Potluck Quote of the Day/Night (6 of 10): George Carlin on an Olympic Sport

Before we start with our blog entry for tonight, we would like to congratulate Turkish free-style wrestler Soner Demirtas for beating out an opponent from Kazakhstan with a long, difficult name to win bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics; British boxer Joe Joyce won his bout over Ivan Dychok, also from Kazakhstan, to win bronze for his country. We promise that we have nothing against Kazakhstan.

Earlier tonight, we read Chapter 8 of the Chuck Palahniuk novel "Invisible Monsters Remix" at a local Waffle House (so you figured out we don't live in New York). I thought of tweeting Mr. Palahniuk about the experience, but we somehow doubt he would care that much.

While putting this together, we briefly listened to WXDU, the college-run radio station for Duke University in Durham, NC, put as cool as "The Soul Kontrol Show with DJ Miz" is, it is ultimately challenging for a middle-aged white man to blog while listening to hip hop......to be fair, we were also listening to the BBC World Service; they were not gloating about Joe Joyce.

By the time you read his, Zeynep Tufekci will likely have already been interviewed on NPR's "Morning Edition," scheduled for broadcast on Saturday morning, about cultural trends resulting from America's presidential election. It should perhaps be noted that like Tufekci I am of Turkish heritage, but we admire her work on an objective level. Hopefully, one or two of you believe that.

Earlier tonight, 2012 American Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney had a cameo on the sitcom "Superstore," but we missed it as to be completely honest with you we are suffering from Olympics fatigue.

But, we will congratulate American swimmer Katie Ledecky for winning four gold medals and one silver medal in Rio, as she has now won more gold medals than Kazakhstan, which will likely leave Brazil with three gold medals. Ok, so we like making fun of Kazakhstan.

At long last, here is our quip from the late stand-up comic George Carlin:

"Swimming is not a sport. Swimming is a way to keep from drowning."

Ok, so now I guess we need to apologize to Katie Ledecky as well........good luck at Stanford, kid!

http://www.wxdu.org/

https://www.duke.edu/

http://chuckpalahniuk.net/

http://www.mckaylamaroney.com/

http://technosociology.org/ (Zeynep Tufekci's web site)

http://georgecarlin.com/

NCAA March Madness by the Numbers: Who is Levelle Moton?

Today, we are focusing on three teams from the 919 area code, which includes Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. There are four teams from this area code in the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness. The teams include Duke, UNC, North Carolina State and North Carolina Central (Like Duke, the school is in Durham, NC). All of the images above are in reference to three of those teams; alas we don't have room for an NC State image, but we wish the Wolfpack well as they face the St. Louis Billikens.

Here are some numerical facts for the tourney, for more numerical facts, go to our sister blog http://politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com/

Here we go:

1) 20: Number of points scored by Jabari Parker of Duke against NC State in ACC semi-final tournament game in Greensboro, NC (Parker is pictured top)

2) 160-Number of miles between 16-seed Coastal Carolina from Conway, SC (Myrtle Beach) to Raleigh, NC, where they will meet top-seeded University of Virginia tomorrow.

3) 25- Number of games won by two-seeded Michigan Wolverines, the team faces the 15-seeded Wofford Terriers (Spartanburg, SC), today.

4) 11- Number of years Roy Williams has coached at UNC (The Tar Heels' mascot Rameses is pictured center)

5) 33- Number worn by Paris Maragkos, from Greece, for the George Washington University Colonials, the D.C-based school, a nine-seed, plays Memphis in the NCAA Tournament. GWU is one of six Atlantic-10 school in the tourney.

6) 71- Number of points scored by N.C. Central in the MEAC final vs. Morgan St (Baltimore, Md.) played in Norfolk, Va. The N.C. Central Eagles are coached by Levelle Moton (pictured bottom)

7) 26- Number of years it's been since Tulsa coach Danny Manning took Kansas to an NCAA title in 1988; Tulsa, a 13-seed, plays UCLA in the first round. The Bruins' coach Steve Alford, who played for the Indiana Hoosiers, was also a college hoops star.

8) 31- Number of games won by Stephen F. Austin University (Nacaogdoches, Tex.); the Lumberjacks, a 12-seed, play the 5-seed VCU Rams (Richmond, Va) in the big dance.

9) 4-Number of games Ivy League champs Harvard, a 12-seed, has lost; they are currently playing the Cincinnati Bearcats right now. Harvard is seeking second consecutive upset in the tourney; they surprised New Mexico, then coached by Steve Alford, last year in the first round.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

http://nccueaglepride.com/splash.aspx?id=splash_70