LBCC Set to Take Another Shot at Championship

After leading the southern conference last year with co champions Mount Hood, the roadrunners are poised to bring home yet another title to LBCC. Greg Hawk has helped build a legacy for the team over the extent of his tenure as head coach that is 25 years deep and 6 regional and conference titles high, success he attributes to what he calls a “blue collar program” that centers around hard work and repetition. “Guys that came here and didn’t go to the big schools play with a chip on their shoulder, and they’re going to go out and battle you all day long. And if they don’t get it done we’re going to retool and we’ll be back the next day better,” says Hawk.
After a fielding a strong sophomore group last year, the Roadrunners may be suffering from the displacement of a few key roles.

Notably on the defensive end where changes were made that brought fresh players to the forefront. Last year MVP conference Pitcher Liam Baron is expected to step into a leadership role on the team previously filled by center fielder Mitchell Nelson who now plays at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Baron may be standing alone on the mound however as the turnover of a fresh team shows a lack of support from the bullpen.

Says Hawk,“Our depth on the mound isn’t what we thought it would be, coming into the spring we lost a couple guys to injury and our number two pitcher just didn’t want to go to school.” As it currently stands the only relief for the Australian star may be former freshmen all south relief pitcher Trevor Smith who doubled last year as an infielder . “Pitching and defense is what’ll win you championships” says Hawk “We’re just not sure how our defense club and infield are going to perform yet. That was a strength last year and we’ve got to grow in that position. We’ve got good players, they just haven’t gone through the repetitions. After a few games I think we’ll be right back where we were.”

The outfield suffers from no such shortage of talent as the grassline will be guarded by three all conference players that help comprise the core of powerhitters the team has been gifted with this year. Returning 6’2” right fielder Blaine Goodwin is one of six players in the lineup that come from a background of being a clean-up hitter. Says Goodwin, “I think we’re looking pretty good, we’ve got a lot of swingers. I really think we can make things happen.” Help from the plate should produce exciting results in the Roadrunners season and help offset any kinks that need to be worked out during initial games.

“We’ve got big outfielders that can run and hit. We’ve got some big hitters, I like our chances we’re going to score a lot of runs and if we play defense we’re going to win a lot of games. Im excited to watch them play. I’m excited for the season to start, I wish we were starting today.” says Hawk. LBCC is set to kick off their season on Feb. 28 against Gray’s Harbor at The Dalles with their first game against last year’s rival Mount Hood taking place on March 26.

From MMO to CEO

Once thought a passing (albeit enormous) fad, gaming has established itself as a mainstream staple, rising to prominence in the league of comparable mediums like movies and television. What’s more notable is those that have grown up in this entertainment phenomenon, an entire generation indoctrinated with video games, who’s vernacular is peppered with newly refurbished turns of old phrases, and a pantheon of memorable experiences foreign to the old growth that precedes them. The Entertainment Software Association released it’s annual report findings, which revealed that 65% of American households play computer or video games, and what’s more surprising is 59% of those gamers play with others in person.

Which falls in line with my own experience, as the first time game I ever played a video game was in a crowded room of boys from my Little League baseball team all clustered around a screen. To my generation gaming is the Rock and Roll revolution of the baby boomers, fragmented experiences using games have helped comprise the landscape of my formative years and produce the kind of person I am today.

For years I have also seen the bittered cry of those that dismiss gaming as a distasteful habit of sloth and intellectual erosion, a vehicle of the gradual disintegration of values and work ethics that were once so ingrained into our culture. While condemnation of the passions undertaken by their offspring is nothing new, it does raise the question to me of the impact my gaming generation has had, and will continue to wield on the world. To fully understand the influence it has on my generation, we must first grasp the scope of it’s evolution, from pastime to permanent fixture, and it’s resounding implications on the world in which we exist.

In 2007 Bungie Studios released it’s anticipated close to an acclaimed trilogy Halo 3, a game in which you played a cybernetic suited space marine that quashed the ambitions of alien races intent on the destruction of the universe. On its North American release it netted $170 million dollars on opening day, surpassing all other venues of entertainment in terms of sheer gross earnings. Overcoming by a large margin the biggest movie release to date, The Dark Knight, which rests at $158 million or the final installment of the Harry Potter Franchise who moved 11 million copies worldwide on it’s release day. According to Blizzard entertainment the massive multi player online role playing game World of Warcraft has drawn over 11 million subscribers to it’s universe of swords and sorcery, half the population of Australia, and those numbers continue to climb with the release of each expansion.

Video games are an enormous industry parallel to the once great powers of music and television, their growing influence is felt in every facet of American society, and those lasting impressions garnered by its presence have helped shape the gaming generation as they inhabit the work force of today’s businesses. Those that grew up on Mario and Sonic, are now in their twenties and thirties each connected by their singular experience of playing video games. If you want to connect to a guy in his mid twenties, the bridge is no longer sports or cars, it’s Excitebike or Duck Hunt, icons of their youth that spring to mind similar shared experiences.

As a kid I can remember countless times I found common ground with others through games, soccer team mates that would lend me a game genie, or spending a night blasting through an alien wasteland with a close friend; video games have served me well as a medium of communication through which a semblance of familiarity is found in others. Lending itself as a constant excuse to socially interact, casual friendly machines like the Nintendo Wii or games like Rock Band have developed into ready made bonding agents, culturally appealing to a diverse mixture of personality types and interests. And that is the intent of every good game, to nurture relationships between people, giving each a portioned role to develop in contributing to the dynamics of social inclusion.

But what do those contributions translate into when introduced to the fast moving waters of mainstream culture? The old stigma surrounding video games was that they would land you in a permanent residence in your parent’s basement, where you would remain;unemployed and pale as your fleeting aspirations. Although that mindset, applied to the generations before us through comic books and television, has begun to fade into the back of the general population’s conscience as we all begin to pick up controllers; it still lingers in the habitual lexicon of those that misunderstand video game culture. Video games help make canon those values sought after in the ambitions of a successful person, bringing to the forefront qualities like loyalty, competitiveness, and self reliance.

A cursory glance at one popular aforementioned game World of Warcraft, shows the underlying ideals instilled in the players through interaction with the world created by Blizzard. Through teamwork and the progressive honing of individual characteristics, players are taught that reward and accolade are given to those that work with others. Insurmountable objectives are toppled by an efficient team that communicates the needs and actions to one another, while individual preparation for those objectives plays an essential role in the success of their efforts. The competitive nature of humanity is also drawn out through constant vying for the spotlight in Roman-like arena matches or larger mission based Battle Ground clashes, where the emphasis of combined effort are again a driving force to the success of its contestants. Exceptions to these values promoted in the game are quickly met with social justice, as players that develop a reputation for selfish endeavors and greed are meted with public blacklisting, and in extreme cases are relegated to solitude, as guilds and groups of players refuse to interact or include them in quests for equipment.

Leadership is a vital quality in gaming, the assessment and allocation of talent in the world of video games means the difference between winning or losing. Quick tough decisions must be made by an appointed head of organizations or clans and guilds, who gets what, when, where, and how are questions asked daily of those that take the mantle of leadership. And winning bears great importance to gamers, a survey given by the authors of Got Game shows that 25.7% of frequent gamers age 18-34 believe that winning is everything, compared to the 14.4% of non-gamers that say the same; reflections of the tenacity inspired by the simulated challenge incorporated into video games. Although it may be first instinct to question the motives of those that make such a bold statement, because after all winning isn’t everything, how you get to that point really shows the strength in character of the individual; we can also see in another of their surveys a mere 20% of frequent gamers compared to 28% of non-gamers say that the best way to make a decision is to make it on their own.This shows us that players do not forsake ethics in favor of reward, instead measuring their own wants and desires against those of the groups. Displaying democratic tendencies that mirror those in the gaming world, where each person gives voice and helps structure the ambition of an organization. I have in my own life applied experiences gleaned from interacting with others in video games to real life consequence, using important lessons on how to manage people and empathize with their needs and aspirations to find a collaborative goal conducive to both of our desires.

At first glance video game culture may appear a simple entertainment trend, flourishing in the last few decades with the careful attention of its devoted fans. But upon closer inspection we see the effects it has on those people that practice it, its influence in shaping their outlook is profound and far, touching lives well beyond its immediate reach. As an ambassador of this new generation of gamers I have always felt an obligation to represent the best of my people. Memories I cherish that revolve around video games have always given me hope in the potential of its imprint of our lives, that this slow ascendancy into the roles of those that come before us will be an evolution of betterment, woven by the threads of common ground seen in all of us.

Column Topic

For my column topic I'm thinking of defaulting to my Obamanation post unless something else comes along that's more inspiring. Other topics I'm considering is the integration of gamers into the work force, or the elitism of the Oscars.

Retort to an Anort

Note: This was written as a response to "Grunge Isn't Dead" published in the February 4th Issue of the Commuter.

Why did the Greg cross the road? It didn't, because Greg refuses to move forward. My dear friend Gregory Dewar is a creature of habit, mired in the bog of perpetual inadaptability. He is the bison that gets pulled down first on those nature shows, limping behind his friends because he's too busy rocking out to terrible bands like Alice in chains to notice his liver just got torn out by a hyena. And he is being eaten alive, by society man.

The first time I met Greg his pronounced mannerisms and lagging sense of fashion was what struck me first, he is a time capsule of 90's one liners and smooth oldies, sporting flannel shirts he draws a remarkable likeness to the prehistoric 1996 guy from South Park; just on the cusp of closing that threshold between modern and days of yore I feel he too is the link to another age. The second thing I noticed about Greg is that he doesn't like anything, he probably won't like this article because it was made sometime in the last decade. Within the first two hours of being in the car with him I extrapolated his laundry list of things he hated, all drawn together by the common trait of being recent.

According to the Bible of Greg (In all likelihood his favorite book since most of it was written a few thousand years ago) a good video game, movie, and television show has not emerged for years. Why? Corporations, lack of creativity blah blah who cares of the elements that comprise this thinly guised prejudice for shiny things, I just know if it didn't hit the assembly line before Baldurs gate one he probably ain't all that into it.

As you may imagine there are some things Greg does love, Greg loves eating food out of other people's desks and telling us to not say anything. Greg loves Tacos, and Greg LOVES flannel. In his own words and I quote "It's warm and you don't have to change before going to bed." Bam! There you have it literate public, a modern day renaissance man not held down by convention and rudimentary hygienic practices.

I get it, I own a few checkered shirts that I wear in the forest where nobody can see me. I too once walked such heigths, stabbing my face relentlessly with piercings and rolling in grass seed to maintain my unkempt aloofness. But then I got a job and stopped being a filthy hippie. I mean would it kill you to wear a nice shirt every once an awhile? Really?! Would you explode into baby turtles if a tie got noosed around your neck for more than an hour?! I don't think it would Greg...I don't think it would.

And your argument about grunge is invalid, thanks a lot for Nickleback and Creed. You really opened some doors there instead of fostering a viable music movement. If we want to play the roots game I should probably thank slavery for all those sweet underground riffs that lent themselves as a fulcrum for blues. That is a can of worms that can be traced back to the dawn of man, but can you truly say music is better because of grunge? The late 90's were a cesspool of raspy heartless radio beats that collapsed the internal organs of the business at a time where music was already being threatened by waning sales.

Trust me there's nothing I would like better then for that dinosaur of an industry to come crashing down, and I have clocked countless hours screaming along in the truck to the choicest cuts of sound that were derived from the period but I cannot say with a definitive voice that music was improved by the emergence of grunge. What can be acknowledged and was consented to in your own article was that Grunge exists only in faded glory, further confirmed by your allegiance to it's tattered flag. Dead? Absolutely, if you want to argue relevance to the creation of today's music though I might need to borrow a flannel jacket because I'm moving to the country, and I anticipate Ill be eating a lot of peaches.

5 Senses Exercise

Sean's apartment stinks, and not just the heavy must that seems to pervade all apartment buildings in Oregon but really stinks. The first thing you notice when walking in the door is the acrid tang of dirty dishes and decomposing pasta, his garbage can is overflowing with paper plates and half open packages of ramen. All food prepared in the rancid sanctum of his abode seems tainted with the overpowering taste of rot and filth that resides in clouds above his sink, puffing in plumes to the beat of a dripping faucet. So whenever secular influence creeps into my life I simply walk two blocks down the street and experience hell first hand, and suddenly i'm a believer again.

How To Pretend Like you Watched The Superbowl

With the population of the United States resting just over the 300 million mark and the Superbowl pulling in viewership of an estimated 100 million the question is raised what are the other 200 million people doing on Sunday? According to my calculations after subtracting the obligatory Quaker-slash-baby-slash-coma factor in the remaining two thirds, those of you with electricity and the capacity for bipedal mobility just don’t care. And who can blame you, in today’s fast paced world who has time to watch T.V. with friends and eat food; forget that noise, but a problem arises come Monday when all everyone wants to talk about is the happenings at the bowl and you’re left out of the loop. So what do you do? Fear a little less child, because I’ve got all the information you need to maintain a fully fleshed out conversation for an event you could care less about.

Before we get into the meat of the exercise a few basic tricks to help you get through the conversation.

General Tips: Disagree with someone for no good reason, it will make you seem like an expert.

If multiple people are talking at once, just say words and be expressive with your hands, you’ll feel involved and get your metabolism going.

Complain about referees, nobody likes referees.

Use vague terms when discussing events. If further detail is inquired after fill your mouth with popcorn, or bread, and excuse yourself from the room.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way a few topics of discussion.

5 Things that happened

1. What: 100 Yard Interception return that shook the Cardinals potential lead Who: Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, previously cut by the Steelers 3 times before landing a permanent spot on their roster. When: 2nd Quarter with no time on the clock. Fun Fact: Not only an amazing play but a historical one, landing at the longest interception in Superbowl history which previously stood at 76 Yards by Kelly Herndon. Suggested Topic Starter: Impress your friends with your rudimentary understanding of game rules to ease into the conversation for example ‘Say did you fellas know there are 100 yards in a football field?’


2. What: Bruce Springsteen assaulting your television with a power slide that ended with his crotch slamming into the camera. Who: The Boss and his poor back. When: Halftime, about halfway Through “The Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” Fun Fact: Springsteen has up to this point successfully administered the necessary functions to produce 3 healthy children. Suggested Topic Starter: You guys want to hear about the third best moment of my life?


3. What: The Cardinal’s valiant last minute attempt at a comeback, scoring 16 points in less than 10 minutes. Who: Cardinal Quarterback Kurt Warner eye for downfield openings and Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald’s nimble hands were responsible for the steady push across the field. When: 4th quarter coming back from being down 20-7. Fun Fact: Kurt Warner was born in Iowa, you know who else was born in Iowa? Nobody because Iowa sucks. Suggested Topic Starter: Just conjoin words and phrases like pocket and ground game with names of players and they should be none the wiser.


4. What: The winning touchdown. Who: Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger throws a deep in-zone pass to Santonio Holmes who brings it down under the cover of three Cardinals. When: 4th quarter with 43 seconds on the clock, second down after Holmes lets one slip through his hands. Fun Fact: ‘Roethlisberger’ can be rearranged to say ‘The beer is log” which is a mere 3 letters away from making sense. Suggested Topic Starter: Challenge your friends to a jumping contest, then during the award ceremony mention the play.


5. What: Mike Tomlin is a Jedi. Who: Steeler Head Coach Mike Tomlin evades being attacked with Gatorade using otherworldly senses. When: A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Fun Fact: These are not the droids you’re looking for. Suggested Topic Starter: Next time a co-worker experiences a minor success like filing a report on time, throw Gatorade at them. If they fail to evade it casually comment that they’re “No Mike Tomlin.” When questioned what the hell that means you have your opening.