(10 for 10; 2nd Entry): Our Most Popular Blog Entries: Silly Dog Photo to Fill Space

Greetings to our blog readers in Guatemala, Slovakia, and Saudi Arabia.........whoops, sorry about the hot dog image!

In our ten years of blogging, we have often been surprised and some times stunned by which entries prove to be more popular than others. When I posted an entry about hot dogs, as in two dogs dressed like hot dogs (center image), on August 18, 2009, from a small town library in North Carolina, I never could have imagined that it would yield more hits than any entry we posted before or since.

Because our blog is, for some reason, popular in Russia and Ukraine, I suppose it's not shocking that our blog entry with a quote from the legendary gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya, (top image) who competed for the Soviet Union on her native Belarus, became popular, but it's still surprising that it got over 5,000 hits.

Another popular entry with a quote from a celebrity was one from Feb. 9, 2009, featuring reality tv show Heidi Montag ("The Hills") who endorsed John McCain for president, and that apparently wasn't enough for the Republican Arizona senator to get enough votes to win over Barack Obama.

Our second most popular entry featured Mr. Potato Head (pict. bottom), which still seems popular almost five years after its posting as it inches towards the 20,000-hit mark.

Here are our most six most popular blog entries, with links to those entries (alas some photos from the entries have been removed from the net):

1. Silly Photo to Fill Space-Hot Dogs. Aug. 18,2009. 21,464 hits.

2. Bonus Silly Photo to Fill Space-Mr. Potato Head. Dec. 10, 2010. 19,985 hits
http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2010/12/bonus-silly-photo-to-fill-space-mr.html

3. PSA-Don't Drink and Drive. May 27, 2010. 13,240 hits.

4. Quote of the Day: Heidi Montag. Feb. 9, 2009. 7,928 hits.

5. Quote of the Day: Svetlana Boginskaya. April 19, 2012. 5,250 hits
http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2012/04/quote-of-dayweek-svetlana-boginskaya.html

6. Political Confusion Test (21 of 21)_ The Oak Ridge Boys vs. The Village People. Aug. 14, 2009. 5,142 hits

http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2009/08/political-confusion-test-21-of-21.html

Quote of the Day/Week- Svetlana Boginskaya

For those of unfamiliar with the blog, we really enjoy linking one entry to another. And, we also love irony. So, what is better than following a quote from Ronald Reagan, the most fervent anti-communist president in American history, with a quote from the Belarusian gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya, 39, who once competed for the Soviet Union.

Ironically, Boginskaya now lives in Houston.

The gymnast known as "The Belarusian Swan" is one of three great female gymnasts from Belarus, along with Olga Korbut and Nelli Kim.

Boginskaya won an individual gold medal on vault in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and she helped her teams win team gold medal at the 1988 games and also at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

She surprised the gymnastics world with a very impressive comeback in 1995, and she wound up competing for Belarus at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, which became famous for the United Team dubbed "The Magnificent Seven," which featured Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu. Boginskaya retired for good in 1987, at the age of 24, which is older than when most Olympic gymnasts retire.

Her quote is quite 'ironic' given that Boginskaya's flamboyant floor routines were among the most startling in the gymnastics sport:

"I don't think many people will remember me when I retire."

This is part of our series on international athletes who won gold or silver medals in Summer Olympics past as the world is gradually getting ready for the 2012 London Olympics.

Kudos to VCU

Since I went to a relatively small school in Virginia, Radford University, I want to personally congratulate the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams from Richmond, Va., the unlikeliest team to make it to the NCAA men's basketball Final Four in Houston next week.

The Rams pulled a huge 71-61 upset over top-seed Kansas yesterday, amazing everyone in the college basketball universe. The Rams are coached by Shaka Smart, who is only 33. They were helped by 26 points from Jamie Skeen, a senior Wake Forest transfer from Charlotte, NC.

VCU also has a player from my hometown of Roanoke, Va., in Troy Daniels who is an alumnus of William Fleming High School.

We were also hoping the University of North Carolina would join them, but the Tarheels fell to the University of Kentucky by a score of 76-69. The Wildcats won the game in large part because of 22 points from their star player Brandon Knight.

Ironically, the voice of the Tarheels is named Woody Durham (for those of you in Kazakhstan, Durham, NC, is where Duke University is located is UNC's main athletic rival). As it turns out, Woody Durham, 68, was also a childhood friend of Duke's announcer Bob Harris as both are from the Burlington, NC-area which is close to both campuses.

And, speaking of Kazakhstan, they lost a road Euro Cup qualifying game to Germany by a 4-0 score over the weekend. The Germans got two goals each from Miroslav Klose and Thomas Mueller. But, Zhambyl Kukeyev almost scored for the Kazaks in the 71st minute of play.

I must profess that soccer geography is a bit strange as Kazakhstan is not one of the 47 countries in Europe. Nor are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Israel, yet all are competing for slots in the 2012 Euro Cup which will be held in France this summer.

According to NPR, only one of the 47 European countries executed people last year, and that was Belarus, which is run by a ruthless dictator named Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus executed two people last year.

As a life-long death penalty opponent, I regret that the United States of America ranks fifth in the world in executions.

Ironically, Turkey, my late father's home country, which has often been criticized for human rights abuses by Amnesty International outlawed capital punishment well over a decade ago.

The other two teams to reach the men's final four are Butler University, another underdog which also made the semis last year, and the University of Connecticut.

For those who feel politics and sports don't mix, we fully understand. But, the other side (well, right-wingers) seem to have no problems mixing up the two as one can plainly see an NRA billboard at Memorial Stadium where the minor league Salem Red Sox play home games in Salem, Va., and a similar billboard can be found at the Lynchburg Hillcats' stadium as well. So, there ya' go!