Amare Attacks the Glass and other thoughts

A lot of things have happened in the New York sports world in the past week. From the NHL and NBA Playoffs, the NFL Draft, and UFC on Fox 3 live from the Izod Center this weekend. On top of all that there was the Jon Jones-Rashad Evans fight and Brock Lesnar's return to WWE at Extreme Rules.

NBA 

Amare Stoudemire joined the long list of New York athletes, most notably Kevin Brown, to injure himself by punching something out of frustration. Knicks fans have asked for Stoudemire to attack the glass, but we didn't mean to punch a glass door of a fire extinguisher. I can't wait for Mike Francesa to interview the fire extinguisher on his show today at 1. "The fiah extunguishah is a stahting pitchah!!!"

This has been one of a series of setbacks to Amare's Knicks career in the past 12 months. He injured his back doing circus dunks in warmups during last year's playoffs, looked lifeless during most of the 2011-12 regular season, re-injured his back in March, and lost his former Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni. During all of this, Carmelo Anthony took over the team and looked like the superstars the Knickerbockers were hoping they would get when they traded half the team to the Denver Nuggets for him last season.  

The Knicks currently are behind two games to none against the reigning Eastern Conference Champs, the Miami Heat, and really haven't shown that they can sustain a run against them. LeBron has been on another planet this season in hopes for his first ring, and the Knicks are just pawns on his way to the Finals. 

The question now is where do the Knicks go from here, to improve for next season. With Amare's contract it's going to be tough to get rid of him, but it's also difficult to pay a 6th man that much money. Also, the point guard position is a question mark. Was Linsanity a month-long Cinderella story that won't be repeated or could he maintain success throughout a whole 82-game season? If the answer is no, is Iman Shumpert going to start at the point, or do the Knicks have to look for a free agent. Finally, is Mike Woodson going to have the interim title taken from his job, or do the Dolans try to get Phil Jackson back for one last run to a ring?

NFL

The Jets had a really good draft, getting two pass rushers and a legit threat at Wide Receiver. The first round selection of Quinton Coples, a defensive end from UNC, is a risk-reward type of player. He has the physical tools to be a great DE, but there have been questions about his lack of commitment. If any coach can get a player like that to perform well it is Rex Ryan. 

After trading up, Gang Green took Stephen Hill, wide receiver out of Georgia Tech. Hill was the quickest receiver in the combine, and at 6' 4" has good height. Hill is credited with being a good run blocking WR, and now it looks unlikely that the Jets will bring back Braylon Edwards. Another positive about Hill is that he has experience with the option offense, and with Tim Tebow on the roster that's a huge plus.

Finally, in the third round they drafted Demario Davis inside linebacker out of Arkansas State. Davis looks like a big hitter with a fast motor and should be a fun player to watch. He'll split time with Bart Scott at ILB this season.

While getting some raw athletic talent, I don't think any of these guys are can't miss prospects, but learning under some of our veteran leader, these rookies will have a good chance to be successful. The one major complaint I have is that we didn't draft an offensive tackle to replace Wayne Hunter, and waited until the 6th round to draft a linemen.
Grade: B-

UFC

Jon Jones picked apart Rashad Evans to earn a unanimous decision victory at UFC 145. The list for potential opponents for Jones at 205 is dwindling, after defeating Rua, Rampage, Machida and now Evans. Dana White announced that Dan Henderson is most likely going get the next chance at Bones. The rest of pay-per view wasn't very newsworthy, with Rory MacDonald picking apart Che Mills in the co-main. 

On Saturday, UFC on Fox is live from Izod Center. It will be my second live UFC experience, and can agree with Dana White that the live event experience of the UFC is one of the best in sports. I would urge anyone who reads this and enjoys the sport to go to at least one live event. You can still buy tickets for Saturday's show on stubhub for under $30. 

The main card features four fights, that despite not being packed with stars, should all be really entertaining fights. The main event is Nate Diaz against Jersey's own Jim Miller, with the winner becoming a favorite to fight the winner of Edgar-Henderson II. Miller is 8-1 in his past nine fights, with the loss coming to current champ Ben Henderson. Meanwhile, Nate Diaz has been hot and cold in his last ten fights, going 5-5. Like his brother Nick, Nate has great conditioning and loves to turn the fight into a brawl. Meanwhile, Jim would rather fight a more technical style. 

Josh Koscheck battles Johny Hendricks in the co-main event. The 34-year old Koscheck is looking to get retribution for his teammate and friend Jon Fitch, who was knocked out by Hendricks at UFC 141 in December. Kos is hoping that a win puts his name back into title contention at the 170 lb division. Hendricks is very good up and coming fighter, going 9-1 in his ten fights in the WEC/UFC, who has knockout power.

The always entertaining Rousimar Palhares takes on Alan Belcher in the third fight. Palhares has a dangerous heel hook, that he won seven fights with. The 28-year old Belcher has been in the UFC for 6 years, and has compiled an 8-4 record. He is a well-rounded fighter. 

In the opener, Pat Barry takes on Lavar Johnson. In there last 14 fights combined, only one of them ended in a decision, so it's almost a guarantee that someone is going to be looking up at the lights at the end of the fight. Barry had his best performance in January against Christian Morecraft. Meanwhile, Johnson knocked out Joey Beltran in his UFC debut in January.

Predictions:

Miller by Submission over Diaz

Koscheck Decision over Hendricks

Palhares Submission over Belcher

Barry Knockout over Johson

WWE

The main event of Extreme Rules was everything I expected to see and then some. Brock Lesnar picked apart John Cena in his return to the WWE squared circle, including opening up Cena with a UFC-style elbow to the top of his head. For 17 minutes plus, the former UFC Champion looked like he never missed a beat, and put on of the most intense matches in the PG-era of WWE. It felt like I was watching a scripted MMA fight, which included Brock putting Cena in a kimura.

That was until the finish, when Super Cena came back to win again, and left me scratching my head. Brock took a tumble to the outside of the ring everyone held there breath that he didn't tear his ACL. After that, Cena punched Brock with a chain, and hit the FU on steel steps, and that put Brock down in his return to the WWE. Ironically, it was very similar to Lesnar's UFC debut when he dominated Frank Mir until getting caught in a heel hook. Unfortunately, UFC can't control the outcome of the fights, and WWE can.

It looks like Vince brought Brock back to teach everyone a lesson, that you don't leave WWE on bad terms and come crawling back when your other career is over (especially now that UFC is more popular). Vince McMahon's huge ego may have gotten in the way of making him a ton of money, just like when he screwed up the WCW Invasion angle. I could be completely wrong, and WWE could have a great long-term plan, but after the PPV and Raw last night I'm very skeptical.