Another mixed weekend, more so inept than successful


The weekend did not start auspiciously well for my guys. The men's volleyball team played like the chokers they were against Northridge and Penn State last night. We were leading UC Irvine by two games, and then, in a collapse that made the Berlin Wall's fall look diminutive, we let the Anteaters rally in five. How pathetic. And I thought our chances of defending our surfboard were going to get better. At this point, we are down two games to one against UCLA. Could we get a rally going against these guys in the same fashion the Zots dealt us? One can only hope.

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But this wasn't the only team to have a weekend from hell.


Ladies and gentlemen, let us have a moment of silence for the sudden, and horrifically unexpected passing of Long Beach State's baseball mojo, which, like so many brave souls that did not leave this ugly, yet beautiful [sic] world in vain, died honorably on the fields of Northern California. The body will be cremated, and the ashes will be sent to the University of California at Berkeley. Date for the possible resurrection has yet to be strenuously determined.

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Meanwhile, the softball team keeps its mojo alive. UC Davis was swept in a doubleheader today, by the scores of 1-0 and 8-3. Brooke Turner pitched a gem of a shutout, while Bridgette Pagano held her ground in the second game.

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A funny thing happened on the way back home, after I got back from doing some palleting and shredding of old documents down at the SPJA office in Anaheim (which was refurbished very well, looking like an actual office, decked with anime volumes for the staff to watch). On the OCTA Route 50, this old guy gets into a heated argument with the bus driver, and all the passengers were wondering why this scrooge was holding us up. Finally, we took another bus heading the same way, and the old geezer was arrested.

And I thought I had issues with some of my drivers. They now pale in comparison to this one.

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As of this blog, the Galaxy choked in their season opener to the Colorado Rapids, the Bruin men's basketball team returns to the Final Four (thankfully without the likes of Florida and Ohio State), and the Angels complete their preseason tour with a rout of the San Diego Padres. I suppose in retrospect, it wasn't a bad day; after all, I was able to do something that I haven't done in a long time: take a photo of the daruma head from Anime Expo. This was something that was gnawing and gnashing at me since last year's convention. I am proud to say that I finally got this out of the way. Hallelujah. This, along with the verbal confrontation, made my day in more ways than one.

Post Number 401 on the Bedlam...and it isn't a happy one

March 24, 2008 was a landmark moment in the history of this blog, as it reached 400 posts. But today, March 27, 2008, should be a landmark moment in the annals of 49er volleyball ignomity. You can't expect to win matches, let alone championships if you let the opponent come from two games down to win in five. I mean, how the fuck is that possible to win anything?

If my guys learned something, it's to go to the nearest place of worship and seek penance. In a hurry. Cause there is no redemption when you let UC Irvine get one step closer to winning this year's edition of the Black and Blue Rivalry Series. In fact, in the words of Lee Corso, "Forget about it!"

And you know what? I have a gut feeling that that won't the last time we choke in five. That's three times SO FAR this year (as of this post) our guys failed to shut the door on our opponents when it goes the distance. This game, obviously, had to hurt, because the match shouldn't have gone the distance in the first place.

If I'm Alan Knipe, any hairs remaining on my head are gone. And I already have Dr. Bosley's number, in case my boys find salvation any way they can get it, cause they weren't going to see the light tonight. Nope, not with the way we played after Game 2; only a black hole.

Pathetic.

On Mini Eggs, a job well done in Gardena and a few Beach teams rising





Once per year, I like to take the Easter weekend to snack on Cadbury Mini Eggs. They are these little pieces of chocolate encased in a sugar shell. I first ate these many years back, after watching a commercial featuring those little crunchy, yet rich, fruits of the bunny. Since then, I have made it an Easter tradition to gorge on one bag of these Mini Eggs. I eat them for breakfast, with some King's Hawaiian rolls, or as a snack that won't hold you down and never give you up. At this time of the year, it is all the rage.

I am elated after knowing my scores on the GRE Verbal and Quantitative sections. I got a 450 on the Verbal and a 610 on the Quantitative. Both scores meet or exceed the expectations set by the program that I am applying for, the Graduate Program in Sport Management. They needed at least a 450 on both sections. What makes this really special is that I didn't have any training on this exam, save for a practice exam and a little GRE review book that I took from Kaplan. When I saw my score, I pumped my fist. The cameras saw me, but they knew that I achieved my target score.

Also, I was relieved to see my baseball, softball, and men's volleyball teams get some big victories this weekend. This is the type of consistency and performance I will be expecting from them the rest of this year.

Thoughts on some Unfinished Business

In between queues for the Big Dance and the university softball and baseball teams getting their mojo back, I went off to the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Events Center to watch some boxing action on Saturday.

I was sort of impressed, but mostly surprised by one of the bouts in the undercard. The first fight featured David Diaz against Cesar Montano in the lightweight division. No title was on the line, but this was going to be an opportunity for Diaz if he could get the job done, because he was anticipating Manny Pacquiao's move up the ranks to lightweight, and get a possible match against him.

The match went the full 10 rounds, but what surprised me was that one of the judges called the bout a draw. Ultimately, the match went to Diaz by majority decision.

The second match of the undercard was just ugly and ridiculous. I mean, you would think the match between the next big thing from Guadalajara, Abner Mares (an Olympian in Athens 2004, and, like Juan Manuel Marquez, trained under Ignacio "Nacho" Berestain), and a dehydrated, overmatched Diosdado Gabi, would be called off because of the circumstances of the latter. But they weren't. And in a two-round laugher, Gabi looked like he was fighting his very first fight, while Mares set poised to join the elite. Mares currently is the North American Boxing Organization champion in his division.


A Thailander by the name of Terdzak Jandaeng faced off against Steven Luevano in the third and final fight of the undercard. Jandaeng is an adept kickbozer. He wanted to try his hand at just using his fists because kickoboxing was too easy. Maybe he should consider jumping to Pride Fighting, K-1 or UFC. Luevano wore him down by decision.

Finally, the main event came. Manny Pacquiao went off to a good start against Juan Manuel Marquez, and he had a bit of an opening in the third round, when he knocked him to the canvas. Marquez got back up, and both of them gave the crowd, my mom and me a great show of bloodshed, hard-hitting action, and a headbutt that just made things that much tittilating.

The drama didn't come to a head until the judges scored the fight. Jerry Roth must be reviled by Pacman supporters. He called the fight 115-112 Marquez. The other two called it for Pacquiao, and he won by split decision. I was ecstatic as I roared his name to the heavens.

I think that fight more than made up for the volleyball team choking against Penn State.

Being a weeaboo isn't an unenviable epithet...it's a privilege.

Pinpointing 'sakura' arrival serious business, fine science
Staff writer

When spring comes, millions of Japanese happily turn their thoughts to one thing: When will the cherry blossoms start blooming?

News photo
"Sakura" cherry blossoms are in full glory at Asukayama Park in Kita Ward, Tokyo, last April. REIJI YOSHIDA PHOTO

"Sakura" cherry blossoms, a symbol of Japan, last only about a week, so arranging a sakura-viewing party with friends or family at just the right time is a matter of keen concern for many in pursuit of this particular seasonal joy.

Though generally off by only a few days, the Meteorological Agency has often been criticized for inaccurately predicting the arrival of the cherry blossoms.

But now the agency has some competition: the Japan Weather Association and Weathernews Inc.

The pair are trying to crack into the market by giving sakura lovers more accurate and detailed predictions.

"It's better that we have three predicting organizations now," said Hirofumi Nakayama, a worker at Hamamatsu Flower Park in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Hamamatsu Flower Park boasts 1,100 sakura trees, including 500 of the popular "someiyoshino" variety, and sets up illuminations for night viewing.

But last year, the Meteorological Agency got its prediction badly wrong after inputting the wrong data into its supercomputer.

The agency forecast sakura would start blooming on March 13, 15 days earlier than usual, but the trees started budding on March 21 in Shizuoka.

Timing sakura is serious business for various sakura-related industries.

Tourism agencies arrange tours to famous viewing spots. Parks and city governments organize sakura festivals and stores must stock up on "bento" boxed meals for sakura parties at the right time. Companies also reserve sites and times for viewing parties.

"We started making predictions because so many people every year ask when sakura will start blooming," explained Chie Tanaka, spokeswoman for Japan Weather Association, which started challenging the Meteorological Agency two years ago with its own sakura predictions. Japan Weather Association, established in 1950, is a nonprofit foundation affiliated with the transport ministry.

Tanaka said the foundation is making predictions for 87 locations across the country this year, including many cities and towns the agency has stopped covering as part of the government's budget-cutting efforts.

The Meteorological Agency made predictions for 107 locations in 1996, but that number has dropped to 68 this year as local meteorological stations continue to close.

Following a personnel-cutting goal finalized in 2006 by then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the agency now plans to further reduce the sakura-prediction sites to 53 in 2011.

Meanwhile, Weathernews Inc., a private weather service, has adopted an approach totally different from its two rivals: It asks tens of thousands of volunteers to send in photos of sakura buds by e-mail.

Predictions by the Meteorological Agency and Japan Weather Association are largely based on the analysis of past blooming times and temperature patterns in January, February and March.

Weathernews supplements this approach with images sent in by registered volunteers, who also pinpoint the location, the estimated age of the tree and the sunshine conditions.

The predicted date is then uploaded on the firm's Web site.

More than 10,000 volunteers across the country took part in the Sakura Project in its inaugural year last spring, according to Weathernews.

This year, there were 17,831 registered participants as of Friday, and the number is expected to increase as the blooming season approaches, said Yuka Yoda, spokeswoman for Weathernews.

"Japanese are very, very interested in when sakura will start blooming," Yoda said.

"Every participant is enjoying watching the sakura every day" and sharing the information with others, she said.

For the latest predictions, visit the Meteorological Agency site at www.jma.go.jp/ or Japan Weather Association's site at www.jwa.or.jp/ or the Weathernews Web site for the Sakura Project at weathernews.jp/sakura/

The Ventures are now in the Hall of Fame, at last.

You can't tell anybody, and nobody can tell you, that The Ventures do not belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They are now.

Personally, I believe this was way past due. But I suppose good things come to those who wait; albeit for Ventures fans, they were getting restless until this news came out. I did find out about this, either, until I heard from KFWB News 980 a few minutes ago.

Hallelujah. Let those surf bells ring.

The Ventures finally arrive at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Seattle Times staff reporter

Don Wilson of Sammamish plays rhythm guitar for The Ventures, a rock band that made its first recording in 1960 and will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight. Wilson is one of the founders — two Seattle guys who started out in construction jobs.


By the numbers

Billboard magazine rankings for The Ventures:

No. 4 among all-time instrumental artists on its singles charts.

No. 6 among all 1960s artists on its album charts.

No. 20 in most albums on its charts, with 37 LPs.

The Ventures

Watch the induction

On TV: VH1 Classic airs the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 8:30 tonight

Ventures Party: Mark Christopher of KBSG-FM (now B97.3) hosts a free viewing party of the induction ceremony tonight at the Liberty Theatre in Puyallup, 116 W. Main St. Doors open at 7 p.m.

More information

The Ventures: www.theventures.com

Source: The Ventures

For years, it gnawed at Don Wilson, this thing with The Ventures being ignored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He took it personally, having co-founded the group in Seattle in 1959 with his friend, Bob Bogle.

They were two construction guys who bought $15 guitars at a pawnshop, taught themselves to play and evolved into a four-man band.

The rest was rock history resulting in an astounding 250 albums — that's right, 250 albums — with sales of 100 million copies.

The group still records and various members still tour. Wilson is 75. Bogle is 74 and lives in Vancouver, Wash.; he records but doesn't tour.

Last December, the announcement finally came: After 22 years of being eligible, The Ventures will be inducted tonight into the Hall of Fame, located in Cleveland. The Hall of Fame calls the group the most successful instrumental rock band in history.

The ceremony will take place in New York City. Also inducted will be the Dave Clark Five, Madonna, John Mellencamp and Leonard Cohen.

The Ventures will be introduced by one of their longtime fans, John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival fame.

Numerous other artists, including George Harrison, Aerosmith, Elton John and Ted Nugent, have expressed their admiration for The Ventures.

But truth be told, despite the acclaim, it still gnaws at Wilson, this thing with the Hall of Fame.

Why did the acknowledgment take so long?

"We're like the Rodney Dangerfields of the rock world," he said last week at his home in Sammamish. "I don't think they realize or understand what The Ventures have done."

In just about every room of the home, there are posters, blowup photos of the group and its adoring fans, guitars and gold records. A storage room next to the garage has boxes filled with hundreds of more memorabilia items.

Wilson can pull out reference books that attest to the group's impact.

Here is Joel Whitburn's "Top Pop Albums," compiled from Billboard magazine data.

Wilson opened to Page 481, which listed each decade's Top 20 artists.

"Look," he said, pointing to who was No. 7 for the 1960s.

It was The Ventures, surpassed by the Beatles and Elvis Presley, but beating out the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys.

Wilson can cite from memory the statistics, such as how in 1963, the group had a remarkable five LPs on the Billboard Top 100 at the same time.

So why so long? It gnawed and gnawed at Wilson.

"All we did was quietly sell millions of records," he said.

Over the years, their devoted fans have had various theories as to why The Ventures were snubbed by the Hall of Fame.

In an April 2007 article in www.ink19.com, a music site, Ventures fan Steve Stav theorized that maybe The Ventures were overlooked because "while hardly a collection of ugly mugs, the group isn't a gang of guitar-toting pretty boys, either — and image has always been at least half of the game."

The Hall of Fame says selections are voted on by rock historians and rock experts.

It's the nature of such voting that it is subjective. The historians and experts also have snubbed other eligible rock legends such as Alice Cooper, Mitch Ryder, Kool & the Gang, Heart and Lou Reed. There is an entire Web site, www.futurerockhall.com, devoted to listing rockers on the wait list.

The Ventures could have been voted into the Hall of Fame as early as 1985. Artists become eligible 25 years after the release of their first record, which for The Ventures would have been in 1960.

Blue-collar jobs to tavern gigs

Of course, it had been only two years earlier that they bought those $15 pawnshop guitars and learned to play them.

The two worked at Sahara Waterproofing. Doing masonry restoration. Bogle earned $4.50 an hour as a bricklayer. Wilson made $1.85 an hour as a hod carrier, carrying cement-filled buckets.

They learned their guitar-playing on long drives to various construction sites and during overnight stays at motels for out-of-town jobs.

Keeping their day jobs, they eventually landed gigs playing at taverns, splitting pay of $15 a night for playing four sets.

Wilson remembered one place, the Britannia in Tacoma.

"It was rough. I remember beer bottles flying around, and a paddy wagon parked right outside. You had a lot of soldiers and a lot of Air Force guys coming, getting totally wasted," he said.

That was not the rock future they wanted. They wanted to record but found no interest from the labels.

It was Wilson's mother, Josie Wilson, who for about $100 formed the label Blue Horizon Records to market The Ventures.

The Ventures actually were quite lucky.

They hit the jackpot with their second recording, a rock version of "Walk, Don't Run," an instrumental they had heard on a Chet Atkins record.

When they'd play it at taverns, the audience would keep asking them to keep playing it again — and they would, four or five times a night.

But when they began taking "Walk, Don't Run," to local radio stations, there wasn't any interest.

Breaking into radio; idols in Japan

Not until Pat O'Day, the legendary KJR-AM disc jockey, put it on the air.

The station had five minutes of news that began exactly at five minutes before the hour. But there always were one or two minutes to fill before the news.

"So we had something called a 'news kicker,' an instrumental to fill that time," O'Day remembered.

He began using "Walk, Don't Run." The phone began ringing.

It would become the group's signature tune, a classic that rocketed to No. 2 on the charts.

The band, which by 1960 had grown to become a foursome (the "classic" lineup also including lead guitarist Nokie Edwards and the late Mel Taylor at drums), began its long string of recording LPs, usually made up of covers of current hits.

But their original tune "Surf Rider" was memorable in Quentin Tarantino's movie "Pulp Fiction." Their many singles that made the charts included "Hawaii Five-O," "Walk, Don't Run '64" and "The 2,000 Pound Bee."

The latter recording is cited as one of the first uses of a fuzz-guitar in a song. It also was a favorite of the late comedian John Belushi and his friend, Dan Aykroyd, who held up a tape recorder to a microphone and played it to a startled audience at Belushi's memorial service. The story is that whoever died first, the other would play the tune at the service.

And then there is Japan.

A lot of 1960s groups went by the wayside as American rock tastes changed.

Not The Ventures.

They had started touring Japan in 1962, then opening for pop singer Bobby Vee.

The Ventures became idols in that country.

According to the Web site musicianguide.com, "Their instrumentals bypassed any language barrier, and before long, the group had established a popularity in Japan that rivaled the Beatles."

The group has released 50 LPs just for Japanese market. It makes an annual tour and has had 20 No. 1 hits there, said Wilson.

"Unfortunately, Japan is like Las Vegas. What happens in Japan, stays in Japan," he said.

Fans join campaign for Hall of Fame

Still, somehow it all eventually registered with the rock experts and rock historians.

In Seattle, Mark Christopher, a midday disc jockey at the oldies station KBSG-FM (now going by B97.3), collected some 10,000 signatures over the past three years to send to the Hall of Fame in support of The Ventures.

Washington state Lt. Gov. Brad Owen got the state Senate to pass Resolution 8645, asking the Hall of Fame to induct The Ventures.

On the Internet, Arnold van Beverhoudt Jr., of the U.S. Virgin Islands, spent eight years beginning in 1997 uniting Ventures fans worldwide at his www.sandcastlevi.com site.

"In all, I received a total of 5,900 petition e-mails from Ventures fans in all 50 states and 60 other countries. All together, the petition packages made up a stack of paper at least 3 feet tall!" he said.

So maybe after tonight, Don Wilson will finally not let frustration gnaw at him. He always knew The Ventures deserved to be in the Hall of Fame, but now it will be official.

"They say The Ventures launched 1,000 garage bands," said Wilson.

He laughed.

"Probably more."

Erik Lacitis: 206-464-2237 or elacitis@seattletimes.com

Crikey!

I got a message from pink-sakura, one of the admins at AnimePaper. She informed me that extending my posts with Wikipedia fluff is a no-no on the forum rules and regulations. That's news to me. So I read the FAQ, and it did not say anything about it explicitly. They may want to change that now.

It's funny, really. Had I done that on MiniTokyo, I would have been muted, or put on Restricted Membership. Ironically, I have on my account a boat-load of credits, and I don't go on the forums as much, unlike on AP. Actually, I use AP to get images that are not otherwise available on MT.

I'm studying how all the hi-res scans are circulated. It could pop up on communities like this, and on the free image boards and repositories simultaneously. I've seen it happened. I have no qualms about my reprimand on AP. I don't use the account as seriously as that on MT (presumably due to the credits I've gotten from fellow users, as well as the approved scans I submitted).

Actually, not only that, on MT, if I had done someting like that, I would have my posting rights revoked indefinitely. That's moot now, I suspect...


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How about that Barnsley football team! First Liverpool (2-1), now Chelsea (1-0)? Who's next, Portsmouth? Middlesborough? A fellow Football League team!?

I am convinced that Avram Grant and Rafa Benitez are going to be saying adios if they can't hold their ground in Champions League play.

Very rough day for the other teams I followed. Aldershot got ambushed by Ebbsfleet in the semis of the FA Trophy, Accrington was put on the make again, and the Australian Institute of Sport met its match against newcomers Coburg United in Foxtel Cup play (luckily, it ended in a draw).

At least AFC Wimbledon and FC United of Manchester are holding their ground. I do like AFC Wimbledon's chances of promotion. Even though they are well behind Isthmian Premier League leaders Chelmsford City...if they can hold their ground in the playoffs, they are off to the Football Conference South.

The Great Hoops Depression of '08 hit its nadir.

And all was quiet on the Beach. I am getting the feeling that the work I did last season was in vain. And I was going to create a documentary on the season. That's going to be on hold indefinitely now.

Larry Reynolds is now one of Long Beach's most hated people now. He earned it. That's all I can say.



NCAA News Release
Division I Committee on Infractions Penalizes Long Beach State University Men's Basketball Program
Embargoed UntilThursday, March 6, 2008, 3 p.m. Eastern Time
Contact(s)
Stacey OsburnAssociate Director of Public and Media Relations317/917-6117


INDIANAPOLIS---The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions has penalized Long Beach State University for major and secondary violations in its men's basketball program. This case involves improper benefits, impermissible transportation and phone contacts, unethical conduct and a failure to monitor by the institution and the former head coach.
Penalties for the violations, including those self-imposed by the institution, include three years of probation, a reduction in recruiting activity, a vacation of records, a reduction in the number of men's basketball scholarships, as well as a four-year show-cause order for one former assistant coach and a five-year show-cause order for another.
Under this show-cause penalty, should the former assistant coaches seek athletically related employment with any NCAA institution during this time period, the individuals and the hiring institution must appear before the Committee on Infractions to determine whether his duties should be limited.
The violations committed by members of the men’s basketball coaching staff occurred between late August 2004 and the end of August 2005. The university’s 2005-06 recruiting class included six two-year college transfers, none of which were eligible for admission to the university or athletics participation. Beginning in May 2005, with the knowledge, encouragement and assistance of the coaches, the young men took additional classes, including correspondence courses, at various institutions. Some of the young men needed as many as nine hours in a short period of time to meet academic requirements, the committee said.
The violations committed by two former assistant coaches and the former administrative assistant included paying or arranging for payment to register some or all of the six two-year college transfers in classes, paying or arranging for payment of fees so that transcripts of the transfers’ coursework could be obtained, providing impermissible tutoring and transportation, as well as making impermissible phone calls.
Also, one former assistant coach obtained a correspondence exam for one of the student-athletes, allowed the young man to complete it without a proctor, then forged the name of his friend as the proctor and returned the exam to the issuing institution.
Once an investigation into the violations began, the two former assistant coaches compounded the violations by providing false information to investigators on numerous occasions. In addition, one former assistant coach asked a number of student-athletes to provide false information and the second former assistant coach asked his friend to provide false information regarding proctoring the exam.
The committee found that both former assistant coaches failed to deport themselves in accordance with the generally recognized high standards of honesty and sportsmanship associated with the conduct and administration of college athletics.
The committee also found that the former head coach failed to monitor the men’s basketball program. Though the head coach was aware that the six two-year transfers were deficient academically and taking numerous courses in a short period of time, including one of the young men taking four classes at three different junior colleges, the former head coach did not ask questions regarding their classes, sources of support or the level of his assistants’ involvement with the young men. He also failed to involve the compliance office in the monitoring effort.
The committee also found that the university failed to monitor its men’s basketball program in its recruitment of transfer student-athletes. The committee has stated in numerous infractions reports that institutions have a duty to monitor the activities of prospective student-athletes in the vicinity of campus in the summer prior to initial enrollment. The committee states in its report, “This is particularly important when the prospects have not yet achieved admission to the institution and/or athletics eligibility.”
This case involved secondary violations as well, which are outlined in the Committee on Infractions' public report.
In determining the penalties, the Committee on Infractions considered the institution's cooperation in the investigation, self-imposed penalties and corrective actions. The penalties, some of which were self-imposed by the institution and adopted by the committee, are as follows:
• Public reprimand and censure.
• Three years of probation (March 6, 2008, to March 5, 2011).
• A prohibition from recruiting two-year college transfers or permitting such transfers to participate in men’s basketball for those student-athletes entering the university for the 2008-09 academic year. (Self-imposed by institution).
• Reduction of scholarships in men's basketball from 13 to 12 in each of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years. (Self-imposed by institution).
• Reduction in the number of official visits to nine (from the maximum of 12) for each of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 recruiting years. (Self-imposed by institution).
• Reduction from three to two in the number of coaches who can recruit off campus during the summer recruiting period of 2007. (Self-imposed by institution).
• A five-year show-cause order for one former assistant coach effective from March 6, 2008, through March 5, 2013.
• The second former assistant coach’s current employing institution self-imposed a number of penalties, which are detailed in the public report. In addition to these penalties, the committee imposed a penalty prohibiting him from recruiting and/or signing any two-year college transfer student-athletes for the 2008-09 academic year.
• A four-year show-cause order for the second former assistant coach effective from March 6, 2008, through March 5, 2012.
• A vacation of all wins, including any recorded in conference tournaments or the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, in which the six two-year transfer student-athletes competed while ineligible. The individual records of the six young men shall also be vacated. Further, the university’s records regarding men’s basketball as well as the record of the former head coach will be reconfigured to reflect the vacated records and so recorded in all publications in which the men’s basketball records are reported, including, but not limited to, media guides, recruiting materials and institutional and NCAA archives. Finally, any public reference to tournament appearances and performances during this time shall be removed, including, but not limited to, athletics department stationary and banners displayed in public areas such as the arena in which the men’s basketball team participates.
The Committee on Infractions consists of conference and institutional athletics administrators, faculty and members of the public. The committee independently rules on cases investigated by the NCAA enforcement staff and determines appropriate penalties. The committee's findings may be appealed to the Infractions Appeals Committee.
The members of the Committee on Infractions who reviewed this case are Josephine Potuto, the Richard H. Larson Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law and chair of the committee; Paul Dee, director of athletics at the University of Miami, and formerly the institution's general counsel; Eileen Jennings, general counsel at Central Michigan University; Alfred Lechner, Jr., attorney; Dennis Thomas, the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and formerly director of athletics at Hampton University; Thomas Phillips, attorney with the Austin, Texas office of the law firm Baker Botts and formerly the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court; and Jack Friedenthal, professor at George Washington University National Law Center.


This was bad timing of the worst kind because this week is Homecoming Week. Already it has been wrecked with this garbage. Just another reason why I detest Myles Brand and the people who come up with this garbage on a daily case-by-case basis.

I am John King.

I am John King.

I am a Mary Schmich fan


There's this columnist from Chicago named Mary Schmich. She wrote this column over a decade ago, and it became a cult classic among those who about to graduate from high school in 1997. I was just entering high school back then, as well as enjoying the benefits on being a lusting, hypersexual, fine, young...cannibal. Those were the days, I tell you.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97: Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…

I will dispense this advice now.


Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….
You’re not as fat as you imagine.


Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.


Do one thing everyday that scares you.


Sing.


Don't be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.


Floss.


Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.


Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.


Stretch.


Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.


Get plenty of calcium.


Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.


Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..


Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.


Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.


Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.


Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.


Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.


Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.


Travel.


Accept certain inalienable truths. Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You too will get old, and when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.


Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.


Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.


Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.


But trust me on the sunscreen.

A blind rage, and it couldn't be helped. A young man's kryptonite

Continued from my previous entry...

Unfortunately, I couldn't be any more wrong. At match point, I let out a blood-curdling scream in frustration. I yelled to the visiting fans "You don't know how much we wanted to beat you guys!" over and over again. Soon after, Northridge made it six straight against us, and I was just sick to my stomach. I hurled my souvenir bat in frustration, acknowledging that my guys were not going to be championship material, and that I was revoking their Masters of LSV license.

Personally, I was sick to my stomach. Mentally, I was a wreck. I hurled my bat in the direction of one of the players decked in red to show my disgust of our team's futility, and it missed wide right. I sent a message to the Daily 49er regarding the situation. I was a bit surprised, if not flattered, that they had to make a story out of it. Bastards.

Our team's defeat to Northridge had huge adverse effects on my state of mind. I was lethargic, irritable, and I just had a feeling that all the energy I put into hoping that we would stop this streak of futility was all in vain. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I felt indifferent, antisocial, and not even the medication I took could change my mood. If I could look at myself from a different angle in the Gold Mine, seated where the old alums are, and see what unfolded, I would shake my head in disbelief.

All I could think about was that game, and everything that happened. Not even our sweep of Wichita State at Blair Field, nor the softball game's recent tear, or even the guys rebounding against UC Santa Barbara could change my mood. Not even my parents cheering me up could change my mood. Any attempt to placate me was like talking to a wall. It was useless.

Just thinking about that game causes me to go in a blind rage, like Audie Murphy did after he wiped out the people that killed his friend in World War II. If I were to redo that situation, I wouldn't want to go through that again.

Full circle, futility, and a bunch of lucky Ithaca bastards.

I was feeling rather giddy a few days ago, although at the same time, I was slow getting up. I didn'tget the chance to pinch myself until I began to blog this. Hours before, I saw my Long Beach Satte softball team methodically dismantly then-undefeated, #5-ranked Florida, 2-1 in 10 innings. It's not very often that I getr to see any Long Beach team outside of men's volleyball beat a Top 5 opponent, so this win was extra special. As I said, it's going to be monster momentum as they face the Wahine again to start the UNLV Tournament. Hey, evening the score doesn't look too bad, now. They can take that.
After I went to Chipotle to wolf down another burrito from another day at ROP, I did some house-cleaning on campus. Anime Club T-Shirt purchase order processed: check. Tickets from the past couple days of action recorded: check. Materials for UCI bus trip ready: check.And so we were off.
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So, this African marathon guy with a bald spot comes over and tells me I can't use my bat to accompany the foot stomping on our side of the Bren Events Center. He's the black analogue to Micol Coppock. We talked a little bit, his background about his family, it's-not-about-Long Beach State -and-UCI crap, and every other lame [sic] attempt to get some sympathy from me. Well, in spite of an effort that Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire could equal, it went one ear and out the other.
Apparently, this guy has NOT been to our Walter Pyramid. And he does not realize that the atmosphere there is louder than the Bren Events Center by a country mile. At the Myd, this type of stomping is the norm. He'd best stay out of our way because that's how we do it, no matter where we are.
Might as well consider a flight back, if his wife and kids are his biggest priority. Actually, I recommend it. Humph.
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I so hoped the men won their game. I would have forgiven the guy telling me about his life-story. Instead, the Great Hoopspression of 2008 continued for the guys, and I have no love lost for the green card flasher. Maybe not until our men's volleyball team finishes the deal down there on the 27th.
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I think now I should hold off on the Chipotle. When the day ended, I ate three burritos from Chipotle (one carnitas, two carne asada from the bus), a Monster, a Rockstar, a cup of green tea (my throat is going through torture), and a wry smile on my face.
All that was missing was the water. I took care of that when I got home.
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As the day ended, I had mixed feelings. But as the 94 went downtown and the 193 went northbound frm downtown, I just had a gut feelings things were going to look up the next day. Northridge has a nasty five-game win streak against us. It had to fall today. I just had to. In the Gold Mine.

Unfortunately, I couldn't be any more wrong. Northridge made it six straight
against us, and I was just sick to my stomach. I hurled my souvenir bat in
frustration, acknowledging that my guys were not going to be championship
material, and that I was revoking their Masters of LSV license.

That was also the first win in the Gold Mine in nearly two decades for the Matadors.

Alan Knipe and crew going to have to wake up and smell the roses. Pathetic sons-of-bitches couldn't get it done, and placate my already obvious lack of sanity. I need to order a straightjacket.

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I just heard that Cornell is the first team dancing into the tournament. Ironically, two years ago we beat these guys in the Walter Pyramid, and this was the same coach that coached this year's edition of the Big Red.

You lucky Ithaca bastards.