Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao will fight tomorrow night, live on Pay-Per-View at around 8pm Jamaican time (So they say but there will be fights before. Be prepared for a long night!). It has been promoted as ‘The Fight of the Century’ between eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao and UNDEFEATED (except for the 1996 Olympics), five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Mayweather has a 47-0 record! He has been avoiding Pacquiao for years claiming enough money wasn’t offered. But now is the time. The highest paying fight in history. He cannot end his career without fighting someone considered to be his biggest challenge. So there will be a lot at stake.
CBA will be showing the fight for $500JMD and is a good venue. Get there early if CBA is your choice. Forget about Tracks and Records due to poor logistics and inadequate seating. Their service is also poor on a regular basis much less with a crowd. The Regency will be showing the match, offering a complimentary stacked slider with every Appleton Reserve Q purchase. Group reservations recommended. Then of course, there is Ribbiz. Guaranteed to have a good vibe. Head there suuuuuper early though if you want a good seat and can tolerate loudness. Don’t forget the home-watching party, which sometimes works out to be the best option.
Where will you be watching the Big Fight and who is your money on?
We will soon be heading into the second series of the NBA Playoffs! For the East, Suga calls that the Cavs will win the Eastern Conference finals, even without Kevin Love. The Warriors should have a spot in the Western Conference finals vs the Defending Champs, the Spurs, but it will be a really tough road for the Spurs if they get there.
What are we paying to see at the moment? Hardly anything. This situation has been brewing in the open since local television decided to buy the rights for The Voice to see our local artist, Tessanne Chin’s season. Coverage was choppy and delayed. Then went the USA series, Suits followed by Empire. What was alarming was that in the case of the new hot series, Empire, they expected viewers to wait an entire WEEK to see the 2-hour season 1 finale. Unacceptable. The only reason they did not try the same thing with Scandal, is because they are so far behind in the season they are currently showing. The same thing has also been happening with football fans for years, not being able to see some games live or getting crappy commentary. This pushes persons to watch shows or sports online and defeats the whole purpose of local television showing desired content and thus boosting its viewership. Also remember that the west channels such as ABC west etc. with a later feed (3 hours after) are no longer available from FLOW. So if we do not make it home in time, we cannot watch the show later in the night.
Now here comes Digicel Sportsmax acquiring the rights to show the NBA. Which group of so called ‘Sports fans’ sat around a table and made the decision to show SOME of the NBA playoffs this year? Who gave them the right to choose what games we can see, or how do they choose what games should be shown?! How can that be logical in any way, shape or form? If they could not afford to show ALL of the games, then they should not show any at all. Simple! And how could the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica approve this madness? Where is the balance of interest for us, the consumers? How could a contract be signed for only Digicel Sportsmax to show the NBA 2015 Playoffs even though they stated they are only showing 18 NBA Playoff games, the Conference finals and the Finals? 18 games are not even 5% of the games before the Conference finals, not even knowing which series will go to a Game 7. So any other channel that we are currently paying for, and that is showing the game is blocked?
Now it seems Digicel Sportsmax opened a can of worms because they have stated on Facebook that, ‘the blocking of channels showing the NBA has been done because the cable operator does not have the rights to that channel for broadcast in the Caribbean.’ Also that, ‘it has nothing to do with Sportsmax.’ Of course it does, because if it was not for Sportsmax putting this contract forward to the NBA and drawing attention to us, (although we should run things legally but who cares) the NBA would not have looked into our cable providers, i.e. FLOW and realise they have not been showing NBA on channels like NBA TV and ABC legally in the first place; hence blocking them now. Then FLOW has its customer service agents lying to the public saying that channels such as TNT US are blocked because only Digicel Sportsmax has the legal right to show the NBA games. Fortunately for us, the NBA authorized that ESPN and SPACE (Who knows what or where is SPACE) cannot be blocked in this region. However, unfortunately for us, not all NBA Playoff games will be shown on ESPN but on many other channels that are blocked such as TNT US, NBA TV etc.
Also, how many years is this stupid contract for? We have gone from All Access to almost zero access. Where are the answers? Where is the communication from FLOW and how are they going to fix this moving forward? Will they only make an effort if they see a dip in subscribers or are we to accept that they are not going to fix this, purchase NBA League Pass and stream to our big screens or set up an American cable system such as DSS? All this contraption, instead of simply turning on the television?! There goes supporting Brand Jamaica because I know for sure many persons will not be supporting this inconsiderate act.
By the way, not showing the games was just scratching the surface. I will not even begin to go into the quality of feed and commentary. Isn’t this counter intuitive to growing the sport as well?!
So where do we go from here? How many more shows and programmes will be taken? And WHEN will our bills or charges be reduced by FLOW? Robbery. That is what this is. Robbery of our money, joy, bar time and sanity in our living rooms.
Yesterday was the last day of the 2014-2015 regular season. The 2015 NBA Playoffs begin this Saturday, April 18. The Atlanta Hawks clinched the Eastern Conference division, while the Golden State Warriors clinched the Western Conference division. Â The NBA broke its attendance record by drawing nearly 22 million fans during the 2014-15 regular season.
Russell Westbrook closed the season as the highest scorer with an average of 28.1 points per game, although that meant nothing to him because he will be sitting at home watching the playoffs as OKC finished 9th in the Western Conference division.
Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade will also be watching the playoffs from home for the second time. While the Lakers and Knicks closed their worst seasons in franchise history. Lakers with a 21-61 record and Knicks with a 17-65 record. Shameful.
Of course, the Cavaliers open playoffs as favourites to win the title. But let us see, as the Spurs or Warriors will be great contenders!
After a long day of work, ready to unwind with the Spurs-Heat NBA game on TNTUS, I saw it was blocked. I was not the least bit amused. It was a mixed feeling of panic, shock and anger all at the same time. My favourite sport blocked?! This was not a Tv show I could find online later or watch at my leisure when ready, it was a LIVE game. FLOW stated, ‘Digicel Sportsmax have bought the rights’, so I called immediately to subscribe. What about persons that do not have or wish not to spend more money on subscription channels? After all, I AM already paying for TNTUS. I then think I am missing a huge part of the game since it took 35 minutes to speak to a FLOW agent. The 2 Sportsmax channels were finally added. Angry but ready, what do I turn to Digicel Sportsmax to see? Football! on one channel, ok, the next? Sports Zone! News!, telling me about their big announcement yesterday about their ‘ideal’ acquisition with the NBA to show the games. Great. How about actually showing the game then?! Waiting any minute for them to cut and show the game, nope, did not happen. They chose to only show the second game scheduled on TNTUS that night, Warriors vs Clippers. At this point I was Irate.
So with investigation and according to digicelgroup.com, yes, Digicel Sportsmax have secured NBA rights in more than 30 Caribbean territories, making Digicel the official partner of the NBA in the region. They now have a MULTI-YEAR partnership with the NBA that will deliver live games and extensive NBA programming. Where was my Spurs-Heat live game?!
They will show 48 regular season games and 8 playoff games each season. They also claim to include the highlights show ‘NBA Action’, NBA TV and select classic games. So what about the games they don’t select? Are they going to block them too like last night?
For a full broadcast schedule, we are to visit digicelsportsmax.com but up to last night they still only had last week’s schedule up. The FLOW guide is also useless. Today I see a schedule in the paper. I am not going to have the paper at home when I am ready to watch tv, nor feel like going through the hassle to look up a Sportsmax schedule online.
I am all for progress and admire the ambition of our local television networks and the fact that Digicel has made a significant step in evolution from a pure mobile generator to a total communications and entertainment provider, but they have crossed the line with this one. I admire it but I do not care and I don’t think half of the passionate basketball fans in Jamaica and the Caribbean care either. No money is going into our pockets. More is being taken out. President and Sportsmax CEO, Olly McIntosh stated that ‘For fans this is a real treat with Digicel Sportsmax bringing a true Caribbean feel to the programming and basketball fans closer to court side than ever before’. What treat?! Not showing all the games? I already felt close to court side before this. Why must customers pay for a cable service that is constantly being disrupted? Why must customers be subjected to this? What am I left with? When will it end? It is unfair. We are expected to pay extra for channels that some of us do not want to watch, to see only SOME of our usual programmes. They block the channel from showing the programme and they do not show the programme on the station that they forced us to subscribe to. In the case of TV shows, for instance with the new show, EMPIRE, local Tv waits a whole week to show a finale that has been aired. Are they serious? Who waits a whole two weeks for a finale? Did they do the maths there?
Thank goodness for NBA League Pass, but you have to pay for that as well. I personally prefer to watch the game on the big screen and not a computer or phone if I don’t stream to the tv or have All Share Cast. The NBA League Pass does not show ‘Inside the NBA’, which was also blocked, or Halftime shows.
If our cable providers or television networks plan to make such a huge step, being inconsiderate of fans that not only just watch the game but all the juicy, in-depth analysis that comes with it as well, be prepared to show the game in the first place and have quality feed too.
I already looked through the newspaper in the early am, so after an extremely long work day, like others, I would have loved to unwind in peace, watching the channels that I just finished working hard all day to pay for. I do not feel like watching the news or anything else, I had a timer set on my phone app to watch a specific game. My therapy. Others who have to work and to a larger extent kids to take care of etc. and needed this outlet, that small time for themselves, were robbed last night and sadly may be robbed even further by Digicel Sportsmax. If I was so irate last night, I don’t want to see myself during the Playoffs! Fix it Sportsmax! Fix it! Or jus do not bother to psychologically and emotionally mess with our daily lives and routines. It affects our health as well by raising our blood pressure. Fix it.
Australia bowled out New Zealand for 183 runs in 45 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last Saturday. They then moved on to win their 5th World Cup title by 7 wickets with 186/3 (33.1 overs) !
Australia certainly was never our favourite to win the tournament based on past rivalry with the West Indies but well done and Congratulations to them.
Last Friday night, the West Indies allowed New Zealand to make a whopping 393 runs.
Martin Guptill surpassed our very own, Chris Gayle’s record of 215 made earlier in the tournament, to hit the highest world cup score, a smashing 237 runs not out. Credit must be given to Guptill’s magnificent performance, hitting all of 137 runs off of his last 52 balls, whether balls were bowled short or long, but our bowling and fielding was poor. Guptill got time to settle into long partnerships and Marlon Samuels dropped a crucial catch to get rid of him. Those catches you do not miss. They stood up and watched many balls roll to the boundary. We often fail to get dirty and dive to stop balls like other teams, harming us in the long run. The result for New Zealand was 393/6 (50 overs).
West Indies ended their innings at 250 all out in just 30.3 overs. Gayle made an exciting but short-lived 61 runs, then wickets crumbled even faster. New Zealand won by 143 runs. On top of that, Jamaica is not the only one with a ‘Bolt’. New Zealand’s fast bowler, Trent Boult is at his peak, as he took 4 early wickets. Sadly, Gayle and to a small extent Jonathan Carter, were the only threats New Zealand faced and they knew it. So, what was our strategy? Clearly the wrong one. Great effort was shown by the West Indies where batting was concerned because the result could have been much worse or embarrassing, as we have witnessed before in those situations. However, I believe they were incorrectly guided.
With a massive target of 393 runs, the strategy should not be to go out there and instantly make as much 6s and 4s as possible. After all it is not 20/20 cricket. They should have attempted to bat out the entire innings, peaking at the right intervals, not wildly going after 99% of the balls bowled exposing the wickets or blocking them when it was too late resulting in LBWs.
Overall, the current West Indies team is not good. Well clearly we haven’t had a good one in a while. The sport has evolved and we cannot rely on raw talent anymore. Teams West Indies used to destroy in the past have moved way beyond us. Teams we used to rival in the past such as Australia and New Zealand, totally demolish us now at practically every meeting if not all. What are they doing differently? When Australia wanted to pull themselves away to make themselves better than us in our hay day, they started looking back at the tapes, at every angle. They took it to a technical level. It’s like what is happening now with the death of Brazilian or South American football compared to European football. Times are changing and so are techniques, styles and tactics. Therefore the way West Indies are currently and have been training need to change. In a situation with a an unfit Gayle who barely got cleared to play New Zealand, all should not rest on his shoulders.
As shocking as it may seem, some of us still rally around the West Indies and do not refer to them as the ‘Worst Indies’. There were a lot of men named, ‘Hopeton’ in the bar on Friday night. I am appealing for us to rebuild. At the end of the day, the players get blamed but from management right down is responsible.
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan have already gone home. Did they save the best Quarter-final for last? Tonight’s action will feature our very own West Indies facing the hosts of the ICC Cricket World Cup, New Zealand. Clearly the odds are against the West Indies and could the fact that the pressure will be off of them work in their favour? Doubt it, but they have nothing to lose. Let us watch closely tonight and see the outcome.
The real excitement began on Saturday night with the 3-point shoot out contest, where Golden State Warriors point guard, Stephen Curry scored 27 out of a possible 34 points in the Championship round. It was his first win in the event. Curry topped fellow Warriors guard, Klay Thompson who couldn’t handle the pressure after Curry’s superb performance, scoring 14 in the Championship round, less than in the elimination round and 2013 Three-Point Contest winner, Kyrie Irving of Cleveland Cavaliers, who scored 17.
The Slam Dunk Competition followed, which was totally dominated by Zach LaVine of Minnesota Timberwolves. Runner-up, Orlando Magic’s Victor Oladipo’s 360º Reverse Dunk deserves notable mention.
Check out how Zach LaVine gets all NBA players standing as he ‘Throws Down the “Space Jam” Dunk’ in the 2015 Sprite Slam-Dunk Contest here:
Last night, the West won 163-158 over the East, the record for the largest combined score of 321 compared to last year’s 318. But it was all about MVP All-Star, Russell Westbrook, guard for Oklahoma City Thunder, who racked up 41 points in style, just short of Wilt Chamberlain’s highest scoring MVP All-Star record of 42 made in 1962. Westbrook also set the record for most points in a half with 27. What a showman! LeBron who? James started out hot but fell short in the end with 30 points.
Congrats to all the winners of the All-Star Weekend!
What a game! Patriots sealed the Super Bowl win last night with an interception on own goal line in the final minute to beat the Seahawks 28-24. Everyone was expecting the Seahawks to run the ball so we could see ‘Beast mode’ but sadly for them, they made the wrong call.
Patriots’ Tom Brady now ties Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for most Super Bowl wins by a starting QB with 4. Congrats to Tom and the Patriots.
