Friday Night Tweets, Contd_ The Bard is Back

Yes, it's a snowy night here in Coffin Gulch, Nebraska.....well, that is a fictional town in the tv version of Lucky Luke aka the French cowboy and we are pretty far from the Cornhusker State, but it is snowing here in the Mid-Atlantic part of America.

So, we thought it was a good time to post some new entries and look at tweets from the college gymnastics world, pro hockey and PBS, which we imagine Mitt Romney is watching right now with his grandchildren (forgive the political humor); here are the tweets:

1) Alabama Gymnastics @BamaGymnastics: Sophomore Kayla Williams just tied her career best on the balance beam with a a score of 9.9

2) IlliniGymnastics @IlliniGym: #Illini women vs. #spartans tomorrow at 4. #PinkMeet RT @ MSUGymnastics: We have arrived in Champaign.

3) Washington Capitals @WasCaps: Ilya Kovalchuk scores Devils goal in overtime: Final score: Devils 3 Caps 2 OT

4) AngelicaAlvarez_WTVD @Alvarez_wtvd: Car having trouble getting up a hill on Wade Ave in Raleigh.

5) UK Gymnastics @UK Gymnastics_ Kentucky is facing Alabama tonight on the road: Kenzie Hedges and Shannon Mitchell post solid scores for UK both earning 9.85

6) Pete Cashmore @mashable: Exxon Mobil Passes Apple to Become World's Most Valuable Company.

7) PBS @PBS: If you're watching Shakespeare Uncovered tonight let us know what you think please use hashtags #PBS


http://www.womenslacrosse.com

http://www.unc.edu

http://www.ncat.edu

http://www.wdbj7.com

http://www.gopack.com

http://www.cornellsun.com

Best Tweets of the Night

Greetings from Coffin Gulch, Nebraska (this is a fictional town in the cartoon version of the famed 'French cowboy' Lucky Luke, and no we are not in Nebraska).

Here is a look at some nifty tweets from Saturday night. We should point that in no way are we suggesting that Democratic strategist Donna Brazile is a far left radical like Angela Davis (pictured here), in fact, this is a center-left blog. And, our views on gun control are likely to cost us readers in Coffin Gulch.

Here are a rundown of the tweets, circa 6:00 p.m. in Coffin Gulch, Nebraska (for the sake of clarity full names are given):

1) PSU Gymnastics @ PennStWGym (Penn State Women's Gymnastics): Madison Merrian hit her foot hard on the bar we'll see how she is (Merrian had a 9.8 earlier in the meet on vault in a home meet versus Minnesota, Kent State and Towson).

2) Donna Brazile @donnabrazile: "As a black woman, we have gone through so much with our hair. So, let it roll. Curl it or wear it natural: What you say?"

3) Shannon Wheeler @MuchCoffee (Mr. Wheeler is a cartoonist in Portland, Ore.): "Happy gun day."

4) Trample by Turtles @tbtduluth (TBT is a popular folk, rock band): "I think we should spend winters in AZ."

5) Huffington Post @HuffingtonPost: "Booboo the grizzly bear cub is safe and sound." (Yeah, we are wondering about the details ourselves!)

6) VCU Ram Nation @VCURamNation (VCU is a college basketball team in Richmond, Va., they were winning by a large margin over JMU tonight in men's basketball): "Juvonte Reddic with another bucket in the paint.

7) Michigan Hockey @umichhockey: The Lakers tie it up with just over a minute left in the first period 1-1. (Michigan's men's hockey team is on the road tonight @ Lake Superior State, the Wolverines beat the Lakers 6-4 on Friday night).

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Dexter Trivia (4 of 4)_ How Far Is Omaha from Miami?

For the first time in a long while, we are posting an entry at a peak time (between 9:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m.), but we are going with trending topics, such as Katie Holmes and Big Bird, though we hope arbitrarily mentioning both of them inflates our numbers. Of course, we are amazed how Mitt Romney who acted as obnoxious as Bill O'Reilly is the perceived winner of last night's debate in Denver.

Alas, we were unable to find a cool Dexter lunchbox image, but this one will do just as well, we hope.

In episode 67 from the 6th season, Dexter embarks on a road trip to Nebraska. So, we are asking how far is Omaha, Neb., from Miami, where the show is set. Obviously Miami, Okl., a small town near Kansas, would be a quicker driver than one to Miami, Fla., from the Cornhusker State.

So, is the answer?:

A) 1,641 miles

B) 1,651 miles

C) 1,661 miles

D) 1, 671 miles

Bonus Road Trip- Nebraska to Wisconsin (3 of 10)

Today, we look at the distances between two college towns which both happen to be state capitals named after two legendary American presidents: Lincoln, Nebr., to Madison, Wisc.

On Saturday, the Wisconsin Badgers won a home victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, a team that was making its Big Ten debut (there are actually now 12 teams in the Big 10) by a surprisingly devstating 48-17 score, which help move the Badgers into the top ten.

But, both schools also strong women's volleyball programs, and in that sport Nebraska will travel to Wisconsin for an important game on Oct. 14th.

On Saturday, the Nebraska women's volleyball team won a crucial road game at Michigan State on the part of 22 kills from Cornhusker stand-out Morgan Broekhius.

The Cronhuskers have several players from Nebraska on their squad, including Laren Cook, a junior from Lincoln and Brigette Root, a senior from Grand Island.

As for the Badgers volleyball team, they play four-time champion Penn State for a road game on Friday.

Nebraska also has a competitive women's gymnastics team, which has come close to winning a national championship at several intervals in recent years. That team's first home meet will be against Denver University on Jan. 13, 2012. The team has at least one gymnast from Nebraska, including Deanna Barrmore from Omaha.

So, for this segment, we are comparing the distances between two panckae houses, including the Original Pancake House at 5518 University Avenue in Madison (the state-wide chain has four other locations in Wisconsin) and Greenfields Pancake House on South 87th Street in Lincoln.

The distances between these two places is:

A) 7 hours, 30 minutes

B) 7 hours, 40 minutes

C) 7 hours, 50 minutes

D) 8 hours even

Give us your answers, and you may qualify to win a vintage 1970s Oak Ridge Boys record on vinyl (that is a joke, folks!).

Special Quote of the Week- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Today's quote comes from former Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is now 64:

"I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind."

SIDEBAR_ This past weekend, I was actually on the NPR show "Studio 360." The show asked listeners to submit what they would want to be the first line of their obituaries.

The reason for this was their guest novelist Timothy Schaffert's new work of fiction is told from the perspective of an old woman who types obituaries for a small-town Nebraska newspaper, perhaps like "The North Platte Telegraph" in North Platte, Neb.

The first line of what I would my obit to say, as submitted to "Studio 360," was: "His dad died on his thirteenth birthday on March 4, 1983, but Tilly Gokbudak somehow managed to live a happy and productive life."

But, my personal favorite submission came from a fellow listener in Connecticut who said: "Rodger has spent his whole life working toward this moment."

Things We Learned From Twitter This PM-Nebraska May Defect

It seemed like my efforts to find out if anything new or extraordinary was going on in the world when I was checking tweets an hour and a ago was going to turn up nothing new or extraordinary.

But, then I read a tweet from KCTV, a Kansas City television station, which said the following:

"Orangebloods.com said Nebraska regents have informally agreed to leave for Big Ten. A formal announement will come Friday."

Does this mean that The University of Nebraska will now have in-conference rivalries with the likes of Ohio State, Illinois and Wisconsin instead of Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas State?

The Corn Huskers are known nationally for their football program, but the school in Lincoln, Neb., also has outstanding programs in both women's volleyball and women's gymnastics.

The Lady Huskers volleyball team is now touring China according to the Nebraska athletics' web site.

Similary, the school's women's gymnastics team finished seventh at the NCAA championships in Gainesville, Fla., in April. They were lead this past season by seniors Kathryn Howard and Kylie Stone (pictured here).

Erin Davis, a standout junior, returns to the squad next year. During a meet with Illinios and Minnesota, Davis scored a perfect 10 on the vault.

SIDEBAR: I want to congratulate fellow Radford University alumnus John Marks who graduated from Highlander U in 2007 (11 years after I did). Marks was named Teacher of the Year for the City of Roanoke, Va. (my hometown) recently. He is a sixth and eighth grade math teacher at James Madison Middle School.