Week In Sports: The Good, Bad & Ugly

The Good

Howard says bye bye to Bryant and the Lakers.

Howard finally makes a decision:

Regardless of how you feel about big man Dwight Howard eschewing the Los Angeles Lakers in favor of signing with the Houston Rockets—although, unless you’re a Rockets fans, you probably would’ve hated him either way—the important thing is that his seemingly never-ending free agency saga is finally over.

The Orlando Magic saw the writing on the wall during the 2012 off season and finally bailed on Howard. Too bad it was about 18 months after he first made it clear that he was looking to get out of town, and not long after they fired their general manager and coach Stan Van Gundy attempting to appease him.

Better late than never though, right?

That goes for the Magic, Lakers, and the general public. Howard’s mere existence is a national nightmare, which was greatly exacerbated by the round-the-clock coverage and speculation about his prolonged decision process. So I think I speak for a lot of people out there when I say:

Houston, he’s your problem now.

Kobe Bryant echoed the same sentiment over the weekend.

The Bad

Anderson Silva definitely didn’t deliver over the weekend.

Silva comes up short at UFC 162:

Like really short. Anderson Silva looked to be in trouble very early on in his recent headlining event against Chris Weidman, who leveled the champion 30 seconds into the fight.

Silva was able to scrape himself off the matt in the first round, but after a barrage of blows in the second round, the referee was forced to stop the action after just 1:18. It was a surprising outcome, considering Silva is widely regarded as one of the best fighters of all time and was riding a 16-fight win streak coming into UFC 162.

It’s not so much that he lost, which was bound to happen eventually, but more the way he lost that raised eyebrows. Silva looked out of sorts, and almost amateurish, compared to Weidman, who was extremely composed given the massive stage.

Silva was obviously rattled by Weidman’s early knock down, because he started reacting to blows with alternating yelling and laughter. It certainly seemed like he spent more time posturing and showboating than seriously trying to formulate a winning strategy.

Intimidation tactics like that have largely worked for Silva in the past—this time his shenanigans backfired. Now he gets to walk in the shoes of Chael Sonnen for awhile—he’s the poster boy for menacing opponents, right up until he loses the fight.

The Ugly

Unruly soccer mobs are common, but double murder on the pitch is not.

Soccer makes some seriously gruesome headlines: 

It really doesn’t get much uglier than two recent stories, the first out of Russia and the other Brazil, that have involved soccer and decapitation. Obviously a troubling combination, as one would imagine.

The earlier incident wasn’t actually inspired by any soccer related events, unfortunately the sport was was dragged into the story as a twisted afterthought. According to reports, two Russian teens randomly decided to behead a homeless man and then kick it around like a soccer ball for awhile.

A stunningly random act of violence for sure, but at least the audience was limited. The same cannot be said for the events that transpired during a soccer game in Sao Paulo over the weekend.

It started as a fist fight between the referee and a player, but quickly escalated when the official pulled a knife and ultimately stabbed the athlete to death. Some fans that were subjected to the jarring incident responded with a jarring incident of their own—they stormed the field and stoned the referee to death.

Spectators also told local police and media that the mob also quartered his body and stuck his head on a stake at mid-field. Horrifying stuff.

This is (among the many reasons) why I don’t watch soccer.

And the awesome!

These two are just too cute.

RG3 gets hitched: 

From horrifying soccer headlines abroad to happily ever after here at home.

Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III married his college sweetheart, Rebecca Liddicoat, over the weekend. Something tells me that ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was not among those invited. (Cause remember this?)

RG3 tweeted out “BIG DAY!” over the weekend, obviously enthused about embarking on the road to (hopefully) wedded bliss. Several current and former teammates and coaches were in attendance, tweeting out their best wishes to and photos of the newlyweds.

My invitation must’ve been lost in the mail at some point, which is fine because I was super busy anyway, but a big CONGRATS to the lovable lovebirds! I’ve got a good feeling about these two…so hopefully they don’t make a fool outta me with a Kardashian marriage.