Top Ten Pound-for-Pound

 Here's my pound-for-pound list. I take into account ability and accomplishment. The previous list was posted on October 20, 2020.

1. Saul Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) [1]
2. Naoya Inoue (20-0, 17 KOs) [2]
3. Errol Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) [4]
4. Terence Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) [3]
5. Gennady Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) [5]
6. Teofimo Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) [6]

7. Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) [7]
8. Juan Francisco Estrada (41-3, 28 KOs) [Not Rated]
9. Gervonta Davis (24-0, 23 KOs) [NR]
10. Josh Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) [9]

Exiting the list:

Olexandr Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) [8]

Leo Santa Cruz (36-2-1, 19 KOs) [9]

1. Canelo's win over Callum Smith cements his status as the best fighter pound-for-pound. He has far and away the best resume on this list. He has done it at different weight classes. The true middleweight champion, he just beat the best super middleweight in the world. That was coming off a win over a top 3 light heavyweight. He can box, he can stalk, he has a great jab and goes to the body effectively. He has a great chin and a much improved defense. It's hard to argue anyone else should be on top right now.

2. Inoue is a three division beltholder who has beaten some good fighters. He looked impressive against Moloney in his last fight. While his resume is decent, his skill stands out. He has speed, power, and technique. There aren't the names at bantamweight, so hopefully, he'll fight the winner of Estrada-Chocolatito or move up to 122 where there are some good fights.

3. I flipped Crawford and Spence after the latter's win over Garcia. Spence is developing a nice resume with recent wins over Garcia and Porter. He beat Brook when that was worth something. His win over Peterson was solid too. Spence has the better resume, but I also had a change of heart. I had always very slightly favored Spence in a battle with Crawford because of his size, but now I'm solidly favoring Spence to beat Crawford because of skill as well.

4. I really like Crawford, so I don't mean to demean him. But his resume leaves a lot to be desired. He's beaten faded British fighters recently like Amir Khan and Kell Brook. Who's next, Ricky Hatton? Lloyd Honeyghan? It's kind of ridiculous. Crawford's best win by far was against a very credible Viktor Postol... four and a half years ago! Otherwise, he's beaten some decent opponents, but no one close to the top 10. Recently, his opponents aren't even in the top 10 in their own division. Welterweight is stacked; I'd love to see him face a quality foe.

5. Golovkin looked good against a somewhat lesser opponent this month. He still seems high quality, but his skills may have slipped a bit. His resume is certainly better than Crawford's. A win against a better opponent and if Crawford doesn't step up his strength of opposition, I'll switch the two.

6. The lightweight division has a lot of good young fighters with Lopez, Davis, Haney, Garcia, and Campbell to name a few. Lomachenko is still there. Hopefully they all fight each other soon. Lopez looks a little better than last time even though he didn't fight. He beat Nakatani in unimpressive fashion in 2019, but that win looks better after Nakatani just scored an upset knockout.

7. I had Loma's fight with Lopez as a draw. That's why he's still on the list for now.

8. Estrada is back on the list after stopping Carlos Cuadras in an exciting fight. I love BoxRec, but they only gave that fight 3 stars while Usyk-Chisora had 5. BoxRec seems to overrates heavyweights and that might explain it, but Cuadras also seems underrated. His first fight with Estrada only got 4 stars. Transnational Boxing Rankings has Cuadras in the top 10 in his division even after the loss. Estrada has a big fight with Chocolatito coming up. The winner will likely be on this list.

9. Davis's win over Santa Cruz was legit. I had Santa Cruz in the top 10 before the fight. It's Davis's best win by far, but he has a couple of others like the win over Pedrasa. I'd love to see him take on some of the lightweights I mentioned in Lopez's blurb. With a few wins, he could vault up this list.

10. Taylor just hangs on. He has beaten 4 undefeated fighters in his last 4 fights. The win over Prograis, who was a top 15 fighter at the time, is his best win. Before his streak of beating undefeated fighters, he beat Viktor Postol. I rate him higher than Jose Ramirez because of that win over Prograis and he has been better lately. His win over Postol was better than Ramirez's. Ramirez was lucky to get the win. But it's close. Hopefully they fight soon and the winner could go up on this list.

Exiting:

I have Usyk 11th. He beat Chisora recently. I don't want to knock Chisora. He's like the gatekeeper to world class. But Usyk's win was uninspiring. His two fights at heavyweight haven't been anything special. And almost everyone in the top 10 had a much better win more recently than Usyk. Even Loma's loss to Lopez was a better result than Usyk's win over Chisora, because Lopez is so much higher rated than Chisora. If Usyk can get a big win over a heavyweight, it will be hard to keep him off the list.

Santa Cruz has been on my top ten list for a long time. He has been a very good fighter.

Honorable mentions:

After Usyk, I'd put Jose Ramirez 12th. He would obviously make the list if he could beat Taylor.

Dmitry Bivol has beaten all the back half of the top 10 at lightweight, but he has been inactive of late. A fight with Artur Beterbiev would likely catapult one of them onto this list.

The winner of a Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight could also make the list.

The Charlos, Andrade, and Saunders need to bolster their resumes to gain consideration.

World Leader Power Rankings

  Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on December 10.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	1
2	Xi Jianping	China	2
3	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	3
4	Tsai Ing-wen	Taiwan	6
5	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	5
6	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	4
7	Moon Jae-in	South Korea	Not Ranked
8	Khaltmaagiin Battulga	Mongolia	Not Ranked
9	Hun Sen	Cambodia	Not Ranked
10	Prayut Chan-o-cha	Thailand	Not Ranked

1. While New Zealand has had a tiny spike in covid cases recently, Ardern is still the epitome of how to handle a crisis whether its covid or gad violence.

2. Despite handling the virus badly in the initial stages and the horrible treatment of Uyghurs and Tibetans, Xi's China is the only superpower not getting crushed by covid right now.

3. Iceland continues to do well under Jakobsdottir. No other European country comes close.

4. Tsai and Taiwan continue to be the gold standard in dealing with the virus. And this despite its proximity to China.

5. Singapore might be an autocratic system, but even as a major travel hub, they've controlled the virus.

6. Nguyen's Vietnam has also done very well throughout.

7. South Korea under Moon's leadership has done relatively well. They haven't had to resort to lockdowns.

8. Mongolia is actually experiencing their first spike now, but think about that. On the doorstep of China, they haven't had any issue with the virus until now. Battulga deserves some credit.

9. Hun Sen runs an authoritarian system, but right now the virus is most important and Cambodia has done well.

10. Thailand is another country that isn't the freest, but they're handling the virus better than most.

New NFL Format

 AFC

Current format
1. KC 13-1
2. Buf 11-3
3. Pit 11-3
4. Ten 10-4
5. Cle 10-4
6. Ind 10-4
7. Mia 9-5

New format
1. KC 12-1
2. Buf 11-3
3. Pit 11-3
4. Cle 10-4
5. Ind 10-4
6. Ten 10-4
7. Mia 8-5

The landings look similar except in the new format, everything would be wide open. Two divisions are clinched in the current format. In the new format, Buf and Pit be battling for the division. Currently, Ten or Ind will finish in at least 4th place. Cle is really only competing with Pit for a spot 4th or better. The tie-breaker would change in the new format because three teams would be tied and not for the division lead.

NFC
Current formant
1. GB 11-3
2. NO 11-4
3. Sea 10-4
4. Was 6-8
5. TB 10-5
6. LAR 9-5
7. Ari 8-7

New format
1. GB 11-3
2. NO 11-4
3 Sea 10-4
4. TB 10-5
5. LAR 9-5
6. Ari 8-7
7. Chi 7-7

The NFC is why the NFL needs to adopt the new format. There is absolutely no reason with Was should be the 4th seed. They objectively have a worse record than the next four teams. Winning the NFC East doesn't take any special skill. If anything, it's much easier than coming in the 3rd or 4th in the NFC West because all four teams in the East are terrible.

But it gets worse. Of coruse, the current format is completely unfair to TB, LAR, Ari, and Chi. While Sea or LAR will finish with the 5th seed at best, Phi could grab the 4th seed. Sea is 10-4 while Phi is 4-9-1. How does that make any sense? It gets more bizarre. The 9th & 10th seed teams in the NFC have been eliminated, but not the 11th, 12th, or 14th seeds. How in the world does that make any sense?!

NBA Predicitions 2020-2021

 Playing during the height of a pandemic is not recommended. I have no idea how the virus will impact things, but here we go.

EAST
Out in the First Round:
Tor, Phi, Ind, Orl

Out in the conference semis:
Brk, Mia

East Finals
Mil 4-2 Bos

WEST
Out in the First Round:
Uta, Dal, Phx, SA

Out in the conference semis:
LAC, Por

West Finals
LAL 4-1 Den

NBA Finals
LAL 4-1 Mil

New NFL Division Format Proposal

 The NFL should have two divisions in each conference to help make things fairer. In the NFC, the South and East would be a division and the North and West would be another. In the AFC, the North and East would be one and the South and West would be another. Teams would play teams in their current division (now called subdivision) twice and every other team in their new division (teams from the other subdivision) once, alternating home games each season.

The NFL has added a 7th team to the playoffs in each conference (hopefully for this year only. Nothing like hurting a playoff brand like adding mediocrity). That helps the current system because the 3rd Wild Card team often has a better record than the 4th division winner. But it solves the only major problem of my new format, which is that the worse division winner in a conference could have a worse record that the 2nd place team in the other division, and yet still get the bye. Now only the top seed gets the bye.

AFC
Current format
1. KC 12-1
2. Pit 11-2
3. Buf 10-3
4. Ten 9-4
5. Cle 9-4
6. Ind 9-4
7. Mia 8-5

New format
1. KC 12-1
2. Pit 11-2
3. Buf 10-3
4. Cle 9-4
5. Ind 9-4
6. Ten 9-4
7. Mia 8-5

The landings look similar except in the new format, everything would be wide open. Currently, Ten or Ind will finish in at least 4th place. Cle is really only competing with Pit for a spot 4th or better. The tie-breaker would change in the new format because three teams would be tied and not for the division lead.

NFC
Current formant
1. GB 10-3
2. NO 10-3
3. LAR 9-4
4. Was 6-7
5. Sea 9-4
6. TB 8-5
7. Ari 7-6

New format
1. GB 10-3
2. NO 10-3
3 LAR 9-4
4. Sea 9-4
5. TB 8-5
6. Ari 7-6
7. Min 6-7

See a problem with the current format? The NFC East is particularly bad this season. It happens with at least one division just about every year. At worst, that division winner has a worse record than teams missing the playoffs. At best, that division's winner gets an undeserved home game in the playoffs.

Not only does the new format rectify that perennial injustice, but it would make the division and playoff races more exciting. Right now, the NFC North is over. But in the new format, GB would only be a game ahead of Sea and LAR for the NorthWest Division lead. In the current format, two teams are a game behind the lone team in 7th place. In the new format, 3 teams would be tied for 7th place, which is much more exciting.

World Leaders Power Ranking

 Here's the new power rankings of world leaders. The last one was posted on June 23.

Rank	Leader	Country	Previous Rank
1	Jacinda Ardern	New Zealand	1
2	Xi Jianping	China	3
3	Katrin Jakobsdottir	Iceland	5
4	Nguyen Phu Trong	Vietnam	7
5	Lee Hsien Loong	Singapore	Not Ranked
6	Tsai Ing-wen	Taiwan	Not Ranked
7	Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani	Qatar	Not Ranked
8	Haitham bin Tariq	Oman	Not Ranked
9	Boris Johnson	United Kingdom	Not Ranked
10	Ilham Aliyev	Armenia	Not Ranked

1. New Zealand, led by Ardern continues to be the class in dealing with the coronavirus among other issues.

2. Xi's horrible handling of the virus has put virtually the entire world in this mess, but the Chinese seem to have gotten a handle on it within their country, which is not something other powers can say.

3. Iceland, a hot tourist attraction, has also done a phenomenal job combatting the virus throughout.

4. Vietnam is another country that continues to do well against the virus.

5. Singpaore got credit at the outset, suffered some setbacks, but has has corrected course.

6. In a reversal of previous policy, Taiwan will be included on this list if for no other reason than to rankle and roil China. Taiwan had done better fighting the virus than has China.

7. Qatar has done a better job fighting the virus than some regional rivals such as UAE.

8. Haitham bin Tariq took over in January, so his time as emir has been consumed by coronavirus and Oman has done better than most.

9. The UK has not done a good job thus far, but they seem to be first to distribute a vaccine, so that counts for something.

10. Aliyev seems like a curious choice, because his country hasn't fought the virus or Azerbaijan very well. Despite losing the battle to Azerbaijan, though, Armenia is winning the covid war. Azerbaijan has seen a huge spike in cases since the war while daily cases are declining in Armenia. A silver lining for Armenia.

Top Ten NBA Players

Top 10 NBA Players Now
While this list consists of the top 10 players now, the past is taken to account, but it is not a list of the best players who happen to be active. Previous ranks posted on June 24, 2019.

#	David (PR)	Mike (Previous Rank)
1	LeBron (1)	LeBron (3)
2	Antetokounmpo (7)	Antetokounmpo (2)
3	Harden (2)	Kawhi (10)
4	Kawhi (6)	Harden (1)
5	A. Davis  (9)	A. Davis (NR)
6	J. Butler (NR)	Lillard (NR)
7	Jokic (8)	Doncic (NR)
8	Doncic (NR)	J. Butler (NR)
9	Lillard (10)	Embiid (NR)
10	Westbrook (4)	Jokic (4)

Top 10 NBA Careers Among Active Players
You're making a list of the ten best players in NBA history, but there's one caveat; you can only include players who played during the 2019-20 season. These are our choices, taking the players' entire careers into account. Previous ranks posted on June 24, 2019.

#	David (PR)	Mike (Previous Rank)
1	LeBron (1)	LeBron (1)
2	Durant (2)	Durant (4)
3	Curry (4)	Curry (6)
4	Westbrook (5)	Paul (5)
5	Harden (7)	Westbrook (7)
6	Paul (6)	Harden (8)
7	D. Howard (10)	D. Howard (9)
8	Kawhi (NR)	Carmelo (10)
9	A. Davis (NR)	A. Davis (NR)
10	Carmelo (NR)	V. Carter (NR)

Top 10 NBA Franchise Players
This list is about which players you would pick to start a franchise right now. They must have played in an NBA game. Previous ranks posted on June 24, 2019.

#	David (PR)	Mike (Previous Rank)
1	Doncic (10)	Doncic (10)
2	Antetokounmpo (1)	Antetokounmpo (1)
3	Zion (NR)	A. Davis (8)
4	Jokic (5)	Kawhi (7)
5	Adebayo (NR)	LeBron (4)
6	Tatum (6)	Harden (2)
7	Morant (7)	Lillard (NR)
8	Simmons (3)	Durant (NR)
9	Towns (4)	Curry (NR)
10	Mitcchell (NR)	Tatum (NR)

Donald Trump's Terrible Debate Shows He's Unqualified

Don't be fooled, Trump didn't throw up words all over the stage last night as he did in the first debate, but when we actually got to hear his answers, we now know why he used that strategy the first time around.

Trump's answer to whether he has a plan for covid-19 was shamefully. He compared the deaths that have already taken place to imaginary projections. He showed no remorse for those who have died and no vision forward. At one point, he uttered the hilariously obtuse, "I take full responsibility. It's not my fault."

Trump's answer to the question of his child separation policy at the border was horrific. The parents of over 500 kids cannot be located after the government forcibly separated them from their children. He lied about coyotes and was shamed by Biden. But his answer that the kids are well-taken care up was an answer equally callous and incompetent. What if I took your children away from you, but at least they have nice cages.

I don't understand why the Trump administration thinks it's a good idea to bring up H1N1. I remember those swine flu days when I was stuck at hope after losing my job. Grocery shopping could amount to a death sentence while travel was out of the question. I couldn't visit my mom for months. Except, that didn't happen.

At least for me, H1N1 had so little impact on my life I didn't even realize it had happened during Obama's tenure as president. I would've guessed 2003 of something. To compare how the administrations' handling H1N1 and coronavirus, is obviously a losing battle for Trump.

Trump has a tactic of hurling accusations at opponents for which he has been accused. He actually blamed Biden for his son's interactions in- get this- Russia, Ukraine, and China! Trump's affinity for Russia's dictator Vladimir Putin is at best bizarre. His attempted shakedown of the Ukrainian president is the reason he was impeached. Trump makes money from the Chinese government in a gross conflict of interest.

One area Trump actually believes his own rhetoric is with North Korea. Do you remember the North Korean war of 2014? What was Obama thinking? Except that never happened. Trump's greatest foreign policy success in his own mind is averting war with North Korea. Of course, we haven't had a war with North Korea for 70 years. Trump has legitimized a brutal dictator and received nothing in return. It is a horrible failure.

Trump has not been the best president for black Americans. Besides a few token accomplishments that pale in comparison to those of other presidents, his racist rhetoric as made black Americans even more vulnerable. Hate groups love Trump because he legitimizes them and their message. His pandering to black voters isn't actually about gaining their votes. It's about making white voters feel less racist for voting for him.

In fairness, Trump might still be a top ten president for black people. Remember, 11 presidents owned slaves. Segregation was legal under 12 presidents. It says more about our society and the racist presidents we've elected than it does about Trump. Presidents have helped free the slaves, integrated the army, and pass the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. Presidents have used federal power to ensure the integration of schools and to provide justice for black victims when southern localities wouldn't. Trump, a man who called some neo-Nazis "very fine people" claimed last night, "I am the least racist person in this room."

In a horrible debate performance, perhaps Trump's worst moment was on health care. It has been five years since he first ran for president. He has been president for almost four years. He has consistently tried to repeal the ACA. Through it all, he has no health care plan. As late as 2017, he didn't even understand what it is, confusing it with life insurance. 

Isn't it odd that a party that doesn't believe in evolution advocates for a health care system that boils down to survival of the fittest?

Top Ten Pound-for-Pound

 Here's my pound-for-pound list. I take into account ability and accomplishment. The previous list was posted on April 26, 2020.

1. Saul Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KOs) [1]
2. Naoya Inoue (19-0, 16 KOs) [3]
3. Terence Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) [4]
4. Errol Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) [5]
5. Gennady Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) [6]
6. Teofimo Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) [Not Rated]

7. Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) [2]
8. Olexandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) [7]
9. Leo Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs) [8]
10. Josh Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) [9]

Exit: Jose Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs) [10]

1. Canelo might not be fighting for a while after a dispute with his promoter and network. It'll be hard to keep the top spot if he's inactive for too long.

2. Inoue has a battle with the credible Jason Maloney at the end of the month.

3. Crawford faces a faded Kell Brook next month. Crawford's best win is still his decision victory over Viktor Postol four years ago. His talent is undeniable, but it's hard to keep him high up the list when he isn't fighting the same level of opponent as the others.

4. Spence fights Danny Garcia in December. While Garcia isn't at the same level as he was a few years ago, Spence could leapfrog Crawford with an impressive win.

5. Golovkin has been inactive for a year, which is understandable given the virus.

6. Lopez makes the list on the strength of his win over Lomachenko and his impressive knockout of Richard Commey. I thought the fight with Lomachenko was a draw, but I could see Lopez winning 8-4. Julie Lederman is the best boxing judge. She's so good that if I disagree with her, I usually just assume that I was wrong. This is the first time when I strongly disagree with her 119-109 card.

7. I thought Lomachenko's fight with Lopez was a draw. I placed him a slot lower than Lopez because I thought the fight could have been between 6-6 and 8-4 Lopez and the official cards were for Lopeza.

8. Usyk faces Derek Chisora on October 31. Chisora is better than a journeyman, but he's not on the championship level.

9. Santa Cruz has a very tough match against Gervonta Davis on october 31. The winner will likely be on this list.

10. Taylor beat an overmatched opponent this fall. He beat Postol better than Jose Ramirez did, so he remains just ahead of Ramirez.

Exit: Ramirez wasn't impressive against Postol this fall. I had him ranked tenth, but with Lopez's ascent, he likely would have fallen off the list anyway. I still have him 11th.

Game 6 - Lakers Win 17th Title

 In the middle of the second quarter, the Lakers ran away with the trophy.  Le Bron James won the Finals MVP award. He finished the series with a strong 28 point triple double and played strong defense on Jimmy Butler, who struggled mightily.

LeBron had help. Anthony Davis added 19 points and 15 boards to win his first title. Rajon Rondo went 8 for 11 from the floor to score 19 and win his second championship. The Lakers are very strong when Kentavious Caldwell-Pope shoots a respectable percentage. He did in Game 6 for his 17 points. Danny Green won back-to-back titles by adding 11.

Miami showed grit, as they have all playoffs, and whittled the lead down to 13 by game's end. Only Bam Adebayo played well with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. Too often in today's NBA, teams make drastic changes after coming up short. Miami should try to keep this roster together as much as possible for next season. They relied heavily on three rookies who should only get better. Goran Dragic, who made it out onto the floor for Game 6, is one player who might be fading. He had an amazing playoffs, one that will be hard for him to replicate next seasons. But Adebayo is making huge strides and looks like a future superstar while Butler is one now. They have good shooting big men, which brings a nice blend to the team.

After every season, everyone wants to anoint the best player on the championship team as an all-time great. Let's wait. But LeBron has personally been the best player on a Finals team in 9 of the last 10 seasons, a remarkable achievement. His a champion four-times over. After so many years in the league, he is still the best player in the game. He posts meaningful triple doubles with ease. He can even shutdown the opponent's best player defensively in a close-out game.