The Heat and the Shine

UFC 173 tickets went on sale today and they are still available.  Very available.  The only sold out sections are the cheapest ones; though you can still get those $75 tickets on StubHub if you're willing to pay $125. It's odd to look at the MGM Grand Garden Arena seating map and see so many tickets available.   Floor seats at $750 are there, though the celebrity section perpendicular to press row is almost sold out.  Many of the straight-on escalated seats that sell for $750, $400 or $200 are gone, too.  And of course the cheapest lower level tickets ($200 per seat for the last few rows on the corners and ends) are mostly sold because those, the nosebleeds and cageside are where the ticket brokers make their money.  The rest of the seating chart is a sea of little blue dots waiting to be purchased. On paper, UFC 173 is a solid card.  It has a championship match.  It has a semi-main event featuring fighters ranked numbers one and five.  It has Daniel Cormier on his march t

The Undertaker's loss at WrestleMania XXX wasn't a screwjob.  It wasn't kept secret from the announcers and it wasn't a call in the ring.  It was planned.  It was his choice.  It was business. Brock Lesnar has been a financial disappointment to the company thus far, and this will give him a shot in the arm.  A deca-durabolin sized shot?  Time will tell.  It does put a shiny new coat on Lesnar and that could mean something. WWE needs a boost right now.  WrestleMania may have been an aesthetic success and a non-sports gate record for the Super Dome, but a soft belly lies beneath.  The weekly television audience is not growing.  Money-drawing stars are down to two.  The company becomes relevant in popular culture on increasingly rare occasions. Kudos to Undertaker, the McMahon-Helmsleys and anyone else who saw the lay of the land and made this brave decision.  There are a lot of WWE fans that wanted the Undertaker to keep that streak.  Some just liked having a gimmi