What compels a fighter to enter the octagon? Is it glory? Is it for the love of pain? Whatever the reason, it takes a special breed to agree to such violence. Sure there are rules in Mixed Martial Arts, but really once that bell rings, make no mistake about it, it’s a brawl.

Nearly 5000 fans saw 10 fights this past weekend at CageFest Xtreme All-In at the Ted Constant Center. Most of the nights fights didn’t make it out of the first round. Even the main event was quick. Kyle Baker defeated Drew Fickett with a tap out just 1:37 in the first round.

The crowd seemed to enjoy the quick action, quick results from some of the undercard.  The women’s fight between Stacy Grant and Linda Cunningham went the distance. Grant won by decision.

While going the distance prolongs the excitement, fight fans love to see fights won by submission. You know the arm bar, leg bar and the choke. Virana Brown from Richmond was choked out by Robert Conner. Brown told me after the fight that his time out was “peaceful.” Brown said he felt refreshed after regaining his senses.

It’s easy to see how this type of fighting is not for everyone. And it’s also just as easy to see the appeal of man to man combat. Fight promoter Ricky Piece says he can’t wait to bring MMA back to Hampton Roads. And that’s good news for local fight fans.

Tiger Woods is human after all! He finally hit a tree.

It seems that when Tiger misses the fairway he’s often wide right or left in the jungle, but he almost always manages to escape with a great shot. But not on Sunday on the final hole of the Masters. Tiger’s second shot was a low screamer that bounced off a Georgia white pine and into the other fairway. With one swing of the club, the worlds greatest golfer now  looks a lot like all of us other duffers! I mean really, everybody hits trees! It just seems that Tiger Woods never connects with wood when it matters most. But we saw him do it on golf’s grandest stage.

Of course it didn’t really matter at that point. Tiger was not going to win his 5th green jacket.

Funny thing was, Angel Cabrera hit a tree on the 18th and final hole and still went on to win the Masters. Unlike Tiger, Cabrera’s shot ricocheted off the pine and back into the middle of the fairway at 18. He would get up and down to save par. As if saving par at 18 after hitting a tree wasn’t lucky enough, Cabrera then sat back and watched as Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell struggled with their own demons. Cabrera would shoot par, par in the sudden death playoff to win his second major championship.

Yes great drama at this years Masters. I’m still trying to get over seeing Tiger hit a tree.

Our hometown hero’s have been getting a ton of press lately. Most of it has not been good.

A gun possession case against Virginia Beach native Plaxico Burress was adjourned until June. The state of New York is trying it’s best to throw the former Green Run star in prison. As if the embarrassment of shooting yourself in the leg isn’t punishment enough!

And then there’s our other source of NFL pride from the Peninsula. Newport News native Michael Vick will be let out of jail to return home to Norfolk this week for a bankruptcy hearing in a Norfolk courthouse. The notorious Vick of dog fighting fame was once the highest paid player in the NFL and now he’s bankrupt! The press will have a field day with each and every move Vick makes from here on out.

Vick and Burress will command a ton of national attention. That’s what happens when a star falls from grace. But what about the good guys? How come their good deeds don’t get as much attention? You know, good guys like Alonzo Mourning. The pride of Chesapeake is a true class act. He saw his jersey number retired in Miami. Zo was the first to be honored by the Heat. Zo won the NBA Championship along with an Olympic gold medal. He even defied the odds when he battled back from a kidney transplant. Alonzo Mourning is a true credit to Hampton Roads, but his latest news will get a fraction of the attention of Vick and Burress.

Same for LaShawn Merritt. The Portsmouth native continues to make public appearances following his 2 gold medal win at the summer Olympic games. His message last week to a group in Virginia Beach was loud and clear, “make good choices.” Vick and Burress could learn a great deal from Mourning and Merritt. It’s a real shame the efforts of both Mourning and Merritt don’t get as much attention as that of the dog fighter and gunslinger!

March Madness has been taken to a new level. Now there are just too many tournaments. Old Dominion should just say “no thanks” to the new CollegeInsider.com tournament. Does this make ODU the best of the rest, of the rest, of the rest?

This is like John Travolta doing Battlefield Earth. Just because they offer it doesn’t mean you have to take it.

Lets face it, if your not good enough for the NCAA or the NIT or even the CBI, than maybe its time to pull the plug on the season. Just think if all goes well, the Monarchs will win a tournament nobody has ever heard of. Or the Monarchs season will officially come to an end after losing to Ocala Cosmotology College. Even Digger Phelps knows the Fighting Flattops are the champions of the Central Florida Vocational Conference.

I guess ODU has Lefty Driesell to thank for this latest honor. Lefty was on the selection committee and put a good word in for the hometown team.

Sure there are some positives about seeing the season continue. The young players get more experience. ODU can write in the program that the team made the post season again and the most important reason of all, we all get to dance one more time to “Ice cream and Cake!”

The big winner in all of the looks like the C-B-I. With teams like St. Johns, Stanford and Nevada, the C-B-I actually looks like a decent tournament.

So while the rest of the nation is gripped with the excitement of the NCAA tournament, ODU will be scaling the mountain top of the C-I-T. Look out Flattops, here come the Monarchs!

Very few people in their lifetime will have as big an impact on a city and university like Dick Price. His passing Monday night left a huge void on the Norfolk State sports scene.

Dick Price made a name for himself as a great coach. But he was much more than a coach. He was a teacher and leader and a role model. The best coach is someone who inspires and takes young athletes to higher levels. The best coach is someone who shows young athletes the secret to success. The best coach is someone who elevates athletes, teams and programs to great heights. Dick Price did all of that.

A child of Norfolk’s Lamberts Point, Dick Price began his coaching career at NSU in 1964 as head track coach and an assistant under former football coach Bill Archie. Price was elevated to head football coach in 1974 and promptly coached the Spartans to 3 straight CIAA Championships between 1974 and 1976. His track teams won two division 2 national championships despite not having a track.

Price retired from coaching in 1983 and remains NSU’S winningest football coach with a career record of 62-41-4. Fifty-three of Price’s former football players entered the ranks of professional football.  Price became the school’s athletics director in 1989, a post he held until 1999. The school’s current football stadium, which opened in 1997, is named in Price’s honor.

Price won numerous awards for his storied career as a coach and administrator. In 1979, he was named the Virginian Pilot’s “Sports Figure of the Decade.” Price is a member of the NSU Athletics Foundation Hall of Fame, The CIAA Hall of Fame, The Hampton Roads African American Sports Hall of fame, and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

1n 2003, Price became the first ever black president of the Norfolk Sports Club.

Current Norfolk State Athletic Director Marty Miller first met Price back in 1964. Miller told me yesterday that there was nothing Price would not do for the University and that he was a true Spartan. A true Spartan that made a huge impact on thousands of lives. Dick Price was priceless for the University and will be greatly missed

That huge sigh of relief you may have heard or felt today was from dozens of parents, students, teachers and coaches across Hampton Roads following National Signing Day. Imagine having the next 4 or 5 years of your college education payed for free of charge! In these tough economic times, its hard to put a price tag on that.

Football players across the area signed National Letters of Intent today and quickly sent them thru the fax machine to their college choice. It’s a ritual played out each year across the country. It’s the final process of years of hard work on both the field of play, the weight room and in the classroom.

As a highly recruited athlete myself, I remember signing day like it was yesterday. It was one of the biggest days of my young life and the sense of relief was enormous. The long and frustrating recruiting process was finally over and the next chapter of my life was clearly ahead of me. Not only was I proud of my accomplishments, I felt a great sense of pride for being able to help out my parents. Yes I know how these players are feeling today and when I see the smiles on the parents faces, I can recall the joy felt by my mother and father who were at my side the day I signed with Virginia Tech.

National signing day marks both the end and beginning of a long journey. These players have put in countless hours to get to this point in their career. Now with their high school career almost behind them, it’s time to focus on the future and where their next challenge lies. While all of these kids were stars in high school, they will quickly find out that it will be tougher to distinguish themselves at the next level. These players will quickly find out that everybody on the field of play is an All-Something player. And if they thought they got hit in high school, wait until a seasoned college senior gets a running start and welcomes them to the college game!

But that’s a lesson to be learned tomorrow. These college bound student athletes can enjoy what they have earned today and for each player who signed to play college football, enjoy the day and feeling because you earned it.

Looking for a team to root for during Super Bowl 43?

On the fence for the biggest game of the season?

Let me help you decide a team to kick back and cheer for.

Why not follow the team with a local connection. That would be the Pittsburgh Steelers. Newport News native Mike Tomlin took over the team just 17 months after they won their 5th Super Bowl against Seattle. Tomlin made a quick leap up the coaching ladder and has done nothing but produced since taking over the team.

Tomlin played his high school football at Denbigh and then went on to play at William & Mary. Soon after accepting the the head coaching position in Pittsburgh, Tomlin told his mother that he was going to hoist the Lombardi trophy one day. That day could come very soon.

Tomlin is your local connection at the Super Bowl.

But wait! There’s more reason to cheer.

While the Cardinals official color is red, it might as well be brown! As in Levi Brown and Elton Brown. Two of the Cardinals starting lineman are from the 757. Elton Brown grew up in Hampton and played for Mike Smith at Hampton. He had a great career at UVa before moving west.

Same story for Levi Brown. He roughed up players in the Eastern District at Granby high school before being named All-American at Penn State. Kurt Warner can thank a pair of local guys for his protection.

So I hope that helps you decide on which team to root for. Local stars on both sides of the ball.

It didn’t take long for new Volunteer head coach Lane Kiffin to make a big mistake. Before Kiffin even unpacked his bags in Knoxville, Kiffin picked up the phone and called the 757 area and dissed the latest great players to come from this area. You see, Kiffin called and told Phoebus quarterback Tajh Boyd that he didn’t fit in at UT. Kiffin told Boyd that he was looking for a pro style quarterback. Boyd earlier committed to play for the Vols. That was when Phillip Fulmer still had a job. All Boyd does is win, but he won’t be doing in Rocky Top.

Think Kiffin is kicking himself today after what he saw this past weekend at the US Army All-American Bowl? Boyd stole the show passing for 188 yards and 3 long touchdowns. Most valuable player at a national all-star game, but not good enough for Tennessee.

Kiffin made a big mistake when he called Boyd and dropped the news, but one things for sure, Kiffin wont pick up the phone and call back to admit he was wrong!

I take that back! Not a slap in the face, but more like a King Kong sized shot to the gut! You know the kind of power punch that makes you keel over and utter, “ugh!”

That’s just what it would feel like for every Washington Redskins fan if FOX Network decides to broadcast the Dallas Cowboys game against the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, instead of the Redskins finale against the 49ers.

Yes we all know which is a better game, but this is Redskins territory! Don’t let the transplants fool you. They will bark until they are blue in the face about how Hampton Roads and all of Virginia roots for America’s team. Hogwash! What about the Baltimore Ravens or even the Carolina Panthers. There are two teams nearly as close as the Redskins, but they have yet to make any kind of impact here in the 757.

So how is it that the great state of Texas with its unpredictable and topsy-turvy football team can influence what fans here in Redskins territory will watch come Sunday? Sure the Redskins are all but done for the season, but at least they were not billed as Super Bowl contenders like the Boys. And now America’s team has to beat Philly on the final day just to make it into the playoffs? That’s not how a Superbowl team gets into the post season. Remember how the Ravens ran right up the middle on the Boys. Like that’s not gonna happen Sunday against the Eagles!

Rock the vote Redskins fans and show the Cowboy fans which team rules Hampton Roads.(Keep quiet Steeler fan, we know your here!)

As of right now we may not know which game FOX is going to air here come Sunday, but one things for sure, there is going to be a lot of upset fans this weekend. Feel free to give me a call and voice your opinion. By the way, I’m off this weekend!

Happy Holidays and go Redskins!

I wish I had a dollar for each time I heard Frank Beamer say, “We have to get the best players in the 757 area if we hope to win.” He’s not alone. Just recently JMU head coach Mickey Mathews told Ahmed Fareed how important recruiting Hampton Roads has become. Mathews plucked an overlooked diamond in the rough in quarterback Rodney Landers from Tallwood High School and Landers almost led the Dukes to the national championship game. Such a bummer that Landers suffered an ankle injury early on against Montana in the national semifinal.

But getting back to Beamer and his Hokies. For years the Gobblers cornered the market here in the 757 area, but not this year. That honor goes to those savy Virginia Cavaliers. Just as the Hokies snagged the best players from the area, the Wahoos did just the opposite. Al Groh and his crew rarely captured the best players from this area, until this year. Six local studs have committed to play for Virginia and one big fish is still out there. You know, the Army All-American who recently led Phoebus to the state title. Landing Tajh Boyd would put the Cavaliers over the top and give them thier best haul in Hampton Roads in recenty history.

Tajh, if your listening, Virginia would be a great fit for you. And thats coming from a Hokie!

If Boyd ends up choosing Virginia, he would join Javonti Sparrow from Western Branch, Laroy Reynolds from Maury, Jontel Evans from Bethel, LaVonti Battle from Phoebus, Perry Jones and Tim Smith from Oscar Smith as part of Virginia’s class of 2009. Thats a pretty impressive group.

The Hokies will not come away empty handed this year. They have received committments from Telvion Clark from Granby, James Gayle of Bethel and Tyrel Wilson from Hampton. All three are defensive brutes who will fit nicely in Bud Fosters quicksilver defense.

Now both the Hokies and Cavaliers will put their spin on why they recruited who and why they did not get such and such. That’s just the way it is. But one things for sure, if it comes down to numbers, more players chose to play in C-Ville than the Burg. That should be concerning for you Hokie fans out there. But then again, until Virginia wins on the field of play and beats the Hokies, I guess it doesnt really matter!