Tim Kawakami posted some interesting thoughts via his Twitter last night (I've combined all 5 tweets into the quote below):

Slow on this one, but Al Davis dearly wanted Vince Young to fall to the Raiders in 2006 draft & was not happy when VY went 2 picks ahead.

That's the year Raiders had #7 and took S Michael Huff, bypassing QBs Matt Leinart (#10 Ariz) and Jay Cutler (#11 Denver).

When Al fired Art Shell after that season, he blamed Shell for not taking Leinart. I'm not sure Art was even in the draft room, but oh well.

Shell, of course, had to explain the Huff pick that day. We asked him about Leinart & Shell said sure, they considered "Mike" Leinart.

VYoung went #3, so that means he went FOUR picks ahead of Raiders' #7. That's why I'm so good at math, if you give me a few tries at it.

Do you guys think Al might still be interested in Young? And would you want him to join the Raiders or are you more confident in Campbell?

I saw The Fighter over the weekend and thought it was well done. Not sure if  it's the sports movie of the decade like Sports Illustrated calls it in their latest issue but Mark Walberg and Christian Bale both give great performances.  I had read an interview with Micky Ward about the movie before it was released so I knew his trilogy with Gatti wasn't going to be covered but some of the viewers at the theater yelled at the end "What? No trilogy with Gatti???"  While I can understand how fans would naturally expect it to be covered I'm actually glad that it wasn't.  Maybe it's just me but there's no way a fake choreographed movie scene could ever remake the epic wars that he fought with Gatti and not come out looking corny. The focus on Ward's family struggles and determination to make it were compelling enough without adding in Gatti.

If anyone else saw it what'd you think and where do you rank it in the pantheon of boxing movies?

If I knew how to create a poll I'd do so but since I don't I'll just ask.  I was watching Khan/Maidana with a few buddies who generally don't watch boxing unless they're at my house and I force them. They were pretty entertained by the fight but at one point they asked me if I agreed or disagreed with Lederman's scoring. I disagreed with some of the rounds that he gave to Maidana so they followed that up by asking me in general do I agree with his scoring? That one really made me think because I usually tune him out and only vaguely pay attention to his scores.  I ended up telling my friends that if the two fighters were of similar status/celebrity I agree with most of Lederman's scoring but when one fighter's popularity immensely outweighs the other I feel like Lederman gives the popular fighter way too much credit. But then my friends asked, "well isn't Khan more well known than Maidana?" at which point I told them I give up and can't really answer since I don't listen to much of HBO's broadcast team for anything.

The question has lingered though so I thought I'd ask you guys. What do you think of Harold Lederman's unofficial score cards? Do you think he gets it right most of the time, some of the time, or hardly ever?

Even though I've been a boxing fan for almost my entire life I don't pretend to be an expert and there's a few things that I've never really understood about our beloved sport. If any of you have answers or comments please feel free to share.

• Why do we have the 10 point must system?  I mean why can't rounds be scored 1-0 or if there's a knockdown 2-0, 3-0 if there are two knockdowns, etc.? It'd make keeping score so much easier for those of us who suck at math.  Is there an actual purpose to having the winner of a round get 10 points that I don't know about or is it just an arbitrary score that was picked?
• Why is boxing so against revealing the judges' scorecards round-by-round as they happen? I've heard the arguments that it will encourage fighters with safe leads to just coast and run the remainder of the fight leading to more snoozefests. But wouldn't it increase the drama as it would let the losing fighter (and the crowd) know that he FOR SURE has to go for the KO and can't afford to play it safe?  I've also read the argument that it takes away from the pageantry, suspense, and tradition of announcing the final score for fights that go the distance. This doesn't make any sense to me either. If the fight is a blowout everybody knows who's winning anyway. But if the fight is close I think it would enhance the drama and excitement DURING the fight as the crowd and fighters follow along. You don't see the NBA or NFL masking the scoreboard during close games keeping secret tally of the scores only to reveal the results after the game is over. The changing leads in the games are part of the drama and for close fights I think revealing round-by-round scores from the judges would ramp up the drama as well.
• Speaking of judging, I've often noticed that in very close fights there will sometimes be one judge who scores it totally lopsided. Everyone jumps on that judge and says "how the hell could that judge have scored it by such a wide margin when it was such a close fight, is he/she blind??"  Am I missing something or does it not seem reasonable that a judge might see all the close rounds in favor of the fighter whose style he/she appreciates more. For example if the judge favors clean accurate punching to a volume puncher who isn't as accurate I can see how that judge would score all the close rounds in favor of the accurate fighter. Thus a lopsided scorecard in a close fight isn't all that outrageous to me.

I live in the East Bay and will be attending the Ward/Green Super Six fight next Saturday.  Does anyone on BLH have any info for upcoming events that will be held to promote the fight that are open to the public?  Stuff like public workouts, weigh-ins, etc.  I know for Dre's fights in Oakland with Miranda and Kessler (which I attended too, I love how his Bay Area fan base is getting built up fight by fight and hope he continues to get big fights in Oakland!) they had public workouts in front of Oracle, weigh-ins downtown by City Hall, and other fan-friendly events.  I'm assuming/hoping that the same stuff will happen this time around but haven't been able to find any information on the web. 

I tried finding the info on the Goosen Tutor website but it clearly hasn't been updated in months.  If anyone has info for events that are open to the public or could point me in the right direction for where to find the info it'd be much appreciated!

RA's blog post explaining what happened:  http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=61084

Audio:  http://www.zshare.net/audio/676796581a1c2a9e/

Basically RA who's a huge boxing fan was on Shade 45 and the interview turned to boxing. He expressed his disappointment in the direction of Floyd's career since the Corrales fight.  Floyd heard the interview and called in.  The audio is about 21 minutes but it's well worth listening to the whole conversation. Every excuse that Floyd throws out there R.A. shuts down.  He might be an ok rapper but his combination of boxing knowledge and quick wit make this a classic!  Especially when they start talking about what will happen to Floyd's legacy if he doesn't start fighting the best.