Top 5 upsets of '07... The unforgettable matchups that shook up the ranks

While 2007 will be remembered by UFC fans for many reasons, one of the lasting memories will undoubtedly be the sheer number of unexpected results that occurred inside the Octagon.

Some of the best-laid plans of the UFC and its top fighters were thrown into upheaval this year. With 2007 only a few weeks away from ending and UFC 79 still on the docket, which of this year's upsets were the most unexpected and caused the most disorder? Here are my rankings of the top 5 UFC upsets in 2007:

1) Matt Serra defeats Georges St. Pierre by 1st round TKO
April 7 at UFC 69

There was no better example of an unexpected, havoc-wreaking upset in 2007 than Georges St. Pierre's first round TKO loss to Matt Serra at UFC 69. St. Pierre went into this fight having just secured the UFC welterweight title against Matt Hughes in his previous fight. He was considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world and one of the UFC's cover boys. His first title defense against TUF 4 champ Serra was regarded as nothing but a formality in what was expected to be a long title reign for the young Canadian.

There was also nothing in Serra's past that could have prepared spectators for what took place that night at Houston's Toyota Center. After all, Serra's mere inclusion as a TUF 4 cast member spoke volumes about his UFC career. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master went into the fight with a middling 5-4 UFC record and had only recorded one non-decision UFC win.

What made this upset even more stunning was the manner by which Serra claimed victory. His only chance to win was supposed to be on the ground, but he defied all odds and staggered St. Pierre standing with punches early and often. Whether or not St. Pierre was ready mentally or physically, this upset -- and the ferocity with which it occurred -- was one for the ages.

2) Gabriel Gonzaga defeats Mirko Cro Cop by 1st round KO
April 21 at UFC 70

Mirko Cro Cop entered the UFC in early 2007 as one of the promotion's prized recruits from the now-defunct PRIDE organization. A Croatian heavyweight who had dazzled MMA fans for years with his personal story (he was both a member of the Croatian special police and Parliament) and his kicks to opponents' heads, Cro Cop was brought in with the belief that he would soon be challenging for the UFC's heavyweight crown.

After a solid UFC debut victory over Eddie Sanchez in which he unleashed that kick, Cro Cop looked to be on schedule for the title shot. That is, until Gabriel Gonzaga stepped in and crumpled him awkwardly with an eerily familiar head-rattling kick of his own. While Gonzaga had displayed solid skills leading up to this fight, no one could have expected him to own Cro Cop the way he did. Even before landing the blow that will forever be a part of UFC highlight packages, Gonzaga had done quite a bit of damage grounding and pounding Cro Cop against the cage.

3) Forrest Griffin defeats Mauricio Rua by 3rd round submission
September 22 at UFC 76

Mauricio Rua was another PRIDE fighter who debuted in the UFC with much fanfare. Rua was widely considered one of the top light heavyweights in the world and placed high on most pound-for-pound rankings. Even among bettors more familiar with TUF golden boy Forrest Griffin, Rua was a prohibitive favorite and was expected to soon lay claim to a title shot against Rampage Jackson.

However, Griffin was more physical and showed skill standing as well as going to the ground against Rua. While Griffin appeared to be leading on the score cards as the fight drew to a close, he put an exclamation mark on the upset by pulling off a rear naked choke against the gassed Chute Boxe prodigy. The fans in Anaheim erupted and another stunning 2007 upset was in the books.

4) Keith Jardine defeats Chuck Liddell by split decision
September 22 at UFC 76

Both Chuck Liddell and Keith Jardine entered the Octagon sporting first round knockout defeats in their previous fights. Conventional wisdom strongly held that Liddell would use this opportunity to begin his comeback. Instead, Jardine fought a smart fight -- picking away at Liddell with leg kicks -- and even dropped the former champ in the second round. The second upset at UFC 76 left Liddell staring at a two-loss slump and left Jardine celebrating the biggest victory of his career.

5) Randy Couture defeats Tim Sylvia by unanimous decision
March 3 at UFC 68

In hindsight, it may be easy to forget just how unexpected this victory was for Randy Couture. But remember, Couture had retired from MMA in 2006 after a second loss to then-light heavyweight champ Liddell. Not only was the then-43-year-old Couture coming back after almost a year-long layoff, but he was also moving up a weight class to square off against heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia. Sylvia was much taller, much heavier, and more than 10 years younger than Couture. But Couture defiantly announced his arrival with a first-round punch that sent Sylvia reeling, and he intelligently controlled the fight for five rounds before winning by unanimous decision.

6) Honorable Mention: Houston Alexander defeats Keith Jardine by 1st round TKO
April 7 at UFC 69

Houston Alexander was an unknown to most UFC fans before he made his Octagon debut at UFC 69. Jardine, on the other hand, was on an upward trajectory, coming off a decisive TKO victory over Griffin in 2006. Jardine started out strong in this fight, but Alexander responded by unleashing a torrent of strikes that left Jardine using his face to brace his fall onto the mat.



Copyright © 2007 Time Inc.A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/pramit_mohapatra/12/19/upsets/

What is 'The Super Adventure Club'?

The Super Adventure club is a club dedicated to traveling all over and molesting children. It was used on South Park to mock Scientology.The episode is riddled with hints of the real life situation in which Issac Hayes(Chef) leaves the cast of South Park.

1.Chef leaving South Park=Issac Hayes quiting the show
2.Chef's Death=Issac Hayes final episode
3.Comments at Chef's funeral=How the the rest of the cast feels about Issac leaving regardless.

They feel like scientology is brainwashing him as the SAC and Chef and that thet acknowlege the good deeds that Chef(Hayes) did before.

In the episode the SAC was founded by "THE greatest explorer ever". Every thing this man did had already been completed by other explorers before he could do it. The explorer decided to do something no other person had ever done-molest children world wide. He believed that children contained a special substance that you could only recieve through sex and grantaed immortality.

In the episode:
Chef seeks adventure outside off South Park
He goes to the SAC misbelieing the intentions of the club
Chef is hypnotized and goes back to SP singing love songs to the children
The try to undo the damage and Chef is captured again having tha club manual read to him.
While on a bridge to freedom Chef falls to his death being mauled by a bear and a tiger.
The club creates a darth vader chef while a funeral happens.

Source(s):
Comedy Central
www.flynnfiles.com

Pinup Girl Jeanne Carmen Dies

Pinup Girl Jeanne Carmen Dies
20 hours ago

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Jeanne Carmen, the "little country girl" who became a 1950s pinup and actress and hobnobbed with Frank Sinatra and other stars, has died. She was 77.

Carmen died of lymphoma Thursday at her Orange County home, said her son, Brandon James.

Born on Aug. 4, 1930, in Paragould, Ark., Carmen picked cotton with her family before running away at 13.

"I was just a little country girl that wanted to be a movie star," she told the Orange County Register in 1996.

Carmen was still a teenager when she came to New York and, despite having no show business experience, immediately became a dancer in a Broadway show called "Burlesque," with comic Burt Lahr.

She later went into modeling, gaining a measure of success with a series of cheesecake shots in men's magazines. One gig turned into a new career as a trick golfer. On tour with golfer Jack Redmond, she would perform stunts such as hitting a ball out of a man's mouth.

Carmen claimed that she later hustled golfers with Las Vegas mobster Johnny Roselli.

She came to Hollywood while still in her 20s, where she appeared in low-budget movies with such titles as "Guns Don't Argue" and "The Monster of Piedras Blancas."

Carmen also claimed to have had affairs with Sinatra and other celebrities.

She moved to Orange County in 1978.

In addition to her son, Carmen is survived by daughters Melinda Belli and Kellee Jade Campo, and three grandchildren.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
http://ap.google.com

Who wins The Gauntlet 3?

Gauntlet III: Elimination order and who defeated who:



1. Alex (Eliminated by Nehemiah)

2. Angel (Eliminated by Jillian)

3. Tyler (Eliminated by Frank)

4. Brooke (Eliminated by Jillian)



Rumor between Gauntlet 4 and Gauntlet 5, Tyrie quit the challenge. It is thought that he left for family reasons, but it is also believed that he quit because he got along so poorly with other men like Evan, CT, and Kenny. Regardless, he left and was replaced by MJ.



5. John (Eliminated by Evan)

6. Janelle (Eliminated by Jillian)

7. Zach (Eliminated by ?)

8. Beth (Eliminated by Coral)

9. Derek (Eliminated by ?)

10. Melinda (Eliminated by Jillian)

11. MJ (Eliminated by Frank)

For reasons you will read further below, Coral left the Challenge.

12. Casey (Eliminated by Ev)

13. Ryan( Eliminated by ?)

14. Katie (Eliminated by Paula)

15. Danny (Eliminated by ?)



The final Veteran team consisted of Adam, Brad, CT, Eric, Evan, Kenny, Diem, Ev, Paula, and Robin.
The final Rookie team as of the information I have now consisted of Frank, Nehemiah, Jillian, Johanna, Rachel, and Tori.

As you can see by the eliminations list, the Veterans slaughtered the Rookies in the missions, but shockingly the Rookies won the final mission and thus are the winners of the Real World Road Rules Gauntlet III Challenge.

http://gauntlet3.vevmo.com

Democratic presidential candidates stump in Florida on sly

Because of the primary dust-up, the candidates stump behind the scenes.
Jim Stratton | Sentinel Staff Writer
December 25, 2007

When Bill Clinton appeared in Winter Park recently to raise money for his wife's presidential campaign, he slipped into town behind the tinted windows of a sport utility vehicle.

When he left two hours later, he pulled out with a quick wave to onlookers, leaving reporters cooling their heels on the curb.

It was another chapter in the Democrats' stealth presidential-primary campaign in Florida -- more surreal fallout from one of the strangest party disputes in recent memory.

In deference to early primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- and under pressure from state parties there -- every major Democratic candidate signed a pledge not to campaign in the Sunshine State until after those contests are over.

The agreement has left Florida, whose primary is Jan. 29, politically GOP-heavy: Republican candidates have been here more than British tourists, while Democrats have been rarer than the Florida skunk ape.

The question is, why?

"Historically, the Democrats haven't done very well in presidential elections," said pollster Brad Coker. "So something like this doesn't look like too smart a move."

Though the pledge involved four early-voting states, the most influential are Iowa and New Hampshire. Those states have long guarded their roles as the shapers of the primary story line: frozen capitals of retail politics where candidates emerge as front-runners or get buried in political snowdrifts.

Residents revel in the chance to grill White House wannabes and consider it their responsibility to do so.

David Johnson, a Republican political consultant, has seen New Hampshire voters up close. He was with the Bob Dole campaign in 1988, doing organizational work in the state.

Johnson said he was struck by how intently residents follow the primary.

"I don't want to sound sacrilegious," he said, "but they take it as seriously as Catholics take Holy Communion. They really do."

Tradition is one reason, but commerce plays a role, too.

Every four years, Iowa and New Hampshire become the ground zero of American politics, attracting waves of consultants, campaign staffers, volunteers, reporters and candidates. All of those folks spend money that gets plowed into the local economies. The Iowa caucuses, for example, generate about $25 million in economic impact for greater Des Moines, according to the region's convention and visitors bureau.

Consequently, locals don't take kindly to anything that might undermine their privileged role.

"The primaries are an industry in those places," Johnson said. "Whole businesses count on them."


Protecting 'special role'

In that environment, Democrats were reluctant to campaign elsewhere for fear of making Iowa and New Hampshire voters angry. So in September, they signed the pledge, effectively wiping Florida off the Democratic primary map.

The Democratic National Committee also punished the state for its Jan. 29 primary by stripping Florida of its delegates in the nominating process. But it's the pledge to Iowa and New Hampshire that has kept candidates away.

The campaigns of contenders Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards did not return calls last week to discuss their decision to skip Florida. In September, they spoke about the importance of protecting the "special role" of those early states and honoring a "tried-and-true" nominating system.

But Dick Batchelor isn't convinced.

Batchelor, a party operative and former Florida legislator, said the pledge helped some candidates by allowing them to save money. Florida, because of its size and multiple media markets, is an expensive place to campaign. The agreement also allowed Democrats to focus on the states that, for better or worse, still tend to attract the most media attention. It enabled Hillary Clinton, who has held a comfortable lead in Florida for months, to spend time in states where the race is tighter.

"It might be a very good decision for her," Batchelor said. "But here, it may really hurt Barack Obama."

The trade-off is that Democrats have done little so far to organize and energize Florida party activists.

Batchelor, for example, skipped the party's convention in Orlando two months ago because only one Democratic presidential candidate -- former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel -- attended.

The week before, eight Republican candidates had been in town for a party gathering and debate.

"I called it [the Democratic convention] The Gong Show," Batchelor said. "Without candidates, it just didn't have the allure of most conventions."

Republican candidates were spared the decision of whether to stay out of Florida. Party officials in Iowa and New Hampshire never asked them to boycott other states.

New Hampshire GOP spokesman Barney Keller took a swipe at the Democrats, saying they insisted on the pledge because Democrats "take a top-down regulatory approach to politics."

Iowa Republican Party Chairman Ray Hoffmann was more diplomatic.

"We just didn't see a need for anything like that," he said. "We felt very comfortable they'd be spending time here."


Raising money anyway

Despite the campaigning ban, Democrats have been raising money in Florida -- something Republicans have been happy to point out. The GOP keeps a running total on its Web site, noting that Democrats have, so far, collected about $10.2 million while avoiding public events.

Sometimes, their effort to keep a low profile borders on silly. Early this month, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson scheduled a fundraiser in South Florida. But when asked about the event by The Miami Herald, a Richardson spokeswoman would not say when or where it was or who would attend.

Meanwhile, a Jan. 27 nationally televised debate from Boca Raton is up in the air because no Democrats have agreed to set foot in Florida.

"We got a call just last week from the Barack Obama campaign inquiring about the debate, but that's about it for now," said Wendy Abberger, president of Leadership Florida, which is sponsoring the debate along with Florida Public Broadcasting and the Florida Press Association. "NBC believes that once voting in Iowa and New Hampshire is completed that the DNC will loosen the reins on the candidates -- the candidates will start campaigning here anyway."

The long-term impact of the Democrats' decision to avoid Florida is unclear. A poll in mid-November showed that about one-quarter of independent and one-third of undecided voters would be less likely to support a candidate who didn't campaign in the state in advance of the primary.

But the general election is almost a year away, and by then, many think, most voters will have forgotten or forgiven the party's dust-up.

One potential upside of the boycott: In Florida, the eventual Democratic nominee will not have to shift from running to the left -- a typical strategy in primaries -- to a more centrist campaign.

That said, Democrats might want to review Nelson Rockefeller's performance in the 1964 GOP primary. Rockefeller carried only one state -- Oregon -- where his team used the following slogan: "He cared enough to come."


John Kennedy of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Jim Stratton can be reached at jstratton@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5379.

Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com

Former Beach Boy Brian Wilson among prestigious group of Kennedy Center honorees

Mike Hughes | Lansing State Journal


The dark decades seem to peel away for Brian Wilson.

He can drift back to the early days, when he created the Beach Boys sound. That's what speakers discussed in the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, which will air tonight on CBS.

"It was an amazing evening," Wilson said.

There was a White House dinner, the ceremony and a chance to mingle with others.

"Itzhak Perlman told me that every 250 years, someone special comes along," Wilson said. "Before, it was Beethoven and now it's me."

At first, Wilson's music was confined to teens - fun stuff to hear while driving cars or watching girls. That has changed, now that his generation is in charge.

One sign came with "California Girls." President Bush, like others in the crowd, clapped and swayed. "He was crying," Wilson said.

That's logical. George W. Bush, 61, grew up in an era with music from Wilson, 65.

So did others. When Wilson's "Love and Mercy" was performed by Libra (a boys' choir), Diana Ross, 63, cried.

She was an honoree, along with Steve Martin, 62; director Martin Scorsese, 65; pianist Leon Fleisher, 79; and Wilson.

Embracing beach culture

Later, Wilson talked by phone about the ceremony. He raved about the performances of his music by Lyle Lovett, Hootie and the Blowfish and Libra; he even seemed happy enough about the beach balls that descended.

That reflected the Beach Boys name, created by a promotions guy. "I didn't like the name," Wilson granted.

He didn't surf and didn't write about the beach much.

Yes, the group's first single was "Surfin'." It was basically the song he'd received an "F" for in a high school composition class (the assignment was for a piano sonata); it became a regional hit.

Soon, the Beach Boys hit the national top 10 with "Surfin' U.S.A." and "Surfer Girl." But what Wilson created had little to do with water.

"It was this unique, crazy creation," Art Garfunkel said during the ceremony. "A mix of rock 'n' roll and heartfelt prayer. When I heard 'Good Vibrations' for the first time on the radio, I called Paul (Simon) and said, 'I think I just heard the greatest record of them all.' "

By then, Wilson was doing elaborate things in the studio. "Brian showed us ... how it can be layered and combined or subtracted to create something eternal," Garfunkel said.

Where did that come from?

"I was born with it," Wilson said. "My father wrote music and my mother was good, musically. (But) I was self-taught."

A love of harmony

He started on the piano at home, but the difference came when he discovered the harmonies of the Four Freshmen and producer Phil Spector.

Wilson's musical ideas go instantly to harmony. "Sometimes six (-part harmony), sometimes five or four," he said.

Why? "I think harmony is a force of love," he said.

The search for love has seemed constant. Wilson has described his father as a distant and angry man and his childhood home as difficult. Music was his refuge.

He fit into the in crowd in school. He was a quarterback, 6-foot-2, husky and handsome.

His instincts were more internal; he would have been happier with the geeks, Wilson said. At home, he spent hours at the piano, then formed the Beach Boys with his brothers, cousin and a friend.

Even after he was successful and settled, with a wife and daughters, Wilson seemed to feel something was missing. He disappeared into a haze of drugs and depression. For one stretch, ending late in 1973, he basically spent two-and-a-half years in bed; in '82, his weight hit 340 pounds.

He has emerged from that to write, record and tour. Wilson raves about the Wondermints, a Los Angeles alternative-rock quartet that backs him in concerts and on records.

With the Wondermints, he has done a full-length "Pet Sounds" onstage and has recorded the "Smile" album. He's re-created sounds that he imagined 40 years ago. It's music that has survived the dark decades, bringing high honors.

http://hub.lsj.com/

Holiday Bowl attendees encouraged to take trolley

UNION-TRIBUNE

5:02 p.m. December 26, 2007

MISSION VALLEY – Football fans who would rather not battle traffic on the way to the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl Thursday can take advantage of extra trolley service to Qualcomm Stadium.
Special Green Line service will operate between the Convention Center area and Santee, through Old Town, Mission Valley, and Qualcomm Stadium. The special Green Line trains will begin service at 8 a.m. Thursday for passengers headed to the Big Bay Balloon Parade on Harbor Drive Thursday morning.

Beginning about 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Blue Line trains will continue past Old Town and operate through to Qualcomm Stadium, which will make things easier for football fans boarding in the South Bay or downtown San Diego.
And on New Year's Eve, revelers can get home safely courtesy of the Metropolitan Transit System, which will provide free rides on trolleys and buses after 6 p.m. Dec. 31.

MTS also will provide “Night Owl” service on the trolley and bus routes 7, 11 and 901 on New Year's Eve.

More information is available at www.sdmts.com, or by calling 511.

http://www.signonsandiego.com