If you are fan of Middletown sports you know that the very impressive girls' basketball team, the Mercy Tigers, lost in the SCC finals on Tuesday night. Everyone, including myself, thought that they would take down Hillhouse and put the cherry on top of their almost perfect season. But Mercy fans watched as their one point lead at the half could not carry them through the second half and lost on a couple of foul shots.
To be honest, girls basketball isn't something I enjoy watching. Coming from a former basketball player I know that sounds strange but I find the boys games more entertaining and fast paced. But I went to watch the Mercy girls play at the beginning of the season and I have to say I enjoyed watching them. I had only been in Middletown a couple of weeks prior to the Mercy game I went to when they played Lauralton Hall in the Mercy Christmas Classic. I saw the Tigers take the court and I saw that none of them were over six feet tall and none had a lot of girth to them. I didn't think these girls looked like your typical female basketball players.
The game commenced and boy was I wrong. Sadie Edwards is one of the best guards I have seen in quite a long time including my high school years of playing. I couldn't believe that although Amber Bepko is about 5'8" or 5'9" she played like she was 6'2". Bepko scored 29 points that night. I found myself actually enjoying a girls basketball game. Maybe because the Tigers defy the rules of what typical basketball players should look like or the fact that most of the girls are sophomores, minus Amber Bepko being the only senior on the team. Although Bepko will be gone for the 2012 season, the Mercy Tigers should remain a threat for the years coming due to all of the underclassmen that are making strides on the court.
I was not able to attend the Quinnipiac finals but when the news came in that Mercy had lost, I was shocked to say the least. Maybe my hometown biased got the best of me but I couldn't imagine another team being better than the Tigers.
Even though Mercy has lost the SCC finals, they have a bigger title that they could possibly win: The state title. Mercy being ranked no. 2 (Trumbull is ranked no. 1) has a bye week and start the state tournament on March 4 at home in Middletown. I think Mercy has an excellent shot to redeem themselves and take home the biggest title of them all. Although these girls have not won anything yet, I believe what this town already knows, Mercy is the best girls basketball team in the state.

So today everyone is wearing red, eating heart-shaped chocolates, and desperately trying to find a dinner date so they don't feel so lonely on this day deemed Valentine's Day. Over the years I find this holiday to be a waste of time, money, and people get way too worked up for nothing. It's nice to do something for the one you love but shouldn't that be all the time rather than just on February 14th?
I find that the greeting card companies needed a boost in sales with the lag-time between Christmas and Easter. I went out this weekend to Target and saw all of these men racking their brains in the card isle trying to find the card that said the right thing and spending more than $5 for it. Honestly, I don't get it. Not like I haven't experienced Valentine's Day with someone, I just think that something that has more genuine meaning should be celebrated today.
I made a resolution about a week ago that I would find something that was better suited to be celebrated than Valentine's Day today, and that is the beginning of baseball season. And some people call today "Singles Awareness Day." It certainly is... it's awareness that the Red Sox will have a lot more singles with Adrian Gonzalez in the lineup.
Today pitchers and catchers for the Red Sox reported to Ft. Myers. My love for baseball runs deep, and my love for the Red Sox is above all other teams I choose to cheer for. Today isn't a reminder that I don't have one man, it's a reminder that I have nine. Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Marco Scuturo, Jacoby Elsbury, J.D. Drew, David Ortiz, and my favorite pitcher Jon Lester will always be there for me at a 7:10 start at Fenway Park. My family and I have already planned our yearly trip to see the Sox this year. Nope not at the Cathedral of Boston, but in Anaheim where our seats will be closer and the air will be warm on Easter weekend.
Not only is it comforting that baseball season is starting but the weather outside today was warm enough that I could walk to my car to the office in a t-shirt and could still feel my limbs.
I can go home tonight, turn on NESN, and find the Sox almost excited as I am for them to get out on the field and start batting practice.
So before you go to bed tonight thinking, "Why didn't he buy me flowers? Why did I have to be alone today?" don't. Just think the Red Sox are only about 8 weeks away from opening day, the warm spring weather is almost upon us, and there is something better to watch than the NBA.

Of course watching the Super Bowl this weekend was on the top of my priorities, but Saturday night I got to experience a whole other sports gathering experience at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Windsor, CT. Ultimate Fighting Championship or UFC as its commonly known by its fans, is a new sport that is drudging up a lot of popularity recently. UCF is part of MMA or Mixed Martial Arts. It is a mixture of wrestling, boxing, and martial arts. Participants do not wear shoes and they do not wear boxing gloves. UFC became popular in Brazil and has made its way over to the States in 2005 on Spike TV which it aired after WWE Raw. UFC's pay-per-view fights gained popularity and since it is real fighting and not like professional wrestling, it has more appeal to viewers.
Now that you know the basics of UFC you know more about it than I did when walking into my first UFC experience after I agreed to go with one of my friends from high school and former wrestler to Windsor. All I knew about it was the bits and pieces I saw on Spike TV of two guys grappling each other in tight shorts... When I quickly changed the channel. But I decided to give it a shot.
UFC was not as bad as I thought it would be. It was almost like watching a fight in Vegas but with bad wings and no casino. I was shocked to see the line outside of Buffalo Wild Wings and how every table was packed and the fight playing on at least 30 flat screen TV's. Although UFC was not popular in my mind, the crowd proved otherwise. We squeezed into our table with a few friends holding our seats and the fighting began. Normally I am in the loop when sports are being discussed over beers, but the conversation about Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin went right over my head. As I looked around the restaurant I was surprised to see that I was not the only girl in the room.
Forrest Griffin's fight began and the whole place erupted with cheers as I asked, "Is this the main event?" Nope. Not even close. I was thinking why I am waiting all night to watch some 35 year-old guy with the nickname "The Spider"fight some other guy? But as Griffin's fight began I could see the appeal. Blow after blow thrown by Griffin knocked Rich Franklin to the ground and Griffin was thought to lose the fight. I found myself getting into this UFC stuff in the matter of minutes.
After Griffin's hand was raised as the winner, it was Anderson Silva's turn against Victor "The Phenom" Belfort. Silva was hailed as the raining champ but in the first three minutes of the fight I didn't see much out of him. Thinking that this fight was boring I was not prepared as to what came next... the kick heard around the world. Silva kicked Belfort in the jaw when Belfort expected to be hit in the body. Belfort went crashing down and Silva hesitated to punch him while he was down. Then the fight was ruled a knock out and Silva remains champion. If I took my eyes off the screen for a second I would have had to resort to watching the replay.
The whole place came to their feet when Belfort's face was hit and could not believe their eyes. I found myself on my feet high-fiveing over a sport I didn't know anything about a mere 3 hours before. Want to see the kick for yourself? Here it is: http://www.mmatko.info/anderson-silva-vs-vitor-belfort-fight-video-ufc-126-main-event/

The next pay-per-view event is February 26th and now I can honestly say I am looking forward to a UFC event.