THE FRESNAN

Go To This: The NCAA Women's Basketball 'Fresno Regional' (that is, if you've got $30 to $50 bucks)

It's happening Saturday and Monday. If you've got the cash you should definitely go out and show Fresnans can support stuff. Very cool event to have in Fresno.

Video Dump: The Buzzer Beating Bullard Knights

Bullard rules. Clovis West does not - neither does Long Beach Poly.

Nobody In Fresno Is Happier To See Pat Hill Fired Than Fresno's 'First Dude' Paul Swearengin

If you've made friends with Paul Swearengin on Facebook, than you know this week might be the best sports week of his life. Ever since he quit his morning radio show on ESPN 1430 - no longer having to interview or look Pat Hill in the eye - he's been relentless in his frustration of Pat Hill's team.

For example:

The Fu-Manchu Has Been Shaved

It was time to go, yes. But respect, Coach. Respect. Thanks, Pat Hill. This quote will prove to be the best tweet over the next day:

Fresnans In The City: The Manchu Is To Be Feared.

How somebody hasn't made one of these before is beyond us:

Damn right you fear the Manchu. Buy yours here.

See you in San Francisco on Saturday, Fresno.

Focused On Fresno: You Should Totally Go Golfing Today, Running Horse Is Wide Open

We hear Running Horse is giving a discount on green fees today and you don't even need some shitty online coupon:

There are no fees. Just hop on.

Summer rules are in play though. You get a free drop away from any dirt patches or discarded televisions. Greens are pretty fast, fyi.

Call It Astroturf, FieldTurf or Carpet Remnants, They Still Can't Figure Out How To Not Make It Shiny

FieldTurf is going in. Coach Fu-Manchu walked around with a boner all day.

Here is the surreal looking before shot:

Photo's stolen from Fresno State's Facebook page.

For The Cheap Ass Reader: Win Tickets [now officially closed] To Thursday's Great Fresno Tweetup!

UPDATE: There is now a winner for the pair of tickets to Thursday's event: Angel. His name was drawn out of our Oakland A's hat (for realz), so congrats. And special thanks to all of your email comments, I enjoyed them greatly and I'll be paying my $5 along with you tomorrow.

Our Brothers In Blog, Fresno Beehive, are organizing another one of their Tweetups at The Chuk. It's Thursday and should be good. Highlights for us include a Tweetup goers only Thirsty Thursday booth, and the likelyhood of Barry Zito (and his pretty curveball) making a rehab start that night.

Breakdown of the whats:

WHAT: The third annual Great Fresno Tweetup, a face-to-face meetup for Fresno's local Twitter community. It includes baseball-watching, networking, games, prizes, cheap beer, possible heckling and, of course, lots of Tweeting,

 

WHEN: 6 p.m. Thursday, 'til whenever the game is over. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m., but our event starts at 6, which is when $1 Thirsty Thursday beers are available. Not a coincidence.

 

WHERE: Chukchansi Park, downtown Fresno. At the "Tweetdeck," our private party deck overlooking left field.

 

WHY: Because Fresno's Twitter community is: (a) Awesome, (b) Growing, (c) Full of fun people and (d) Somehow well-behaved enough that we haven't been 86'd from The Chuk after the previous two Tweetups. Also, word is that Barry Zito of the Giants will be pitching on Thursday, so that's pretty rad.

 

HOW: RSVP on Twitter with @fresnogrizzlies to get your special $5 tickets (which include your first $1 beer). Make sure you're following @fresnobeehive for contests both at the event and leading up to it. Keep an eye on the #GreatFresnoTweetup hashtag to stay current on the all chatter.

Alright. You know what's going on. Now is your chance to win a ticket (plus 1) to the event (courtsey of Fresno Beehive). Just email [email protected] saying whatever you want - it could be "The Fresnan sucks ass!" - and you're entered. Easy. Winner will get sent a reply email later Wednesday night.

Follow what the Beehive is doing for more info. Hey, Thomas Neal will be there (well, he kinda has to be):

Pat Hill's Fu-Manchu Needs Him Some Field Turf

If you're a Fresno State supporter, like us, you may have got a package recently asking you to donate to the Bulldog Stadium Turf Project. For the longest time, Pat Hill and the Bulldog Foundation have been asking for it: Field Turf.

Apparently the grass on Jim Sweeney Field sucks ass. Sometimes they even have to paint it green to make it look perdy. With the fake turf stuff, you don't need to worry about keeping it looking nice. It holds up regardless of how much ya play on it.

They're asking for donations from $100 up to $25,000. Or you can just text "turf" to 89954 to donate $10. They may have missed the window to get this done by the beginning of the 2011 season. But it seems like they'll reach their goal and get the turf installed by 2012.

Maybe we want to donate, maybe we don't. But before we decide, just riddle us this, Pat Hill's Fu-Manchu: WHY THE HELL CAN'T YOU KEEP GRASS GROWING IN FRESNO?! We're the ag center of the damn world and no Fresno State genius can keep a big lawn looking good?

Well That Sucks: Matt James Laid Off By The Fresno Bee

Sadly the Fresno Bee is doing another round of layoffs. This one is cutting into some bone as sports columnist, Matt James, is being let go (and not replaced). Matt has done some really good work, specializing in stories you wouldn't have know about otherwise and having different takes on local sports news and personalities.

So basically the Bee Overlords are removing more original and local content, and then hoping to sell more papers. Remind us why we should keep our daily subscription again?...

Listen to Matt talk about his layoff and his plans for the future by listening to his segment on Tony D's Sportsline (KYNO 940 AM) by clicking here. Or use the player:

Matt James on Sportsline with Tony D'addato

UPDATE: In Matt's column today he talks about his departure and writes the exact kind of column we're going to miss.

Welcome Back, Ladies!: NoTown's First Home Bout of the Season is Saturday

If you're not in a meeting, here is the most dominate Fresno thing to be doing before you party at Storyland:

It's a valley affair with two Notown teams vs two Bako teams. You can buy tickets from your favorite NoTown skater, Twee Boutique, SBI Boardshop and Hero's (the Downtown restaurant, not the most awesome comic shop in California). Event page here. Remember to drink local.

It's gonna go down something like this:

Video Dump: At Least Kevin Olekaibe Give Us Something To Watch Until Baseball Season Starts

The Fresno State men's basketball team is having a bit of a rough season. But, they've won two straight and it looks like Freshman Guard "KO" (Kevin Olekaibe), may be the real deal. Just ask New Mexico State's Abdoulaye N'doye:

And wow, KO is one young looking dude.

Fresno Tonight!: Two Basketball Games You Won't Be At

Fresno State's men's team is opening the WAC schedule tonight against San Jose State. You don't care, do you? Not a lot of Fresnans do right now. The Fresno Bee's, Jeff Davis, lays out the reasons why.

What's really odd is how small the student section usually is. Odd because the students represent well at football games. Basketball... not so much.

Really Dogs, just start hitting some foul shots and we'll make it out.

Tonight is a double header with the so-far-disappointing Women's team tipping at 6 against USC. Men tip around 8.

This May Or May Not Shut Up Coach FuManchu Haters

If you got a USA Today Wednesday (you know, the paper with all the pretty colors), you read about Coach Hill's recent pay cut. For those that don't follow college sports, what Fu-Manchu did is pretty rare. Yeah, he gets paid a lot of money when you compare his salary with other Fresno jobs (like, unpaid local blogger). But when you look at the rest of college football's coaches, it's well below average. It makes it a little harder to hate on the guy, even with the lack of WAC Championships.

Hey, the dude lived out of his van once and can't even afford nice pants for the USA Today photo shoot (above pic). Give him a break, Fresnans!

*Photo by USA Today's Just Kase Conder.

*Headline inspiration by KFSR's Jefferson Beavers.

Soooo Glad We Could Show Reno A Good Time

You may be a winner, Nevada Wolfpack Fan. But you're a dirty dirty Reno-an. Above is what the Reno section at Bulldog Stadium looked like after their one point win over our Bulldogs. So glad you had fun, Reno. Jerks.

At least we got to watch a streaker get clocked in the endzone: