This is only tangentially related to sports, but is too hilarious to let pass without comment: it seems that Sacha Baron Cohen (of “Borat” fame) has struck again, and this time his victims are the good people of Texarkana and Fort Smith.

It all started with an event titled “Blue Collar Brawlin’” that promised “hot chicks, cold beer, hardcore fights”. Sounds like wholesome fun for the whole family, right? Well, not exactly…here’s how the AP described the scene:

“Lured by $1 beer and the prospect of “hot chicks” and “hardcore fights,” thousands of Arkansans were duped last month into appearing as extras in comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest staged mayhem. Cohen and his confederates organized cage fighting programs on consecutive days in Texarkana and Fort Smith. Both cards ended with two male grapplers (one was identified as “Straight Dave” and wore camouflage) tearing each other’s clothes off and, while in underwear, kissing down their opponent’s chest.”

Oops.

After that, madness predictably ensued, including many beers thrown with malicious intent and the performers being hustled out of the arena through a special exit. And, of course, the story is now all over the Internet with plenty of predictable jokes about the Natural State to accompany it.

The moral of this story? Some things are just too good to be true, and like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and affordable national health care, an event featuring cage fighting, sexy women and $1 beer definitely falls into that category.

Have fun. Be safe. Don’t poke your eyes out.

Pardon the short detour from the exciting world of Arkansas Razorback athletics in the summertime, but I have to give a brief shout-out to Mr. Will Leitch of Deadspin.com. Neither Stephen nor I know the man, and he certainly doesn’t know us (or this site), but it’s not a stretch to say that this humble blog would not exist without him.

When Stephen and I started Razorback Expats last summer (wow, almost a full year ago), Deadspin was our direct inspiration - the Beatles to our Herman’s Hermits, you might say. I’m sure we never would have even thought about entering the glamorous world of blogging without its example. So, with the news that Leitch is stepping down from the site he founded (as of today), I had to make a note of it. Kudos to you, Will Leitch, and thanks for the memories.

Now, back to more posts about Bobby Petrino and Dwight Stewart…

I tried. I really did. But I just couldn’t do it: I couldn’t get into the NBA playoffs.

Not even with the retro appeal of this year’s Finals and one of my favorite athletes getting some well-deserved time in the sun. And not even with my adopted city’s team - with a former Hog as one of its star players - nearly pulling off an all-time upset of the eventual world champion.

I turned away from the NBA in the early part of the decade, when offense dried up and final scores seemed to regularly be something like 75 to 68. And despite the obvious rejuvenation of the game, I haven’t been able to re-engage. I don’t really know why: I’ll leave that up to our staff psychologist.

Whatever the cause, my current apathy stands in stark contrast to my attitude in the 1980s and 1990s. Back then, I was an NBA fanatic. And I was never more absorbed by pro basketball than I was during the epic, seven-game Eastern Conference semifinal showdown between the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks in 1994.

This one had it all: two teams that despised each other, fourth-quarter comebacks, a good old-fashioned brawl, last-second heroics, a questionable game-deciding call and the in-game mental meltdown of a star player. Even before all of that happened, the series’ storylines were wildly compelling.

(Read on …)