1
The essence of tonight’s big Mayweather-Alvarez fight has been lost in numbers and hyperbole, writes Bill Dwyre of The Los Angeles Times.
That essence is as follows: For the last 15 years or so, boxing fans have seen Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his act. Now, they think they have a chance to see Mayweather flat on his back.
He has taken the art of brash arrogance to new heights. People don’t mind seeing greatness.
They just don’t want to be told that they are seeing it, especially by the person they are seeing in the ring.
2
It’s the last week of the last regular season of her remarkable 17-year WNBA career, writes Jerry Brewer of The Seattle Times, and Tina Thompson still won’t break character. She won’t stop being the great blue-collar superstar of her sport. She won’t relent, even as she’s celebrated, until that last practice free throw falls perfectly through the net.
You’d figure that such little things wouldn’t matter at the end, that there would be some level of senioritis for the Seattle Storm star, who will retire at season’s end. But she wouldn’t short-change the game like that.
3
The Southeastern Conference, writes Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press, doesn’t care. Never has. Never will.
That’s why it’s the only college football conference that matters in regard to national championships. It wrote the manual on winning at all costs. It has no conscience, no fear of any meaningful NCAA retribution for its missteps. It’s why the SEC often is hated and hailed in the same breath.
A Yahoo expose chronicled allegations that five SEC football players took improper monetary benefits. The lone surprise was that they found only five.
