Weekend Report Card #MayPac #KentuckyDerby #Avengers #NFLDraft

This has been one of the greatest weekends in quite some time. So much has happened since Friday night and now that the weekend is almost over, I'm just as tired as if I worked all week. I've been sitting around trying to think of a more active weekend then May 1st - 3rd of 2015 and I just can't bring anything to mind. Why was this weekend so great?

Friday night for me started with "Avengers: Age of Ultron." I grew up as a huge comic book fan and I've come to love their movies. I saw "Avengers" in 2012 and I've waited patiently for this sequel and it finally arrived. Unlike most sequels, I wasn't worried about being disappointed because every Marvel Comic movie has been done to perfection since "Iron Man" debuted in 2008. The original "Avengers" movie from 2012 became my all-time favorite movie after seeing it and let me say that the sequel is an extremely close second! An awesome movie that non-comic fans may not appreciate, but those who are familiar with the characters will enjoy.

Grade: A+

After sleeping until 9 AM, I spent Saturday morning cleaning for the most part. I did a lot of moving, discarding, and rearranging. Later that afternoon, I fired up the grill and started to throw down on some vittles. Chicken legs, turkey burgers, hot dogs, and pork chops made up the BBQ roster. As I prepared, I peeked inside at the TV from time-to-time to see if the 141st Kentucky Derby had started.
Dating back to my youth, the Kentucky Derby was always a big deal. I was around 6 years old the last time a horse won the Triple Crown in horse racing. So I'm always excited to see the first leg of the Triple Crown races to see who will be the horse to watch. The Kentucky Derby is generally one of the most exciting two minutes you'll ever see in a "spectator sport."

I would have liked to have seen more action towards the front of the pack, but the race basically came down to two horses. It was neck-and-neck down the stretch before American Pharoah pulled off the victory by a length. American Pharoah will be the horse to follow as they move on to the next leg of the Triple Crown in a few weeks.

Grade: A- 

The NFL Draft was going on throughout the day on Saturday. I didn't take the time to watch it, but I was elated when I found out that a friend of mine had a stepson get drafted by the New England Patriots. Congratulations to Matthew Wells, Mississippi State linebacker. I hope that the Patriots get good use out of your versatility.  I only hate that my Cowboys didn't see his potential, but I am happy with their draft.  Training camp is just around the corner and Preseason will be here in just a couple of months.  I can smell the tailgating in the air already!

Grade: Gotta give an A+ when someone you once saw play in high school makes it to the NFL. 

Lastly was the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight. "The Fight of the Century" as dubbed by the promoters. Well, the actual fight didn't live up to its name, but the hype surrounding it most definitely did. This was probably the most anticipated fight in the history of boxing. For six years people have asked for this fight and last night it finally happened. Here's my take on the fight: I enjoyed it. Many loyal boxing fans did. I saw a lot of negative comments on Facebook and Twitter about Mayweather "running" from Pacquiao.

Unfortunately, people watch too many mixed martial arts and Rocky movies and assume that every title fight is a war. That's not necessarily the case. You're not supposed to get hit in boxing. Muhammad Ali most famously said, "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." Not "stand toe-to-toe and swing for the fences." And if it's good enough for Ali then it's good enough for me.

Mayweather dodged Pacquiao's punches, landed punches of his own, and got back out of Pacquiao's way. I can't blame the man for doing what boxing was based on: "make him miss then make him pay." Everyone knows Mayweather's style so I don't understand the complaining. It's like buying an ice cream cone in the summer and getting mad because it melted before you got home. You should have expected it. Was this fight worth the $99 I spent? Absolutely not. However, very few fights in the history of boxing would have been.

Grade: B+ 

As you can see, I had a very active Friday and Saturday. Today is my grandmother's 92nd birthday, so I will be going to see her to celebrate her being blessed with another year on this earth. My god daughter has a dance recital in a few hours, so if I'm lucky then I can get that in as well. This has really just been an awesome weekend.