Unpopular Opinions- Bringing The Heat

It’s convenient to go with the crowd and take the easy way out with the expected answer everyone agrees with. Then there is the unpopular opinion. Here we are again with another segment of unpopular opinions. Hope you have your popcorn ready for this one!

 

“Greg Maddux was one lucky pitcher.”- Mike Patton

Plenty will regard Maddux as one of the greatest pitchers in his era. He definitely made some historic moments with the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves during his career. While all that is fine and dandy, one thing cannot be overlooked, he was very lucky.

Maddux never had the type of stuff that would blow anyone away. Touching ninety miles per hour on the radar gun wasn’t something he often did so he had to do it with pitch placement. While he was good at painting the corners, not everything he threw was actually a strike.

Many times you can look at a pitch that may be well outside but still be called a strike. I can guarantee you many of the strikeouts he had were probably because of that elongated strike zone for him. With that being a part of the game, he played with umpires and you can be guaranteed hitters were aware of that bigger strike zone.

Just because they were aware of it doesn’t mean it was right though. While Maddux was good, he definitely benefited from some luck a` la that strike on the outside corner that was almost in the left-handed batter’s box.

 

“Floyd Mayweather is not only the greatest boxer of all time but he is the greatest athlete of all time” – Damian Adams

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the boxer most fans love to hate. Problem being, if you hated him is, he won every fight he had as a professional, ending his career with 50 wins and zero losses.That alone puts him in the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) conversation for boxing.

Then you bring in his resume, which boxing fans try to diminish by saying he fought a lot of fighters passed their primes. They also say Mayweather got to choose his opponents and stayed away from the best, which is incorrect. Mayweather did not get to choose his opponents until after the Oscar De La Hoya fight.

Prior to fighting De La Hoya, “Money Mayweather” defeated several champions, including, Genaro Hernandez, Angel Manfredy, Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo (twice), Zab Judah, Arturo Gatti and Carlos Baldomir. “Pretty Boy” Floyd as he was known as at that time, did not run from any opponents.

After De La Hoya, Mayweather defeated Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez,and Manny Pacquaio, amongst others. Mayweather’s resume is the best in boxing history by far when you look at the amount of champions and Hall of Famers he defeated.

The undefeated champion was the best in a sport where you have no teammates and you put your life on the line every match. Mayweather’s combination of defensive and offensive prowess can be compared to being Ben Wallace on defense while being Michael Jordan on offense or being as accurate as Drew Brees while also being able to cover wide receivers like Deion Sanders. This is what makes Floyd Mayweather Jr.  the G.O.A.T. of all athletes.

 

Photo courtesy of eshemagazine

“Michigan’s Fab 5 was not all that great” – Danny Thompson

When you bring in four McDonalds All-Americans and a top 100 player in the same recruiting class, a national championship is expected. Especially when three of the players end up as NBA Lottery picks. So, when you cannot win a conference championship, only earn one No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and never win a national championship, the word disappointment would come to mind.

Well ladies and gentlemen, that was the legacy of the Michigan Wolverines “Fab 5”. We have seen elite freshman classes win national championships. Until 2013, Michigan had the only class in the history of college basketball to have four incoming freshmen rated in the Top 10 coming in together.

The Fab 5 were in an era where players at least stayed two years or more in college. Chris Webber left as a sophomore and Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose left as juniors, so Michigan did not have to deal with the one and done like teams in the current era.

Michigan lost 15 conference games in three years (including the combination of Webber, Howard and Rose) and were 13-13 against teams they were ranked in the Top 25 in the regular season during the same time. Let’s also include they went 0-3 against Duke with two of those losses at home.

There have been freshman classes that have had three McDonalds All-Americans win a national champion in less time than Michigan’s group in college. Remember the 2011 Kentucky Wildcats led by Anthony Davis, the 2015 Duke Blue Devils that was led by Jahil Oakfor and you can go back to the 1986 Louisville Cardinals with Pervis Ellison leading that team, which all won a championship,

So, to say that the Fab 5 had a good run during those three years, I would agree. Based on what they accomplished, only making two national championship appearances is not enough to make them an all-time great class.

 

“Quarterbacks are the toughest players and it’s the toughest position to play” – Raphael Haynes

When football is brought up, most think that the toughest players play linebacker, safety and even the running back position. Quarterbacks are usually thought of as soft and pretty boys. If you think that, you must don’t know football.

The quarterback position is usually accountable for everything on the field before the snap. They’re calling for the “mike blitz”, looking at the coverage, getting they’re players in the right position and deciding whether to call an audible or not. Once the play starts, they’re looking down field, dodging players, going through different reads while directing traffic in four seconds or less.

The notion that they are soft should be outlawed to say. It’s the only position on the field where they’re not able to brace for incoming contact at least 60% of the time. Quarterbacks have players diving at their knees full speed and getting hit from the blind side while keeping they’re focus on what is going on down the field. Just think of how many times you watch the quarterback stand in the pocket and make a throw, knowing they are about to get hit without being able to brace for it.

Some might question why do they have so many rules protecting them then. Every other position besides the wide receiver going across the middle (which you can’t hit them anymore) usually can prepare for contact, see everything that is coming their way and be able to make a move.

So when you see the quarterback not only get sacked six times in a game but also get knocked down five more times without being able to prepare the for the hit while their entire body is exposed, just think if you could go through that or even your favorite position or player could do that as well.

 

“The Internet Wrestling Community May Be Ruining The Business” – Eric Urbanowicz

The return of Evolution in 2014, the 2018 Iron Man match for the Intercontinental Championship at Extreme Rules and Naito challenging Masato Okada at King of Pro Wrestling 2013, all of these moments have one thing in common; wrestling fans ruined it for themselves.

In an environment where anything is possible, and you’re asked to suspend your belief in reality at times to gain the full experience of what’s going in, fan interaction is key to making a wrestling event work. However, it can also ruin a signature moment that could define a career.

Dubbed the “Internet Wrestling Community” by most fans who are willing to play along with the story, they’ll basically try to hijack shows with their chants of “CM PUNK!”, a wrestler who no longer wrestles for WWE, or even calling a wrestler by the former alias.

It even happens at pay-per-view, such as SummerSlam 2016. The show was one for the ages, including an upset win by A.J. Styles but now is only remembered for fans drowning out the main event to crown the inaugural WWE Universal Champion with chants of “That Looks Stupid,” and “Hey! We Want A New Belt!”

What’s even worse is they’ll show the respect to another company because “they’re doing it better” and then complain about the previous on Facebook posts. While they definitely helped put Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston in the rightful title pictures they deserved, the actions they’ve taken in the past for it is a bit much.

Mike Patton

Nashville, Tennessee

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