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Terrapin Turmoil - Tyree Evans Gone
Remember all the publicity Maryland received when Gary Williams offered Tyree Evans a scholarship a few weeks ago? Well, so much for Evans coming to College Park. I'm telling you, I'm downright sick of this recruiting nightmare. Oh, and Sean Mosley, Maryland's now lone commit of the 2008 class, has yet to academically qualify because he didn't reach the minimum score of 730 on his latest SAT exam. Yes, that's the new SAT which is out of 2400. (I'm not going to comment further on that, but The Diamondback sheds a little more light on the matter). Anyway, he's got one more shot at it otherwise it's onto prep school for a year. If Mosley doesn't qualify, Maryland would be bringing zippy players for the 2008-09 season. Yeah, it's that bad. Apparently Evans' departure has to do with the administration, specifically Athletic Director Debbie Yow. What a shock. Can't say I'm surprised since she essentially hates Gary and vice versa. Granted she was left out of the dark about Evans' criminal past, but you can't have this type of relationship between a coach and his AD exist in a high-major program. I applaud Maryland for having higher academic standards than other programs, but even prestigious schools like Duke admit players with poor grades and legal problems (Sheldon Williams anyone?). Maryland just can't catch a break when it comes to stuff like this. The 2008 class has been a revolving door of prospects. Let's go down the list shall we and see what a circus this has become: Terrence Jennings - Blue-chipper that commits to UMD before even stepping foot on campus. Unable to academically qualify, decommits, and signs with Louisville. Chris Turner - Excellent shooter (Mike Jones-ish) that wanted to come to Maryland (a rarity these days it seems), but Mosley committed first, thereby taking the last available scholarship between the two. Turner is unfortunately forced to look elsewhere. Bobby Maze - Athletic JuCo point guard that would've greatly helped Maryland at the 1 so Terp fans wouldn't have to frustratingly watch Vasquez bring the ball down the court for another season. Wanted to commit, but Gary accepts Evans commitment instead, taking up the last available scholarship for the 2008 class. Ken Bowman - Maze's teammate that also wanted to be a Terp but didn't have the grades Tyree Evans - Impact JuCo player with criminal past and poor locker room history. Gary offers Evans a scholarship, the first time GW offers a player with a less than admirable background. Yow is left unaware of Evans' felony charge which pisses her off, forces Evans to go through an admissions process to determine if Maryland can use one of their "at-risk" scholarships, and then things go haywire from thereon out. Supposedly asks for his release from his LOI to attend a school where there is less bickering about whether the dude can get admitted or not. Ater Majok - Didn't have the grades, commits to UConn. There's probably some others I missed or may have inaccurately reported (hey, that's why it's a blog and not Sports Illustrated), but as you can tell, Maryland certainly has some recruiting woes. Let's face facts, if the Terps don't make the tournament this year, expect Gary to resign. Yow is not going to fire him, no way. But she's essentially forcing him out by giving him such a hard time with things like the aforementioned Evans saga. 2002 seems so long ago.
TUL's Take: Birthday Dinner @ Granville Moore's
Maybe I shouldn't post this so I can keep Granville Moore's on the DL like they asked in their menu, but the place was already bustling for a Monday evening. Then again, it was $10 Moules night! It's amazing how hidden the place was after we walked right by it. I'll hands down agree with the City Paper in saying that GM's had the best mussels in the entire District. Rachel ordered the Printemps while I went with the Au Pesto. Both were amazing. We probably should've gone with the Petit size of Frites compared to the Grande we ordered. I mean, jeez, that bowl of fires was huge! Then again, they were so, so delicious. Seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday dinner. The waiter was hesitant to clear my plate as he thought I still had enough in me to sop up the rest of the remaining broth with the bread they provided, and sure enough, I did. We then went over to The Red & The Black for a few drinks and mulled over going to the Pela show at the RNR Hotel. We ended up hanging out at the bar and being entertained by our bartender Eddie the rest of the night. After the amount of mussels, fries, and beer consumed that evening, I'm honestly surprised that the buttons on my shirt were able to stay intact.
My Evening at Rocket Bar
 Internet jukeboxes that accept credit cards are the devil I tell ya.
My Domain Has Been Jacked
So I'm completely fuming at the moment as some asshole decided to buy the rights to theupstatelife.com as soon as my account expired with GoDaddy.com. The problem was that I didn't even know my account was going to expire since I registered it back when I had an AOL account which I obviously haven't checked in months. "Family and Healthy Life"? WTF. According to register.com, here's the douche that decided to buy the rights to the domain. Why? I have no idea. Oh, and guess what? He's asking $125 to give it back. At least have your website somewhat pertain to the domain. Family and Healthy Life? Yeah that really makes a lot of sense in relation to Upstate New York. F***er. Here's what I wrote: Dear Asri, My name is Brett and it appears you have registered a domain that previously belonged to me (for over 4+ years). My website (theupstatelife.blogspot.com) receives multiple hits throughout the day when people enter www.theupstatelife.com, but I noticed a significant dropoff in hits within the last month and noticed that when I enter theupstatelife.com I am instead brought to your website. At first, I was very confused, but apparently my account expired with GoDaddy.com last month. The problem was that I didn't even know my account was going to expire since I registered it back when I had an AOL account which I obviously haven't checked in months. Would you be willing to sell this domain back to me? I'm sure there are countless domain names that relate to the theme of your website. My blog has been active since 2003 so losing the domain, albeit unknowingly, has been devastating to say the least. I've lost countless visitors from this as I'm linked through various blogs and websites through this domain that on their own receive many visitors. Please get back to me as soon as you can so we can resolve this issue, thank you. Brett Here's his response: Hi, Brett! I'm sorry to hear that. Yes, i have bought this domain (theupstatelife.com) at the last month from tdnam.com and start manage it about 4 weeks ago. As you know, this domain has been entered in my health site's network right now. But i still want to help you, guy. No worry. You can get back this domain if you want to pay me $125. Awaiting for your reply. Thank you Kind Regard, Asri I'm not your buddy, guy. The war has begun my friends.
Shamless Plug!
Brian, who helped create this blog's wonderful yet severely outdated logo, has submitted a design up on Threadless. Vote for his shirt and perhaps I will reap a percentage of the rewards if his design is selected. Just sayin'.
TUL's Take:
I've experienced Hell on Earth my friends, and its name is Nissan Pavilion. I promised to myself I would never step foot into this venue after hearing all the horror stories ranging from traffic to parking to just how plain shitty the place is. But this was Radiohead. Plus I snagged some pavilion seats for cheap so I thought it was worth the trip. I couldn't have been more wrong in my entire life. This was by far the worst concert experience I've ever attended. What a coincidence it took place at Nissan. Forget about the fact that we left at 6:30pm and weren't able to park until three hours later. Forget about the fact that we didn't find our seats until more than an hour into Radiohead's set. Forget about the flash flooding that was taking place at Nissan. Forget about the fact that many fans were already heading towards the parking lot while we were going towards the entrance. What a mess. Why LiveNation decided not to postpone the concert I have no idea. We were under the pavilion and still got soaked. The whole experience detracted from Radiohead's otherwise incredible set despite only catching an hour of their performance. It was great to hear "Bodysnatchers", "Karma Police", and "Fake Plastic Tress", but watching with 5 inches of water in my New Balances just didn't add up to an enjoyable time. Not Radiohead's fault by any means, though they could have turned on the video screens for the lawn fans that were brave enough to weather the torrential downpours. I wouldn't have even shown up if I had lawn tickets under those conditions. Radiohead's lighting setup was rather cool though. Then there was the mass exodus out of this hellhole. I think we were parked in the last spot of the last row of the last section of the lot. The only time we moved within the first hour was when Casey shifted the car from overdrive to park; approximately 8 inches give or take. We finally got home around 2:15am, wet clothes and all. What a miserable time. Never again Nissan Pavilion, never again.
Most Far in Advance Just Announced Yet
So Hot Chip is coming back to DC, but apparently you'll have to wait until October 8 to see them. Yeah, don't know why they're selling tickets um, six months in advance, but their show at the 9:30 Club goes on-sale May 23 at 10am.
Radiohead Post Forthcoming
Still drying off from this debacle.
Headlights Look Like (Broken) Diamonds
So my car was parallel parked on Quebec Street in Cleveland Park last Saturday night and upon arriving to my car the next morning the left taillight was completely destroyed. Reflector, bulb, the works. Pieces of glass and plastic were scattered amongst the curb. There were no scratches or dents around the taillight which leads me to believe that this was some sort of deliberate attack on my poor Toyota. I guess Cleveland Park ain't safe, kids! Anyway, I don't think the car parked behind me would've caused that sort of damage without leaving scrape marks of some sort, which there were not. Of course, no note was left on the windshield. I was able to find a replacement part on eBay for around $85 (still awaiting delivery) and bought a new bulb at Advance Auto Parts for another $6. Unfortunately, when I replaced the bulb it still would not light up. Does this mean the actual bulb socket is damaged? If so, that could be a huge hassle. I thought I would be able to replace the tail light myself but if there's socket damage I might just have to force myself to bring the car into the shop. I can't keep driving around with a smashed taillight but I've driven past several cops (DC and Maryland) and they haven't seemed to mind. Oh, and it's probably not the best idea that I'm driving around with an expired registration (don't worry - I printed out a very poor copy of a temporary one until my new stickers arrive in the mail). At any rate, this is teh suck.
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