Kudos to Radford University Highlanders for Winning Big South Volleyball Crown

Greetings to our blog-readers in Slovenia, Israel and Algeria.

Tonight, it is with great pleasure that I report that Radford University, my beloved alma mater, won the Big South Women's Volleyball tournament in Clinton, SC, yesterday, by defeating Coastal Carolina University in straight sets. However, the game was a very tight one as the Highlanders won the opening set 36-34! Typically, in order to win a set one team has to reach 25.

Radford U (25-9), located in Radford, Va., and the top seed in the tourney, won the game over CCU, a school from Conway, SC (near Myrtle Beach), and the second seed by a score of (36-34, 25-23, 25-22).

For the Highlanders, Cheyanne James had 16 kills, and Rachel Wiechecki and Emma Denninger had 11 kills each. Wiechecki was also named tournament MVP.

The Big South title is the fifth overall for the Highlanders, and the first for the school since 2000.

As an alumni, I must profess that I still miss Rowdy Red (pictured top) our old mascot.

SIDEBAR ONE: Our tweet of the night goes to "Writer's Digest," a magazine centered on helping both pro and amateur writers write: "#midnightprompt Your spouse is in bed asleep but you can't sleep. There's a knock at the door. The person changes your life forever."

SIDEBAR TWO: Cartoonist Terri Libenson's strip "The Pajama Diaries" is not in the Sunday comics pages of the two Sunday newspapers I read most weeks, but her work is quite remarkable. In a strip that will be published on Tuesday, there is a touching scene between an adult daughter and her mother.

Libenson also posted a blog entry with the strip which she candidly admits to suffering from writer's block at times. She said life distractions, such as her daughter's Bat Mitzvah, are one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome.


http://www.ruhighlanders.com

http://www.writersdigest.com

http://www.pajamadiaries.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Uma Thurman

Today and this month we are quoting who were born in 1970 as I was. We start with the ever-gorgeous Uma Thurman who turns 42 on April 29th. It has recently been reported in the media that is pregnant with her third child.

Thurman is best-known for her roles in films directed by Quentin Tarantino, including "Pulp Fiction," "Kill Bill, Volume 1" and "Kill Bill, Volume 2."

As one might expect, it was hard to find a good image of Thurman to 'borrow' here as many of them are indeed quite revealing. But, it was also hard to get an image from her films that fit in with the space we have.

Here is her quote, which is indeed very shocking, but for the reasons one might presume:

"Even today, when people tell me I'm beautiful, I don't believe a word of it."

SIDEBAR ONE: Kudos to the men's basketball team from UNC-Asheville, as the team won the Big South Conference title and will now likely play a one or two-seed in the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs (24-9), the top seed in the Big South tournament, defeated the seventh-seeded VMI Keydets 80-64 on its home court. Jeremy Atkins lead all scoring for the Bulldogs with 18 points.

SIDEBAR TWO: Only in Turkey, my late father's country! Two soccer games over the weekend were played in 'front of women and children' only. Soccer hooliganism is rampant in Turkey as it is in neighboring Greece, but yes, even though I'm a Turkish-American, this seems both silly and excessive. Assuredly, everyone in Turkey will defend this exercise even they think it's silly and excessive too.

The results of the two game that were played under these conditions were:

Bursaspor 3 Karabukspor 0

Trabzonspor 2 Besiktas* 1

*- the Istanbul soccer power is pronounced Beshiktash in English.

Quote of the Day/Week- Bart Starr

Today, we go 'old school' as we conclude our month-long quotes from Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks with a quip from Green Bay Packers great Bart Starr, 78, who guided his team to victories in Super Bowl I in 1967 (35-10 over Kansas City Chiefs) and Super Bowl II in 1968 (33-14 over Oakland Raiders).

Starr was also a star quarterback at the University of Alabama, and we are quoting his fellow Crimson Tide great Joe Namath on our other blog, "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" today.

Here is Starr's quote:

"Athletic competition clearly defines the unique power of our attitude."

SIDEBAR: Yesterday, we mentioned how several Big South Conference schools fared in the annual college basketball bracket busters.

And, jut last night, High Point University Panthers guard Nick Barbour (senior, Danville, Va.) set the school's men's basketball scoring record by recording 44 points against the visitors from Campbell University, in eastern North Carolina.

The school which is conversely located in High Point, NC, won the game by a 98-60 margin. The Panthers finish the regular season (12-14, 8-10 Big South) and await their first-round opponent in the Big South Tournament.