty positive he did it to get noticed, and it worked.  However, I can’t stand those who can disgrace martial arts and profit from it.  He had a great fight and clearly was the victor, but it will take a lot to win me over.

Anyone else?

Nearly a decade ago a spotlight football star was involved in a serious murder scandal involving his ex-wife and her friend at the time. If you don’t know his name, then you certainly were living under a rock.

OJ Simpson was sentenced on December 5th to 33 years behind bars with eligibility for parole, which may very well be the rest of his life.

“I’m not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else,” commented the residing judge Jackie Glass who ultimately decided Simpson’s final sentence. Glass also said that the current sentence she set had nothing to do with Simpson’s 1995 acquittal in the slaying of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and friend Ronald Goldman.

According to Simpson, he and five other men forced their way into a Las Vegas hotel room violently in an attempt to claim back valuable sports memorabilia, which two dealers had obtained on September 13, 2007. Simpson also claimed one of the items that he was after included his ex-wife’s wedding ring which he said had been stolen from him at a much earlier date.

The evidence against Simpson, however, was extremely overwhelming and included the planning, the actual confrontation, and the end consequences all caught on video and audio materials.

Simpson’s sentence included a minimum of 15 years in jail for two separate kidnapping accounts combined with what Glass called an “enhancement” of six years because a gun was involved in the ordeal. On top of everything else another sentence was issued: a maximum sentence of 12 years due to two accounts of assault with a deadly weapon. Glass also ordered that Simpson not be allowed to remain free while he appeals both the trial and the sentence.

Simpson’s attorney Yale Galanter believes the sentence did have everything to do with his earlier acquittal and commented, “It really made us all aware that despite our best efforts, it’s very difficult to separate the California case from the Nevada case.”

Ronald Goldman’s father, Fred Goldman, commented that despite everything, “We are thrilled, and it’s a bittersweet moment, it was satisfying seeing him in shackles like he belongs.”

One can’t blame the family of the original murder victim’s for feeling somewhat like justice was finally served. Whether those of you out there believe OJ was guilty then and always has been or not, one thing is for certain, what goes around comes around.

Karma sure has stomped its foot in the vicinity of this situation.

Do you think OJ has always been guilty, and ultimately do you think the sentence was fair?

Don’t ever climb into a spaceship built by me.  I know nothing about astrophysics or space.  Leave that to the pros.  Have you ever seen a fighter venture out of his zone?  Usually that rocket doesn’t fly.  I cringe when an expert on the ground tries to prove himself in the MMA world by going toe-to-toe with a Muay Thai expert.  More often than not the fighter abandoning his roots will lose.

In UFC 91, I saw this between Tamdan McCrory and Dustin Hazelett.  Tamdan is skilled at striking, and Dustin is on a whole other level than most MMA fighters on the ground.  McCrory was winning the exchanges when the fight was standing.  Hazelett was no slouch and landed some good attacks.  The fight went to the ground, and moments later Hazelett was the victor with an arm bar that defied logic.

There was little surprise once the fight was on the ground who would win.  Tamdan had no shot.  Had he kept the fight standing he had the advantage and could have won.

It all comes down to game plan.  You either create a great plan and stick to it or you don’t.  Once things start to crumble and you get a defensive mindset it is hard to get back to the plan.  I had this play out with me at the Tae Kwon Do National Championships.  Being tall for my weight class I almost always had the range advantage.  Fighting from instinct, I would stick and move keeping the other just in my range.

I ran through my first fight.  My second fight, I tried to get creative.  I decided to close the distance and have a counterstrike battle.  Many fighters hate having someone in their face, and I thought for sure I could spook him and wear him down for another victory.  Hmm…all I did was close the distance for him, and he had a field day.  The first round was a wash.  By the time I got my head straight, his lead was far too great.

I abandoned my strengths and designed a rocket with crayons.

Tell me your stories.

Football used to be one of the most popular pastimes of American society. Often, the fans would cheer and throw parties just to watch a football game that would make even the biggest college parties seem like childish outings. After all, the beer bong, all the beer drinking paraphernalia and many chugging games originated from yes, tailgating parties. Fans would flock from miles and miles away, hours, sometime even days, before a scheduled game and mingle amongst each other in the many parking lots surrounding stadiums across the country.

That, however, was the past. Now the old ways of football fandom have begun to fade out.

Thanks to the introduction of state of the art stadiums, watching the game of football live has been changed forever. Approximately 13 NFL teams have upgraded or built new state of the art stadiums set to do one thing only: generate revenue. The stadiums are cram packed with seats; the seats and positions closest to the field are going to the highest bidders, including the box seats. True fans can no longer get close to the game without a pocket full of cash, and bribe money. The nosebleed section is where most fans will find themselves these days, nowhere near the field.

Most of the teams also have built a sort of club or mall nearby that is meant to profit off the average tailgating party. Fans are no longer allowed to tailgate in actual stadium parking lots and have had to move elsewhere and scout out nearby spaces. The places they are forced to move their parties to are often miles away from the stadium, making for a very timely string of events traveling to and from the actual stadium.

Everything sold in the new stadiums now costs 50-70 percent more than it used to. This coupled with the falling economy is not a good mix at all. Every aspect about the new stadiums across the country suggest that team owners and managers no longer care about their team winning; they now care most about making money…not that they never did before.

The football game now also has to be paused every ten to fifteen minutes for television commercial breaks, and along with all the other football related pauses the game has become a very grueling thing to watch live. Forget what even happens if a player is injured, centuries would pass by and fans quickly find themselves sitting around looking like Rip Van Winkle.

Have you been to a state of the art stadium game yet? Do you believe the old ways of football fandom have been brushed out the door?

November 15, 1965, Craig Breedlove set a new land speed record of 600 MPH in his car the “Spirit of America.”   Fast forward forty-three years later to UFC 91, and Brock Lesnar defeats “Captain America,” Randy Couture.

This UFC Heavyweight Championship bout was especially tough on me as Randy Couture is my favorite fighter to ever step foot into the Octagon.  The odds were in the favor of the 45 year old Couture as 54% of fans voted by text for him to be victorious.  Evidently, the 275+ lbs. Brock Lesnar didn’t agree with them as he won by TKO, 3:07 in the second round.

Couture’s experience was oozing from him in the first round as he was able to control this giant.  Lesnar was pinned against the fence and beginning to wear down.  Even when taken to the ground Lesnar could do very little and had a tough time keeping the defending champ down.

Round two started as a slug fest as Couture ate a couple of big hits and recovered very quickly, and he even opened a cut on Lesnar’s right eye with a vicious knee.  All the effort and experience meant nothing when Brock threw a grazing right cross that connected with the temple of the champ, Randy Couture, and down he went.  Quickly, the man known as the Superhuman leaped on top and began with relentless hammer-fists until the referee had enough and stopped the bout, naming Brock Lesnar the new champ.

After only four professional MMA fights, Lesnar is the UFC Heavyweight Champion.  In only two years of MMA training he rises to the top and looks to be a contender for quite some time.  His game has many holes in it that will need to be filled but certainly will quickly with his dedication and work ethic.

Couture refused to make an excuse for his loss even though Joe Rogan tried to give him an out claiming that he may have “ring rust” for being off the past year, but the legend refused and accepted the loss graciously.

How could Couture have kept his belt?

“The best offense is a good defense.”  We have heard this throughout the years, and today I am going to challenge them.  In fact, I believe the exact opposite.

The worst possible thing to happen to you is to fight from a defensive position.  Instead of thinking about how to attack your opponent, you are trying to figure a way to escape the barrage of strikes.  Think about it in terms of a game.  If you have ever played chess, you will understand this perfectly.  There are times when your opponent is chasing down a certain piece, and you are forced to find a way out of the jam.  Usually, when you are doing this you end up making a mistake and paint yourself into a corner.

The same is true during a fight.  When you are forced to constantly block the strikes of another, eventually your guard will drop and you will get hit.  Pay attention to the next fight you watch, and you will see how the one getting attacked is only thinking about how to stop the attack and is being controlled by the other.

I have seen this many times during fights and actually based many of my fight plans off of this strategy.  When I knew I was clearly out-gunned by a better fighter I would keep him on the defensive as much as possible.  I would throw totally random jabs and quick kicks to keep him thinking.  While he was backing up and trying not to get hit I was exploiting any kink in his armor that could be found.

This strategy awarded me many victories over contenders who had better technique and more natural talent than I.  Strategies such as this are able to be employed in our daily lives also.  When the boss is trying to come down on you, answer her question with a question.  For example, have you figured out how many people are going to be off for the big surge next week?

When you keep them on the defense you win.  The best defense is a good offense.

In sports, teams often raise and sink, it is the way of the game. No one would be entertained if the same teams and players always won year after year. Seldom does it happen, however, that a team pulls out a winning streak from nowhere. The Tampa Bay Devils Ray did just that in the 2008 season. They pulled up from being the worst, to the best in the AL East (American League East) and went on to fight their way almost through the entire playoffs as baseball champs. Unfortunately, a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies pushed the Rays 2008 post season to an early close.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays literally rose from the ashes; they went from being at the very bottom to the very top in one of the most difficult divisions in all of baseball. During the 2008 season the Rays successfully pulled back many wins, coming from behind and pulling up what seemed to be many potential losses in the last few innings. No single player did particularly well this year or any better than the other teammates for that matter; the Rays truly pulled through this season due to a team effort. Certainly, many believed it would never happen, and it’s true a lot of the players on the team are even still in awe about the successful wins.

“When you actually break it down, I’m so proud of our guys and how they performed in the moment,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “How they have stayed together, the unity of the group right now, this is just the beginning.” The Rays plan to duplicate their 2008 season in 2009. “I really believe the Rays’ way has been established,” Maddon said. “I’m really looking forward to next Spring Training. The fact we’re going to have less time before Spring Training is a negative, but now we have time to go there and homogenize our program throughout the whole organization, and I find that exciting.”

Ray fans sure are hoping the team can improve on last season’s success and pull out as the champs in the 2009 season.