A Mouth Made of Money

Floyd "Money" Mayweather has always been the epitome of braggadocio, particularly in interviews leading up to one of his fights. This past Tuesday, in an interview leading up to his fight against Shane Mosley, Mayweather took the money out of his mouth and stuck his foot in it.

"I don't care what fighter you're going to name, I'm the best," Mayweather said.

Throw a name at me and I'll break his stats down. Whatever they've done I've done it quicker, with no losses."

When no name was offered for Mayweather to debate, being "Money", he carried on the debate with himself as everyone observed.

"I take my hat off to Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali, and Sugar Ray Leonard, all the legendary champions. But I gave the sport of boxing my whole life to be the best, and I feel I earned the right to say that I’m the best fighter that ever lived. And I proved myself and I think that they say that women and men lie, but my numbers don’t lie."

It got better, or worse depending on your perspective when Mayweather focused on Ali and his 1978 loss to Leon Spinks in what was Spinks eighth professional fight:

"Leon Spinks with seven wins beat you?"

Cue thunderbolt from up above to strike Mayweather for blasphemy.

Yes Ali lost to the young Spinks, in a fight that took place when he was 36. However, he gave Spinks a lesson in the rematch as he won by unanimous decision to become champ for the third time.

This kind of mouth work is exemplary of the kind of stuff that makes Mayweather so reviled. That and tossing money everywhere to show how it meant nothing to him. Although said practice has since mysteriously ended since the IRS put "Money" in his place.

It confounds how he becomes so annoyed by detractors and always feels the need to defend his legacy. Do not get this man started on the fact that boxing writers chose Manny Paqcuiao as the "Fighter of the Decade" over him. Mayweather will counter with his record of 40 wins and zero defeats.

The fact remains that Mayweather's fights are snoozefests. In his most recent fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, Mayweather bullied his smaller opponent for 12 BORING rounds. If he was "The Greatest" there would be great fights on his record.

In the aforementioned Marquez match, our Engineer (hardly a Mayweather fan) fell asleep during the later rounds. He only woke when our Fireman (a big fan of Mayweather) would shout praises of Mayweather's speed.

It would be unfair to expect "Money" to stand in the middle of the ring and slug it out with "Sugar" Shane. He is not that type of boxer, and he would get killed. He is a boxer. A boxer, always in shape, and always working on his craft. And another facet of Mayweather that is ALWAYS in shape is his tongue.

"There’s a blue print in how to beat Shane. If you have five losses, there’s a remedy and code in how to beat you. There’s no code or remedy on how to beat Floyd Mayweather. I’m here to clean up the sport of boxing. We’re not cheating over here. We want to separate the ordinary from the good, and great. And I’m a great one, because I never used no drug enhancement drugs, and all those fighters in this time and different athletes are cheating. If you have to cheat to win, I don’t that’s cool at all. How you going to call yourself an all time great if you cheat?"

The last bit about performance-enhancing drugs was a nice verbal body-shot at Mosley. In 2003 Mosley went before a grand jury during the BALCO hearings and testified of how he "inadvertently" took EPO, a banned substance provided by BALCO founder Victor Conte. Mosley said he did not know what he was taking.

Duped into doping?

Everyone will be watching Saturday's fight with a curious eye. If Mayweather loses, we can finally put to rest hopes of seeing him take on Pac-Man in a mega-fight. If he wins in his customary style of banking rounds he can hardly expect anyone to laud more accolades on him. After all, shouldn't "The Greatest" continue to vanquish all who dare challenge him?

At the moment it would seem "Money" is trapped by his mouth. Appropriate.

Hey Kid, Is Your Mother A Whore?

Man the pre-draft interview questions are tough! According to multiple reports Miami Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland asked Dez Bryant in one such interview if his mother was ever a prostitute.

Ireland said that he tests a potential player's mental toughness, and he did. By asking such a heinous question Ireland invited Bryant to cave his face in and Bryant passed.

Toot of the horn to Dez Bryant. Who says this kid has character issues?

This whole incident begs the question, "What did Ireland hope to find out?"

What if he got an answer he was not prepared for. Suppose Bryant had said, "No, but she was a 'fluffer' for a local porn production company."

What then Mr. Ireland?

What we here at the D-train want to know most of all in this bizarre situation is, what did Bryant say to answer this most offensive question?

This Is So Exciting

Rumor has it that after the Chicago Bulls got stomped by the Cavaliers Sunday, GM Jon Paxson walked up to Head Coach Vinny Del Negro and asked him, "Head or gut?"

Chicago need only suffer one more loss as LeBron and his minions march to the final. At least that how it appears at the moment. The Magic are certainly worthy of consideration. However Dwight Howard has to get himself under control and out of foul trouble. If the waves of big bodies that Charlotte ran at Howard were a problem, then Cleveland and their bigs are going to win the key match-up if things go according to plan.

We thought that Denver would threaten the L.A. Lakers chances of a repeat. We forgot to inform the Utah Jazz of our prediction. Please forgive us dear passengers. We were so mesmerized by Carmelo Anthony's stellar play that we ignored the fact that the Nuggets abhor playing defense.

The Mavericks/Spurs series is reminiscent of 80's NBA playoffs. These guys are bangin' out there. The Mavs just have not been able to close games like the Spurs and it has cost them an almost insurmountable series deficit. Once again Dallas is about to drop a series to a much lower seeded team.

The Spurs will not have time to catch their breath because the Suns will run circles around them. The emotional high of Brandon Roy's return in game four aside as well as the Trailblazer victory in game one, the Suns are in control of this series.

The Pau Gasol and the Lakers sound as if they are gonna just flip a switch and dispose of OKC starting with tonight's game five. The problem with that thinking is now the young lion has tasted blood it wants more. The Lakers just might have to go seven games with the Thunder before it is all said and done.

Our Mel Kiper Imitation

With respect to Count Mel Kiper (and his raging hair), here's the assessment of this year's draft on the D-train starting with the local stop and subsequent teams in first-round order.

After the ambushes in Dallas to end the season sent up the signal that the Birds were no longer the team to beat in the NFC East, and the best quarterback in franchise history was shipped to a division rival, Eagles fans were watching this draft with keen "interest."

Philadelphia Eagles: Brandon Graham and two other d-ends, plus two linebackers, AND two safeties had to make Jim Johnson smile in that war room in the sky. Nathaniel Allen is more of a finesse safety than Birds are used to. However, he is also more of a playmaker on the ball than what they are used to. And the Eagles also got a receiver with size. Overall fans can come away feeling alright about this class.

St. Louis Rams: The Rams were almost trapped by the number one pick. After passing on, and seeing the subsequent work of, Matt Ryan and Mark Sanchez the past two seasons they had to take a quarterback. We'll just go ahead and stamp Sam Bradford a bust right now. Other than that, the St. Louis brain-trust were pragmatic and sound in NY.

Detroit Lions: Ndamukong Suh. Oooh mommy get me that! Suh is proof that Reggie White and "Mean" Joe Green had a baby together in secret. Seriously though, two words: CAN'T MISS. And Suh was the only pick that the Lions did not seem to reach on.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: These guys did not go to New York to mess around. The Bucs addressed their weakest unit, dedicating six of their nine picks to the defense (two DT's in a row with their top two picks). And the Bucs got two new receivers with size for their young QB.

Washington Redskins: Uncle Danny's free-wheeling with the draft picks left his team with two picks in the first four rounds. Washington did address their porous offensive line though. Donovan McNabb is going to have a nightmare flashback of Todd Pinkston when he gets a look at receiver Terrance Austin(172 lbs. listed).

Kansas City Chiefs: You have to look at this class and say, "Not bad." Eric Berry is the headliner as the Chief possibly picked up four starters with their first five picks. That is selecting and not settling.

Seattle Seahawks: Coach Dude and the new regime in Seattle did good in their first draft. Seattle added QB protection and productivity. They also addressed the gaping hole at d-end and the back end of their defense.

Cleveland Browns: The Browns got a backup for their best offensive player Jerome Harrison, secondary help, a versatile o-lineman, and the dreamy Colt McCoy. Our engineer routinely touts his "man-crush" for McCoy. No reaching here. Just solid drafting.

Oakland Raiders: This draft was so deep that not even Al Davis could have created a disaster out of it. Although the two o-lineman picks say "potential" more than anything, they picked up speed and linebacker depth.

Buffalo Bills: The Bills sort of bumbled a little bit this past weekend. With two solid backs already they go for C.J. Spiller in the first, and reach on Torell Troup in the second. They added a WR which begged the question, "who will throw to him?" The Bills must hope Levi Brown is another 7th-round QB that takes a team to the promised land.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Ugh. D-line and not much else. The D-train Staff feels bad for Jacksonville fans since the front-office does not appear to watch Jags games; Otherwise they would have had a better plan than this.

San Francisco 49ers: The Niners figured the best way to stop Larry Fitzgerald is draft a safety that can obliterate him on contact so they drafted Taylor Mays. They picked up o-line help and a backup for Frank Gore. Niners games are gonna be real physical. if nothing else, in 2010.

San Diego Chargers: The Chargers did not hesitate to fill their biggest need and do it early. They traded up to take the RB Ryan Matthews and then drafted the third-strongest player at the NFL Combine in LB Donald Butler (only two lineman benched 225 more times). And they picked up replacements for Jamal Williams and Brandon Malumaleuna. Arguably the most effecient team of the weekend.

New York Giants: Not happy with their defense, and for good reason, the Giants set out to fortify that side of the ball. Hopefully we are wrong, but the G-men appear to have good class here.

Tennessee Titans: This class is exemplary of the Titans; Nothing really stands out, yet it will still be solid on Sundays. Derrick Morgan and Rennie Curran immediately bolster the defense. To every one's surprise, they didn't draft a backup runner after trading away Lendale White.

Pittsburgh Steelers: The "Stillers" selected an offensive lineman for the first time since 2002. After the first round they adhered to their customary m.o. by stockpiling pass-rushers like mutual funds. And they got a power-back to help revitalize the running game.

Atlanta Falcons: The Falcons gave an effort at to address their sieve of a defense with their first two picks then used a third and fourth on areas that didn't really upgrade the team. That defense is still gonna lose games for Atlanta this fall.

Houston Texans: Prudent picking here as the Texans stayed steady with multiple value picks.

Cincinnati Bengals: The Bengals have simplified the drafting fraction by ignoring need and picking up the best players available when they pick. The Bengals have discovered a draft-day formula that will keep them from continued blunders. And that strategy seems to have worked for two years in a row!

Green Bay Packers: They got Aaron Rodgers an o-lineman in the first and did not go back to that area until the late fifth. They should have grabbed o-lineman like the Steelers draft linebackers.

Denver Broncos: What the deuce?! Josh McDaniels had a savior complex and picked Tim Tebow in the first-round. Tebow is a project, but apparently the Broncos are not concerned. Also, they took a raw receiver who did not run during the scouting process in the first-round. And the Broncos did not do much to help an old defense that faded down the stretch of last season.

Arizona Cardinals: Arizona picked Dan Williams to pair with Darnell Dockett at DT. Then nabbed one of the draft's fastest linebackers in Daryl Washington to step in to Karlos Dansby's spot. And picked up two players who can contribute immediately, as well as an intriguing QB prospect. Although more could have been done for the o-line, descent work was done here.

New England Patriots: C'mon! All twelve of these guys can't make the team. Their first-round pick is not a starter, however they got their new starter at tight end as well as a backup one. Like with Jerrod Mayo, in Brandon Spikes they picked a productive college linebacker with bundles of potential.

Miami Dolphins: In a recurring theme throughout the draft a team went for defense, defense, and more defense. Seven of Miami's eight picks went to the defensive unit. Beef on the front line was acquired with the first pick, then some hybrid pass-rushers (typical for a 3-4 defense) and a solid corner prospect. This was a very "stick to the plan" draft for Miami.


New York Jets: Top Jets pick, Kyle Wilson, will jump right in at nickelback. He should be busy considering that Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie will man the outside spots. If Wilson is up to the task, and he very well may be, he could wind up the Defensive Rookie of the Year. The Jets did not have many picks due to their recent spate of trades, but they did their best with what they had.

Indianapolis Colts: After seeing what Dwight Freeney's injury meant to their defense, the Colts chose another havoc-wreaking, under-sized DE in the first. And they kept going defense after that. And why not with no obvious needs on this team.

New Orleans Saints: For the second year in a row the Saints take a cornerback in the first-round. They acquired depth at TE for the oft-injured Jeremy Shockey, and their back up QB in the seventh. As they say in Mexico, "Asi, asi."

Chicago Bears: The Bears did not pick until round three, however they did nab one of the most productive safeties in the nation in Major Wright. And their next pick might be better than advertised. The Bears also picked up a backup QB.

Baltimore Ravens: By drafting Mt. Cody to go with the monster they already have at DT, the Ravens have outlawed running on them for the 2010 season. Cody will not have a weight problem anymore because Ray Lewis is going to bark it out of him.

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk Holmeslice

First, the picture and his other shenanigans (D-train Daily: Takin' One For the Team" 3-31) show how Santonio Holmes does not employ common sense on a regular basis. Second, clearly Holmes' agent needs to sit him down for a serious discussion. "Santonio, pretty soon you'll be effing with my money."

The trade of Holmeslice from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the New York Jets for a fifth-round pick was announced today. The Steelers had had enough of Holmes, not after he was accused last month of assaulting a young lady with a glass, but after they learned he was going to be suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

A recent post on his Twitter account divulged his plans to "wake and bake."

HOLY FRONT STREET BATMAN!!!

Now Holmeslice will have to appear before Judge Roy Bean, er, NFL Commisioner Roger Goodell where the former Super Bowl MVP will likely get the "you're on thin ice" talking to.

We here at the D-train bet that the NFL's drug testers were knocking at Holmes' door a half-hour after the aforementioned Twitter post. We are also betting that the substance of Holmes' violation is not an anabolic steroid.

Barber takes a Tiki-torch to His Marriage

We never liked him. We never liked him when he was flashing his toothy smile, his arrogant persona, and of course when he was hurting the Philadelphia Eagles' defense. And now The D-train has even more disdain for former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber.

According to a report released Monday by The New York Post, Barber is leaving his attractive-ish wife, Ginny, of 11 years for former NBC intern Tracy Lynn Johnson. We should not trifle with the fact that Barber's wife is eight months pregnant or that Johnson is 23 (11 when Barber began his annoying NFL career).

An intern?! As people say in a text conversation, "WTF?!"

Let's make this clear, a person of Barber's "stature" that scoops up an intern obviously has no game. And we mean "game" in the sense that former pimp Fillmore Slim would mean it. Barber apparently lacks an "in" with the ladies aside from who he is hence, he picks up an intern at work. An intern?!

So not only is Sneaky Tiki a heel just because is a heel, but because he is worse than the person that he claims to despise... his father. In a 2004, Barber had this to say regarding his father:

"Not only did he abandon her, I felt like he abandoned us for a lot of our lives. I have a hard time forgiving that."

Sounds like someone is throwing stones from inside a glass house. And we thought that Barber had no onions in his grocery sack.

The Today Show correspondent released this damage-control statement in response to the news of his ending marriage, if not to the news of his extra-marital affair:

"After 11 years of marriage, Ginny and I have decided to separate. This decision was a painful one, but we are moving forward amicably and will continue to work together to raise our children with the love and dedication they have always known."

Nice half-hearted try sir, but everyone sees through you and that fake-ass smile now. When Barber says that the decision was "painful" he likely wanted to add that having a hot young piece around like Ms. Johnson will help ease that pain.

"...moving forward amicably" indeed. Ronde is now the good son.

Meanwhile, On the Other Side of the Road

Yesterday after listening to Donovan McNabb's press-conference in Redskins Park (eloquently described by 610 WIP's Anthony Gargano as, "nauseating"), we were curious as to what was being said about the trade in the D.C. area.

After listening to the mid-day shows on 106.7 The Fan and ESPN 980 in Washington as well as reading a Washington Post op-ed by Mike Wise, one could surmise that Redskins fans are not particularly thrilled with the exchange.

Mr. Wise's article, while informative, needs a title that rolls off the tongue better than "Redskins Trade for McNabb Continues Off-Season Tradition Unlike Any Other" We suggest: "Redskins are April Fools."

They have a point. On the surface, Daniel Snyder and his nieces and nephews seem to think that Donny #5 has catapulted them into contention. McNabb did not come with an offensive line, and Washington's was a sieve last season. Will McNabb and Mike Shanahan's coaching translate to seven more wins? Highly unlikely.

No it appears as though this might be another case of Uncle Danny oiling the turnstiles for the dupes that follow his team. Albert Haynesworth was the big "boom/crash" of the Redskins and they were trying to unload him to the Eagles in the McNabb deal. Nice try Washington.

Former Redskin and Hall of Fame member John Riggins, an extremely vocal critic of Snyder's, is looking more and more like a prophet with each move by the generous owner.

Say what you will about Snyder, no owner can do product placement like this man. It is as if the NFL has met NASCAR with this guy.

So therefore, the D-train staff, has concluded that if the McNabb trade is looked at unfavorably in Washington... IT HAS TO BE A GOOD DEAL FOR US!!!

Suckers!

Transition

We all had a feeling in the pit of our collective stomachs, after back-to-back bitch slaps from the pimp hand of the hated Dallas Cowboys, that this moment was almost upon us. Hardly anyone employed outside of the NovaCare Complex could have envisioned that Donovan McNabb would be packaged yesterday for some draft picks to the Washington Redsinks.

Throughout his career McNabb has had to deal with the venomous angst of Eagles fans, however he is not alone in that regard. When Ron Jaworski was under-center for The Birds, fans wanted Randall Cunningham. When an injured Cunningham was replaced by an aging Jim McMahon, and experienced some success, the mob wanted McMahon. When a Cunningham returned from injury, fans wanted Rodney Peete, and so forth.

For whatever reason, inferiority complex with repect to New York and D.C., the patented pessimism of Philadelphia, Eagles fans have constantly found every shortcoming in their quarterback's play and beat that dog until it died.

Will Kevin Kolb be spared the same fate? Unlikely dear passengers.

When people speak of what troubled them most with McNabb they site his performance in Super Bowl XXIX when he could not lead the Eagles to victory against the New England Patriots.

51 is the number that stands out in that game to The D-train Daily Staff. "51" as in the number of pass attempts that McNabb officially logged that night. A 10-point deficit in the fourth-quarter aside, Andy Reid had McNabb throw early and often in Jacksonville. In fact, if you count sacks and McNabb scrambles, there were 56 called pass plays that game.

And that, Reid's (and anyone under him who calls plays) tendency to go mad bomber when it is even a distant thought of a team being vulnerable to the pass, has held the Birds back more than McNabb's play.

So say what you will about McNabb, things will not change with Kolb as the Eagles QB unless REID changes his ways.

And we here at the D-train Daily will show him the errors of said ways when the Eagles convene for training camp this August.

Devil with the Blue Jersey On

College Basketball's quintessential quartet will take to the hardwood tonight to conclude the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Yesterday, the host city's news paper, The Indianapolis Star garnished The Final Four with a little bit of spice by doodling on Duke's Coach K on front of its sports section.

The newspaper pulled the cartoon and apologized Friday afternoon when according to The Star's Senior Editor/Sports Jim Lefko, "...we realized it didn't meet our standards."

Seriously, what does The Star have to apologize for?

Duke, as the highest seed and most villified team left in the tournament, does have a target on it. The Star merely misplaced the target on Coach K's forehead instead of on his team's back.

Also, it is not out of the way to paint Krzyzewski as a sort of devil. The devil is after all, Duke's mascot.

Also consider all of the players that, when they were under Krzyzewski's charge, were veritable world-beaters. Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Trejan Langdon, Sheldon Williams, and so forth; all great players under Coach K however, average at best when they moved on to the NBA. Could they have been possessed by some sort of... demon that powered their highly successful college careers?

So, is it not implausible to think that Krzyzewski has some underworld help in building and coaching his teams.

Therefore, the Indianapolis Star has nothing to apologize for.

If the cartoon of Krzyzewski was the garnish, Coach K provided the sauce when he took the podium at a function tipping off Final Four festivities. He said, "We have great kids who go to school, who graduate. If we're going to be despised or hated by anybody because we go to school and we want to win, you know what, that's your problem... Keep drawing pictures. Just keep drawing pictures. Try to do them a little bit better than that, though."

Sounds like someone is deflecting the attention from the source of his coaching powers.

Coach K does have a point. The picture could have used a cape, horns, and pitchfork.

"Oh Damn! Totin' Two Pistols like Yosemite Sam!"

While not quite the irascible animated cowboy, Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Shaun Rogers was loaded for bear as he got arrested at Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport yesterday for having a gun in his carry-on bag.

This has to be the worst April Fool's joke ever. It HAS to be a joke. Having a gun in your carry on luggage was illegal at least 20 years ago! Everyone with a functioning brain has the common-sense to know that going through airport security with as much as a razor-blade and a barber's razor, in a post Sept. 11th world, is going to be a problem... let alone a LOADED .45 handgun.

So you see, Roger's actions are so preposterous it all was supposed to be funny. No dumb-ass would walk up to airport security with a LOADED .45, and expect to not be troubled. Let alone a fellow with a multi-million dollar contract, bills, etc. Oh, and a large black man at that.

Therefore this has to be a joke.

Not funny Mr. Rogers. "Mr. Rogers." How are we now noticing that this far into today's run?

Let's assume, if only for a moment, that Rogers was not pulling a prank yesterday. Then we should wait to hear his side of the story. After all, who knows what kind of neighborhoods he had to navigate in order to reach the airport. We are talking about Cleveland ya know; it's Chester, PA with more people.