07/14 (Clemens Mistrial) Quickie

Grace Park Jill Wagner Susie Castillo Fergie Ivanka Trump

UFC 132 postfight: Tito was in dream state when he took out Bader

Tito Ortiz is still in the UFC. The way he kept job made for one of the best MMA moments of 2011.

Ortiz pointed to finally getting healthy and new found confidence as the reasons he was able to pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent MMA history, at least according to the oddsmakers and bettors. By the time the fight started last night in Las Vegas, players had bet Ryan Bader all the way up to a minus-600 favorite.

A euphoric Ortiz said the fight was in slow motion.

"I had an out of body experience...Everything was in slo-mo. I was kind of watching myself do it. It was really weird," Ortiz said during the UFC 132 postfight press conference (3:35 mark). "For the first time everything was super, super slow. He was punching ... block, block. I was like 'that was it?'"

Ortiz gave credit to his trainer Jason Parillo.

Parillo's speed in training camp made Bader look slow to Ortiz. When he clinched the victory with a guillotine choke, Ortiz was still on cloud nine.

"He tapped and I didn't want to let go because I wasn't sure what was going on, because like I said, I had an out of body experience. I didn't know how to react," Ortiz said. "I wasn't letting go until the referee rips me off. I didn't mean to hold on longer than I was supposed to but I wasn't letting go."

Ortiz hadn't won a fight since 2006. He was 0-4-1 in his last five fights. The 36-year-old underwent two serious neck and back surgeries along the way.

"Physically I'm able to do it now. The surgeries I've gone through athletes don't come back. You're done," Ortiz said. "Not me. I have too much drive. Tonight it starts."

Ortiz really appeared sort of mentally beaten during prefight press conference. The losing and the questions about retirement were tough.

"It does eat at you [but] you have to have something to motivate you," Ortiz said. "When you have confidence behind you, you're unstoppable. You know, you look at Jonny 'Bones' Jones, he's unstoppable because his confidence is through the roof."

Ortiz said he'd like to face the winner of the Forrest Griffin-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua fight at UFC 134. It was good to see the old champion back to his form in the Octagon and outside following the fight. The crowd rallied behind Ortiz, who told the media that he had to beg UFC management for one more chance. He made the most of it.

Michelle Rodriguez Mena Suvari Georgina Grenville Michelle Trachtenberg Amanda Bynes

Three Stars from UFC 132: Cruz/Faber, Ortiz and Condit

UFC 132 delivered on an amazing set of fights, which makes writing this post even harder than usual. How do you pick out just three stars from the best card of the year? Here are Cagewriter's picks. Please post yours in the comments or on Facebook. There's little chance for agreement after so many great performances.

No. 1 star -- Tie between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber: At the end of their five-round, main-event bout, I didn't want it to end. The two gave everything they had in the cage, giving a performance that earned the bantamweight division a legion of new fans. Cruz took the bout by landing more, but Faber had a claim on the win by landing more power strikes. Though Demetrious Johnson or Brian Bowles will likely serve as Cruz's next opponent, this fight is begging for a rematch.

No. 2 star -- Tito Ortiz: With his job on the line, Ortiz snapped his five-fight winless streak and showed that he does still belong in the UFC. Perhaps his injuries were holding him back, or the change in training camp really did make a difference in his preparation. Whatever the reason, a re-energized Ortiz showed up in the Octagon on Saturday night. This one reminded us of the legend who helped build the UFC.

No. 3 star -- Carlos Condit: Yes, Chris Leben took out Wanderlei Silva, but the Axe Murderer hadn't fought in 16 months. Likewise, Melvin Guillard put on a show against Shane Roller, showing off his speed and then knocking Roller out, but that was over a fighter with two losses. Condit stands out for two reasons: One, he beat a previously unbeaten fighter which set him up for a possible welterweight title shot. Secondly, his flying knee-KO was so good that he had the boss still talking about it the next day. Dana White tweeted on Sunday afternoon, "@CarlosCondit still blown away by ur performance last nite!!!!!"

Now talk to us in the comment section or on Facebook. Who were your Three Stars?

Abbie Cornish Krista Allen Hayden Panettiere Jules Asner Whitney Able

Red Wings sign MacDonald, as the Chris Osgood question lingers

The Detroit Red Wings re-signed 31-year-old borderline NHLer Joey MacDonald on Monday to a new 2-year contract. If he's not the backup keeper for Jimmy Howard next season, who is?

Matt Saler of On The Wings thinks this signing could mean a return engagement for Chris Osgood with Detroit for one more season:

Going with Osgood again without Joey or a comparable guy in the program would have been a serious risk, but with MacDonald back in the fold, that risk is somewhat mitigated. They can get Osgood cheaper than just about anyone else and if his groin turns out not to hold up, they can go back to Joey, at least for the short term.

Osgood adopted a Red Wings-or-retirement posture after last season, and SB Nation Detroit said last month that his return to the team would hinge on (a) money and (b) an unsuccessful attempt to upgrade the position.

Is Ty Conklin a better option than Chris Osgood in 2011? Of course. Is he the cheaper option? When you have Pascal Leclaire, Marty Turco, Pat Lalime and Ray Emery still out there and virtually no NHL jobs still open, it's hard to imagine Conklin would blow a plum gig over dollars.

(Unless, of course, MacDonald is being signed as a backup and not as an AHL insurance policy. Which is a possibility, though not exactly the best option.)

This all leads back to GM Ken Holland and what Art Regner of Fox Sports Detroit believes will be a difficult meeting with Osgood followed by the veteran goaltender's inevitable retirement:

Published reports indicate that Red Wings general manager Ken Holland is waiting for Osgood to return from a golfing holiday in Scotland, so he can meet with him face to face to deliver the inevitable news.

Without question, this will be the most difficult meeting Holland has ever had with a Red Wings player. His relationship with Ozzie began during his stint as the Wings' scout for Western Canada when a 14-year-old goalie caught his eye.

Note to Ozzie: If you do decide to call it a career, pick a slow news week; your Hall of Fame debate might take us all the way through training camp ?

Victoria Beckham Missy Peregrym Sarah Gellman Eliza Dushku Bonnie Jill Laflin

This woman, ?E.G. Green,? worked as Cubs official scorer in 1880s

When Eliza Daggett ran for mayor of Attleboro, Mass. in 1920, the press made a big deal of her gender. After all, the ink on the 19th Amendment was dry and no woman had ever run for mayor in that state.

And it's true that Eliza ? whose full name after being widowed twice was Eliza G. Green Williams Brown Daggett ? had been a friend to Susan B. Anthony and a student of Mary Stafford Anthony, another famous suffragist. She had met with presidents of the United States. And, even though her mayoral bid probably would fail, she was setting an example simply by competing. Maybe the next woman would win.

But in a feature story about the woman-candidate that ran Dec. 4 of that year, the Attleboro Sun pulled a tighter focus on Eliza, who by then was 69 years old.

When she was in her 30s, Eliza had a much cooler job than mayor.

The headline screamed: ATTLEBORO CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR FIRST WOMAN OFFICIAL BASEBALL SCORER.

Whoa! From 1882-1891, Eliza was the official scorer for the National League baseball club in Chicago ? the White Stockings or Colts. In the 20th century, they would become known as the Chicago Cubs.

So, decades before women in the United States gained the full right to vote ? an era when, if a woman worked at all, she probably did so exclusively as a seamstress, nurse or school teacher ? Chicago's charter Major League Baseball franchise employed Eliza as its official scorer.

What's more amazing? Even today, women aren't official scorers in the majors. Is there even one? Have there been but a few, if any at all, since Eliza's time? Official scorers tend to be (though not necessarily) former sportswriters ?�who are men, mostly. It was the same back then, obviously.

Her gender was one of the reasons Cubs team president Albert Spalding kept Eliza's work a secret.

But how did Eliza get the job? In her own words, from the Sun, she explains:

"I was living opposite the Chicago ball field at the time," said Mrs. Daggett. "I was very much interested in the national sport and always kept a detailed score of the games. The Chicago management was experiencing no end of trouble with the kickers of the club, solely on account of the official score, and was looking for some way of getting rid of the nuisance."

As @OldHossRadbourn or another dapper gent of the period might tell you, "kickers" used to refer to ones who objected, protested, or rebelled on the playing field. Perhaps by kicking dirt, and sometimes probably on, an umpire.

So, anyway: Eliza was a not only baseball fan, but also a dedicated baseball nerd!

"President Spalding knew that I was keeping score, day after day, and made the suggestion that I try my hand at the official score. I sat in a place in the grandstand where I could see everything, and was blessed with keen vision. There was no ball hit that I did not follow in its flight and no detail of a play that I missed."

Official scorers of today, whose job pretty much works like it sounds, take down the results of every game and pass them to Major League Baseball headquarters in New York. It's the official scorer's job to determine, among other things, whether it's a hit or an error.

Spalding must have liked the way Eliza did the job, as she did it for 10 years, but he told no one about her. A woman? Scoring the national pastime for the Chicago ball team? As if!

Spalding also wanted to cut down on players trying to influence the scorer into giving them more hits, or fewer errors, whichever would benefit them. Apparently, this was a problem back in the day.

Eliza's nearly forgotten turn as the Cubs scorer has come to light again thanks in part to a sports memorabilia auction happening in Arizona, where Major League Baseball's All-Star Game is being played Tuesday night.

Phil Rogers in the Chicago Tribune recently reported on Eliza's place in history, along with some of the treasures up for bid ? specifically two pendants from the Cubs' 1908 championship season that had been in Eliza's family for several generations. Here's one with a familiar logo:

Deborah Williams, Eliza's great-great granddaughter, put the items for auction so that a true collector might treasure them. Thankfully, she also has been saving the truly important stuff ? details about Eliza's life (which would be unique even without baseball).

Eliza's son, Charles G. Williams, was the team treasurer in '08, when the Cubs ? as their most of their tortured fans know ? most recently won a World Series. (Which makes me wonder: Considering his mom worked for the Cubs before he did, did that influence Williams getting a job with them? His connection was his mother?)

But not even Williams knew, when he was a little boy, what was up with his mom and the Cubs. From the Tribune:

Charles Williams once told the Tribune his mother usually sat near the wife of Hall of Famer Cap Anson, who managed the team, but she didn't disclose her responsibilities.

"Anson never knew who was official scorer for the club, nor did any of the players, newspapers or the public,'' Charles Williams said. "My mother usually sat (in the players' wives section) at the games, and they did not know she was official scorer. I used to mail the scores to league headquarters for her, and I did not know it.

"In signing the scores she used her maiden name, and even (the league official) who received them did not know who E.G. Green was."

Eliza did become a recognized face at games and, even though players (like Anson, shown above) didn't know about her job, they seemed to trust her judgment:

"The funniest feature of my experience as official scorer was that some of the players, ascertaining that I was an expert, came to me to ask about certain plays over which disputes had arisen. They asked what I thought of the plays; were they correctly umpired, and was this a hit, was this an error? I told them what the plays, hits and errors were, as I judged them to be, and they accepted my decisions without a protest.

"Not one of them suspected what I really was doing for club management."

Not to mention what she was doing for the history of the game. Someday, Eliza's life will be on display in an exhibit at baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, preserved forever for future generations. For now, we have PDF files of old newspaper clippings and a few paragraphs at Find-a-Grave.com.

Eliza said had to quit her baseball post after the 1891 season because of an illness. And she didn't become mayor of Attleboro, by the way. Eliza G. Green Williams Brown Daggett simply came along too soon in history.

Follow Dave on Twitter ?�@AnswerDave ? and engage�the Stew on Facebook

Katherine Heigl Lorri Bagley Leslie Bega Maria Sharapova Lindsay Price

Dockett escapes gator trouble in Everglades, buys small croc named ?Nino?

Needless to say, Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman Darnell Dockett is having a very interesting offseason. Just days after a police stop Dockett detailed on Twitter, he found himself in the Florida Everglades, apparently getting a very good look at some gators down there. He first shared a shot of this big croc, informing his followers that "this mofo almost bit me!"

But Dockett wasn't scared away from the alligator concept by that encounter ? soon after that first tweet, he let us know that he found a new buddy.

We're not quite sure what Dockett plans to�do with the gator (he did say to teammate Larry Fitzgerald that he planned to bring "Nino" to work), but perhaps this could be a way for fellow NFL player Chad Ochocinco to live out his recent croc-wrestling fantasies.

Aki Ross Ashley Tappin Carmen Electra Amanda Marcum Leila Arcieri

Vegas Watch Top 16: February (2011)

Freida Pinto Eva Longoria Susan Ward Emmy Rossum Kim Yoon jin