LEFTOVERS: Trainer’s methods go to pot
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor Duane Ludwig has quickly made more of an impact as a coach than he ever did as a journeyman fighter.
Since taking over a few months ago as head trainer at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, Calif., Ludwig has earned a reputation as one of the top strategists in mixed martial arts. TAM fighters are perfect under his watch.
He might have let slip the secret to his success this week, and his performance might be a bit, shall we say, enhanced. Ludwig is taking full advantage of California’s liberal medicinal marijuana laws.
“It’s freakin’ legal,” Ludwig told MMA Mania. “When I watch film, I watch film normal how I am now. Then I watch film when I’m high on marijuana. I also watch the film again when I have Alpha BRAIN in my system. I watch film from three different states of consciousness just to get different looks at things. Just to see if maybe I missed a step or a nice little detail ...
“I take this serious as hell.”
Alpha BRAIN is a supplement that claims to enhance mental function, or as the product’s website puts it, the pill produces “an extraordinary combination of lucid dreams, mental drive, focus, and mental acuity.”
Ludwig’s fighters, who include top contenders Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes and Joseph Benavidez, probably believe it.
Whatever he’s doing, it’s working.
Just don’t be too surprised when Ludwig starts telling his fighters what a great idea it would be to step into the cage with potato chips and Funyuns.
■ NEVER, EVER — Daniel Snyder never has been one to cower to public opinion. The entrepreneur and controversial owner of the Washington Redskins does things his way without apology, so those who are pressuring him to change the team’s nickname are probably wasting their time.
That didn’t stop District of Columbia councilman David Grosso from introducing a bill this month demanding the Redskins change their “racist and derogatory” nickname.
In USA Today, Snyder’s response was customarily blunt: “We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”
That last sentence also can serve as the answer to when the Redskins will win a Super Bowl under Snyder’s leadership.
■ INCOMPLETE — Controversy was the one thing Rutgers was looking to avoid when the program was seeking a basketball coach after the debacle that stemmed from the botched firing of Bob Knight-wannabe Mike Rice in April.
Mission not accomplished.
All seemed fine when the state university of New Jersey brought in Eddie Jordan, a proud Rutgers alum with NBA experience.
That lasted until Friday when Deadspin went through the arduous process of vetting Jordan’s academic record, and by that we mean making one phone call to the Rutgers registrar’s office.
Turns out that Rutgers degree Jordan is so fond of talking about doesn’t actually exist.
Jordan never graduated from the school.
Can you blame him?
Who would willingly spend enough time in New Jersey to actually earn enough credits to finish college?
COMPILED BY ADAM HILL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
