Kudos to Duke's Men's Lacrosse Team and Remembering Our Fallen Soldiers

Duke University (16-5) upset Syracuse (16-4) to win a second NCAA men's lacrosse championship for the Blue Devils. The team was helped by Brendan Fowler, who won 20 of 28 face-offs, Jordan Wolf, who scored four goals in the title game that was played in Philadelphia, Josh Offit, who scored the go-ahead goal and Jake Tripucka, who was a member of the all-NCAA tournament squad.

Tripucka is the son of former Notre Dame men's basketball star and NBA player Kelly Tripucka. The Blue Devils had lost the ACC championship to their rivals_ the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.

SIDEBAR: Since my late stepfather Donald Sullivan (1918-2003) was a World War II veteran, we thought we would recognize those who lost their lives while serving in the American military. Though Donald was fortunate enough to come home, many were not and that was especially true for troops from Bedford, Va., where the National D-Day Memorial is located. Donald was fortunate to visit the memorial before his passing.

Here was a tweet from the D-Day Memorial today which talked about those who came to Bedford today: "Over 1,000 came to honor and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to our nation."

It is interesting that the D-Day Memorial has the flags of all the countries that were allies in World War-2, this happens to include not only familiar friends like France, both also countries such as Norway and Greece.

http://www.goduke.com

http://www.durham-nc.com

http://www.dday.org

http://www.visitbedford.com

Election Day by the #s- Ok, Maybe This Was a Bad Idea

First of all, we salute our veterans today on Veteran's Day. I am particularly remembering my late stepfather Donald Sullivan (1918-2003) who served in the European theater in World War II. He sure is missed.

When we started this project of tallying Election Day results, we had no idea how involved we would get in the process, and our efforts have seemingly not paid off, as we have received very few hits. But, perhaps there is someone in Singapore who wants to know how swing states, like Nevada, Colorado and Florida voted. And, hopefully, for that particular person, this information is beneficial.

Here are the numbers:

50.9- Percentage Mitt Romney got in Jefferson County (Martinsburg), West Virginia

46.9- Percentage for President Barack Obama in Jefferson County, W.Va, the jurisdiction he came closest to winning in the Mountaineer State.

106- The number of votes that Obama won by in the City of Winchester, Va.

51.2- Percentage of the vote that Obama got in the City of Staunton, Va.

61.3- Percentage that Romney got in rural Floyd County, Va.

68.3- Percentage Obama got in Santa Cruz County, Ariz., his highest in a state that went red.

76.6- Percentage Romney got in rural Yuma County, Colo., a state that went blue

55.4- Percentage Obama got in Pueblo County, Colo.

64.6- Percentage Cong. Jim Moran (D-Va.) got in his re-election bid

61- Percentage that Cong. Gerry Connelly (D-Va) got in his re-election bid; Cong. Bobby Scott (D-Va) is other Democratic congressional representative from Virginia, which has eight Republican members of the house.

94.4-Percentage that Cong. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the house minority leader got in his re-election bid; he is the only Democrat from South Carolina on the Hill.

90.4- Percentage that Romney got in Cimmaron County, Oklahoma, one of three states where he won every county.

58.2- Percentage Romney got in Salt Lake County, Utah, the most progressive part of the Beehive State

49.8- Percentage Obama got in Sandusky County, Ohio, a vital swing district

47.9- Percentage Romney got in Sandusky County, Ohio

75.2- Percentage Romney got in Elko County, Nevada- a state that went blue.

54.7- Percentage Obama got in Teton County, Wyoming, the lone county he won in that state.

59.5- Percentage Romney got in York County (Rock Hill), SC, which is a Charlotte, NC-suburb

63- Number of votes Obama won by in Clark County, Iowa

50- Percentage for Obama in Bucks County, Penn., a county Romney campaigned in two days before the election.

49.8-Percentage Romney got in Bucks County, Penn.

344- Number of votes Romney won by in rural Dinwiddie County, Va. (near Petersburg)

148- Number of votes Romney won by in Van Buren County, Mich.

83- Percentage of Puerto Rican vote that went to Obama in Florida.

48-Percentage of Cuban vote in Florida for Obama, an all-time high for a Democratic candidate

Father's Day Kitsch

For me, Father's Day is about remembering my father Mehmet Gokbudak (1921-1983) and my second stepfather Donald Sullivan (1918-2003).

The two men had some similarities as my father liked to collect knives and he frequently wore orange Elmer Fudd hunters caps even though to my knowledge baba (the Turkish word for father) never hunted himself. He also had a fascinated with gun shops.

Donald really, really liked guns, and our political differences on gun control could at times be a sensitive matter. Although we both loved western films, I remember a time when we sat down together to watch a Hopalong Cassidy movie on tv. And, on Father's Day one year, Donald almost cried when he stood up as a 'father' on my behalf during a Salem Avalanche game (now the team is the Salem Red Sox). Since Donald had no children of his own, he cherished being a father figure for my sister and I.

My father had other interests which remain a bit pecuilar to this day. Though he rarely drank beer, though I believe he drank a few Efes Pilsen brews when he was back in Turkey, he loved German beer drinking songs and he had many lp records of those songs, some of which we recently rediscovered. Donald, on the other hand, had little use for Germany as he was a World War II veteran who had seen action in countries like Germany, Belgium and France.

My father's game of choice was soccer, and he rooted for GalataSaray though we didn't have the advantage of watching Turkish soccer games on tv via satellite in the 1970s and early 1980s as many Turkish families can today.

Baba was also not to found of the tv sitcom "Happy Days," which I watched regularly. He considered The Fonz to be subversive because he defied authority, and at times, there was actually a de facto ban on "Happy Days." For me, this simply meant, that I would simply watch the show whenever I was at a friend's house. And, reruns of the show also aired in the afternoon when he wasn't home.

My father also enjoyed classical music, especially accordian tunes, leather belts,
'70s floppy hats, playing the Turkish saz, riiding his bicycle all over town and the Laurel and Hardy short films that he saw at cinemas in Istanbul when he was a teenager.

Besides guns, Donald also liked trains, hot dogs, yard sales, watching airplanes take off and land as well as fishing.

Donald was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but his family moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he resided on Minnesota Street. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 1948.

Though I am very different from both of them in oh so many ways, I miss them both every day. And, on Father's Day, I prefer to think of how fortunate I was to have them in my life rather than mourn the fact that they are no longer around.

Happy Veteran's Day; I'm Hitting the Road

As I am getting ready for an overnight trip I thought I would post a quick entry in honor of Veteran's Day. If not anything else, it can help squelch right-wing notions that those of us on the center-left, who would undoubtedly still be classified as socialists in Provo, Utah, do care about the men and women who serve our country overseas.

In addition to those who are presently stationed in Afghanistan, I want to remember my late stepfather Donald Sullivan (1918-2003) of Salem, Va., who was a World War II veteran as was my grandfather Dudley C. "Doc" Sturgis (1915-1993) of Rock Hill, SC. While my Turkish grandfather Fuat Gokbudak (1892-1957) did not serve in the American forces, he was a member of the Turkish army in World War One before becoming a member of the Turkish Parliament under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

One of the ironies that I uncovered while researching this entry was that there was a man named Donald Sullivan in Salem, Ind. (near New Albany, Ind.) who like my stepfather was a World War II veteran. But, what was strange was that this Donald who died in 2007 was also 85 years old. And, my stepfather was coincidentally residing in Fort Wayne, Ind., before he moved to the Roanoke, Va., area.

Fortunately, my stepfather was able to visit the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va., which is only 30 miles from Roanoke, before his death which was fitting since Donald saw action on Omaha Beach in France.

Of course, I couldn't resist posting an image from the film "Easy Rider" to go along with this entry. Alas, the film's star Dennis Hopper died earlier this year at age 76---I have no idea if my stepdad saw the film, but I know Donald 'never inhaled!'