National Championship Semifinals

Here are the long awaited semifinal results for my National Championsip Tournament:

USC 41
ASU 17

West Virginia 35
Georgia 24

Stay tuned for my championship game results on Tuesday.

Merry Christmas!!!

Luke 2:1-20

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.
4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn
8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,14"Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Vote for Brandon Roy

The Portland Trail Blazers have not had an NBA All Star since 2001. This needs to change, I challenge all the readers of my amazing blog to go to NBA.COM click on the All Star game vote link and vote for Brandon Roy. You can vote once every twenty four hours. The odds are long in the Guard heavy Western Conference, however with your help we can do this. Vote for Brandon Roy, he deserves it.

Bowl Predictions

The College Football Bowl season kicks off tomorrow with the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. I can hardly contain my excitement for that Utah-Navy matchup. Among the thirty two bowl games being are such tradition rich games as The Papajohns.com Bowl, The Meineke Car Care Bowl and the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. I can honestly say that I'm interested in about three Bowl games but as a service to my loyal readers here are my predictions for every bowl game.

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
Navy 27 Utah 24

R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Florida Atlantic 35 Memphis 31

PapaJohns.com Bowl
Cincinnati 42 Southern Miss 17

Mew Mexico Bowl
Nevada 35 New Mexico 24

Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl
BYU 34 UCLA 24

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Boise State 42 East Carlina 10

Motor City Bowl
Purdue 31 Central Michigan 14

Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
ASU 24 Texas 17

Champs Sports Bowl
Boston College 31 Michigan State 28

Texas Bowl
Houston 45 TCU 42

Emerald Bowl
Maryland 24 OS(U) 21

Meineke Car Care Bowl
Wake Forest 24 Connecticut 21

AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Mississippi State 24 Central Florida 20

Valero Alamo Bowl
Penn State 31 Texas A&M 21

PetroSun Independence Bowl
Alabama 24 Colorado 17

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
Cal 35 Air Force 21

Roady's Humanitarian Bowl
Fresno State 31 Georgia Tech 21

Brut Sun Bowl
Oregon 35 South Florida 31

Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl
Kentucky 42 Florida State 17

Insight Bowl
Oklahoma State 31 Indiana 24

Chick-fil-A Bowl
Clemson 27 Auburn 21

Outback Bowl
Tennessee 21 Wisconsin 20

AT&T Cotton Bowl
Missouri 42 Arkansas 28

Konica Minolta Gator Bowl
Texas Tech 42 Virginia 35

Capitol One Bowl
Florida 35 Michigan 21

Rose Bowl presented by Citi
USC 45 Illinois 10

Allstate Sugar Bowl
Georgia 45 Hawaii 31

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
Oklahoma 31 West Virginia 28

Fed Ex Orange Bowl
Virginia Tech 24 Kansas 21

International Bowl
Rugters 31 Ball State 21

GMAC
Tulsa 49 Bowling Green 21

Allstate BCS Championship Game
LSU 31 tOSU 28

Two years of Blogging Excellence!!!

It was two years ago today that I launched this silly blog and despite all the changes in my life and in the world Dennis' Daily Rant is still a powerful force on the internet.

Quaterfinal Results

First I want to apologize for my lack of blogging lately, there's really no excuse since I have a ton of time on my hands. Here are the long awaited quarterfinal results from my tournament to crown the real national champion of college football.

West Virginia 34 tOSU 21

Georgia 28 BYU 24

ASU 17 Virginia Tech 10

USC 35 LSU 31

It wasn't a good round for the favorites as only Georgia survived. This sets up two compelling matchups for the semifinals. ASU will have revenge on it's mind as it faces USC and West Virginia's high powered spread attack will go up against the Georgia Bulldogs.

First Round Playoff Results

Here are the long awaited first round results of my third annual College Football national championship playoff.

1. tOSU 42
16. Florida Atlantic 9

8. Kansas 21
9. West Virginia 42

5. Georgia 35
12. Florida 31

4. Oklahoma 28
13. BYU 31

6. Missouri 24
11. ASU 27

3. Virginia Tech 21
14. Central Florida 6

7. USC 35
10. Hawaii 24

2. LSU 35
15. Central Michigan 21

The second round matchups are as follows:

1. tOSU
9. West Virginia

5. Georgia
13. BYU

11. ASU
3. Virginia Tech

7. USC
2. LSU

Final Pac 10 Rankings

1. USC- This getting really old
2. ASU- Should be in a BCS bowl.
3. OS(U)- They owe a big thank you to Oregon for the poor game management at the end of Regulation.
4. Oregon- SPIKE THE DAMN BALL!!!!!!!
5. UCLA- I can hear the celebrating in Westwood, Dorrell is gone!!
6. Cal- What the heck happened to the Bears. I guess Jeff Tedford isn't the genius Cal fans want you to believe he is.
7. Arizona- Mike Stoops saved his job for another year.
8. Stanford- Jim Harbaugh may be the Pac 10 coach of the year
9. WSU- Look for WSU to stay near the bottom for years to come.
10. Washington- Last time the Huskies finished higher than ninth in the conference was 2003

The BCS Fraud

Yesterday the BCS pairings were announced and of course I have issues with them. Lets first start with the National Title game. How can anyone say conclusively that LSU and tOSU are the two best teams in the country? What about USC? What about Georgia? They both have the same number of losses as LSU. As for the other games I have issues there as well. How can Kansas lose to Missouri a week ago be ranked lower than Missouri and still get picked for a BCS game? And 9-3 Illinois going to the Rose Bowl as an at large selection? You've got to be kidding me, this is a joke and this year more than any in the past proves that we need a playoff. So I am happy to announce for third consecutive year my bracket for a playoff to determine the real national champion in College Football. The format is the same as years past , eleven conference champions and five at large selections determined by a committee of one. Here are the first round pairings.

1. tOSU (Big 11)
16. Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt)

8. Kansas (At Large)
9. West Virginia (Big East)

5. Georgia (At Large)
12. Florida (At Large)

4. Oklahoma (Big 12)
13. BYU (Mountain West)

6. Missouri (At Large)
11. ASU (At Large)

3. Virginia Tech (ACC)
14. Central Florida (C-USA)

7. USC (Pac 10)
10. Hawaii (Wac)

2. LSU
15. Central Michigan (MAC)

My Civil War Prediction

Oregon State will go on top early with a touchdown but Oregon will answer with a punt return for a touchdown right before half to tie the game up. The third quarter will be a battle of the punters before fourth quarter fireworks begin. Oregon State will score to go up 14-7 early in the fourth quarter. Leading 14-7 the Beavers drive deep into Oregon territory and ready to put the game away when Patrick Chung intercepts an Oregon State pass and takes 83 yards for a touchdown. A botched snap will allow on the PAT will allow the Beavers to stay on top. The Beavers will begin to wear down the Oregon defense with a power running game and will drive into Oregon territory. With fifty seconds left the Beavers will fumble on the Oregon 34 yard line. Oregon's offense will struggle as it did all day and with 35 seconds left on fourth and ten Cody Kempt will connect with Jaison Williams who will bobble the ball before hauling it in and taking it all the way to the Oregon State 30 yard line. After one running play up the middle for no gain Oregon use its last time out with five seconds left. Matt Evensen will line up for a 47 yard field that goes through the uprights as time expires. Oregon wins 16-14!!!!

Why I Don't Tape Sporting Events

Last night due to prior commitments I was unable to watch the Duck Basketball game. Before I left home I stuck a tape in the VCR and recorded the game with the idea that I would avoid hearing the score and watch it when I get home. Every time I tried this in the past I've failed, either I see the score or someone blurts it out. The function I was at had two televisions showing the game. For an hour and a half I successfully avoided looking at one of the televisions or overhearing someone talk about the game. After the function my wife and I headed to the mall, the mall was dead so I wasn't too worried about finding out about the game. So confident we even took a walk through the Duck Store in the mall and again heard nothing. Success! I had succeeded in my mission. All we had left was a nice stroll to the car and a short drive home, then I could watch the game like it was live. Think again! As Carrie and I were exiting the mall some random guy noticed my duck hat and said something like "hey how about those Ducks, they won tonight".

OS Joke of the Day

How do you get an OS Grad off your front porch?
Pay for the Pizza

Giving Him the Business

This video is from last weekend Maryland-NC State game, listen to the refs explanation of the penalty.

Oregon vs Oregon State-Part 2

Today we're going to talk about Pro Football Hall of Famers. There are ZERO players who attended Oregon State in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Such football powerhouses as Regis College and North Carolina A&T have players in the Hall of Fame but ZERO for Oregon State. Oregon on the other hand has five Pro Football Hall of famers. There are only seven colleges that have put more players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Advantage- Oregon

OS Joke of the day

What's the only sign of intelligent life in Corvallis?
"Eugene 47 miles"

The OS Fight Song

I came across this version of the OS fight song that includes some special sound effects.

http://pacifier.com/%7Eghcreate/osu_fight.mp3

OS Joke of the day

What does the average OS football player get on their SATs?

Drool

Oregon vs. Oregon State- Part one

This is the first installment of my comparison of the two schools. Today we'll take a look at wealthy donors.

Phil Knight












Representing Oregon we have Nike Co-Founder Phil Knight. Knight along with former U of O Track Coach Bill Bowerman started selling shoes from the back of a VW bus now Nike is the worlds largest Athletic Apparel company. Knight has donated millions of dollars to the University of Oregon, including a $100,000,000 gift this summer to set up an Athletic Legacy Fund.

AL Reser










Representing Oregon State we have Reser's Fine Foods chairman Al Reser. The Reser family have given several generous gifts to Oregon State University and the football stadium is name in his honor.

The Verdict
This one is easy, crappy potato salad and frozen burritos or cutting edge Athletic shoes and apparel?

Advantage Oregon

OS Joke of the day

How many OS Freshman does it take to screw in a light bulb?

They can't, it's a second year course

OS Joke of the Day

Civil War week is here which means it's time for my OS joke of the day segment.

Why do OS fans wear Orange?

So they can go to the game Saturday, go hunting on Sunday, and return to work picking up trash on Monday.

Pac 10 Rankings

After the worst offensive performance by the U of O football team in twenty five years I had thought about going into hiding, I even shutdown my blog for awhile but I'm happy to announce that I'm back.

1. USC- After everything that has happened this year the Trojans appear to be heading to the Rose Bowl.

2. ASU- If they beat Wildcats they should be a BCS team

3. OS- Ugh!!! Could this be the year the road team finally breaks through in the Civil War? Stay tuned for my prediction on Friday.

4. UCLA- If UCLA beats SUC and Arizona beats ASU the Bruins at 7-5 are Rose Bowl bound.

5. Arizona- For the lack of a better team the Mildcats make my top five.

6. WSU- Great win against the Huskies but I doubt it's enough to save Bill Doba's job.

7. Cal- They should beat Stanford.

8. Washington- They suck

9. Stanford- It's kind pathetic that two of Notre Dame's three wins came against Pac 10 teams.

10. Oregon- No comment.

25 Year ago today

It's called "The Play" and it is one of the craziest finishes ever in college football.

Week 12 Pac 10 Rankings

1. USC- After all that has happened the Trojans could still end up in Pasadena.

2. ASU- The Sun Devils control their own destiny but I doubt they get it done.

3. Oregon- It sucks to lose Dixon but I have a feeling the Ducks will rally together and get it done. Rose Bowl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. OS(U)- The Beavers must feel real good heading into the Civil War. Remember a team with Brady Leaf at QB almost beat a much better OS team in Corvallis a year ago. This year it's in Eugene and Brady Leaf and the Ducks will get it done.

5. Arizona- Good win for the Wildcats, too bad it won't get them into a Bowl

6. Cal- 2007 Cal = 2006 Oregon

7. UCLA- The Bruins face a banged up Oregon team, the problem is that the Bruins are just as banged up and they have Karl Dorrell as their coach. Advantage Oregon.

8. Washington- Nice win over Cal but you still suck.

9. WSU- I expected a little more from the Cougs against the Beavs.

10. Stanford- There's always womens basketball!

More fun with Gundy

Everyone remembers Mike Gundy, right? In my boredom today I scanned google videos to see what I could find. So here's the Original meltdown along with a couple other videos that I found humerous.



Gundy Prank Calls



Mike Gundy Remix


Mike Gundy Coors Light Commercial

Week 11 Pac 10 Rankings

1. Oregon- Illinois is my new second favorite team.

2. USC- Win out and a BCS Bowl awaits

3. ASU- See above

4. OS- I guess

5. Cal- Haven't done much since losing in Autzen

6. UCLA- The Bruins are the only team to lose to Notre Dame

7. WSU- My guess is that the Cougs beat the Beavers this week in Pullman

8. Arizona- A beatdown on National TV from Oregon awaits the Mildcats on Thursday. Oh and I almost forgot to mention that Mike Stoops is a jerk.

9. Washington- Got a gift from the Pac 10 officials but stll couldn't beat the Beavers.

10. The Cardinal have the highest average SAT score in the Pac 10.

Dixon for Heisman

I found this video somewhat amusing.

Week 10 Pac 10 Rankings

1. Oregon- I thought the Ducks would have a good year but never in my wildest dreams would have predicted this. I will be a big fan of Oregon and whoever is playing LSU and tOSU (the Ohio State University) in the coming weeks.

2. ASU- A BCS bowl is still possible for the Sun Devils

3. SUC- I'm still waiting for the Trojans to play up to their potential

4. Cal- The three game losing streak finally ended!

5. OS(U)- The rodents suck but there are five teams that suck even more

6. Arizona- The Mildcats have been playing better lately but they still have a lot of work to do.

7. UCLA- How many QB's can a team play in one year?

8. Washington- Three years for Ty Willingham and no signs of improvement

9. Stanford- Basketball season is here!

10. WSU- See above

A Great Day to be a DUCK!

What a day!!!!

More Fun With Notre Dame

Real Men of Genius: Notre Dame Fan | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Common Sense Prevails!!

It was announced today that the Oregon-ASU game will be televised nationally in 48 states (Oregon and Arizona will get local feeds). That is great news for everyone. That being said I still think Tom Hansen sucks!

Pac 10 Rankings Week 9

1. Oregon- With four games left I am making the following bold prediction: Oregon will play for the National Title this year.

2. ASU- The Sun Devils run ends on Saturday

3. SUC- The Trojans will bounce back big against OS(U).

4. OS(U)- As much as it pains me to put them this high, I am left with no choice.

5. Cal- Once the trendy pick to play in the National title game, now they're fighting for the Vegas Bowl.

6. WSU- The Cougars don't deserve to be this high but no one else does either.

7. UCLA- Losses to WSU and Notre Dame should put them at the bottom but it get a lot worse from here.

8. Stanford- Much improved from last year but still not a good team.

9. Arizona- Come from behind victory over Washington moves the Mildcats out of the cellar.

10. Washington- Does anyone remember the days when the Huskies were good?

Do you know who this man is?

If you are a fan of a Pac 10 team then you should know who this man is. This is Pac 10 commissioner Tom Hansen and if he is allowed to stay in his position much longer the Pac 10 is in danger of fading into obscurity. Under Hansen's leadership the Pac 10 conference has signed the worst TV contract among the major conferences and has the worst bowl alignment amongst the major conferences. This coming Saturday there will be a game featuring the number four and five ranked teams in the country and a Heisman Trophy candidate, however as things sit right no one outside of Oregon or Arizona will be able to see this game. This is ridiculous and it only seems to happen to the Pac 10. This needs to change and the only way this will happen is if there is a change at the top.

The most unbelievable ending to a football game that I've ever seen

Just for Andrew

Pac 10 Rankings Week 8

1. Oregon- We'll find out over the next two weeks if the Ducks are truly a national title contender.
2. ASU- Undefeated but who have they played? A severe beat down is awaiting in Eugene on November 3.
3. SUC- Prediction of the week: Oregon 38 SUC 24
4. UCLA- It's hard to believe but the Bruins are tied for first in the Pac.
5. Cal- In a matter of two weeks the Bears have slipped from the BCS title game all the way to the Vegas Bowl
6. OS(U)- This team is still a mystery to me
7. Stanford- They just tripled their win total from a year ago. Prediction #2 Stanford 24 OS(U) 17
8. Washington- Their defense gave up 465 yards rushing to the Ducks on Saturday!
9. WSU- Bill Doba is a nice guy but nice guys don't always make good football coaches.
10. Arizona- Loss to Stanford was the nail in Mike Stoopid's coffin

In Honor of the Duck's "Stormtrooper" Uniforms

What Political Party am I a part of?

Since I recently moved I had to register to vote again. As I always do I filled out my voter registration card and marked the Party that I have been a part since I turned 18. Today I received my notification card put it in the mail pile and left it. A couple minutes later my wife asks me why I am a part of the Constitution Party. I looked at my card and sure enough under political part it says CON which would be the abreviation for the Constitution Party. Apparently the people processing voter registrations in Lane County aren't very smart, because there is absolutely no way I could of marked that on my card. For those who don't know what the Constitution Party is, it is an Ultra Conservative party whose views would probably make me look flaming liberal. For now I'm going to keep it through the November Election and I'll be sure to change it before the primaries in 2008.

Pac 10 Rankings Week 7

1. Oregon- Pac 10 champs? National Champs? Anything is possible
2. ASU- 7-0 but I'm still not convinced
3. Cal- You can't lose to OS(U) at home!
4. SUC- The Trojans in the Vegas Bowl? I'd love it!
5. UCLA- By default they're number 5
6. OS(U)- Great win over Cal but the Beavs have a ton of work to do
7. Washington- Things don't appear to be getting any better in Seattle
8. Arizona- Tough loss to USC but there are no moral victories in sports
9. Stanford- It appears that the Cardinal were one week wonders
10. WSU- Does anyone still think the Mike Bellotti made a mistake not offering Alex Brink a scholarship

Pac 10 Rankings Week 6

1. Cal- Could they play for the National Title?
2. Oregon- All I can say is "what if?"
3. Arizona State- The Devils are rolling at 6-0 but don't expect it to hold up
4. Washington- By default they move to #4
5. Stanford- Huge win over SUC by the Cardinal but I don't think they'll remain here
6. OS(U)- They still suck
7. WSU- Nice effort against ASU but remember the old saying "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades"
8. Arizona- Get your resume ready Stoops
9. UCLA- Thanks for ruining Notre Dame's bid for a perfect season
10. SUC- Losing to Stanford earns them the number ten spot for this week

First Major Purchase

Tonight Carrie and I made our first major purchase as a married couple. We went to Best Buy and purchased a brand new HDTV. We've been talking about it for weeks and after looking at our different options we finally decided on a Phillips model that happened to be on sale. Now my next step is to call the cable company and upgrade our package to an HD package so that we may fully enjoy the HD experience.

Grow up Gundy!

I know that Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy's rant is last week's news, but after watching it again I felt compelled to write about totally completely out line and childish it was. For a coach after a big win to spend his entire post game press conference after a big win yelling at reporter for writing a negative column about one of his players was not only out of line but it took away from the outstanding team effort displayed on the field and for that alone Gundy should be ashamed. Secondly Division 1 athletes a public figures and if they're going to accept the praise from the media then they are going to have to accept the critisism. I have a hard time feeling sorry for a kid who gets a free ride through college because some one in the media wrote something bad about him. Here's the video of the rant again and then audio of comments from Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins from last February which I think would be an appropriate response to Gundy.



Dan Hawkins remarks

Pac 10 Rankings Week 5

1. USC- Unimpressive win over Washington but they're still the top team in the conference.

2. Cal- Nice win in hostile environment

3. Oregon- Tough loss but still a dang good team

4. ASU- Dennis Erickson has them rolling

5. UCLA- This team confuses the heck out of me

6. Washington- Moral Victory against USC doesn't make them a good team

7. Arizona- A win over WSU doesn't make them good and Mike Stoops is still on the hot seat

8. WSU- Embarrassing performance against Arizona

9. OS(U)- Way to show up at home

10. Stanford- Stick to Academics

Did you know?

The last time Cal won at Autzen Stadium was during the Regan Administration.

Week 4 Pac 10 Rankings

1. SUC- No explanation neccesary

2. Oregon- Rough second quarter on Saturday but the came out and destroyed Stanford in second half. Oregon WILL beat Cal.

3. Cal- An impending loss to Oregon means they'll drop next week.

4. ASU- Looks like Dennis Erickson is working his magic at ASU.

5. UCLA- Nice bounce back victory over Washington. I expect them to beat OS(U) this week.

6. Washington- Not a good team but everyone behind them is worse

7. WSU- See above

8. Stanford- Harbaugh has them heading in the right direction but they're still a long way from being competitive.

9. OS(U)- Memo to Sean Canfield: If you throw to players wearing Orange training bras you will be far more successful.

10. Arizona- Mike Stoops should begin cleaning out his office.

Thoughts from a road trip

As I stated in my previous entry, my wife and I took a road trip to watch our Ducks beat on the nerds from Stanford. Here are few of the highlights from that trip.

After work Friday night we headed to lovely Yreka, CA. Personally I would have preferred to stay in Weed but Yrkea won out in the end. On the way we took a bathroom stop at the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, Or. Just for the heck of it we joined the players club which entitled us to $5.00 in free slot play. We took a seat at the "Deal or No Deal" penny slots and got work. In addition to free $5.00 I spent $5.00 of my own money and ended up leaving with $7.50. Carrie spent $5.00 of her own money and left with $20.00. In the end it was a profitable stop. After leaving the casino it was off to Yreka. In an effort to save money we stayed at a Motel 6. It may have been the smallest motel room that I've stayed in. The shower was so small that I could barely fit in it and the towels were the size of hand towels. Did I mention that Motel 6 doesn't provide shampoo? In the end the Motel served it's purpose and we got a good night's sleep.

After Breakfast at the Black Bear diner it was time to get on the road. At about Corning which happens to be the Olive capitol of the world, we were due for another bathroom stop. I saw a sign for the Rolling Hills Casino and figured that would be good stop. Of course we had to gamble while we were there. I put $5.00 in a slot and within minutes I was up to $35.00. I played it down to $30.00 and called it good. I believe that Carrie lost $5.00 but it was still a profitable stop. After the Casino it was back on the road. We stopped at an In N' Out Burger in Vacaville, Ca and I enjoyed a Double Double. Our next step stop was the Wild Palms Hotel in Sunnyvale, Ca. A big step up from the Motel 6, it was a trendy Boutique hotel. It had shampoo and full size towels, so I was happy. My only complaint was the sink which looked like a giant salad bowl sitting on the counter.

After checking into the hotel we headed off to Stanford Stadium. Parking was easy and since we had time we took a walk around the campus. I'm sure if someone had found out my SAT score I my have been kicked off the campus. Just being there made me feel smarter. We stopped by the bookstore to buy some souvenirs. My first observation was at the Stanford bookstore the first thing you see is books, you have to go upstairs for souvenirs. That is the exact opposite of the University of Oregon where the first thing you see is Duck apparel and you have to go upstairs if you want books. I was tempted to purchase a shirt that read "Stanford Alumni" but in the end I settled on a Nike shirt from the clearance rack. After a few snapping a few photos and some more wandering around we headed into the stadium. My first observation was that there was as much green and yellow as cardinal and white. After listening to the god awful "Leland Stanford Junior Marching Band" it was game time. In the beginning the game appeared to be a rout with the ducks going up 21-3. Stanford dominated the second quarter and went into halftime leading 31-24. I was never worried and did not panic once during the second quarter. The ducks came out and dominated the second half and ended up winning 55-31. During the game I decided that my first born son would be named Dennis, not after me but after Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon.

The trip home was pretty uneventful. We had a couple unsuccessful bathroom-casino stops and that was about it. In the end it was a great trip and most importantly the Ducks won!

Road Trip Time

This coming Saturday I will be attending my first duck game outside of the State of Oregon in four years. After work Friday we will load up the car and head to beautiful Yreka, Ca for the evening before heading on to Palo Alto on Saturday. I really wanted to stay in Weed but Yreka is cheaper. After watching the Ducks beat up on the smart kids Saturday we will head to a charming boutique hotel in Sunnyvale for the evening before heading home to Eugene on Sunday.

Pac 10 rankings week 3

1. SUC- Looked impressive against Nebraska. I expect the Trojans to keep rolling.
2. Oregon- Dominating non conference season, now the tough games start. Wait they play Stanford.
3. Cal- So far so good for the Bears. Take care of business against Arizona and it sets up a huge matchup against the Ducks on 9/29/07.
4. ASU- 3-0 but they still haven't shown me anything yet.
5. Washington- Hung tOSU for a half but in the end they just weren't good enough.
6. WSU- They suck but just not as bad as the four teams below them.
7. UCLA- Utah? Didn't OS beat Utah
8. Stanford- Nice win over San Jose State!
9. OS- So you beat up on Idaho State, big freaking deal!
10. Arizona- Mike Stoopid might want to start cleaning out his office.

A thought on conference loyalty

I hear this crap about conference loyalty all the time. Conference loyalty is that loony idea that one should cheer for a team simply because they play in the same conference as your team. The reason I bring this up today is because Washington plays tOSU (the Ohio Sate University). If I believed in this concept of conference loyalty I would be cheering for the Huskies. There absolutely no way that I am cheering for the Puppies today, I could care less if it is good for the conference. The Puppies are a hated rival and I avoid cheering for them whenever I can. There are four programs in the Pac 10 that I don't and I won't cheer for ever unless they're one another or they can somehow help the Ducks. Those four programs are OS(U), Washington, Washington State and Arizona. I don't think I need to explain my hatred for OS(U) and Washington but some may question my hatred of WSU and Arizona. I've never liked WSU and Arizona's coach is for a lack of a better term a butthole. So the whole point of this is that I won't be cheering for the Pac 10 today. I'm cheering for Oregon, tOSU and Idaho State!

Ripping on Notre Dame is Always Fun

I came across this evening and about spit my drink all over my keyboard.

www.jcspn.com

Rating the Pac 10- Week two

1. USC- Didn't play anyone but they're still the top team. They should roll the Cornhuskers this weekend.

2. Oregon- Impressive victory over once powerful Michigan earns them the number two spot.

3. Cal- Probably the real number two team in the conference but they drop due to their unimpressive showing and Oregon's impressive showing.

4. UCLA- Nice win against BYU this could be UCLA's year but I doubt it because Carl Dorrell is still their coach.

5. ASU- Look for them to make their climb towards the top next year. Dennis Erikson will have them in a BCS game in the next two years.

6. Washington- Nice win against Boise State but the Broncos were last years story.

7. Washington State- If I hear one more person in Eugene say that Mike Bellotti made a mistake by not recruiting Alex Brink I'm going to throw up.

8. Arizona- I predict that Mike Stoopid will not be the coach of the Mildcats next year.

9. Stanford- Stick to academics.

10. OS- Because of their embarrassing performance last week they get the last spot. I hope they stay there.

People Can Be Delusional- Revisited

Back in May I blogged about a column that I found online comparing the 2007 "OS" football team to the 2004 USC football. I pretty much ripped the column apart and the author of the column actually comented on my blog. In light of "OS's" 34-3 loss to the mighty Bearcats of Cincinatti I figured it was time to revisit this gem by "OS" student newspaper writer Frank Hoaglin. So for your reading enjoyment here it is:

2007 The year?

People Can Be Delusional

PS- Frank, if you're still reading my blog please do not use profanity when commenting

The new "OS" Football Uniforms

I thought the new "OS" football uniforms were missing something. Problem solved.

An observation from the Oregon - Houston game

In this post I will not be talking about the actual football game on Saturday. I could write plenty about how crappy the defense looked but I'll save that for another time. I want to write about some horrible fashion that I saw at the stadium.

At halftime as I was walking back from the bathroom I saw gentlemen wearing green and yellow hammer pants, a tucked in game jersey from 1990 and to top it off he had a mullet. One of my yet to be published "rules for attending a live sporting event" is to maintain updated gameday apparel. If you can afford a ticket to the game, you can afford the $15-$20 it will cost you for a new t-shirt. Some retro stuff is cool but a game jersey with the 1990 Freedom Bowl patch and hammer pants are not cool. If you are going to a game you must maintain updated gameday apparel!!!!

9/01/2007 12:30 PM

It's almost here! Go Ducks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few observaitions from Canada

Canadian beer sucks

Slurpee's taste different in Canada

Budweiser and Coors are in the import section

There's a lot of bad drivers

They don't know how to spell. It's center, not centre!

Why are the police still called the "Royal Canadian Mounted Police" when most police officers are not mounted.

ATM's are called ABM's (Automated Banking Machines) and you can choose between English and French. I wanted Spanish!

My Last Bog as a single man

This is a historic post for Dennis' Daily rant. This will be my final post as a single man. Tomorrow at 2:00 PM PDT Dennis Micheal Cook, the founder, President, CEO and supreme dictator of dennisdailyrant.com will wed the lovely Carrie Marie Lintner. Will anything about my blog change after I get married? NO! You will still find the same blogging excellence that you've come to expect. In honor of my upcoming honeymoon in the nation of Canada, I leave you all with this:

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/MP3/O-Canada-eng.MP3

I really don't know what to say about this one

Back in June I blogged about the $54,000,000,000 lawsuit against a laundry mat owner who lost a clients pants. At the time that was the most ridiculous lawsuit I'd seen. That all changed today when my soon to be wife emailed me a story from foxnews.com. A South Carolina prison inmate has filed a $63,000,000,000 lawsuit against embattled NFL Michael Vick. He alledges that Vick stole two pit bulls from him for his dog fighting operation and then sold them on ebay and used the proceeds to buy missles from the Iranian government. I'm assuming this lawsuit will be thrown out almost immediatley and if it's within the judges power I hope he can tack some more time on this dudes sentance for waisting everyones time. Here's the story from Fox News, please read it along with the pdf of the complaint filed in court.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293268,00.html

Wednesday Morning Thoughts

First I want to tell everyone that I hate going to the dentist. Problem number one is why do dentist and doctors offices have four month old magazines in the lobby? It's August 8 and I was reading all about the Florida Gators second consecutive National Title in Basketball. Problem number two is the strategically placed "Stages of Gum Disease" chart in the exam room. For forty minutes I had to stare at this chart that showed pictures of everything from healthy gums with nice white teeth all the way to puffy bleeding gums with black and yellow teeth. Problem number three is scraping. Having someone scrape at your teeth for thirty minutes is one of tortuous things there is. The good news is that I had no cavities!


Thought number two, Barry Bonds is now Baseball's all time Home Run leader. I have mixed emotions on this. Being a Giants fan I'll admit that there was part of me that was cheering for him. Did he use performance enhancing drugs? Probably. Is it a tragedy or a Dark moment in Baseball history like some have labeled it? No. It it is what it is, he's got more home runs than anyone who has ever played the game. The last twenty years have been "The Steroid Era" in Baseball and Barry Bonds is the best player of that era. If Baseball wouldn't have ignored the steroid problem in the beginning than we wouldn't have any problem. Bud Selig and friends are just as much to blame as Barry Bonds. Everyone who bitter and and angry about this can take comfort in the fact that Alex Rodriguez will break the record in seven or eight years but who's to say he didn't cheat?

Third thought is that it's almost football season. Three weeks from Saturday my beloved Ducks take on the Houston Cougars at Autzen Stadium. I'll return to my usual seats in section 24 row 24 along with Carrie and Justin when he decides to show up.

Fourth and final thought for the day is days of being a bachelor are numbered. Friday will be my bachelor party. I hear that we'll be playing video games, drinking diet Pepsi and eating carrots so nothing too crazy will happen. A week from Saturday is my wedding so that's pretty cool. Hopefully all the usual people are still in my section including the nice old ladies Harriet and Janet and the old guy that doesn't have a name. Go Ducks!!!

Ouch!!

The most amzing thing about this video is that guy walks away.

Farewell to a Friend

One of the hard parts of getting married is saying goodbye to certain things from my bachelor days. Last night I said goodbye to my favorite chair. The brown recliner has been a part of my life since 2000. It was one of three relics left from the old Chesterfield lane residence (see my post from May 2006). The chair has followed me everywhere I've lived since college and has been good to me. Unfortunatly there will be no room for the chair in my new place so I had to say goodbye. I put an add on Craigslist for $20 and within an hour I had ten email responses. In the end some college kids came by last night handed me $20 and left with the chair. I'll miss the chair and my one hope is that its new owners are as good to it as I was.

"Softball Guy"

Every slow pitch pitch softball league around the country has at least one guy that I would refer to as "Softball Guy". "Softball Guy" is that guy who played baseball in High School 15-30 years ago, and thinks if it weren't for some coach that screwed him over years ago he'd be playing in the big leagues. While most slow pitch softball players show up wearing tennis shoes, shorts and a t-shirt, "Softball Guy" shows up wearing his baseball pants from high school, cleats, wristbands, two batting gloves an official looking uniform or some sort of pullover like the pros wear in batting practice and he's usually carrying a bag with three or four fancy bats. The picture above is a guy that I would refer to as "Softball Guy". While his teammates are probably wearing t-shirts and shorts , this clown has the full get up going. Cleats, socks, pants with the belt, batting gloves, wristband above the elbow and he even threw in the under armor. While I can't tell for sure, I'm assuming that his bat is some fancy $300 bat while everyone else on his team is probably using a $30 bat.

Why do I write about "Softball Guy" ? Tonight, my team faced "Softball Guy". He was probably in his mid to late 30's, he had the pants, pullover, shoes, batting gloves and bat. Before every at bat "Softball Guy" would do some Ichiro like routine, where he would stretch and adjust his jersey several times before he would step into the batters box. Sometimes in between pitches he would do his routine over again. To make things worse "Softball Guy" was also the pitcher and he would try to throw curve balls and change ups and this was coed D-League softball which is the lowest level of Softball in Eugene. Unfortunately we lost to "Softball Guy's" team and as you would expect from "Softball Guy" he was very "humble" in victory.

If any of you out there know "Softball Guy" please have an intervention, it's not too late for them to change. If you're reading this and you are "Softball Guy", please stop! No one is impressed by you, so just give it up.

Socks With Sandals

I posted the following entry on May 14, 2006 but after seeing way too many people wearing socks with sandals I felt compelled to post it again.

As the weather is getting nicer more and more people are wearing shorts, which is perfectly ok. Here in Eugene, I'm seeing a very disturbing trend though. I have seen way too many people wearing socks with sandals. Under no circumstances should anyone wear socks with sandals! If any of my readers are doing this please stop. If you see someone on the street doing this please tell them to stop. If we all work together on this we can stop this!!

More Baseball Trivia

Which active Major League manager has the highest career winning percentage?

That question won me another $30.00 at my "favorite" restaurant. That's the second time this season I've won the trivia contest at Civic Stadium. I can't take all the credit for this one though, I was unsure of the answer so I fired a quick text message to my friend and bastion of useless baseball knowledge Justin, who promptly responded with the correct answer.

Soccer Update

It's been a while since I've provided you with an update on "the beautiful game", so here it is. A washed up player from England named Beckham is set to make his debut for the LA Galaxy this weekend. Apparently this is a big deal but I have yet to encounter a single person who cares. People keep on telling me that Soccer is alive and well in the United States but I have yet to see any evidence of that. Soccer might be the sixth most popular sport after Football, Baseball, Basketball, Nascar and Golf but that's about it. If soccer is so big in the United Sates then why does www.mls.com take me some real estate site intead of the official website of Major League Soccer? The NFL, NBA and MLB don't seem to have that problem, heck even the NHL doesn't have that problem. Face it soccer fan, soccer is not bigtime in the USA and it never will be!

Play Ball!!!!

Friday it was announced that the University of Oregon is reinstating Baseball in 2009 after a twenty six year absence. While I've never been a huge college baseball fan I am excited about this. Oregon was the only school without a program and that's just sad to me. After Football and Basketball it could be argued that Baseball is the number three sport in college athletics (personally I prefer Track and Field but that's because of Oregon's rich track heritage). Adding a baseball program didn't come without some cuts, it was also announced that the U of O would be dropping its wrestling program. While I feel bad for those athletes and coaches, I feel the right decision was made. College wrestling has absolutely no income potential whatsoever. While a Baseball program will probably lose money, the potential to be a revenue producing sport does exist. In a perfect world they'd just have every single sport but with financial concerns and gender equity issues that is not feasible. If the University of Oregon wants to be an elite athletic department then adding baseball was necessary. I commend Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny for having the guts to do what no other Oregon Athletic Director in the last twenty six years would do and that's to say "play ball!!!"

Man arrives at wedding a year early

This story is just one more reason why I don't believe in long engagements. A man flew from Toronto all the way to Wales for a friends wedding only discover he was a year early. For all of you who are attending my wedding I can assure that it is August 18, 2007.

Man arrives at wedding a year early

What does this look like to you?

I laughed when I read this story. The city city of Keizer is receiving complaints over the look of these cement posts meant to protect pedestrians from traffic. Here's the story:

Residents of Oregon town say shape of traffic posts is offensive

My Next 10 Songs

I have been tagged by Aaron to list the next 10 songs that come up on my iPod or iTunes on shuffle. For the record I despise these kind things but I'll go ahead and play along anyways. So here is what came up:

1. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - The Beatles
2. Lamu- Michael W Smith
3. My Baby's in Love With Eddie Vedder- Weird Al
4. Anakin Defeats Sebulba- Star Wars Episode One
5. Maybe I'm Amazed- Paul McCartney
6. I Hear Leasha- Michael W Smith
7. Truce- Jars of Clay
8. A Time for Glory- The Music of NFL Films
9. Long, Long, Long- The Beatles
10. Place in this World- Michael W Smith

I can't say that I would pick any of these songs if I was picking ten of my favorites from my Library and I don't believed I've listened to any of them in the past two years but that's what came up. So I guess I will tag Andrew if he's reading.

Do I look like a High School Student?

Saturday I was at local convinience store when I decided to purchase a lottery ticket. I've purchased a few lottery tickets since I turned eighteen twelve years ago and I don't think I've been carded once in about the last ten years. I was absolutely stunned when the clerk asked to see my ID. I'm 30 years old! I realize that I do look a little younger than thirty but is there any possible way that I could be 17 years old? Here's a picture a from a year ago, I'll let you decide.

for yourself.

The worst junk email ever

I've received some pretty bad junk emails lately. Viagra discounts, hot stock tips and discount software are some of the junk emails I get on a regular basis. Today I got quite possibly the worst piece of Junk email that I've ever received. I received an email from the OS ticket office offering me the opportunity to purchase single game football tickets. Why on earth would I buy OS football tickets? I would probably be more likely to buy a bunch of shares on one of those hot stock tips than I would buy any tickets to an OS game that doesn't involve the Ducks.

Trivia Question

The following question won me $30 at my one of my least favorite restaurants tonight at the Eugene Emeralds game:

Which current US Senator managed the Eugene Emeralds in 1973?

Got any guesses? Please post your answer. The first correct answer will win a prize.







please note: There will be no prize awarded for the first correct answer, the statement was a lie.

OS Parade Photo

Thank you to the friend who emailed me this exclusive picture of the OS championship parade.

Congrats Rodents! Just 10 more National titles to go before you catch the Ducks

Congrats to OS on their second consectituve national title in baseball. This national title is just the third National title in any sport. The Univeristy of Oregon on the other hand has thirteen national titles, which still isn't impressive but it is a lot better than three!

GO Tar Heels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In honor of my favorite Univeristy for the next three days, I have changed the background color of my blog to Carolina Blue. This is to show my support for the North Carolina Tar Heels as they battle the OS Beavers in the championship of the College World Series.

Is this what an OS education does for someone?

Happy Birthday to a Legend

Today marks the 65th birthday of former Beatle and music legend, Paul McCartney. In honor of Sir Paul's birthday, here's Sir Paul performing "Birthday"

shoes

The Scripps National Spelling Bee

Last Thursday night I had the wonderful opportunity to watch the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. I will just say that I am not a fan of this event being televised. It just doesn't make for good entertainment. That being said I did find a clip from a previous years spelling bee that I found humorous. So here it is for your enjoyment.

10 Sports Personalities that annoy me

1. Michelle Wie- Five years from now she'll be featured on some sort of "where are they now?" segment.

2. Billy Donavan- Don't accept a job, sign a contract and tell everyone how excited you are about the challenge on Friday and then change your mind on Saturday.

3. Danica Patrick- I keep on hearing how good she is but she' won the exact same number of races as I have, 0!

4. Tim Duncan- Boring, overrated and a crybaby

5. Peyton Manning- Tom Brady is better

6. Roger Clemens- Please do us all a favor and retire

7. Brett Favre- See above

8. Adam Jones- I refuse to call him by his nickname because he hasn't accomplished anything in his pathetic career. Anyone who has something like twenty run ins with police in the last three years, gets suspended for a year and then has the nerve to appeal his well deserved suspension is a loser.

9. Michael Vick- I won't even touch his off field issues. The reason he makes my list is because he's not that good.


10. Lou Pinella- When your over 60, you shouldn't be throwing your hat and kicking dirt on people.

Middle aged men acting like three year olds

You gotta middle aged men acting like three year olds. The following are two clips of minor league baseball mangers having complete meltdowns. First is a clip from last weekend involving Mississippi Braves Manager Phillip Wellman. The second meltdown is from last season involving Asheville Tourists Manager Joe Mikulik.

$54 million for a pair of pants?

This is perhaps the most ridiculous lawsuit I have ever seen. Washington DC Administrative Court Judge Roy Pearson JR, sued the owners of a Dry Cleaners for $67 million over a lost pair of pamts. After thinking things over Pearson apparently has had a change of heart and is only asking for $54 million. The pants were a part of suit that cost $1100 originally.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/06/dc_judge_pearson_now_wants_54.html

Marathon Update

After spending a mostly sleepless night in a smoking room at the Econo Lodge in Newport, I ran my third marathon Saturday morning. Fighting allergies (yes they followed me to the coast), a bad knee and probably most importantly a lack training, I crossed the line in four hours and four minutes. The time wasn't all that important, I really just wanted to finish. After briefly contemplating retirement from marathoning, I've made the descision to get my butt back into peak shape and train for Boston in 2009. My plan will be to the run Portland marathon in Octobober in three hours and twenty seven minutes . Then after a winter of intense training a much lighter version of me will run the Eugene marathon in a time of three hours an seven minutes thus qualifying for the Boston marathon. A month after running Eugene I'll run the Newport race again just for fun. That's my tentative Marathon schedule for the next year

Memorial Day

A grateful thank you to all those men and women who served, and to those who serve now. I specially thank those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that the rest of us can enjoy the freedom we share.

A random fact about the Indy 500

According to US census bureau the most common last name in the United States is Smith. In 91 runnings of the Indy 500 there has never been a driver with the last name Smith to qualify for the race.

Hypocrite of the Week

A California State Senator who voted in favor a law that bans talking on a cell phone without a hands free device while driving reportedly caused a car accident last weekend while talking on her cell phone. Carol Migden D- San Fransisco was driving a state issued SUV when she rear ended another vehicle. Here's the full story.

Senator Who Favors Cell Phone Ban Caught Using Hers

Some Advice for Runners

Don't go out for Chinese food at 9:00 PM on Friday and then try to run eight miles at 8:00 AM on Saturday.










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Blazermania!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seven years ago I sat in the living of my friend Justin's place watching on a 13 inch Daewoo television as my beloved Blazers imploded in the fourth quarter of game seven of the Western Conference finals. That Sunday afternoon was the beginning of the dowmward sprial that saw the Blazers go from one of the elite teams in the league to the league's worst team one year ago. The once proud franchise was dead, there was no hope and longtime fans like myself were wondering if the Blazers would ever be back. Things started to look up on draft night last year in which the Blazers picked up Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. This season was a struggle but there were signs of life and the team won eleven more games than it did a year ago. There was hope but there was still a missing piece.

Last night on what some are calling the greatest night in franchise history since the championship season, the Portland Trail Blazers won the NBA Draft Lottery. Meaning that they will have the number one pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. They will have the choice of two of the best players in the NBA draft in recent memory, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. In all likelyhood they will select Oden, which I believe is the correct pick. Durant wouldn't be a bad pick either but I think Oden would be the better fit and he could be the guy that'll bring the Blazers their first title since 1977.

Softball

Tonight marked the beginning of my second season on the company softball team. As was was the case last year, I am once again wearing the #7 as a tribute to the man who I think is the greatest quarterback ever to play the game of football, John Elway. I started at my usual position, First Base, committed no errors in the field and was 2-2 at the plate with two singles. We won 16-9 tonight and appear to be much improved from last year.

Alberto Gonzales a Portland Trail Blazer?

What does attorney general Alberto Gonzales have to do with the Portland Trail Blazers? The answer is nothing but for some weird reason when you enter http://www.albertogonzales.com in your browser it takes you to the official website of the Portland Trail Blazers. The following is courtesy of Oregonlive.com:

Alberto Gonzales a Blazer?
Posted by Casey Holdahl May 21, 2007 13:21PM
As you may or may not know, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been in some hot water lately regarding the firing of a number of federal prosecutors. If you'd like to talk more about that, we've got a lovely politics forum.
So right now you're probably saying to yourself, "This is a Blazer blog Casey. What's the big deal bringing up this political crap?" Well it turns out that the Blazers and AG Gonzales have a strange connection on the World Wide Web:
For some reason, typing the domain "www.albertogonzales.com" into your browser's address line takes web-surfers to the online home of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. A quick online search shows that the Attorney General's name is registered to InterCosmos Media Group of New Orleans, and was registered on Feb. 3, 2005, just as Gonzales was up for Senate confirmation.
An attempt to reach InterCosmos for an explanation was unsuccessful. But the BLT's private theory is that the link between the nation's top-law enforcement officer and the Blazers may have something to do with the team's well-documented history of blazing things other than three-point shots.
And it's true. Click on http://www.albertogonzales.com/, and sure enough, you're re-directed to Blazers.com. If anyone's got an explanation for this, I would love to hear it. My guess is that Alberto can really stroke the three.

300 Posts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my 300th post to my blog. In celebration of that milestone, let's take a look back at some of my favorite posts.

World's Strongest Dad- The inspirational story of Rick and Dick Hoyt. A story that everybody should read and I guarantee that you'll get choked up at the very least.

Why not a Playoff?- My annual argument for a playoff in college football.

Valentine's Day, What's the point?- A classic post from back in 2006 which was my last ever Valentine's day as a single man. Yes Carrie, my opinion of Valentine's Day has changed since then.

59 Things a Man Should Never do Past 30- A list from esquire magazine and no I don't think that I've been in violation of any of them.

3:25:07- My post following my first marathon last year.

Marathon Time

On June 2 I will be running my third marathon. For the second year in a row I'll be running the Newport Marathon. This year I'm not the slim trim Dennis that I was a year ago but I'm also not the fat Dennis that I was two years ago. My goal of qualifying for Boston is temporarily on hold, if I can finish this one under four hours I'll be ecstatic. Once I get this one out the way I plan on upping my training and getting back into my peak condition to make a run at Boston in Portland in the fall or back home in Eugene next spring.

The NBA

For the past couple years I have been completely uninterested in the NBA. The style of play, the teams and the players just didn't interest me. I started watching a little NBA during the playoffs and enjoyed it. That all ended tonight because the last remaining team that I enjoyed watching the Phoenix Suns was eliminated. As of tonight I am officially uninterested in the NBA until either the Blazers start winning or next years playoffs.

Three months from today

Can anyone guess what's happening on that day?

The Greatest Athlete Ever to Come out of the State of Oregon

Someone once asked me who I felt the greatest athlete to come out of state of Oregon was. Now we're not talking someone from California who went to college for four years in Oregon, we're talking the best Oregon raised athlete. To me that answer is simple and it cannot be debated. The greatest athlete ever to come out of the state of Oregon is Steve Prefontaine.

Born and raised in Coos Bay, Oregon Pre was the greatest American distance runner ever. In his college career he won seven NCAA titles, three in Cross Country and four in the three mile becoming the first athlete to win four consecutive titles in one event. In his college career he set nine collegiate records and never lost a race of a distance more than one mile. He raced in thirty eight races at historic Hayward field from 1970-1975 and won thirty five of those, the three that he didn't win were all at the one mile distance. In his only Olympics at the the age of 21 he finished fourth in a field that he was at least two years younger than everyone else. Had he race in 1976 he would have been the favorite to win gold.

In 1975 Pre was killed in a car accident. At the time of his death he held every American record from 2000-10000 meters.


Information from goducks.com was used to complete this post

Buying a card

Tomorrow is my father's birthday so tonight I went to the store to find my dad a birthday card. I figured I would find the card I want an be out of there in two minutes, I was wrong. I spent thirty minutes and I must of looked through every birthday card the store had. All I wanted was a classy and simple birthday card. I didn't want a card with crude sexual humor, no card with a sappy poem telling my dad how special he is and absolutely no card with puppies or kittens wishing my dad a happy birthday, again all I wanted was a simple and classy birthday card. I found one card that said simply "happy birthday" by it looked like it was designed by a five year old using really bad clip art.

The funny cards either not funny, contained references to bodily noises, contained crude sexual humor or all of the above. I just don't think it would be very appropriate to buy my dad a card that references bodily noises or sexual humor.

Some people like to buy cards that contain a sappy poem or something a long those lines. For my mom I can get away with that but dad is a different. My dad is an old tough guy who spent twenty years in the military, buying him a card with poem telling him how special he is would just be weird.

The most disturbing cards to me are the ones with puppies or kittens. The store I went to had a whole section of these cards. Who came up with the brilliant idea of putting a pet on a card. I just don't see the point.

After looking at all the cards I left the store with nothing. Tomorrow during my lunch I'll try again and hopefully this time I'll be more successful.

Sizzler

For nearly a year, I have been on the board of directors for the Lane County Creditors Association (It's not as prestigious as it sounds). On the the third Thursday of every month we have a board meeting at Sizzler. No matter what I order off the menu I always feel sick after eating there. I've tried burgers, steak, chicken, salad bar, shrimp and fish but it doesn't matter, I always leave with this nasty feeling in my stomach. Today I ordered the chicken strips which I thought would be safe, I was wrong! Since 2:00 today I have felt ill, after work I went for my six mile run that normally takes 45 minutes, tonight it took an hour and fifteen minutes. The point of all this? Never eat at Sizzler!

Pac 10 Champs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure one of you knuckleheads is going say something like it's only Track and Field but I don't care what you think. Eugene, Oregon is Tracktown USA and personally I think it's great that the storied track and field program at University of Oregon is returning to its rightful place amongst the nation's elite.

Something

It's been a couple days since I blogged so I figured I should give you all something. The problem is there's nothing really new to report, it's been a slow week in sports and making fun of "OS" is getting old, actually making fun of "OS" never gets old but you get the point. So with nothing blog about I figured I'd give you guys another YouTube video. This time I ventured out of the world sports into the world of music. The following is one of my favorite performances in recent years. It's a tribute to the late George Harrison performed by Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and others. I give to you "Something".

People can be delusional sometimes

The beginning of each season brings new hope to sports fans. Some can be realistic and some can be downright delusional. I tend to be on the realistic side, meaning I don't pick my teams to win a championship every year. Then there are people like Frank Hoaglin of the Barometer which happens to be the "OS" student newspaper. I'll just let you all read the column for yourselves and you'll see what I'm talking about. After reading then you can read my commentary on some of my favorites points.

2007
The Year?

"The Beavs look to revisit those days this year, and from the looks of practices, scrimmages and the Spring game this year, OSU has the potential to be a force to be reckoned with this season."

We're talking about spring practice here, spring practice is never a good indication of how a team will look in the in fall. I remember attending the 2002 Oregon spring game and thinking afterwards that the Ducks were going to be great and Jason Fife was going to better than Joey Harrington. The ducks went 7-6 and got crushed by Wake Forrest in the Seattle Bowl and I think that it is safe to say Jason Fife was not better than Joey Harrington.

"Even after losing quarterback Matt Moore to the NFL, the Beavers have enough depth at the position to make Urban Meyer look jealous down in Florida"

A Redshirt Freshman and a Sophomore with no meaningful minutes wouldn't make the coach at New Mexico State jealous let alone the coach of of the defending national champions.


"Much like former Trojan quarterback Matt Leinart, Canfield has the mechanics and delivery to find any receiver at any point on the field and deliver a precision pass to their numbers."


Comparing an untested Sophomore QB to a Heisman trophy winner who led his to two national titles is just plain ridiculous.

"While USC had the weapons in the forms of Reggie Bush, LenDale White, Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith, the Beavers could potentially counter the Trojans easily with Sammie Stroughter, Yvenson Bernard, Anthony Brown, Brandon Powers and Brady Camp. While no player in football history will match the play-making capabilities of Reggie Bush (Along with Gale Sayers and Barry Sanders), Stroughter is definitely close. If you had the privilege to watch Stroughter return kicks during spring, you were probably reminded of a certain OSU/USC game last October in Corvallis. Sammie has the speed, agility and field vision to break a touchdown on any play, much like Bush."

Sammie Stroughter's abilities are not even close to those of Reggie Bush. Reggie Bush is arguably the greatest college football player ever, Sammie Starughter while very good is not even in the same galaxy as Reggie Bush. Yvenson Bernard is sturdy workhorse running back but is nowhere near the back Lindale White was. As for Anthony Brown, Brandon Powers and Brady Camp, well I haven't even heard of two of those guys.

"And who knows, we just could have a dynasty on our hands. What do ya have to say to that, USC?"

Umm, I don't think so.

I could be wrong but I doubt you'll be seeing "OS" in a BCS bowl anytime soon.

"Of all the dramitic I things I've ever seen"

Yesterday during the seventh inning stretch of the Yankee-Mariner game, forty five year Roger Clemens announced that he was returning to the New York Yankees. That didn't come as huge surprise to anyone. I did think it was kind of ridiculous that it was announced over the PA in the middle of a game, but that's a subject for another time. After the announcement Yankee Broadcaster Suzyn Waldman started screaming a bunch crap and then she makes the statement "of all the dramatic things I've EVER seen". Now don't get me wrong, Roger Clemens is a great pitcher maybe the best ever but to use the "of all the dramatic things I've ever seen" in reference to a forty five year old pitcher announcing his return is a bit ridiculous. Apparently Ms. Waldman hasn't seen many dramatic things in her life but as a baseball broadcaster you'd think she would see more dramatic things on a daily basis such as a game winning home run. Heck I even see more dramatic things on my drive to work every day. Here's ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd's take on this.

Something to think about before your next glass of water

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. coli) bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of Poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine (or rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember: Water = Poop, Wine = Health

Carrie

As most of you already know on August 18, 2007, I the man that many people labeled a "bachelor til the rapture" will be getting married to a wonderful girl named Carrie. It took twenty nine years of getting "kicked to the curb" and running into the infamous "two date wall" before I finally met the right girl, and all I have to say is that it was worth the wait.

Another Oregon State Logo

When I first saw the new "OS" logo, I thought it was boring, unimaginative and just plain ugly. Because of that I commissioned a local graphic designer to come up with yet another logo for Oregon State. I wanted this one to be original, bold and something that truly represented that fine institution in Corvallis. After much hard work the product is finished and I couldn't be happier with it. While the guy that designed the "OS" got $50,000 for that High School-like logo he designed, the designer I hired did it for free and I think his work is much better than the guy that got paid $50,000. It is with much excitement that I present the new Oregon State logo.