Dana White Cancels UFC 151, MMA World Asplodes

Here's what we know: Dana White has cancelled UFC 151 - the first time ever a PPV has been called off while he's owned the company - because Dan Henderson has a partially torn MCL.

We also know that White had Chael Sonnen lined up to replace Hendo, but Jon Jones refused the fight on eight days notice, under the guidance of his trainer Greg Jackson.

The plan going forward is for Jones to fight Lyoto Machida (again) in Toronto (again) in September.

Needless to say, Dana White is pissed off. He's called both Jones and Jackson out over today's conference call, calling the trainer a "f***ing sport killer". You should stop whatever you're doing and track down that presser, because it was pretty epic.

Having said that, I'm siding with Jon Jones on this one. From his perspective, it makes absolutely no sense to take this fight.

Jackson reportedly said it would have been the biggest mistake of his career, and I can understand why he'd say that.

Jones has the ability to go down as one of the greatest MMA fighters ever, and to jeopardize his legacy by taking a fight with a vastly different opponent eight days before the event would probably not be very smart.

The counter argument to this is laden with macho bluster, that fighters should take on any and all challenges, anytime, anywhere - regardless of whether it's the intelligent thing to do - and that to do otherwise means you're scared.

Perhaps certain factions of the UFC fanbase would be swayed by these Biff Tannen-in-Back To The Future- sentiments , but evidently it wasn't in the best interests of Jones' camp to agree to it. And since there's no clause in Jones' contract that says he HAS to fight, why would he, if he feels he wouldn't be prepared to successfully defend his title?


As a promoter, Dana White is obviously furious that he has to kibosh an entire event, and he's definitely losing a ton of money on this thing, money he can't get back. But as a fighter, Jon Jones - and his camp - only have to look out for Jon Jones, especially when so much is on the line.

His rep will most certainly take a hit - I envision an NWO-like entrance in Toronto come September - but when it's all said and done, Jones will look back on this decision and not regret it one little bit. And he shouldn't.

The Bane Kiffin Tumblr Is The Internet's Reckoning

This Tumblr absolutely nails it, mashing up the egotistical antagonist of The Dark Knight Rises with the egotistical antagonist of the Pac-12.

Between the Sean Connery-through-a-megaphone Bane voice and the Christian Bale-gargling-rocks Batman voice, TDKR is chock-full of barely audible yet strangely quotable lines, and this certainly won't help the nonstop one liners.

Looking forward to USC winning the BCS Championship and Kiffin stepping to the mic with "Let's not stand on ceremony here!"

Dadpost: New Music For New Dads - Great Stuff You May Have Missed

*NOTE* You can also find this post on Playground Dads, where I'll be blogging about dad stuff as well.

I’ve been a dad for more than six months now, but I’ve been a music lover ever since I was about two years old. My dad played me a VHS taped off MuchMusic that included videos by Van Halen, Duran Duran, and The New Romantics. I was hooked. There’s a home movie of me air guitaring to “Jump” with a plastic tennis racket.

Since then I’ve spent the last 28 years expanding and refining my musical tastes, and while haven’t been to a live show in quite a while, thanks to the Internet (and Metacritic in particular) I haven’t missed much when it comes to new records.

It’s a pretty significant commitment keeping up with the latest and greatest stuff while also keeping up with my fatherly duties, and I hope to one day pass on my appreciation of good music to my daughter (she enjoys Rush, Tool and Genesis when I play them for her, but she also seems to equally like her mommy’s love of Backstreet Boys, Bieber and Bob Marley).

For now, I’d like to pass on to my fellow new dads some terrific music from the last few years that may have passed you by whilst changing diapers and attempting to put your kids to bed.

Canada: Land of the Three

*NOTE* This is my first post for Cosby Sweaters - hence the Canadian introduction. I'm sorry (how very Canadian of me).

My name is Chris Suppa, and I’m from Canada, where they apparently celebrate third place.

5/8ths of Canada’s medals are bronze. They have one gold medal, in women’s trampoline, which is a borderline sport in a competition chock full of borderline sports.

Canada also boasts five silver medals, which is nice if you like acknowledging the first loser.

Here’s the thing: the rest of the world only cares about gold medals. In fact, it’s only recently that North American media outlets altered their medal count standings to indicate that the country with the most gold medals - and not the one with the most total medals – should be on top of the leaderboard.

Makes sense, right? You won the most events, you win the Games.

Well, if Canada was honest with themselves and only counted gold medals, they’d be rubbing elbows with the likes of Slovenia, Norway and Grenada: all Summer Olympics powerhouses, to be sure.

I actually had a debate today with my co-workers (I work at a Toronto sports TV station – this is important information considering the content of said debate) about who should be the flag bearer for Canada if the medal count stays the way it is.

Most of them wanted Christine Sinclair, the standout player of Canada’s bronze-medal winning women’s soccer team.

That’s right: Canadians would rather reward the best player on a 3^rd place finishing team than acknowledge the one athlete that actually managed to WIN HER EVENT.

This is perhaps the most Canadian attitude towards something not involving universal health care.

Sure, Sinclair was absolutely dominant, and has put herself in the conversation for the best women’s soccer player ever.

But this isn’t the Lou Marsh Award (for Americans, it’s the award we give to the standout Canadian athlete of the year – you’re welcome), it’s the Olympics, which is supposed to be a showcase for the very best, and third-best is not the very best.

Most Americans understand the distinction between competing and winning, and how winning is the only thing that really matters. When Michael Phelps doesn’t win gold, it’s considered a disappointment, as it should be. I’d wager he rarely gives a second thought to the silver and bronze medals he’s collected, and why should he? They’d just be reminders of the handful of events he didn’t win in his historic career.

Americans demand excellence and victory from their athletes, and because Canadians don’t have, and likely will never have, that mentality, they’ll have to settle for being also-rans and afterthoughts.

If you’re not first, you’re last. If Ricky Bobby gets that, so should Canada.

Dadpost: Solid Food Progress Report & New Blog Digs

It's been so far, so good in the solid food department for Hannah as she goes past the 6-month mark. Sarah and I have offered her solids twice a day on average for the last few weeks, and with the rare exception she's taken to them quite well. 

Her first solid food was Gerber Rice Cereal, but now that she's had food with actual taste she won't touch the stuff. I don't blame her really; if I was just discovering my sense of taste, bland rice cereal would be somewhere near the bottom of my list as well.

As the cook of the family, I've been waiting for this time in Hannah's life with much anticipation. For you see, one of the items we received at our baby shower was a Baby Bullet (thanks, Tina!)

There are not enough superlatives in my vocabulary to adequately convey how much I love this thing. It purees enough food for several servings, it's super easy to clean, and comes with jars that you can store either in the fridge or freezer. On each one is a little dial with the days of the month so that you can keep track of when the food was made (it's good for 3 days in the fridge, 30 in the freezer).

Combine the Baby Bullet with my rice cooker for steaming vegetables and I've got a formidable arsenal in the battle to provide nutritious homemade food for Hannah. 

Hannah's order of preference (roughly): bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, peaches, sweet potatoes with chicken. Our pediatrician gave us the go ahead to add meat, but the added texture has proven a little difficult for her to handle. Although I am happy to report that today's feeding session with the sweet potato/chicken blend went well.

Next up are squash and broccoli with beef, which I just made this evening for her to try out over the next week.

We also give Hannah jarred baby food for variety and for ease of feeding during the day. She absolutely loves Gerber peas, and also enjoys the Heinz Apples & Strawberries.

Hannah's watched Sarah and I eat our meals at home with great interest, so it fills me with joy to be able to truly make her a part of meal time.

And now for a mini-announcement: I am pleased to report that Below The Mendoza Line has hooked up with the fine folks at Next Impulse Media.

You'll be able to see my sports-related posts at Cosby Sweaters, and my Dadposts at Playground Dad, so check out my stuff on there coming soon!