MY Survivor All-Stars

OK, so Survivor Heroes vs Villains started last week, and in honour of this, I have decided to compile my own personal list of who I think are the all-stars from each show. My picks are based on a combination of deservedness, combined with who would make good TV. Using guidelines set up by fellow (and exponentially more frequent) blogger Ryan Coke, I shall pick players who have only starred on the show one time, and have not won. (Players who have played before do NOT include players Heroes vs Villains, as they have only been on the show once, until now....


Season #1: Gretchen Cordy
Missed the jury by one, and was the first person burned by the first real Alliance in Survivor. Was clearly the smartest and even-keeled person on her dysfunctional tribe, and would have won had the show been based solely on survival skills, and ability to interact. However, Hatch's scheme meant her head was chopped off. Certain labelled a hero, Gretchen shuld have beena shoe-in for this season. But since Hatch couldn't go, Probst didn't think anyone from season #1 should get to. Fair enough.


Season #2: Michael Skupin
Too easy. Fell in the effing fire, burned his hands. His tribe would have been up 6-4, they would have rolled to the finals, and he would have won. "Hands down".









Season #3: Brandon Quinton
Flamboyantly gay, fit into his tribe quite nicely, won a reward date with an army dude, hilariously couldn't fire a bow and arrow, would have made for compelling TV this time around.








Season #4: Sean Rector
Easily my favourite player from this season. Kinda gangster, really into the game, and helped mastermind a big turn at the beginning of the merge to take down the powerhouses. Plus it was hilarious hearing him cry "My balls. My balls!" after winning a reward challenge and going donkey riding up a mountain or something. "Checkmate, bruh" at tribal the night of the big take-down. I cheered out loud that night. Awesome stuff from an otherwise mundane season.






Season #5: Jake Billingsley
This was the worst season. Ever. I hardly remeber it, but I do recall the two oldest members picking the teams. And Jake, the oldest male, picked his tribe and outlasted all of them. But the other tribe booted him out in 6th place.








Season #6: Christy Smith
It pains me not to be able to pick Rob C here, as he got a 2nd chance on All-Stars, and was basically the only person who made this season interesting, but Christy was deaf, so, there was that.









Season #7: Burton Roberts
My conscience is telling me to pick someone who was NOT allowed to come back into the game, but Burton had a good run after coming back to a tribe that had gotten rid of him. Obviously Rupert and Fairplay are the take-away stars from this season, and I couldn't in all consciousness pick the Scoutmaster Lil cuz she was terrible despite finishing runner up.





Season #8: All-Stars
Can't pick anyone here by default.


Season #9: Scout Cloud Lee
This one's a shout-out to my brother, who's a fan of hers for one reason or another. Placed 3rd, not terribly interesting. Honourable mention to Rory Freeman. He didn't last that long, and he was tempermental and pouty. By my wife and I cracked up every time he was on the screen.








Season #10: Coby Archa
Another flamboyantly gay guy, and again made for hilarious TV. Stood his ground in a numbe rof physical challenges, and did well in mental ones too. Obviously benefitted from being on a much stronger tribe, but was endlessly entertaining all the way through.







Season #11: Jamie Newton
WOW was this a weak season! No one redeemng enough to bring back in my opinion. The guy I picked went bat-shit crazy with paranoia. Wouldl be fun to watch again.







Season #12: Shane Powers
Chronic smoker suffering withdrawal. Turned a rock into a Blackberry. Bitched out everyone on the show, somehow made the jury. Brilliant TV. Huge fan. This was an easy choice.







Season #13: Jessica "Flica" Smith
I remembered her nickname. I think she was a hippie chick or something. Ozzy and Yul would be the only two worthy people to bring back, but they're disqualified from my rankings.









Season #14: "Dreamz"
Reneged on a promise which landed him a 2nd place finish, and was kind of off his rocker a bit. Still a very compelling character.










Season #15: Ashley Massaro
Clearly some better choices here but my restrictions fail me once again. She was a WWE Diva, so I knew of her going it, and she was too bitchy to last more than 2 episodes. Still, it woulda been interesting to see how a somewhat B-list famous person would have held up in the wilderness.











Season #16: Erik Reichenbach
Guilty of the dumbest move in Survivor history, down to him and 4 girls, Erik handed over immunity in a move aimed at redeeming his character (I think), and was unanimously booted by the 4 girls.








Season #17: Corinne KaplanI haven't picked enough chicks. She'd be interesting to watch again. She was a bitch.



















Season #18: Stephen Fishbach

Foolishly told the truth during the Final Two, telling the jury he would not have honoured his alliance with JT. It would have been the right play had he won immunity, but lying about it would have helped his cause, if only to prevent getting shut-out in the final two. And even then, I'm not sure, JT was the clear winner. Still, this guy was just as instrumental at everything.










Season #19: Russell Hantz
If you don't know why, you've wasted a LOT of time reading my blog.










Clearly some of these decisions are out of thin air, based mostly on the fact that my own restrictions prevented me from picking personal favourites....which is what will make Heroes vs Villains very interesting. I dare you to try this exercise (relying heavily on Wikipedia) and see if you can come up with a better list. Not allowing winners and people who have been on more than once REALLY narrows the field.

Ah, Blog life....it's good to be back.

M@

So much dust.....

Hmmmmm, I still have a Blog it seems! Might be time to dust it off and talk a little about Survivor. Stay tuned....

Matt Cox
GM

BMFL PLAYOFFS - Rogues vs Knights

Game #2
Rogues vs Knights
Tuesday, September 1st
9:00 PM - Blackburn Arena
Knights lead best of 3 series 1-0

Yup, down to the wire.

In this, our 3rd year in the BMFL, the Rogues have still been unable to win a playoff game. Two consecutive sweeps by the A's in 2007 and 2008, and now the Rogues are on the verge of elimination at the hands of the formidable Knights, defending BMFL Champions that they are.

Game #1 wasn't close, as Chucky got roughed up in the first inning for 4 runs, and that was all she wrote. Knights hurler Jamie Blakely allowed 2 hits over 7 innings, striking out 11. Chuck and Brad got the only two hits, solid bouncers up the middle. Pascal hit a laserbeam to left centre after Chuck's hit, but it was snagged by the center fielder who threw a perfect strike to first for the pick-off. It was one of those kind of games.

Tuesday night will see a Blakely vs Cox match-up on the mound, as Cox makes his second start against the Knights this season. The first one wasn't great, as he took the loss in a 6-0 defeat. With this being the possible last game of the season, look for the Rogues not to hold anything back, and finally pull off an upset and defeat the Knights, the only team they have yet to defeat in the BMFL.

#5

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

Luke Schenn!

Ok, Admittedly, I don't know the guy. He's a formidable hockey player and one of the few bright spots the stupid Leafs have going forward.

But why....WHY....is he on the cover of all my hockey magazines?!?

Each year I buy a few hockey magazines in August, to help me prepare for my Keeper Pool. These mags are very helpful tools for those of us who don't have Hockey Central, or rarely watch a game if it's not HNIC, or the Sens. The Hockey News puts out 2 magazines in August, their "Yearbook", an annual guide to the upcoming season, and their Hockey Forecaster. It's the Forecaster I wait all season for, along with the Forecasters from McKeen's, The Score, and the Pooler's Guide. These mags predict what all the players in the NHL should come close too, helping poolies like myself get the inside track on building a good fantasy team.

Here's where I get annoyed. The front covers! Where do these people get off! Ok, I haven't seen the McKeen's cover yet, and the cover for the Hockey News has Malkin. That's a good choice. If Malkin, Crosby, Ovechkin or Tavares are on the front cover, you're covering the bases. McKeen's put Lidstrom on their cover last year, a very worthy alternate.

The Score? Usually one of the most reliable magazines for content, they continually drop the ball on cover designs. Last year it was Toskala. This year? Luke Schenn. Schenn also made the cover of my "Hockey News Yearbook", although I got that one with my subscription, and I think the Yearbook put out a bunch of different covers, so thats ok.

The Pooler's Guide? Gustavsson, Komisarek and Beauchemin!!! The new additions to the stupid, stupid, stupid Toronto Maple Leafs. Now I understand Toronto is a big market, but bigger than Canada? Even North America? Ok, I realize these mags are going to sell 99% in Canada, and that's fine. But am I missing something? Are you going to sell LESS magazines by putting Iginla on the cover? Luongo? What about fresh faces like Toews, or Mason? Why, why, why would you pick a bunch of Leafs that NO ONE is going to pick in their pool? This is an annual publication! It's not like they come out with a Pooler's Guide once a week! GUH!!!

Still waiting to see who makes the cover of McKeen's in September. I swear to Jeebus, if I see Ian White's face on the cover....

GAME DAY

ROGUES @ EXIT A's

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

9:00pm - Blackburn Arena

Updates have been few and far between as the Green and Gray have been mired ina 4 game losing streak, and have slipped to 7th in the standings. Two games remain before the playoffs, including tonight against Exit A's. A win would go a long way in helping us find some momentum heading into the playoffs.

GAME SUMMARY: Rogues lose to Mr. Electric

Mr. Electric 7
Rogues 1

Not our best game. We did have a set strategy going into the game, but unfortunately, things didn't work out the way we had hoped.

We decided to use all 3 pitchers, putting me in the first 2, Kev in the 2nd 2 innings, and Chuck in the last 2, then whoever threw the best would go the last inning. We had decided to do this last game as well, but Chuck threw so well we put him in for the first 3, and Wilson threw a gem the final 4, we didn't need to employ this strategy.

Last night, I threw a so-so first, giving up 2 hits, but no runs. After a 3 up, 3 down second, I was pulled. Kev went in and gave up 2 runs on a monster shot, albeit the umps erratic strike zone made hitting corners tougher than usual. Kev struggled in the 4th as well, and Chucky came in for the 5th. Chuck retired the 6 batters he faced in 2 innings, so went out for the seventh, but got dinged for 2 runs.

The major problem tonight was hitting. Not facing a dominant pitcher, the Rogues should have had a better night at the plate, but with 12 guys, the at bats are few and far between. Rob Vanden Hoven was 2-2 with a double, triple, and a walk. He's been a bright spot.

Next game is Sunday at 5pm against the Knights, who the Rogues have never beaten. Expect the Rogues to be jacked up for this one.

GAME DAY: Rogues vs Mr. Electric

Mr. Electric @ Rogues

Thursday, August 6, 2009

9:00 PM - Blackburn Arena

I'm ba-ack!

Ok, I must apologize for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks, rest assured I will try and make more of an effort to get stuff up here, as I know there are 2, maybe 3 constant readers! Anyways, here's what's been going down:

The BMFL Tourney was a bust. We went 0-4, and the fu manchu moustaches intimidated no one. We almost beat Stan's Diner, but horrible officiating actually cost us the game. A sure strike three was called a ball on TWO occasions, one which would have given us two outs in the 7th with no one on, and it led to the Rogues imploding. We also got handled by a couple teams, and our defense went on vacation at times too.

We picked up a win against the Good Ol' Boys however, beating them 5-1. That was 9 days ago, our most recent game. We were originally not scheduled to play until Sunday, which would have been a 12 day layoff, thankfully the schedule got amended, and we face Mr. Electric tonight.

The Rogues (8-10) have a 2-0 record against Mr. Electric (7-8-1) and currently sit in 4th place while the boys in blue sit in 6th. This should be a very close game, as both games were dramatic 1-run victories for the green side, and Mr. E's are coming off a 15-1 embarrassing at the hands of the first place Guzzlers (15-2-1).

TWO WEEK VACATION

As I stated, I haven't updated the site in over 2 weeks, as I've been on vacation. (Pics are over on my facebook sight). We took many small day trips, taking Nathan to the Papanack Zoo, Lac Philippe, The Museum of Civilization's Kids Museum, and a couple trips to Orleans to see Grammy and Grampy. We also had some people over for a BBQ with their kids, and went to see a couple movies. (Transformers was an hour too long, but good for what it is, and The Hangover was one of the funniest movies I've seen since maybe Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Great stuff). Also went to Montreal to go to the Osheaga Festival. Finally got to see the Arctic Monkeys live, as they were the last band I've wanted to see in person. See attached videos below.

GAME #1: Disaster

Rogues 0 Brockville 10

This was ugly from the get-go. Cox got the start on the mound, and after the Rogues went in order in the top of the first, we started out well in the bottom half, getting 2 outs via K and ground out before a pop fly was dropped to prolong the inning. An ensuing base hit put Brockville's winning run across for the 1-0 lead. Copy and paste for inning #2, substituting dropped pop fly for mis-throw to first, and the Brockvillians are up 2-0 after 2. A couple hits in the third make it 4-0 before Cox settled in and pitched 2 scoreless innings.

Bottom 6, and after 3 runners got on, Cox came out and Musicka went in, faired little better as the Brockville batters poured it on, mercy-ing the Rogues 10-0 for their first game.

Defense will have to be better going forward if we hope to do anything in this tourney. Fortunately, the Exit A's lost 10-1 to the Guzzlers, meaning we're far from out of it. Look for more posts, and hopefully some pics, tomorrow.

M@