Weekends like this weekend are rare in the cosmos, but when all the stars line up just right, magical things can happen in this chaotic cluster of gelatinous energy at the end of our galaxy. Alexander Pope said it best, "What mighty conquests arise from trivial things." And as the sun rose and set on the world, wars were fought, rebels terrorized the stability of their home nations, men died and women cried. As the internal strife's and struggles of the sordid masses overwhelm the dismal individuals in the darkest corners of the planet in the war torn countries of Sierra Leone and Kashmir, and in other more glamorous places, where war and famine is just something you hear about perhaps muttered in casual conversations by the locals, the likes of Paris, and Memphis and Belmont and Yokohama Bay, where spectators gathered, sports enthusiasts flocked, bettors tensed up, and the media watched and recorded the events of this weekend, the cosmic weekend, when all these "trivial contests" that Alexander Pope mused about, had taken hold of the attention of the rest of the world. Indeed the glory of competition and the depravity of the underground evil that cunningly lurks behind the imperialistic organization of professional sports do eventually collide, and release abundant waves of energy upon the world, as the ripples trickle and topple everything sane within their paths. Yes, weekends like this spring up like an unexpected oil geyser in the middle of a wide open dust field in central Texas and keep us all watching in amazement and disbelief.

The sports world had gathered up the best of the best. Horses from around the world raced on the sandy tracks of Belmont Park to see if history would be made. Men on skates played three extra sessions to determine the outcome of Lord Stanley's infamous Cup. Sisters Williams were pitted against each other on the clay courts in Roland Garros. In The Bronx, a slugger named Bonds walked into the House That Ruth Built, the sanctuary of all stadiums, Yankee Stadium, proved why he is one of the best in the game, as opposing fans, cheered and applauded his feats, a rarity indeed. Across Southeast Asia, teams of the best soccer/football players from the corners of the world were organized to decide the dominant nation in kicking around a spherical object without using their hands, and in the shadows of Memphis, two met battled to prove to the overanxious sadistic audience who was really the best boxer in the world.

Amidst all this glory and honor of the spirit of competition, so too did the vultures awaken to the energy and rapidly swoop in to feast on the left-overs, they are the money mongers who lust after and compulsively masturbate over days like this, let alone a weekend filled with tremendous economic opportunity, whether it be from merchandising or from illegal sports betting. The gamblers and the shylocks crawled out of their deranged compartments and wandered into the sunlight to fleece the masses to make a huge score on anything and everything. Indeed. THE FIX WAS IN! at Belmont as a 70-1 shot wins the Belmont Stakes and upsets a possible historical event, a Triple Crown bid. In the city on the river, where Elvis flourishes, we founded oursleves drawn to the Pyramid where a somber and quiet Tyson got a good beating from Lewis, as no limbs were bitten and no major rules broken to everyone's dismay. The carnival like atmosphere was tamed, and I began to wonder, wow, Tyson had us all fooled, a salesman, as well as a thug, the guy is a lot smarter (and yes dangerously insane) than we expected. And in the end he took his beating like a man. As the jape was on us. Con men. Salesmen. Sportsmen. Gentlemen? Amen.