Fish and chips and volleyball...a Friday night house party?

Sam German was a British chocolatier who introduced his own brand of chocolate, German chocolates, in 1852. Fast forward over a century later to 1957, when an anonymous homemaker (with presumably too much time on her hands) submitted the recipe for German chocolate cake (dispelling the myth that it was a creation from Germany). The recipe called for Sam's baker's chocolate, combined with coconut, and native pecans. Mr. German would be surprised that this was, in a way his legacy. And I don't think Hitler would have had the luxury to taste this treat. If he did, he'd embrace it just as much as exterminating the Jews, that's for sure.

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I'm blogging this outside the doors of the green entrance of the Mike & Arline Walter Pyramid. This is the smoking zone. Thank God there are no puffers right now. I write this at the top of the steps. Below me is the Ukleja Family Hall of Honor, where a meeting with Diane Higgs and the Graduate Program in Sport Management would be in order in a couple hours. (As of this blog, it's already done.)

The Dirtbags have finished their afternoon training, and have headed off to their dorms, homes, classes and what-have-you. They would clash with the National Chumps from Rice University in about two weeks time, kicking off a schedule to die for, especially if you're from the Boston Red Sox.

I am writing about Friday's volleyball contest against UC San Diego. A buzzer sounds. Practice is going on, with Mary Hegarty's women's basketball team practicing for the game against Pacific and Jake "the Snake" Harry on Thursday. Looking at the Tritons' record (4 wins and 7 losses) as the Campus Bell rings 5:00, the Tritons come into the contest like lambs to the slaughter. They are just as talented as, say, our men's basketball team. I have to question Monson's uniform last Saturday. I mean, what the hell what he trying to impersonate. Bloody Chuck Norris? An impersonation that Billy Barty could have done better at? Or has this poor guy lost his mind, like I did when we fell to Bakersfield (oh mercy, I don't want to take about that game)? I leave it to your responsibility to ask the Taekwondo Master about that. I was in awe with his ability to accurately kick the advertisement board in frustration like a side show gone wrong. I have my way of showing my frustration, but Dan Monson takes it to a higher [sic] level. The student is pleased.

Now, back to the fools from La Jolla. First off, WHY is Kevin Ring still their head coach? I mean, heading into the season he was 7 and 50. As in 7 wins, and 50 losses. (He currently is at 11-57 heading into this match.) Note that the Department of Athletics web site does not mention about the inept record in Ring's bio, because if that was mentioned, their would be severe recruiting repercussions.

Also, the team is playing without one of their aces, so to speak. Their Donovan Morris of the team, if you will. His name is Will Ehrman, a 5-11 sophomore from Punahou, in Honolulu, and he is out due to a severe injury. Because of this, the Tritons are playing the type of volleyball that is so poor, their women would dust them off. Atrocious. That's why they come into this match like lambs to the slaughter. Everyone in the Pyramid (even the UCSD faithful) knows that the Tritons are going to be sandwiched, roofed, aces, killed, and every expletive by the likes of Paul "The Chopman" Lotman, Dustin "The Stache" Watten, Mean Dean Bittner, Danny Arcadia (Dan Alexander), Michael P. Klipsch (Setterney At Law), Fletcher Anderson (a.k.a. #8), and Tommy "Cretino" Pestolesi and the crew.

Now here's the kicker: in our last game with these punks, we had a rough year of our own. One of those defeats (17 in all, against 11 wins), did come at the hands of the Tritons, in La Jolla. This was the first defeat in 10 matches, snapping a winning streak dating back to the days of the Great Touzinsky (Scott). And the kicker after that: the last time those Tritons won here was in 1983 - in the Gold Mine, during Ray Ratelle's second season, with Bob Ctvrtlik at the controls! Those punks have never won a match at the Myd, and the last time they won a game was in 1995, in Game 2. That was the only gmae they EVER one. The last time they were here, they were swept. Overall, they are 3-47 against us (as of right now).

I think the Tritons owing us some fish and chips after this glorified scrimmage is over has a nice Ring to it. Don't you think?

So much for having all the patience in the world.

So I get some feedback from my friend Duke Rescola, a fellow Viking, and the current editor for the Daily 49er, and he comes in with a head full of steam regarding the issue with ASI's perceived [sic] inability to take action on those fee increases. Here's what he had to say. (Edited for professionalism [sic].)

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Jo-Ryan,

Would dozens of unanswered phone calls to Andrews and other reps during a two week period, messages left on BlackBerry, and visits to ASI offices, unanswered e-mails, etc. count as attempting "sufficient research?" We also are students and ASI does not deem us or this issue important enough to answer queries. If they did, they would live up to their responsibilities and address "student" concerns. Or are they going to sit on their hands and wait until the CSSA makes a decision for them?
Great leadership. By March, collecting the necessary signatures required to be collected by April to get this initiative on the ballot will be another instance of the "tail wagging the dog." More great leadership.

We tried extensively to get Mark Andrews to say something, anything,but he hid and did not reply. If any misinformation gets printed after exhaustive attempts to get their side of the story, it is the fault of the "elected" representatives. Nothing expresses contempt more than an elected officials' "No comment" besides "I'm not even going to give the courtesy to return phone calls."
If Mark wants to ignore the important issues that affect his constituents who elected him to an office for which he gets free tuition, stipends, parking privileges, padded resume and other perks, it seems he owes us some type of leadership. Instead we get a "we'll see what others tell us to do" followers. Our ASI, including Andrews, didn't have the courtesy to attend the CSU Board of Trustees meeting where the budget impact was discussed, even though it was right here in Long Beach. But ASI leaders from Sacramento, Chico, San Diego and Stanislaus, to name but a few, attended and voiced their concerns on behalf of students at their campuses.

I and my assistants made numerous attempts to contact Andrews and the ASI over a period of a week. We went to their offices, left messages to call us back and sent e-mails. It's funny the BlackBerries our student body has spent tens of thousands of dollars on didn't work all of a sudden. They never had the courtesy or respect to return our calls. We stand by every word in the editorial because of everything I've outlined.

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Numerous attempts, huh? Guess they just didn't know when enough is enough at that time.

And after disseminating the countless unsuccessful attempts, he gives this:

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You also are culpable of doing exactly what you've accused us of. [The fact that] you're passing judgment on us without the courtesy of researching WHY we wrote this editorial, when you had only one-sided, slanted and biased information from Mark Andrews, is extremely disappointing. You should know me by now and that I don't just MAKE things up. This was created by Mark Andrews and ASI, not the Daily Forty-Niner. We merely wrote opinions on the FACTS !!!! This disrespect pans out in the fact that Andrews wrote his retort in the Union, not in the Daily Forty-Niner. He's a disrespectful wimp!!!! CSULB leadership should not merely resemble middle school popularity contest politics.

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Hold on. Who said we were in the same boat with Rogers or Stanford or even Stephens anyway? Perhaps poor Duke and the guys must have reached their limit with the lack of courtesy from them and perhaps myself (although it wasn't out of malice) that their rationality/logic has boiled over and headed south for the summer. But then again, I suppose that some people can call me courageous for writing for BOTH papers as a study. And if I was trying to get these facts from these important people, facts that would be critical to the credibility of the organization, I'd be boiling over too.

This just reinforces the animosities and hostilities that have historically fractured relationships between the Daily 49er and the ASI and the Union Weekly. I probably will not want to go deeper into the rift between both of them because I've already graduated, and I have my own issues to take of. As for that mess, I leave it to both parties to sort it out.

But this was some good stuff from Duke. Thanks, old buddy.
Your salty, yet honest rant just got posted on the Bedlam.