Left is right, and right is wrong.

It's not about politics. I hate politics. The placement of male earrings? This is a sports blog, and if I got THAT far off base, the boss, sports editor Jeff Kuehn, might drop on me like Dorothy's house did to the wicked witch of the east -- and I don't need that. Chances are, he'll be too busy catching up after the holiday weekend and won't see this anyway, but when there's a house flying around overhead, it's usually a good idea to stay out of the way. That "one and done" thing can take on a whole new meaning.

No, it's about lefties, aka "southpaws". I tried to research what percentage of people are left-handed, and estimates vary, but about 10% seems to be pretty close. When it comes to sports, sometimes they have an advantage, and sometimes it doesn't matter.

Being left-handed doesn't give Phil Mickelson an edge in golf. Bowling? The left side of the lane doesn't get used as much, but is that an advantage? I dunno. It doesn't seem to apply in basketball, and left-handed pitchers and hitters are commonplace in baseball. Hockey's interesting. Kids grow up to be forwards learning to shoot from both sides -- hence left wings and right wings -- and even centers. But if you're a serious hockey fan, ask yourself this --- how come all the defensemen seem to use right-handed sticks?

But there's sports where being a southpaw is an advantage. Why? Because lefties are used to facing righties, and righties are NOT used to facing lefties. Tennis would probably be at the top of the list. Think of the names over the years. People like Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Jimmie Connors, Monica Seles, and Martina Navratilova won a bushel of championships. More recently Rafael Nadal has dominated men's tennis, and some young lady I never heard of before, one Petra Kvitova, just won Wimbledon. Guess what? She's a leftie. Assuming the 9 to 1 ratio is valid, the probability of all that happening is off the charts.

This is not meant to detract from the skills and dedication of these athletes that enabled them to reach world-class status -- but they had an advantage. They presented a different look to the righties, while the righties were business as usual to them. Where does a rightie find southpaw practice competition?

Thing is, this only applies in head-to-head, mano e mano, or womano e womano competition. All the sports mentioned above besides tennis don't qualify. But boxing does.

A couple examples. "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, one of the best middleweights of all time, was naturally right-handed. He learned how to box left-handed because it gave his opponents a "different look". In his heyday he was destroying everybody. Then he fought "Sugar" Ray Leonard. For those that remember that epic battle, Hagler was clearly the dominant presence going in, but he got cocky, and for the first 2 rounds, turned around and fought right-handed. That was something Leonard was used to. Hagler lost those rounds. Had he won them, he likely would have won the fight and boxing history would look a little different.

As an aside, I was a big Tommy "Hit Man" Hearns fan when I was younger and saw many of his early fights in person. It wouldn't have mattered if he'd been ambidextrous with 4 arms against Hagler. They may have weighed the same, but so does your average wolverine and maybe a small boxer with a nasty bite. (No, not Mike Tyson -- the canine variety of boxer). If they ever fought, let's just say if you were the owner of the dog -- I hope you weren't overly fond of it, because it would get ugly in a hurry, much like that fight did.

In that regard, there's the ultimate question, of course. Why won't Floyd Mayweather fight Manny Pacquiao? Yeah, Floyd might have legal problems, but before that, it was about blood testing or urine samples, or whatever excuse his camp could think of.  I don't believe a word of it.. Also, given the astronomical amount of money that fight would generate, it certainly can't be about that. Who would be dumb enough to quibble over a few bucks when the table is covered with C-notes? Well yeah, there's the NFL, but still....

On top of Manny's formidable boxing skills -- he's a leftie. Where's Floyd going to find a sparring partner that can come anywhere near simulating that? He can't. I'm thinking if Pac-Man was a rightie, maybe that fight already happened.
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Does any of this make sense? You decide.

I still can't figure out the earring thing. Does that have anything to do with "switch-hitters"? Beats me.

And that house is still flying around somewhere -- lurking.

Maybe this would be easier if I lived in Kansas.


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