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December 20th, 2015 
Bad Brad 
By Dave “Mythical” Siderski
Jack Johnson Pardon Impending
Congress has now voted for a resolution to pardon Jack Johnson which President Obama is expected to sign. The sad part of this is many congressmen where probably unaware of what they were voting for, as this was tucked in on the coattails of the: “Every Student Succeeds Act”. I truly don’t understand why this took so long but better late than never I suppose.
When the racists of the time couldn’t defeat Jack Johnson in the ring they came up with something called the Mann act. The charges were trumped up and ridiculous. However, he was nonetheless convicted by an all-white jury, forced to flee the country and ultimately imprisoned. Some may say: “Why bother with a pardon for a man who’s been dead for almost 70 years? What relevance does it have today?” My answer to that is, as the old saying goes: “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it”. After more than 100 years, it is time to set the record straight once and for all.
Joshua Vs Whyte
Anthony Joshua prevailed in a tougher than expected fight with fellow undefeated prospect Dillian Whyte. Many have been touting the 6’6’’ 245 lbs. Joshua as the next great Heavyweight as coming in he’d decimated 14 professional opponents, all within three rounds. In the first round, it appeared he would turn the trick again as he had Whyte out on his feet. However, Whyte staggered him in the 2nd with a left and now he was in for the toughest fight of his early career.
Joshua got tagged frequently early as he seemed overly concerned with bombing rather than boxing. However, he eventually settled into a rhythm and systematically picked Whyte apart starting in the 5th round. This culminated with a devastating 7th round knockout. Time will tell whether or Joshua is the real deal or not but I liked what I saw against Whyte. For the first time he faced adversity and was able to prevail in the face of it. This was a good learning experience for an exciting young fighter.
Roy Please Hang Em’ up!
I had planned my own Roy Jones, JR. time to retire speech before I saw Packy’s article this afternoon. “Boom Boom” said it all in his piece so I’ll can my particular sermon for now. The only thing
I’ll add is that I will be completely disgusted if ANY boxing commission sanctions an RJJ fight in the future. Allowing this man to fight again would be utterly criminal. Now on to my next soap box topic.
NFL Thought of the Week: Mercury Morris Please Shut Up
Former Dolphins player Mercury Morris was quoted this week as saying that even if the Panthers finish undefeated at 19-0 and win the Super Bowl, his 72 Dolphins team was better. Every year around this time, one of these old crotchety old farts from that team emerges to denigrate any team that dares to challenge their accomplishment.
Let’s look at the facts for a minute. The 72 Dolphins faced an atrocious regular season schedule with opponents winning only 36.2% of their games. Only two regular season opponents finished over .500 and none made the playoffs. In contrast, the 2007 Patriots, who went 16-0 in the regular season, faced and defeated 6 teams that ultimately made the playoffs. In the playoffs, Miami was hardly a juggernaut, winning 3 close games against a decent Browns team, a young Steelers team and a good but not great Redskins team.
Yes, the 72 Dolphins finished 17-0 and won the Super Bowl and do deserve credit for that. But the greatest team in NFL history, hardly! I can think of at least a dozen teams in the Super Bowl era that would have kicked their ass. These include, within their own era, the two Cowboys Super Bowl winning teams of 1971 and 1977 and the Steelers of 1975 and 1978. And forget about the 49ers teams of the 1980s, the Cowboys of the 1990’s and the Patriots of the 21st century.
Peace out folks!
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