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.

Top Ten Favorite Minor League Baseball Teams -Slight Hometown Bias

The mascot here belongs to the Bowie Bay Sox from Bowie, Md., who play in the AA Eastern League, but the team that will top my list is The Salem Red Sox from Salem, Va. I was born and raised in Salem, Va. In fact, legendary baseball player Dave Parker played for the then-Salem Pirates in the '70s before going on to glory with the Pittsburgh, who haven't experienced a glory year in quite some time.

The famous Durham Bulls from Durham, NC, who were featured in the 1988 movie "Bull Durham" are our number two team. The Bulls won the coveted Minor League World Series last year.

While the Akron Aeros from Akron, Ohio, who play the Bay Sox in the Eastern League rank third. Their home stadium Canal Park is perhaps the nicest minor league stadium I've ever been to.

Salem lost a road game to Kinston 2-1 last night. The two teams play each other again at 7:05 tonight. Their next home game is Aug. 31 against the Potomac Nationals.

Durham won its game over Gwinett 4-3 last night, and the next home game for the Bulls will be against the Charlotte Knights on Monday at 7:05 p.m.

Akron plays the Erie Sea Wolves tonight at home.

And, the Bay Sox play the Altoona Curve, another team on this list, at home starting Aug. 30.

One day, when we get a chance, we'll have to post a photo of the West Virginia Power's mascot......he is even more amusing than the Gumby-look alike who is the mascot of the Altoona Curve!

As a rule, I decided not to put more than one team from each state on the list, hence I am snubbing our hometown Greensboro Grasshoppers. But, they do host the Savannah Sand Gnats from Savannah, Ga., this week. They, in fact, made the list!

Here is the list!:

1. Salem Red Sox

2. Durham Bulls

3. Akron Aeros

4. West Virginia Power

5. Myrtle Beach Pelicans

6. Altoona Curve

7. Salt Lake City Bees

8. Savannah Sand Gnats

9. Bowie Bay Sox (pictured)

10. Louisville Bats

Today's GeoQuiz- Greek Island of Chios

Today's GeoQuiz is dedicated to students at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Ga., who will hopefully go on to nearby University of Georgia after they've passed ninth grade geography.

Since The World Cup recently concluded, we thought we'd go with another country that was in the soccer tourney though Greece didn't advance into the knock-out round.

Our focus today is on Chios, the fifth largest Greek island, which is only five miles off the coast of this Turkish resort town which is popular with Turkish workers from Germany.

Before we get to the choices for the answers, here is some additional background on Chios. It was once a part of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and the island formally joined Greece in 1912. The island was occupied by Germany from 1941-1944. Chios is also twin cities with Genoa, Italy.

As for the Turkish resort town across the Chios Strait, it is sister cities with Wise, Va., the hometown of the late, great actor George C. Scott of "Patton" fame, and this place is also known for its thermal springs and karpuz (Turkish word for watermelon).

Is the town's name:

A) Bodrum

B) Fethiye

C) Kushadasi

D) Cesme

SIDEBAR: The Akron Aeros in Akron, Ohio, won their home game over the Erie SeaWolves 8-1 on Faith Night. We hope they let folks from Temple Israel in Akron (an actual place) enjoy the same discount as everyone else.

SIDEBAR TWO: Want an interesting book to read this summer? How about "Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle," the 2004 book by Slovenian pop culture philosopher Slavoj Zizek in which the author says that the war in Iraq is a lot like a Hitchcock film because the weapons of mass destruction were very similar to McGuffins, arbitrary plot devices used to move things along in movies like "North by Northwest." Incidentally, The Carolina Theatre in Greensboro, NC, will be showing Hitchcock's "The Birds" on Monday night.

PS_ The answer to last week's quiz was "B." Utrecht, Holland, has a population of around 300,000 people.