Attention benefit: The value of Mayweather’s ‘sucker punch’

Heck of a job, Joe Cortez

I’d say it’s pretty safe to say it’s probably not a good idea to kiss Floyd Mayweather on the cheek in the middle of a fight.

I had people text me after Saturday’s fight with that old tired talking point, that the fight wasn’t worth the admittedly exorbitant price tag – though Tecate trimmed that to a more reasonable amount. But all things considered, it’s hard to say we didn’t get our money’s worth, despite the truncated main event.

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The Afternoon Before: Emotion sickness

Some weekly thoughts on football and some other things, since I’m essentially a football layman. I’d generally prefer to do this early in the week, but I was particularly busy.

Proud to be an American

I had some people ask me why I didn’t post anything here about 9/11 before it happened, but honestly, what more could have I have said that wasn’t already said?

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The Afternoon After: Story of a hurricane

The past couple years, I’ve done a weekly post with some NFL thoughts and observations, mostly about the experience of watching such an Americana-driven sport. However, I’m not really a football guy, and I’ve found that I often simply don’t have a whole lot to say about the sport itself, especially on weeks when I don’t get to watch many games. As such, I’d still like to give this a go this year, but I’m going to expand it to whatever’s on my mind. Expect it anywhere between Monday and Wednesday.

The war room

Before the hurricane hit the New York area on Saturday, I hauled out to Long Island on Friday night for the annual draft of my main fantasy football league. It’s pretty hardcore: 14 teams, an archaic and esoteric scoring system, two keepers, and it started 16 years ago when the majority of the league owners were in high school together. (I’ve participated for 10.)

I probably would have driven through the hurricane itself to get there since for the first time since I joined my co-owner in the league, we won the whole thing, resulting in an $1,100 payday. We were powered by a well-balanced team and the shrewd first-week waiver-wire pickup of Michael Vick, which I commemorated by wearing his jersey to the draft, to the chagrin of everyone.

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Star cower: Considering Mayweather’s reined-in persona

 #pause  

About two hours before Tuesday’s promotional press conference for Floyd Mayweather’s return to the ring against Victor Ortiz on Sept. 17, the fans waiting outside were privy to a bizarre scene about a block from the Hudson Theater, as a somewhat unhinged would-be rapper climbed a light pole in the middle of Times Square and wouldn’t come down.

Traffic was diverted for 20 blocks as he did pull-ups and tossed CDs to bemused onlookers. After a couple of hours, he finally descended right around the time Golden Boy ushered everyone in for the presser, reportedly of his own volition.

Maybe he was just tired of the attention.

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