March Madness Finale: NCAA Tourney Teams with Women's Gymnastics Programs

We conclude our five entries dedicated to the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness, with a look at ten schools who made the Big Dance that also happen to have women's gymnastics programs. In total, 30 schools of the men's basketball field have women's gymnastics team. Of the ten teams listed here, only three are still in the tournament:

1) Florida Gators * (pictured top: Florida gymnast Kytra Hunter. Amazingly enough, the Gators are ranked number one in both sports)

2) Nebraska Cornhuskers (The team's mascot Lil' Red is pictured center)

3) Western Michigan Broncos ^ (We couldn't find an image we could use of the basketball team, so we went with an image of the Broncos' hockey goalie Lukas Hafner instead).

4) Ohio State Buckeyes. ^

5) Arizona State Sun Devils

6) UNC Tar Heels

7) Michigan State Spartans *^

8) Michigan Wolverines *^

9) Oklahoma Sooners (The Sooners have a solid chance of winning the NCAAs in gymnastics)

10) North Carolina State Wolfpack.

*-Teams still in the NCAA Tournament

^- Teams that also have men's hockey programs

http://www.collegegymfans.com

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

Feline Nicknames and Mascots Amongst College Basketball Teams

Zappa the Family Cat lives in New Haven, Conn., but he roots for the Princeton Tigers instead of the Yale Bulldogs because of the Tigers' nickname (actually, unlike ESPN, we are not based in Connecticut).

Here is a look at ten schools with feline nicknames and the names of the mascots, not all of these teams made the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

1) Pittsburgh Panthers. Roz the Panther*

2) Auburn Tigers. Audie the Tiger (pictured top)

3) BYU Cougars. Cosmo the Cougar (pictured center)*

4) Cincinnati Bearcats. (pictured bottom)

5) Villanova Wildcats. Will D. Cat.

6) High Point Panthers. Prowler the Panther.^

7) Princeton Tigers.

8) Kentucky Wildcats. Blue the Wildcat*

9) Arizona Wildcats. Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat.*

10) Houston Cougars. Shasta the Cougar.

*-Teams which made the NCAA Tournament

^-Teams which made the NIT
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/mens-tournament/

NCAA Nicknames: Schools with Odd Nicknames

The University of  California Santa Cruz Banana Slugs were our first choice, but they are apparently a Division 3 school. Here are ten schools with strange nicknames. Eight of them made the NCAA Tournament; one of them made the NIT:

1) Stephen F. Lumberjacks. Nacogdoches, Tex. Soutland Conference. (pictured top, the team plays VCU tonight)

2) Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Tulsa, Okla. Conference USA (pictured center with star player James Woodard. The team is coached by '80s college basketball great Danny Manning. They play UCLA today)

3) San Diego State Aztecs. San Diego, Calif. Mountain West Conference (pictured bottom, the school won over New Mexico State last night. These are the team's two mascots).

4) Iowa State Cyclones. Ames, Iowa. Big 12. The Team plays North Carolina Central tonight.

5) Wichita State Shockers. Wichita, Kan. Missouri Valley Conference. The Shockers are undefeated (34-0) and a one-seed; they play the 16-seed Cal Poly Mustangs today.

6) UL-Lafayette Rajun Cajun. Lafayette, La. Sun Belt Conference. The team plays the 3-seed Creighton Bluejays this afternoon.

7) UC-Irvine Anteaters. Irvine, Calif. Big West Conference. The team lost to the SMU Mustangs in the NIT.

8) Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Richmond, Ky. Ohio Valley Conference. The 15-seeed plays the Kansas Jayhawks this afternoon.

9) Providence Friars. Providence, R.I., Big East. The 11-seed plays traditional powerhouse UNC tonight.

10) Presbyterian College Blue Hose. Clinton, SC. Big South.  The team had a losing record this year.


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

http://bleacherreport.com/

http://www.sportingnews.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

Early NCAA Tournament Tweets: Chuck Schumer Differs with the Prez

Here are some early tweets from last night when Tennessee edged Iowa in a preliminary game in the NCAA Tournament; today is expected to be the least productive day in offices across the country. And, given that Harvard is playing Cincinnati in the first round of action this afternoon, we have to wonder how many brain surgeries are being postponed.

Here are nine tweets from between 11:00 p.m.-midnight last night (eastern time):

1) Dallas Morning News: What you need to know to jump on Baylor bandwagon (top image, Baylor is playing Nebraska in the first round)

2) Iowa Basketball: Bench points Iowa 35 Tennessee 4 (but as we said the Vols won the game; they face UMass next on Friday)

3) Wolfpack Wire" Mark Gottffried says "I Like Our Spirit"

4) Yes Weekly: Traffic stopped on I-40 at exit 208, the farmer's market (this incident happened in Greensboro, we thought we'd put in one tweet off topic)

5) ESPNU: Cal Poly is only the 2nd team to an NCAA Tournament game after losing 19 games during the season (pictured bottom)

6) Hank Domin (he works for Syracuse University's athletic department): Sen. Chuck Schumer to Barack Obama: Sorry, but the Syracuse basketball team will win NCAA Tournament (Schumer is pictured center. Like Obama, he is a Democrat. Schumer represent New York state in the U.S. Senate. Obama picked Michigan State to win NCAAs)

7) Mark Peterson: One of the best days of the year is tomorrow (he is referring to today)

8) Kentucky Basketball: Who remembers when Tayshaun (Tayshaun Prince) going for 41 the last time we were in St. Louis. (T.Prince now plays for the Detroit Pistons)

9) NDSU Athletics: Doug Gottlieb with the assist to NDSU dunk master TrayVonn Wright (NDSU refers to North Dakota State University, the team plays Oklahoma today)

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

College Gymnastics Lists (3 of 4): Gymnasts from the Southeastern Conference (SEC)

Only three of 14 Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities made into the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, but there are four conference schools (Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU) which could make it to the Super Six women's gymnastics championships in Birmingham, Ala., in April. Interestingly enough, the Florida Gators are ranked number one in both men's basketball and women's gymnastics (the gym Gators are in fact defending NCAA champs as well). Bridget Sloan was named SEC Gymnast of the Week.

Here are 10 gymnasts from the SEC, including one Gator, one Gym Dawg and one Wildcat, who are pictured above:

1) Alaina Johnson. Florida. Senior (pictured top)

2) Cat Hires, Georgia. Senior (pictured center)

3) Kenzie Hedges, Kentucky. Junior (pictured bottom)

4) Lauren Beers. Alabama. Sophomore.

5) Chelsea Davis, Georgia. Junior

6) Amanda Wellick. Arkansas. Freshman.

7) Kaleigh Dickson. LSU. Senior.

8) Lexus Demers. Auburn. Sophomore (yes, she does share her name with a car)

9) Bridgette Caquatto. Florida. Sophomore.

10) Miranda Eubank. Missouri. Sophomore.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/

Vintage Harvey Comics Covers- Hot Stuff #100

While we are recovering from the NCAA basketball tournament losses for Georgetown, UNC, Harvard, Colorado and well so many teams we were rooting for, we thought we'd post this vintage Harvey Comics cover for "Hot Stuff," issue #100. I believe I have a copy of this comic book, but alas it is not in good condition. We believe this particular issue came out in 1980.
Free Comic Book Day which will celebrated at places like Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC, will be on Saturday, May 4th.

chapelhillcomics.com

More College Nicknames- Bulldogs, Purple Aces and Explorers

We should point out that Tyrone Garland (pictured bottom) is actually in the NCAA tournament even though the Virginia Tech Hokies, the team I grew up with, is not. This is because Garland transferred to La Salle, the Philadelphia school in the A-10 won their play-in game over Boise State. Today, the La Salle Explorers face Kansas State in Kansas City, Mo, which is a mere two hours away from Manhattan, Ks., which is the home of the Kansas State Wildcats.


Here is our look at this and other college school nicknames:


More Smart Schools:

1. Radford University Highlanders (Va., Big South)#
 2. UCLA Bruins (Cal; Pac 12_ pictured top)*
3. Cal Poly Mustangs (Cal; Big West)
4. UNC Tarheels (NC, ACC)*

More Angry Birds:

5. Ball State Cardinals (Ind.; Mid America)
6. Elon Phoenix (NC, Big South)
7. Southern Utah Thunderbirds (Utah, Big Sky)
8. Fla Gulf Coast Eagles (Fla; Atlantic Sun)*

Canines and Wolves:

9. Gonzaga Bulldogs (Wash; WCC)*
10. Washington Huskies (Wash.; Pac-12)
11. UM-Baltimore Retrievers (Md., America East)
12. Michigan Wolverines (Mich., Big 10-pictured center)*

Best of the Rest:

13. Cal State Northridge Matadors (Cal.; Big West)
14. Cleveland State Vikings (Ohio; Horizon)
15. La Salle Explorers (Pa., A-10)*
16. Evansville Purple Aces (Ind., Missouri Valley)
17. Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos (Mo., Summit)

#- Radford is my alma mater, so I put it in as a smart school as a bit of a joke. The New Jersey Institte of Technology which is unquestionably a smart school has the same nickname.


*- Teams which are in the NCAA 68-team field

http://www.goexplorers.com

NCAA Nicknames_ Birds and Cats

Thanks to those of you in Latvia who are checking us out. Today is the start of the NCAA division one men's basketball tournament, and it is traditionally the day in America when the least amount of work gets done, which means Dilbert may take a long break to check out the score of the Davidson-Marquette game.

Here is a look at various NCAA division one team nicknames; most of these schools did not actually make the 68-team field.

Smart Schools

1. Harvard Crimson (Mass.; Ivy League, pictured top-the team's mascot is John Harvard)#^
2. Bucknell Bison (Pa; Patriot League)#
3. Stanford Cardinal (Calif.; Pac-12)*
4.Wake Forest Demon Deacons (NC; ACC)
5. VCU Rams (Va.; A-10)# @

Felines

6. Kentucky Wildcats (Ky;SEC)*
7. Clemson Tigers (SC, ACC)
8. BYU Cougars (Utah, WCC) *

9. Cincinnati Bearcats (Ohio. Big East, pictured center)*@
10. High Point Panthers (NC; Big South)
11. South Alabama Jaguars (Fla.; Sunbelt)

Angry Birds

12. South Carolina Gamecocks (SC; SEC) @
13. Oregon Ducks (Ore.; Pac-12, pictured bottom)*
14. UNC-Wilmington Seahawks (NC; Colonial)

15.Virginia Tech Hokies (Va; ACC) @
16. Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners (Texas, WAC)
17. Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (Ohio, Mid-America)^


#-Schools which are in NCAA Tournament
*-Schools with Div. I women's gymnastics programs
^-Schools with Div. I men's hockey programs
@-Schools that were once in the now defunct Metro Conference

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to everyone, and I also want to wish a very special happy birthday to my sister Zeynep Akili (pse)* who now resides in Capetown, South Africa,** and kudos to her alma mater Lehigh University*** for pulling a tremendous upset over Duke last night in the NCAA tournament. I am not as stunned as some people that the Mountain Hawks (now 27-7) beat the Blue Devils, as they had essentially the same record, but yes, I had presumed Duke would have hit a three-pointer in the last minutes of the game to win it, but that never happened.

Hopefully, at least one person from Ireland will visit out blog today. And, if I actually had an Irish greyhound perhaps I would get at least one date with a woman who is as gorgeous as the Swedish supermodel Vendela, who still looks quite attractive at 45.

But, we must get going or as the late Dr. Seuss would put it:

"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to great places!
You're off and away!"

*Zeynep, a common Turkish name for girls is not my sister's real name; akili is the Turkish word for smart.

**-'Zeynep' does not actually reside on the African continent.

***-She did not go to Lehigh, but her SAT scores would have allowed her to go there (Lehigh is considered a smart school) or pretty much any college she may have been inclined to study at!

My NCAA Brackets....I'm Picking Those Pesky Wildcats

I haven't seen what every single one of my friends is projecting for the NCAA final, but I am inclined to agree with both President Barack Obama and ESPN college basketball commentator Dick Vitale that Kentucky and North Carolina will meet for the championship game.

But, even though I am a Democrat who lives in North Carolina and a Tarheels fan (ok, I'm a band-wagoner_Virginia Tech is the team I have been rooting for 95-percent of my life), I have to agree with Vitale that the Kentucky Wildcats will prevail.

Assuredly, if this does come true, actress Ashley Judd, an unabashed Wildcats fan and UK alumnus will be very happy.

In my Final Four, I am also projecting Florida State to win the east region, Michigan State to win the west region, to complete the brackets.

The four teams I have in the Elite 8 are Duke (South; losing to Kentucky), Missouri (West; losing to Michigan State), Kansas (Midwest; losing to UNC) and Syracuse (East; losing to FSU).

In the first round of games which start tomorrow, I am picking the following upsets: In the south, I am picking Colorado (#11) to upset UNLV (#6); in the west, I like Davidson (#13) over Louisville (#4); in the east, I like Harvard (#12) over Vanderbilt (#5) and lastly, in a tough call, in the west, I am going with North Carolina State (#11) over San Diego State (#6).

In addition, I am picking one nine-seed St.Louis to beat an eight-seed Memphis, in the west. And, conversely, I like the ten-seed West Virginia over seven-seed Gonzaga (east region) and ten-seed Purdue over seven-seed St. Mary's (midwest region).

SIDEBAR: Quite a few of the 68 schools in the tournament (well, technically it is now 66 as of this writing), have nationally-ranked teams in other sports. There are four tournament schools with Top-20 men's hockey teams (Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Harvard). Similarly, there are seven schools with Top-25 women's gymnastics teams (Florida, Alabama, Ohio State, Missouri, North Carolina State, Michigan and Kentucky). In addition, there are four NCAA tournament teams with top-20 teams in women's water polo (San Diego State, Michigan, Indiana and Long Beach State).

SIDEBAR 2: We want to congratulate Lori Anne Madison, age 6, of Woodbridge, Va., for being the youngest person ever to reach the finals of the National Spelling Bee. For her sake, we hope she isn't asked how to spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (yes, that "Mary Poppins" term is now in the dictionary!...we believe).

Colleges Nicknames- Wild, Wild Horses

Today, we conclude our looks at the nicknames of 96 different colleges, most of which will be going to post-season play in a sport besides college basketball (I'm making fun of an ad for the NCAA which shows most student athletes going on to become chemists instead of becoming NBA superstars).

The three schools pictured here are the Boise State Broncos from Idaho, which have a highly touted football and women's gymnastics program, the Bucknell Bison from Lewisburg, Pa., which has a competive wrestling team and one of the very few water polo teams on the east coast, and the Iowa Hawkeyes, from the Big Ten.

In addition to Boise State, there are two other teams from the Mountain West Conference, including the San Diego State Aztecs, which is nationally ranked and a virtually certainty for a NCAA bid in men's basketball, and the Colorado State Rams, which are predicted to get an at-large bid.

Here are the teams, all of which are related to horses, knights, cowboys/cowgirls and Native Americans:

1. Army Black Knights, Patriot, West Point, NY.

2. Boise State Broncos, Mountain West, Boise, Idaho

3. Bucknell Bison, Patriot, Lewisburg, Pa.

4. Colorado State Rams, Mountain West, Fort Collins, Colo.

5. Iowa Hawkeyes, Big 10, Iowa City, Iowa

6. Illinois Fightin' Illini, Big 10, Champaign, Ill.

7. Oklahoma State Cowboys*, Big 12, Stillwater, Okl.

8. San Diego State Aztecs, Mountain West, San Diego, Calif.

9. Southern Methodist University Mustangs, C-USA, Dallas, Tex.

10. UNC-Greensboro Spartans, Southern Conference, Greensboro, NC

11. University of Southern California Trojans, Pac-12, Los Angeles, Calif.

12. Utah Utes, Pac-12, Salt Lake City, Utah.

*-Oklahoma State's women's basketball team is nicknamed Cowgirls

CollegesNicknames- The Felines

Today's list features schools with feline nicknames; they include Princeton University, Montana State and Vermont (all three are pictured here).

One team that is on this list, the Kentucky Wildcats are virtually assured of a number-one seed in the NCAA torunament.

Since we like to make fun of Provo, Utah (it is presumably the most politically conservative place in America), we thought we'd include the Brigham Young Cougars as a goodwill gesture.

Three of these schools, Penn State, Pitt and Lafayette are in Pennsylvania.

Here are the schools:

1. BYU Cougars, West Coast Conference, Provo, Utah

2. Clemson Tigers, ACC, Clemson, SC

3. Columbia Lions, Ivy, New York, New York

4. High Point University Panthers, Big South, High Point, NC

5. Idaho State Bengals, Big Sky, Pocatello, Ida.

6. Kentucky Wildcats, SEC, Lexington, Ky.

7. Lafayette Leopards, Patriot, Easton, Pa.

8. Montana State Bobcats, Big Sky, Bozeman, Mont.

9. Penn State Nittany Lions, Big Ten, State College, Pa.

10. Pitt Panthers, Big East, Pittsburgh, Pa.

11. Priceton Tigers, Ivy, Princeton, NJ

12. Vermont Catamounts, America East, Burlington, Vt.

College Schools Nicknames- Retro Metro

Yes, there was once a college basketball conference called the Metro Conference, but it ceased to exist in the mid-1990s. But, today we remember the conference with its member schools (not all were in the Metro at the same time).

Since we are limiting these lists to 12 schools, we had to omit the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets, the first Metro team to defect to the ACC in 1979.

Four of these schools, Louisville, Memphis (the school was called Memphis State in its Metro days), Cincinnati and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) have reached the Final Four in men's basketball, while Louisville has won two NCAA titles in the sport. VCU has also qualified for this year's NCAA tournament by winning their conference tournament.

Here is the list of Metro Conference schools with their present conferences (note about the image, Virginia Tech has a club hockey team, not a NCAA team in the sport):


1. Cincinnati Bearcats. Big East. Cincinnati, Ohio.

2. Florida State Seminoles. ACC. Tallahassee, Fla.

3. Louisville Cardinals. Big East. Louisville, Ky.

4. Mephis Tigers. C-USA. Memphis, Tenn.

5. Saint Louis Billikens. Atlantic-10. St. Louis, Mo.

6. South Carolina Gamecocks. SEC. Columbia, SC.

7. South Florida Bulls. Big East. Tampa, Fla.

8. Southern Missippi Golden Eagles. C-USA. Hattiesburg, Miss.

9. Tulane Green Wave. C-USA. New Orleans, La.

10. UNC Charlotte '49ers. Atlantic-10. Charlotte, NC

11. VCU Rams. Colonial Athletic. Richmond, Va.

12. Virginia Tech Hokies. ACC. Blacksburg, Va.

NCAA School Nicknames- Angry Birds

Yes, this might be one of the zaniest things we've done in a long time, well perhaps not, but since March Madness is descending upon us (for those of you in Latvia or Bolivia, March is the month when both men's and women's college basketball teams play for championships here in America), we thought we would put together some lists of several colleges with unique nicknames.

Please note, most of these teams are not actually going to playing in the NCAA tournament, which will be announced on Sunday. But, from this list, we can guarantee that the Creighton University Bluejays from Omaha, Neb., will be at least one of the teams representing the Misouri Valley Conference as they won their conference tournament.

Both the Lehigh Mountain Hawks and the LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds play in their respective conference tournament title games tonight. Lehigh will face Bucknell in the Patriot League, while LIU-Brooklyn faces Robert Morris in the Northeast Conference title game.

The logos for the two teams here are for the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks and the Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners.

All of these teams have nicknames pertaining to birds.

Here is the list:

1) Air Force Falcons. Mountain West Conference. Colorado Springs, Colo.

2) Ball State Cardinals. Mid-American Conference. Muncie, Ind.

3) Boston College Eagles. ACC. Boston, Mass.

4) Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. Big South. Conway, SC.

5) Creighton Bluejays. Missouri Valley. Omaha, Neb.

6) Delaware Fighting Blue Hens. Colonial Athletic. Newark, Del.

7) Lehigh Mountain Hawks. Patriot League. Bethlehem, Pa.

8) LIU-Brooklyn. Northeast Conference. Brooklyn, NY.

9) Marquette Golden Eagles. Big East. Milwaukee, Wisc.

10) Oregon Ducks. Pac-12. Eugene, Ore.

11) Texas-San Antonio. Southland. San Antonio, Tex.

12) UNC-Wilmington Seahwaks. Colonial Athletic. Wilmington, NC

For more nicknames with fowls, check out our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

Perhaps, it was fitting something royally screwed up during the first draft of this entry as we were going to talk about computer fiascos I was having this weekend. We had come to a community library here in Bethesda, Maryland*, in the hopes that it would help us and somehow the computers here went kablooowe as well.

In case you were wondering, this image above is of a TRT (Turkish Radio Television) test pattern. We would regularly watch test patterns (I was born in America, but I lived Turkey, my late father's home country, for two years as a child from 1977-1979) before watching reruns of American tv programs like "Flipper," "Uzay 1999" ("Space 1999") and "Zaman Tuneli" ("The Time Tunnel").

Back in those days in Turkey, television only aired at certain times of the day (it was also only in black and white), and all of us kids were excited when "Flipper" came on circa 1:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoons. So my father who had hoped that being in a country where tv was less a part of the culture would mean I would be less excited by watching tv actually found out that I got even more hooked to the boob tube.

Interestinly enough, my favorite show I watched on American tv before and after we lived in Turkey was "Star Trek," and it aired as "Uzay Yolu" (which actually means Space Trek) a few years after we left Turkey.

Speaking of Turkey, we found out that Fenerbahce beat our beloved GalataSaray in Turkish soccer, yesterday. And, we are also not happy that West Virginia, featuring Turkish player Deniz Kilicli, lost to Kentucky by an 81-73 score earlier today. But, we hope Dogus Balbay and his Texas Longhorns teammates fare better when they play the Arizona Wilcats tomorrow in the NCAA men's baskebtall tournament.

CORRECTION: Earlier when we were making fun of radical Christian extremists (we realize not all Christians are this way even if they reside in Lynchburg, Va.), we were mistaken. We had thought that they were predicting the End of the World would be on May 21, 2001.

Since I am not in the know when it comes to far-out views of the world, I had assumed Judgment Day and the End of the World were one in the same. But, as it turns out, Judgment Day is actually 'supposed to happen' on May 21 and the End of the World as we know it will come on October 21.

This whole campaign was started by Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping, and it has even made for discussion board topics on atheist web sites and blogs!

SIDEBAR: The answer to our question about the distance between Logan, Utah, and Manhattan, Kansas, is B; they are exactly 15 hours apart.

*-We are not actually in Bethesda, Maryland, at the moment, but it is my favorite suburb in the United States!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Conan O'Brien

We were initially going to try to figure out the distance between Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind., and Akron University in Akron, Ohio, but yesterday's entry took almost as long as it would get from Duke University's campus in Durham, NC, to Hampton University's campus in Hampton, Va. That trip would take three and a half hours! But, the Blue Devils are playing the Pirates in 'neutral' Charlotte, NC.

Nevertheless, since it is Saint Patrick's Day, we though we'd mention the Notre Dame-Akron game even though it is actually going to be played tomorrow in Chicago at 1:40 p.m., New York time.

We also imagine that they will still be partying hard at Fiddlers Hearth, an Irish pub in South Bend, where the band Driving Irish will perform at 9:00 p.m. local time tonight.

As for the city of Akron, their hometown baseball team the Akron Aeros has their season opener against the Binghamton (NY) Mets at 7:05 p.m. on April 7th.

Tonight's Conan O'Brien Show is a rebroadcast from January that will feature retired talk show host Larry King and snowboarder Shaun White.

O'Brien posted this hilarious tweet on Twitter today:

"St.Patrick's Day is named for St. Patrick, the first guy to feed Guiness to a snake."

Before I head to Bethesda, Md.*, for a pet-sitting trip (I assume the locals are disappointed the Maryland Terps didn't get in, but two area teams the Georgetown Hoyas and the George Mason Patriots did!), I want to wish my dear sister Eva Svensson from Goteborg, Sweden**, a happy 37th birthday. Yes, she is a St.Patty's baby.

We also want to wish the NPR station 88.5 WFDD (Winston-Salem, NC) success with their on-going fund-drive which will hopefully off-seat any draconian measures that Tea Partiers might be able to push through Congress to cut federal funds for NPR.

Many people have projected that mostly small NPR stations in rural areas, like WETS-FM in Johnson City, Tenn., would be affected the most if such measures went into effect.

As I have told my friends to the right of me: "Mozart is not a Maoist." And, NPR should not be caught up in this culture war at all.


*- I am not actually going to Bethesda, but we love mentioning that DC-suburb.

**-My sister is not named Eva Svensson, nor does she reside in Sweden. But, today is her 37th birthday.