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What a Summer!

I’ve been out of the blogging scene for a while. Who am I kidding? I haven’t blogged much in the past year and a half. With work getting ever-busy and running season is here it doesn’t leave time to do much except for catching my monthly dose of MMA (I should have my UFC 88 picks by tomorrow). There’s really nothing new. I haven’t taken any vacation this summer, but I think I’m going to need one soon. I still have my iPhone and it’s working fine, but I’m still waiting for the Blackberry Bold to be released. There’s a good chance I may ditch the iPhone and hop back on the Blackberry bandwagon, but if AT&T keeps delaying the device I may just hang on to the iPhone.

I recently got a new speed/distance watch with GPS. It’s the Garmin Forerunner 205. I replaced my old Forerunner 201. It works great and the GPS works much better than my old one. What makes it even cooler is that you can send your running log data to Google Earth and it can map your routes so you can visually see where you’ve ran. It’s a great watch for serious runners who want to keep track of their pace and mileage.

Summer is at an end and I’m going to try to blog more. I’ve gotten about a dozen emails requesting more movie reviews. I’ve actually seen quite a few movies over the summer, but I just haven’t had time to write any reviews. I was too busy watching the Olympics, which was great by the way. I hope everyone had a great summer and I’ll be back with more content on this site, but no promises though.

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UFC 87: Seek and Destroy

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We’re a few hours away from my boy, George St. Pierre, defending his title from the always-tough Jon Fitch. UFC 87’s main card is quite exciting. GPS vs Fitch, Huerta vs Florian, and Lesnar vs Herring is worth the $50 on the PPV by itself. Many of you may know I’m a huge GSP fan and this is a fight I’m super stoked to see. Jon Fitch fights out of AKA in San Jose, a top knotch gym I’ve had the privilege to train a couple of years back which is another reason to watch. It can’t get anymore exciting when your top favorite fighters are pitted against each other. Why else am I stoked about this fight? Besides the fact that GSP is fighting, Jon Fitch is the biggest threat to anyone who holds the Welterweight title. GSP is favorite to win, but Fitch has the tools to take the belt. It just comes down to who will bring the most effective game plan. Lets get to the point here. GSP is going to win. Why? Because he’s more well-rounded and has better killer-instinct to finish off his opponents. Many critics of GSP uses his recent loss to Serra as a sign of his mental stability in the fight game. They also point out that he dominates all his opponents and has never been tested. That is surely not true. Lets not forget that epic war with BJ Penn and the grueling battle with Karo Parysian. GSP has been through adversity and has overcome it to win. So let’s hope Fitch doesn’t just try grind out his opponent for the win because if Fitch wants to get his hand raised in the end he has to go out there and stop GSP. Sure Fitch has a great wrestling background but GSP’s style neutralizes it. So how can Fitch win? Fitch will need to press the fight and push the pace early on in the fight. GSP tends to feel out his opponent the first minute of the fight. Fitch will need to utilize the cage and take GSP and hold him there and pound him out which is easier said than done. If Fitch doesn’t have an effective fight game he will find himself being taken down and getting beat on, GSP-style.

Huerta vs Florian can be the fight of the night if both come out guns blazing. Huerta is the underdog and he is right fully so. With the exception of Clay Guida, Huerta has been fighting mediocore opponents. Florian has been on a tear beating and stopping every opponent he’s fought recently. His striking has improved leaps and bounds and his ground game is even more solid compared to his TUF days. Skillset-wise Florian has the edge on all aspect of the fight game than Huerta. But there’s one thing that should not be overlooked of Huerta, and that’s his resilence in the cage. His fight with Guida showed that Huerta can be dangerous even up to the last minute of the fight. Florian is a very technical fighter, and very technical fighters tend to be very predictable. In contast, Huerta is a scrappy fighter and its hard to prepare for a style like that. I’m going to go against the grain and pick Huerta to pull an upset. I see Florian coming out strong with Huerta weathering the storm, but Huerta’s tenacity to keep coming forward will take it’s toll on Florian.

Heath Herring’s kryptonite is wrestling. He can’t defend a takedown if his life depended on it. Lesnar is the baddest in heavyweight in the division with collegiate credentials to back it up. Even with a debut loss in the UFC Lesnar showed that he has incredible speed and strength that can translate very well in MMA. Unfortunately he lacked the experience. Herring has only won once in his last three fights. And that victory came against Cheick Kongo. Kongo is known for his kickboxing and his lack of ground game giving his athletic physique and MMA potential. Kongo was able to take Herring down at will. Luckily for Herring Kongo forgot to look up the definition of “ground and pound” and he was able to pull the split decision. Lesnar without a doubt is the kryptonite that will stop Herring tonight.

My picks:

Ben Saunders beats Ryan Thomas
Chris Wilson beats Steve Bruno
Andre Gusmao beats Jon Jones
Cheick Kongo beats Dan Evensen
Luke Cummo beats Tamdan McCory
Jason McDonald beats Demian Maia (Upset)
Manny Gamburyan beats Rob Emerson
Roger Huerta beats Kenny Florian (Upset)
Brock Lesnar beats Heath Herring
George St. Pierre beats Jon Fitch

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iPhone 3G review

After two weeks of having the new iPhone 3G I’ve come to conclude, and so has many other users, that the iPhone succeeds some ways, but fail in others. I’ve been using a Blackberry for a few years and I couldn’t help but compare the use of the iPhone to RIM’s Blackberry.

GUI (Graphical User Interface) and OS– The iPhone is popularly known for its GUI. The simplicity of the touch interface makes navigating through the iPhone’s OS easy for almost any user. Like the Blackberry’s OS they are both solid. Through the years, RIM’s Blackberry devices have been improving and many of its users have found tricks and third-party apps to make their BB as efficient and useful as possible.
Winner – Tie

Internet Browsing – There is no other phone device that can beat the iPhone in terms of web browsing. The generous screen size and the Safari browser make browsing the internet-on-the-go a treat. The Blackberry’s browser inability to display webpages in its true form really limits the browsing experience. I think this area is what really lacking from RIM and other phone manufacturers.
Winner – iPhone

Battery life* – The implementation of 3G on the iPhone allows for faster data transfer but the cost is a quickly drained battery. For me, normal use has my battery down by half right before lunchtime. That’s from 730am – 1130am. For heavy users without any charging throughout the day you can probably expect the iPhone to be completely drained before your work day ends.
Winner – Blackberry

Third-Party Apps – When I got my iTunes account setup I was excited to get my hands on some of the iPhone’s Apps. But aftera few days of downloading and playing around with the apps (free apps only) it became clear that the majority of them are useless and that’s if they even work at all. Many of the apps I’ve downloaded crashed. I’m unsure if it’s something with the apps themselves or with the iPhone. My biggest gripe is that one application can be running at a time. Apple doesn’t allow apps to run in the background, so programs such as AIM are almost useless unless you have the app constantly on in the current view of your phone, so multitasking with apps is out of the question. Whereas with the Blackberry you can run multiple apps in the background and it still be able to notify the user of incoming data or messages.
Winner – Blackberry

Email and Messaging– iPhone is playing catch-up to RIM’s Blackberry and they have now implemented push email. Push email is very important in a corporate environment. With the implementation of Microsoft Exchange many business users now have an excuse to convince their IT department to support the iPhone. For personal-use push email you’ll need to get MobileMe service from Apple. MobileMe is very similar to RIM’s BIS. Your MobileMe account pushes all emails to your iPhone. You can forward your emails from other accounts to MobileMe and you’ll get an immediately email push to your iPhone. The downside to this is that the MobileMe service costs $100 a year, but you get more than just push email. MobileMe will sync with your contacts and calendar events. Unlike with a Blackberry you get an account with your standard internet service package from your cell phone service provider. Heavy email users and texters will prefer the Blackberry as the iPhone does not have a tactile keyboard. If you’re a speedy typer on a Blackberry you can expect your type speed to be reduced to about half. The virtual keyboard doesn’t provide any tactile feedback so you’re always constantly hitting the wrong key. On the upside for the iPhone is that it supports IMAP. So you can access your email server and work directly with it.
Winner – Blackberry

In conclusion the Blackberry, in my case, the curve, beats out the iPhone 3G, or without. But there’s something I must admit. I started writing this review a week after I got the iPhone and there was a little subjective bias involve at first. It’s been three weeks now and I finally have time to finish up this review. So far my initial opinion of the iPhone has changed in terms of its functionality. Fortunately, after an ample amount of time you’ll seem to forget it’s shortcoming and enjoy what it really is;a neat phone device that is great to kill time, play video games, and surf the web. In a business environment or a heavy email and text user the Blackberry device is the way to go. People need to know that the iPhone is a consumer device and aims at the average user. There are certain features that the iPhone desperately need if it wants to really compete with RIM in the enterprise market. Adding push email and MS Exchange support doesn’t cut it. First and foremost the iPhone needs to have cut and paste feature. As great as Apple is as a software company I’m very disappointed that a simple feature like that has not been added in their first generation phone. Second, the iPhone needs a notification system or process to let the user know they have an email, or active calendar event. All Blackberry devices have a blinking LED that lets a user know they have a message without having to take the phone out of their holster or if their phone is on a table on silent mode. For the iPhone if the phone is locked you’ll have to press the menu button, and then unlock the phone to see the message indicator. The iPhone should at least have the ability to display a email message notifications on the phone before you unlock it. Luckily for Apple these things are software issues and can be patched and added through firmware updates. For those users out there who are using a smartphone such as a Blackberry Curve or similar go ahead and hold off on the iPhone 3G. It’s a good thing that the phone is sold out everywhere. This gives Apple time to fix many of the browser crash issues and app crash problems before a new set of buyers gets disappointed.

*By setting your emails to fetch less frequently or none at all can save quite a bit of charge on your battery. If you’re like me and you work in an are with a wifi hotspot turning off 3G mode saves even more battery juice. In combination the amount of battery charge saved is very exceptable.

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iPhone 3G

 

The iPhone 3G is probably the most hyped electronic item this summer. Many die-hard Apple fans camped out for a week just to be the first ones to lay their hand on the new device. When the first-generation iPhone became available last year I wasn’t convince that a software company like Apple could create and compete successfully with other cell phone manufacturers like Samsung, LG, Nokia, and RIM. Sure, Apple created the prolific and ubiquitous iPod, but that was just an MP3 player. Cell phones are a totally different animal. But millions of iPhones later I was proven wrong. And still, I was not convinced enough to run out and get my hands on one, and I especially wasn’t going to give up my trusty Blackberry for it.

During that first year I saw countless friends, strangers, and a room mate couldn’t tear themselves from their iPhone. They claim the device, which seems to be surgically attached to their palms, to be the next best thing since sliced bread. Though the iconic omnipresent Apple brand is plastered everywhere human beings existed; in grocery lines, waiting rooms, subways, public restrooms, TV commercials, and college campuses I still never bit the bait. With my Blackberry holstered to my belt in its official Blackberry case it wasn’t going anywhere. But one day all that changed…

I was waiting at the Las Vegas airport with a friend. He was browsing away with his Wifi enabled iPhone, and I was sitting there trying to access a single webpage from my EDGE network Blackberry Curve. My weak cellular signal made my unlimited data plan useless. So I sat there reading old text messages and emails from my phone until my friend handed me his iPhone so he could go use the restroom. In my hand was the device I had so loathed because of the company that changed my beloved electronic culture from its esoteric geek-ness to a chic fashion statement, and don’t forget the annoying overzealous fan boys that get erections at the sight of a new Apple product.

Using the Safari browser was not quite what I had expected. The application was snappy and responsive. The webpages loaded up quickly (Wifi access tends to do that compared to EDGE network internet connections). Before I knew it I was pinching, flicking, scrolling, and flying through webpages I couldn’t do so on any other phone, let alone my Blackberry. I checked my work and personal emails, read blogs, and even posted comments. The excitement of being able to have the internet at my finger tips had me cowering over the device like Gollum and his One Ring. As quickly as I became accustomed to the device my friend came back and took away the iPhone. I sat there looking at him browsing away thinking to myself, “if I could just get a few more minutes with my…’Precious…’”

Months have gone by with rumors of the next generation iPhone being ready to be announced. I followed the scene reading blogs, and tech site news. Right before Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference started the iPhone hype was in full force. Fake iPhone pictures and false specs began popping up on the internet teasing the fanboys into a frenzy how Dunkin Donuts coffee and methamphetamines would affect a normal human being. Then on release-day I read every post on every tech site that had coverage of the release of the iPhone. Preliminary results had the iTunes servers going down. Waiting lines were 4-6 hours long. People couldn’t activate their new phones, and those who just wanted to update their firmware got their phones bricked, and some buyers left the stores with no cell phone service for almost the whole day. So day-1 wasn’t such a clean launch for Apple. The following day was more of the same; long lines and endless waiting but sans the downed iTunes server and activation issues. On Sunday I found myself waiting in line at the Apple store at the mall near my house. The line wasn’t too long. I was in the store within a minute or two of waiting. When I entered the store I was greeted with a happy Apple rep. He asked me how he could help me and I told him I just wanted to look at the new iPhone. While dabbling around with the device I asked the rep a few questions and I got a few vague answers. The one that surprised me the most was when I asked, ‘how can I transfer contacts from my Blackberry to an iPhone’ and the answer I got was, “Oh, there’s software for that.” It wasn’t as detailed as I liked but he answered confidently enough. I had errands to run, so I left the Apple store shortly after to get my oil changed for my car. While I waited I thought more and more about the iPhone. If I had bought the phone earlier I could be using it to browse the internet and dawdle around with the new cool iPhone apps I’ve read so much about. So immediately drove back to the store after the oil changed and picked up the phone. The process was quite fast, and within 15 minutes I was out the store with a working iPhone.

(to be continued… my iPhone 3G review. Was it worth giving up my Blackberry?)

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UFC 86: Jackson vs Griffin

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Tomorrow’s UFC event will be Rampage’s second defense of his Light Heavyweight title. His opponent, Forrest Griffin, was the first season TUF winner. Griffin has steadily improved his fight game over the past couple of years and racked up several impressive wins that catapulted him into one of the most popular fighters. But the loss to Jardine set him back quite a bit. Then one day Forrest dispatched Maricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, currently ranked #1 in the world at the time, that bumped him up to a contender status.

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson has his ups and downs during his career but for the past year he has taken UFC fans by storm by beating Marvin Eastman in his UFC debut, then capturing the Light Heavyweight title from Chuck Liddell and successfully defending it from Dangerous Dan Henderson. Known for his powerful body slams and exciting fighting style, it’s outside the cage many people know him. His exuberant personality makes for hilarious interviews and spontaneous antics.

My Picks:

Corey Hill beats Justin Buchholz
Dennis Siver beats Melvin Guillard (Upset)
Cole Miller beats Jorge Gurgel
Gabriel Gonzaga beats Justin McCully
Tyson Griffin beats Marcus Aurelio
Josh Koscheck beats Chris Lytle
Joe Steveson beats Gleison Tibau
Ricardo Almeida beats Patrick Cote
Forrest Griffin beats Quinton Jackson (Upset)

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UFC 84: Ill Will

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Another UFC event is upon us. UFC 84: Ill Will has BJ Penn defending his Lightweight title against former champ Sean Sherk. For the past few months Penn and Sherk have been vocally attacking each other. Sherk is coming off a steroid accusation suspension which is the fuel for Penn’s harsh words. BJ Penn is considered one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world with an amazing Brazilian Jujitsu background. Sherk is a long time veteran who’s built like a tank and has uncanny conditioning that is unmatched in his division.

BJ Penn is a wizard on the ground, and his stand up is underrated. In fact he has an excellent stand up game. Penn’s in-your-face style makes all his fights exciting. Whether it’s on the ground or standing up he will hurt you. Sherk has equally good stand up, but his forte is his wrestling. Sherk is known to take down his opponents and grinds them into a pulp. It may not be the most exciting fight, but it gets the job done. I think this is a great match up for both fighters. If Sherk is able to get the takedown Penn’s dynamic ground game will force Sherk to be more active and make it less of a lay and pray fight for him. Sherk may not best Penn’s ground game but it’s made up by his ability to go in sixth gear in all 5 rounds. Recently, Penn’s known for his poor condition lasting about two rounds tops before gassing. If Sherk can weather the storm he can pull an upset and beat the Hawaiian sensation.

Other fights on the card includes Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, Wanderlei Silva vs. Kieth Jardine, Thiago Silva, and Rameau Sokoudjou. It’s been a while since Tito fought and this weekend he’ll be fighting the rising dark horse that is Lyoto Machida. Machida is currently undefeated and has a knack at beating opponents almost on an effortless level. There’s something in Machida’s fighting style that just neutralizes his opponents. A win for Tito will boost him up the rank in the divison and a lost would mean an imminent road to retirement.

My picks:

Penn beats Sherks
W. Silva beats Jardine
Gouveia beats Reljic
Machida beats Tito
T. Silva beats Mendes
Salaverry beats Palhares
Sokoudjou beats Nakamura
Clementi beats Etim
Yoshida beats Koppenhaver
Jason Tan beats Hyun Kim

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Summer Time!

It’s been quite a long spring season for me. Having to coach wrestling and track and field can be very time consuming. My track and field season has not yet ended. I still having one more athlete in our CCS finals. If he advances then we’ll be going to the State Meet.

The weather has been extremely hot the last few days and it doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. My ankle is healing up well I will be getting back into my running regiment. Oh, another thing, I will be in Las Vegas this coming Memorial Day weekend. No it’s not for a UFC event unfortunately. It’s just for vacation which I deperately need. But there is a UFC event on the on Saturday. It’s doubtful that I will be able to make it to the weigh ins. Maybe I might get lucky and get to go to one of the UFC after parties.

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UFC 83

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Serra vs GSP

It has been about a year since George St. Pierre loss his title. A 10 to 1 underdog in their last fight, Serra shocked the MMA community by beating the seemingly invincible GSP. Today GSP will get his redemption and he will have the opportunity to do it in his hometown of Montreal.

Matt Serra is on this roller coaster that is riding high as the Champion of the Welterweight division. But is he a true champ? He did beat GSP in their last outing, but all great fighters get beat sometime in their career. Great fighters are great because they’ve been in epic battles in the cage and hold victory over ranked fighters, or even clearing out a division within their weight class. That’s what makes fighters great. Matt Serra came from the bottom of the division to join and win a TV show contest and for Serra the credibility just isn’t there. The TUF show was called ‘The Comeback’ and there was a reason why he was was on it. He had a chance to fight Matt Hughes, but had to pull out due to an injury. If Serra would have beaten Hughes then he would have definitely been considered a threat in the division.

I believe there is a possiblity that Serra can win this fight again because like with any fight anything can happen. Serra beat GSP last year because he threw a well-placed punch at the right timing and stunned GSP. Serra didn’t control the stand up game or the ground game. It was just a great punch that caught GSP. Besides pulling out another awesome punch I can’t see Serra winning by any other means except for taking GSP’s back and work for a submission which is very unlikely. For GSP I see him standing with Serra and picking him apart then take Serra to the ground and pound him out for a TKO similar to what he did against Hughes and Sherk.

GSP training with Greg Jackson’s camp is probably the best thing he’s done in his career and which is why he’ll be back on top of the Welterweight division.

Franklin vs Lutter

Franklin and Lutter are some of my favorite fighters and when I found out they were fighting I was really excited. I like these fighter because they come into the cage and do exactly what they need to do to win. There’s no ego and no showboating. Lutter is a BJJ wizard and he uses it to his complete advantage. Unlike other fighters who have great BJJ skills they go into the cage and try to knock out their opponents. Franklin likes to work his stand up game. He uses his power and size advantage to beat his opponents. Nothing flashy. Just a straight beat down. I don’t see this fight going the distance. Lutter will either take Franklin down for a submission or Franklin will beat Lutter on his feet. People should pay close attention to this fight. Both of them are coming off losses to Anderson Silva. Franklin got destroyed by Silva twice in similar fashion, but Lutter had a moment in the light where he was able to get a full mount on the champ, but was unable to take advantage of the opportunity. The winner of this fight may get another shot at Silva.

My picks:

GSP beats Serra
Lutter upsets Franklin
Starnes beats Quarry
Bisping beats McCarthy
Doerksen beats MacDonald
Belcher beats Day
Herman beats Maia
Stout beats Clementi
Velasquez beats Morris
Goulet beats Hironaka

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Stikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le

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The Frank Shamrock and Cung Le’s bout has been years in the making. Shamrock, a self-proclaimed legend of MMA, and Le is a World Class Shanshou kickboxer whose jump to the MMA scene has been nothing but phenomenal. Both fighters are natives of San Jose and it’s more than just for the Middleweight title it’s for bragging right on who is the best middleweight in town.

Frank Shamrock is a tested veteran and has been in major fights years ago when MMA was in its infancy. So his experience and skills on the ground will let him win this fight. But Cung Le is a world class kick boxer, his short stint in MMA is his only downfall. On paper, this bout seems like a mis-match, but there’s more to it than a piece of paper. Le’s stand up is like no other. His striking is unorthodox and it has been extremely effective against his previous opponents. This will give Shamrock some trouble. Le has a solid wrestling background, and if he can prevent Shamrock from taking him down then Le has a good chance winning the fight.

I’ve been a big critic of Cung Le even during his Sanshou days. Many of his opponents were hand picked. Le’s Shanshou opponents were mainly kickboxers who never fought or inexperience with Shanshou rules which gave Le a huge advantage. In MMA, he has become a huge sensation by beating less than stellar opponents. I don’t blame Le. It’s his hardcore fans of the Bay Area that are quickly jumping the gun proclaiming he’s the next best thing since sliced bread. This fight will be a true test for Cung Le and if he wins I will admit that Le will be a legit threat to anyone in the middleweight division.

Other bouts on the fight card includes Drew Fickett, Gilbert Melendez, and Joey Villasenor. Unfortunately, Nick Diaz was pulled from the card.

My picks:

Frank Shamrock beats Cung Le
Gilbert Melendez beats Gabe Lemley
Joey Villasenor beats Ryan Jensen
Drew Fickett beats Jae Suk Lim
Tiki Ghosn beats Luke Stewart
Mike Kyle beats Wayne Cole

I will be attending the event. I will be sending live under card results to MMA-Extreme.