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The Cougar Lounge - Shangri-La Again

"You cannot spot a team that is supposedly - and most likely - going to be competing for the championship of the league, 19 points at their place and then expect to win the game."
- Oregon State head men's hoop coach Craig Robinson after Wazzu opened a 41-22 first half lead en route to an 84-70 win over the Beavers in Pullman last week.
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"Sage had a great second half and Carly really got it going for us inside. [They] particularly really stepped it up."
- Wazzu head women's hoop coach June Daugherty after the Cougars notched their first Pac-10 win of the year over Oregon State this weekend.
"It wasn't the factor. I like a buck just like the next guy, but I love coaching and I love winning and I love football."
- Former Stanford head football coach Jim Harbaugh after he departed the Farm for the top job with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers and a five-year $25 million contract.
"There's no victory in shocking a Christian family in Idaho at 5PM on NBC."
- British comedian Ricky Gervais, who says the audience is not right for it so he will not perform any of his stand-up routines when he hosts next weekend's Golden Globe award show after drinking some pints onstage at last year's award show and bringing some boisterous humor which caused an uproar and disgusted Cher.
The ideology of nog season cannot be accepted in a bland society. Nog season only comes once a year and lasts for only a few weeks when precious nog is produced by America's dairylands and when combined with certain other liquids, confirms that there is always something to be optimistic about in this world. In fact, nog's allure can even be equated to the same big shiny red symbolic button that demands to be pushed when coffee, liquor, nicotine and - as Wazzu sophomore point guard Reggie Moore found out recently - the buddha, are presented. It can be a dangerous mistress unless handled properly. Alas, the 2010-11 nog season is about to end. Grocery store shelves are selling their last jugs of joy this week and by next week, the only nog left in 2011 will be stored in the memories of 2010 and maybe a time or two in 2011. That means that all that snow they got in Las Vegas last week? They will have to hope it does not snow again until they have an adequate nog supply to handle the demand.
Fortunately, in the about-to-be newly minted Year of the Rabbit, there is quiet calm concerning the impending nog drought because Reese's has come to our rescue with their brand spanking new product - miniaturized versions of their normal peanut butter cups. The Lounge is an unabashed Reese's peanut butter cup fanatic - to the point of tackling innocent kids suspected of having a Reese's stash in their pillowcases on Halloween - and while a Reese's peanut butter cup is always good, sometimes it can be too much for the occasion. For example, if you live in Ephrata and just won $190 million in a lottery or upon completing tax returns and discovering that new IRS rule changes mean you get less money back this year - an entire normal-sized package [or more] of Reese's may be required. However, if you found an extra quarter in the couch, you will only need a Reese's mini for the ensuing celebration. Now, Reese's minis will never take the place of nog, but they will be with us all year - until the nog arrives again on magical, flying golden carpets [or so we are led to believe].
The BCS Taliban champion will be crowned this week and immediately become irrelevant the second after the game between Auburn and Oregon is over because the winner did not play undefeated TCU - meaning there will be dual football champions and who knows how many more are lurking out there who did not have the chance via a college football playoff exactly like the one which Eastern Washington University just won to claim a legitimate national championship. Somewhat more interesting and relevant will be whether or not CougZone can resume to their winning ways in the annual Phil Steele Bowl Game Pick'em? CZ reeled off six consecutive wins last week but fell off the pace over the weekend [no doubt due to impending nog withdrawals] and is currently in a massive 1478th place tie - unless Nevada wins tonight.
The Lounge would like to whip out our big 70-incher - get your mind out of the gutter - to watch those remaining games. Sharp has created a 70-inch monster big-screen television [most big-screen televisions are of the pedestrian 55-inch variety] but the TV will not be available to consumers until later this year. That means when ESPN debuts their new 24/7 3D channel next month, we will have to settle for not watching it because we will be too busy staring at our cutting edge technology device which helps us communicate better with those around us.
The crack Lounge research department discovered that - surprise, surprise - everybody is all amped up about 4G smartphones and tablet devices such as Apple's iPhone. In fact, the iPhone - which does not have 4G service yet - has already been crowned as the national champion of pop culture obsessions for 2010, followed closely by Barbie and military jackets. Need the crack Lounge research department to paint a clearer picture of today's American society than that?
"Just what the doctor ordered!" says Unrecognizable Johnson after the Wazzu men's hoop team's sweep of the Oregons in a pair of Pac-10 games in Pullman.
You got that right UJ. Nothing cures a team's ills better than winning and this year in the Pac-10, the Oregon teams will provide that cure for many of the conference's teams. Wazzu was no different as they crawled back up to the equator at 2-2 in conference play after sweeping the Beavers and Ducks. These were two wins that the Cougars had to have if they are expected to be in contention for Big Dance tickets in March and more promising for the Cougars was the play of junior Marcus Capers in the games. Capers averaged 12.5 points per game and swatted numerous Beaver and Duck shots and if Capers is able to provide that kind of effort and those kinds of numerals on a consistent basis in the season, the wins will keep coming for the Cougars. This week's test for Capers and the Cougars will be a big one - road games at California and Stanford. After a poor effort in their first road games of the year against UCLA and USC - which just happened to come on the tail end of a two-week road trip - left them in an 0-2 conference hole, Wazzu will have a chance to resurrect their Pac-10 title chances and improve their RPI number - which sat at 60 last week in the first official NCAA RPI of the season [before the wins over the Oregons]. Road wins are big for the Cougars' RPI and Big Dance chance as well as for their chances in the conference race.
"A win is a win is a win," says A Demented Fictional Character after the Wazzu women's hoop team finally won their first Pac-10 game of the year over Oregon State.
Once again, as with the men's team's games against their Oregon opponents, the Wazzu women did what they had to do. The Cougars were expected to defeat Oregon State as the rebuilding Beavers are destined for last place and perhaps a winless conference season. Even though a win over Oregon on the road would have been too much to ask, the Cougars gave it the old college try and nearly beat the Ducks in Eugene as well - Wazzu was only six points away from a road sweep. Still, getting the first win of the year was crucial to get this week both for confidence and because this week's home games are against the twin Bay Area titans called California and Stanford.
The early favorites areMel Gibson and Charlie Sheen but the full list of potential targets for British comedian Ricky Gervais at this year's Golden Globe awards can be found on the award show's official site. The Lounge's darkhorse candidates are Randy Quaid [via Dennis Quaid connection], fellow Brit Judi Dench and, of course, Steve Carell - who, we suspect might be cooking something "shocking" up with Gervais.
Since the Lounge Scientists are already salivating in their labs [and taking the appropriate swabs of those saliva particles] over watching ESPN 3D on their 70-inch television screens later this year, they were thrilled to find out that Sony has produced a 3D-viewing visor and somebody else has produced something called the TV Hat that is essentially a long-brimmed hat with a black curtain for creating a "personal theater" for people and their video devices.
"It looks kind of jerky…I expect people will laugh at me but that never happens. As outlandish as it might appear, it works for a lot of people," says Lounge Scientist-Inventor #4, George Korper, an inventor who, reputedly, found his personal theater had no concession stand.
Ahoy nog - see you in November!
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