William K. Wolfrum

Evan Field, who boxes and dances under the name Evander Holyfield, won a lopsided 10-round decision over a game Lou Savarese on Saturday.

The fight was more action-packed than many would have imagined, as Field showed more energy than the average 44 year old. Field knocked Savarese down in the fifth and ninth rounds, and Savarese held on for dear life until the final bell.

Savarese had his best moment in round three, when he rocked Field with a solid right. Unable to shake off his inherent Lou Savarese-ness, however, Savarese was unable to follow up on the shot.

Nonetheless, the performance was one of the best for Savarese, 41, since the early 1990s, when he nearly attained fringe contender status. Still, he was unable to overcome Field’s accurate head butts and occasional combinations.

Following the bout, Field said he planned to continue his quest at winning the undisputed heavyweight crown, as well as continue to preach the word of the Lord while lying about not taking performance-enhancing drugs and perhaps having a few more children out of wedlock.

–WKW

For those of you who’d like to celebrate the Fourth of July by doing something to truly support U.S. Troops, here’s something from my WorldGolf.com blog that may interest you:

Recently, I was contacted by Jim Best of The Best Balls. Having read the posts, Jim generously offered 10,000 golf balls to be shipped overseas.

With the help of the North Carolina Branch of Give 2 the troops, we’ll get these balls to a bunch of brave men and women, who truly appreciate the diversion.

“The golf clubs are VERY popular and with the many military bases in N.C., the troops are all going to be playing golf soon!” wrote Barbara Whitehead of Give2theTroops in an e-mail.

Currently, Give2theTroops is running its “Tee Time for the Troops” campaign, just for this very purpose - to get a diversion, and a slice of home (no pun intended) to American soldiers.

Especially in Iraq, troops have gotten a great deal of pleasure from golf gear and balls. There’s one problem, however. As you can imagine, setting up a driving range in the Iraq desert is one thing. Retrieving the balls is another.

“After they hit (and lose) all of their golf balls, they are often left with just clubs. Of course, being bored, they resort to hitting rocks,” wrote Whitehead.

So with the help of Jim Best and The Best Balls, troops will have at least 10,000 more swings to take. And now that’s where you, gentle golfer, comes in.

“We also can continue to accept golf clubs, especially left hand and women’s sets,” wrote Whitehead. “Other items needed are mats, nets, gloves, tees, and practice plastic balls. We appreciate your help in getting the word out to donors to please only donate clean and good condition clubs and balls. We do not have the resources to repair clubs.”

Here’s the information of where you can ship your gear, be it bags of tees, golf balls, clubs, etc.

NC Branch Give2thetroops, inc
3109 Landmark St
Greenville NC 27834

Also, don’t be afraid to open up your checkbook. According to Whitehead, last month Give2thetroops spent $4,000 in shipping fees.

Click here to read the whole post.

Give2thetroops is a great organization, filled with volunteers who only want to do something tangible to help a lot of great Americans doing the hardest jobs there are. They gladly accept things other than golf equipment, and definitely could use donations so they can pay for their valuable shipments, so head to their Web site at www.give2thetroops.com to find out more.

If you want more info, feel free to e-mail me at wkw(at)williamkwolfrum(dot)com.

–WKW

Bob Foster, quite possibly the greatest light-heavyweight that’s ever lived, is a guest on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights. The champ looks and sounds great.

I never really watched Foster, as my interest in boxing didn’t kick in until about 1977, but as someone who studied the sport, he’s one of those fighters I idolized. Just unbeatable at light heavyweight, he was a tall, lank powerhouse who threw all the punches, and few could stand up to them. And while his forays into the heavyweight division were not as successful (including KO losses to Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali), the fact that he had to go to heavyweight for challenges proved both his greatness and bravery.

“I’d love to do it all again,” Foster said in the ESPN studios.

All true fight fans wish you could, as well, champ.

–WKW

Update: In FNF’s main event, Darnell Wilson damn near decapitated Emmanuel Nwodo with a mammoth left hook in the 11th to get the win in an entertaining bout.

The National Review’s Jonah Goldberg, waxing poetically about what could have been:

If that bomb had gone off in London, killing dozens or hundreds, British life might have moved in a remarkably different direction (though the Brits are pretty good — or bad, if you know what I mean — at shrugging off these sorts of things).

Ah, what might have been, eh, Jonah?

Anyway, the irony is that from a policy standpoint, it seems to me that security officials have to view things like the failed London bombing as basically no different than a successful bombing. But because the bombing failed, the policy options to security officials are far narrower precisely because the bombing failed and therefore didn’t rouse the sort of political reaction it might otherwise have.

They always sound so depressed when these things don’t happen as they not-so-secretly wish.

Because the only people who want to see terrorist carnage more than Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, are neocons and their fans.

–WKW

“All of us should be rightfully concerned about Castro and his ideological pal Chavez sending agents and provocateurs into the United States through Mexico.”

– Fred Thompson

–WKW

Here’s Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC, looking contrived and foolish as she goes on and on and on with Joe Scarborough about how she refuses to talk about Paris Hilton, going as far as shredding the script on air.

Weak. Contrived. Nonsense.

If you don’t want to lead with Paris Hilton, or talk about her, that’s a good thing. Making a circus act of yourself - all the while talking about Paris Hilton - is unprofessional nonsense.

–WKW

Paris Hilton. Ann Coulter. A coffee shop. A conversation:

I think every decade has an iconic blonde — like Marilyn Monroe or Princess Diana — and right now, I’m that icon.

Diana is an ordinary and pathetic and confessional - I’ve never had bulimia! I’ve never had an affair!

It’s sexier when a girl is flirty but she doesn’t do anything.

Let’s say I go out every night, I meet a guy and have sex with him. Good for me. I’m not married.

I don’t have sex unless I’m in a relationship. I’m old-fashioned when it comes to that. I really am!

Anorexics never have boyfriends. … That’s one way to know you don’t have anorexia: if you have a boyfriend.

Every woman should have four pets in her life. A mink in her closet, a jaguar in her garage, a tiger in her bed, and a jackass who pays for everything.

As always, the pretty girls and cops are on my side.

When he sentenced me to that much time in jail it was shocking because that doesn’t happen, ever.

We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.

I’d rather not do anything. Guys want you more when you don’t.

I think women should be armed but should not be allowed to vote.

I just want to let people know what I went through.

Frankly, I’m not a big fan of the First Amendment.

It was a pretty traumatic experience, something that I really have grown from.

I have to say I’m all for public flogging.

At parties, everyone always thinks I’m drinking–but actually I rarely drink.

It turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word “faggot”

I wanted to do my own thing so I could buy whatever I want, do whatever I want.

Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.

People are going to judge me: “Paris Hilton, she uses money to get what she wants.”

I’m a little sick of being browbeaten by a bunch of harridans about why I chose this word or why I told that joke. And then people turn around and say, ‘Oh, you’re so mean, you’re so mean.’

It hurts that, you know, the media’s made me into sort of this like punching bag or cartoon character–they think that I don’t have any feelings.

My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.

I’m not like that smart. I like forget stuff all the time.

I’ve never seen people avoid ideas so much in such an obvious way and try and alert Americans not to read anything, not to listen to something someone says, not because of what she’s saying, but trying to portray her as a nazi.

You should live everyday like it’s your birthday. Life is too short to blend in.

You want to be careful not to become just a blowhard.

The only rule is don’t be boring.

–WKW

It’s never easy finding bright spots in a 4-1 loss, but the U.S.’s defeat at the hands of Argentina in their first Copa America match was by no means crushing.

After a slow start, Argentina got two goals from Hernan Crespo, and goals by Pablo Aimar and Carlos Tevez to handily beat the the Americans at José Pachencho Romero Stadium in Venezuela.

The U.S. held the lead, albeit briefly after striker Eddie Johnson converted a penalty kick after getting fouled from behind in the box at the eight-minute mark.

For the U.S., however, the result was to be expected. Coming into the game following their Sunday victory over Mexico in the Gold Cup final, the team came to South America sans top players like DeMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey. Argentina, for its part, comes to Copa America fully loaded, with such international stars as Crespo, Tevez, Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano and others.

Nonetheless, the U.S. played confidently, especially in the first half, when they frustrated Messi and team, forcing the Argentineans into attempting long ball after long ball to break the U.S. defense. U.S. fans who have been hearing for some time that the younger Americans weren’t intimidated by anyone, finally got to see that in action, as the U.S. played solidly, especially in the midfield.

Offensively was where the largest problem is for the U.S., and will be the likely reason that Copa America will be a three-games-and-out experience for them. Despite his early goal, Johnson played tentatively, and the Americans were not able to create anything whatsoever on the Argentineans’ side throughout the game, registering nary a shot in anger at keeper Roberto Abbondanzieri. Taylor Twellman, the talented U.S. attacker always looking to make his mark on the national side was virtually invisible before being substituted for by Herculez Gomez, who was also little noticed.

In the end, it was as expected to be - a learning experience. The U.S. will need more offense to advance, though it seems unlikely. Nonetheless, as overmatched as the team was, the Red, White and Blue have little to be ashamed of for their efforts.

The U.S. will play again on Monday, in a must-win game against Paraguay, which punished Colombia 5-0 in the early game.

Copa America Note: Brazil, already reeling from its 2-0 loss to Mexico on Wednesday, suffered another loss when striker Fred (Lyon) went down in practice and was found to have a fractured foot. Brazil will not be able to replace the talented striker from Belo Horizonte. According to the Offsides Lyon Web site, Fred will be out of action at least two months.

–WKW

Just remember: The U.S. Supreme Court, as it now stands, will likely never rule in favor of the people, on any issue, whether Freedom of Speech, or fair business practices.

Supreme Court OKs retail price fixing by manufacturers

WASHINGTON — Manufacturers may set a fixed price for their products and forbid retailers from offering discounts, the Supreme Court said today, overturning a nearly century-old rule of antitrust law that prohibited retail price fixing.

The 5-4 ruling may be felt by shoppers, including those who buy on the Internet. It permits manufacturers to adopt and enforce what lawyers called “resale price maintenance agreements” that forbid discounting.

Until today, the nation has had an unusually competitive retail market, in part because antitrust laws made it illegal for sellers or manufacturers to agree on fixed prices. The Supreme Court, in a 1911 case involving Dr. Miles and his patented medicines, had said that price-fixing agreements between manufacturers and retail sellers were flatly illegal.

The rule’s practical effect was to discourage a manufacturer from setting a price, leading, for instance, to stickers on the windows of new cars that list the “manufacturer’s suggested retail price.”

However, in today’s opinion, the high court described this rule as outdated and out of step with modern economics.

Manufacturers of products ranging from watches and computers to golf clubs and tennis rackets compete with other brands, so competition will not suffer, the court majority said. Moreover, manufacturers should be free to control how their products will be marketed and sold, it said.

–WKW

If the media is so completely dominated by liberals, why are conservatives so terrified of the Fairness Doctrine?

–WKW