Through The Looking Glass...

Living in 147 Cedar Hall has its pros and cons. The pros being that it is located right by the first floor fire exit and that I can see everyone who enters the building via my window that faces the entrance directly. The cons are that my thermostat doesn't work all that well and everyone who enters the building can see right into my room via my window. This made it especially tough early in the year to change clothes after showering, but now I really don't care anymore. Besides, the ladies really seem to like it.

The bad thing about my window is the late nights. It seems like Altoona is the "city that never sleeps" since no matter what time it is there is always a group of 3 to 4 girls coming back from the apartments. It would be alright if the girls were somewhat quiet, but instead they sound like they're swinging mandrakes from their necks. Also, people like to knock on my window every once in a while. You haven't lived until you're laying in your bed at 2am and all of the sudden some drunk woman beast pounds on your window like she's trying to storm Helms Deep, it'll keep you on your toes.

At this point I would like to give a shout out to the girls out there who liked to press their chests against my window on Thursday nights in September/October. Stay classy, gals, you know who you are. You would think having drunk college girls rubbing themselves on your window would be awesome, right? Well it wasn't, I'm not going to go into details because I know my mother reads this blog, but I will say these girls were not "Grade A" material (maybe C- in Chicago Math).

Stay hungry, America
-Jake Harr

"One Huge Grenade Launcher"

Hey there naughty kids! I say hello and what’s up to all the blogger lovers out there! Special hi’s go to all the Groovers :) It’s Shay here with my formal introduction from “Off the Record.” Off the Record, which is due to debut next Sunday, will be my own account of the week’s current events and to also give bloggers a chance to share all things Shay. Topics can tend to be a little weird simply collecting dust in my brain, so here’s my opportunity to unleash my ideas and let them surf the cyber world.

While I continue to construct and perfect my first blog, here’s a quick look at all the joys in my head that I’m so excited to share!

To start off, Thursday night marks the first week that all of you Jersey Shore freaks are forced to find something else to do with 30 minutes of your precious time. It marks the night when you finally don’t’ find yourself blindly staring at the television. You stare in awe at the chaos on the screen as you lose countless brain-cells and common sense. Off the Record: Yes, I as well am a Jersey Shore loving slore.

However, that doesn’t hide the fact that after watching the show I felt that my intelligence was wrongfully stolen from me. As season one comes to an end, I’d like to ask the daring question: Why do we even care? Let’s take a look at these people for they are the loud, annoying and drunken aliens that earned the highest television ratings on MTV. Therefore, we allowed them to define the American people. Most of them can barely form comprehensible sentences. Off the Record: Again, I do like the show; I’m simply stating the facts.

Now, I am aware that MTV did not aim to create a socially conscious television show for that matter, their sole purpose was to go out and make money. But why, why did MTV expose us to such an awful (but crazily addicting) show?

I’ll tell you why, because MTV is pitifully genius that’s just why. It probably cost the network $1,000 to shoot the show. I don’t even know how much money they are currently swimming in as a result of season one. With all of their advertising, sponsors and publicity they are now receiving we can only dream of the bucks they now rake in.

For life after the show, cast member Jenni Farley, also known as “J-WOWW”, Off the Record: I say (“J-How?”)…is due to launch a fashion line featuring her…well,unique fashion tastes and style. Do we really want to dress like her? Recent reports claim that the cast is currently undergoing negotiations with MTV to shoot a season two of the reality show. (It is reported cast members could make $10,000 per episode.) Also, yesterday aired an episode of the cast before the nationwide obsession of guidettes and hair-spiking gorillas took storm. The show allowed for fans to see what life was like before the shore. Again, I ask why do we care?

I end, not with a rude comment or annoying quote that explains the need for a changing mind-set of the American people. (Because I surely wouldn’t turn him away if Pauly D came knocking on my door.) But I say, you go ahead MTV. You devils, continue to make crazy television segments that shamefully keep us from enjoying life outside of our living rooms (at least for my sake anyway :)).

check this out for giggles and laughs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeal_d6k2d8#watch-main-area

Thanks for checking in! Be sure to come back next week for some more notes from the Off the Record!

“Joy is the flag you fly when the Prince of Peace is in residence within your heart.” – Wilfred Peterson

Ups, Downs, and Port Sky

In the summer of 2008 I took a student visit to Penn State Altoona with my parents. Everything was great and I had made the decision in my head that if I didn't get into the State College campus that Altoona would be my home. Towards the end of the tour we made a stop at the campuses only cafeteria, Port Sky Cafe. We were encouraged by our Lion Ambassador to have a taste of what the students eat everyday, so we did. Now, regularly there are seven choices of meals a night at Port Sky, but since it was the summer and the students weren't there we were limited to only three (pre-wrapped sandwiches, chinese food, and the salad bar). Of course everyone was in queue for the chinese food and salad bar, so I thought I would be smart and go straight for the pre-wrapped sandwiches, silly Jake. I should have known when I took my first bite of that sandwich that Port Sky Cafe was trouble.

Today

A year passed and I moved in to Cedar Hall at Penn State Altoona in August of 2009. Port Sky is the only cafeteria that the school has to offer, so I wasn't very excited for it to be my main source of nutrients, I'm a growing boy after all. Throughout my first semester at Altoona I discovered one thing, coming back from State College (where the food is spectacular and the beer flows like wine) on a Sunday afternoon is like forgetting to get your permission slip signed, then showing up to school so excited on the day of the field trip only to find out that you can't go. I suppose that Port Sky isn't all that bad, but it lacks consistency.

What else could there be?

Also, the personnel keeping the place in order don't necessarily help Port Skys cause. A few nights ago, Anthony and I went to dinner and there was roast beef, we headed for that line with high hopes. The girl in front of me got the last of the roast that was on the cutting board, so a new one was brought out and I thought that I would get the first piece off of the beautiful hunk of meat, silly Jake. The prick in charge picked up the scraps from the old piece left over on the cutting board and put it on my plate. I'm not lying when I say that more than half of the meat on that plate was straight fat and gristle, you can ask Anthony. Never have I ever been so enraged over a meal. Port Sky has its ups and downs, but the valleys are lower than the peaks are high.

Honorable Mention

On Jan. 23, 2010, Wayne Rooney scored four goals for Manchester United in a 4-0 win over Hull City. This is pretty impressive considering that I played three years of JV soccer in high school and never scored once.

Stay hungry, America

-Jake Harr

"Sounds Like a Bunch of Hoopla"

A Season of Spending

An uncapped year in the NFL in 2010... great for the league, or a turn for the worse? As Gene Upshaws NFLPA (NFL Players Association) executive director's position is still open and up for grabs for just about anyone including me, its not looking good for the upcoming NFL season. Although they say the position has been narrowed down to three canidates, Trace Armstrong, Troy Vincent, (My choice) and Demaurice Smith, it doesn't look promising that they'll make a choice anytime soon. The Director spot for the NFLPA is so valuable for this upcoming year to make sure they can hammer out a CBA, or a collective bargaining agreement. A CBA is pretty much a contract that describes free agency, pensions for retired players, player benefits, and so on...

This uncapped year, or in other words know as the Final League Year has several different things that are vastly different then in years past. It is known as the Final League Year simply because its the final year in the current contract that they have from this CBA. So this upcoming year, could be the last year of the league, which is definitely not going to happen, but it is possible none the less.

Owners Aspect

Okay so what does an uncapped year mean for the Owners and teams? It means an endless shopping spree for the entire off season. Teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins with their owners Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder are going to go crazy with their spending. There is not floor and no ceilings (Good Lil Wayne mixtape might i add) to what teams can spend. But what do small market teams like the Rams and Chiefs do? They must build from within and build off what they get out of this upcoming draft. But there are two questions that owners keep asking themselves.

1. Is there actually going to be a upcapped year in 2010 and beyond?

2. Should i make my team have good success for a short period of time, or ruin our long term financial outlook?

Players Aspect

The big name players are looking at this uncapped year as an amazing spot for them to be. They can sign with a team like Dallas make as much as they want and be able to be surrounded with other great players around him to be a contender for a ring.

Finally the Fans

This (Mike the) situation that were in could be great for fans for big and small franchises. A fan of a big team like the Cowboys could watch their team finally win another Superbowl but a team a small team like the Titans could be able to be an underdog with a low salary and make it far into the playoffs and win a superbowl much like the Tampa Bay Rays did in baseball a few years back.

But if your sitting there asking yourself, "Well Mike, what do you think about this? Do you think this could be good for the league?" My answer is simply...No. Its terrible and completely useless for the league. Every sport needs to have a Salary Cap and it somewhat ruins the integrity of the sport when you don't have it. You need a cap to be able to make the teams closer together. A team shouldn't be able to spend $150,000,000 more than another team, it is ludicrous.

One Love Groover Family

Michael Pisone

What's happening?

Butler's Bouncers
First thing's first previously in this article about a group formerly known as Butler's Bouncers: They are no more. Due to decisions made by the group and myself we will no longer be carrying the act of T-Shirts and neighborhood recognition of one another with Butler's Bouncer T-Shirts, no matter how good the idea was. With that being said I encourage viewers of this blog to comment and give us nicknames for the viewers of this blog. R.I.P. Butler's Bouncers after of only being a term used for approximately 3 hours. Anyways....

Co-ed Gym Class
With that being said I just got back from Co-ed Basketball class which is what I would like to talk about today. With gym class being co-educational most people at first would say wow Jake with your defensive skill set, jumping ability, and overall skill of the game you may be able to impress the ladies by showing your basketball prowess.Well one you're an idiot my friend, and two Jake Butler is a team player he does not try to show off his skills he tries to make the team as a whole better.

The second problem with co-ed basketball is that I play hard. I mean sorry its just the nature of the beast that I am. I'm not the only one that necessarily plays hard but in a gym class full of girls its hard to play to my full potential. Just the other day another one of my fellow basketball classmates ran into a girl because he was playing hard, luckily no one was hurt, however, we were lucky this time next time someone could seriously be injured. Let's face I'm a lover not a fighter I hate to see anyone get hurt, so when a girl comes into the lane I'm faced with the tough decision of letting her score an easy basket or sending her shit home. One time I sent this one girl's weak stuff out of bounds from that point on I vowed that if a girl would come into the lane on me I would simply just get out of the way to avoid the guilt.



I'm not denying some girls can play with the guys and some are even better than the guys in this class, but as a man I have a predisposition to not try and give a girl an unnecessary bump or shove. I could be wrong but I believe it was once Ghandi who said "If you can't play hard in Co-education gym class basketball because of the set conditions then you either have two options 1. Go hard or 2. Go Home." I think Ghandi's message was right on point and from here on out I will of course try to limit my running into of the girls in class, however I will go hard. Thank you for hearing me out on this one Bouncers.


For Your Listening Pleasure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsovXU9OxVw

You know I think they're onto something, Love is the answer.


Final Thoughts


I will be taking feedback and feel free to comment and spread the word about this blog. Also I would just like to say the name for you reader's is up for debate as viewers of this blog and I and the other bloggers will be taking every name into consideration. Thank you.

-Keep Your Expectations Low and Your Game High

Jake Butler

She was Wild 'n Out before Nick...

"You know the world's gone mad when blacks wear plaid and Mariah has married Nick Can-non..." - Asher Roth, Cannon remix, Greenhouse Effect

So Ive been hearing a lot about this Mariah Carey and Eminem feud lately, and i can tell you its getting pretty intense. One of this summers hottest songs that the radios kept playing was Mariah Carey- Obsessed. I'm pretty sure all of you have heard it. You might have also heard that the song seemingly is about Mariah's ex boo, Slim Shady. Apparently he still had feelings for her after they broke up and she bounced back with Nickelodeon boy toy Nick Cannon. In the music video she dresses up as a man and even with the goatee it still looks like Eminem.

So where did this all start? Well sources say after the two went their separate ways and when Mariah eventually married actor Nick Cannon is when things really started to get heated between the two. Eminem came out with his long awaited album Relapse and it included the song called "Bagpipes from Baghdad" which he targets Nick Cannon and his relationship with Mariah. After the song was released Nick Cannon wrote in his blog that Em' "is still obsessed with my wife, the same female that wouldn’t let him get to second base from 8 years ago."

This is when Mariah comes back with the song that added fuel to the flame, a number one hit single Obsessed that mocked and embarrassed the rapper Marshall Mathers. With all the popularity the song was receiving, this feud was no kept secret and the nation all listened as Mariah kept dissing Eminem. You know Eminem is not going to bow down to his ex and her husband, hes gonna come back swingin. Not only did he go for Mariah's throat, but he also came back and threatened her husband Nick Cannon again.

Eminem's reaction to Obsessed was with his song "The Warning". (if you look on the right hand side of the page there are written out lyrics.) If you read the lyrics, I'd say Eminem proved his point, don't f*** with him. He quotes, "I'm obsessed now, Oh gee, is that supposed to be me in the video with the goatee? Wow Mariah, didn't expect her to go balls out...", making it pretty obvious that the song Obsessed was indeed aimed towards him.

We all know about how crazy Eminiem can be, remember the song "Kim" about him murdering his wife? yeah, i thought that would be appropriate to bring back. What a good song that was, ha ha so i ask one thing... team Mariah or team Eminem. You decide, groove on.

Pimpin' Aint Easy

"Pimpin' aint easy, but it's necessary," the famous quote by Ice Cube, Tiger Woods knows what he's talking about. Tiger Woods used to be one of my favorite athletes, up there with Casey Hampton and Evgeni Malkin. But after his wife bashed in the back window of his SUV on Nov. 27 2009 because she found out about his 10+ mistresses, he was only solidified at the top of my favorite athletes list.

What's not to love about Tiger? He portrays what every man wants to be. He golfs all day, He brings millions and millions of dollars, and he gets as many women as he wants. Sounds pretty sweet, right? Well he does have to deal with not only the loss of thousands of fans but also the loss of his high paying endorsements like Gillette and Gatorade, but at least Nike is staying strong and supporting Tiger, the new Just Do It campaign is just way too fitting.

Something To Think About

The next time you judge an athlete after a scandal like Tiger's erupts, try to see the situation from both sides of the spectrum. I'm not saying that Tiger is innocent, but the tabloids blow things like these way out of proportion.

Stay hungry, America

-Jake Harr

James Cameron: A Visual Genius

I think I finally might have come up with a Blog-worthy subject to write about. Just a heads up, this is my first official blog so be cool. I don't know about you guys but I'm ready to do some Blogging!

I want to talk about the movie Avatar, more specifically what I thought of it. Before seeing the movie, I honestly had no interest whats so ever to go see it. I had seen previews for it and it looked pretty cheesy and didn't think too much of it. Then everyone started talking about how awesome it was and not to mention how it broke the record for most money spent making a film. James Cameron also is directing it and that is another reason that I just had to see this movie, I'm a pretty big fan, not really, but I guess you could say hes legit in the movie directing business. This seemed to be all pretty impressive, so then i was driven to go see it.

Apparently this movie is in 3D and I had no clue until I went to go see it. I'll say I could have done without the whole 3D experience but it wasn't that bad. It was hard for my eyes to focus at first but it eventually adjusted so it all worked out. After I saw the movie Avatar, that seemed to be all I talked about. I would ask everyone if they saw it and whatever the response, yes or no, I would always tell them how amazing the visual effects were. All these big time movie reviewers keep dissin' the storyline of the movie, and I'll agree it was a little off par, but then I ask what could you even do to it to make it any better? Not much, it is what it is, and you might not be a fan of the story but there seems to be no argument how you cant be a fan of the visual effects. The visual effects can settle as a storyline for its self, you have to have respect for that. It's honestly a movie like no other before. I was totally astonished how James Cameron took the viewers into the future about 100 years and all the realism that I believe could happen. let me not get carried away and talk about why the movie seems to be the most realistic science fiction movie hands down I've ever seen because that might be a topic for a future blog, but I am going to talk about how I felt about seeing all of it. For example, when the showed the planet of Pandora for the first time, again, Ive never seen anything like it all I can say is I was totally amazed. If you pay attention to the little insignificant stuff like how Cameron portrayed how advanced the computers have become since present day or any other technology like the breathing masks they use once they arrive at the planet, its all pretty cool to me.

So I mean, I suppose I can talk all day about how amazing this movie was, but I'm going to leave it to you to find out for yourself. Alright then, its been real as Zach Harr famously quoted, I'll be blogging again soon, keep the word groove alive.

Heres one of my favorite clips from the movie, check it out.

Surprise Surprise Surprise

Pitt and Richmond Basketball Roundup:

Pitt

Pitt's basketball team is shocking the nation this year with key wins at UConn and Syracuse, the more impressive being the Syracuse win. If you were to tell me that in the first 5 games of Big East play Pitt would play against Cincinatti, UConn, and Syracuse all at their places I would've said well at least we won 2 games and maybe just maybe we could pull an upset over one of those teams. Now its January 23, we're six games into Big East play with wins against the 3 mentioned teams before and a solid Lousville team, we also beat Depaul but if any team loses to Depaul I would really start worrying about the state of the program because they are awful. Of course we lost to Georgetown this past Wednesday but just to be in the position to be the favorite in that game I'd say is impressive. I was looking at the beginning of this year to just have a shot of making the tournament and if you thought any more than that you were on something(Side note: if so then where can I get some because if there is a drug that makes you hallucinate that your college team does well that seems pretty marketable). Now that the season is almost halfway over I'm looking forward to March Madness and I expect Pitt to be yet again a Sweet Sixteen contender.

Richmond 16-6(5-2)

Despite a bad loss Wednesday night against Charleston, Richmond bounced back today against George Washington in a much needed win that will hopefully get things rolling. Richmond saw its NCAA tourney chances take a hit over the past two weeks with what most people would consider "bad" losses against Charlotte and St. Louis. To make the NCAA's as an at large at this point would probably require winning out the rest of the way in the A-10 which would be an impressive effort considering the strength of the A-10 this year. Back to today's game though against George Washington though. Kevin Anderson scored a game high 21 points for Richmond, David Gonzalvez and Justin Harper added 11 and 14 points respectively as Richmond went on to win 62-57 at George Washington. The key play of the game was when Ryan Butler (Complete relation) hit a 3 with the game tied with 26 seconds left in the game to put the Spiders up by 3 and essentially clinching it.

What's Next?

Pitt plays at Seton Hall on Sunday followed by St. Johns on Tuesday at home, both of which should be tough "trap" games. Especially St. Johns considering Pitt always has a bit of trouble against St. Johns.

Richmond has a week off before their next game at St. Louis next saturday. Every game at this point matters for UR.

For Your Listening Pleasure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68CuGZHxyY8

Final Thoughts

Today I gained the level of Lieutenant Colonel III on Call of Duty today, and to those of you that have to say "Jake you're in college you have loads of time on your hands shouldn't you use some of that time to study?" I have to say back to you listen the skills obtained while playing COD are necessary for the rest of your life skills such as:

• Teamwork(Even though Baller3287 sucks and only has 1 kill and 38 deaths you encourage him to get better by telling him that he sucks so bad every 5 seconds, this ultimately helps your team to improve dramatically)
• Dying with honor (Not being a little girl about things and using a heartbeat sensor)
• Communication skills(Talking trash counts right?)
• Strengthening of the Thumb-Pointy finger squeeze (Required for tasks such as nail clipping, picture taking, and channel changing)
• Proper military tactics that can be used on an everyday basis (This skill comes in handy most while approaching people or what we of the COD world call "flanking" the advantages of flanking someone from the left side when approaching them will do wonders for you)
• Most importantly picking up the chicks because nothing swoons the ladies more than a level 70 General

Keep your expectations low and your game high

-Jake Butler

Introductions

Hi I'm Jake I like long walks on the beach, romantic candle lit dinners, when people rub my feet right after dinner, and Chipotle. If anyone has anything bad to say about Chipotle note this: I WILL FIND YOU! With that being said we're here to talk about anything we want from sports to what I ate for dinner at Market Central last night and if you don't like it well thats tuff (Yes, that is an Outsider's reference).

Keep your expectations low and your game high

Jake Butler

Penn State Football 2009-2010

The 09-10 season started off as expected, 3 straight wins over cupcake teams that any respectable Division-1 football squad should beat. Daryll Clark was throwing the ball well and the receiving corps was clicking, Evan Royster only totalled 102 yards in the first two games but finally broke the single game century mark against Temple in week 3. All was well in Happy Valley up until Iowa came to town. If it weren't for Iowa in the 08-09 season, the Nittany Lions would have gone 12-0 (but probably still would have lost to USC in the Rose Bowl, oh well). The hype around this game was electric, it was Whiteout Weekend and College Gameday was coming to State College on Saturday for the game. Lee Corso did his traditional mascot head pick 'em and as expected he donned the Lion head along with a white bathrobe (his wife likes that look at home too). As much as I would love to say that the Lions took care of business and beat the Iowa Hawkeyes that night, they did not, and in doing so earned themselves a 3-1 record along with a major question mark on the teams overall strength.
The next three games went very well, three straight wins including a 52-3 win over Eastern Illinois that let us see playing time from highly touted QB recruit Kevin "The Nuisance" Newsome. After the loss to Iowa, I did not know how the team would do against the remaining Big Ten powerhouses on the schedule, Michigan and Ohio State. In Ann Arbor, the Nittany Lions not only beat the Maize and Blue Nation, they made them "Hail to the Victors" as Graham Zug had 3 TDs himself. Two weeks later was the big game in Happy Valley, Ohio State was coming to town. The game opened with Terrelle Pryor and Daryll Clark rushing TDs and it looked like it was going to be a competitive game, but that soon changed. Ohio State took control and ended up winning the game 24-7, depression set in and walking out of the stadium I'm pretty sure I saw a Prozac tent with a line around the corner. After that game I did not care anymore (I felt like John Beckwith after Claire Cleary went off to marry Sack Lodge, you know the feeling), the possibility of a BCS bowl was pretty much gone and the Nittany Lions just couldn't win the big games that year. But, the Lions won their final two games and finished with a respectable 10-2 record going into bowl season.
Penn State landed the Capital One Bowl and were set to play the powerful LSU Tigers out of the SEC, arguably the best football conference in the NCAA. Honestly, going into this game I was skeptic, the Lions could not pull off the W against Iowa or OSU, so they would have no chance against the great LSU, right? Wrong. The final score was 19-17 in favor of the Nittany Lions, they capped off the season with a victory that can be credited to their defense, which only allowed 10 pts/game all year.
In The Future
Next year will be interesting, incoming recruit Paul Jones and Newsome will compete for the starting job but I anticipate that Newsome will be under center for the Lions in September. The defense is losing major stars like Jared Odrick and Sean Lee, but the roster is so deep there is little reason to worry. Joe Paterno turned 83 on December 21, 2009, and may he have many more seasons just as successful as this one to come.

Welcome.

Hello America, and welcome to the blog experience of your lifetime. Within a couple of days we'll have our first post up, stay strong and keep checking the blog!