By: Josue “Josh” Alvarez Mapp
And the old news of Tuesday is we have an official Football season now. Also old news (if you have been keeping up) is the possible players who will be shifting around teams to have a job. What has been bothering is the talks surrounding the veteran QBs. Read more
Intro / Chapter 1 “What is MMA?” / Chapter 2 “Names” / Chapter 3 “Brief History” / Chapter 4 “Judging” / Chapter 5 “Grappling”
To be honest I have really struggled with a way to explain this adequately and efficiently. In my experience, new fans to MMA have very little problem understanding the basics of MMA striking with the exception of Muay Thai. Most sports fans have seen boxing and just about everyone has seen enough kickboxing/martial arts movies to understand kickboxing. The true barrier for new fans is virtually always grappling which is problematic because it is such an integral part of the sport. If you do not have a background in wrestling it all looks very foreign. The worst part of this is that ignorance of grappling often leads to frustration or boredom from grappling as new fans do not know what is happening, they simply say “ahh man now they are just laying on each other again” or “man this was so much more interesting when they were really fighting”. Today, I am going to try and shed some light on the VERY BASICS of the grappling you will see in MMA. This is going to be a little intense for the uninitiated. We are going to look at some of the common positions that you will see in a typical MMA match and what both fighters want to do in them. So this guide is not 90 pages long I will make use of hyperlinks for most techniques we talk about and I will go into detail for some of them. I will make extensive use of youtube videos when possible, because for much of the details a still image simply doesn’t do the job. Read more
There have be
en cooking shows dating back 1946. Some of the most iconic names in popular culture come from cooking shows. Julia Childs, Joesph Milani, Emeril Agasi, Yan. So many great names, so many catch phrases. However in the history of Culinary TV not even Paula Deen ever thought to take a chunk of ham, wrap it in bacon, dunk it in beer batter, deep fry it and smother it in custom Jack Daniel’s Maple Syrup. Epic Mealtime is simply that epic and it is unlike any cooking show you have ever seen in your life. Like most cooking shows it usually starts out in a kitchen and at that point it leaves all previous level cooking shows in the dust. Hosted by a usually inebriated Harley Morenstein and his band of crazed Canadian culinary demons, the show eschews the traditional recipe based step by step approach to cooking in favor of a more philosophical approach to cooking. The show has a few constants namely bacon, beer, fast food and Jack Daniels. The show is also well known for its very unorthodox takes on classics such as Fast Food Sushi, and Four Loco Chili. The series also directly attacks some foods like the “Double Kill” a reference to KFC’s Double Down. Read more
The Detroit Tigers opened up a 4 game series against AL Central rival Minnesota on Thursday night. The Tigers’ starting 9 was this: Austin Jackson (CF), Brennan Boesch (LF), Magglio Ordonez (RF), Miguel Cabrera (1B), Victor Martinez (DH), Jhonny Peralta (SS), Carlos Guillen (2B), Alex Avila (C), and Wilson Betemit (3B).
You may have noticed that all of those names outside of Jackson and Boesch have a Latin-American sound to them. Ordonez, Cabrera, Martinez, and Guillen are all from Venezuela. Peralta and Betemit are both from the Dominican Republic. Avila is from Florida, but still has the Latin-American last name. Well you may not have noticed, but Tigers’ television broadcaster Rod Allen sure did. In fact, in looking at the lineup Rod said,
“we better have some rice and beans in the post-game spread.”
Now, this may just be a harmless statement, but it seems to me with all the criticism there is against racism in broadcasting these days, that Rod’s statement will not go entirely unnoticed. Rod does a great job in the booth for the Tigers, popularizing such phrases as “I see ya big fella,” and making use of the word “piece” when describing a pitcher’s pitch (i.e. change-piece, slide-piece, etc.). Should Rod be fired for this? No. But when Steve Lyons was fired by FOX for saying on television that he couldn’t find his wallet after Lou Piniella used a Spanish phrase during game 3 of the 2006 ALCS, it set a precedent. Rod was not on national TV, but what he said still may have offended some people.
Anyway, here’s to Rod Allen, and here’s to hoping that his joke doesn’t get taken too seriously and put an American treasure out of a job.
Don’t forget to listen to Kyle Madson on the KSSU Sport’s Block Every Tuesday from 6-10pm PST only on KSSU.com. Follow him on twitter @madsports8
With Alistair Overeem‘s withdrawal from Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Grand Prix, Strikeforce seems weaker then 
ever as a standalone brand. Bringing over Fedor didn’t work thanks to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva. Heisman throphy winner Herschel Walker can only provide so much free publicity from ESPN and in spite of his still impressive physical talents is an over qualified sideshow due to the age he started fighting (a prime Walker with some wrestling would be a beast…). Strikeforce may have not been a threat to the market share of the UFC, but it was building itself into a solid promotion before it was acquired by Zuffa (the owners of the UFC).
Today it is not as if Strikeforce doesn’t have talent. Nick Diaz was recently plucked to fight George St. Pierre. Gilbert Melendez is a rock solid top 3 lightweight. Their roster also boasts top level talent like Josh Barnett, Antonio Silva, Ronaldo Souza, in addition to a great crop of young prospects through their Strikeforce Challengers series. Through relationships formed by CEO Scott Coker Strikeforce also has access to the best talent from Japan as well such as Shinya Aoki, and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Strikeforce is also the undisputed top brand in American Women’s MMA. Read more
Plus One or Minus One – A few thoughts on Google+
By: Josue “Josh” Alvarez Mapp (a.k.a. DJ Mappquest)
So if you didn’t get the memo, there’s a new social network kid on the block, and it’s from a familiar name. Google+ is its name, and networking is its game. Everyone should have heard of this by now between friends asking for an invite into the slowly growing social network, or between other people saying, “Google+ > Facebook” or other similar comments. Some critics and analysts are going so far as to say Google+ will be the new Facebook. I disagree. Read more
Do you like Music? Like to Talk? Hate the Oakland Athletics? Then KSSU is looking for you! If you are a CSUS Student, Staff, or Alum. You can be a DJ. Just send an e-mail to manager@kssu.com and set up an interview now through July 29th!
With today’s rapid growth towards “chatspeak” and “txtspeak”, language, meaning, and context is being lost. One primary example is with a phrase said a lot, and its variations – “I love you”. Read more
Click the banner above and enter the RSVP code, SSUFZ0S, to get advance screening passes to see Captain America in Sacramento, CA on Wednesday July 20th.
America…Captain America!
