Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

Let's face it, few things get our proverbial juices going quite like a good rivalry.

Leafs and Habs. Packers and Bears. Yankees and Red Sox. Ortiz and Shamrock. Ali and Frazier. Balboa and Creed. Kirk and Klingons. The Empire and The Rebel Alliance.  The U.S and The Soviet Union. Republicans and Democrats. Evolution and Creation.

But hands down, the greatest rivalry of all time is Boston Rob vs. Evil Russ.

And for those of you who truly appreciate a really good rivalry, today CBS confirmed probably the worst kept secret on the Internet - Rob Mariano and Russell Hantz will be back to participate in the upcoming season of Survivor.

Judging by the reaction on public forums and the blogosphere, a lot of people seem pissed that Rob and Russ are getting another shot (this will be Boston Rob's 4th time playing, and Evil Russ' 3rd time in 4 seasons). But I don't really give a shit about those people.  Just sayin'.

Boston Rob is one of the most loved players ever (especially by women), and Evil Russ is THE most polarizing figures ever to play the game.

They first crossed paths on Heroes vs. Villains where round 1 in their epic battle clearly went to Evil Russ.  Ok, maybe "epic battle" is a wee bit melodramatic, but damn, it sounded good didn't it?? 

Anyway, Russ planted the mother of all "Russell Seeds" and got Tyson to vote himself out, Jerry to switch her allegiance to him, and Coach to give up his man-crush on Rob.  All of this resulted in Evil Russ voting out Boston Rob and it was pure genius.

Could you imagine if they found themselves on Redemption Island together?? Now THAT would be must see TV!

Rob and Russ will each captain their respective tribes. There were rumours going around that they'll be immune from the vote until the merge, but methinks it's just that - a rumour. I can't see the producers giving them that kind of advantage over other the players (although selfishly, I wouldn't be opposed to the idea).

So that begs the question, how long can these two possibly last?? They will have HUGE targets on their backs right from the start. This is where the sly producers come in.

There are a large number of contestants this season who were recruited for the show (as opposed to auditioning) who hadn't ever watched an episode of Survivor.  They don't know Boston Rob or Evil Russ and aren't familiar with how they play the game - that could be the great equalizer.

I'm hoping they both last until the merge as I really like Boston Rob, and I LOVE Evil Russ - I love him in a manly kind of way of course (the kind where you don't cross any icky lines). 

And while I doubt it would ever happen, it would be great to see them set aside their differences and join forces - they would dominate the game like no one ever has.

Are you happy Rob and Russ are back??  Who do you think will last longer??  And will they remain mortal enemies, or will they combine their evil powers and produce Survivors first Super Villain??

Boston Rob and Evil Russ - Two Peas in a Pod

I was talking to a friend of mine a couple of days ago about this season of Survivor.  Inevitably, the conversation turns to Russell Hantz - or, as I like to call him, Evil Russ!!  Mwuhahahahahahahaha!!

You either love Evil Russ or you hate him - there seems to be no in between with this guy.

Me??  I love him.  My friend??  She hates him.

But then she went on to say how much she LOVES Boston Rob and wishes he was still in the game.  Well, I wish he was still in the game too - not only because I had him in my pool, but because Boston Rob is good television (the battle between Evil Russ and Boston Rob could have been Epic).

What I found curious was why she hated Evil Russ - because he's a backstabbing scumbag who lies to everybody.  My question is, how is his game any different from Boston Rob's??

Now, I didn't see Survivor Marquesas so I don't know how Boston Rob played, but in Season 8 (All-Star's), Rob lied to everyone and backstabbed anyone that got in his way (hello Lex)!  Well, anyone and everyone except Amber that is (which I actually found quite admirable).

So I'll ask again, how is his game any different from Evil Russ'??  The answer is it's not.  The only difference is, Boston Rob is sexy, and Evil Russ is......well.......not sexy.  You do the math.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

You're humming that annoying Christmas tune right now aren't you??

When I say "It's the most wonderful time of the year", I don't mean Christmas. But if not Christmas, then what??

The kids going back to school? Nope, that's soooooooo last week.

Baseball playoffs?? Nahhh, too early.

NFL?? Yeah it's pretty cool that football season is under way, but since my Raiders haven't played a relevant game in almost 7 years, that ain't it.

NHL?? Yes, training camps have opened, but I'm a Leafs fan, so if there's anything wonderful about that, please, enlighten me!!

No folks, what I'm talking about is much bigger than "back to school". It's an occasion far greater than Christmas. And it's something wayyyyy better than sports!!

I'm talking about............

SURVIVOR!!

Few things in life make me happy the way Survivor does. There's Battlestar Galactica (Caprica Six......hubba hubba!). Star Wars (original trilogy) does. Games 6 and 7 of the 2002 World Series did. Pocket Aces make me happy about 80% of the time. Cheesecake makes me happy 100% of the time. My kids of course take the cake (but if they take the cheesecake I'll disown them). And then there's the future Mrs. Meanie - at certain times of the day (or night as it were) she makes me the happiest!! Heh heh.

But I digress.

As of this writing, there are only 2 more sleeps until the 19th Season of Survivor (Samoa) premieres on CBS!

2 more sleeps until I get to hear Jeff Probst utter those four famous words - "The tribe has spoken".

2 more sleeps until 20 cast aways will starve themselves for a shot at a million dollars.

2 more sleeps until my Thursday nights are tied up for the next few months.

2 more sleeps until the next JC's Survivor Pool.

2 more sleeps until the plotting, planning and backstabbing begins.

2 more sleeps until hot-half-naked-dumb-as-post-women fill my 52" LCD TV! (What can I say - I'm a man!).

2 more sleeps until Friday mornings at the office are filled with Survivor talk! I guess if you want to split hairs that would be 3 more sleeps.

2 more sleeps until this junkie gets his fix!

2 more sleeps until I find out if anyone is hot enough to make this list.

2 more sleeps until we find out if anyone will be this stupid.

2 more sleeps until I am the happiest Meanie in the blogosphere!

Did I mention that it's 2 more sleeps until dumb-half-naked-women will be on my TV screen??

Only 2 more sleeps!

*sigh*

Oh, and when I said that Survivor is "wayyyyy" better than sports - I may have been exaggerating just a wee bit.

JC's Top 5: Survivor Hotties

What is JC's Series of Top 5 you ask?? Well, from time to time I'll be composing lists of my 5 favourites on any given subject (eg. 5 favourite baseball movies, 5 favourite "Rocky" moments etc. - a la High Fidelity). Any time you do a list of 5 favourite anything there will always be somebody who disagrees, and I'm cool with that. Anything posted here on my blog is based on my own opinion - if you don't like it, create your own damn blog!!

Ok, so for the inaugural list, I've decided to go with 2 of the things I love the most - women and Survivor! That's right, the 5 hottest women (again in MY opinion) to appear on everybody's favourite reality show - Survivor! As I am writing this blog season 18 has not yet begun, so I have only included contestants from the first 17 seasons.

Enjoy.

5. Ami Cusack (Vanuatu, Micronesia)

Ami is one of many contestants to appear on the show twice! First in Season 9 (Vanuatu) and then again as one of the "Favourites" in Season 16 (Micronesia: Fans vs. Favourites). Ami probably isn't your atypical "hottie", but there was something about this woman that just screamed sexiness!! Her Season 9 bio page on the official Survivor site says she is in a relationship with Crissy (another former Survivor contestant). However in an interview Ami denied being in a lesbian relationship and said that she has never considered herself gay. Gay or Straight, Ami definitely has the "hubba hubba" factor and takes the number 5 spot on my list!

4. Mary Sartain (Micronesia)

Mary is a wee bit of an oddity on this list in that she only appeared on 2 episodes of Survivor. The other 4 women on this list went deep into the game in one or more season's and therefore received a lot of screen time. Mary was the 1st of the "Fans" to be voted out in "Fans vs. Favourites" and the 2nd castaway overall so we never really got a chance to get to know her. The fact that she is even on this list is a testimony of how "hot" she actually is. I wonder, where on this list she would be if we had been given more time to get to know her. For now, she'll have to settle for number 4.

3. Stephenie LaGrossa (Palau, Guatamala)

Oh Stephanie - my first Survivor crush! As big a fan as I am of the show, I didn't start watching until Season 10, and Stephanie was one of the reasons I kept watching (I've since gone back and watched several of the first 9 seasons on DVD). Unfortunately for Stephanie, in Season 10 she was the last Surviving member of the Ulong tribe which is the only tribe in the 18 Season history of the show to lose every single immunity challenge! By the time she joined the Koror tribe, she was easily picked off. She fared much better in Guatamala where she made it to the final two before finishing runner up to Danni. Any woman that can look as hot as Stephenie after 39 days without a shower definitely deserves a spot on this list!

2. Amanda Kimmel (China, Micronesia)

To say that Micronesia was a special season of Survivor would be an understatement. And not just because it gave us the dumbest decision in the history of Survivor, but rather because 3 of the top 5 hotties on this list appeared all appeared in that season! Amanda played the game of Survivor brilliantly in back-to-back seasons and to this day is the only Survivor to be a runner up on the show twice (she lost Season 15 to Todd and Season 16 to Parvati). Amanda was everything a Survivor should be - a fierce competitor, loyal (in 2 seasons she never voted against her alliance) and hot! I flip flopped with this pick several times as Amanda could easily have finished with the number 1 spot on the list. But alas, she came in at number 2.

1. Jessica "Sugar" Kiper (Gabon)

Sugar has the dubious distinction of being the only person in the history of Survivor to never have had her name written down on the parchment at Tribal Council. Of course, that and $10 will get you about $10. Oh, it also earns her the number one spot on this list!! Although already an established pin-up girl, Sugar is not your traditional hottie. Don't get me wrong, she has everything you'd want in a hottie - a gorgeous smile, nice body, and looks great in a bikini! But she had something else too - a splash of naughty in her attitude!! I for one couldn't resist her! For those of you who may be doubting my choice of Sugar in the number 1 slot - check out the photo gallery on her website!!! Two words to describe this Survivor hottie - Hubba Hubba!