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Fight night
Tonight's game a rematch rivalry
Stick a massive pin in your frontal lobe, and consider this scenario.
Lennox Lewis beats Evander Holyfield into a pulp in Vegas.
It's such a convincing drubbing, even the boxing bookies don't wait for a decision, and start paying out for bets on the Big Brit.
Hold it. Wait right there.
Check out the referee. He's creeping over to the battered Holyfield, whose rearranged face resembles a pumpkin two weeks after Halloween.
The ref props up the Holy Warrior, who's knocked so senseless, he can't get off his stool.
The zebra grimly raises Holyfield's arm in victory.
All hell breaks loose. The fix is in again. The sport's a disgrace.
A disgusted Lennox Lewis quits the soiled science to become a pig farmer.
And a fed-up-with-this-nonsense angry mob of puritan boxing fans grabs pitchforks, light torches, and runs promoter Don King out of town.
Fearing for his life, the Frizzy-Haired One cabs to the airport and jumps on the first plane he sees.
It's a direct flight to Winnipeg.
"What's in Winnipeg," King snarls.
"Well, there's the Blue Bombers," the flight attendant replies.
"Whazzat?" King demands, suddenly very interested. "They used to call Joe Louis The Brown Bomber. This could be good. We can make a buck here. Only in America. Do these Blue Bombers have a promoter?"
"They're a football team," he's told.
"What's going on?" King asks. "I thought Winnipeg was a fight town. Where's Golden Boy Lalonde? Is he still there?"
"No. But they've got the Goldeyes. They're a baseball team."
"What else," pleads King, grasping at straws.
"There's the hockey Moose," he's informed.
King smiles.
"Give me the scoop," he laughs, wickedly rubbing his hands.
Now, time out. Don't get us wrong. We're not trying to sell fighting in the IHL.
But the buzz at Wednesday night's Moose game with the Michigan K-Wings was (a) the play of Lonny Bohonos, and (b) the tremendous three-fight card.
Here's (c). The same two teams tangle tonight at the Winnipeg Arena.
And they're starting to notice they don't like each other too much.
It's built slowly.
"You do what you have to do," said Mike Prokopec, who threw some nifty lefts Wednesday at the face of K-Wing defenceman Milt Mastad. "But I don't think it will carry over (tonight), they're not a big rival for us. They're not like Chicago or somebody we play an awful lot."
But rivalries start small. And back-to-back games are the best firestarter.
"In these situations, usually if the game is close, there won't be anything," said K-Wings tough guy Mel Angelstad, "but looking at what happened (Wednesday), if someone's up by three or four goals ..."
Then gloves could go down.
Even Moose coach Randy Carlyle didn't mind stirring the sideshow hype.
"They're just two competitive teams playing hard, but in these back-to-back games, you do have longer memories," smiled Carlyle.
Or real short ones, if you're Moose defenceman Michael Stewart, a notorious lefty puncher, who tangled twice with K-Wing forward Gates Royer Wednesday.
"It's not my game, but when you're called upon ..." said Stewart, trailing off.
Then you dance. And sometimes, you do it twice.
"The second one was so tiring," smiled Stewart. "It was just exhausting."
But more entertaining than every boxing re-match this past decade.
Maybe we don't need Don King's mouth to create a rivalry.
Just keep coming with these back-to-back games.
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