Two Great Performances, One Weekend

Sometimes, depending on the sports landscape the night before, I struggle to come up with interesting and engaging topics to discuss on this forum. I don’t think I’ll have that problem on Mondays.

A full slate of wildly entertaining NFL games (how about the Colts/Pats Sunday nighter?), a PGA Tour win by Canadian Stephen Ames, the first LPGA Tour win of Michelle Wie’s career (is she actually hot, or just athletic Asian hot?), and Captain Canada Steve Nash lighting up the Toronto Raptors.

I’m not going to touch any of the above and instead focus on two transcendent talents who created instant watercooler discussion on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon respectively: Manny Pacquiao and Adrian Peterson.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the sweet science (my favourite boxer is Rocky Balboa), and I’ve only had a cursory interest in the heavyweight division. This changed somewhat during my last vacation to Cuba. One of the benefits of a Caribbean trip (besides the free booze and women willing to make questionable decisions) is access to HBO.

While there, I watched a documentary on Pacquiao’s training camp leading up to his fight with Ricky Hatton. Pacquiao is absolutely incredible. Not only is the guy in tremendous shape but he hits insanely hard for someone so small in stature. Furthermore, the speed and velocity in which he delivers his punches is superhuman. When Pacquiao starts punching at full throttle, you literally cannot see his fists moving; everything is just a blur.

He could knock me out, revive me, and knock me out again before I had a chance to hit the floor.

Pacquiao dismantled Miguel Cotto so thoroughly Saturday night in Vegas that Cotto’s wife and young son left the arena in the 9th round as they couldn’t bear to see Cotto take any more punishment. That victory gave Pacquiao a record seventh title in seven different weight classes. He has dominated every division from 106 pounds all the way to 147 pounds.

The record in itself isn’t what impresses me most about Pacquiao; it’s the way he does it. When you watch Manny Pacquiao fight, you know you are witnessing greatness. It’s just hard to fathom that a guy his size is able to generate such punishing punching power at a breakneck pace.

The appreciation for such once-in-a-generation talent is a perfect segue to Viking’s running back Adrian Peterson. Yesterday against the Lions, AP racked up an impressive 133 yards on the ground. This gave him over 4,000 yards for his career in only 39 career games.

I’m not a math whiz but I’m pretty sure that averages out to over 100 yards a game. One hundred yard games are the benchmark of great running and all Peterson has done is AVERAGE 100 yards per start throughout his fledgling career.

Like Pacquiao, it’s not the stats that impress me; it’s how Peterson gains these yards. He reaches top speed faster and changes direction better than any other back in the game. But what sets AP apart is his unparalleled strength and power.

Twice yesterday, he looked to be tackled for no gain. Instead, he kept his legs churning and broke through a number of tackles for massive yardage. Once he even had a Lion draped around his waist and he still managed to rumble for a good gain.

The best example of Peterson’s awe-inspiring ability took place a few weeks ago against the Steelers. He caught a pass from the Viking’s quarterback (What’s his name? You never hear much about him), turned around and just lambasted Pittsburgh cornerback William Gay.

I mean completely crushed him. And he kept moving for significant yardage. Check it out here. Watching that clip gives me a testosterone-fuelled erection.