EL SEGUNDO HERALD April 30, 2015 Page 5 Greatest Sports Day of the Year By Adam Serrao This May 2nd of 2015 may be the biggest day in sports history that you’ve ever seen. Forget the World Series, forget the Super Bowl; even O.J. Simpson getting chased down the freeway in his white Ford Bronco may pale in comparison to this coming Saturday’s sporting day. With three major marquee events, two playoffs, and one historical rivalry all taking place on the same day, May 2nd might, indeed, go down in history as one of the greatest days ever for sports freaks around the world. If that is what you consider yourself to be, get happy, mark the calendar, and grab a bag of chips and some appetizers. All you’ll have to do next is sit back and relax as the day unfurls with a variety of different invents that will tickle even the most blasé onlookers’ fancy. There is no way to start to explain the day of May 2nd without stating the obvious. This Saturday, in what will be the most anticipated boxing match since Mike Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield’s ear in 1997, we will finally find out who the best pound-for-pound fighter of this generation will be. Only this fight - now five years in the making - may be even more anticipated. The biggest money fight in the history of boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao is said to cost approximately $100.00 to buy on pay-per-view and will have a $400 million impact on the city of Las Vegas, all things included. Let alone what the fighters will make. “On Monday morning,” Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum started, “I will hand Manny a check for $50 million as a down payment, guaranteed.” That’s just a down payment! And if you think that’s a lot, listen to what Mayweather’s promoter says: “I will tell you this,” said chief executive of Mayweather Promotions, “Floyd Mayweather’s check will be a lot more than $50 million. And then it goes from there.” When all is said and done, Mayweather (47-0) will take the majority of a 60-40 split of a purse that will receive most of its income through pay-per-view revenue. To put it in perspective, when Mayweather defeated Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, 2.5 million households bought the fight at approximately half the price of what this epic battle will cost. Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is expected to be purchased by as many as four million homes at an approximate $380 million. Mayweather’s personal takeaway will amount to almost $200 million dollars. $200 million dollars to step into the ring for 12 rounds of three minutes each. Pacquiao’s (57-5-2) carry off won’t be much less. And if the two decide to go half-strength and battle to a draw, the rematch (which is inevitable either way) will bring in even more money. There are many reasons to watch this Saturday’s bout between two of this generations greatest fighters, but the sheer amount of dollars involved is enough to make any person’s jaw drop. On a much lighter, less aggravating note, you can get your day started this Saturday wearing a big “poofy” hat and sipping a mint julep as you watch the Kentucky Derby. What makes this year’s Kentucky Derby even more interesting is that, unlike last year with California Chrome, there is no clear-cut favorite to win it all. As usual, however, trainer Bob Baffert will take over Churchill Downs with two horses that are at the top of this year’s power rankings. Not that you should be betting on sports - of course not, right? - but if you wanted to throw a quarter into the pot, I would put it on either Dortmund or American Pharoah. My personal choice would be American Pharoah because there’s nothing more American than the Kentucky Derby. That and the fact that Pharoah is spelt incorrectly just adds intrigue. If you’re of German descent, however, go for Dortmund. It’s a city in northwestern Germany. There, I did all of the research for you. Either way, with these two aforementioned events alone, this Saturday will be one of the biggest gambling days in the history of the U.S., not that I condone it. Rapper “50 Cent” already bet much more than his namesake, putting $1.6 million on a Mayweather victory. Diddy, formerly known as Puff Daddy, bet Mark Wahlberg $250,000 that Mayweather takes home the title. Sporting events that maybe aren’t worth betting on will be taking place, too. For instance, the New York Yankees will meet the Boston Red Sox in what will be a baseball battle of the game’s oldest rivals. This time, A-Rod will be involved, too. It will also be the third day of this year’s NFL draft. While the big names like Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota will already be off the board, there may still be magic to be had. Don’t forget, last year Michael Sam came off the board in the Girls’ Softball Pounding Out the Wins By Gregg McMullin Photos by Gregg McMullin, unless otherwise specified. The girls’ softball team has had a long history of success and that hasn’t changed this season. The Lady Eagles, who are ranked eighth in the CIF Southern Section Division 4, are on a ten game winning streak to start the week. With the start of the Ocean League and the first two rounds of the El Segundo Tournament out of the way the Eagles have improved to 15-4 overall. Though head coach Keith Cameron is happy about the way the team has been playing he downplays any of the rankings. “We’ve beaten some pretty good teams but there was a stretch of five game where we lost four out of five. Earlier in the season we had some injuries but now that we’re pretty much at full strength so things should be different and the ranking part doesn’t affect how we play.” It was thought that of any teams in the Ocean League that might give the Eagles a problem it would be Santa Monica which hasn’t lost an Ocean League game in over a decade. But there is another team that has been making strides recently and is making their bid to knock off Santa Monica. Hawthorne has started the year 12-4 and was looking to make sure El Segundo’s 2015 Alyssa Pelegrin drives in three runs with a triple against Banning. See Sports Day, page 8 See Girls’ Softball, page 6
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