Blazers head to Houston with a bit of energia!

Jason Quick of The Oregonian wrote an interesting article following the Blazer’s game 5 victory Tuesday night about the probability of seeing more Rudy Fernandez in game 6 and (with any luck) beyond.

The article addresses the fact that Fernandez played over 35 minutes in Tuesday’s game after averaging a little over 21 minutes in the first four games of the series.

Nate McMillan has even reportedly been considering inserting Rudy into the starting line-up, replacing rookie Nicholas Batum, who was a nice surprise this season at small forward but has seemed a little star-struck in the playoffs.

Now, this begs the question, is it a good idea to be making major line-up changes in the sixth game of a series in which we are holding on for dear life? In this case, I think the answer is a resounding si!

As the article points out, the lanky and skilled French rookie has been nothing but solid for the Blazers all season long. But in a seven-game series, which is a veritable sprint to the finish line, it doesn’t pay to keep a struggling younger guy in there in hopes he will suddenly “click” and find his game.

You need to go with the guys that have produced results for you, and Rudy, not Nicholas, has been that guy. Rudy has been one of the Blazer’s most dynamic players thus far in the series, coming off the bench and providing that instant dose of offense and speed that has kept the Rocket’s smothering defense honest.

Plus, the guy has shot 50% from the three-point line-you can’t tell me that the Rocket defenders aren’t conscious of where he is on the floor at all times, knowing there’s a half and half chance he’s going to make it from downtown.

Even if he doesn’t take the three-pointer, the fact that he is on the court takes attention away from Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge, opening up the lane for their attack.

Shifting gears a little bit….

At this point in the series, the Blazer’s have the luxury of knowing that no matter how much pressure they feel on themselves, it is nothing compared to what Yao and his teammates are undergoing. The Rockets had the series locked up at 3-1, needing only to waltz back into the building in which they blew out the Blazers in game one and get a victory.

But they blew it.

The crowd was too much, and they couldn’t handle the fact that Joel and Greg weren’t crippled by foul trouble. Now, with a slim lead of 3-2, the Rockets are back in their own building and in front of the fans that have seen them choke year after year in the first round.

I’m not sure of the exact statistic, but I’m pretty sure the Rockets haven’t been out of the first round of the playoffs since Eisenhower administration. No matter what they might say to the media, you can bet dollars to donuts that everyone in a Rockets jersey will be playing not to lose on Thursday night, instead of playing to win.

If the Blazers can remain confident and collected, playing their style of play that amassed 54 wins in the regular season, we should be seeing them back at the Garden for game seven.

This post written by Vanguard sports writer Doug Cornett

Reading and Entertainment

Thought that was a fitting picture...

Hopefully all 17.8 of our faithful blog readers have been able to manage some other form of happiness while we have been on blog sabbatical for a brief while. NBA Playoffs, Vanguard chaos, travels and family adjustments have kept all of us pretty busy... Nevertheless here's some readings for your enjoyment.

Hannah Karp has a great read in the Wall Street Journal about the Lakers and how LA is one of the premier NBA Towns...

A couple of summers ago, my landscaping job landed me at Rick Adelman's son's home in the Bethany area of Washington County. Rick was visiting and we struck up a friendly conversation about basketball. I came away feeling impressed about the coach that I had grown up as a Blazers fan with. Richard Justice has a nice piece on Adelman.

With the NFL Draft approaching this weekend, Bucky Brooks gives us a nice look into what NFL Draftrooms are like.... Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall...

And the sports blog Mentalfloss has a great quiz for your draft history skills.

This... is pretty much the best news ever.

[From PC WORLD]: Goodbye speculation, hello LEGO Rock Band, the game you were never really expecting but you'll probably stand up and cheer for anyway. You know, like LEGO Final Fantasy. Or LEGO Fallout.

Improbable? Seems that way. I mean, the hypothetical legal red tape involved had to be staggering. LEGO Group, MTV Games, Harmonix, Warner Bros., Travellers Tales, Backbone Entertainment, another dozen I'm probably forgetting yet to be announced...what are the odds?

Like the LEGO-less version of Rock Band, this presumably kid-friendlier version with cute claw-grip plastic abstractions is due for the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii, release date vaguely heralded as "holiday 2009." Oh, and a version for the Nintendo DS, too. Sounds like a clip-on peripheral a-brewin', though the DSi's lack of an old-style Gameboy cartridge slot leaves the question of "how?" hanging in the wind. Ad hoc wireless peripheral?

Traveller's Tales, who've handled the trunk LEGO games (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Batman) thus far, will cover all three console versions partnered with Harmonix, the guys responsible for the first two Guitar Hero games and the trunk Rock Band series. Backbone Entertainment (they did Rock Band Unplugged for PSP) will work with the TT and Harmonix on the DS version.

Tracks teased so far:

"Boys and Girls" (Good Charlotte)
"Kung Fu Fighting" (Carl Douglas)
"Song 2" (Blur)
"So What" (Pink)
"The Final Countdown" (Europe)

And now, clips from the film Armageddon, set to Europe's rock epic, The Final Countdown.

Vikings opt for continuancy

Just got word that the Vikings will announce their new men's basketball coach and the winner of the contest should come as no surprise.

For the last two years, Tyler Geving has roamed the sidelines, adjusted the defense and recruited the heck out of the Northwest and California. All of these characteristics, plus a few others made Geving a likely choice.

Portland State will be hosting a 2 p.m. press conference tomorrow at the Stott Center. Check dailyvanguard.com or back here for the full story later tomorrow or Tuesday morning.

14 Awesome Sculptures Made From Tires

More at ODDEE

Guest Post from our outspoken Student Commentator

Here is another guest blog post from our student contributor Marnix Brinkhoff.

My post this week is in response to the disappointing news that Coach Bone has left the Portland State Athletic Department to become a Cougar.

Dear Coach Bone,

It is with great sadness that I write to you to wish you the best of luck at Washington State University.

As a student and fan I will certainly miss your presence on the PSU campus. You were always willing to reciprocate a friendly greeting in passing on campus and you had an amazing style and approach to the game of basketball. It’s unfortunate you made the decision to leave 'Viking Nation' and I hope you have completely thought through your decision, because there are a couple points I would like to mention to you that I thought would have been enough to keep you around.

1) Potential: I understand the stigma and prowess of the Pac10 was enticing, but Viking Nation (with you at the helm) had the potential to be the next Gonzaga or even Memphis.

2) Pullman Sucks: I know you’ve been to Pullman because you have coached in the Northwest your entire career so you must realize what an awful place it is. You will never be able to recruit a Seattle-area product and will be forced to resort with the farmers of Spokane and the other surrounding rural areas.

3) Long-Term: No offense, but I hope you aren’t planning on staying at WSU for long. I hope your plan is to win at that program and step up to a better program, because not even your excellent coaching will be able to sustain a competitive program in the beleaguered WSU Athletic Department.

Again, I wish you all the best even though I think you are making a huge mistake by jumping ship just as you had a consistent program established that had the potential to become the next mid-major powerhouse. I thought you had the potential to be the next Mark Few, but you threw that all away for some larger digits in the paycheck and for that I’m disappointed.

Trent Reznor talks id software, innovation, old school games

I was watching this Digg Dialog interview with Trent Reznor earlier, and thought it would be cool if someone mentioned his work doing the sound effects and music for Quake. Much to my surprise, it was mentioned--and thus we get Trent offering his own intelligent observations on the game industry. It's around the 23-25 minute mark, but you should really watch the whole thing, since Mr. Reznor has a lot of great insight to share. Enjoy!

Review: 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

In an interview before the release of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, two of Fiddy’s boys, G-Unit rappers Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo, revealed they were more than just rap stars lending their voices to the multi-platinum rapper’s new game.

The duo name-dropped both classics as well as new favorites among the gaming elite, but confessed they really just liked to play the best new games rather then trying to pay close attention to the ever-changing litany of original IPs, spin-offs and franchises commonplace in the industry. And who can blame them? They’re professional rappers, not gamers.

When asked what they thought about Blood on the Sand, Yayo probably said it best. “This is going to be my favorite game when this [sic] comes out,” he said.

For Yayo and his fellow G-Unit members, not to mention Fiddy and company’s countless fans, Blood on the Sand may be just what the doctor ordered.

A cover shooter with 50 Cent’s insistently high production values, the game does a great job of wiping away the bad memories of Fiddy’s first game appearance, 50 Cent: Bulletproof, which, despite strong sales, received tepid reviews.

And while Blood on the Sand is a far more solid game, it’s anything if not staid. The cover shooting is perfectly adequate, but overall the game lacks any kind of innovation and certainly offers little you haven’t seen before—outside of its nonsensical story anyway.

Hope you like this camera angle--you'll be seeing a lot of it..
It’s not that Blood on the Sand is a bad game. It’s just one that falls short of what it could have been. What saves it from mediocrity, is, surprisingly, Fiddy’s involvement himself.

This time around, Fiddy’s out for blood in the, uhm, Middle East somewhere, when his payment for a concert, a priceless diamond encrusted skull, is stolen by a gang of ethnic terrorists who ambush the rapper’s humvee.

Yeah, the story makes little sense. All you really need to know is that Fiddy kills a lot of terrorist scum and throws lines around like “That bitch stole mah skull!” But that’s part of the game’s, uhm, charm. (Well, that and lobbing F-bombs like Molotov cocktails).

To their credit, Fiddy and G-Unit members Tayo, Banks and DJ Whoo Kid do a bang-up job with their voicework—especially 50 himself. I have to say I was pretty surprised by the quality of Mr. Cent’s performance, especially considering that kind of voice acting licensed games usually have, but he actually makes Blood on the Sand a hell of a lot more enjoyable. Kudos also must be given to the script writers for not oversaturating the game’s F-bombs.

Obviously Fiddy likes to speak his profane peace, and does so often. But it doesn’t really sounds forced, not like in say, Capcom’s so-bad-it’s-good Beatdown: Fists of Vengeance. And there’s something inherently satisfying with hearing Fiddy yell out, “Motherfucking cocksucker!” before he blows them away.

The game also (I would guess at Fiddy’s insistence) makes for good fan service—the soundtrack is riddled with old and new tracks from the rapper, and unlocking extras like music videos will be fun for some die-hard followers.


Blood on the Sand's hand-to-hand combat leaves much to be desired.
But Blood on the Sand also suffers from some really ho-hum game design. Outside of getting more powerful weapons, the terrorists never really change, and the level design is uninspired and bland at best and cumbersome at worst.

The game tries to make up for this by presenting you with a number of timed challenges that pop up often. You may have to take down a couple of grenadiers, blow up a tank or pick off a few snipers, to name a few, before the time runs out. Do so and you’ll get extra points (yes, this game actually has a point system) and can unlock extras in the game.

But ultimately, as fun as the challenges can sometimes be, they've become just another feature to slog through by the time you reach the end--just like the game’s combat itself. Not even Blood on the Sand’s large assortment of weapons, which can be bought with cash you find lying around in random crates, can save 50's new adventure from the "kill waves of enemies until the level ends" design, leaving little difference, aside from obvious ones of firepower, in your selection. Fiddy likes to take his time reloading too, which I found irksome.

Surprise, Bitches!
And with glaring flaws like the no less than three separate encounters in which Fiddy’s made to take down a chopper with an RPG, It just seems like Swordfish Studios sort of ran out gas halfway through the design process and hoped no one would notice—to say nothing of the game's continuously poor AI, weak hand-to-hand combat (essentially Resident Evil 4-style quick time events, but easier) on-rails sections and obvious graphical glitches.

Credit must be given to game’s inventive point scoring system, which will net you more point if you waste a bastard from outside cover and while making liberal use of the taunt button, but with so many other compounded problems it’s a somewhat hollow victory.

But really, chances are if you’re a big fan of Fiddy himself (especially if you were burned by Bulletproof) or you’re just looking for the next cheap-thrill popcorn shooter, Blood on the Sand’s generic trappings, done up with G-Unit paint, will probably suit you just fine. For the rest of us, well, there’s always Gears of War 2.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
THQ
PS3, Xbox 360
$59.99
3 out of 5 stars

Guest Commentary from a Portland State student and fan

Here is another guest blog post from our student contributor Marnix Brinkhoff. In between sessions of working on his jump shot and cheering on the Dutch team at the World Baseball Classic, Brinkhoff gives you his take on the upcoming spring football schedule.

As Spring Football practice begins for the football team, goviks.com is busy wasting our time with beautifully slanted articles about how the upcoming football season will be miraculously different than the last two years.

The article entitled, “Sixteen Returning Starters, Experienced Group Return for 2009 Football Season” fails to understand that those returnee’s are a combined 7-15 (win-loss record) over the past two seasons.

By all means return the entire squad from last year, but the fact remains, we sucked last year!

Even though the athletic department’s propaganda website spins a rosy picture on the upcoming season, I’m hear to explain that it will be just another failing season in the “Almighty” Glanville’s tenure.

The following are points from the article that are expected to be boosts for the upcoming season but they are really just business as usual. That business of late has been losing…

Drew Hubel and Tygue Howland return: YES!!

No one would want to miss out on the drama of who is going to start from week to week. The fact that both of these quarterback’s return doesn’t mean a damn thing, because Glanville and his staff are just going to be as wishy-washy as John Kerry on who there man is going to be.

My take is to just pick one, stick with him, and allow them to get better without fear that next week they are going to be benched!!

McClintock Returns: Wahoo!! We don’t run the ball anyways. Oh by the way, this has been bothersome ever since last year…

Mr. Davis, I realize you are considered the offensive guru, BUT when you play one of the worst run defenses in the NCAA (Washington State last year) maybe just maybe you should try to run the F%$@ing ball!!

Super Mario (D’Ambrosio) is out: And you expect to improve on a season where he was a rockstar?

3 Returning Lineman: For a team that allowed 41 sacks for a yardage loss of 243 yards (Second worse in the Big Sky) this shows promise; because the only thing to do is get better.

The Defense: Expect more basketball scores, because we lost Shantz, McCrae and Jones.

Say whatever you want about the competition in Spring Football, the fact will remain that we will have an inexperienced defense taking the field next season, which means only one thing—lots of scoring…for the other team.

But all is not lost in the Glanville camp.

For those of you worried about Special Teams there is ample competition at the kicker/punter position, which is a good thing since we will probably be punting the ball quite a bit.

Update: the Dead Rising contest is now closed. Thanks everyone!