Controlling Destiny | DAILY SPORTS SELECT

Dr. Dre, one of the most influential hip hop producers of all-time, didn't always have it easy in the music industry. While an integral part of the N.W.A. sound, Dre suffered business-wise from the fact that the owners of Ruthless Records were Eazy-E and Jerry Heller.

Dre moved on to Death Row Records, but it turned out that owner Suge Knight didn't exactly have Dre's best interests in mind.

Only after he formed Aftermath Entertainment, his own label, was Dr. Dre able to consolidate the artistic and business aspects of his legendary career.

Likewise, Snoop Dogg also Paid Tha Cost To Be Da Bo$$.


On Saturday, heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko added The Ring Magazine title to his collection of WBO, IBF and IBO belts, totally controlling Ruslan Chagaev - and his destiny - with his left hand.

The younger Klitschko brother's left hand is a marvel of a weapon. Not only does Wladimir use it to jab his opponent into submission, but also to gauge distance and as a stiff arm to control the overall movement of his man.

Unable to gain distance, space or time against a superior technician, and against Klitschko's occasional right hand, Chagaev was simply pummeled into a stoppage after nine rounds of action.

I'm sure there are still W. Klitschko-doubters out there. I was one myself, just like I was a Kobe-doubter before Kobe won his first title without Shaq. Wladimir will always have his skeptics, especially in this era of weak heavyweights, but you can't control everything. He simply did the best he could and now has one more fan.

Talk about giving it your all. When you think of futbol, you think of Brazil. You think of Spain. You think of Italy. You think of Argentina.

But you don't think about Egypt, Iraq or South Africa.

We all know Iraq is one inferno of a country. And by all accounts, neither Egypt nor South Africa are paradise.

However, give their national soccer teams credit for playing their hearts out during the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Brazil and Egypt demonstrate the beauty of futbol.
courtesy of MrFootballhighlights

I like the way these countries have been playing favored teams almost to a standstill. Iraq hasn't won a game, but it lost just 0-1 to Spain and drew in two games against South Africa and New Zealand.

South Africa hasn't been bad either, losing 0-2 to Spain but winning 2-0 against New Zealand.

The most impressive of the wild bunch is Egypt, taking Brazil down to a Kaka penalty kick to drop a 3-4 thriller while beating Italy 1-0. I know, they got smacked 0-3 by the United States, but you know, Egypt ain't Brazil.

In third-world countries such as Egypt, Iraq or South Africa, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. Your destiny is limited to the now.

But if you play like their soccer teams, at least you can control the moment.