Monday, December 8, 2008

Fighting to stay on top, or staying on top through fighting? A local company is doing all it can to ensure that all things Mixed Martial Arts are prov

Fighting to stay on top, or staying on top through fighting? A local company is doing all it can to ensure that all things Mixed Martial Arts are provided by them. (31)


Against The Fence, is a Utah company wondering just that. The company mantra is “Sport the experience, experience the sport.” Nick Yama and Brett Hooper lead a group of partners in this venture. The two split the duties of Against The Fence. Hooper performs most of the daily operations including printing and ordering inventory for their stores. Yama does the marketing and promoting of the company. (66)


The company has stores inside most Utah malls; they also sponsor and attend nearly every MMA event in Utah. They sponsor events yet they don’t sponsor any individual fighters. (29)


Nick Yama said, “We promote the sport itself, not individuals. We do this for multiple reasons, one is that in fighting if someone doesn’t like a particular fighter then they may not support that fighter’s sponsors, and we wanted to avoid this. Another reason is that we don’t want to discriminate against any fighter for any reason, we love them all.” (61)


They carry local brands, Addiction, Rockwell, and Section 8, and offer major fight brands such as Tapout, Throwdown, Extreme Couture, Warrior, Sinister and Death Clutch. (25)


So has the change in the economy devastated the local company or are they plowing along strong? (17)


Brett Hooper said “It depends on the demographic of the store, as a whole our numbers are down and it would take a really big last three weeks to save December, but areas that are big into the fight scene, such as West Valley are doing very well. MMA itself is doing as well as ever, and the Utah events are getting bigger and better also. We try to supply brands that are economically sensible also, so that we do not eliminate fans from supporting their favorite fight gear.” (89)


With MMA on the rise only time will tell if this local company can survive the economical grind and make its way to the top of the podium. (28)


Word Count-346 with Lead, 315 without.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

We are the champions...


It is starting to get ridiculous the way are team dominates the league we are in. I didn't play in our championship game, but I went and watched and honestly there were at least three times that I thought we were done. The legacy was over, no more dynasty, the drive for five, one for the thumb was finito! And then the magic happened, yet again. We let a guy break free and go for a long gain, one of our guys tackled him at the 1 yard mark, something that many of us thought was a bad idea at the time, we thought that they would eventually score anyway but that they would take enough time off of the clock that we would not be able to come back. Oh us of little faith, we held them from scoring and taking an insurmountable 10 point lead, but no we held them, and only down by three all we had to do was score and stop them from scoring with like 4 minutes left. So we went down the field and on a couple of occasions we almost turn the ball over on downs yet we did not. We score with about 45 seconds to go to take our first lead of the game, we were up 4. Well then they kind of dinked and dunked their way down the field and got to within the ten yard line, with 5 seconds left. So on their last play (it felt like it lasted 10 minutes) they threw the ball back and forth across the field waiting for an opening, and then they over threw their guy and we were yet again victorious!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Flag Football???!!!????

So, I am in a flag football league that our team has dominated for the last 4 years. We are pretty good although we can be irritating. We have a  couple guys on the team that whine quite a bit and it upsets some teams that we are playing. Well this came back to haunt the heck out of me this week. The team we were playing was a team full of rather large people of polynesian descent. Well according to the laws of physics when a 6'3" 325lb freight train hits a 5'10" 210lb schlub bad things happen. So he drilled me, illegally slamming me to the ground in the process. Needless to say I got a concussion and an other injury that I don't really want to go into, lets just say no guys would want it. So really why? Why does flag football have to be so silly? These are guys that play for and with BYU and they get all butt hurt by getting slaughtered by a bunch of washed up guys by 30 points. Now my team is in the finals and I don't get to play because I got hit by a Dihatsu, Monday night. It is the joy I live with.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

some thoughts...

I am sure that this is going to be the most blogged about thing in history today but here it goes anyway. I am excited about the new election of president Obama, I feel like we progressed as a nation, and it has nothing to do with wether I was a long time supporter or not it just feels like as a nation we can be proud of our decision, and that is good right?

The other thing is how sad is the California Prop. 8 fiasco? I don't like that it became a civil war of sorts, it bothers me that in a discussion about peoples love for each other so much hatred emerged. There were anti-religion adds that were disgusting, there were religions stepping in to the the political arena. The second part is something that I am not really sure how I feel about, I don't know if that is something that should have been done or if it has no business in the political ring. Anyway it is sad that so much hatred flows from the same sex marriage debate.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Church of Revolution

"As Christians We Are Sorry For Being Self-Righteous, Judgmental Bastards."
This is the mantra of Revolution Church, a religious group that was founded by Jay Bakker, son of the legendary Jim and Tina Faye Bakker. The church believes that the concept of love is being lost from the message of Christ. Podcasts and video can be seen on the web for weekly sermons given by Jay or a number of his associates.

To read the entire article or get updates and info click here.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

cancer...

I follow a blog called fatcyclist at strangely enough www.fatcyclist.com if you want to check it out. It was started as a blog about an overweight guy that was trying to use cycling both mountain biking and road cycling, to trim some fat. It was hilarious and somewhat inspiring to those of us that are in similar situations. Well along the way he got really popular and at the same time his life took a major hit, his wife was diagnosed with cancer. I am not sure of exactly what type of cancer she started with but now she has bone cancer, brain cancer, and it is really crushing her body. This is something that has caused quite a bit of emotion for me. I don't know the family at all, but it is strange the way that their struggles have touched me personally. Just this weekend Susan, the fatcyclist's wife (real name Elden Nelsen) couldn't breath and they were terribly worried about what looked like possibly the end of her life. I am a member of a religion and am somewhat knowledgeable about religion yet I don't really consider myself a religious person so when this happened and the family asked for thoughts and prayers it was strange for me to actually pray for them. I pray, for my family but rarely pray for people that are somewhat strangers so it felt good when things got right and Susan was feeling better. The bottom line is that cancer sucks, it took my grandfather after messing with the family first, by causing sever mental issues after a couple years of fighting. So win Susan!!!!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Winter???

So I was pretty much sick of the cold weather, I thought for sure that it was time for some cooler days, maybe a jacket or sweater could make its way into the clothing rotation, I love jackets. Jackets and sneakers are a giant weakness for me. I could have 9 blue jackets but if one catches my eye its over I must own.

So when I saw that it was going to cool down a little bit I was "A" ok with it, but then tragedy struck. For real did we need to drop 7000 degrees over night? It went from shorts and a T-shirt to parkas and gloves in like 13 minutes. It was like I was watching the office and it was nice outside then it got over and I was in Gnome Alaska, chillin with the Palins.

To make matters worse I was helping my brother-in-law roof his house and that was suck times seven. We pretty much had to hurry and get it done before the snow came in, and for the most part we succeeded but it was close. And not only was it close but it was frickin freezin. But oh well its doon his roof doesn't leak all is well, I just wish we could have had some fall weather inbetween summer and winter that would have been stellar.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Debates, Debates, Debates...

I am so sick of hearing everybodies opinion on the debates. I am sick of Palin and McCain acting like we went to dinner last night, I am sick of Obamas followers acting like U2 is on stage everytime he exhales. I am frankly even sick of the once hilarious SNL skits I think it will make people sick of the funniest woman ever (Tina Feye) . I mean really if someone hasn't decided yet how they are going to vote for, such as I haven't, then are these debates really going to change my mind or make it up for me. All it is now is the sides that have 0 chance of changing there mind telling the other side that their guy won and that he is the bestest person ever to be considered for president, that george washington could run with FDR as VP and they could never touch this ticket. Even my good friends are getting caught up in it now and it makes me irrate. The only thing worse is that if you ask ten people on a college campus about either candidate they wont be able to give you specifics but ask about Brittany, or Lindsay Lohan and they can tell you all about them, it's sad really can't we just have our beliefs and keep them to ourselves with out being either asses or dumbasses.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Affliction...

Can I just say how incredibly sick I am of this ludicrous brand. It is kind of like the song you hear at the first of the summer, that you're like this is kinda cool. Then 90 days and 4728 plays later you can't stand the song, thats how I feel about affliction. At first there were a couple decent shirts that I would wear (NEVER AT THAT PRICE) if somebody gave it to me. Now if somebody gave me a t-shirt from Affliction I would try to take it back to my local Nordstrom cause I hate them. I see people wearing them and I get a sudden urge to break people's clavicles. I think its probably a matter of a year or two at most before they are the local line at Target. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but come on its getting a bit thick. LL Cool J has a line that looks like Affliction rip offs at Sears, full shirt prints are everywhere now. I have a group of friends that own a motorcycle company, they build custom bikes for clients and it so happens that they are also making clothing. These friends also own a screenprinting  business and they can print their own designs. It has been interesting to see them argue over direction, one wants to go original and the other wants to copy Affliction. The name even is too close if you ask me but some of the designs really get close, so we'll see what happens I might have to ban them from my circle.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

crazy school year so far...

It has been a pretty crazy year so far, this semester seems to be almost too much for me. I have taken 5 classes before so thats nothing new, but the classes so far are kind of kicking my arse. It is a lot of reading and that is just time consuming, so between working at night then going to school whenever I can fit a class in it sucks.

on a different note, I play a lot of fantasy football, and pretty much my team blows this year. I have a ton of guys that were expected to be big this season but no, not mine. I drafted Braylon Edwards and he has sucked horribly. So have my qb and my wrs and rbs. I have been one of the top teams in my league over the last two years but I cant see myself duplicating the same results this year. 

My favorite football team is however doing well, the Atlanta Falcons are a surprising 2-1 which I will take. It will be considered a successful season if we get 6 wins maybe 5 and so the fact that we are nearly there already is a great sign.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

UVU football...

I was sitting in one of my classes the other day and overheard a group discussion (we have to do group projects in this class) talking about if UVU should have a football team. It was kind of humorous to listen to. There was basically one sensible person, two half sensible people, and two idiots, discussing it. The major issue they seemed to have is wether or not they would raise tuition to start a team, well that's just silly. How do they suppose that students could afford to pay for a team, not even yearly but forget about a stadium it will take private money, and no way they push the cost on to students. THey also said nobody would go o games because "everybody that likes football here goes to BYU games on Saturdays" !?!??!?!? are you serious?!?!?!? can't be, noway you are that stupid. Bottom line is if there were a team it would make money, not take it, and people will go, a lot of people here don't like going to BYU games wether its the crowd or the team they don't like it, and would in-fact be season ticket holders if they could go to a new team that they could follow from day 1. Football makes way more money than all of the other sports, and it would here too. I just wish that we had a chance to prove that. It would take a few years to get competitive but we would, and I think its necessary if we want to be taken serious as a division 1 school, but what do I know, I don't like football because I'm not a cougar fan.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Political push...

There is something that I have been wondering for quite a while now. It is actually something that irritates me a little bit. I wish that I could ask some 250 year old person if they remember a time in American history where both sides were so passionate about there candidate. If you ask pretty much anybody what they think about the upcoming presidential election you will likely get a very biased diatribe on both the strengths of their guy and how horrible the other dude is. That goes for Obomites that will go off on how McCain is the same as having 4 or 8 more years of Bush. Really that is what you are going with? Could McCain be any more of a different Republican than Bush? And please quit with all the garbage about McCain/Palin lies and changes of stance or any mention of hypocrisy, they are politicians thats what they do! Just please give me an example of one, 1, only one! Long time politician that didn't change views at some point and lets not leave out your man, Barack has done the same and Biden lets not go there. Those out there that love johnny boy are really no different either. They point out tons of issues with Obama and Biden they rip the lack of experience, meanwhile they want us to elect a 71 year old man that is one too salty baked potato away from not needing to be assassinated because he may die of a stroke, then we have a young woman at the helm that has being the Mayor of a 6,000 person town and being the governor of the least populated state in the union, I fail to see how running Alaska is comparable to running the most intricate nation on earth. 

     The thing is this: they both have plusses and minuses. You don't need me to say them it's not my place, and I hate having political views pushed on me so there is no way I am about to do it to somebody else. And that is what irritates me most about this election is that you can't go anywhere without hearing opinions about it, UVU is arguably the worst for it. I swear that students there just dis-like McCain because it is who BYU or their parents would vote for. So they love Obama which is fine, IF they know anything about his platform, stop acting like you are behind sombody if all you read is the cover of TIME magazine, do your homework then you can talk, that is all I have an issue with.

Hasta

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Week one school problems

     So first off, this semester will probably suck for me. I have 18 credit hours, which combined with 40 hours of work and trying to find time to spend with the wifie and kiddies is going to be rough. I go to school Mondays after hanging out with the girls until 6:00 PM then it's off to  class. Thankfully my teacher isn't making us go on Wednesdays (writing day) so that makes the rest of the week way easier. Anyway so I get done with class then go to work from 10:30 until 7:00 AM. After that it's back to school until 2:15 (yay!). Then I go to work for a double shift so from 2:30 until 7:00 AM again. Then like I said no class Wed. Thursday I get off work and go to school again until 2:15. Then finally get some sleep. No class on Friday is glorious, but then it's back to work that night and off to school for my Sat. morning class, add in one online class and thats my load this semester; oh the joys of trying to be a responsible adult.

     Like I said I have an internet class and so it seems reasonable that I would need to have internet at home in order to maximize my educational experience. Well I have always just pirated a connection from one of the accounts in my Townhouse complex, but recently everybody has gotten sick of having slow unsecured networks and I can no longer do this. So I got my own connection and set it up and then got a router so I could go wireless with it. The first router I got was good, it worked well and was plenty fast except for one problem. I'm not sure if sharing a connection and splitting a bill is illegal or even unethical but I am doing it regardless. Well I needed the range to reach both ends of the row I live on and it was just shy of doing so, thus requiring a different more powerful router. This is where it gets super lame. Walmart which has always been great to go and exchange items at has apparently recently changed their exchange and return policy, no receipt no dice! and I had none, so I pitched a fit went over the heads of the service desk people and got a manager to let me do it. Well I got the most expensive one they had thinking that it must be the best one. It was not so, I had nothing but problems installing it. I then returned this one (kept the receipt) and got the third router, this one setup super easy but I kept getting hung up reception from my wireless, so it was out too.

     I am kind of a label whore; and when it comes to electronics if it glows with a little white piece of once bitten fruit on it then it is the product of choice for me. So I did what I wish I would have in the first place, I went and bought an Apple Airport Extreme (curtains part, angels blow trumpets, and rose petals fall from above) this is a wonderful product, and now I am all set for wireless bliss.

So after all of that I am finally done and ready for a crappy semester of school. I am pretty sure this will be the last kind of post like this cause it isn't a rant of the variety that I want to rant of.

Hasta