Next time Jen, stick with Great Clips

From the New York Post:

Jennifer Aniston's honey-colored highlights and unadorned 'do on the red carpet only look effort less - in reality, the laid-back-looking locks cost an estimated $50,000 to achieve.

More details here.

Odds are set at 3:1 that Kyle Coston earns a technical foul in Ogden

After doing some preliminary research on the subject, the evidence is in. Junior forward Kyle Coston , a man with many talents, is the most likely player at the Big Sky Tournament to earn himself a technical foul.

Coston, a junior lefty with a strong outside shooting touch, is leading the team in fouls heading into the Big Sky Tourney. This comes despite Coston often being handed the least physical of the opposition's front-line players, with either Jamie Jones or Julius Thomas typically defending the bigger and better opposing post.

Kyle also leads the team in technical fouls--he has earned two in the past four games. Now, certainly he isn't approaching Rasheed-level status but a closer look and a trip down memory lane demonstrates that if the Big Sky Tournament had some prop bets for the action in Ogden, put your money on a Coston infraction.

He may have only technically (ha, ha) earned two technical fouls but fans of the Vikings will remember a few other points of evidence that could work against the Southpaw.

1- Coston and Portland forward Robin Smeulders tangle underneath the hoop in the Vikings Stott Center opener. No technicals are assessed but there was certainly some extracurricular activity, if you know what I'm saying.

2- Coston and Seattle Redhawks' Austen Powers and Mike Boxley get tangled up on several occasions. Again, no whistle but there could have been.

3- The Vikings and Idaho State scuffle on the way to the locker rooms at the end of the first half at the Stott Center. Surely, Coston isn't solely responsible for the altercation but he was definitely there and definitely involved.

4- Chris Kaba of Northern Colorado and Coston go nose to nose after a physical play in the second half. Finally some game control by the zebras, as both are assessed T's.

5- The great dunker that he is, Coston is whistled for dunking during warmups of the Eastern Washington game. Not necessarily a fight but you can label it in the bonehead category.

Now, what do all of these bodies of evidence tell us? I don't think they say that Coston is a dirty player or that he is cheap or anything like that. I think these pieces of evidence and my own personal knowledge of Coston indicate more than anything, that he is a maturing young man and he still has some growth left in him in that sense.

Sometimes he just doesn't make the best decisions on the court, especially when emotions are high.

Now, on to the readings of the week-
Jim Moore of the Seattle PI has a good story about a former high-school and college star who suddenly was diagnosed with cancer.

The annoying logos that the NCAA had previously used on all their NCAA Tournament courts are going by the way side because players were slipping all over them.

No that it matters really but CollegeRpi has the following from the Big Sky Teams
Weber State: 95
Portland State: 119
Montana: 164
Idaho State: 201
Northern Colorado: 261
Montana State: 242

Eastern Washington: 237
Northern Arizona: 295
Sacramento State: 341 (of 344 teams)

Joe Lunardi has the Wildcats advancing from the Big Sky Championships and drawing a No. 14 seed. He also said PSU would get no worse than a No. 15 seed last year so take it for what its worth.

Anyways make sure to stay tuned- The Stumptown Sports Hook is headed to Ogden next week!

Michael Gira @ the Doug Fir

Is there a direct correlation between aging, going solo and wearing a cowboy hat? Are the three mutually exclusive? Perhaps not, but Michael Gira's set last night at the Doug Fir would show evidence strongly in favor this.

The night started with Larkin Grimm, a strong bisexual female singer/songwriter. Go ahead, google “strong bisexual female singer/songwriter,” then scroll down a few, you might find her. She wears her sexuality on her sleeve, or she would, but sleeves are probably a function of patriarchal fascism, so she doesn't have any. Her best song, for instance, was about a distant galaxy where everyone has their own spirit orgasm.

“The female orgasm is outlawed in Georgia, where I'm from,” she began, and went on to preach the gospel of some ethereal orgasm wormhole. Very enlightening. Another highlight of her set was a lyric about sleeping with other women, where she describes a lover's legs “open like scissors.” Scissors? Really? I mean, its just too damn easy.

Perhaps I was all singer/songwritered out by the time Gira got on stage. Perhaps I just don't hold him to the same level of genius as a lot of Swans fans do. All I can say, and I say it because this is blogging and I can blog any opinion I have whether is valid or not, is that I was terribly bored by his set from the start.

What it comes down to, for me, is that while Gira has an amazing voice and great stage presence, his songs are one-dimensional when stripped this bare. Even when, in groups like Angels of Light, his instrumentation is minimal, the other musicians, in very subtle ways, flesh his simple chord structures into dynamic, moving songs.

Whether he's a legend or not, I gotta calls it like I sees it: When you're bored, you're bored.

--Jeff Guay

Oh man, who else is jonesin' for another CAT COMPILATION?

At least this one starts off with bonsai-kitten antics.

Free Agency '09 (or how Dan Snyder lost his damn mind)

by Vanguard Sports writer, Allison Whited

The first weekend of free agency for the NFL is a roller coaster ride like no other.

It's one of those times when in one minute your heart is so swollen with joy it could burst in and in the next you're on your knees crying and trying hold back the knot of nausea in the pit of your stomach.

There have been some great signings, things I really believe are good moves. Bart Scott to New York is a fine move by a fine head coach who seems to have the class and defensive wisdom of his father. Scott is truly one of those additions that is worth it at any price.

I do not like, as you can guess, the 'Skins free agency moves.

No, no. I know what you're thinking. I can get past the Haynesworth deal. Personally, I think he's overrated. He only performs when it's a contract year and he is injury prone, even if it is small injuries. Being without an important piece of your defense like that for even a couple of games each season is like missing a puzzle piece, but not an inconspicuous edge piece.

It's like missing the piece in the middle of the puzzle. Also, I would like to remind everyone that the man cleated Cowboys center Andre Gurode's face. Very rude and speaks loudly about his inner character. Despite the $100 million on his contract, Haynesworth will more likely see about $48 million, which while still a lot, is not $100 million.

My biggest problem is with the DeAngelo Hall deal. Six years and $54 million. Really? Really??? This is a man that was cut midway through the season by the hapless Raiders last year before being picked up by the Redskins. Really?

The deal includes $22.5 million guaranteed. It's astounding. He was not a presence in Atlanta where he began his career. He had a whopping two picks in eight games for the Skins this past season. This contract is almost on par with Raider's cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha's $15 million per year contract and his skill level is something Hall could never dream of replicating.

You cannot buy championships, can you Cowboys, Jets, and Redskins teams past? Dan Snyder should know better than to make these deals by now. Talent is inherent in players and throwing more money at them won't increase their production. All Snyder has done is lock the team into more salary cap crises in the future.


I think all the time he spent with Tom Cruise at home games in the owner's box last season must have had an adverse effect on his rational thinking... DeAngelo Hall... Really???

Vikings grab No. 2 seed in conference tourney and something special for the second week in a row...

After four straight wins to close the regular season, the men's basketball team earned a first round bye in the Big Sky Tournament and will not open the tournament until the semifinals next Tuesday night.

If the chalk holds out, and its a safe assumption, you can bet that PSU will likely take on Montana in that semifinal game. My feelings about the squad not playing until nine days from now are mixed.

Another home game and you obviously have the chance to keep improving and continue perfecting the offensive scheme of working inside-out. But of course there is always the possibility that the Vikings could lose that game and given the fact that they got beat by Montana State (who would have been their opponent) in Bozeman earlier in the year, it might be a good thing.

Anyhow, we will definitely have a more thorough breakdown of the Big Sky Tournament later this week. As for now, on to other things...

Last week our guest commentator, a Portland State student and fan, made known his feelings about the fans that made their presence known in front of the ESPN cameras... This week he is ranting about another itch: the possible renovation of the Stott Center.

Feelings around campus are mixed. As any observer could tell you, the student section is hardly full and rarely boisterous. Why should we quadruple the seating capacity of the gym when it does not sellout currently?

Well our man Marnix has a solid take on it.

There are many who feel that the Stott Center Renovation is a pointless and wasteful project that Portland State shouldn’t waste there time with. To those “nay sayers” I would like you to think about the following…

As the men’s team wraps up their 2008-2009 season with a 12-1 home record and the women’s team going 13-2, I don’t see any reason why the athletes that represent the PSU colors on the hard-court don't deserve to play in a legitimate gymnasium.

If money is the issue maybe we should take some money from “high-profile” but under-performing coaches (Glanville) or programs (football).

If your complaint is that Portland State should focus on academics, I would propose the notion that investing and building a national athletics program is the road to such an idea. Think about it, outside of the Ivy League schools, all the national powerhouses in either football or basketball are considered to have highly reputable academic institutions.

For example, USC with Football, Duke or North Carolina with Basketball, or Texas that dominates in just about every athletic event are all highly regarded academically in addition to being powerhouses in sports.

Whether or not they are good at academics because they are good at sports is not a concrete correlation, but the fact that its works more times than not is a compelling idea.

With that said, I guess I look forward to coming back to campus in a couple of years and seeing the new beautiful stadium the athletic department is working so diligently to build.

Then again, actually filling the new, larger stadium will be a different story (see my posting from Tuesday, Feb. 24).

A decent effort from Marnix in his second such posting of the year... We'll leave you today with a pretty solid youtube video of Northern Idaho Junior College point guard Melvin Jones hitting an impressive shot to help his current squad defeat CSI, which I believe stands for College of Southern Idaho and not something else.

Who is Melvin Jones? Possibly the man who will replace Jeremiah Dominguez as the Vikings starting point guard next season.

The Ravishers debut at the Doug Fir

Last night was the premier of local Portland group The Ravishers at the Doug Fir. Or at least the premier of the band performing under their new name, formerly hailing as Dominic Castillo and the Rock Savants. For more information regarding their name change, and other info, check out their interview in The Vanguard.

The Ravishers, are a sigh of relief from quite a few bland performances I’ve seen. They put on a great show. Whether you were following them from the Rock Savant days, or just being introduced, all spectators were exceptionally entertained.

Each member has a personality on stage that melds well together. Beyond having fun, it really did just seem that they were in their element, a vibe forwarded onto the audience. The Ravishers seem to have a handle on the show while working the stage, and just go with the flow. In the end, their performance was much like their music, keeping it simple so that the song can catch you up with it.

And that was really their greatest selling point. While The Ravishers appear fun, easy going and comfortable, it is their music that sets the foundation for a live show. A trait many live bands can learn from. There is nothing more annoying than a band that loves to jerk-off to themselves on stage, with forced poses, half-tolerable sound experimentation and awkward banter with the crowd.

With their own approach of indie-rock dabbling in the pop realm, they remind you of Phantom Planet’s early energy, and gives you the feel of bands such as the Lemonheads or a pinch Elvis Costello, that predate the gimmicky trend of indie-alternative riding the radio waves today.

There should be more shows to follow, so leave your dorm, house or back-alley cardboard box to support a local band that is one to watch, and won’t leave you disappointed.


Though bearing their former name of the Rock Savants, this video is of The Ravishers performing their song "Keep You Around."