FanNation - The Republic of Sport

You guys are all tools. You look for every opportunity to bash Dana White and proclaim <insert lesser promotion here> as the new best thing in MMA. What a bunch of morons. Fedor hasnt "saved" or "elevated" any promotion he has ever been a part of. Strikeforce loads up all of their "talent" for one big card and now the UFC should be jealous? If the UFC did the same thing (i.e. put out one worthwhile card per year) then their potential card would destroy anything Strikeforce could dream of putting out. And on a seperate note, you can be a great fighter and still be overrated. Fedor may be the best MMA fighter in history and he would still be overrated becasue most of you pro-Fedor/anti-Dana White fanboys are convinced that Fedor walks on water, brings the dead back to life, heals the terminally sick, has X-ray vision...you cant see what's actually in front of you - that Fedor has fought many tough guys, but not in the last 5 years or so (give or take). He has fought a mix of bums, freaks, and middleweights. He still may be the best MMA fighter in the world, but we'll never know if he doesnt start fighting top competition again.

Actually Carwin took the first jab, right after UFC 100 when he called out Lesnar for his post-fight antics. Those comments basically helped him get the fight with Lesnar. He was supposed to face Cain Velasquez, but after his anti-Brock statement, Dana White switched him to face Lesnar. Sorry, bro, but in this verbal battle Carwin was the instigator. Which males me wonder, if Carwin is going to continually bash Lesnar for his WWE sound bytes, then why is Carwin the one giving most of the WWE-type sound bytes?

Walker is an idiot. Why do fighters insist on challenging non-fighters? What would it prove? All it has proven so far is that Walker spent his entire interview talking about Dana White and the UFC instead of pimping his new employer Strikeforce. In the early goings of the "war" between Walker and White, I show Dana White up 1-0.

Would you take $25 million when you have a lease in hand for the next 30 years that should pay you upwards of like $600 million? There's a reason they rejected the money.

Moyes lost all credibility when he tried to backdoor his way out of ownership. He tied his success or failure to Ballsillie and that has been a terrible move. This will not end well for Moyes and he has no one to blame but himself. Blame th ecitizens and fans of Glendale all you want, but no one (except maybe Toronto) shells out money for a crappy team. Not Pittsburgh, not Colorado...if the Coyotes put a good team on the ice and have success the fans will show up.

They moved out of America West Arena because it was a terrible place to watch a hockey game. Many of the seats were limited view where you could only see 2/3rds of the ice.

Punching an opposing player, punching one of your teammates, going after opposing fans in the stands, having a coach try to restrain you, and being dragged out kicking and screaming by stadium security and Boise PD, all on national television, is a recipe for a year long suspension.

Sweet avatar....AC-130 Spectre. Mean-ass bird. That thing can deal death like few others.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but during the time period we're talking about, wasnt Pittsburgh among the bottom of the NHL franchises for attendance? If their fanbase was that rabid and die-hard, they would have filled the Igloo whether it was decrepit or not. The problem in Phoenix (and I can speak to it since I lived there a long time, went to the first game there, watched games in the new arena, etc.) is that it's a transient town. Most people who live in Phoenix grew up somewhere else, many from northern states with hockey markets. These people want to watch hockey, but since the team has been dismal of late the attendance has dropped accordingly, just like attendance dropped in Pittsburgh when they sucked, just like it dropped in Washington when they sucked. What happened when the Pens drafted Sid and that young crew? They started to win and the fans (the more casual ones) came back. Same thing with the Caps. The diehards never leave, it's the casual fans that make or break a teams attendance. When the Jets moved to Phoenix, they had a good team. Attendance was good. As the years wore on, the Coyotes talent grew older and were traded off (Tkachuk, Roenick, Khabibulin, Nummenin, etc). They never replaced those stars so the on-ice product suffered. The Coyotes went in to full rebuild mode not long ago and have iced a very young team. Add in the economic woes that have ravaged the valley and you can see why fans (the casual and transient ones) have not come back. If the Yotes put a good team on the ice, the fans will come. Locals will want to feel like they are a part of something (see the D-Backs and the Cardinals), the transients will want to be around exciting hockey, and the diehards will never have left. This scenario plays out in more places than Phoenix. In fact, Phoenix's per game home attendance average was not the worst. The Isles, with all of their history and tradition and market and fanbase was worst. The Coyotes home average was also not much worse than some great franchises (the Devils and Avalance were less than 1000 tickets per game better). To summarize, of the Coyotes fix their ownership problem and put competent personnel in charge of hockey operations, that building will fill up. Everyone likes a winner. But no one, the Pens fans included, will fill the building to watch a piss-poor team.

Just curious, but everyone who says "Just give the team to Ballsillie! Move them to Hamilton!" were you saying the same thing when he was trying to buy the Pens and Preds? What about when the Pens, Sens and Sabres all filed for bankruptcy? The only thing unique about the Phoenix situation is that Ballsillie realized he would never be allowed ownership of an NHL franchise so he and Moyes concoted a plan to get Balsillie in through the back door. Everything else (circus aside) is relatively the same. But I dont recall this huge "Give Balsillie the Penguins" movement.

Maybe Carano fought the wrong Cyborg. She was scheduled to face Cristiane and ended up fighting Evangalista.

Sounds like the cabbie was asking for it...gimme my $0.20 cents, dammit!

Actually, this is a bizarre move for California, not at all typical. California is among the most regulated states in the country. In fact, they often go out of their way to make things more difficult for their citizens. I think someone dropped the ball big time.

A strike would also hurt the fighters greatly. The UFC can always show re-air PPVs for free on Spike, but the fighters dont get the purses for that. A strike would definately hurt the UFC, but the fighters would definately get hurt more, especially the lower tier fighters who arent racked out with hefty sponsorship.

No, I knew you didnt mean the Scummy Sosa's of the sports world. I may have to look into this when I have some time. Just look back at the major sports and see what percentage of the great players were more like Tiger Woods and what percentage were more Dana-ish. I'm definately interested to see how it turns out. and believe me, I dont approve of everything Dana does (flip-flopping on Fedor's greatness or lack thereof), but more often than not, I lean otwards agreeing with him. Maybe I identify with him because that's more or less how I conduct my self as well. I usually get irritated by celebrities and athletes who give canned or cliche answers to questions. I'd rather have a guy like Jeremy Roenick who give honest answers and says what he thinks. With Dana White what you see is what you get. There's no ambiguity with him. I dig that.

As well as the WHA into the NHL.

Dana White should act like Dana White, not Tiger Woods. Why should he have to be anyone other than who he is? Who he is got the UFC where it is today. I'm tired of people criticizing others, whether it be Dana White or Alexander Ovechkin, for not conforming to some pre-determined standard of behavior. His attitude and drive and passion makes him the success he is. Is he any less of a success because he curses? And if I really had the time, I could probably run up a huge list of star athletes that were more on the flamboyant side. I just dont right now. Maybe later.

First, I wasnt responding to you, I was responding to tdbubba. Second, I love football (as do a vast majority of Americans) and I dont see the nation clamoring for the UFL to succeed or anyone upset that the XFL failed. Another league competing against the NFL doest further the interest of football any more than Strikeforce competing with the UFC furthers the interest of MMA. Divinding the talent pool among various promotions only dilutes the talent each promotion has available for a card. It's much better to have all the top talent under one promotion so we, the fans, can see the top fighters fight each other. I want to see Jake Shields fight GSP. I want to see Fedor fight Brock. I want to see Aoki fight Penn. I want to see Kid Yamamoto fight Faber or Brown. These fights will likely never take place as long as there are multiple promotions. Can you imagine saying "I want to see the Yankees play the Red Sox", but never get to see those games because the Yankess belong to MLB and the Red Sox were signed to play in the North American Baseball Federation? Why is it good for MMA, but bad for every other successful sport? Multiple big competing promotions will only turn MMA into today's boxing - lots of champions that never fight each other because the promotions cant agree on who gets what.

I did some reading on the Station Casions bankruptcy (which I was unaware of). It turns out that the parent company, Station Casions, Inc. filed for protection, but the 18 casinos are seperate entities owned by Station and are not part of the bankruptcy filing. Apparently they will operate as usual as all of the debt is held by the parent company. How this will affect the Fertitas and Zuffa is unknown at this time. It's worth paying attention to, but I think Zuffa may have enough of it's own money now to be unaffected. We'll see I guess.

Didnt Donald Trump align themselves with Affliction? Wasnt he an equity partner in the promotion? How did those deep pockets pan out for Affliction?

You seriously think Strikeforce has deeper pockets than the UFC? Are you high? First, they have clearly made more money in MMA and second they are owned by the Fertita's who own the Station Casions in Vegas. If Strikeforce had deper pockets they would be more than a regional promotion.