Brett Favre is the greatest Ironman in sports history. If you disagree, you probably have Favre to thank.

As soon as his streak of consecutive starts ended at 297, Favre’s website started hawking autographed footballs commemorating the accomplishment.

They can be yours for only $499.99. And for Favre Club members only, he’ll text you a photo of a body part for only $59.99 more!

I’m kidding about the last part, I hope. But the whole exercise seemed tacky and self-absorbed compared to the other guy in the Ironman conversation — please genuflect — Cal Ripken Jr. If you can separate the myths from the accomplishments, however, you’ll see that Favre’s streak is the one that belongs in the Smithsonian.

Nothing against Ripken, but come on. Football vs. baseball? It’s not just like comparing apples and oranges. It’s like comparing a shot of whiskey vs. a pina colada with a little parasol sticking out the top.

It took incredible luck and skill to put together both streaks. But Ripken also benefited from people’s sepia-toned view of baseball. First, he was chasing the God-like Lou Gehrig. And he was doing it in a sport built on numbers and statistics and violin music by Ken Burns.

Breaking the record was marketed as a great American moment. We all felt good watching Ripken trot around the field and high-five fans at Camden Yards.

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‘Michael mentored me so much to where I kind of knew how to complete his sentences,’ Theron ‘Neff-U’ Feemster tells MTV News of picking up where MJ left off.
By Jayson Rodriguez, with reporting by Steven Roberts

Michael Jackson’s <i>Michael</i>
Photo: Epic Records

Michael Jackson‘s first posthumous album, Michael, has been met with mixed emotions by fans of the King of Pop. Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am lashed out at MJ’s estate for commissioning the album, while Akon, a contributor on the project, hailed the effort.

Some of the songwriters and producers behind Michael are simply asking people to give it a chance before making a decision.

“They’re gonna love the music, because it speaks for itself,” Eddie Cascio, who is credited as a songwriter on “Breaking News,” told MTV News. “Michael sounds great. The songs are great. The production sounds great. Teddy Riley did a phenomenal job finishing off the songs. The quality and production are incredible.”

Theron “Neff-U” Feemster agreed. The producer had a hand in three of the album’s 10 tracks, including “Hollywood Tonight” and standouts “(I Like) The Way You Love Me” and “Best of Joy.” Feemster worked with Jackson in the past, as did the majority of the contributors to Michael, which he thinks made the project uniquely authentic despite MJ having little say in the way his tracks were completed.

“It wasn’t difficult,” Feemster told MTV News of picking up the rough material. “It was like coloring. It was coloring a frame that was already structured. Michael mentored me so much to where I kind of knew how to complete his sentences. I understood the expectations that he wanted. He wanted to be beyond great. He wanted to give the world a gift, something they’d never heard or seen before. So even after his passing, it was great to have a great team of people to work with who also had experience working with Michael. It made it that much easier. Bringing very creative people together and people who understood his integrity and what he wanted as well, it was great.”

What do you think of Michael? Share your reviews in the comments.

Related Photos

• Michael Jackson’s ‘Michael’ Cover Decoded

Related Artists

• Michael Jackson

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by Michael David SmithAlistair Overeem already owns the Strikeforce MMA heavyweight title. Now, he owns the most prestigious championship in heavyweight kickboxing.

Overeem won the K-1 World Grand Prix Final 2010 with a brutal display of striking Saturday in Japan, using a vicious body shot to stop Peter Aerts in the final of his three fights in the eight-man, one-night tournament.

Aerts got to the final with a shocking majority decision upset over defending champion Semmy Schilt, and if the 40-year-old Aerts had won the whole tournament it would have been a great moment for longtime K-1 fans, who have long loved Aerts’ fighting style in the ring and gentlemanly ways out of the ring.

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There’s several other videos on the web featuring the UFC 124 weigh-in, but none of them capture how loud the crowd in Montreal was like this vlog from Dana White.

Listen to the anger being spewed by the Canadian crowd as American Josh Koscheck stepped on the scale (6:03 mark). 

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ST. LOUIS — Paul Daley became the star of the Strikeforce post-fight press conference on Saturday night. The welterweight, who knocked out Scott Smith, said he didn’t pay attention to Smith’s underdog comparisons.

"He isn’t Rocky, and this wasn’t a movie. I hit him to stay hit," Daley said.

Daley also didn’t seem to mind that his knockout came too late to be included in consideration for the World MMA Awards, which took place in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

"I think MMA awards are a joke. I don’t collect awards. I collect paychecks."

Daley wants to face KJ Noons next because Noons is a big name, and he thinks he could knock Noons out. When Strkeforce CEO Scott Coker was asked about the fight, Daley answered for him.

"Scott doesn’t like that fight because he likes KJ."

– Mike Kyle’s hand was wrapped up at the press conference, and he said that he wasn’t sure exactly when he broke it, but it was in the first round. He knew it was broken, kept punching Antonio Silva and then felt it break again. The second break also broke him mentally, leading to the loss, but Kyle was proud of how he left it all in the cage. He said that owes that to the UFC heavyweight champion.

"Cain Velasquez beat that quit out of me. I wanted to leave it all in the cage," Kyle said.

Velasquez and Kyle train together at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose.

– Despite the fact that he fought Antwain Britt on Nov. 19, then decisioned Benji Radach tonight, Ovince St. Preux said that he wants to fight again as soon as possible, as early as Strikeforce’s Challengers event on Jan. 7.

– Speaking of that Jan. 7 card in Nashville, Strikeforce announced that welterweights Tyron Woodley and Tarec Saffiedine will face off as the card’s main event. Two-time Olympian Daniel Cormier will also be on that card, fighting Devin Cole.

If that card can be half as exciting as the card that Strikeforce put together tonight, they will have a very merry beginning to 2011.

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Stefan Struve showed off his experience in a first-round TKO of Sean McCorkle at UFC 124 in Montreal on Saturday.

McCorkle started the fight with a slam takedown, and then moved into an immediate Kimura. Struve calmly moved towards the cage and worked his arms out from McCorkle’s control, never letting McCorkle get full control. After Struve freed his arms, McCorkle maintained top control, then nearly gave up an armbar. Struve remained calm, and at the right moment reached in for a Kimura. Instead of using it to submit McCorkle, Struve turned him over and moved into full mount. He rained down punches until referee Yves Levigne stopped the bout at 3:55.

Immediately after the bout, Struve asked for cheers for McCorkle, dismissing their pre-fight trash talk as part of the job.

Though McCorkle is nine years older, Struve had the upper hand when it comes to fight experience. Struve has 25 fights under his belt, seven in the UFC, while this was just McCorkle’s second UFC bout.

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Filed under: Auburn

Cam Newton has been able to smile recently after his recruiting scandal cast a pall over the Auburn quarterback’s season. After winning the Heisman Trophy Saturday night — not really in doubt but for the scandal — Newton appeared on “The Late Show With David Letterman” to read the famous “Top Ten” list.

Newton’s topic? “The top 10 things Cam Newton can say now that he won the Heisman Trophy.”

While that topic could invite a litany of jokes about the pay-for-play allegations that have followed Newton, the show’s writers played it safe, avoiding any references to Newton’s scandal.

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Alistair Overeem passed up on some big MMA fights this year to add the label of kickboxing champ to his resume. It paid off.

He suffered some rough moments last year in K-1, but with more dedication to his striking training in 2010, Overeem was a powerhouse in Tokyo this morning.

The Dutchman got better as the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 went along. He won three fights in one night to take the WGP title and did so by beating out several K-1 legends. 

By the time, he reached the final without a mark on his face, Peter Aerts was in big trouble. A fellow Dutchman, Aerts traded shots with the beast for about 35 seconds before Overeem overwhelmed him.

"The Reem" trapped Aerts in a corner and drilled him with a right hand followed by a body shot. Aerts fells to his knees. The referee jumped in to give Aerts a ten count, but the 40-year-old legend said he couldn’t go any longer. Overeem won the tournament as a plus-205 choice.

The 6-foot-5, 261-pound, Overeem is unofficially the first heavyweight fighter to hold a major MMA belt and win a K-1 WGP title. He’s also the Strikeforce MMA champ. The K-1 accolades only add to his reputation as an MMA star.

One downside of the win is the fact that Overeem is a virtual lock to try and defend his K-1 honor in 2011, meaning he’ll be locked up for most of the November and December prepping if he can get out of the first round.

Overeem’s toughest fight this morning actually came in the opening round.

Overeem is far from slick. He walks straight forward, willing to eat big shots so he can land his own bombs. That approach almost cost him against Tyrone Spong.

Early in the fight, the 231-pound Spong was too fast. Spong caught Overeem with a great counter left hook as the big guy tried a flying knee. It put the Dutchman on queer street. Spong wailed away and landed four or five more huge left hands, and got Overeem on the ropes with 1:45 left in the first. Overeem survived and his power just sapped Spong the rest of the way.

That career-high 231 pounds may have cost Spong in the long run. 

Gohkan Saki was the opponent in the semis, but much like Aerts, the Turkish born fighter had to fight a war in his previous bout. Saki and Daniel Ghita kicked the hell out of each for four rounds. Saki won but his body was brutalized.

Overeem looked slow and was easy to hit, but he just waited for the smaller fighter to slow down, then he unleashed two vicious body kicks. The second got Saki to quit. HDNet’s Michael Schiavello reported that Saki had broken his elbow and his right hand. 

Aerts was looking to become a four-time WGP champ. Unfortunately, the old guy was also a mess by the time he faced Overeem. He ate way too many punches from 6-11, 292-pound Semmy Schilt in the semifinals. Aerts outlasted Schilt in that fight, but the damage had been done. There were actually thoughts he may not be able to fight in the final. Bettors pushed the line  minus-450 to minus-645 on Overeem by the opening bell. 

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While Apple has spent much of the latter part of this year ramping up their iAd platform for iOS devices, they have not yet focused on one key area: the iPad. That will change in early 2011, when the company will begin a full-on advertising assault within apps made for the popular tablet device. And today they’re offering a glimpse of that future. And they’re wisely doing it with Tron. Apple and Disney have teamed up to show off what iAds for the iPad will look like with a Tron Legacy unit that begin to appear today in some iPad apps, we’re told. “Disney and Apple are excited to debut the ‘Tron Legacy’ iAd today as a special preview of iAd for iPad, which launches next year. iAd brings ‘Tron’s’ pulsing energy and vivid graphic style to iPad’s stunning display, creating a truly immersive ad experience,” the joint statement between the two companies reads.

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by John Hickey

Filed under: Rays, Sports Business and Media, MLB Winter Meetings

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Gary Sheffield didn’t play baseball last year, but that didn’t mean he was without a job.

Sheffield, a nine-time All-Star and the owner of 509 career homers, said Tuesday in the lobby of the hotel hosting baseball’s Winter Meetings that he’s been spending time putting together a financial management startup, a company that he hopes will help young ballplayers keep more of their money.

“For the last seven years of my career, I negotiated my own contracts,” Sheffield said. “It was stuff I learned along the way, stuff that young players who are earning a lot of money haven’t learned.

“If we can fill that gap, I think we can really provide a service.”

To be clear, the veteran outfielder Sheffield isn’t following the path of former big leaguers Dave Stewart, Joe Sambito and others in trying to make their way as a player agent, although he said he has qualified as one.

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by Dave Goldberg

Filed under: Sports Business and Media

Willie Nelson made “Turn Out the Lights, The Party’s Over” into a country music standard.

But to folks of a certain age, it will always be the signature of Don Meredith, the frivolous foil to Howard Cosell on “Monday Night Football,” who died Sunday night at age 72.

To Texans, Meredith may be the first player signed by the Dallas Cowboys. To the nation he will always be the good-natured ex-quarterback who punctured Cosell’s pomposity during what are fondly remembered as the golden days of television’s Monday night showcase: “Howard, Frank and ‘Dandy Don.’ ”

Meredith was signed by the Cowboys on Nov. 28, 1959, after starring at Southern Methodist, the first player signed by an expansion franchise hastily put together to counter the American Football League’s 1960 startup franchise in Dallas. As a native of Mount Vernon in East Texas and a star at a local university, he provided instant box office appeal for a franchise that was more than a decade away from becoming “America’s Team” — their first year, the Cowboys didn’t win a game, their only satisfaction a 31-31 tie with the New York Giants, the two-time Eastern Conference champion whose offensive coordinator, Tom Landry, had become the Cowboys’ first coach.

Meredith blossomed into one of the NFL‘s more effective QBs, especially as the Cowboys began winning. But in 1968, after leading the Cowboys to two NFL championship games, including the “Ice Bowl” in Green Bay, he suddenly retired at age 31, saying simply he didn’t have his heart in the game.

“I don’t know how badly I’d feel if I wasn’t remembered at all,” he said famously after a career in which he never played a home game outside of East Texas — he grew up in Mount Vernon and played his college and pro ball in Dallas and his retirement came as he was approaching contemporaries like Bart Star and Sonny Jurgensen (if not John Unitas) in the quarterback ranks. Although to be fair, his interception in the 1966 title game contributed to a 34-27 loss to the Packers that helped keep the Cowboys out of the first Super Bowl.

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‘I think [director] Danny Boyle [made one of the] most dynamic movies out there,’ Franco said of ’127 Hours’ in a ‘Today’ show phone interview.
By Jocelyn Vena

James Franco in “127 Hours”
Photo: Cloud Eight

James Franco called in to NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday (December 14) to share his reaction at scoring a Golden Globe nomination in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama category for his role in the Danny Boyle-directed “127 Hours.” The actor, who also will co-host the Academy Awards in February and is expected to get a similar Oscar nod next month, expressed his excitement over the Golden Globe accolade just as he learned about it.

“Oh, thank you. I just heard, yes,” he told Matt Lauer over the phone from Rhode Island. “My friend Barry from Fox/Searchlight [told me]. He’s a text message friend. We send each other photos of fat animals.”

Franco explained that he’s particularly excited about the film’s nominations, which include Best Screenplay and Best Original Score nods, given the story behind the flick. “You would think that movie would be the most static kind of narrative around, but actually I think Danny Boyle [made one of the] most dynamic movies out there,” he said about the film, which tells the real-life story of a hiker who gets trapped in an isolated canyon.

The actor also released a statement to MTV News about the his nomination, saying, “I’m especially grateful to the [Hollywood Foreign Press Association] for this honor and I’m excited to see ’127 Hours’ being recognized this awards season. I’m happy for Danny Boyle and his team and our [directors of photography Enrique Chediak] and Anthony [Dod Mantle], who were there with me down in the canyon! I am so proud of the film and that Aron Ralston’s story has been well received!”

Boyle also shared his excitement over the movie’s noms in a statement that read, “We’re absolutely delighted to be included in the nominations for the Golden Globes especially as HFPA were so generous to us on ‘Slumdog [Millionaire]‘ 2 years ago. I’m particularly pleased for James as it’s such a brave and exhilarating performance, and for Aron Ralston who took such a leap of faith in letting us tell his story in such an uncompromising way.”

When speaking with MTV News in November, Franco said that he felt “127 Hours” rang true because his experience filming the part echoed the ordeal that Ralston went through. “For me, that really showed how parts of the way we approached this performance are authentic on a real level,” he explained. “[We're] blurring the line between acting and experiencing, giving yourself physical tasks and trying to really complete them in a way.”

The Golden Globe Awards will air on Sunday, January 16, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

Do you think James Franco is a worthy Golden Globes nominee? Tell us in the comments.

Related Videos

• Gearing Up For The 2011 Golden Globe Awards
• MTV Rough Cut: ’127 Hours’

Related Photos

• 2011 Golden Globe Nominees

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The UFC tried something neat tonight by allowing the fans to hand out some bonus money. There was a lot on line. With a near-record gate of $4.586 million, the UFC was handing out $100,000 each to the fighters that the fans said put on the Fight of the Night.

Slap Cagewriter on the back, we called it.

When the news first emerged shortly before the start of UFC 124, we asked if the fans would judge objectively or turn it into a popularity contest?

We got our answer. Georges St. Pierre’s destruction of Josh Koscheck (50-45 on all cards) was given the fan’s nod as the best fight.

"The reporters aren’t happy with it," Dana White joked at the postfight press conference. "It’s one of the hazards. (The fans) are always chirping about how we mess it up and here we are."

White thought the real Fight of the Night was on the preliminary card. Sean Pierson and Matt Riddle beat the living hell out of each for three rounds.

The UFC and White even tried to give the fans a gentle nudge by showing the fight on the pay-per-view.

If you cast a vote at UFCvote.com, hope you enjoyed the chance to be the boss, now you’re fired. 

"They blew their chance," White said. "That’s it. It’s over."

White said he’d take care of Pierson and Riddle. White also joked with St. Pierre telling him that he owes $100,000 to his buddy Pierson. 

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Filed under: Broncos, AFC West, NFL Injuries

Safety Kyle McCarthy was placed on season-ending injured reserve Monday by the Denver Broncos because of a knee injury suffered the day before in a loss at Arizona.

Wide receiver Britt Davis was signed to the active roster from the practice squad as McCarthy’s numerical replacement. Davis joined the Broncos in training camp and spent the first 14 weeks of the season on the team’s practice squad.

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Filed under: Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Coaching

At Saturday’s Heisman Trophy presentation, it was revealed that 105 voters had taken a stand for “integrity” (a word that appears twice in the Heisman Trust’s mission statement) by leaving Cam Newton off their ballots.

So, now that “integrity” in the sport has been upheld … will those 105 people, or others, now take a similar stance against the latest round of college head-coach musical chairs? This annual ritual is well underway: the contract-breaking, lobbying for raises, posturing and image-polishing by coaches who are supposedly committed to their employers and the young men to whom their parents and guardians have entrusted them.

Surely, they will be given the same level of scrutiny by this national panel of watchdogs and their colleagues for their blatant, shameless and unapologetic breaches of “integrity,” right?

Of course not. (And stop calling me Shirley).

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The first fight on UFC.com’s televised prelims figured to be a grapple-fest with Mark Bocek and Dustin Hazelett trading takedowns and submissions attempts. It was a grapple-fest, but it was completely one-sided.

Bocek smoked Hazelett, a fellow Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, as he pulled off a beautiful triangle choke at 2:33 of the first round in Montreal.

Update – Bocek split Submission of the Night honors with Jim Miller and received a $50,000 bonus. 

The usually reserved Bocek (9-3, 5-3 UFC) was boisterous after the win, calling out fellow jiu-jitsu master George Sotiropoulos. Bocek, a Canadian wants to face Sotiropoulos in Toronto at the end of April.

"I’ve been quiet for a long time. I have the best jiu-jitsu in the lightweight division," Bocek told UFC analyst Joe Rogan. "I’ll prove it to everybody."

Sotiropoulos is regarded as a top seven fighter in the UFC’s lightweight division, so it was pretty bold for Bocek to call him out. He earned the right tonight with the submission he pulled off.

Hazelett, coming down from welterweight, figured to be the stronger fighter but he never got a shot to take advantage of strength or his 6-foot-1 frame. Just seven seconds into the fight, Bocek shot for a single-leg takedown. Hazelett went down quickly and was on his back just 15 seconds into the fight.

Hazelett tried to stay busy from the bottom but Bocek made it impossible. He quickly worked to improve his position. Bocek got to side control with 3:56 left in the round. He eventually moved to mount where he jumped on the opportunity to lock on a triangle choke. Bocek quickly spun to his back where he softened Hazelett with some elbows and then put his right arm across his face. Hazelett had to tap at 2:33 of the first.

Miller beats up Doerksen in bloody fight

Dan Miller and Joe Doerksen are both excellent ground fighters and that’s where they waged war for 15 minutes. Doerksen appeared to be in the bad position on the bottom, but he did solid damage. Miller did just a little bit more while maintaining top control for over 12 minutes. Miller took a split decision, 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28 in fight No. 2 on UFC.com’s broadcast. 

UFC 124 undercard (Courtesy MMAjunkie): 

John Makdessi def. Pat Audinwood via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).
Ricardo Almeida def. T.J. Grant via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
Sean Pierson def. Matt Riddle via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
Rafael Natal and Jesse Bongfeldt fight to a majority draw (28-28, 28-28, 29-28 Natal).

Scoring of the Bongfeldt-Natal fight was initially announced as 30-30 on all three cards. Copies of the official cards were distributed and showed the actual score with judges Sal D’amoto and Tony Weeks calling the fight a 28-28 draw, while judge John Woodburn gave the fight to Natal, 29-28. 

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The UFC announced another major breakthrough Tuesday. During a press conference in Toronto, Dana White confirmed that the promotion finally has an event set for Ontario in 2011. From an earlier post by the Toronto Sun:

The UFC will stage its first fight in Ontario on April 30 at the Rogers Centre, president Dana White said Tuesday morning. White told media at a press conference at the Air Canada Centre that he expects the UFC 131 event will be the most attended of all time.

The Toronto Sun says a huge crowd is expected. 

The provincial government expects that a major UFC event in Ontario would draw up to 30,000 fans and generate up to $6 million for the local economy, including cash from hotel rooms rentals, restaurant meal expenditures and retail purchases.

The promotion, led by the efforts of Marc Ratner, has worked for years to get MMA licensed in Canada’s most populated province. It finally got initial approval back in August.

The event is also significant because it will mark the first time the UFC will hold an event in a stadium.

Formerly known as Skydome, Rogers Centre, the home of MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays, can seat 49,000 for baseball and 54,000 for football.

Dana White stated on many occasions that he was hesitant to hold an event in such a big venue. The UFC president worried about the integrity of the event. Said White via SB Nation:

"I don’t want to do one of these big stadiums and lose the live experience, where it’s too big and you’re looking down and seeing these little ants fighting inside the Octagon." 

UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta was bullish on the possibility. Said Fertitta in October (via TSN.ca):

"It looks like we’re going to try and do the Rogers Centre [...] We looked at the [Air Canada Centre] too, but we want to break the record for attendance to MMA… We’ll try to get about 40,000 to 50,000 people in there."

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Filed under: Kings, NBA D-League, Reno Bighorns

Hassan Whiteside was sent by the Sacramento Kings to their NBA D-League affiliate Reno Bighorns to get the much-needed playing time that was unavailable with the Kings, but the 7-foot rookie has also struggled to find time with the Bighorns.

Whiteside, the 33rd overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft, has played four games with the Bighorns, but has yet to make an impact in the D-League, averaging just 5.8 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.8 blocks in just over 12 minutes of action per game.

The most interesting box score line for Whiteside thus far in his D-League career came Friday night against fellow rookie Patrick Patterson and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Before fouling out in his 12:59 of court time, Whiteside stuffed the stat sheet by scoring six points, grabbing six rebounds and adding five blocked shots while Kings teammate DeMarcus Cousins watched courtside. Whiteside’s Bighorns did get the victory, though, edging the Rio Grande Valley Vipers by a final score of 119-111 behind a triple-double from Patrick Ewing, Jr. as he’d score 26 points, dish 11 assists and grab 10 rebounds in 41 minutes.

Whiteside’s minutes were limited was due to foul trouble, though the rookie showed that he still has a lot to work on despite the obvious athletic gifts that allowed him to turn pro after just one season at Marshall. Eric Musselman, the first-year head coach of the Bighorns and former Kings head coach, told FanHouse earlier this week that Whiteside is healthy and improving every day, however, leading to this in-depth look at the center’s most recent game.

Whiteside doesn’t start for the Bighorns as their center position is currently locked up by Nick Fazekas, the 34th overall pick of the 2007 NBA Draft and the first overall pick of this year’s D-League draft. Nevertheless, Whiteside gets plenty of chances at playing time as the first big man off the bench, checking in at 4:30 of the first quarter Friday night.

On Whiteside’s first possession of the game, he grabbed an errant Marcus Landry shot, but was fouled on the putback attempt and forced to go to the free-throw line. Whiteside made 59 percent of his attempts from the charity stripe in college, but bricked his first two attempts of this game. Landry by the way, the brother of Kings forward Carl Landry, would finish with a team-high 30 points after hitting on 4-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc.

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If you thought Quinton Jackson was surprised to get the judges’ nod at UFC 123 over Lyoto Machida, you won’t believe the reaction from Leonard Garcia.

When Bruce Buffer announced Garcia as a split decision winner over Nam Phan at "The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale," it seemed like the only two people in the building who agreed were the two judges. Even Garcia was amazed.

Garcia got the victory, 29-28, 29-28 and 27-30, in front of a shocked crowd at the Pearl inside the Palms in Las Vegas.

"All I can say is I scored some takedowns in this fight. I feel like Nam beat me standing up. I gotta say it was a great fight," Garcia screamed over the crowd chanting an expletive.

"Look, I’m saying it on national television, the next fight I’ll come back to fight Nam. That’s all I can say. I’m sorry Joe. I’m sorry. I called it the same thing,"

Cagewriter scored it 30-27 for Phan. Adalaide Byrd and Tony Weeks, both veteran judges, handed Garcia the 29-28 decision.

Update – FightMetric, one of the two major fight stat analysis companies, called it 30-27 for Phan. Phan outlanded Garcia 116-70. That includes the third round where Phan outpaced Garcia 38-22 in strikes.   

Update II: At least Phan got paid. He and Garcia earned the Fight of the Night bonus good for $30,000 each.

Initially, UFC color analyst Joe Rogan tried to calm down the crowd, but even he got in on the act of ripping the decision. 

During the next fight, Rogan called the scoring gross and said most of the judges used by the Nevada State Athletic Commission are incompetent. He called out Keith Kizer, the executive director of the NSAC.

The strange decision, made for a memorable televised debut of the featherweight division in the UFC. The promotion recently announced it would fold in the WEC’s 145 and 135 pound divisions. Garcia, once a UFC fighter at 155, was making his return while Phan, a semifinalist from Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter," was making his debut.

The first round was the only competitive stanza, but Phan came on strongly in the final two minutes. The second round was clearly Phan’s. He dropped Garcia (14-7, 2-2 UFC) with a flurry of shots and controlled him, even taking his back for two minutes. In the third, Garcia walked around the Octagon like an exhausted zombie, throwing wild shots with his mouth open. Phan fought at a measured pace and picked apart Garcia.

Phan (16-7, 0-1 UFC) was a unique fighter for the reality show. The Vietnamese-American fighter came in with an unusual amount of professional experience around the world, so it was no surprise to see him reach the semis. Tonight, it was no surprise again to see him outsmart the reckless UFC/WEC veteran. The surprise came when the judges botched the decision. With 2010 coming to a close, Byrd and Weeks, are in the running for worst decision of the year. 

TUF 12 undercard results:
Dave Branch def. Rich Attonito via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
Pablo Garza def. Fredson Paixao via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 0:51.
Nick Pace def. Will Campuzano via submission (Pace choke) – Round 3, 4:27.
Kyle Watson def. Sako Chivitchian via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).
Ian Loveland def. Tyler Toner via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-26).
Cody McKenzie def. Aaron Wilkinson via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 2:03.

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