Monday, March 31, 2014

Beware Half-Truths

-
P.T. Barnum once bought a load of white salmon and found them to be unsellable. Buyers were used to pink salmon. He sold the fish by canning the meat and printing, "Guaranteed not to turn pink in the can," on each can. The statement was 100% true, but completely irrelevant. Pinkness isn't a sign the fish has gone bad, it's merely a different species. Nevertheless, the implication was enough to depopularize pink salmon and create a demand for white salmon.

In November and December of1946, sponsor Kellogg's kicked off chapters of the Superman radio story, "The Secret Letter," by promoting their Kellogg's Pep Cereal with the inclusion of a comic themed pinback button in each box. They promised that characters such as Superman, Orphan Annie, and Moon Mullins would, "...look as real on the button as they did in the funny papers." The implication was that the characters would look "real." However, because it was worded with their appearance in the newspapers as the standard, the buttons only had to display the same simple art for the promise to be true.

salt
Title: Salt | Date: 01/21/2011 | Photographer: Drtony999 | This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Today, foods containing "sea salt" are being marketed to health oriented shoppers. First of all, mined salt is only underground because that ground was once under the sea. Thus it's all "sea salt." Labeling salt "sea salt" is like saying white salmon won't turn pink in the can. It's 100% true but completely irrelevant.

As for the idea that sea salt has some kind of benefit, salt marketed as "sea salt" is coarse, like Kosher salt, and isn't quite as processed as table salt. However, sea salt & table salt have the same basic nutritional value, despite the fact that sea salt is often promoted as being healthier. Sea salt and table salt contain comparable amounts of sodium by weight. If a buyer tastes a difference & buys it for taste that's valid, but buyers shouldn't think of it as more or less healthy than typical salt.

My point is, we’re surrounded by falsehoods nestled inside half truths and misconstrued  statements of fact.  Facts, when presented with a particular slant, CAN lie.

Always question statements such as:
  • Priced as low as - The term "as low as" means it's the very least  buyer will pay for something, most buyers will pay more.
  • Free - One can bet good money companies aren't shelling out good money for advertising in order to give away FREE goods & services.  Odds are, there will be a cost to the consumer somewhere along the line,
  • All Natural - The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t define it, although food makers won’t get in trouble as long as so-labeled food doesn’t contain added colors, artificial flavors, or “synthetic substances.”   That means there’s room for interpretation.  So a food labeled natural may contain preservatives or be injected with sodium.
  • Light - To be considered a "light" product, the fat content has to be 50% less than the amount found in comparable products, but manufacturers have been known to use the term to refer to the flavor rather than the fat content.
  • Nothing works better - This doesn't mean the product in question is the best, many such products may be equally effective.
There  are many other examples of misleading, if technically true, statements.  Bottom line, one should consider every possible angle before accepting anything as truthful.
-

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Where Did The Boxing Fans Go?

-
Being a child of the 70s, I grew up during one of the golden ages of boxing.  Yes, there have always been boxing fans who could spout round by round stats of the Max Bear vs. James Braddock fight.  Boxing will ALWAYS have those fans.

Beyond that though, boxing held a healthy presence within mainstream pop culture.  Fight results were on the evening news, and were discussed around the water cooler.  Plus, any Jane or Joe could tell you who "the champ" was.
-
In 1971, Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier both had justifiable claims to the World Heavyweight Championship Title. An undefeated Ali had won the title from Sonny Liston
Muhammad Ali during a Boxing Match in Washington
Title: Muhammad Ali during a Boxing Match in Washington | This image was taken from Flickr's The Commons. The uploading organization may have various reasons for determining that no known copyright restrictions exist.
in Miami Beach in 1964.  Ali successfully defended his belt up until he had the title stripped from him, for dodging the Viet Nam draft, for spiritual reasons, in 1967.

During Ali's incarceration, the undefeated Frazier won two championship titles by knocking out Buster Mathis and Jimmy Ellis.

Once Ali gained his freedom, he challenged Frazier, who was now recognized by boxing authorities as the World's Champion.

The fight was an event.  New Yorkers protested ticket prices which ranged from $20 for a balcony seat to $150 for ringside.  Celebrities such as Lorne Greene and Burt Lancaster donned formal attire to attend the fight.  Locations across the U.S. and Canada screened the fight on closed circuit television to fans paying $5 to $15.

As I said, the bout was more than a boxing match, it was an event.  People cared about the outcome, it was what was happening at the moment.  Three years later, the world was captivated again by Ali's & Foreman's Rumble In The Jungle.
-
Today's bouts aren't awarded the same level of fanfare.  Sure, hardcore fans keep boxing alive on TV and keep Pay-Per-Views profitable for HBO & Showtime.  However, boxing isn't the water cooler topic it once was, and boxers are no longer house hold names.  I can't even remember the last time I saw a boxing result being reported on the evening news.

In Rocky III, Mickey told Rocky, "...the worst thing happened to you, that could happen to any fighter. You got civilized."  One might argue that the mainstream populace, "got civilized," and have outgrown violence as entertainment.

To that, I say, "poppy cock!"  If we'd outgrown violence, MMA & WWE, which is a faux sport at best, wouldn't be as popular as they are.   No, I think the reason for the decline in popularity may lie in the fact that championship fights are too common.

In the old days, there were eight weight classes...,
  • Flyweight: 8 st (50,802 Kg / 112 lbs)
  • Bantamweight: 8 st 6 lbs (53,525 kg / 118 lbs)
  • Featherweight: 9 st (57,153 kg / 126 lbs)
  • Lightweight: 9 st 9 lbs (61,235 kg / 135 lbs)
  • Welterweight: 10½ st (66,678 kg / 147 lbs)
  • Middleweight: 11 st 6 lbs (72,574 kg / 160 lbs)
  • Light Heavyweight: 12½ st (79,378 kg / 175 lbs)
  • Heavyweight: (unlimited)
...and one champion per weight class.  Today we have multiple weight classes, some with more than one name, and different sanctioning bodies recognize different champions for each weight class.  Below are listed the weight classes' main champions for the three top sanctioning bodies.
-
Title                   WBA                 WBC                 IBF      

HEAVYWEIGHT             Wladimir            VACANT              Wladimir
(unlimited)             Klitschko                               Klitschko
                        61-3 (51)                               61-3 (51)

CRUISERWEIGHT           Denis               Krzysztof           Yoan Pablo
(190 pounds)            Lebedev             Wlodarczyk          Hernandez
                        25-2 (19)           49-2 (35)           28-1 (14)

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT       Beibut              Adonis              Bernard
(175 pounds)            Shumenov            Stevenson           Hopkins
                        14-1 (9)            23-1 (20)           54-6 (32)

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT      Andre               Sakio               Carl
(168 pounds)            Ward                Bika                Froch
                        27-0 (14)           32-5 (21)           32-2 (23)

MIDDLEWEIGHT            Gennady             Sergio              Felix
(160 pounds)            Golovkin            Martinez            Sturm
                        29-0 (26)           51-2 (28)           39-3 (18)

JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT     Floyd               Floyd               Carlos
SUPER WELTERWEIGHT      Mayweather Jr.      Mayweather Jr.      Molina
(154 pounds)            45-0 (26)           45-0 (26)           22-5 (6)

WELTERWEIGHT            Marcos Rene         Floyd               Shawn
(147 pounds)            Maidana             Mayweather Jr.      Porter
                        35-3 (31)           45-0 (26)           23-0 (14)

LIGHT WELTERWEIGHT      Danny               Danny               Lamont
SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT       Garcia              Garcia              Peterson
(140 pounds)            28-0 (16)           28-0 (16)           32-2 (16)

LIGHTWEIGHT             Richard             Omar                Miguel
(135 pounds)            Abril               Figueroa            Vazquez
                        18-3 (8)            22-0 (17)           34-3 (13)

JUNIOR FLYWEIGHT        Takashi             Takashi             Argenis
LIGHT FLYWEIGHT         Uchiyama            Miura               Mendez
(108 pounds)            21-0 (17)           27-2 (20)           21-2 (11)

JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT      Simpiwe             Jhonny              Evgeny
SUPER FEATHERWEIGHT     Vetyeka             Gonzalez            Gradovich
(130 pounds)            26-2 (16)           55-8 (47)           18-0 (9)

FEATHERWEIGHT           Guillermo           Leo                 Kiko
(126 pounds)            Rigondeaux          Santa Cruz          Martinez
                        13-0 (8)            27-0 (15)           30-4 (22)

JR FEATHERWEIGHT        Anselmo             Shinsuke            Stuart
SUPER BANTAMWEIGHT      Moreno              Yamanaka            Hall
(122 pounds)            34-2 (12)           20-0 (15)           16-2 (7)

BANTAMWEIGHT            VACANT              Srisaket            Daiki
(118 pounds)                                Sor Rungvisai       Kameda
                                            26-3 (24)           29-4 (18)

JR BANTAMWEIGHT         Juan Francisco      Akira               Amnat
SUPER FLYWEIGHT         Estrada             Yaegashi            Ruenroeng
(115 pounds)            25-2 (18)           19-3 (9)            12-0 (5)

FLYWEIGHT               VACANT              Adrian              Jhonreil
(112 pounds)                                Hernandez           Casimero
                                            29-2 (18)           19-2 (11)

MINIMUMWEIGHT           Hekkie              Oswaldo             Katsunari
STRAWWEIGHT             Budler              Novoa               Takayama
(105 pounds)            25-1 (8)            13-4 (8)            26-6 (10)
-
I say, "main champions," since many weight classes now have interim belts, which have bizarrely been made permanent. This, coupled with the fact I didn't even have room to list the WBO's title holders, means viewers can watch a "title fight" almost every week.  The commonality of such fights have removed them from the realm of the special event, and plopped them into the realm of the mundane common occurrence.

Equally problematic is the fact that such bouts aren't hard for fighters to get.  In the old days, fighters had to have forty to sixty wins, against mostly top ranked opponents, before the were even offered a shot at a title.  Today, Boxers with less than twenty professional fights under their belts, have been given title shots and hold titles. 

There's no way champions such as strawweight champion Oswaldo Novoa (13-4),  light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov (14-1), and jr. bantamweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng (12-0) have fought enough tough fighters to work themselves up to the championship level.

Additionally, we have famous champions such as heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (61-3) and super welterweight/welterweight champion (even though it's technically illegal to be champion of two weights at the same time) Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0) who fight like slow plodding robots and are boring to watch.

The results of these factors are a plethora of title fights, in name only, featuring  participants the average viewer can't get behind as a hero, the way they got behind Joe Louis, James Braddock, and Muhammad Ali.

The sad part is, there ARE hero caliber fighters out there who could rally the masses.  Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez, and Arthur Abraham are action fighters who are very entertaining to watch.  The problem is that only hard core boxing fan know about these fighters.  Their promoters aren't reaching the average Joe and creating hype among the masses.

Bottom line, boxing won't work itself back into the mainstream until it can furnish fans with a single dynamic champion, whom the masses can root for with a fervor.
-
Championship chart prints as page 3, at 80% magnification, for your files or bulletin board.
-

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

A Bone To Pick With Teddy

-
Teddy AtlasTitle: Teddy Atlas | Date: 11/17/2011 | Photographer: Mike L Photo's | This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
I love boxing. Heck, I enjoy hearing Teddy Atlas call a fight.  Having trained Micheal Moorer, Alexander Povetkin, Donny Lalonde, and other boxing greats, Teddy successfully conveys a knowledge of, and passion for, the sweet science.

However, the gung ho poker player in me has to take issue with Teddy Atlas's statement, on March 7th’s Friday Night Fights. Poker star Phil Ivey made a guest appearance, helping Teddy act out his “keys to victory” segment. Next thing you know, Teddy’s going on and on about how poker doesn't require mental toughness. He did a whole 5 minute rant about it.

Don’t misunderstand, I think it’s inappropriate to refer to poker as “a sport,” and to see poker players listed as "athletes" on sites such as Facebook. When one can play a game with nachos and a cocktail in front of them, that‘s not a sport, or athletic endeavor of any kind. Trust me, if I can play something, then it’s a good bet that no athletics are involved.

Wikimedians playing power at the Irish House during Wikimania.Title: Wikimedians playing power at the Irish House during Wikimania. | Date: 08/04/2011 | Photographer: Missvain | This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
However, poker DOES take mental toughness.  Keep in mind, high stakes players may very well have tens of thousands of dollars at risk.  To fold 3 of a kind, with 1/3 of your stack in the pot, and never know for sure if your opponent hit his straight takes mental toughness. 

I think I'm a big fan of both poker & boxing, specifically because they are both about mental toughness/discipline & well timed aggression.

It was a ridiculous point to get worked up about under ANY circumstances. The fact that his celebrity was a professional poker player, morphed his comments from being merely ridiculous into being down right rude. Bottom line, Teddy didn't need to bad mouth poker in order to promote the boxing.
-

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Repeating Mistakes Of The Past

-
The NAZI invasion of Poland began September 1st, 1939, and the Soviet invasion
Line of demarcation between German and Soviet military forces after their joint invasion of Poland in September 1939
Title: Line of demarcation between German and Soviet military forces after their joint invasion of Poland in September 1939Line of demarcation between German and Soviet military forces after their joint invasion of Poland in September 1939 | Date: 01/05/2009 | Photographer: Poeticbent | Poeticbent grants anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions.
commenced sixteen days later. The campaigns ended on October 6th, 1939 with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland. A month later, Germany attacked Finland, followed by the invasions Denmark & Norway in the spring of 1940. Then on May 10th, 1940, the Nazis invaded France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

As Germany's campaign of terror continued across Europe, eventually resulting in the dissolution of the German's pact with Russia, America practiced a blind eye policy of, "commerce and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none," by not increasing American political/military involvement in European affairs.

As tanks rolled, and tens of thousands of people were systematically slaughtered, Americans took comfort in the notion that it wasn’t their problem. Of course, the U.S. WAS eventually attacked, and brought into the conflict, by which time the world was engulfed in war.

If the U.S. had drawn the line at Poland, it may have prevented years of blood shed.

UKRAINETitle: UKRAINE | Date: 12/10/2006 | Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
Fast forward to February 27th, 2014, one day after ministers for Ukraine's new government were named, armed men seized control of the parliament in Crimea (Ukraine's capitol) and raised the Russian flag. The next day, armed men, described by Ukrainian minister as, "Moscow's forces," took control of two airports in Crimea.

Since then, Russian troops have strengthened their foothold in Crimea, while, Russian President, Putin has publicly flip flopped between making threats and spouting transparently false denials.

I stare at a photograph of my three nephews (7 years, 4 years, and 6 months old) on the wall above my desk, and a large part of me hopes they’ll never experience a time of war. I don’t want them to know the horror of war, or grow up feeling the need to defend their country.

The peace loving Democrat in me says we shouldn’t involve ourselves in Ukrainian/Russian affairs, and practice a policy of, "commerce and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none." Then I think of nephews (7 years, 4 years, and 6 months old) of Ukrainians, who are being attacked and oppressed, and I wonder if we can turn a blind eye, without repeating mistakes of the past.
-