Strikefarce

I noticed this weekend during the Lakers/Thunder game that "Playoffs" does not include a hyphen.

Moving on.

Strikeforce
This past Saturday night, Strikeforce set up in Nashville, Tennessee and once again gave CBS viewers a free, pay-per-view worthy fight card for free - Saturday's card had three title fights.

This was Strikeforce's chance to surpass the UFC in the minds of the casual MMA fan. Diehard UFC fans will never admit that Strikeforce is a threat but the casual fan could have been swayed by Saturday's event.

Unfortunately, the event was complete trash. All three title fights had that thirty second period of action but the fights lacked in overall fireworks.

Light-Heavyweight Title Match
Gegard Mousasi had stretches, during his match with King Mo, where he looked unbeatable. However, these stretches were few and far between. He seemed to be bored at times. Other times, he seemed not to care about the outcome of the match. When Mousasi wanted to fight, he lit King Mo up like a Christmas tree. Just one look at each fighter's face after the match would have fooled anyone about the winner of the match. Maybe the Mousasi wanted out of the limelight.

Regardless of what was wrong with Mousasi, King Mo stuck to his game plan and won the title. Even though Mo couldn't see out of his left eye, he outscored Mousasi and took home the title.

Middleweight Title Match
Other than the first minute of the match, Jake Shields completely dominated MMA legend Dan Henderson.

Following at massive right hook from Henderson, Shields regrouped and grounded and pounded Henderson to a win. Henderson should have finished the fight after he laid Shields out early in the match but he seemed reluctant to go in for the kill. I got the sense that Henderson was out to prove he could outlast a younger Shields.

While Shields won in a dominate fashion, it was not pleasing to the eye. Most MMA fans want to see brutal knockouts, bone crunching submissions, or stand-up, back and forth boxing matches. And while ground and pound is high on the list, ground and pound that lasts the entire round is not exciting.

Lightweight Title Match
I feel like this was one of the worst MMA fights I have ever seen. I grew tired of Shinya Aoki dragging his butt across the cage - literally, he drug his butt along the cage floor. Gilbert Melendez should have knocked Aoki out within the first minute but he, like everyone else who was in a dominate position on Saturday night, laid back and allowed Aoki to regain his composure and drag his but along the floor.

The biggest news of from Nashville on Saturday night was the brawl between Jason "Mayhem" Miller and members of Jake Shields' entourage. I missed the brawl live but after watching the Miller get his head kicked in on YouTube, I am ready to declare that it was the best fight of the night.

Way to go Strikeforce - you fail.
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Jackie Robinson Day
I have no problem with Major League Baseball honoring one of the all time greats of the sport. Robinson was a great hitter, was better than average on the base paths and in the field, and all-round great athlete.

Just about everyone is aware that Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Doing this required more than hitting above .300 and playing in the field. I cannot image the day to day struggles Robinson had to endure just to be able to play the game he loved.

This brings me to my point - having everyone, on every team wear number 42 cheapens the significance of what Jackie Robinson did. Every major leaguer will say that he respects Robinson and they'll use words like courage and determination when speaking about him. However, Jackie Robinson is not important to everyone in the majors. So why make all players wear 42?

Jackie Robinson Day should be a day where those who want to honor Jackie Robinson - not everyone.