A New Sports Bloggin’ Day

Why hullo there. I’m Mickey, the younger brother of the dude who will bring you a weekly peek inside the hilarious and passionate sports zeitgeist. We’re new to the CubicleGM team and damn glad to meet you.

Back in the sports blogging earlier times (read: 2007), Smokey and I founded a blog called the Sports Brethren, where we set out to under-promise and over-deliver on sharing with the world our frequent correspondences and musings on sports that were immensely important to us. This mostly meant we rambled and ranted about the Carolina Panthers, but occasionally meant moments of what I and probably only our momma thought was brilliance. So after nearly two years of rogue sports blogging, when the folks at CubicleGM recently offered us a chance to join their ranks and yet keep the voice we’ve come to develop, we jumped at the opportunity for what we think will be bigger and better things. To our readers that have followed the path to this new world, we promise to keep our absolutely-biased opinions towards the Panthers alive and passionate, but also want to take the chance to engage in some sports discussions outside our comfort zone.

I’ve written a few of these introduction columns/posts before, so I’ll get right to the things on my sports mind as of late:

- Live boxing is badass. Through my job, I was able to obtain two ringside seats to the Cotto-Clottey fight at MSG two weekends ago, and I tellyouwhat, there is nothing quite like a live fight. Words really can’t do it justice — I just highly recommend all sports fans attend a fight at least once in their life.

MSG was electric, as the Puerto Rican favorite Cotto was fighting an aggressive Bronx-dwelling Clottey on the eve of Puerto Rican Day here in NYC. The fight itself was a hotly-contested full twelve-round bout, but what set it apart was really the atmosphere. I’ve seen the Boss at MSG, I’ve seen Rangers and Knicks games there, and I’ve been to various other important sporting events at similar arenas. But MSG was just at a different level, and I truly was not prepared for the awesomeness of sitting 7 rows away from two dudes hellbent on fucking each other up.

I could hear when the punches connected. When one fighter started in on a particularly aggressive offensive, the crowd would rise and anticipation hung thick. Many in the crowd believed the underdog Clottey was winning the match, as he was a bit more aggressive early on. But Cotto stayed tough and never hit the deck — and ended up earning a split decision victory and keeping his WBO welterweight belt.

Since the fight, I’ve upped my boxing ante as much as time has allowed. I’ve started reading some boxing sites, following some boxing writers on Twitter, and even caught a replay of the real Thrilla in Manilla fight on ESPN Classic the other night — a ridiculous 15 round heavyweight awesomeness between Ali and Frazier. My client has noticed my newfound boxing enthusiasm, and has hinted at more tickets in my future. And if I go again, I’ll try again to bring to words just how awesome being ringside is.

- I went to a bar today to watch soccer. Ugh. Read that sentence again. Futbol.

Ok, I admit, I actually loved it. But with the Panthers season seeming forever away (76 days actually), watching the Confederation Cup final today at the bar was a lovely substitute. I made the realization today that I only enjoy watching sokher when nations are involved; I just can’t get behind the European (or MLS) teams for various reasons. But I sure as fuck can get behind USA vs. Brazil — that’s just epic and awesomely barbaric. And when we Americans displayed our tenacity as a people today by going up 2-0, you can bet your sweet ass I was standing on the bar, screaming, “USA! USA! USA!” and high-fiving randoms.

Of course, when it all came crashing down in the fury of a clearly more-talented team and the US lost 3-2, the fan in me felt a bit of a blow. And then I realized it’s only soccer and football’s 76 days away. Fucking rawk.

- I also tended to some family matters this weekend down South in Florida, the details of which I won’t go into. But just know I visited my granddad, the single reason I’m a full-blown college football fan bigamist.

I’ve stated my beliefs before, but to recap: I  believe college football and basketball can allow for situations where a sports fan can root for two different teams, so long as that fan knows who he would root for should they ever play. This is only acceptable in college sports, because you often are brung up to root for one team, only to attend school at a different university, and thus have two teams to root for. As long as these allegiances are well-established before adulthood, you’re all good.

In my case, I’m a die-hard Florida Gators and Virginia Cavaliers fan. I got to talking with my granddad about the Gators and their chances to repeat as national champs this year. We’ve obviously got God’s Gift to Quarterbacks back at the helm, and the defense isn’t completely depleted like it was after the 2006-07 national championship team. Whether the Gators actually repeat will remain to be seen, but talking with such an excited fan got me real pumped for the upcoming season.

Oh, and if you’re wondering how my granddad came to have such a great influence over my devotion to the Gators, I present you with Exhibits A & B. You just don’t find fans like this above the Mason Dixon line. God bless the South and its fine people, like Dr. I. Graydon Cloud.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

That should be it for me for now. As you’ve probably noticed, I haven’t exactly altered my writing style for blogs without a “jump” but I’m sure the CubicleGM pros will give me a hall pass and perhaps the lowdown on how and where to go sometime soon. Til then, stay sexy.

– M. Montgomery Cloud

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