Utes to the Pac-10

It's official, Utah has joined the Pac-10. Or should we call it the Pac-12 now?

The rumors, projections, closed door meetings and dealings are over and the celebration has begun.

The University of Utah is officially part of the Pac-10. The move from the Mountain West Conference to the elite league was quickly approved Thursday by the unanimous vote of Utah's Board of Trustees in a public meeting at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"This is an absolutely great day to be a Ute," said longtime Utah athletics director Chris Hill.

Even though the super conference idea with the Big 12 South is deader than Michael Jackson, the idea that the Pac-10 has added more schools makes me like the situation that the conference is in. It's at least good they were proactive with expansion instead of reactive like the Big-12 errrr.... Big 10 now.

They didn't get the prettiest girl at the prom, getting schools like Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State would have blown up the Pac-10 to epic proportions. It also wouldn't have made a whole lot of geographical sense but whatever. It would have been great to get those big schools and big money into the conference but WSU fans... you wouldn't have been competitive ever again.

Colorado and Utah make sense though. First you capture the Denver and Salt Lake City markets which gives you an even bigger stranglehold out west. You give the Arizona schools somebody closer to develop rilvaries with. You keep the "travel partner" system together and you can hope and pray that Colorado and Utah develop into bitter rivals.

(Can somebody go and defecate on a John Elway statue in Denver and then put a Utah Jazz jersey on it?)

This gives Utah a chance to show that they're a national program after getting snuffed by the BCS for years. It's a very underrated school and has both strong football and basketball programs. It's also not BYU... thank god. That whole leaving for years on a mission trip is such an unfair advantage, I really think the NCAA should do something about it.

Colorado was one of the weaker schools in the Big 12 but I think it will do better since the bottom half of the Pac-10 is a lot worse than the Big 12. 

Pac-10 fans might find the not becoming the Pac-16 might of been the best thing to happen to it.

Now if they could just fix those refs. Woof!

What loss to Brazil?

So lets say that North Korea loses 2-1 to Brazil. Nothing really to fret about, Brazil is one of the world's best soccer countries ever. North Korea is North Korea. However, if you read the game recap from the Korean New Service, they don't even report the final score.

Pyongyang, June 16 (KCNA) -- The league match of the 2010 World Cup between the DPRK and Brazil took place at dawn (Pyongyang time) on Wednesday.

From the outset of the match the two teams fought a seesaw battle. The DPRK footballers created good shooting chances, not losing their confidence even after losing two goals.

At about the 88th minute of the match Jong Tae Se headed the ball before passing it to Ji Yun Nam who powerfully kicked it into the rival's goalmouth, scoring a goal.

The DPRK team will meet its Portuguese rival on June 21.

What would happen if they did this for Detroit Lions games or season recaps. "The team played with heart and tenacity and even though they dropped sixteen games, they finished the season on a high note."

Classy. Another reason not to live in North Korea... crappy SportsCenter segments.

Raising bucking bulls

Since I'm in Montana, I've been doing a lot of rodeo stories. Here's a story I wrote about raising bucking bulls for rodeos.

The bull ride has been romanticized as eight seconds of glory. It’s a true test of someone’s meddle and toughness. Who’s brave enough to get on a bucking bull?

Have you ever stopped to think, “Where do the bulls come from?”

Watch one ride and you’ll realize they aren’t just your run of-the-mill cattle; they’re specifically breed to knock brave cowboys britches over tea kettle. Most bucking bulls are part of lineage, as they’re bred from other rodeo bulls and cross-bred with desirable strains. With over 100 different breeds of beef, there is certainly a large selection to choose from.

READ MORE

Morning coffee... June 17, 2010

Phil Jackson and the LA Lakers will take on the Boston Celtics tonight in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Some say this could be the last game for Jackson as head coach of the Lakers.

College News

Montana State football games will be broadcasted in high-def
I think I get my EWU Eagles broadcasts in You-Tube quality broadcasts.

Montana to the WAC? 
Otherwise known as the Big Sky Conference Apocalypse.

National News

Canceled training camps might mean bad things for the NFL
Otherwise known as the impending labor strike that will ruin professional football.

Man vs Wild Video Game, E3 2010: Debut Trailer

Here is the official trailer of Man vs Wild Video Game released at E3 2010 yesterday.

Man throws puppy at Hell's Angels

This is not a joke. I repeat. Not a joke. Although it really does seem like a really bad skit done by SNL. Nope. Real Life. Man throws puppy at Hell's Angels and escapes on a bulldozer.

A German student "mooned" a group of Hell's Angels and hurled a puppy at them before escaping on a stolen bulldozer, police have said.

The man drove up to a Hell's Angels clubhouse near Munich, wearing only a pair of shorts and carrying a puppy.

He dropped his shorts and threw the dog, escaping on a bulldozer from a nearby building site.

He was arrested later at home by police. The 26-year-old is said to have stopped taking depression medication.

After making his getaway on the bulldozer, he had driven so slowly that a 5km tailback built up behind him on the motorway.

After driving about 1km, he had abandoned the bulldozer in the middle of the motorway, near Allershausen. He continued his journey by hitchhiking.

"What motivated him to throw a puppy at the Hell's Angels is currently unclear," a police spokesman said.

The puppy is now being cared for in an animal shelter.

My question is, how lame is this Hell's Angels group if he got away on a bulldozer? A slow bulldozer.

Man vs Wild video game E3

Earlier this year I told you about the Man vs. Wild video game.

The release is getting closer. According to Bear's Twitter:

Bear Grylls: Off to LA now for launch of man vs wild playstation and wii then to Death valley, Nevada for HALO skydive into desert show.

It appears that Bear will be gracing E3 with his presence. E3 is of course the Electronic Entertainment Expo that is held every year to introduce the latest in electronic awesomeness.

Here's what the official press release said:

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The game offers five authentic situations in a role play-style adventure, featuring seasoned survival expert Bear Grylls.

The action begins when players are dropped into extreme conditions and forced to demonstrate indigenous survival techniques such as escaping quicksand in the desert, exploring dangerous jungles, traversing ravines in the mountains and navigating some of the world's most treacherous waters.

The core gameplay of Man vs. Wild is a dynamic mix of exhilarating action adventure, role playing and puzzle solving tasks throughout five extraordinary expeditions. Players gather materials to accomplish tasks such as building fires, catching food, and creating the necessary tools for survival while traveling across miles of diverse landscapes.

Key features of Man vs. Wild game:

• Role Playing Adventure: Players will explore and survive wilderness destinations and discover hundreds of items while maintaining the health and well-being of Bear Grylls;
  
  
• Strategically Positioned Survival Challenges: Depending on location and skill level, players will be tested with hundreds of "Survival Challenges" ranging from the simple (building a fire) to the wildly insane (dodging a Grizzly bear);
  
  
• Wild Weather: Players will experience a wide range of weather conditions including snow storms, intense rain, sand storms and more while traveling through five challenging landscapes around the globe;
  
  
• Survival: Refuge, food and water are the constant priority for all players. Players must hunt and collect food, even if it means eating deer eyeballs, and water to keep Bear nourished and healthy for the challenges that lie ahead. When night closes in, the player must create a sturdy lean-to to protect Bear from potential animal attacks and the harsh elements.
  

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The game is scheduled for a Fall release. And I can't wait!!!! Definitely buying that one.

Bigfoot sighting

I was watching the local news last night when a story from North Carolina came on about a Bigfoot sighting.

Now of course the Northern Rangers went Bigfoot tracking last year in the Ape Caves near Mount St. Helens last year.

But check out this guy's tale of the Sasquatch he saw:

Morning coffee... June 16, 2010

Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers tied up the NBA Finals 3-3 with a 89-67 victory over the Boston Celtics last night.

Is this series over? Do you realize that if Kobe wins this championship he'll have five rings, one short of Michael Jordan? Where does he rank among the greats in the game then?

College news

Former UM basketball player gets workout with Nets - MontanaGrizzlies.com
Word of advice for Anthony Johnson, don't make any jokes about Russia.

National News

Switzerland upsets Spain 1-0 in World Cup - The Daily Interlake
And those annoying horns are still blaring.

Izzo not headed to Cavs, stays with Michigan State
Lebron... why are you packing your bags....?

Don't promote beer at the World Cup...

Reasons to watch the World Cup? Weird stories like this...

Thirty-six female fans were ejected from Holland's World Cup match against Denmark and interrogated for hours for allegedly wearing orange dresses to illegally promote Bavaria beer, though there's no branding on the dress and the company denies hiring them.

Could they do this sort of thing during a NASCAR event if anyone is promoting beer? Is it possible to detain thousands of fans?

Canadians like their PEDs

Those dastardly Canadians are up to no good. The steroid problem has gotten so bad up there, they've had to suspend an entire football team.

The University of Waterloo Warriors football team will miss the entire 2010-2011 season over steroid violations.

As many as nine potential doping violations were discovered during a mass test of 62 football players from the University of Waterloo, resulting in suspension of the team’s activities for the upcoming season.

In addition, two players from the team received suspensions and a former player faces charges in a police probe into steroid trafficking.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, Canadian Interuniversity Sport and the University of Waterloo held a news conference Monday to announce the findings of a sweeping probe of players in the university’s football program on March 31. More than 80 urine and blood samples were taken, resulting in nine infractions. The test was instituted by the school.

As for the NFL... move along.... nothing to see here. Go make fun of baseball...

Famous Eagle Scouts

This weekend I attended an Eagle Scout court of honor. And being an Eagle Scout myself, I always love to see another young man earn this prestigious award.

As Mike Rowe said, "The Eagle Award is not really meant for people who need to be dragged across the finish line. It's meant for a select few..."

Rowe is of course the awesome host of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel.

And he's an Eagle Scout.

That got me to thinking, what other famous Eagle Scouts are there.

Here's a short list of some famous Eagle Scouts:

• Neil Armstrong: First human to step on the moon

• Austin Collie: Wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL

• William Hanna: Animator, director, producer, cartoon artist, and co-founder of Hanna-Barbera

• Ewing Kauffman: Founder of Marion Laboratories and owner of the Kansas City Royals

• Howard Lincoln: CEO of Seattle Mariners baseball team; chairman of Nintendo of America; in 1956 he posed as one of the Boy Scouts for The Scoutmaster painting by Norman Rockwell

• George Meyer: Writer and producer of The Simpsons

• Harrison Salisbury: Journalist who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (1955); twice received the George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting (1957 and 1966)

• Chuck Smith: President and CEO of AT&T West

• Shane Victorino: Major League Baseball player, current member of 2008 World Series and 2009 National League Championship Series-winning Philadelphia Phillies.

• Ken Whisenhunt: Head coach of the Arizona Cardinals NFL football team

There are a WHOLE lot more than I can list here. Yet, one thing is for sure, the rank of Eagle Scout is an elite award. Only 4% of all boys that enter scouting earn the rank. That's not very many.

Bear destroys camp

REI's co-op blog had a great post today on what a bear can do to a campsite that is unattended, sloppy and a just plain invitation to wildlife.

Each spring the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle sets up a demonstration to show what can happen if your camp looks like the above mentioned camp. They do this to educate the public on how we can camp and stay bear safe.

The video, which shows a previous year’s demo, offers a good reminder to secure your food and other scented items whenever you’re in bear country. While blueberries are typically a bear's favorite meal, they will make quick work of a campsite with poorly secured food.

Make sure that if you are in bear country that you either use a bear canister or a campground bear box and keep your tent away from your food.

For more information check out our earlier post about staying safe in bear country.

Freddie Ljunberg interview

The New York Times had a great interview with the Seattle Sounders FC's Freddie Ljunberg.

And since we're huge Sounders FC fans at JustSON, we pretty much think that Ljunberg is the coolest.

Check out the interview.

And now that they showed a picture of his house, I'm pretty sure Brandon might wait outside for a glimpse of this Seattle sporting hero.

Epic Video: Men without pants

I hate pants. I really do.

Wii Bowling Tournament

This weekend was very productive around here on Just Northwest.

Saturday Jeff and I hosted a Wii Bowling Tournament with the proceeds going to our ride with the People's Coast Classic.

Here's our site if you couldn't make it but would like to donate.

We had a number of great prizes that local businesses had donated or Jeff and I picked up in our journeys.

Here's the prize table from that night:

Everyone seemed to have a great time (I know I did) and enjoy the "all you can eat" taco bar that we provided.

Sunday I headed out to my parents house for a 20 mile training ride with my dad. It was beautiful weather with mid-70's and sunny. It was perfect riding weather.

Thanks to everyone who made the Wii Tournament a success! And congrats to all our winners.

Gulf of Mexico... meet old quarterbacks

The two former pro-bowl quarterbacks have a plan to solve this whole mess in the Gulf of Mexico. Lets hope the oil spill doesn't bring a blindside linebacker up to blitz.

Troy Aikman and Drew Bledsoe, both former Pro Bowl quarterbacks, are part-owners of a new technology that they claim can help clean up the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Their company, Ecosphere, has had meetings with BP. Bledsoe talked about the technology at a recent press conference. From FS Southwest:

According to Bledsoe, Ecosphere would set its filtration systems on barges in the gulf and on beaches to clean the water.

"This is not technology sitting on the shelf waiting for a disaster," Bledsoe said. "This is technology out in the field satisfying contracts for well over a year, so it's proven. ... When you watch it, it is magic seeing dirty, nasty water go in one end and then crystal, clean water out the other end." 

So wait, they have a Brita filter?

New jerseys are wonders of science

Check out the new threads for Team USA. And as usual, Nike has gone scientific on us.

When the United States men's national basketball team heads to Turkey for the FIBA World Championships this summer, they're going to look pretty cool. It's hard to mess up red, white and blue, and the various manufacturers who have supplied their uniforms throughout the years haven't made very many missteps. But this year, they're also going to feel cool thanks to a couple tweaks by Nike.

Through some kind of clothing wizardry, Nike has eliminated more than 13 inches of fabric from a typical basketball jersey, and probably double that when compared to Allan Houston's tarp-like mid-90s shirt. The back of the jersey will once again feature "Aerographics," which you probably know as those intricately-designed perforations that make it look like everyone has a super sweaty back like Patrick Ewing. And yes, that's two zings on the New York Knicks, who have been the antithesis of on-court aesthetics for two decades running. Make that three.

Aside from the extra tailoring, the jerseys are about the same. The shorts are the big story, as far as international basketball clothing news goes. Thanks to Nike's new Hyperelite design, the shorts are about half as light as a normal basketball short when dry. Get them wet — like, you know, from sweating during a game — and they're even better, weighing less when soaked (10.1 oz.) than a normal pair does when dry (13.6).

Don't ask me how that's done, I think they're defying the laws of physics.

Epic Photo: US vs England

Ha! We tied the Brits! And ESPN had this very cool ad. Epic eh?

Tastin' n Racin'

Looking for something to do today then head on out to Issaquah, Washington for Tastin' n Racin'.

Yes, it's so cool that it's name doesn't even need the "g".

When: June 12 - 13, 2010

Hours: Saturday: 9:00am – 7pm Sunday: 9:00am – 6pm

Where: Lake Sammamish State Park, 2000 NW Sammamish Road, Issaquah WA 98027

Admission: General Admission: $10.00, 5 yrs & under: FREE, Juniors (6yrs - 16 yrs) and Seniors (65yrs+): $5.00

Here's what the event has to offer:

• Delicious food in the Food Walk
  
  
• Live music on the O'Brien Law Firm Main Stage provided by Car Toys with a great tribute bands and Northwest favorites!
  
  
• Arts and Crafts offering unique items from Northwest artisans.
  
  
• Lots of other vendors with things to see and buy
  
  
• Family Fun, presented by Washington Health Program, area with inflatable children’s rides, face painters, pony rides, giant slide, and huge park play area!
  
  
• HYDROPLANE DISPLAYS and Exhibitions with some of the several current and classic Unlimited hydros and vintage Hydros on display. See Unlimiteds run on Lake Sammamish: Miss O'Berto, Miss Thriftway & U-17 Miss Our Gang Racing, & U-25, Superior Racing!!
  
  
• KZOK listener mandated Beer Gardens featuring Miller, Haywire and Snoqualmie Brewery Brews on Tap at the Main Stage and on the Beach - so you don't miss the racing action.
  
  
• Hot Boat and Bike Show Saturday presented by Skagen Boats & XLSR Racing!
  
  
• Custom Car & Hot Rod Show Sunday presented by Issaquah Reporter
  
  
• XLSR Hunger Ride - Motorcycle Pledge Ride Saturday benefiting NW Harvest
  New boats to buy from Lake Union SeaRay and PWC's from I-90 Motorsports to name a few.
  
  
• Spectator Pit Pass - see the racers and boats up close in the thick of action!