October 16, 2008

I was feeling quite weird yesterday. I felt like I never really got that Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration. I must have been thinking, "What the heck, Jo-RYan? I thought you were done for the undergrad part of your educational career." And to be honest, I was feeling the same way. It's really unusual. Here I am, an MBA student, with finals, jury duty and election duty coming up...and I am at the bloody Garden, decked in my gray jacket and black trucer hat, my pennants, pom pom sticks and cowbell next to me, watching the home opener of the Long Beach State 49er Ice Hockey season.

The world must have ended.

I was talking via e-mail with Phil Goodman, the voice of 49er Ice Hockey (and a true patron of this club) about the upcoming season...and he e-mnailed me this message, "See you at the GArden on the 16th." I have this belief. If you pray for someone you remembered to come back, and pray real hard, who knows, it might actually come true."

I'm no god or angel. I'm a person with new priorities. I go to these events out of my own free will, not of duty like a year, or two, or three ago. It's now my choice to be here or to do something that requires my attention. Tonight was the night that I would show up. If I see one of the Beach Bandits here, the timing would be excellent.

Understanding the situation, I took a chug of Rockstar (Oh man, how I missed guzzling one of those down!), and headed off the Glacial Garden.

Now, I was really interested about two things. First, I wanted to see if we were in form early to make a better run than being stunned by San Jose State in Oakland last season. I was disgusted with our performance last season because we had high expectations, and we simply failed to meet them. These were unfulfilled expectations that weren't realized last year. The last thing I wanted was another year of abject failure.

The second thing was to see just how good this San Diego State side was. They went 6-0 against D-II opponents (sweeps of us and UNLV) as a D-II side, and finished as runner-ups. They had a strong start to their year, sweeping a double-header against USC, a team that I verbally chewed up in our final meeting with them at the Garden (and the team captain gave us the game puck, which is now enshrined in a glass case at the Beach Pride Center). The Trojans are a team we can beat this year, too. (We would be facing them Saturday.) We started on our year on the losing end of an obvious mismatch against Arizona State's first team (D-I) at Tempe (8-1 and 8-0, respectively), before getting our first win of the season against Loyola Marymount 6-1. But that result didn't tell me didly squat as to how good this 49er tyeam could be. This match, the home opened against the high-flying Aztecs, would tell us all we need to know.

The final score was San Diego State 8, Long Beach State 2. It's early in the season, and San Diego State is already in form, while LOng Beach State are nowhere close to it. As for the second qUestion, the Aztecs were exactly as advertised. If they make yet another move up, it's not going to surprise me. We were simply outclassed by these guys today. I made the over/under for people in the penalty box at 10. There were well more than that by the end of the game. And thus, our lack of character that hindered us last year was evident, as it reared its ugly head against San Diego.

But I also learned another thing. Personally, Frankie Mitrano doesn't have it. He does not have the skills to compete at the professional level as a goalie. No question, he will have his share of wins. But when you give up eight goals in one game-without being pulled-if I am a scout from some obscure league in a contry that doesn't even play ice hockey as a major sport, I wouldn't give this guy a second look. Keeping tabs on the Aztec keeper might be better.

If MItrano wants to prove me wrong, the onus is on him to do so. If this were the type of performance in an NCAA game, he'd be pulled after giving up three or four, because they have depth. And that's another thing this team is lacking.

We're just getting started with this season and already I am pondring what the coaches will need to look for on the recruiting trail in the offseason. For starters, getting a Carey Price-type of goalie times two or three might be a start.

Frankie was like a lamb led to a slaughter tonight. And he knew it.

A busy week down at the Beach…

Six dollars. Count them. One, two, three, four, five, six.

With six dollars I can buy a trio of carbonated liquid at this place called La Mexicana. La Mexicana, located at the corner of 21^st Street and Santa Fe Avenue, is a place where I went to as a kid. When I was young, I would but Funyuns, a type of onion-flavored deep fried corn rings. I would eat those incessantly, and eat them with sandwiches, with the food my mom and dad cook for me, or just by itself when I am watching something on ESPN.

Nowadays, I ditch the Funyuns for those tin cans full of carbonated liquid. But they are not just carbonated liquid. They are a type of carbonated liquid that is laced with chemicals that would seem like illegal substances, but are actually safe. Those chemicals are called taurine, L-carnitine, caffeine, and vitamins and minerals. And that’s just the basics of what’s in that liquid outside of sugar, water, colorings and natural flavors.

The kicker: they are only 2 bucks a can. Cheaper than similar stuff down at the Bookstore or at your regular am/pm. 2 x 3 = 6. Hence, six dollars.

In short, I go to La Mexicana before I hit the PCH 171 heading eastbound for the battlegrounds of the Beach (or the 190’s to 173, the 90’s, or Passport D on the weekends). Sometimes the battleground will be a large body of water with nets on either side. Sometimes the battleground will be a simple football pitch. Other times it will be inside a facility that is shaped like those architectural landmarks in Egypt. Still it could be a softball diamond, or a track, or a practice gym.

In any case, I go to La Mexicana to drink up Rockstar. Zero Carb is my Rockstar drink of choice, because it’s a less-concentrated, but refreshing rendition of the 5-Hour Energy Drink of notoriety. Occasionally I will sip a Rockstar Juiced if Zero Carb is not available. The pomegranate version is what I end up drinking, though I also like the guava version. On rare occasions, it will be a drink other than Rockstar for these games, or it might be a Rockstar and another less potent one, depending on the importance of the contests, and the number of contests going on. It might be a NOS Energy, Full Throttle Mother (acai-flavored), or [even more rarely] TaB Energy. I don’t like using Red Bull for these games, because I use them for study sessions and completing assignments.

With that being said, I am looking forward to this week’s action. Women’s soccer and women’s volleyball have the heavy hitters coming. Fullerton and Riverside will be visiting George Allen Field, while UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly will be dueling the Beach at the Walter Pyramid. It will be interesting to see if we can lift a finger to UC Davis and Stanford at the Campus Pool on Sunday. It would be sweet to beat Stanford in anything other than men’s volleyball.

Never mind that after a Beehive State split, the hockey team will be coming back on the 19th to take on UCLA. That should be a win.

And I’ll need to muster up six dollars to pay for that tasty liquid ammunition in those little 24-fluid ounce tin cans. Chug, chug, chug.

2007 Long Beach State Hockey Schedule

Long Beach State: Better hockey than the Ice Dogs.

September
28 Fri 7:30pm Home Arizona State University DI
29 Sat 7:30pm Home Arizona State University DI

OCTOBER
04Thu 8:50pm Home University of Southern California
05Fri Away University of Southern California
11Thu Away University of Utah
12Fri Away Brigham Young University
13Sat Away Utah State University
19Fri 9:15pm Home UCLA
20Sat Away UCLA
26Fri Away Colorado University
27Sat Away Virginia Tech University
28Sun Away San Jose State University

NOVEMBER
02Fri 7:30pm HOME Arizona State University
03Sat 7:45pm HOME Arizona State University
09Fri Away University of Arizona DI
10Sat Away University of Arizona DI
15Thu 8:50pm Home Colorado State University
17Sat 7:30pm Home Colorado State University
30Fri 7:30pm Home University of Utah

DECEMBER
01 Sat 7:30pm Home University of Utah
07 Fri Away University of Southern California
08 Sat 7:30pm Home University of Southern California

JANUARY
11Thu Away Arizona State University
12Sat Away Arizona State University
17Thu 8:50pm Home University of Washington
18Fri 9:15pm Home Brigham Young University

19Sat 7:30pm Home Brigham Young University

FEBRUARY
01 Fri 9:15pm Home Loyola Marymount University
07 Thu Away Loyola Marymount University
08 Fri 9:15pm Home San Jose State University

21-23 TBA Away National Regional