Wow...

First Ed McMahon, then Farrah Fawcett, then Michael Jackson and now Billy Mays. It has not been a good week to be a celebrity.

And I was just starting to get into Pitchmen too.

Updates

So, Chase got his rights traded to Houston. That's especially funny in light of his past experience with a team from Houston:



In other news, John Kerry is a colossal jerkwad, but we already knew that, didn't we?

The Bay State Democrat was regaling a group of business and civic leaders invited to the Capitol on the bizarre disappearance of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who was said to be hiking the Appalachian Trail.

“Too bad,” Kerry said, “if a governor had to go missing it couldn’t have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin.”

Imagine if a Republican had said it. Think about it. The media outcry would have been much worse if this had happened:

“Too bad,” McCain said, “if a governor had to go missing it couldn’t have been the governor of Oregon. You know, Ted Kulongoski.”

Nothing against Governor Kulongoski, of course. I was just using him as an example. You can see the ridiculousness, though, right?

Remember how disappointed I was earlier?

Chase Budinger got drafted by the Pistons.

Please excuse me while I go cry myself to sleep.

I am so very very disappointed

Jordan Hill didn't go in the top 5, which was garbage, because there's no way James Harden is better than Hill, and even worse, Hill got picked by the Knicks. To be perfectly honest, I hate every single sports team in New York. This sucks.

Now I just need to cross my fingers and hope that DA BULLSSSSSSSS pick Chase Budinger.

Things just keep getting better and better

Released from USC, point guard commits to play for Miller, Cats

NEW YORK — Lamont "Momo" Jones on Wednesday became the second straight Oak Hill Academy starting point guard to commit to Arizona.

Only this time, ironically on the eve of Brandon Jennings' ascension into the NBA draft, Jones says he's coming for sure.

Whereas Jennings opted to go straight from Oak Hill to Italian pro ball last season, rather than enroll at UA, Jones said he decided to become a Wildcat guard after taking an impressive visit to Tucson last weekend and meeting with new coach Sean Miller. Jones originally planned a Monday news conference but said Wednesday he did not need to wait.

"Sean Miller is a great coach," Jones said. "I watched him at Xavier and, with what he did there, I have no doubt he will do the same at Arizona. Me and my mother sat down with him and listened to him talk, and we believe this is the best place for us."

Jones signed with USC in April but was released from his letter of intent after USC coach Tim Floyd resigned this month.

This is absolutely great news. Arizona seemed like it was MoMo's #1 school after he left USC, so this isn't surprising. I'm really happy to see him coming to Tucson and he'll definitely be a big asset to us. Interestingly enough, he has a family connection to Arizona's staff: Emanuel 'Book' Richardson, one of our assistants, is Jones' godfather.

What makes this so good is next year. If Miller can put this good of a recruiting class together in this short of a time as our coach, imagine what he'll be able to do for our 2010 class when he's got a full recruiting period to work with. I'm extremely happy about this and I can't wait to get back to McKale Center next year.

One other thing from the article that really stood out to me:

Miller "getting (the UA) job proves how much of a great coach he is," Jones said. "You don't just give anybody the University of Arizona coaching job. You have to be some type of special coach."

Although Miller has not yet coached a game at Arizona, he is drawing praise for his recruiting. Since being hired in April, Miller has lined up four Top100 freshmen, including Parrom, Solomon Hill and big man Kyryl Natyazhko. Arizona could get a fifth after Southern California wing Derrick Williams visits the UA this weekend.

Williams said via text message Tuesday, during a visit to Memphis, that he will visit Tucson this weekend and probably make a decision early next month.

Clark Francis of HoopScoop recruiting service said Jones' addition already gives the UA a 2009 recruiting class tied for 24th.

"This shows Sean Miller can recruit good players, and (Jones) is as good as it's going to get right now," Francis said. "If I were an Arizona fan, I'd be very excited."

Huzzah!

On Oregon's new uniforms

Oregon Unveils New Football Uniforms

To be perfectly honest, I like Oregon's uniforms and I liked the diamond-plate ones they just replaced. Yeah, the wings will always remind me of last year's loss by Arizona at Autzen Stadium, but I like the uniforms nonetheless. They break the monotony and they're something different. They work. I mean, at the same time, I would never want to see Arizona wearing something similar just because Arizona's uniforms are Arizona's uniforms and I like them the way they are, but these work for Oregon. They're always going to be Nike's guinea pigs, so their uniforms being out of the ordinary is par for the course.

It'll be nice to see them wearing those uniforms when we beat them in Tucson this year, though.

A few thoughts

* Transformers 2 was absolutely amazing. I don't care that it was about 2 and a half hours long. It was great. Yeah, there were some cheesy parts, but come on. Anyone who's walking into a Michael Bay movie shouldn't be expecting an amazing Oscar-winning plot. There is no one better than Bay when it comes to action scenes and this was absolutely great.

* USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! 'Nuff said.

God bless MythBusters

I have seen the Promised Land

It is called chocolate-covered bacon.

You may think heart attack on a plate, but I only janked about two bites' worth from my brother, so I didn't have that much. It won't be the bacon that'll kill me.

It'll be the funnel cake, fried chicken and cream puff with about a can's worth of blue raspberry whipped cream on it that'll do the trick.

Also, I got to try deep-fried White Castle, though it was clearly the frozen grocery store WC. Good stuff anyway, as was the hot dog within zucchini within fried corn batter.

I am going to take such a long walk tomorrow. Thank you San Diego County Fair.

USC basketball is up a creek with neither a paddle nor a canoe

USC is seriously screwed.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4252866

USC continues to suffer the fallout of the investigation into possible NCAA violations and coach Tim Floyd's subsequent resignation.

The Trojans' recruiting class, once viewed as one of the best in the country, is down to one.

Lamont Jones of Oak Hill (Va.) Academy has been released from his national letter of intent, USC announced Thursday night. Fellow recruit Derrick Williams of La Mirada (Calif.) High also asked for his release, The Los Angeles Times reported. USC wouldn't confirm Williams' departure.

The Trojans already gave Noel Johnson, of Georgia, his release.

Evan Smith, of Calabasas (Calif.) High, is the lone recruit remaining for 2009-10.

...

Point guard Gary Franklin Jr., of Mater Dei (Calif.) High, has committed for 2010. A source told ESPN.com he may also back out.

Because of the added cloud of the alleged violations, this could turn out to be even worse than what happened to Arizona last year, especially since we didn't lose the core of our offense last summer. This looks really bad, but I can't say I'm sad about it. The University of Spoiled Children deserves whatever's coming to it. The air of corruption that seems to come with any private school seems particularly worse for them because athletics is so much more visible, and if this combined investigation (remember that the Reggie Bush investigation is still ongoing and combined with the basketball investigation) really pans out, it could hurt the football program. I hope the football program gets wrapped up in this as well. I'm not the only one who's sick of the situation in Pac-10 football. Every year, it's guessing who's going to take 2nd place, because everyone knows who's going to take first. The Trojans are the Yankees of the Pac-10, and the Yankees are the Evil Empire. Therefore, is USC the Pernicious Principality?

I'm going to be watching this situation especially closely. The really good thing that could come out of this for Arizona is that we were recruiting both MoMo Jones and Gary Franklin, and if they jump, we're going to be in consideration yet again. We've already got a good recruiting class and adding one more player, in addition to getting a recruit for next year, would just make things even better.

Fishing and the pool

So my brother's (Jason) girlfriend's (Nikki) dad has a boat docked down in Mission Bay. He invited his daughter and in turn, my brother, to come fishing with him. In turn, my brother asked me if I wanted to come. Knowing full well that, though I don't get seasick, I'm a poor swimmer and I don't eat seafood, I said hell yes. After all, why would I want to turn down spending the day out on the ocean as opposed to cooped up in the house for most of the day?

Well, things didn't go exactly as planned. We didn't catch any fish because nothing was biting. However, the few hours we spent out on the water were a lot of fun. We watched as Bill, an extremely good friend of my brother's who he's known since they were children (and is about as close to family as he can get without actually being family), who was sitting on the bow, got splashed like crazy by a rough patch of waves we encountered. It was particularly funny because as he was coming back around the boat to get back under cover, the waves got even rougher and he got soaked even more. Good times. We ate lunch on the boat and really enjoyed the sites. We saw a Navy submarine surfaced off the coast; for what we don't know why. Seeing a massive group of dolphins swimming around was cool too. Not so cool was the seagulls who were harassing us due to the bait tank on the back of the boat full of anchovies.

After we got back to the dock, we took full advantage of the hotel (people whose boats are docked there can use the hotel) and lazed around in the pool for an hour or so. The splash pool at the bottom of the slides (which we used quite a few times) was only three and a half feet at its deepest, so I just sat around and relaxed while I stretched my legs and let myself be submerged up to my chin.

All in all, it was an absolutely great day, and Nikki's dad has already invited to come with him again when the weather is better for fishing. My parents see no reason to say no and even though I can't stand the smell of fish, I see absolutely no reason to turn him down.

STOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS!

While a lot of the Wildcat faithful never give up, myself included, it's nice to see that the pressure on Mike Stoops is finally letting up.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/ua/articles/2009/06/08/20090608stoops0609.html

TUCSON - Yes, it's the off-season, but something seems different around here. Mike Stoops is down about 15 pounds, looking healthier than he has in recent years. What's more, he just seems so . . . at ease.

Seriously.

The University of Arizona football coach admits he has changed. He's relaxed a little, matured some, acknowledged his mistakes. And as he explains all this, it suddenly becomes clear.

There's no drama.

No discussion of job security, no mention of a "Stoops hot seat" or reminder that the Wildcats haven't played in a bowl in 10 years.

All in all it's pretty quiet, which is odd.

To be perfectly honest, there should be absolutely no pressure on Stoops at this point. Yes, his tenure with Arizona hasn't been 100% stellar, but he's definitely moved past the bad years. Last year was just the beginning. Things are definitely looking up for Arizona at this point. Are we suddenly going to start stomping Oregon and USC and making runs at the national championship? No, especially not with teams like Northern Arizona and Central Michigan making up 2/3rds of our non-con schedule. However, I don't think we'll be finishing in the bottom half of the Pac-10 anytime soon, and we're definitely going bowling again this year.

I'll be there for every game and I'm seriously considering ponying up the money to go on the road trip to Tempe just to shove it in the Scum Devil fans' faces when we beat them six ways 'till Sunday yet again.

Please excuse me while I die laughing (NSFW)

I don't usually do NSFW content on this blog, but this is just too funny to not post. I fell out of my chair laughing at this video.

As promised...

...the final design for the UC Oceanside Friars' football uniforms! There are two helmets, four jerseys and two pants.


Home jersey


Away jersey


Home alternate jersey


Away alternate jersey

I went through quite a few preliminary designs that differed greatly from my original sketches, but finally decided on a simple design. Keep in mind that these uniforms might not be completely final. There's just over a month until the game is released, so I've got a lot of time to potentially change my mind.

As for the stadium and field, since you can't create your own stadium (entry #1 on my wishlist for next year's game) I went with the Louisiana Superdome. Unfortunately, since all four of the 100K+ stadiums (Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State and Tennessee) have obvious signage. I'm not picking a stadium with a lot of signs since I'm a stickler for detail and it'll bother me greatly if, for example, I see a big "Ohio State Buckeyes" on the side of the press box during a game that doesn't involve Ohio State in any way. Especially since I hate Ohio State. UC Oceanside's stadium will be called Pendleton Field.

As for the field, see for yourself.

Ignore the circles on the field. Those are just the buttons to press in the TeamBuilder application to change options on the field.

All in all, I'm happy with this one. I've also created the SCLSU Mud Dogs (from The Waterboy) and La Costa Canyon (my high school) and the Chicago Bears as universities.

I can't wait to pick up my copy of this game.

I just can't seem to get this right

I post something on Thursday and I'm not posting a new post until three days later. I really need to get back on this.

Anyway, onto the news.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/wildcats/296075

Wise 'looking forward' to senior year

Sean Miller received a motor for his first Arizona offense Saturday, and maybe even a chance to preserve the Wildcats' 25-year NCAA tournament streak, when point guard Nic Wise told him he would return for his senior season.

...

Although Wise had until June 15 to decide whether or not to return, an option he left open by not hiring an agent and staying academically eligible, Miller said in a UA statement that he learned of the decision from Wise on Saturday morning.

"We are all very excited with Nic's return," Miller said. "His talent, leadership and ability will make him one of the premier players in the Pac-10 this coming season."

Wise is definitely going to be the centerpiece of our offense, but we've got a few good returners, like Kyle Fogg, and our three incoming freshmen all look to be really good.

All in all, I think it's definitely possible that Arizona could make a run for the Pac-10 title. The Scum Devils and USC got hit hard by players leaving and we've got a great new coach who should take us to the top. 26 years straight is not out of reach by any means.

I am not dead yet

I admit that I've been having some trouble recently with keeping this blog updated, but things have just been rough. I had to deal with the move back home from school, and I've been really absorbed in work around the house and job hunting, which is unfortunately not going so well. I'm not even getting to the point where they reject me. A lot of the places just aren't hiring. It's a sign of how crappy the economy is.

However, I will press on and I will keep applying. There's got to be some place out there that's hiring, but I'm not going to find it unless I apply.

Also, the TeamBuilder website is online. I should have some images of UC Oceanside's jerseys soon.