Virtual Postcard from Florida...(even though I'm not really there)

Though we are not in Florida, and certainly not at the 2012 Republican Convention in Tampa, which is 38 miles from Weekie Wachee where these real-life mermaids are from. Weekie Wachee Springs, which I visited as a teenager in 1984, was in danger of being closed, but it has become a state park in recent years.

I am cutting this tonight to hopefully watch some of Current-TV's coverage of the GOP convention with Cenk Uyugr, a fellow progressive Turkish-American, and former vice president Al Gore.

Michael Moore delivered a shocker today as the very left-of-century documentary filmmaker predicted that his fellow Michigan native Mitt Romney would win the election; hmmmmmmmmmm........At least, Moore is not in my home state of Virginia as we desperately need Democratic candidate and former Tim Kaine to win that now vacant U.S. Senate. I dislike his opponent so much that I refuse to mention him by name:)


We were actually hoping to see the Black Mormon Republican congressional candidate Mia Love, who is currently, the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, speak, as she seems to be quite a novelty on the political scene, but we missed it. Though the likes of Bill O have made it seem like newspaper aside from "The Wall Street Journal" and "The Washington Times" are as far to the left as Radio Havana, the truth is that most newspapers in Utah appear to be giving Love very subjective love indeed.

Lastly, we heard today that Aly Raisman, the recent three-time medal winning Olympic gymnast, received an unwanted marriage proposal from some autograph seeker she didn't know; Raisman is only 18 years old!

And, finally we want to thank her teammate Gabby Douglas, who won all-around gold in London, and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn)., who will hopefully make Sean Hannity's head blow up live on Fox News one day, as they are now both following me on Twitter... so can you at:

http://www.twitter.com/Tilly70

http://www.visitflorida.com

http://www.weekiewachee.com

 http://www.current.com

New Words to Live By

We just finished a gut-wrenching article in "Rolling Stone" about the life of Adam Yauch (1964-2012) who was one of the Beastie Boys; the band made it big when they were young (Yauch is in the center, he is the one without a hat). He died from cancer in May.

But, our entry tonight is meant to hopefully be a happy one, as we look at two words in "The Urban Dictionary," a web site which also has a print version, in similar fashion to "What White People Like."

We are also striving to post four entries per blog tonight, since we will not be blogging tomorrow. Thus, ironically, like Chick-fil-a, (we strongly differ with their right-wing politics) we will be closed on Sunday. The satirical publication "The Onion"wrote that the fast food chain owned by evangelicals would start serving the "Queer-hating Cordon Bleu" sandwiches soon.

Here are two recent words which may go over well with the Beastie Boys fan base:

MEDAL FATIQUE: The inability to stay awake during the day because one has stayed up late watching coverage of the Olympics......(editorial note: Would apply to anyone who had to watch Turkish women's weight-lifter Nurdan Karagoz; the mere mention of her name seems to increase our blog hits!).

COFFEEDANCE: The sudden burst of confidence, focus, or creativity one experiences after drinking coffee or a drink with caffeine (editorial note: Yay! Starbucks!).


One can also find discussions of matters pertaining to the English language through the American public radio series "A Way with Words."

We fully intend for the use of words from "The Urban Dictionary," and we sincerely hope that neither they, nor "The Onion" or Chick-fil-a sue us for billions of dollars.

http://www.urbandictionary.com

http://www.waywordradio.org

http://www.theonion.com

http://www.beastieboys.com

http://www.boycottchickfila.com

http://www.starbucks.com

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors, Ipana Toothpaste, etc.

Since we were hit over the head with the commercials during the 2012 London Olympics, including everyone running for political office except Chris Knight, my friend who ran for school board office in North Carolina in 2006, I thought I would do a satirical entry dedicated to ads. If you'll notice, we don't have any ads here at "The Daily Vampire" as we don't want ads for things that irk us to appear on here, but well, if the price is right that might change.

We also want to thank American Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, who appears on David Letterman tonight with the other members of the Fab Five, for finally letting us know what meme means. The photo of her disappointed look for not getting a gold medal on vault has now been attached to everything from art work to NBC's Olympic coverage.

Here are the products we are promoting tonight; we believe only one is relatively easy to find here in the United States unless you reside in War, West Virginia:

1) Carlsberg: This is a popular beer in Denmark which reportedly doesn't sell well in Qom, Iran, especially during Ramadan (which is now),  but it can be found in Turkey, a much moderate Muslim country (yes, I'm a Turkish-American, but I think even Greeks and Armenians have to admit Iran is a bit more conservative).

2) Ipana: Speaking of Turkey, we presumed this brand which started in the good ole USA was only available in Turkey, but further research indicates the product featuring ads with Bucky Beaver here in the States back in the day, is once again available on the American market though in limited quantities. Ipana has been featured in at least one "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strip.

3) Orangina: Hopefully, none of you will mispronounce this French orange drink now readily available in most parts of America. One time, I pronounced it like the a certain word in a certain Eve Ensler play at The Green Bean Coffeehouse in Greensboro, NC. Yeah, it was embarrassing.

http://www.usagym.org

http://www.zippythepinhead.com

http://www.eczaonline.com

http://www.greensborobean.com

http://www.carlsberg.com

http://www.orangina.com

http://www.theknightshift.blogspot.com

The Finish Line_ Track, Water Polo and Field Hockey

1) The United States won its first gold in women's water polo with an 8-5 win over Spain in the gold medal match; the two teams met earlier in the preliminaries and the game finished in a 9-9 tie. Earlier, Team America had won a highly competitive 11-9 game over Australia in the semi-finals.

The team was lead in scoring by Maggie Steffens, 19, (we believe that is her pictured top) who will go on to play for Stanford, scored five goals in the final. She scored 21 goals overall. Her older sister Jessica Steffens was among her teammates as well as a holdover from the 2008 team that won silver in Beijing.

2) The Dutch women's field hockey team was a social media sensation because of the team members' good looks and their flashy orange uniforms, ironically, a quarter of the team, including captain Maartje Pausen (profiled in Aug. 9th entry) is lesbian. The Netherlands/Holland won gold in the event, also in large part because of Ellen Hoog who scored the game-winning shoot-out goal over New Zealand in the semi-finals. In the final, the Dutch beat Argentina 2-0 with one goal coming from Pausen.

3) Turkey's Olympic team was being skewered back home due to a low medal tally. But, that radically changed when Asli Cakir Alptekin, 26, who won gold (pictured) and her teammate Gamze Bulut, 23,  (silver) came through in the 1,500-meters. Along with weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu aka "The Pocket Hercules" setting a world record at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the moment is now considered to be one of the greatest in Turkish Olympic history. Alptekin edged out Bulut by a time of 4:10:23 to 4:10:40.

In the same event, Maryam Yusuf Jamal, 28, won bronze for Bahrain; it was the tiny gulf Arab nation's first-ever medal. She finished with a 4:10:74. Other countries that won first time medals in London, include Botzwana, Cyprus, Grenada, Guatemala and Montenegro.

UPDATE: In an earlier version of this post, we wrongfully reported that Afghanistan had won its first ever medal in London, but actually Rohullah Nikpai, who won bronze in men's taekwondo, had actually won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well.


Links:

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com (Our sister blog with a sister entry)

http://www.usawaterpolo.org

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

http://www.rnw.nl/

Four Who Finished Fourth_ The Women

Both "The Washington Post" and "USA Today" have run stories about those athletes who have the unfortunate distinction of coming in fourth, in some cases milli-seconds away from winning a medal; the companion part to this entry on male Olympic athletes who finished fourth can be found at our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" http://www.politcscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

David Mitchell, a bookshop owner in England, actually made unofficial fourth place medals for these athletes who include the likes of Turkish women's weightlifter Sibel Simsek.

Here are four other female athletes who came in fourth at the 2012 London Olympics:

1) Karen Cockburn, 31, Canada, trampoline, (pictured third in order)_ In London, Cockburn competed in her fourth Olympics. She had won a silver and bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and followed it up with a silver at the 2008 Olympics. But, this time, she was edged out of a bronze medal by Chinese trampoline gymnast Hu Wenna. But, gold went to Cockburn's Canadian teammate Rosie MacLeennan, and it was Canada's only gold medal at the summer games.

2) Lolo Jones, 30, USA, track and field (100-meter hurdles, pictured last)). At the 2012 Olympics, the 400-meter hurdles proved to be an agonizingly close race both for Jones and Nevin Yanit, 26, of Turkey, who finished fifth even though she and Jones both finished the race in 12.58 seconds. Sally Pearson of Australia won the race in 12.35 seconds. Jones was stand-out at LSU where she won three NCAA titles, and she has won gold in two world championships. One unique aspect of her personal life is that she told HBO earlier this year that she was a virgin, yet she posed semi-nude for "ESPN the Magazine" in 2009. Jones was hoping to rebound from a disappointing 2008 Olympics.

3) Aliya Garayeva, 24, Azerbaijan, rhythmic gymnastics (top image). In London, the rhythmic gymnastics competition was dominated by women from former Soviet Republics. Garayeva improved from her sixth place finish at the 2008 Olympics, but that was not enough to get the bronze medal which went to Liubou Charkashyna of Belarus.

4) Kaliese Spencer, 25, Jamaica, track and field (400-meter hurdles). Jamaica rocked the 2012 London Olympics with 12 medals, including three gold medals from the incredible sprinter Usain Bolt. But, Spencer, an impressive athlete in her own right, was unable to pass Zuzana Hejnova or the Czech Republic who came in third.


http://www.karencokcburn.ca/

http://www.gymcan.org

http://www.olympic.ca

http://www.radio-canada.ca

http://www.runlolorun.com

Monday Morning Twitter Feeds_ London Calling and a Missing Kangaroo

Within the last fwe weeks, we have decided to post Twitter feeds from Saturday evenings/nights and Monday morning. We're still trying to figure out exactly why ourselves. Here are some of today's interesting tweets taken from the 10:00-11:00 a.m. hour (eastern time, USA):

1) @rollingstone: "Blur's headlining set in London may have been their last ever gig."

2) @jaketapper (Jake Tapper): "In addition to @martharaddatz, the other debate moderators are Jim Lehrer, @bobschieffer and @crowlycnn. Congrats on the honor."

3) @politico: "Don't over-interpret warns @aburnspolitico, but Gallup have data indicating tepid reaction to the Ryan announcement."

4) @ sbnation: "Did you watch Closing Ceremony? We did. And now, lots of jokes."

5) @Politicalticker: "First on CNN: Atheist group targets presidential candidates' faith with billboards" (After checking out the link, we found out that American atheists is putting up the billboards in Charlotte, NC, ahead of the Democratic National Convention. Since North Carolina is a swing-state, and Charlotte has lots of evangelicals, we think this is politically a bad idea. But, by the same token, evangelicals seem to have no problem with radical 'If you die tonight? Heaven or Hell' billboards, such as one near Roanoke, Va.)

 6) @Weirdwire: "Animal escape in Germany; kangaroo on the lamb."

7) @HuffingtonPost: "Did you see London's mayor hilariously dancing along to the Spice Girls last night?" (London's mayor Boris Johnson is pictured above)

8) @capitalweather: "Felt great this A.M., didn't it? 60s and low humidity in most spots to start day. Warming up now, low 80s at 10 a.m." (This is in reference to weather conditions in Washington, DC, hopefully, Democrats and Republicans can put aside partisanship for a nice not too hot day in the nation's capital).

http://www.politico.com

http://www.atheists.org

Our Favorite Gymnasts_ Jordyn, Beth, Catalina, et al

Yes, Bob Costas fatigue has set in here at the offices of "The Daily Vampire" in Hartford, Connecticut*, USA (*-not the American city we're actually blogging from), but rather than watching the closing ceremonies with George Michael and pop/rock stars, we thought we'd blog about some of our favourite** gymnasts at the 2012 London Olympics (**-British spelling):

1) Jordyn Wieber, 17, USA, (pictured center) London: Won gold in team competition. Missed out on all-around due to controversial rule that only allows two gymnasts per country in the finals. Finished seventh seventh in the floor final with a 14.500 score. In total, Wieber has 14 career medals, 11 of which are gold.

2) Beth Tweedle, 27, Great Britain/England, London: To the delight of the home crowd, Tweedle won individual bronze on uneven bars, which is considered to be her specialty. Aliya Mustafina (Russia) and He Kexin (China) won gold and silver respectively on the apparatus. Prior to the 2012 Olympics, Tweedle had won three golds at individual events at two separate world championships. In 2006, she was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

3) Catalina Ponor, 24, Romania, (pictured below): London: Won team bronze and silver on floor at the Olympics, but she was denied another bronze when judges overturned an earlier decision that had her place third ahead of American gymnast Aly Raisman, who ended up with the bronze for the balance beam instead. Prior to London: Ponor arrived at the Olympics as one of the most-decorated gymnast in competition. She helped Romania win team gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where she won a total of five medals, three of them gold. Ponor retired in 2007, but she came back in 2011. She has reportedly told various media outlets that she will retire for a second time after London.

4) Victoria Komova, 17, Russia. London: Komova won all-around and team silver, but she told the press she was very discouraged with her Olympic experience because mistakes in the team and all-around cost her and her teammates potential gold. Prior to London: Komova won gold on bars and silver in all-around at the 2011 Tokyo World Championships.

5) Gabby Douglas, 16, USA. London: Douglas, who is known as the Flying Squirrel in reference to Rocky the Flying Squirrel who was Bullwinkle the Moose's sidekick in a 1960s American cartoon, won both team and all-around gold at the Olympics. She is on the cover of the current issue of "People" magazine, and she will be on Corn Flakes boxes this fall.

6) Brittany Rogers, 19, Canada. London: Rogers helped Team Canada finish fifth, the country's all-time highest result in team competition. Rogers scored a 14.666 on vault and 14.500 on balance beam; she finished eighth on the beam in event competition. After London: Rogers will compete for the University of Georgia, a traditional college powerhouse which has won 10 NCAA titles. Ironically, an American athlete with her name played softball several years ago for the University of Alabama, which is UGA's main rival in gymnastics.

http://www.jordynwieber.com

http://www.bethtweedle.com

http://www.romanian-gymnastics.com

http://www.victoriakomova.com.ru/english

http://www.rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.com

http://www.gabrielledouglas.com

http://www.gymcan.org

http://www.georgiadogs.com

Olympics and Politics Clash on Twitter Today

We got in the Twitter forum ourselves today by congratulating Mitt Romney for choosing former American Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton (pictured top) as his running mate aboard the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va. (for our yack-herding friends in Tibet, we should point out Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was Romney's actual choice, as it is Retton's home state of West Virginia is not considered a swing state this time around).

For those of you in Denver or Los Angeles I will issue a SPOILER ALERT as many of the Olympic events discussed here have not been televised as of this writing.

These tweets were compiled between 5:00-6:00 p.m. New York time, which would 10:00-11:00p.m. in London and 12:00-1:00 a.m. in Istanbul. We shall explain some of the tweets with info at the end of the compilation. We should point out that the center image is of Hodari, the tiger mascot of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and the bottom image is a zombie version of Michele Bachmann.

1) @VanouverSun: "Canada disqualified in Olympic men's 4 x 100-metre relay as Usain Bolt, Jamaica sprint to victory (with reaction)*

2) @AlexSemin: "There's better chance that I would be absolutely #filthy @ men's field hockey."**

3) @NPROlympics: "America's Brigetta Barrett Brings Out Her Best, and Jumps To A Silver Medal***

4) @LOLGOP: "We'll stop blaming Bush when you stop running on his ideas."

5) @tomperriello (Tom Perriello): "Romney comes to VA with a chairman behind sequestration that put millionaires ahead of the military. Classy." %

6) @BBCWorld: "(Tom) Daley secures 10m diving bronze." ^

7) @TeamBachmann: "#RomneyRyan 2012 is a winning combination! RT if America's Comeback Team has your support." ^%

*_Team Canada was disqualified because Jared Connaughton had stepped out of his lane during the relay. Trinidad and Tobago got bronze instead. Team America got silver in the event.

**_Alex Semin was a Washington Capitals star who recently joined the Carolina Hurricanes. Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1 to win gold in men's field hockey. Australia won bronze with a 3-1 over host Great Britain.

***-A pair of Russians_Anna Chicherova (gold) and Svetlana Shkolina (bronze) won the other medals in the high jump.

^- British diver Tom Daley won bronze; and American diver David Boudia (gold) pulled a huge upset over Chinese diver Qui Bo.

%-Tom Perriello is a former Democratic congressman who represented the very conservative fifth district of Virginia for one term; he pulled a major upset over arch conservative Virgil Goode, who is now running for president with the fringe right wing Constitution Party (ironically, Goode was once a Democrat). Perriello is now CEO of American Progress Action.

^%_In case it's not obvious, we do not share TeamBachmann's views.

http://www.teamusa.org

http://www.nhl.com

http://www.americanprogressaction.org

http://www.tomdaley.tv

http://www.marylouretton.com

Our Favorite Athletes- Logan's Run

Well, as luck would have it, we could not come up with an image for American women's volleyball player Logan Tom, but we could find one for her teammate Destinee Hooker (pictured above). The other photos are of Angel McCoughtry, who (well, obviously) plays basketball, and of Julie Zetlin who doesn't play basketball, but is a rhythmic gymnast. Here is a look at some of our favorite American women athletes who competed in London:

1) Dawn Harper, 28, East St. Louis, Ill., track and field_ Harper ran the 100-meters hurdles in an amazing 12.37 seconds, but that was two-tenths of a second slower than Sally Pearson of Australia, so she is going home with a silver, which is certainly well-deserved. Harper also competed for UCLA during her college years, and she won gold in the same event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

2) Destinee Hooker, 24, San Antonia, Texas, volleyball._ Hooker, who competed in both volleyball and track and field at the University of Texas, will be helping Team America in its efforts to win a first gold medal in women's volleyball against the defending Olympic champions from Brazil, who got off to a sluggish start. Hooker is known for her effective skills and frequent scoring.

3) Angel McCoughtry, 25, Baltimore, Maryland, basketball_ She lead Team America in scoring in a win over Turkey in the preliminaries and this former University of Louisville star continues to be a great contributor for Team America. Professionally, McCoughtry plays for the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA and Fenerbahce (Istanbul) in Turkey.

4) Jessica Steffens, 25, San Francisco, Calif., water polo- Steffens was the leading scorer for the national water polo team, and she helped guide the team to its first ever gold medal at the Olympics. Steffens scored an amazing seven goals in the team's first game over traditional powerhouse Hungary, a game that the USA won by a 14-13 score. Yesterday, she scored five goals in the 8-5 gold medal win over a very talented team from Spain.

5) Logan Tom, 31, Salt Lake City, Utah, volleyball_ Tom and teammate Destinee hooker look to make history tomorrow when the United States faces Brazil in the gold medal match. Tom made the Olympic in Sydney when she was just 19. She is ranked as the 91st sexiest woman in the world according to "FHM" magazine, and she plays professionally for Fenerbahce, the Turkish club team is considered to be one of the best in Europe.

6) Julie Zetlin, 22, Bethesda, Maryland, rhythmic gymnastics_ The United States has never been strong at rhythmic gymnastics, a sport dominated by the likes of Russia and Bulgaria. But, Zetlin made a noble effort at the 2012 Olympics. The daughter of Zsuzsi Zetlin, who competed in the same sport for Hungary, finished
21st in London. Zetlin won a gold medal at the 2011 Pan Ameircan Games.

http:/www.wnba.com/dream

http://www.usawaterpolo.org

http://www.usavolleyball.org

http://www.teamusa.org

UPDATE: Since I published this entry earlier in the afternoon, "The Bleacher Report" has posted a subjective, but interesting list of the 50 hottest American Olympic athletes, including one paraplegic female swimmer, of both genders. Of the six athletes in this entry, both Logan Tom (#17) and Julie Zetlin (#34) made the list.

http://www.thebleacherreport.com

Our Favorite Olympic Athletes_ Vollyeball Anyone?

Here is a look st six of our favorite Summer Olympics athletes and brief rundown of their accomplishements so far:

1) Sarah Attar, 19, Saudi Arabia, track and field (pictured above)_ Attar broken a gender barrier by competing as one of two female athletes for Saudi Arabia. The conservative kingdom which governs in accordance with strict Islamic law has never allowed women to compete before. Attar finished last in 800-meters with a time of over 2 hours and 44 minutes, but she is one of the most inspirational stories in London so far.

2) Nesilhan Darnel, 28, volleyball, Turkey (pictured center)_ Darnel was the flag-bearer for Turkey and she came through with an outstanding tournament. But, Turkey was a tough group and they lost to Brazil, China and The United as a result though they defeated a very talented South Korean team which advanced to the semi-finals. On a personal note, we were surprised to learn that Darnel got her start at the Yesilyurt Sports Club in Istanbul, which I frequented when I visited Turkey as a child and teenager.

3) Anna Esper, 19, water polo, Spain_ The United States won the gold medal match for water polo today over Spain, but it was outstanding tournament for many Spanish players, including Esper who score four goals in the team's semi-final win over Hungary.

4) Maartje Paumen, 26, field hockey, Netherlands (pictured bottom)_ The openly lesbian captain of the popular Dutch field hockey team will play Argentina in the gold medal game this weekend; they beat New Zealand in a shoot-out to get there.

5) Marketa Slukova, 24, beach volleyball, Czech Republic_ Along with teammate Krstyna Kolocva, Slukova helped upset the Brazilian upset the Brazilian duo of Antonelli and Artune on Saturday; the Czechs lost their next game in the quarter-finals to the American duo of April Ross and Jennifer Kessey, which won silver.

6) Kim Yeon-Koung, 24, volleyball, South Korea_ The ever gorgeous and extremely good volleyball who plays volleyball professionally in Turkey helped propel her team to the semi-finals, which surprised many volleyball insiders. South Korea now plays Japan in the bronze medal game.

Our Favorite Olympic Athletes (2 of 4)_ The Flying Dutchman, et al

Here is a look at some of our favorite male athletes from countries besides the United States (we profiled Americans yesterday):

1.) Usain Bolt, 25, Jamaica, track and field (sprinter)_ As everyone except a yack herder in Mongolia knows that Bolt won gold in the men's 100-meter in a blazing 9. 63 seconds.

2) Tony Estanguet, 34, France, canoeing (pictured top)_ This athlete won gold in single canoeing in 97.06 seconds; we think this might be the most dangerous sport in the Olympics with pole vault being a close second; table tennis is arguably the safest sport.

3) Jordan Jovtchev, 39, Bulgaria, men's gymnastics_ Though he didn't win a medal at the 2012 London Olympics, Jovtchev, who once lived in Oklahoma, came back for a record sixth Olympics in men's gymnastics. He competed on rings where he finished seventh in an an event won by Arthur Zanetti of Brazil. Jovtchev has previously won a total of four silver and bronze medals at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
Jovtchev was also the flag-bearer for Bulgaria, which has surprisingly not medaled yet.

4) Riza Kayaalp, 22, Turkey, Greco-roman wrestling (pictured center)_ Kayaalp is so far the only Turkish athlete to medal in London; he won a bronze in the 120-kg class of his sport, an event that was won by Mijan Lopez of Cuba.

5) Andy Murray, 25, Great Britain, tennis_ Murray, who is the fourth-ranked men's tennis player in the world, defeated Roger Federer of Switzerland in straight sets to the delight of the home crowd on Saturday.

6) Epke Zonderland, 26, The Netherland/Hollan, men's gymnastics_ Zonderland won gold on the horizontal bar event yesterday. The Flying Dutchman beat out the likes of Zou Kai (China) and Jonathan Horton (USA) for the gold.

http://www.usainbolt.com

http://www.tonyestanguet.com

http://www.andymurray.com

http://www.dailyhurriyet.com

http://www.insidegymnastics.com

Our Favorite Olympic Athletes (so far)_One of Four

We start our look at our favorite Olympic athletes so far with a brief profile of six American male athletes and what they have accomplished at the 2012 London Olympics. Not all of these participants are medal winners, but they did leave a lasting impression on the summer games.

We will provide the athlete's name, sport, age, city of birth and/or residency, and the college or university they attended. The numbers are not in terms of preference as these athletes are listed in alphabetical order.

1. Kevin Durant, basketball, 23, Washington DC, University of Texas_ Durant who plays in the NBA for the Oklahoma City Thunder was instrumental in helping Team America beat Argentina 126-97 in a game that was very close until the third quarter when Durant scored 17 points of the team's 42 points in that period. Durant finished with 42 points; the team faces Australia in the quarterfinals.

2. Daryl Homer, fencing (sabre), 21, New York, St. John's University, (pictured top)_ Homer did not medal at the 2012 London Olympics as he finished in a respectable sixth place during his first Olympics. But, he is the first African-American to compete in fencing, a sport typically dominated by France, Italy and Hungary. Homer lost to Ranes Dumitrescu of Romania, who won a team silver in the sabre division. Aron Szilagyi of Hungary won the individual event that Homer competed in.

3. Jonathan Horton, gymnastics, 26, Houston, Texas, University of Oklahoma (pictured middle)_ Horton has so far (we are deliberately unaware of the current gymnastics results from London since they will not air until at least seven hours from now in the United States) not medaled at the Olympics, but he did win silver on the horizontal bar and a team bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Nevertheless, he has once again been a vital leader on the men's gymnastics team. His teammate Darell Leyva, 20, won bronze in the all-around competition.

4. Cullen Jones, 28, Charlotte, NC, North Carolina State (pictured below)_ Jones has not put up the numbers that Michael Phelps has, but he has had a successful Olympics. Jones won gold in the 4x100 medley, as he did in 2008, and two silver medals.

5. Michael Phelps, 27, Baltimore, Maryland, University of Michigan (did not compete for school)_ Aside from NBA basketball players like LeBron James, few Olympic athletes are likely to become multimillionaires, but Phelps already is. In London, he won four gold medals and two silvers, for a career total of 18 gold medals and four silver medals, making him the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time.

6. Errol Spence, 22, Dallas, Texas_ Spence is the last remaining hope for the United States in boxing; today he has a crucial bout against Andrey Zamakovoy of Russia.

http://www.darylhomer.com

http://www.jonathan-horton.com

http://www.cullenjones.com

Monday Morning (USA Time) Olympic Tweets- West Virginia Wins Gold

Since we have spent a lot of time covering women's sports so far at the 2012 London Olympics, we have actually come to the realization that we have neglected our own gender!  Hence, we looked at some tweets in the 09:00-10:00 hour (New York time) which focused on men's athletics. Hopefully, American feminist rights advocate Gloria Steinem is satisfied so far!

Before we get to that, in Olympic news, Krisztian Berki (pictured bottom) won gold on the men's pommel horse yesterday, winning the fourth gold medal for Hungary. He won a tie-breaker over Louis Smith of the hosting nation Great Britain. Smith's teammate Max Whitlock took bronze.



Here are the tweets; some contain SPOILER ALERTS:

1) @WVUgymnastics "A Mountaineer takes gold!!!! Congrat Nicco Campriani on your Olympic-record win in 3 men's positions! You make all of WVU proud!" (Campriani, pictured top, who competes for Italy,won both gold and silver today in men's air rifle; he is indeed the first West Virginia alumni to win a gold medal at the Olympics).

2) @InsideGym: "Wondering if that will be the last time we see the amazing Jordan Jovtchev at the Olympics?" (This is in reference to the Bulgarian men's gymnast who was the flag-bearer for his country).

3) @PostSports: "VIDEO. Men's 100-meter sprinters say they weren't affected by a spray bottle from the stands Sunday night" (This is in reference to the bottle-throwing incident from a Dutch person in the stands as Usain Bolt of Jamaica was about to compete in the 100-meter race, which he won).

4) @DMoceanu (Dominque Moceanu): "Congratulations to @MakaylaMaroney on winning her silver medal on VT EF & @jake_dalton for making the FX EF. Way to represent #TeamUSA!"

5) @chicagotribune: "U.S. Judo player expelled from Olympics after testing positive for pot." (The athlete is Nicholas Delpopolo).

6) @SuzyKhimm (reporter Suzy Khimm): "The Olympics are the only place where journalistic objectivity goes out the window." (Hence, the reason why we have posted an image of Sam the Eagle, the mascot of the 1984 Olympics, pictured center, as opposed to Wenlock and Mandeville, the 2012 London Olympics mascot. Of course, we are being ironic as the jingoism in much of NBC's coverage seems over-the-top, having said that, Michael Phelps really did quite well in the pool).

http://www.olympicmuseum.de

http://www.wvusports.com

http://www.dominique-moceanu.com

http://www.dominiquedawes.com

http://www.insidegymnastics.com



7) @dominquedawes (Dominique Dawes): "Gabby is competing in the individual events finals on bars. Stay tuned."

7

Olympic Mosaic_ Thrill of Victory; Agony of Defeat

Since I am a human secularist and a Turkish-American, I thought it would delightfully ironic to post an entry dedicated to a Muslim athlete from Kuwait who wore a hijab while competing at the 2012 London Olympics as well as mention a major success in women's weight-lifting for Armenia, one of Turkey's main rivals.

For Turkey, it was a day of great athletic glory and tremendous agony at the same time; the explanation for that will follow.

Here is a run-down of some unique Olympic stories we have come across, alas since time is short, we will skip details we might otherwise try to go further into.

*-Turkey (4-1) has been an unexpected success at the 2012 London Olympics in women's basketball as the squad won over Croatia 70-65 today with 14 points from Quanitra Hollingsworth, who is an American who obtained Turkish citizenship to compete for Turkey's national team. Nevriye Yilmaz added nine rebounds and Birsel Vardarli (pictured top with her infant child) and Isil Alben added three assists. The only loss for Turkey came against the United States, which is the overwhelming favorite to win gold.

*-Turkey (2-3) was not able to come through in women's volleyball in spite of high expectations, given that the team ranked eighth in the world. The top-ranked United States team (5-0)  won in straight sets (25-27, 16-25, 19-25) with Destinee Hooker providing 17 spikes for the Americans. In defeat, Turkish star Nesilhan Darnel, the country's flag-bearer put forth a valiant effort; Turkey lead 13-7 in the first set before a major rally from the American side.

*-The 2012 London Olympics are the first ones in which female athletes from all 204 nations and territories are competing and that includes every Islamic country competing. One of those athletes is Maryam Arzouqi, 25 (pictured center), of Kuwait who learned about through a sports blog related to Muslim female athletes. Arzouqi who competes while wearing the hijab finished 44th in the 50-m rifle shoot, which was won by American Jamie Lynn Gray. The Kuwaiti college student also finished 28th in the 10-m rifle, an event that was won by Sylwia Bogacka of Poland.

*-Armenia had a very successful day in the United Kingdom as the former Soviet Republic won a silver medal in men's wrestling (Arsan Julfalakyan); in women's sports, Hripsime Khurshudyan (pictured below), who actually does not boast the longest name so far at the games (that distinction appears to belong to an Iranian wrestler) won a bronze medal in women's weight-lifting. Zhou Lulu (gold, China) and Tatiana Kashirina (silver, Russia) finished ahead of her.

http://www.muslimwomeninsports.blogspot.com

http://www.usavolleyball.org

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

http://www.armenianlife.com

Olympic Chat on Twitter- Losing in Soccer the Hard Way

We learned many things tonight on Twitter between the hours of 19:00-20:00 (New York time), some of which actually spoiled tonight's NBC coverage of the 2012 London Olympics tonight (we are the last people in the world to see the games here on the east coast, except for those who reside in Hawaii which is six hours behind the east coast).

We also encountered a fervent Greek nationalist who was boasting of how Greece has proven its vast athletic superiority over the whole world with two bronze medals, including one from Ilias Iliadis in men's judo (90-kg); this would have been fine with us except the flag-waving fanatic had to mention that it was two more than Turkey had won (no medals so far for my father's country).

Then, this person had to add that Turkey lost to the United States, my native country by a 89-58 margin in women's basketball. Turkey did prevail handily over China by an 82-55 margin in the team's next game, and Greece lost to Team America in the exact same sport by a 89-58 margin in Riga, Latvia, on July 3, 2009.

Of course, we have nothing against Greeks or Greek-Americans in general, but there are jingoists who unfortunately soil the Olympic spirit.

As for the tweets we read tonight, some interesting things were discussed; here are six of them:

1) @TheSun_Football: "BREAKING NEWS: Great Britain lose to South Korea 5-4 on penalties at Olympic football quarter-final stage (The image above is of English soccer legend Frank Lampard, but it is not from today's game)."

2) @Current:  "Sex, training and winning the gold: @jonnymoseley reflects of the life of an Olympian (this is actually in reference to Jonny Moseley, an American skier who fared well at the 1996 Nagano Winter Olympics)

3) @Olympic: "Total Gold Count: USA with 26, China with 25, GBR with 14."

4) @SpencerGeorgeM: "Just got really emotional watching the recap of how Jessica Ennis won the Gold. Huge congratulations to her. Once again proud to be British." (Ennis is pictured in the center).

5) Chet_Cannon: "You deserve a tardy slip @joejones. Wow @Aly_Raisman and the women gymnasts are incredible....GO USA!" (Aly Raisman is part of the Fab Five gold-medal winning USA women's gymnastics team; she is pictured below).

6) @HuffPostComedy: "If you're competing in the #Olympics you probably have no life."


http://www.jessicaennis.net

http://www.usagym.org/

http://www.haaretz.com

http://www.olympicair.com

http://www.turkishairlines.com

Turkey Loses to USA in Women's Basketball; Team Rebounds Against China

There were high hopes amongst those watching the game live at midnight in Istanbul that Team Turkey would pull off an amazing upset against the top-ranked American team with some of the best women's basketball players in the world.

But, it was not to be as Turkey fell to the United States by a 89-58 score with 18 points coming from Angel McCoughtry, who was a stand-out with the Louisville Cardinals in women's college basketball.

Today, it was a different story for Turkey, which also has a women's volleyball team that won over South Korea on Friday, at the 2012 London Olympics on the court.

Nevriye Yilmaz (pictured) scored 16 points and her unlikely teammate Quanitra Hollingsworth, an American who played for the VCU Rams in college and gained Turkish citizenship to join the team grabbed 11 rebounds, as Turkey defeated China 82-55 with a surprisingly large margin of victory.

Turkey (3-1) will next face Croatia (1-3) in a pivotal game on Sunday.

http://www.tbf.org.tr

Olympic Stories- Beth Tweedle of Great Britain

The age of 27 is a prime age for many athletes, including those who play basketball, baseball or soccer. But, that is not the case for women's gymnastics as American gymnast Alicia Sacramone, 24, and Nastia Liukin, 22, are likely finished with the sport after not qualifying for the U.S.A women's gymnastics team, which won gold at 2012 London Olympics.

Enter Beth Tweedle. The British/English gymnast reportedly wanted to hang in to compete at the Olympics in her home country. Tweedle is a three-time world champion on bars and the 2009 world champion on floor exercise. She is the most recognized British gymnast in her history, and one of the most famous female athletes in the entire United Kingdom.

Yesterday, NBC, which is televising the Olympics in the United States, focused solely on Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman, the two Americans vying for gold, which Douglas received as well as their two Russian competitors Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina, who won silver and bronze respectively.

NBC did not even show one event with Tweedle, who finished an impressive sixth in the all-around competition with a 170.495.

On Monday, Tweedle seemingly has a respectable shot at winning an individual apparatus medal on the bars, her specialty. And, according "The Daily Mail," an English newspaper, gymnastics icon Olga Korbut thinks Tweedle has an outstanding shot at winning gold on bars.

http://www.bethtweedle.com

Olympic Stories- Romanian Gymnastics Veteran Catalina Ponor

Team Romania did not repeat their 2004 Athens Olympics' feat, which was winning a team gold medal in women's gymnastics. But, thanks to the efforts of Catalina Ponor, 24 (she turns 25 on Aug. 20, shortly after the games finish) the team will leave London with a team bronze medal in the sport.

Along with British gymnast Beth Tweedle, 27, Ponor, is one of the oldest Olympic gymnasts competing in London and her achievement is made more remarkable because she completely missed out on the 2008 Beijing Olympics due to injuries, in fact, four years ago, she was actually retired from the sport.

But, in early 2011, she back to train with Ocatavian Balu, who is considered to be one of the best gymnastics coaches in the world. Ponor had a major setback along the way as she was hospitalized as she underwent a medical procedure to correct a heart defect in August of 2011.

Romania's chances of winning gold in the team competition, which ultimately went to Team America, were diminished from because of an injury to one of the team's key gymnasts Larisa Ioardache, 16. But, along with fellow gymnastics veterans Sandra Izbasa, 22, and Diana Chelaru, 18, the team pulled together for a bronze medal.

Russia got the silver, and the defending Olympic champion Chinese team actually finished fourth.

Ponor's honors also include winning four European titles on balance beam 2004-06 and again this year. Ponor hails from the Black Sea port city of Constanta.

http://www.thecouchgymnast.com

http://www.romaniatourism.com

Turkey Versus USA Women's Basketball Preview

Though we have not checked the Las Vegas odds, Team Turkey will face Team USA at the 2012 London Olympics as a decisive underdog in a game that is crucial for both teams; assuredly if Turkey pulls of the upset, it would likely be the greatest Olympic moment for the country since weightlifting legend Naim Suleymanoglu lifted for gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Ironically, viewers in Philadelphia, who can watch the game live at 5:00 p.m, will have advantages of television spectators in Istanbul as the game will air at midnight since the tip-off will be at the unusually late hour of 10:00 p.m. local time in England.

Team USA beat Team Turkey by 19 points in a pre-Olympic friendly in Istanbul earlier this summer. Many American players, including stand-out Diana Taurasi (pictured bottom), a star at the University of Connecticut and in the WNBA, have played professionally in Turkey.

Interestingly enough, there is actually one American Quanitra Hollingsworth* (pictured top), who played college basketball for the VCU Rams, who is playing center for Turkey. Hollingsworth obtained Turkish citizenship earlier this year to play for Turkey's national team.

Turkey has defeated Angola 72-50 and the Czech Republic 61-57, which means both teams head into the game undefeated at 2-0.

Hollingsworth is not the only Turkish team player who was born outside Turkey. Esmeral Tuncluer (pictured middle), reported to be the team's strongest shooter, was born in the Netherlands to Turkish parents. Neriye Yilmaz, one of Turkey's top forwards who has WNBA experience, was born in Bulgaria, which until 25 years ago had a significant Turkish minority.

http://www.usabasketball.com

http://www.womenshoops.wordpress.com

http://ww.tbf.org.tr/

*- Her name is not spelled correctly in the tags

Olympics Stories- Judo Athlete Wins First Medal for Uzbekistan

Rishod Sobirov, 25, won a bronze medal for the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan on Saturday in the 60-kg judo competition. It was the first medal of the 2012 London Olympics for Uzbekistan.

Many felt that Sobirov, the two-time defending world champion, would win gold, but he was upset in the semi-finals by Arsen Galstya,23, of Russia who dedicated his medal to the 171 people who died recently in massive floods that affected southern Russia.

Galstya also defeated Hiroaki Hiraoka of Japan, who had won silver at the last world championships for the sport, which were held in Paris.

Many psychologists have said that bronze medal winners are happier than those who go back to (in Sobirov's case) Tashkent because a bronze-winner feels he has gotten something out of the games while a silver-winner feels disappointed because he could have won gold.

This appears to be the case with the Japanese silver-medalist as he told journalists he was hoping to go back to his country with gold.

http://www.uzbekistan.org

http://www.uzairways.com

http://www.psychologytoday.com