Below are the 11 most recent journal entries recorded in oregon1's LiveJournal:

Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
2:24 am	How Bout A Final Four In March? Did you know that only four universities have won the NCAA men's lacrosse championship since 1991? That's crazy, right? I looked it up and its true. In fact, if you go back to 1978 only five teams have won the national championship and even crazier still, in the entire 26-year history of Division-1A men's lacrosse, only seven schools have ever won the national title. Miami football and Duke basketball ain't got nothing on these guys. Anyway the reason to mention all of this is because those four teams that have won the title since 1991 (Syracuse, Princeton, Virginia and Johns Hopkins) also all happen to be ranked #1 - #4 this year and will be pitted against each other in a special pre-Final Four of sorts called The Face-Off Classic on March 3rd in Baltimore. For those not in the know, this is pretty much like being able to attend a college football double header featuring Florida against Ohio State and USC against Texas. #2 Johns Hopkins, who last won the whole thing in 2005 faces off against #4 Princeton, whose title drought (2001) might as well be a lifetime ago in lacrosse years. Then, #3 Syracuse (2004) will take on defending champ and #1 Virginia. If you live in the area or are a crazed lax fan who wants to attend, click here to purchase tickets. I love that the website references the 2002 match-up between Cuse and Virginia, a game I was fortunate enough to attend. True story, I'm at the game with two friends who have never seen a lacrosse game before in their lives and one other guy who is a lifetime player. It's the first game of the year and the first lacrosse game I've ever seen live that I didn't actually play in. I'm just blown away with the skill, the grace and the speed of the game. Who knew that the ball wasn't supposed to hit the ground every five seconds? Who knew that defensemen could actually have better skills than some middies? Anyway, my lacrosse-playing buddy and I are in awe, reacting to every goal, standing and cheering every great play. We stay til the bitter end in a back-and-forth battle eventually won by our Orange that was arguably the best regular-season lacrosse game ever. My other two friends...left at halftime, bored to tears. Lacrosse...I suppose you either you get it or you don't. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006
1:17 am	Final Preview and Commentary This Tribe Will Self-Destruct in 5, 4, 3... Official CBS description: As the number of remaining tribe-mates dwindles down, one alliance is forced to think about turning on each other. Will this strong alliance finally crumble? At the Immunity Challenge, the Survivors must complete an obstacle course that ends with the most difficult puzzle in Survivor history. Who will capture this all important victory for a spot in the final four? Endurance is a key factor in the final challenge for Immunity. Who will be the last one standing to secure a chance for $1,000,000? The final Survivors battle it out to convince the Jury that they are the most deserving of the $1,000,000 prize. Who will walk away with the money and the title of Sole Survivor? Commentary Here's my speculation on how Survivor Cook Islands ends. The Final Four Yul will be in the Final Four since he has the Hidden Immunity Idol. I think unless Adam (pictured) wins the next Immunity Challenge that he is the next one voted off. He has struggled with puzzles so that looks like a long-shot. The other four know if they sit in the final three with Adam that they will most likely lose. The Final Three That leaves the Aitu 4 (Yul, Ozzy, Becky and Sundra) to partake in the final endurance Immunity Challenge, which Ozzy should win easily. I think Sundra will be voted off leaving Yul, Becky and Ozzy in the final three. My reasoning: Ozzy has some power after winning the final Immunity and keeping Becky and Yul in the final three means that they can't vote for each other. And the Winner of Survivor Cook Islands Is . . . . . . Ozzy! I think he will win most of the Raro votes. Jonathan will vote for Yul. Rumors No solid rumors to report just yet. Check back Sunday afternoon, I will post any last minute rumors that I get then. (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006
12:47 pm	Let's Send Some BPR Love to the Final Four! No matter who wins tonight, it has been a great season! Let's take this opportunity to send our best wishes to Jeffrey, Uli, Laura and Michael. They have provided us with great entertainment and plenty to love. They are ALL winners. (Comment on this)
Friday, September 29th, 2006
7:19 am	Of bitches and stitches For four Wednesdays, starting last night, our great country will witness a harmonic convergence more powerful than any planetary alignment, more significant than the reunion of the remaining Beatles. Yes, on these four Wednesdays the Television Gods have deemed us worthy of new episodes from both "Project Runway" and "America's Next Top Model." Thank Jeebus. Let us pray. We started off with "Top Model," which followed last week's promising Season 7 premiere with an equally delicious second installment. It's makeover time, where all the girls get new looks and hairstyles handpicked by fashion maven Ms. Tyra Banks. Predictably, some of the girls took issue with their new colors, cuts, or weaves. But not just a couple --- fully half of the girls whined and cried. Melrose was despondent over her bleach blonde, which makes her look 10 times younger. The twins thought their new red colors were a little showy/hard to take care of. A.J. hated the chocolate brown color and the softer cut. Mannish Jaeda, who actually said "cut off all my hair!" early in the episode, bawled when she got a Halle Berry-style crew. And then Monique ended up wailing in the bathroom because they were messing with her weave. GOD. Speaking of Monique, girl is giving Season 1's Robin a run for the title of Most Self-Righteous Bitch in "Top Model" History. After her makeover meltdown, Monique also biffed the challenge and missed out on a chance to meet Queen Latifah. Back at the house she took out her frustration by sitting on the phone for three and a half hours (!), even as the other girls repeatedly tried to get in some calls themselves. Finally, Anchal --- sweet, unexpected Anchal --- unloaded a curse-laden tirade on Monique and disconnected the call for her. Cherry on top? Monique then sat holding onto the receiver, flipping through fashion mags as she listened to the operator repeatedly asking her to make another call. Delicious. We hate Monique, which is to say that we love her. After a particularly dragalicious photo shoot involving insane wigs, it was poor pixieish Megan who was out. I figured her tragic backstory would get her at least a little farther, but in truth Twiggy called it when she pointed out that Megan looked like a washed-up version of Kim from Season 5, right down to being a lesbian. On another note, expect the twins to win the whole thing. And I'm actually kind of OK with that. Meanwhile, "Project Runway" added another twist to its already complicated third season as the judges decided that it would not be the final three designers showing collections at Fashion Week, but the final FOUR. I have to say, I honestly suspect this wasn't originally part of the plan, but the producers' hands were tied. Here's my logic: For the Reality Show Formula to work, the Final Two must include both the villain of the piece (in this case Jeffrey, whose talent is often overshadowed by his utter assholishness) and the Scrappy, Deserving Underdog (in this case, Michael, who pretty obviously has this thing in the bag barring a massive fashion misstep a la last year's Daniel V). That left either Laura or Uli to go home in last night's episode. Unfortunately, Laura and Uli both created pretty great dresses, Uli especially (Laura just did her signature embellished cocktail dress with plunging neckline --- beautiful, but we've seen it from her before). And Michael and Jeffrey both botched the assignment, creating two messes of dresses. There's no way the Powers That Be could get rid of either Uli or Laura without looking like total frauds, and there wouldn't be a final showdown without Jeffrey or Michael so...voila. Final Four. Next week is the reunion show, in which the disgraced Keith Michael basically acts like a petulant child (awesome) and Vincent accuses everyone else of being an amateur, which is just hilarious. I love Wednesdays! --- Eric Rezsyak (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 29th, 2006
6:15 pm	Women Rock! Ladies' Final Four 2007 Basketball Championship ... Basketball shoes on the gym floor. Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! There will be a lot of squeaking going on next April 1 & 3 when the 2007 NCAA® Women' s Final Four® basketball championship comes to Cleveland. Players, fans, and media can keep up-to-date at www.womenrockcleveland.com, recently launched by IdeaStar Inc. for the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission (GCSC). The GCSC is a "non-profit, economic development organization whose mission is to measurably enhance the economy, image and quality of life in the Greater Cleveland community by attracting and creating significant sporting events and activities." They really hit a home run in hosting this stellar event. Annie Hetman, Manager of Communications and Marketing for the GCSC, said “The economic impact for this event is expected to be over $30 million. In addition, Cleveland will receive national media coverage. This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Cleveland as the great destination city it is!" So check out the Web site. IdeaStar designed and built it. Besides information regarding the Women's Final Four® basketball championship, it includes related programs, a "days-'til-play" counter, and weather (just in case you want to know how hot or cold it is in Cleveland). The niftiest thing can't be seen. It's the content management system which allows non-technical GCSC staff members to keep the site updated. Visit often as the tournament date approaches to see what's new. Copyright 2006 IdeaStar Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Comment on this)
Friday, August 18th, 2006
11:22 am	Makin' moves Two days left before I relinquish all access privileges to the 19th floor in exchange for a new life in Atlanta. Not a bad trade in my estimation. I'll admit that in spite of my extremely excited state, I am a bit nervous. One only needs to read this to recall that the demands of student life are so vastly different from the daily workforce grind. By and large, this will be a most welcome transition; I'm eager to finally put a cohesive context to the various areas of study and work experience I've amassed throughout the past decade. Besides, being the dork that I am, I like the academic milieu. Though my ADD tendencies make it challenging for me to keep up with all the varied requirements of time and focused attention, I prefer these to the monotony of crunching numbers all day. Of course, my boredom with my jobs probably has a lot to do with the fact that I was never really mentally or emotionally invested in my work. Hopefully my schooling will give me the leverage to access opportunities that are better fits for my interests and attention span. I haven't really started packing in earnest... some half-assed boxes here and there. This is partially because the commute to and from work kills any kind of motivation to do anything once the day is over... but it's mostly because I'm a procrastinator at the core, and when something overwhelms me, I tend to just shut down and mentally escape to my own world of impossible daydreams/nightdreams. I could spend a good fifteen minutes staring off into space, delineating (and actually visualizing a bulleted list-- not joking) how I would share and spend each dollar of my winnings if I were to hit a 70 million dollar jackpot of the Powerball lottery. It gets to the point where I'm so caught up with my imagination that I momentarily forget the reality of my sad financial situation. Alright, well I should probably at least assemble some of the empty boxes stacked against the wall beside me. I can't promise that my next post will be any time soon, but then again, the three of you know how I am with blogging anyway. Things are especially crazy right now though. Check back in a week or so! (Comment on this)
Friday, August 11th, 2006
10:36 am	ProCity Notebook: Final Four Pairings Announced By By Bruin Basketball Report The Final Four pairings of the Nike ProCity Say No Classic have been announced for tomorrow's semifinal games. Hank's Franchise Boys will play the Warriors tomorrow at 6:30PM; and in the second game of the evening, Hank's CTS will take on Hank's Team at 8:00PM The Championship Game is scheduled for Saturday at 6:00PM. Last week, Hank's Franchise Boys (Mata and Roll) defeated the Sinclair Bruins (Mbah a Moute, Westbrook, and Keefe), 82-68, to advance to the semifinal game. While in an earlier game, Josh Shipp scored 25 points to lead Hank's CTS (Shipp and Aboya) to a 76-63 victory over Pasadena to move on to tomorrow's game. All remaining games will be played at West Los Angeles College. Check the Nike ProCity Say No website for further updates. (BruinBasketballReport.com) (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
5:45 pm	The Gold Standard: "Entourage" Returns to Its Roots There's a new talent agency player in this town, as Miller-Gold (no, it's not a beer) opened its doors last night. Well, on Entourage anyway, which last night seemed to return to the pleasurably scathing Hollywood satire it once was. The fictional agency, formed out of a partnership between Ari Gold and Barbara Miller (the silky-voiced Beverly D'Angelo), announced its intent to go independent, following a meeting of talent agency toppers that Ari likened to a "meeting of the five families." (I was rolling on the floor with laughter at the very bitter slap in the face afforded to, um, small fry agency APA, Agency for the Performing Arts.) With Ari's drive and ambition and Barbara's financing, it seems like Miller-Gold is poised to give ICM, CAA, William Morris et al a run for their money. Fitting too then that things seem to be falling into place for the other members of this Hollywood entourage. Turtle's music managing career is ready to take off, with rapper Saigon about to break big. Following a threesome, Eric was tempted by the beautiful best friend (The Comeback's Baby Girl, Malin Akerman) of his girlfriend Sloane (Emmanuel Chriqui), but remained the good Catholic boy we know and love by refusing to give into temptation (yet, anyway). But the biggest news is that struggling actor Drama may have finally landed his big break, landing a role in a pilot directed by (guest star) Ed Burns. Johnny and Ed have a history together -- Johnny turned down the lead in The Brothers McMullen for a three-episode stint on 90210 as Tori Spelling's sexual harasser -- and things have finally come full circle for the lovable scamp. But this wouldn't be Entourage if there weren't some drama and with everything going SO well for the gang, someone had to come along and knock down the house of cards they were building. I'm happy to say that the someone is Vince, who in recent weeks has become little too much of the golden boy, breaking box office records and cruising through his career with nary so much as a speedbump. (Even getting fired off of Aquaman 2 hasn't exactly fazed him.) On last night's episode ("The Release"), Entourage finally answered a long burning question of mine by picking up the story threads revolving around Vince's arthouse pic, Queens Boulevard. (I couldn't for the life of me remember a few weeks ago whether or not Queens had ever been released.) In the hands of the studio, the gritty black and white arthouse film has become a hypersaturated, bubble gummy mess of a film, set to be released on 1200 screens nationally. (The Sundance favorite originally supposed to play on 4 screens.) The pristine monochromatic images have been infused with the paintbrush of Batman & Robin-era Joel Schumacher and the effect is all overblown reds and greens ("Aquaman-ized"); the film's one-sheet poster is all purple; and is that My Name Is Earl's Randy (Ethan Suplee) in that shot? Leave it to Vince to get his head turned by Queens Boulevard's eccentric director Billy Walsh (Rhys Coiro), who wants Vince to sign an injunction preventing the film from being released. And Vince chooses the worst possible moment to announce his intentions: at a press conference for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, where he belittles and castigates the studio for butchering the brilliance of Boulevard. Like I said, things were going far too well for this gang and someone had to bring it down. My only hope is that Vince has pissed off yet another studio (after the Aquaman fiasco) and his career goes into an entirely unexpected direction (more art films, less fluff) while it's up to Turtle and Drama to bring home the bacon for a change. Will Vince bring down Eric and Ari just when things have started to fall into place? Will Vince drown his sorrows by going on a coke-fueled hooker binge? Will Drama actually become, you know, successful? And will Turtle ever stop wearing those damn track suits? All I know is that Entourage finally feels like it's back to the basics again (that pitch perfect blend of satire and struggle) and it's about bloody time. "Entourage" airs Sunday evenings at 10 pm ET/PT on HBO. What's On Tonight 8 pm: The King of Queens/How I Met Your Mother (CBS); Star Tomorrow (NBC); 7th Heaven (WB); Wife Swap (ABC); Hell's Kitchen (FOX); One on One/All of Us (UPN) 9 pm: Two and a Half Men/How I Met Your Mother (CBS); Treasure Hunters (NBC); 7th Heaven (WB); Supernanny (ABC); Hell's Kitchen (FOX); Girlfriends/Half and Half (UPN) 10 pm: CSI: Miami (CBS); Medium (NBC); One Ocean View (ABC) What I'll Be Watching 8 pm: Spaced on BBC America. If you missed Friday's Stateside airing of the hilarious and surreal 1999 sitcom Spaced (starring Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg), here's your chance to catch the season finale. On tonight's episode ("Ends"), Tim's ex-girlfriend Sarah (Monarch of the Glen's Anna Wilson-Jones) wants to give their failed relationship a second chance, but Daisy and Mike are less thrilled by the news than Tim is. Meanwhile, Mike is re-evaluated for the territorial army. 8:30- 9:30 pm: Peep Show on BBC America. On tonight's special hour-long season finale of this deliciously twisted Britcom, Jeremy and his girlfriend Nancy (Rachel Blanchard) are planning on getting married so Nancy can get a visa, but Mark will do anything to prevent them from walking down the aisle. 9 pm: Hell's Kitchen. On tonight's installment of the FOX culinary competition show ("4 Chefs"), it's down to the final four chefs, one of whom will actually win their very own restaurant at the Red Rocks Resort in Las Vegas (yes, one of these, er, impressive people will have their own eatery). While the final four manage to impress Gordon at the beginning of dinner service, things take a nasty turn. Well, it wouldn't be Hell's Kitchen if they didn't... 10 pm: Life on Mars on BBC America. It's the second episode of this brilliant (and British) mind-bending mystery series that stars State of Play's John Simm as Detective Sam Tyler, a modern-day copper who wakes up in 1973. On tonight's episode, the series' second, Tyler decides that, even if he doesn't completely believe that what he's experiencing is real, he decides to accept that this is 1973 and commits himself to the job at hand, only to find that he disagrees with one of his colleague's crime-solving techniques. (Comment on this)
Monday, July 31st, 2006
9:40 pm	World Cup's final four not a surprise. By BARRY WILNER, AP Sports Writer. BOCHUM, Germany (AP) -- Portugal isn't exactly George Mason, though its soccer pedigree isn't much stronger than what the Patriots brought to college basketball's Final Four. Then again, surprise teams in the World Cup semifinals are hardly a surprise. Since 1982, the last time four European teams got this far -- West Germany, Italy and France made it, along with, unexpectedly, Poland -- there was just one tournament when a relative outsider didn't sneak into the semifinals. Only in 1990, with Italy, Argentina, England and eventual champion West Germany, did the status quo hold. Otherwise, there have been the likes of Belgium (1986), Sweden and Bulgaria (1994), Croatia (1998), South Korea and Turkey (2002). Now, there are the Portuguese, who might finally be realizing the promise of their "Golden Generation," even if nearly all those players have given way to youngsters of the next generation. Luis Figo is the only remaining member of the group that was expected to carry Portugal to greatness in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Instead, the Portuguese disappointed, with the lowlight a first-round elimination from the 2002 World Cup, including losses to the Americans and Koreans. So finding them in the final four after a rebuilding process is akin to George Mason's Colonial Athletic Association team crashing the NCAA tournament's big party. "It's worth suffering for moments like this," said Eusebio, Portugal's greatest player and the leader of the team that finished third in 1966 -- the last time the nation had a significant impact on the World Cup. "It's been more difficult to reach a semifinal with Portugal than the final with Brazil, because there are only 10 million inhabitants in Portugal compared to 180 million in Brazil," said Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, a Brazilian who led his countrymen to the 2002 crown, Brazil's fifth overall. "Also, 50 percent of the players in Portugal are foreigners. Brazil's traditions make certain games easier to win, too." Not against France, of course, which is unbeaten in its last four games against Brazil, starting with the 1998 World Cup final. Yet, seeing the French in the semifinals is almost shocking considering the disarray on this team entering the tournament. Despite its tradition and wealth of talent -- Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Fabien Barthez -- France was within one half of another first-round exit. Remember how the French couldn't score in the World Cup? How they followed their humiliating goal-less tournament four years ago with five lackluster halves in Germany before putting away Togo 2-0 and advancing. Anyone who picked France to beat Spain and dominate Brazil in the knockout rounds must have Les Bleus in the blood. Or maybe the French were just building up to something special, the way the Turks did in Japan and South Korea, or how the Bulgarians rode star Hristo Stoitchkov in '94. France climbed on the shoulders of Zidane, who has gone from average to extraordinary in the last two matches. "We've been saying among ourselves here all along that France would get to the semifinals, despite their bad start," Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira said Sunday. "Some said France wasn't going to do anything, but it's not easy to beat Brazil." Generally, the surprise semifinalists wind up in the third-place match and not playing for the trophy. Indeed, not since Czechoslovakia lost to Brazil in 1962 has an interloper even made it to the championship game. "It is another team, another story we have to live," France coach Raymond Domenech said. "In the end, comparisons are tiresome." socawarriors.net (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
4:36 pm	NCAA 2006 Men's Basketball Final Four - Apologies To Three Teams ... And The World Turned Upside Down – this is allegedly the song the Brits played when they gave up Yorktown and lost the Colonies to Loopy King Georgie. In fact, the Brits were so upset about the defeat of its gentleman army to farmers, Lord Cornholio Wallis could not face the surrender and sent his subordinate to relinquish his sword. And so to must CBS play the same song - really loud! The World Has Turned Upside Down, Mr William Packer, CBS, CNN, ESPN, and all other Big East and ACC (Almost Completely Competitive Conference) media concerns. For the first time since 1981, there is not a #1 seed in the Final Four. And to the selfish delight of myself, there is no ACC or Big East team. Thank God. For those that read this blog, you know of my disdain for anything trendy in the hero worship dept. like recently when all the darlings of the media for the Olympics were sent packing – Kwan, Apollo, that downhill fella, etc. So the sound of silence is deafening from all the blathering band-wagon, Dukie, and BC ninnies… Long Live The Underdogs. Geaux Tigers, Go Gators, Go Patriots! And the World Turned Upside Down! (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 27th, 2006
10:25 am	George Mason's Final Four payoff How valuable was George Mason's run into the final four earlier this year? A Sports Illustrated article (seems to be subscription only) values a theoretical PR cost of $50 million for the publicity the school received. And what did they get in return? The publicity has already shown returns. Student inquiries and tour sizes have tripled, and merchandise sales have skyrocketed. In March the campus bookstore sold more than $800,000 worth of George Mason clothing, compared with $625,000 worth in all of 2004-05. The surge in Mason pride is expected to boost alumni donations as well. During the tournament more than 1,000 alums registered on the school's website, increasing the size of the database by 10%. Judith Jobbitt, the school's vice president for alumni affairs, says George Mason hopes to increase fund-raising for the coming year by 25%, to $25 million. The admissions office was particularly aggressive in capitalizing on Mason mania. It sent a torrent of e-mails to students who had applied to the school, using the basketball news as an entree to tout the university's academic virtues. The school projects a 2% increase in the number of applicants who say yes to an acceptance letter. Flagel also expects to see an uptick of 10 points in the students' average SAT score. A pretty substantial payoff, to be sure. (Comment on this)