Random Rumblings (The problem with MMA)

(NOTE: The Random Rumblings column appears every Monday, featuring quick thoughts on various issues in the world of sports.)

• It’s the epic individual matches in sports like the Federer/Nadal Wimbledon Final that really makes you miss what boxing used to be, or if you’re under 30, what you’ve heard boxing used to be. Now, Mixed Martial Arts is all the craze, but even that sport lacks a truly great rivalry, or for that matter, a truly dominate figure.
  
  Every time I start to hear about a great MMA fighter, he ends up getting beat shortly after. That goes back to Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott and has continued through Chuck Liddell and most recently, Quinton (Rampage) Jackson.
  
  The hardcore fans will point to parity as the driving force in the sport and some use the “anyone can be knocked out at any time” excuse that has become cliché. But the truth is, we don’t want just anyone to win. We want a top guy that can knock everyone out and we want one, maybe two guys right that there trying to take him out.
  
  Until that happens, count me out.
  
  
• Jerry Manuel couldn’t have been more on the money when he said his Mets were second to the Yankees in New York during the Subway Series. And his point couldn’t have been more valid when the All Star teams were announced and his biggest star, Jose Reyes, was not voted in as a starter.
  
  Look, Derek Jeter has done more in the sport, but there is no question that Reyes is the best shortstop in New York. But Jeter is going to be the All Star starter for the rest of his career and Reyes is going to consistently lose out to a Florida Marlin.
  
  
• That said, the Florida Marlin in question, Hanley Ramirez, is probably one of the top three players in baseball, so it will be nice to see at least one deserving starter from a small market.
  
  
• In almost any clutch situation, I’d take Manny Ramirez over almost any other hitter in the history of baseball, but in the ninth inning last night with the scored tied, Terry Francona might as well have let Craig Hansen hit against Mariano Rivera instead.
  
  Considering the week he had, there was no chance of Manny just being Manny in that spot.
  
  
• Smart move by the Brewers in trading for C.C. Sabathia. They had an ace in Ben Sheets carry them through half a season, and once the inevitable happens and he breaks down, they’ll have ace to carry them to the playoffs.
  
  
• You would Cynthia Rodriguez would have timed it better and waited for the playoffs to file for divorce, but then again, that would mean the Yankees would actually have to make it to October.

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In Federer and Nadal, tennis has no equal

John McEnroe called it the greatest match he had ever seen, which means a lot coming from a guy who lives for tennis. But what made Sunday’s Wimbledon Men’s Final so special is that it was one of the first matches the casual sports fan had ever actually paid attention to, and that is what truly drives a sport.

We won’t know the actual television ratings until later today, and they might even be as high as say, Tiger going for the win on a Sunday or Yankees/Red Sox in primetime, but on its biggest stage, tennis showed the world it has something no other sport currently has: a true rivalry between the top two figures in the sport.

You don’t have to love tennis to understand the unique drama a Federer/Nadal final brings. The NBA forced an ancient Celtics/Lakers rivalry on us, one that was irrelevant for my entire life, and ended up with a bust of a finals. Baseball pushes two teams that haven’t played a series with real meaning in four years. And football’s greatest rivalry is between you and your best friend’s fantasy teams. But tennis has hit the jackpot with two guys who always seem to be there at the end, providing us with that No. 1 versus No. 2 craving we all seem to have.

People fear that American tennis is faltering and the evidence was there in London, but interest in the sport won’t fade the way it did with the NHL because of Federer and Nadal. In fact, judging by the reactions from Sunday, the opposite might be true.

We don’t need one of our own to play well to appreciate greatness.

We just need greatness.

And because of these two aces, tennis has one up on every other sport.

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