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Monday, October 28, 2013

Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal looks for revenge this Saturday at Bellator

(Bellator light heavyweight Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal looks to win an interim title Saturday)

“He’s just so corny. I mean, tell me the truth – isn’t he corny?” Bellator light heavyweight Muhammed Lawal is talking about his November 2 opponent Emanuel Newton with Cagewriter.

The two used to be training partners and, heading into their bout earlier this year, didn’t exchange much in the way of trash talk. After Newton knocked Lawal out with a surprise spinning back fist and then suggested that “King Mo” was cocky and got what he deserved, all that changed though.

Lawal is fond of saying that he is a prizefighter and fights for money, plain and simple. It is now clear, however, that Newton vs. Lawal II is now a grudge match.

“Honestly, who do you like interviewing more, him or me?”

We’ve spoken with both fighters and certainly don’t have a personal preference but it can’t be argued that few personalities in the world of MMA are more as colorful as Lawal.

“I’m real,” he says.

“I can’t be any other way. I don’t know why Newton is saying the stuff he is about me being cocky. I made a point not to talk about him because he trains with Antonio McKee who I respect. I went in there to fight, we fought and he won. But then he says that I got what I deserved because I’m cocky. Whatever.”

When a fighter comes to the ring wearing a robe, a cape and holding a scepter as Lawal has, it isn’t a far stretch to think of them as arrogant or cocky. “King Mo” won’t apologize for putting on a show but he works as hard as anyone in the game, and says he respects all his opponents.

“People want to say that I had my hands down when I fought Newton and that’s why I got caught,” he scoffs.

“Look at the entire fight. I had my hands up. I know what mistake I made in that fight and it had nothing to do with cockiness. I was loading up on my punches. That was my mistake. I had my hands up and then I lowered them as I loaded up to punch. It’s a mistake I was working on and that I’ve continued to work on.”

The former international wrestler Lawal says he’s fed up with the talk but insists he’s still about his business. “It is still professional. I’ve trained and am going in there as a pro. He can say what he wants but I work hard and prepare well,” Mo says.

If Lawal can get revenge he’ll also get his hands on some Bellator gold – the interim light heavyweight belt. To be precise At the end of the day, the gold and what it can provide for he and his family is still what motivates this self-styled “king.”

“It’s hard to say what my motivation is. Becoming a great fighter, taking care of my family, my loved ones,” Lawal explains.

“That’s what it always has been so I guess that’s what it is still all about. That’s what gets me up in the morning and gets me into the cage.”

Follow Elias on Twitter @EliasCepeda

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/muhammed-king-mo-lawal-looks-revenge-saturday-bellator-144024993--mma.html
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WORLD SERIES WATCH: Buchholz vs Lynn in Game 4

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A look at Game 4 of the World Series at Busch Stadium on Sunday night as the Boston Red Sox take on the St. Louis Cardinals:

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UNOBSTRUCTED: Now that everyone from umpires to rappers has weighed in on the obstruction rule, the World Series has resumed at Busch Stadium.

Game 4 is underway — Lance Lynn worked a 1-2-3 first inning for the Cardinals. He's facing Boston right-hander Clay Buchholz, trying to work through some weakness in his shoulder.

What a crazy finish that was last night, though. Tough to swallow for the Red Sox and their fans. But it seems as though, after some rule-book explanations from the experts, most people are realizing the correct call was made.

St. Louis leads 2-1 in the best-of-seven Series.

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SHANE SCRATCHED: Boston made a late lineup switch, pulling right fielder Shane Victorino and putting in Jonny Gomes.

The Red Sox say Victorino has stiffness in his lower back. The change came about 75 minutes before the first pitch.

Daniel Nava shifted from left field to right and moved into Victorino's No. 2 spot in the batting order. Gomes will hit fifth and play left.

Victorino and Gomes were both hitless in the Series at a combined 0 for 18.

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CRAIG READY: The Cardinals say Allen Craig will be ready if needed.

Craig re-injured his sprained left foot on a wild trip around the bases Saturday night, sliding into third base and home while scoring the winning on the obstruction call against Boston third baseman Will Middlebrooks in the ninth inning.

The first baseman and cleanup hitter had been out since Sept. 4 before returning for the World Series. Craig was the DH in Boston, and got a pinch-hit double in Game 3.

Manager Mike Matheny said X-rays showed no additional injury.

St. Louis had one lineup wrinkle for Game 4, with Daniel Descalso starting at shortstop in place of Pete Kozma. Descalso has plenty of starting experience in the middle infield.

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HALF THE DISTANCE: For the ceremonial first pitch, Hall of Famer Bob Gibson threw to Tim McCarver, who is in his final season as a broadcaster with Fox.

The pair also made up the battery for the Cardinals' 7-2 victory in Game 7 of the 1967 World Series at Fenway Park. However, Gibson's toss Sunday night was only from about 30 feet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/world-series-watch-buchholz-vs-lynn-game-4-001350294--spt.html
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Samsung's Galaxy Round ad compares its curved smartphone to avocados, Russian dolls (video)

Thanks to Samsung Korea's new (soon to be viral) Galaxy Round commercial, we've learned that its new smartphone is curved. Like many other objects. In the world. We get that now. It's also got differently-curved competition coming very soon. The whole 30-second showcase is after the break.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/28/samsung-galaxy-round-ad-curved-smartphone-korea/?ncid=rss_truncated
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Quick Hit: UFC Fight Night 30 affirms middleweight division as hugely improved

Photo via Getty Images, Zuffa, LLC

Don't look now, but if we learned anything at UFC Fight Night 30, it's that one of the UFC's most exciting divisions is middleweight.

To those who've been watching the sport for more than a few years, this sounds almost comical. To those who've been watching even longer, it could almost be passed off as a pathetic attempting at trolling.

And yet, it's true. There are many ways to illustrate just how lackluster middleweight has historically been, but perhaps the best reminder was the reign of Anderson Silva when he was forced to defend his UFC middleweight title against Patrick Cote, Thales Leites and Demian Maia. Those are all accomplished fighters, but two of them don't even compete in that weight class anymore. The other was cut from the UFC and only recently returned after a mostly successful stint in regional MMA.

Silva's resume is impeccable, but his peers can barely hang onto employment? That's hardly the mark of talent-rich division.

And when he wasn't defending his title against complete non-challengers, Silva was moonlighting as a light heavyweight. There aren't many fighters who force the UFC to give them challenges in different weight classes because the one they're competing in is abysmally thin enough to force boredom.

Remember Silva not doing anything in title fights because he couldn't be bothered to fight competitors that far below his level? That is the scarlet letter middleweight has been carrying around.

Yes, Silva is arguably the greatest fighter of all time. He's going to make most fighters look bad. Even very good ones. But it's one thing for them to look bad at Silva's hand and it's quite another for them to demonstrate the rigors of simply maintaining position in the weight class is too tall an order to handle.

That's all behind us now, however. Now we have a middleweight division with a new champion (Chris Weidman). We have a man some consider the best fighter ever trying to reclaim a title he lost when he was brutally knocked out. If nothing else, that creates intrigue at the top of the division.

We have more than that, though. Today, there's depth in this space. We have an infusion of talent from Strikeforce (Luke Rockhold, Ronaldo Souza and Gegard Mousasi). We have a surging veteran (Vitor Belfort). We also have a former UFC light heavyweight champion dropping down to stake a new claim in Lyoto Machida.

The reality is middleweight isn't just thin in the UFC. It's thin in all of MMA, much as lightweight isn't just strong in the UFC, but other organizations as well. My point is not that these institutional or existential reasons for middleweight not being very good are all of a sudden changed. But right now in this division, there's a reason to enjoy the sudden intrigue that's now there. Maybe the circumstances that have created this are ephemeral, but they're here now. Might as well enjoy them before things change.

One wonders how much Silva being so dominant made things so lackluster. Something similar is happening at light heavyweight with Jon Jones dominating everyone he fights. Yet, Alexander Gustafsson happened and that all changed. Daniel Cormier is also making his way down, which adds to that narrative. Just as things were getting boring, now there's a reason to pay attention.

Perhaps the best thing for any division, be it middle or flyweight, is to have things shaken up when they get stale. Lucky for us, that's exactly what we're getting at middleweight right now. With new blood at the top, middle and bottom and a rearrangement of the division's hierarchy, all of a sudden there's hope.

The middleweight division is dead. Long live the middleweight division.

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/27/5036308/quick-hit-ufc-fight-night-30-affirms-middleweight-division-as-hugely
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NY to judge: Unseal documents on '71 Attica riot

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's attorney general has asked a state judge to release sealed documents about the 1971 riot and retaking of Attica state prison in an effort to reveal the full history of the nation's bloodiest prison rebellion and answer the questions of families whose loved ones died there.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wants the court in Wyoming County to open hundreds of detailed pages about investigations into the five September days when inmates took control of the maximum-security prison in rural western New York until state troopers and guards stormed the facility and fatally shot 29 inmates and 10 hostages.

Schneiderman said it's time to bring transparency to what he referred to as one of the state government's darkest chapters. The sealed documents are part of a 1975 report by a special commission that examined New York's efforts to investigate the riot and its aftermath.

"It is important, both for families directly affected and for future generations, that these historical documents be made available so the public can have a better understanding of what happened and how we can prevent future tragedies," Schneiderman said. He noted the historical significance and the fact that all related criminal and civil litigation has ended. And after 40 years, he said, the privacy concerns can be addressed more narrowly by omitting only the names of many grand jury witnesses and some people identified in testimony.

Among those seeking the records are the Forgotten Victims of Attica, a group of prison employees who survived and relatives of those who died.

"For families that lost their father, son, brother because they were killed in D Yard, they yearn to know the truth of how their loved one died and why they died," said Gary Morton, a lawyer representing the group, said this year. "Some of that has come out, but certainly there's a lot more that hasn't come out."

In all, 11 staff and 32 inmates died — all but four shot by troopers and correction officers who fired hundreds of rounds in six minutes storming the prison's D Yard on Sept. 13, 1971. An additional 89 men were wounded. The inmates were demanding better conditions and amnesty for the riot itself.

Known as the Meyer Commission Report for the late judge who headed the investigation, the 570-page document was divided into volumes. The first with broad findings and recommendations was released, but the others were sealed in 1981 because they contain grand jury testimony.

Published four years after the riot, the first volume said 62 inmates had been indicted for various offenses, but the grand jury investigation should continue and consider all possible crimes by authorities. The original grand jury refused to indict in four cases brought against law enforcement personnel. One trooper was later indicted on a charge of reckless endangerment in 1975.

The commission report emphasized "important omissions" in the evidence gathered by state police afterward and the possible conflict of interest with troopers investigating their fellow officers' actions in retaking the prison. It found no intentional cover-up by prosecutors but faulted police for bad planning and failing to account for the rifles, shotguns and pistols used and bullets, slugs and buckshot fired by individual officers.

Gov. Hugh Carey effectively ended official scrutiny of the uprising in 1976 when he pardoned seven inmates and barred disciplinary action against 20 of the troopers and prison guards among the hundreds of officers who retook the prison. He also commuted the murder sentence of inmate John Hill, who was found guilty of beating guard William Quinn to death. The report concluded Quinn and three inmates were killed by prisoners.

It isn't clear when the judge will rule.

In 2005, the state reached a $12 million settlement with survivors and families of prison staff caught in the uprising. About 150 claims were filed.

That followed a settlement for $8 million five years earlier with 502 former inmates and families of those killed or injured, who claimed they were beaten, tortured and denied medical treatment after the prison was retaken.

Audiotapes published in 2011 showed then-President Richard Nixon offering support by phone to then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller hours after the siege ended. "You did the right thing. It's a tragedy that these poor fellows were shot but I just want you to know that's my view and I've told the troops around here that I back that right to the hilt," he said.

While Rockefeller initially praised the work of state police sharp shooters and called the retaking "a beautiful operation" a day later, he acknowledged "a little problem" — that most hostages were killed by gunfire, not by inmates as initially believed.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-27-Attica%20Riot-Documents/id-a1476ae1e44b4dada08c731fb75f3488
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Bike Navigation That Actually Might Not Kill You

Using any gadget on a bike is pretty dangerous. But it makes sense that you might want driving directions while biking. There's tons of GPS and mapping tech out there, let's put it to work, right? Hammerhead is on it.

Pennsylvania Governor Talks Up Plan To Expand Medicaid His Way

[unable to retrieve full-text content]After initially declining federal funding to expand Medicaid, Gov. Tom Corbett has changed course slightly. He is pursuing an approach for Pennsylvania that would make use of federal funds, but there are some caveats.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NprProgramsATC/~3/h5mBBwkJRBA/pennsylvania-governor-talks-up-plan-to-expand-medicaid-his-way
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