Online Escape: Xtreme skeet shooting

"I want more bigger stuff."

Pavlik vs. Taylor

Jermain Taylor has never seemed like a middleweight champion to me.

Looking at the 29-year-old's résumé – which includes two victories over Bernard Hopkins and a draw against Winky Wright – I sound like a crazy man for saying this. But I watched all three of those fights and Taylor didn't do all that well.

Hopkins should have won both fights – I'm not sure what the judges were saying. Hopkins outboxed Taylor and showed much less damage after the fights. The Wright fight was much closer, but Winky had the fight except for that last round.

Taylor's a tall, strong fighter with a long reach. But his opponent on Saturday, Kelly Pavlik, is even taller and has seems like he has more power – 31 wins, 28 KOs. In May, he had a decisive victory over up-and-comer Edison Miranda in one of the most entertaining fights of the year. Seven rounds of nonstop action before getting a TKO in the seventh round.

That same night Taylor scored a dull split-decision victory over the smaller Cory Spinks.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens on Saturday. Can Taylor's suspect chin handle Pavlik's power, or will he prevail and live up to his potential?

I think Pavlik's going to run the tables on Taylor. He is too big, too strong. Pavlik via KO in 8.

Lazy journalism

“Taser this... F--- Bush.”

Wow.

Creative.

When I read about how The Rocky Mountain Collegian decided to publish this four-letter piece in its opinions section, I couldn't help but think to myself that someone was too lazy to write an actual column and this was a last-second decision.

No, I don't think the content was as offensive as many are making it out to be – it is a college newspaper after all, and they are allowed some editorial liberties. Granted I didn't use swear words in big, bold letters in my time at The Metropolitan.

I'm offended by the lack of effort that was applied. It wasn't a provocative and insightful look at, well, anything. The Rocky Mountain Collegian Editor-in-Chief J. David McSwane said CSU students are apathetic about free speech and other freedoms and that the “best way to illustrate that point was to use our freedoms.”

The best way? I don't think most people got the point. A well-written, profanity-laced piece about that subject would have been much more interesting.

And McSwain has shown plenty of effort in the past. Two years ago, the then 17-year-old wrote a piece titled “An Army of Anyone” in Westword. He went undercover and exposed army recruiters bending the rules to sign new recruits.

If he spent an hour to bang out something with more substance, no one outside of Fort Collins would have heard about it.

Then again, maybe that's what he wanted.

Oh, and if you're going to do a four-word piece, please edit it. There's a space before the ellipses according to AP style.

What's in a name?

Gardens on Havana, huh?

Then my name is Master King Emperor Josephus, Ph.D.

Just because you give something a different name, doesn't mean it's going to stick. Ask the Aurora Mall – wait, I mean “Town Center.”

I grew up knowing that area as Buckingham Square and it's going to continue to be Buckingham after the redevelopment. Plus “Gardens” sounds too flowery.

“Hey, let's head over to the Gardens!”

“Hey, let's not.”

Why not give it an awesome name like “The Fort” or “Thundera.”

Actually, calling it “Thundera” would be pretty sweet, especially with a giant statue of Lion-O at the entrance and some guy in a Snarf outfit giving balloons to kids.

Fighting fat: Week four

Starting weight: 176 lbs. (BMI: 26.4 – overweight)
Sept. 25 morning weigh in: 169 lbs. (BMI 25.3 – overweight)
Days worked out during week three: five

How the heck this this happen?

It's a pleasant surprise to lose two pounds this week – I was expecting to be heavier than I am right now. My nephew graduated from the Art Institute on Friday so we had a family party on Saturday. The thing about our family parties is that there's tons of food and it's all delicious. I ate way more than I should have that night. Then we hit up the club and partook in some alcoholic beverages. How many? Lets say it was slightly less than the number of fingers I have. Add in some late-night burgers and ribs and it was a fitting end to a night of gluttony.

I probably took in 3,000-4,000 calories from dinner to when I came home. Yeah. Not doing that again anytime soon.

Add that to my recent acquisition of NCAA Football '08 and it's a double-edged sword against me – Speaking of which, I created my alma mater Metro State. It's year six and the 'Runners are the three-time defending Sun Belt conference champs and are currently ranked No. 15 in the AP, ahem, “Media” polls.

I suppose I compensated by increasing my workout warm-up cardio to 30-45 minutes. But it leaves me wondering, how light would I be if I didn't give into my indulgences?

There's more temptation this weekend with another family gathering. I just need to stick to my guns and stay with moderate portions.

To recap, I have two weeks and two days to drop three pounds. My goal for next Tuesday is to reach my goal and be at 166 pounds. It's nice being able to reach notch six on my belt again.

Online Escape: Western ukelele

A classic Western song with a bevy of ukeleles.

Lookalikes

Separated at birth? Oscar-nominated actor David Strathairn, left, and Aurora city council Ward IV candidate Gary Zimmerman.