January 2nd:The Sugar Bowl and Cotton Bowl are sporting events that have taken place annually for more than seven decades.  This year will be no different as both events will take place today, Friday January 2nd. The Sugar Bowl happens to be New Orleans' oldest sporting event dating back to 1935; it will take place in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans and will feature college football teams Utah vs. Alabama.Click Here for more.

Not to be outdone, the Cotton Bowl will occur today at 2p.m. in Dallas, Texas. To keep up with the New Year's spirit, local organisations organise a parade and a marching band contest to provide entertainment for the holiday crowd. The Cotton Bowl, which has been sponsored by AT&T for many years now, will kick off with college teams from Texas and Mississippi. Click Here for more.

~History: Along with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl (also played annually since 1935), the Sugar Bowl is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl (first played 1902, played annually since 1916). The Sugar Bowl is also a member of the Bowl Championship Series. Presently, its official title is the Allstate Sugar Bowl after its current sponsor. The Sugar Bowl hosted the BCS National Championship Game in 2000 and 2004. However, since the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game has been a stand-alone event one week following the New Year's Day bowl games (including the Sugar Bowl). In other words, under the current BCS format, the Sugar Bowl will not host the BCS National Championship Game, although the Louisiana Superdome will continue to be one of the stadiums used to host the BCS National Championship Game a week after the Sugar Bowl.

The Cotton Bowl Classic was founded in Dallas, Texas in 1937 at the Texas State Fair Grounds, when Texas oil executive J. Curtis Sanford financed the first one out of his own pocket. Texas Christian University took on Marquette, winning 16-6, but the game lost money even though some 17,000 attended. Nonetheless, Sanford persevered, and in 1938 the game made a profit as Rice defeated Colorado 28-14, in front of a crowd of 37,000.^Wikipedia

UFC 90 was a huge disappointment for MMA fans as the show was very boring and dull. The main event ended prematurely after a knee injury was sustained by Patrick Cote in the third round of his fight with UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva.

Silva was a huge favorite to keep his title and basically toyed with Cote in the cage. Silva was dancing around in the cage and didn’t seem focused or serious at all. His hands were down often and he didn’t seem to have a care in the world inside the cage.

Silva got the best of the few exchanges he and Cote had in the fight. Silva was not aggressive and basically tried to counter instead of pressing the action. There was not much action in the fight at all but a few comedic spots when Silva was impersonating Bruce Lee with his moves. Another funny moment was when Silva was standing and Cote was on the ground. Silva stuck his hand out and offered to help Cote stand up. Silva would most likely never do that with an opponent he feared and respected.

Cote did not have any offense at all and the referee stopped the fight in the third round after Cote suffered a knee injury without Silva even touching him. The knee apparently just gave out and the fight was over.

The best fight of the night was the fight between Thiago Alves and Josh Koscheck. This was a three round stand-up war. Alves inflicted more damage on Koscheck and won by decision.

In an upset, Junior Dos Santos defeated Fabricio Werdum in a heavyweight fight. No one had heard of Dos Santos before the fight and he was a huge underdog but  Dos Santos hit Werdum with a uppercut in the first round which knocked down Werdum and the fight was quickly over after that.

Sean Sherk defeated Tyson Griffin by split decision and Gray Maynard defeated Rich Clementi by unanimous decision in the other two fights on the main card. These two fights were not very interesting at all. Maynard’s fight with Clementi was just terrible and probably made half of the crowd fall asleep.  

The winners of the prelim fights were Dan Miller, Hermes Franca, Pete Sell, Thales Leites, and Spencer Fisher.

UFC’s next pay-per-view show will be on November 15 in Las Vegas.

UFC 90 will take place this Saturday night in Rosemont, Illinois at the Allstate Arena. The main event will be a  middleweight title fight between current champion, Anderson “The Spider” Silva and Patrick “The Predator” Cote.  The fight is scheduled for five rounds but no one expects it to last more than a few rounds at best.

This is because Silva is considered the best pound for pound fighter in the world, and he is heavily favored to win this fight. Cote is a big underdog who is not in Silva’s class as a fighter.

Cote has a puncher’s chance to defeat Silva but that is about it. Cote is a heavy puncher and a tough guy but  Silva is better than Cote in every single aspect.  The question is not who will win this fight but in what round will Silva beat Cote in.  

Both fighters expect each other to stand and bang the whole fight. Cote has no ground game to speak of and is primarily a stand-up fighter.  Silva is equally comfortable on the ground or on the feet.

This fight should be very entertaining as these two fighters will both go for a knockout win.

The co-main event on the card is a welterweight fight between Josh Koscheck and Thiago “The Pitbull” Alves.  The winner will be in contention for a title shot against UFC welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre.

Alves was scheduled to fight Diego Sanchez but Sanchez had to pull out due to an injury. Koscheck has stepped in to fight Alves on short notice.

Alves’ last loss was to Koscheck’s training partner, Jon Fitch. Since the loss to Fitch, Alves  has won his last six fights.  Koscheck is on a two fight winning streak.

Another interesting fight on the main card is a fight between Tyson Griffin and Sean Sherk.  This will be Sherk’s first fight since coming off a loss to UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn.

Griffin has been training hard with his training partner Gray Maynard at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. Maynard is a great wrestler and helped Griffin prepare for Sherk’s wrestling ability and takedowns.

Sherk questioned Griffin’s cardio and thinks he will tire Griffin out in the later rounds. Sherk  should not be tired at all since he was fighting in five round title matches for the last two years.

The first prelim fight is scheduled to commence at 6:30pm CT.

Fans can watch the main card live on pay-per-view beginning at 10pm ET.

The World Series begins tonight in St. Petersburg, Florida when the Philadelphia Phillies meet the Tampa Bay Rays in a best of seven series.

The Phillies made it into the World Series by defeating the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs. The Rays defeated the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox to get into the World Series.

The first two games of the series will begin in Tropicana Field before the two teams travel to Citizens Park in Philadelphia for Games 3, 4, and 5. If there is a need for Games 6 and 7, the games will move back to Tropicana Field.

The starting pitchers for Game 1 are lefties Cole Hamels and Scott Kazmir. Hamels has proved that he is a big-game pitcher by pitching great in the playoffs this season. He is the Phillies’ ace and he has the stuff to throw a no-hitter. He gives the pitching edge to his team for Game 1.

Kazmir is another talented lefty but he is not as effective as Hamels. Unlike Hamels, who usually goes at least seven innings or more, Kazmir usually only lasts five plus innings due to his high pitch counts.

The bullpens for both teams will be very important in this series. Both teams have a great bullpen.

The Rays and Phillies also have a strong offense. The Rays are led by Carlos Pena, B.J. Upton, and Evan Longoria and the Phillies’ power is supplied by Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, and Chase Utley.

This year’s World Series should be very competitive. You can make an argument for each team to win the World Series.

The Rays have the momentum after beating the Red Sox in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series last Sunday night. The Phillies have had a week off and have not played a game since beating the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

The first pitch tonight should be around 8:35 pm EST and the game will be shown on Fox.

The Denver Broncos visit Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts  on Monday night to face the New England Patriots in a key AFC matchup.

The Broncos are 4-2 and the Patriots are 3-2. Both teams are coming off a loss.

How will the Patriots respond after losing in a blowout to the Chargers last week? In order for the Patriots to win, they must contain Denver quarterback Jay Cutler.

Cutler has one of the strongest arms in the NFL and he can also be very accurate as well. The key for the Patriots defense will be applying pressure and forcing Cutler to make quick throws.

That will be easier said than done as the Broncos offensive line has only given up two sacks this year.

The key Broncos WR is Brandon Marshall. Although Marshall might not be as well known as other wide receivers such as Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson, Marshall is just as productive and talented as those two stars.

The Patriots had a tough time defending the pass last week and this week should be no different. The two starting corners on the team, Deltha O’ Neal and Ellis Hobbs, have given up too many long passes.

The Patriots  have two playmakers on offense and they are WRs Wes Welker and Randy Moss. You can expect Welker to catch at least five balls in each game. Matt Cassel, the Patriots quarterback, loves to pass to Welker,  especially on third downs.

The Broncos defense is weak and they give up a lot of yardage  in passes but can Cassel capitalize? He was effective two weeks ago in San Francisco but suffered a setback in San Diego last week.

It is Monday Night Football and all the players on the two rosters know that America will be watching  so the spotlight is on them. Who will step up and put on a good performance? Will it be Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall or Matt Cassel and Randy Moss?

My prediction is a very high-scoring game with the Broncos winning 36-30. Cutler’s rifle arm will be in full display and he will outperform his counterpart, Cassel.

The game will start at 8:30 pm ET and it will be shown live on ESPN.

The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) last night in Tropicana Field. The final score was 3-1 as pitcher Matt Garza led the way with his terrific pitching performance.

Garza pitched seven superb innings and left after throwing 118 pitches. He only gave up two hits in the game and one run. The one run came in the first inning thanks to a home run by Dustin Pedroia. Garza struck out nine batters.

Tampa’s bullpen worked the last two innings as four relievers came in to help get the final six outs of the game. Rookie David Price got the save. Price, the number one draft pick in the 2007 MLB draft, was not even on the Rays’ roster until getting recalled from the minors late this season.

Price struck out J.D. Drew with the bases loaded in the top of the 8^th to help the Rays preserve  a 3-1 lead. That strikeout was the biggest out of the game since a hit by Drew would have probably tied the game.

The Rays got on the board in the fourth inning thanks to a RBI by Evan Longoria that drove Carlos Pena home. The Rays then took the lead for good in the next inning when Rocco Baldelli singled Willy Aybar in. Aybar homered in the seventh inning to give the Rays an insurance run.

All the runs by the Rays were given up by Red Sox starting pitcher, Jon Lester. Lester pitched a lot better than he did in Game 3 but once again, he took the loss.

With the win, the Rays will go on to face the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series which starts this Wednesday night.

The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays play Game 7 tonight of the American League Championship Series (ALCES) tonight at Tropicana Field in St.Petersburg, Florida. The series is all tied up with both teams winning three times.

The winner of tonight’s game will go on to represent the American League in the World Series next week against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Red sox were down 3-1 in the ALCS but battled back from a 7-0 deficit in Game 5 to win 8-7 at Fenway Park. Last night, the series moved back to Florida, and the Red Sox won another close game, 4-2, to even the series.

The starting pitchers for tonight’s series finale are Jon Lester and Matt Garza. These two pitchers opposed each other in Game 3. Garza got the win in that game and Lester took the loss.

Garza pitched six innings and only gave up one run while Lester gave up five runs in less than six innings pitched. Lester gave up home runs to B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria.

Although Garza pitched better than Lester in Game 3, the edge tonight goes to Lester and the Red Sox. The Red Sox have the momentum after stealing Game 5 and winning once again last night.

Lester has pitched in more big games than Garza in his career and has been more successful as well. Garza can be very dominant at times and has excellent stuff, but he can also be very inconsistent.  You just don’t know what kind of pitching performance you will get from him tonight. He could pitch a no-hitter or have a complete meltdown and only last one inning.

This game could very well come down to the bullpen. The Red Sox bullpen has pitched better than the Rays’ bullpen in the last few games.

My prediction for this game is a Red Sox victory. The Rays had their chance to win the ALCS in Game 5, but their bullpen cost them the game.  Lester will pitch better than Garza tonight and the Red Sox veteran batters will give Lester the offensive support he needs to win.

EliteXC will have another "Elite Challenger Series" MMA event tonight which will be televised on the cable network, Showtime at 11PM EST. The commentators for this show will be Mauro Ranallo and Stephen "The Fight Professor" Quadros.

The fights will be held at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. 

The main event will be between Dave "Pee Wee" Herman and Kerry "Meat Truck" Schall. Schall is from Ohio and Herman is from Indiana.

Herman is undefeated in his MMA career with a 11-0 record. Schall has a record of 21-10.

Herman  has won eight of his fights by knockout, and his other three wins were by submission.  Schall  is looking to rebound after losing his last two fights.

Herman is the favorite to win this fight but Schall is a tough veteran who has fought MMA superstars such as Fedor Emelianenko, Ben Rothwell, and Keith Jardine.

Fans might remember Schall from his brief appearance in season one of The Ultimate Fighter. 

Mamed "Cannibal" Khalidov will take on Jason Guida in another fight tonight. Guida is the brother of Clay Guida, the UFC lightweight fighter.  Fans will remember seeing Jason Guida on this season's The Ultimate Fighter. He was on the first episode but failed to make weight for his fight, and was forced to go home.

Guida has a record of 17-17. Khalidov is not really known here in the United States, and he will be making his EliteXC debut.

Here are the other fights scheduled for the card:

Alexander "Storm" Shlem vs. Robert "Bubba" McDaniel

Anthony Lapsley vs. Mike Stumpf

Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm vs. Rafaello "Trator" Olivera

Most of these fighters  are unknown to even the most hardcore MMA fan, but there should be a lot of interesting and exciting fights at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino tonight.

Tickets are still available and the prices range from $38 to $123.