With a split-decision loss Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao’s ascent to the top of the boxing world came to an abrupt and stunning end. Yahoo Sports scored it 117-111 Pacquiao. Dan Rafael of ESPN had it 118-110 for Pacquiao. HBO’s Harold Lederman had it 119-109.  I had the fight scored 117-111 in favor of Pacquiao. And yet the only scores that mattered were the judges who all scored it 115-113. Two of their scorecards favored Bradley, while one favored Pacquiao.

This is the worst possible result for the sport of boxing, which struggled to maintain relevance circa 2001 until Manny Pacquiao burst on to the United States scene. Boxing’s glory division has always been its heavyweights but when was the last time you looked forward to a Klitschko fight? Since the demise of Mike Tyson, subsequent champions Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, and both of the Kiltschko brothers have failed to carry the sport. Pacquiao injected the sweet science with much-needed adrenaline during a time where boxing was losing fans in droves to MMA. Casual observers of the sport became die-hard Pacquiao fans. His string of victories against celebrated Mexican fighters Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Eric Morales, and Oscar de la Hoya earned him one of the greatest nicknames in sport today, “The Mexicutioner.” There was only one fight left for Pacquiao to elevate him into the stratosphere of some of the greatest of all-time, and that was against Floyd Mayweather.

This is where boxing becomes frustrating because the best two fighters in the world still have yet to match-up. As Pacquiao kept moving up in weight and destorying Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, and Antonio Margarito in the process it didn’t seem to matter. Fans wanted to see Pacquiao fight Mayweather. In all other major individual sports, fans get to see the best athletes go head to head. In MMA, you will always see the best go against the best within a year. The only superfight never to have taken place in MMA was Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko. Now that fight is no longer relevant. Pacquiao vs. Mayweather seems to be following suit.

After Bradley’s victory, boxing has lost any legitimacy it had left. The furor that erupted from the broadcast booth echoed all the sentiments of everyone watching. Even Bradley looked shocked when the decision was announced. The only decision that even comes close to this outrage was South Korea’s Park Si-Hun gold medal victory over the United States’ Roy Jones Jr. at the 1988 Olympics. All three judges who voted against Jones were suspended. The same case could be made here for disciplinary action against the judges.

Mayweather no longer has motivation to fight Pacquiao. He can keep his perfect record intact, and if they ever fight he can demand a 70-30 or 60-40 split which Pacquiao will never accept (he has to have 50-50). Additionally, since this process has dragged out so long, casual boxing fans, the ones who never paid the $60 for a pay-per-view bout before Pacquiao came long will be less inclined to watch. Why would they? Both fighters are clearly past their prime. The Pacquiao who put de la Hoya into retirement in 2008 is not the same Pacquiao that exists today. His last fight against Marquez resulted in a decision that was hotly debated by some. Had Marquez not slowed up in the final rounds, he might have easily won the fight. And Mayweather’s last fight against Cotto cast him as no longer impenetrable.

The best fighters don’t fight, the fight that the sport badly needed is no longer relevant. And with judging that is accused of being corrupt (Teddy Atlas of ESPN spearheading that movement), baffling by legendary HBO boxing announcer Jim Lampley, boxing’s death knell is ringing louder and stronger than ever before.

Those were the days of Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Coop, and Byron Scott. Even during the post Magic-HIV years when Sedale Threat ran the team, I was still a fan. Then the years of Nick Van Exel, Elden Campbell still stayed with them. I still loved the team, but after the lockout, the failed Odom/Gasol trade, the even more bogus Odom trade, I was a little disenfranchised. Until last Saturday . . .  .

Enter Jeremy Lin. The first Chinese-American to play in the NBA. From Harvard, Lin stands 6’3” and weighs 200 pounds. The Knicks, who had previously lost 11 of their last 13 games, and whose best option at point guard was Baron Davis (still a few weeks away from being cleared to play), and whose number three point guard was Mike Bibby all of a sudden inserts Jeremy Lin.

Undrafted out of college, Lin was picked-up by the Golden State Warriors (Lin hails from nearby Palo Alto, CA) and completely outshone the number one pick, John Wall, in the preseason summer league. The Warriors needed cap room to make tender an offer sheet for D’Andre Jordan (whom the Clippers resigned) so they released Lin at the beginning of the year. The Houston Rockets picked him up, but they needed cap room to try to sign Samuel Dalembert  so they dropped him. Enter the Knicks who snatched him up and promptly shipped him to the D-League.

Last Saturday the Knicks played the New Jersey Nets and D’Antoni, with no other options pretty much said, “Let’s put him out there and see what we got.”

Lin responded with 25 pts, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds. Most importantly, the Knicks won. On Monday night against the Jazz,  who just beat the Lakers last Friday,  Lin played 44-plus minutes and put up 28 pts, 8 assists, 2 boards as he shot over 50 percent from the field. The Knicks won back-to-back games for the first time since January 9 and 11th.

And this bring me to my reason to get really excited about the NBA now. Watching my cousin play ball! Ok he’s not really my cousin, but most people think all Chinese people look alike… .

And tomorrow night, Lin will be on-display for all of Southern California as the Lakers play in New York versus the Knicks. Here’s to the newest superstar in the Big Apple!

This past weekend, however, provided fans with two games in which games were lost, not won.

New England vs. Baltimore

An aging Baltimore defense which probably only has one or two more Super Bowl runs in them played well. If you can hold a Tom Brady-led offense to 23 points, you have a good chance of winning. After being called-out by Ed Reed earlier in the week, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco did his part and threw what would have been the go ahead TD pass to Lee Evans. Evans made the catch, but failed to squeeze the ball and had it slapped out of his hands by Sterling Moore. Evans had both feet planted in the endzone and just had to squeeze the ball for one more second.

Subsequently, Baltimore kicker Billy Cundiff missed what was a chip-shot field goal which would have sent the game into overtime. The look on the Ravens sideline told the whole story, it wasn’t disappointment. It was was shock and disbelief. The game wasn’t won, it was lost. It was lost when the Ravens, led by Flacco failed to take chances downfield throughout the game. The Patriots’ secondary has been exposed all season long, and with Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin as his wideouts Flacco had plenty of chances to throw the ball downfield. Ray Rice got his touches, even Ricky Williams got more than a few touches, but Flacco needed to open the playbook, extend the Patriots secondary and win the game.

San Francisco vs. New York Giants

Were it not for Kyle Williams’ two fumbles on punt returns, the Niners would probably be in the Super Bowl. His two fumbles led to 10 Giants points. The first fumble in the 4th quarter led to an Eli Manning touchdown pass that gave the Giants the lead.

Though Williams later made a nice kick-off return for 40 yds to set up a David Akers FG to tie the game, still his earlier turnover led to  points for the “G-Men.” In overtime, his fumble led to a Lawrence Tynes field goal that sent the Giants to the Super Bowl. While it’s easy to make Kyle Williams the goat in this case, two statistics beyond the pair of fumbles stand out.

The Niners were 1-13 on 3rd down conversions. Let me repeat, 1 out of 13. Eli Manning was 2-2 on his first two 3rd down conversions. The inability to sustain drives will kill whatever momentum you have and wear down your defense. Let’s say your defense makes some big plays and gets a stop, then the offense has a 3 and out, and the defense has to go right back on the field. This happened for the entire game and you cannot tell me that if you were Patrick Willis or Justin Smith you wouldn’t be a little ticked off.

We should also look at the 49ers wide receivers. They made a total of 1 catch for a whopping 3 yards for the entirety of the game. ONE CATCH. It’s true, Alex Smith had a pair of late 4th quarter drives that stalled miserably, but we all know he has it in him (see the Saints game). The Giants did their part by double-covering TE Vernon Davis, but much heralded Michael Crabtree was single covered most of the game. He failed to find soft spots in the zone coverage and when the Giants used Tampa 2 coverage, he failed to get enough separation.

One of the ways to beat a Tampa 2 is utilize your secondary target. As the quarterback drops back, he eyes his primary target getting the deep safety to commit to that side. The quarterback can even pump fake, further committing the safety deep. Then the quarterback, ideally, will look to his secondary read (other side of the field) and usually pass there. This second option is predicated on two things, 1) having your offensive line give you enough time and 2) having a solid second option who can run a precise route so the quarterback can drop the pass in. Most of the time, Davis functions as the primary read. If Crabtree ran precise routes he would have had the ball thrown his way.

But too often Crabtree wasn’t open, so Smith went to his 3rd option which was usually a checkdown to Frank Gore for minimal yardage. While he is a terrific running back, Gore’s strength has never been in the open field. We all know the San Francisco offensive line is solid. When Mike Singletary was the coach, he made sure of that. And if you’re practicing against one of the best defensive lines in football (led by Justin and Alden Smith) everyday, you’ve got to be better than average. They were not on Sunday.

Alex Smith is accurate (see the perfect passes he drops into Vernon Davis), and he takes care of the ball. He doesn’t throw the ball into tight coverages where he might get intercepted. Sure he could take a few more chances, but in big games, turnovers can swing momentum so quickly so it’s important to take care of the ball. The game came down to a failure by the WR corps (of which Kyle Williams is a member of) and the 49ers inability to make big plays down the stretch. They played not to lose, and got just what they tried so hard to avoid.

In the Conference Championship games, we saw two quarterbacks who didn’t step up to make plays. Their teams who will be watching the Super Bowl from their couches. Say what you want about the quarterbacks who are in the Super Bowl, but Tom Brady of New England and Eli Manning of New York make plays, they capitalize on turnovers, and they go out and win games. It’s luck that favors the brave.

Moreno, who made his fortune with billboards, endeared himself to Angels fans quickly.  He cut ticket prices and lowered parking fees. He famously asked, “Can I lower beer prices?”  The reply — “You’re the owner, you can do whatever you want.”

In 2004, Moreno showed himself to be a major player in the free agent market, signing Vladimir Guerrero and Barolo Colon.  The Angels went on to win the AL West for 5 out of the next 6 years, though always falling short in the playoffs.  Guerrero could not stay healthy, Colon couldn’t stay away from the buffet line, and the Angels had became mired in postseason futility.  Pitching and defense were never the problem — it was always offense.  Baffling signings (Gary Matthews Jr. 5 yrs for $50 million), failure to sign (Mark Texeira), and questionable trades (Mike Napoli for, essentially, Vernon Wells and his $20mill+/year salary) failed to improve the Angels offense. They had solid hitters, but no middle of the order beast.

Enter Albert Pujols. Ten-year contract at a staggering $254 million for someone who is 31 years old.  Angels fans everywhere rejoice . . . right?

Name one slugger who thrived past the age 35 without performance enhancing drugs.  A-rod (age 36)?  No.  Manny Ramirez and his 2 suspensions (age 39)?  David Ortiz (age 36), once the most feared clutch hitter in all of baseball last year spent time in the bottom third of the order?  Anybody remember Alfonso Soriano (who’s age, 35, has always been in question).  How about sluggers from the previous generation.  Ken Griffey Jr. was never same, Rafael Palmeiro has Hall of Fame numbers, till it was revealed he  was doping.

Tony Gwynn bucks the trend, but he never hit for much power.  In addition, he did know what an off season training program was.  Before that, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Mickey Mantle, all legendary sluggers which Pujols will be grouped with had their careers decline on the back end of 35.  So, while Pujols may be worth $25 million per year until age 35, I don’t see how the Angels can justify paying a 35-yr old who by that time will have been the (not continue to be) greatest hitter of his generation.  Imagine paying Jim Thome $15 million/year now?  How about Jason Giambi (and his pink thong) $12 million?  It just makes no sense.

Here is the best case scenario: Pujols has 4-5 amazing years with the Angels, stays HEALTHY, then becomes a serviceable DH after that.  If the Angels are lucky, Pujols can surpass Mays, Babe Ruth, maybe even Hank Aaron on the all time HR list.

Worst case scenario:  Let’s just hope the Curse of Angels 1st basemen skips Pujols.  Remember Mo Vaughn who signed a 6-yr $80-million contract back in 1999, then tripped in the dugout in his very first game and was a complete flame out afterwards.  How about Kendry Morales?  Two years ago he had a breakout season with comparable numbers to the recently departed Texeira.  In 2010 he shattered his knee jumping on home plate after hitting a walk-off  home run. He hasn’t played an inning since.

Even without major injury, the new Angels slugger will have to overcome years and years of evidence that says his contract will become more stale than the song on the Small World ride next door.