Silly Image to Fill Space- Apathy

Hmmmmmmm..............

Yeah............

I thought about going back to our quotes from Sunday comic strips, especially since we love "Knight Life" by Keith Knight, which is awesome today as it always is, and, it is funnier than "Hagar the Horrible," but............

I'm just not in the mood.

By the way, Keith Knight is not related to my friend Chris Knight, who has a birthday today.

One is an African-American living in Los Angeles, the other is a white guy living in Reidsville, NC.

If you wanna know who is who or whom is who, well.............

Just Google it (or, maybe Bing it)........................

North Carolina State Wins EAGL Conference Gymnastics Meet

Though no mascots were present at the EAGL, a gymnastics only collegiate conference which will reportedly cease to exist at the end of the season on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, not even Ramses, the famous mascot for UNC, North Carolina State edged out Maryland and Pittsburgh to win the eight-team meet.

The Wolfpack won the meet with a score of 195.175. The second place Terrapins scored a 195.1 and the third place Panthers scored 194.875.  The George Washington University Colonials, helped greatly by an outstanding all-around performance from Betsy Zander, finished fourth with a score of 194.75 and the host Tar Heels came away with a 194.225 score and a fifth place finish.

The 'Pack, a team that will compete in their 11th NCAA regional meet when they compete at Ohio State next Saturday, were lead by stand-out junior Stephanie Ouellette (pictured top) who scored a 9.875 on floor and a 9.75on vault, paving the way for three-way second place finish in the all around along with Zander and Kayla Gray from the University of New Hampshire.

Ouellette's teammate and fellow junior Diahanna Ham (pictured bottom) scored a 9.875 on vault, a 9.8 on floor and a 9.775 on beam to finish in a two-way tie for fifth place in the all around along with UNC gymnast Elizabeth Durkac, the EAGL gymnast of the year and the top finisher for the 'Heels.

Rachel Fincham, a senior for the team, won bars with a 9.85.

Alyssa Adrian from Pitt was the all around individual champion with a 39.35 total.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Catholicism By the Numbers

Many people in America and Europe may not realize it, but there are a fair number of Catholics in Turkey, my late father's country, in addition to a sizable Jewish community, particularly in the largest city of Istanbul.

Though I'm not a Catholic myself, I thought that with the crowning of a new papal head in Pope Francis I of Argentina and the fact that tomorrow is Easter Sunday, I thought I would post an entry to look at how many Catholics live in countries where they are in the minority.

The image above is of a Catholic church in Buyukada, an island in the inland Marmara Sea that is considered to be part of Istanbul; this is also where one sees many horse carriages as seen below.

In addition to Catholic churches in Istanbul, there are congregations in Izmir and Mersin.

And, as one might expect, Wikipedia states that there are very few Catholics in Afghanistan; here is a look at some of the numbers we found:

1. Afghanistan 200

2. Armenia 110,000

3. Cyprus 10,000

4. Jordan 170,000

5. Kuwait 140,000

6. Serbia 411,000

7. Turkey 35,000

http://www.catholic.org

http://www.adalarturizm.org

Dutch Soccer Results (from weekend of March 15-17)

Siem de Jong, (pictured) a Dutch national, helped propel his league-leading Ajax Amsterdam with two goals (20th and 59th minutes) over AZ Alkmaar, one of their primary rivals, in a 3-2 road win. His fellow Dutch teammate Daley Blind scored a goal for Ajax in the 22nd minute. For AZ, American Jozy Altimore, a former New Red Bulls player scored as did Norwegian national Markus Henriksen.

Serbian soccer player Filip Duricic also had great outing in the Dutch Premiere League, known as Eredivise, with two goals for his team Heerenveen in their 3-1 win over NEC.

Ajax has a one-point lead in the league tables over PSV Eindhoven and Feyennoord.

Here are the tables:

PEC Zwolle 3 Roda JC 2

Heracles 2 VVV 0

Heerenveen 3 NEC 1

PSC Eindhoven 2 Waalwjik 0

Vitese 4 ADO Den Haag 0

NAC Breda 4 Willem II 0

Ajax Amsterdam 3 AZ Alkmaar 2

Feyendoord 2 Utrecht 1

Twente 3 Groninsen 0 

http://www.rnw.nl (Radio Netherlands)

Mexican Soccer Results (from weekend of March 15-17)

We continue our look at soccer/futbol results around the globe with a look at Mexican Premiere League games that were played during the weekend of March 15-17.

This week, virtually all super leagues were on hiatus for the week as the national teams played either friendlies or World Cup qualifiers.

Team USA tied Mexico 0-0 in a World Cup qualifier played this week in Mexico.

Most of the Mexican league games for the week we are profiling ended in ties.

But, there were some exceptions.

These games included Pachua's 2-1 win over Puebla. For most of the match, Puebla, based in Mexico's fourth largest city of the same name, was winning thanks to a goal from Mexican national Diego De Buen (27th minute). But, two literal last minute goals from both Angel Reyna (90th min.; pic. here) and Dario Carreno (90th min.) for Pachua changed that.


Santos Laguna, which will face the Seattle Sounders from the MLS (American soccer league) in the CONACAF Cup, beat out Atlas 2-1. Santos Laguna trailer much of the second half due to a goal from Omar Bravo for Atlas (64th min). But, Santos Laguna won with goals from Mexican national Rodolfo Salinas (79th min.) and Colombian futboler Darwin Quintero (89th min).


Monterrey which tied Tijuana 2-2 will also face an MLS in the Los Angeles Galaxy in the next round of the CONACAF Cup; that particular game will be on April 2nd and televised in the United States on the Fox Soccer Channel.

Here are the scores:


Chiapas 1 Moreila 1, tie

UANL Tigres 1 Guadalajar 1, tie

America 1 San Luis Potosi 1, tie

Pachua 2 Puebla 1

Queretoro 1 Toluca 0

Santos Laguna 2 Atlas 1

Cruz Azul 3 Atlante 0

Tijuana 2 Monterrey 2

Pumas 0 Club Leon 0

(The other image in this entry is of the Mexican wrestling legend Santos)

Tour Dates_ The Oak Ridge Boys Are Coming to MB,SC

A few years ago, we had a tongue and cheek series called "The Political Confusion Test," and one of the most popular entries was one in which we suggested that if you like The Oak Ridge Boys, a '70s country band, over the Village People, a '70s disco group, you were probably a Republican.

But, we are putting political jokes aside for the moment as we noticed that the Oak Ridge Boys had recently passed through Virginia, my home state, where they performed in the Washington, DC-area, and Virginia Beach.

So, we thought we'd pass along some of their upcoming tour dates, which includes a stop at the Alabama Theatre in Myrtle Beach, SC. Interestingly enough, this weekend, they perform in Nevada, which voted for President Barack Obama last year:

March 29 Sparks, Nev. John Ascuaga's Nugget

March 31 Las Vegas, Nev. The Eastside Cannery

April 12 Warren, Pa. The Struthers Library Theatre

April 14 Newberry, SC Newberry Opera House

April 23-25 Branson, Mo. The Oak Ridge Boys Theatre

May 4 Myrtle Beach, SC The Alabama Theatre

Other Dates:

Aug 18 Louisville, Ky. Kentucky State Fair

Aug. 26 Pueblo, Colo. Colorado State Fair

http://www.oakridgeboys.com

http://www.visitmyrtlebeach.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

Terps, Tar Heels and Wolfpack Get Ready for Last EAGL Meet

The EAGL Conference, a gymnastics-only conference, will be holding its final championship meet at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, on Saturday. The conference consists of Maryland, UNC, Rutgers, North Carolina State, George Washington University, Pittsburgh, Towson (correct us if we are wrong on that) and the University of New Hampshire.

West Virginia, which had won the most EAGL championships, left for the Big 12 Conference. There will be an ACC Gymnastics Conference for gymnastics next year, from what we've heard through the grapevine, but ACC and EAGL-member school Maryland is leaving for the Big 10 as is current EAGL and Big East-member Rutgers. So, this will mean that only UNC, North Carolina State and Pitt, which will join the ACC next year, will be the three schools in this conference.

Confused?! Yes, so are we.

Editorializing about college sports aside, let's look at the EAGL gymnasts who won conference honors in the last regular season week for college gymnastics.

Stephanie Giameo, a sophomore from Roselle Park, NJ, (pictured on top) from the University of Maryland, won the EAGL gymnast of the week this year for the second time. Giameo scored a 39.1 in the all-around during a road meet at West Virginia, which also featured EAGL rival Rutgers.

On Sunday, Giameo's Terps headed just south of College Park, Md., to Washington, DC, where they won a four-school meet over host George Washington, Towson and Brown. In that meet, Giameo scored a 39.25 in the all-around.

Over the weekend, UNC senior Elizabeth Durkac of Yorktown, Va., who has won four EAGL Gymnast of the Week honors, helped her Tar Heels win a home meet over visiting Penn. The Heels scored a 194.075 in the meet.(Ramese, the UNC mascot is pictured in the center).

The 'Heels will once again face their main conference rivals North Carolina State during the EAGLs on Saturday. UNC edged out N.C. State when the two schools last meet during a home meet on Feb. 22.

The Wolfpack were also at home over the weekend, but they faced the challenged of hosting two SEC powers: The first meet was against the LSU Tigers on Friday, followed by a visit from Georgia, which has won the most NCAA titles in women's gymnastics.

Though the Pack did not pull off a major upset in either home meet despite an impressive outing against the GymDawgs , Rachel Fincham, a senior from Gambrills, Md., (pictured bottom) earned EAGL Specialist of the Week honors. Fincham scored a 98.5 on beam and a 9.8 on bars against LSU. She then scored a 9.9 on bars and a 9.7 on beam versus Georgia.

Fincham's teammate Britti Watkins, a freshman from Albany, NY, whose solid scores included a 9.9 on vault against LSU,  was named EAGL Newcomer of the Week.

http://www.umterps.com

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.gopack.com

Kudos to the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes

Kudos to the Miami (Fla) Hurricanes for coming into the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC, and winning the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament last week.

The 'Canes defeated the UNC Tarheels 89-79 in the ACC final on Sunday. They also beat another North Carolina school the North Carolina State Wolfpack 81-71. In the first round, the 'Canes won over Boston College 81-71.

ESPN analyst say that the 'Canes have weak offensive rebounding which could make them vulnerable to an early upset in the NCAA tournament.

The 'Canes will first face Pacific University, the Big West Tournament champs from Stockton, Calif., in the first round of the NCAAs.The team's mascot is the beloved Sebastian the Ibis (pictured above).

But, it was not a bad week for all North Carolina schools. The North Carolina A & T Aggies won the MEAC Conference with a win over Morgan State, a Maryland school, in Norfolk, Va., on Saturday.

Yesterday, the Aggies defeated Liberty University, the Big South champions from Lynchburg, Va., in the preliminary play-in game 73-72 in Dayton, Ohio. They fill now face the Louisville Cardinals, the overall number one seed in the NCAA tournament.


http://www.twitter.com/CanesHoops


http://www.greensborocoliseum.com


http://www.ncat.edu

Here is a Look at Times Around the World

As is custom when there is a time change in the United States, where we sprang an hour forward yesterday, here is a new look at various times around the world. The top image is the logo for Radio Sweden, the middle image is of Moscow, Russia and the third one is an antique pocket watch.

We imagine one can this and other antiques at Terrace Oaks Antiques in Charleston, South Carolina, one of the nicest (and slowest) cities in North America.


Here we go:

New York: 11:30 p.m.

St. Louis 10: 30 p.m.

Los Angeles 8:30 p.m.

London 3:30 a.m.

Istanbul 5:30 a.m.

Stockholm 4:30 a.m.

Moscow 7:30 a.m.

Tokyo 12:30 p.m.

Hong Kong 11:30 a.m.

Capetown (South Africa) 5:30 a.m.

Sydney 2:30 p.m.

Buenos Aires (Argentina) 12:30 a.m.

http://www.charlestoncvb.com

http://www.terraceoaksantiqes.com

http://www.twitter.com/radiosweden

Silly Photo to Fill Space: Things Republicans Like

The great Mel Brooks, who is thankfully still with us, said the best way to get even with your enemies is to make fun of them. And, we can't think of any way to get back at real-life Yosemite Sam characters than to stick to them. We sure hope the late great Soupy Sales, who railed from West Virginia (which has alas evolved into a red state) would agree with us.

Today, we are thus featuring a Big Foot Monster Truck in our first in our month-long series of Silly Photos to Fill Space dedicate to Things Republicans like.

For those of you in Antwerp, Belgium, who have not been exposed to this side of American culture, the Big Foot, which shares its name with a mythological creature of the woods, is basically a big pickup truck with big wheels that arbitrarily crushes things.

When I happened to be in the parking lot of the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC, on the eve of a monster truck show, I was amazed how many people were lining their vehicles up to get in.

This weekend, at least three incarnations of Big Foot will be touring America; the Summit Racing Big Foot #18 will be in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on March 9th.

Meanwhile, its cousin Bigfoot #15 will be in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for shows on both March 8th and 9th and Bigfoot #10 will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a state which actually went blue for Barack Obama!

http://www.bigfoot4X4.com

Greek Premiere League Soccer Scores

Yes, perhaps, there are not many things as shocking as a Turkish-American blogging about Greek soccer results over the weekend. But, in spite of the Greek-Turkish Cold War which unofficially from 1974 following a war over Cyprus until 1999 when both countries provided mutual relief support to devastating earthquakes within both countries which occurred just a few months apart, relations between the two neighboring countries are apparently at relative ease at the moment.

In fact, Deniz Baykara, a Turkish national, plays for the Greek first division team Panthrakikos, and Theofanis Gekas, a Greek soccer player, is a member of the Turkish first division team Akhisar.

Ironically, it was not a good weekend for either of those clubs as Panthrakikos lost lost to Atromitos 1-0 and conversely Akhisar also lost in their match again Elazigspor by the same score of 1-0.

The above image we are featuring for this entry is of Senegalese national Pape Sow, who kicked a goal for his Panathinikos in the 73rd minute in a 2-0 win over their Athens rival AEK. Sow's teammate Spaniard Vitolo kicked an earlier goal at the 55-minute mark in the win. There are now, in recent years, many Spanish soccer players in Greece, so much so that they were the subject of many international soccer stories last season. 

Greek soccer player Nikolaos Kaltsas had a good day on the field as well as he scored two goals in his team Veria's 3-1 win over Aris.

Hungarian national Laszlo Lencse also had two goals to lead his team Asteras Tripolis to a 2-1 win over Giannia.

And, the Thessaolinki powerhouse team PAOK left the field with a 4-2 win over Panionios with crucial goals coming from Albanian player Ergys Kace and Greek player Dimitris Salpingis.

Here is a look at the scoreboard:


Veria 3 Aris 1

Panathinaikos 2 AEK Athens 1

Asteras Tripolis 2 Giannia 1

PAOK 4 Panionios 2

Atromitos 1 Panthrakikos 0

Skoda Xanthi 4 Levadiakos 1

Olymiakos Pireaus 4 OFI Crete 0


http://www.greeksoccer.com

Turkish Premiere League Soccer Scores

It has been at least one full year since we last posted Turkish Premiere League Soccer scores, but since today is the 43rd birthday of our executive editor Tilly Gokbudak (who is me), we thought we'd post the scores from this past weekend.

The 'dev mach'/giant game was between two Istanbul powerhouses Besiktash and Fenerbahce; Besiktash won the game 3-2 as Olcay Sahan kicked the game winner in the 93rd minute of play.


Argentinian striker Pablo Battala helped our beloved Crocs from Bursaspor to a 1-0 win over Sivasspor with a goal in the 67th minute in a game that was played on Sunday, as was the dev mach.

But, the weekend's most exciting game may have well been the shoot-out between Antalyaspor and Gaziantepspor. Antalyaspor won the game 5-2 with Nigerian Isaac Promise kicking the go ahead goal in the 37th minute which made the game 3-2, that turned out to be the goal winner. Omer Sismanoglu, whose last name actually means 'fat boy' in Turkish scored in the 82nd minute for Antalyaspor in the seventh and final goal of the game.

In another wild one, Samil Cinaz kicked the game-winner for Orduspor in a 3-2 triumph over Karabukspor in the 73rd minute.

Here are the scores:

Besiktash 3 Fenerbahce 2

Antalyaspor 5 Gaziantepspor 2

Galatasaray 0 Eskisehirspor 0

Bursaspor 1 Sivasspor 0

Orduspor 3 Karabukspor 2

Kayseri 2 Mersin 1

Elazigspor 1 Akhisar 0

Kasimpasa 2 Trabzonspor 0

Ankara Genclerbirligi 0 Istanbul BB 0