The Olympics Lists (7 of 10): Ice Sports

For those of you in Floyd, Va., a small community 25 miles north of Roanoke, who got 24 inches of snow yesterday, we are curious to know if any of you will find a way to get out of the driveway.

Here is a list of 10 athletes who are athletes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, now in its seventh day of competition, engaged in ice sports:

1) Sven Kramer (pictured). 27. Netherlands. Men's Speed-skating. Won gold. (In fact, the Dutch won lots of gold in this sport....again!)...........we didn't spell Sven's last name right on our labels, this is the correct spelling.

2) Elizabeth Yarnold. 25. Great Britain. Women's Skeleton. Her competition was completed today, and we would say how she finished, but we don't want to have to issue a SPOILER ALERT.

3) Yuzuru Hanyu. 19. Japan. Men's Figure Skating. See #2.

4) Julie Chu. 31. USA. Women's Hockey. She has been in a Bounty paper towels tv ad.

5) Christopher Mazdzer. 25. USA. Men's Luge.

6) Jennifer Jones. 39. Canada. Women's Curling.

7) Loui Eriksson. 28. Sweden. Men's Hockey. Plays for the Boston Bruins.

8) Alisa Agafonova. 23. Turkey. Ice dancing. Interesting story: She is actually a Ukrainian, but she obtained Turkish citizenship to compete with her Turkish dance partner Alper Ucar.

9) Jason Brown. 19. USA. Men's Figure Skating.

10) Kim Yuna. 23. South Korea. Women's Figure Skating. She is the defending Olympic champion

http://www.usaluge.org

http://www.curling.ca

http://www.rnw.nl

http://www.usahockey.com

http://www.usfsa.org


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Kudos to UNC on ACC Men's Lacrosse Title

The University of North Carolina (UNC) won its first ACC men's lacrosse title since 1996 when the Tar Heels held their home turf in a 16-13 win over the University of Virginia.

According to goheels.com, the game was played in front of 4,001 fans in Chapel Hill, NC, and both the 'Heels and the Cavaliers had to deal with the proverbial elements of mother nature as the game was played in the rain.

For the 'Heels, Davey Emala and Chad Tutton scored seven goals each. Their teammate Marcus Helman (pictured center, we believe) was named as the outstanding ACC Tournament Player.  To play UVa, the 'Heels first had to defeat their arch rivals Duke; Virginia had to upset Maryland.

For the Cavs, Matt White scored seven goals.

'Teels goalie Kieran Burke had 17 saves.

The 'Heels trailed 5-3 after the first quarter, but they took a 10-7 lead by half-time.

UNC now goes to 12-3 and looks forward to the NCAA tournament, but due to their disappointing finish the Cavs at 7-8 are not going to the tournament, a rarity for the school in Charlottesville, Va., for the sport.

SIDEBAR ONE: We saw that Link-TV, a non-profit progressive television outlet in America thanked Rick in Floyd, Va., for his support; we want to thank Rick too.....for no particular reason.

SIDEBAR TWO: Today's sponsors are Doomsday Dating, which we heard about from a female stand-up comedian from Winston-Salem, NC; she insisted she wasn't kidding about the existence of this Davidian singles group, and yes they do really exist!

SIDEBAR THREE: Since we completely neglected the Yale Bulldogs for the team's first ever men's hockey title as captain Andrew Miller lead his team in a 4-0 upset win over their cross-town New Haven, Conn., rival the Quinnipiac Bobcats....yes, we think that must be the NCAA's most difficult to spell school as well...at the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, but we are pointing it out now.

SIDEBAR FOUR: Tomorrow, we kick off Soccer Week (pardon the pun), and as a teaser, we will issue a SPOILER ALERT to the six people in America who were taping the English Premiere League game between two lower-ranking teams Aston Villa and Sunderland (perhaps Rick from Floyd, Va., was one of them). Aston Villa really kicked butt by a 6-1 score today.

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.dailytarheel.com

http://www.doomsdaydating.com

http://www.linktv.org

http://www.yalebulldogs.com

http://www.visitfloyd.org

http://www.visitchapelhill.org

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

First of all greetings to our blog visitors from Norway and Indonesia, we are glad you have found nothing better to do than check out our blog today; forgive the mean-spirited "South Park" sense of humor which has become the norm here in America today.

We looked all over the Internet for both lavish and kitschy Christmas trees, and we chose to go with a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree instead.

There is a place called the Rifton Farm and Nursery in Floyd County, Virginia, which supposedly has the real thing, for those of you who live in the Roanoke Valley or Southwest Virginia, or for those of you who want drive thousands of miles looking for the perfect Christmas tree.

As for the "Charlie Brown Christmas Special," the show originally aired on CBS on Dec. 9, 1965, and a snowball fight scene was editted from the show. But, dvd editions of the show now show the snowball fight in its entirety, well from what we gather!

Greensboro vs. Roanoke- Best Road Trips (6 of 6)

Today, we conclude our look at my hometown of Roanoke, Va., and my adopted city of Greensboro, NC, by comparing two unique road trip opportunities within a short driving distance from each respective zip code.

The first one of these is the North Carolina Zoo, located in Asheboro, NC, which is about 35 minutes away from Greensboro and is located in the same county as the Richard Petty Museum in Randleman, NC.

This month, the zoo is offering Batology 101 on Sat., Oct. 22 at noon. Among the things which will be discussed is how bats apparently dine on up to 1,000 mosquitoes. We have no idea if that is the appetizer or the main course.

On Oct. 29th and 30th, the same zoo will have a special "Boo at the Zoo" program featuring a 'guess the pumpkin size' contest.

As for what is arguably the best trip from Roanoke, unless it is a day when Virginia Tech is playing Clemson and traffic is backed up to West Virginia (as is the case today), there is the Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Va., which is about 40 minutes from most parts of Roanoke due to the hilly roads.

The Floyd Country Store is known for its Friday night jamborees from 6:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. On Oct. 15th, the store will hold a cd release party for gospel and country singer Janet Turner who is from the region. And, on Oct. 29th, the venue hosts an old time country dance with Mac Trayhan and Friends.

So, which road trip would I choose? Hmmm....this will be put me in the pickle jar again, but since I am a bit allergic to elephant dung (forgive the political humor), I will go with the Floyd Country Store though the North Zoo is an exceptional place to visit, especially if you have kids who aren't allergic to elephant dung.

The Backpackers Are Beside BestBuy (entry 6 of 6)

NOTE: This is the final entry in the series. The odd-numbered ones can be found at Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time (www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.com)

Tuesday, August 16, had been a dreadful day though it was less hot than it had been in the days and weeks prior to it, if my recollection is accurate on that.

But, as evening struck, I was ready to take a photograph of the seventh and final sculpture in the public art displays as part of Art in Roanoke's civic campaign.

That seventh sculpture was "The Happy Wanderers" (pictured here, but obviously not in its present location) by Floyd County artist Charlie Brouwer, who was an art professor at my alma mater Radford University for 21 years. The sculpture was located near BestBuy at Valley View Mall. It consists of two backpackers, one is a man and the other is a young child (yes, it is the reason for the name of this series).

According to the Art in Roanoke web site, Brouwer was inspired by a hike he took with his 3-year-old grandson. He has made similar sculptures, including "The Pursuit of Happiness" that depicts a man carrying what appears to be a birdhouse. Brouwer has also made "Together," conveying what appears to be a mother holding her infant daughter.

"The Happy Wanderers" is made from locust wood, screws and preservative staining.

I knew the piece was near Valley View Mall, which is arguably the most congested part of Roanoke, Va., a city that has somehow not changed population in fifty years. In fact, an article in "The Roanoker" magazine said the city had just gained 68 people from the 1960 U.S. Census Report. Those 68 people are probably all working at Valley View Mall, which was built circa 1985.

At first, I expected that I would see the sculpture from the road. After all, it seemed improbable that one could not see a wooden sculpture, even if SUVS or Humvees were tail-gating one's bumper. But, that wasn't the case.

So, I went into Dick's Sporting Goods Store, and an employee said these words: "The backpackers are beside BestBuy." In all actuality, they are between Target and BestBuy, but it was those directions which eventually lead me to the sculpture. Though I had to circle the parking lot of the adjoining mega-stores to find it.

"The Happy Wanderers" is a nice sculpture, but of the seven, it seems to be the one that is the most misplaced. But, I can imagine the folks at Art in Roanoke had a difficult time finding a place suitable for it given that it seems to be a piece that would go better with a rural landscape.

Amazingly enough, even though Roanoke has not grown much in population, there seem to be very few open spaes left in the city. But, there are several eye-sores and vacant buildings as is seemingly the case just about everywhere else in the region.

SIDEBAR: The answer to last week's quiz about the distance between Murphy and Manteo, NC, two cities in the same state which are actually worlds apart is
d) 9 hours, 25 minutes.

Things We Learned on Twitter This Week- Chicago Sports Fans Are Loyal

Whether it is a liberal Hollywood actor like Jon Cusack or a right-wing political commentator with no sense of humor like George F. Will, Chicagoans seem to love their sports team irregardless if they are winning or not.

And, that was Reason #28 why "Chicago Magazine" said Windy City residents should love Chicago, according to a tweet posted by them on Wednesday.

The exact wording of the post was: "Reason #28 to love Chicago: Sports fans who stick with their teams (sometimes the devotion pays off).

They then linked to a photograph with several college-age Chicago Blackhawks fans painted in red (as if they were draped in blood) including Wes Zielinski and Nixon Flores.

The Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup after many, many years last season.

Well, I would write more put I've got to play the piano at Chic's Antiques in Floyd, Va., this afternoon to entertain Black Friday customers (that is a joke actually as I don't play the piano, and if I did I would certainly not be as great as Liberache!).

Besides, last night while putting the finishing touching on an entry for our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," the computer crashed which almost made me curse like "Rolling Stone" writer Matt Taibbi who has been known to say some mean things about George F. Will, which we won't repeat here as most Republicans in the South tend to carry glocks with them to the Piggly Wiggly!

Virginia High School Football Roundup

Since I live in an area that gets tv and radio stations from Roanoke, Va., as well as Greensboro and Raleigh in NC, and Friday nights have been a bit slow lately, I have taken to watching high school football highlights.

It is nice to see how my alma mater Glenvar High School in Salem, Va., which defated Auburn High School from the hamlet of Riner, Va., on Friday night, is progressing. It is also see how the Floyd County High School Buffaloes from Floyd, Va., also victors on the girdiron this week are coming along.

I will post the rest of scores from the Roanoke region as well scores from Central Virginia (Lynchburg-Danville), southwest Virginia and even the Shenandoah Valley. Due to time constraints, we can not post scores for the entire state, so my apologies to folks in Norfolk and Richmond.

North Carolina scores will be posted on our other blog (Ragsdale High School from just outside Greensboro won---Yay!).

The team emblem pictured above belongs to Northside High School in Roanoke County. The Vikings won their game over rival William Byrd High School from Vinton, Va., which one of our previous 'High Schools of the Week.'

Here are the rest of the Virginia scores:

Salem 13 Blacksburg 7
Northside 24 William Byrd 0
Floyd County 20 Radford 12
Christiansburg 41 Hidden Valley 14
Franklin County 28 Patrick Henry (Roanoke) 0
Glenvar 42 Auburn 6
EC Glass 27 Heritage 14
GW Danville 34 Halifax Count 19
Dan River 41 Nelson County 20
Alleghany County 35 Lord Botetourt 7
Riverheads 44 Page County 0
Harrisonburg 24 Stuarts Draft 21
Robert E. Lee (Staunton) 23 Turner Ashby 0
Beluefield (WVa) 24 William Fleming (Roanoke) 8
Eastern Montgomery 53 Giles County 27

SIDEBAR: In ACC college football action, the host Virginia Tech dumped Wake Forest 52-21 while my cousin Mike's beloved Clemson won over the University of MAryland by a 31-7 score and Flordia State beat Boston College 24-19.

As for the smart kids, The University of Pennsylvania beat Columbia 27-13 in the Ivy League.

SIDEBAR: One has to feel for the Turkish soccer team Kasimpasha as they were literally kicked in the arse by Trabzonspor from the Black Sea port of Trabzon by a
7-0 score! Traditional Istanbul powerhouse was upset by Manisaspor by a score of 3-2.

My Alma Mater GHS Wins Homecoming Game

We diligently tried to come up with game stats and find articles about how many touchdowns were thrown by the Glenvar High School (Salem, VA) quarterback, whose name I don't know. But, my GHS classmate Barry Hurley did the duties in the fall of 1987 when (I believe) we lost to the Covington High School Cougars.

But, the times have changed and Covington High School from Covington, Va., near the West Virginia border in the lower Shenandoah Valley (a town that really smells!) was a powerhouse then. Today, they are apparently a bit of a doormat.

So, in short, my alma mater The Glenvar Highlanders beat Covington 35-14 in their homecoming game. GHS is now undefeated at 4-0!

The other area team Salem High School, which is a football powerhouse (GHS has had good years and bad years), beat Northside High School from Roanoke County by a 17-13. The Spartans' victory ended the Vikings' 17 game winning streak.

Alas, our beloved Floyd County Buffaloes from Floyd, Va. (we love their mascot) lost a very close game to Forth Chiswell High School near Wytheville, Va., by a 22-21 margin. Ironically, Floyd County HS hosts GHS on Nov. 9.

And, lastly, kudos to the Strasburg High School Rams from Strasburg, Va., in the northern Shenandoah Valley for beating Page County High School 36-22. We imagine everyone in the stands was a Republican (it's a VERY conservative area where some folks are to the right of Pat Boone_, but we still hope they had a good time.

As for on-going games in college football this p.m. At last report from Twitter, Virginia Tech was winning 16-0 over Boston College and the North Carolina State Wolfpack were beating the favored Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by a 31-14 margin.

We also fully expect that UVA is winning their home game over VMI, but then again JMU did beat Virginia Tech 21-16 in Blacksburg just two weeks ago!

SIDEBAR: My friend Ali Arikan of Istanbul, Turkey, tweeted that a Hooters is opening up there! As he put it so well in his tweet: "The joke makes itself!" Personally, I think that's a very bad idea.......at least, we hope they don't serve pork!

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Tired Cat

It has been one of those weeks, but we will leave you with a short message from a fundamentalist church from Willis, Va., (near Floyd) whose views we fundamentally disagree with (I am a fervent human secularist):

"All Christians work for the same employer."

But, we do ask that you look into getting a homeless cat or dog a proper home. For those of you living in Woodstock, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley where I used to reside, adoption info for the county animal shelter can be found at:

shenandoahcounty.va.us/animalshelter

Today, We Celebrate Five Years of Blogging!

It was on Sept. 18, 2005, when we started with the original version of "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," a blog which is still active (hmm....free time is beginning to become much like Kuwaiti oil, a thing which once seemed plentiful, but now much less so!).

Today, I run both the new version of that blog and this crazy thing called "The Daily Vampire," which is actually an in-joke about my twisted sleep cycle, but perhaps because of the "Twiligt" film and book series as well as "True Blood," this blog gets about 12 times as many hits per day as "Politics...," yet we seldom post anything about vampires here!

I want to take a moment to recognize my alma mater Glenvar High School's remarkable 3-0 start to their high school football season. Last night, the Highlanders won a home game over the Grayson County Blue Devils by a 27-7 score.

My other favorite high school in Virginia, Floyd County High School, which ironically hosts Glenvar on Nov. 9, won a road game against George Wythe High School by a 17-7 score.

And, of course, I'm equally proud of both the American and Turkish men's basketball teams. The U.S. Team, which featured NBA phenom Kevin Durant and was coached by Coach K from Duke University, won the final game over a very impressive Turkish team which was lead by standout Hedo Turkoglu, who will now play for the Phoenix Suns, in Istanbul last week.

My late father Mehmet Gokbudak hailed from Turkey, and if he were alive today (he would actually be 89 years old!), I'm sure he'd still be telling me to do my math homework even though it's been 22 since I graduated from high school!

PS- I also want to extend my kudos to the NC St. football team. Though I sort of made fun of them earlier in the week, they did win their home game over the Cincy Bearcats on Thursday night by a 30-19 score.

High School of the Week- Bluefield HS (West Virginia)

Initially, we were going to choose Big Creek High School in War, W.Va., which is where former NASA researcher Homer Hickam (whose memoir 'Rocket Boys' was turned into the film 'October Sky') went to school. But, we found out that the school whose nickname was The Owls closed earlier this year!

So, as a result, our High School of the Week is Bluefield High School in the bordertown of Bluefield, W.Va., which happens to be where the famous mathematician John Nash (subject of the film "A Beautiful Mind") went to school. Bluefield is about an hour away from War in the southern part of West Virginia.

BHS was founded in 1953. The school nickname is The Beavers (note: the image about is not the school's logo). There are about 650 students attending school at BHS, where the principal is Joe Turner.

BHS won the state high school football championship last year. This past weekend, they defeated rival school Princeton HS 17-0.

The school newspaper is "The Beaver Voice," and it is published online.

SIDEBAR: Our kudos go out to Floyd County High School in Floyd, Va., as The Buffaloes beat Rural Retreat High School 48-20 in football on Friday night. The Buffs' are division rivals with my alma mater Glenvar High School (Salem, Va.) which came from behind in a home win over James River High School from Buchanan.

SIDEBAR TWO: It appears that Idaho will not be a favored vacation destination for clients of travel agents in Roanoke, Va., since nearby Virginia Tech lost their season opener in college football by a 33-30 margin against Boise State, in a game that was played on the Washington Redskins' home field in Maryland.

But, for those of you who are now Hokies alum (I went to nearby Radford University), you may want to check out The Idaho Potato Museum in the town of Blackfoot. Conversely, those of you visiting Virginia may want to check out another nifty roadside attraction in The Natural Bridge Zoo, which is near Lexington, Va. Interestingly enough, there is a Virginia Tech alumni chapter in Idaho!

Friday GeoQuiz-What's the Weather Like in Sydney?

For today's installment of our weekly Friday GeoQuiz, we ask you the blog-reader a mere simple question: What is the weather like in Sydney, Australia, today?

Is the answer:

A) 64 degrees

B) 66 degrees

C) 67 degrees

D) 70 degrees

We dedicate this entry to another Olympic city (well, we say this in jest) Moscow, Idaho, also home to the University of Idaho and Moscow Senior High School. Perhaps, the later has Misha the Bear as their mascot.

The Olympics were held in Moscow, Russia in 1980 and in Sydney, Australia, in 2000.

Yvonne Tousek, one of my favorite college gymnasts of all-time, finished 15th at the 2000 Olympics while competing for her native Canada. Today, she is a performer with Cirque du Soleil and she travels around the globe. Her UCLA teammates Jamie Dantscher and Kristen Maloney got a bronze team medal in gymnastics after the Chinese team who initially finished third was disqualified for having under-age gymnasts.

Halil Multu won a gold medal for Turkey, my late father's country, at the Sydney Games in weight-lifting (flyweight division).

We are blogging today from the Pyongyang Public Library in Pyongyang, North Korea. Well, in all seriousness, it is a public library in a small town like Mount Airy, NC (but we aren't in Mount Airy, where "The Andy Griffith Show" took place). We say this because Twitter and Facebook are banned here, however one can probably access certain 'Danish web sites' here if they wanted to. There's nothing like living in a 'free and open society' is there?

As for North Korea, Open Radio for North Korea is reporting that more people in that country fear their own leader Kim Jong-il than les etats unis. I suppose that's a good thing?!

SIDEBAR: Our friends at The Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Va., (well, we don't actually personally know anyone who works there) are celebrating their 100th anniversary. And, tomorrow night (Sat.), there will be a performance from the bluegrass band Slate Mountain Ramblers at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 at the door. The band is headed by Richard Bowman from the tiny hamlet of Ararat, Va., in Patrick County. Despite its name, there are reportedly no Armenian-Americans in Ararat, Va. (forgive the ethnic humor!).

SIDEBAR 2: The answer to last week's question is D) Cesme, Turkey

Silly Photo to Fill Space- School Lunch Menu

Friday night while I was waiting for the Neil Diamond All-Stars to perform (don't laugh) at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC (outside Chapel Hill), I came across a listing for the local elementary school lunches for this upcoming week in "The Carrboro Citizen."

I thought it would be a great segment for my two blogs. We will list the items that will be served for school children in the Chapel Hill, NC, (Orange County) area for Wednesday on this blog. We will list Thursday's items on our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

For Wednesday, 5/19: Oven Baked BBQ Chicken (pictured) w/White Roll or Ham and Cheese Wrap as well as Baked Beans, Seasoned Collard Greens and Fresh Grapes.

This weekend, Cat's Cradle hosts Superchunk on Friday and Railroad Earth, a popular band at FloydFest (music festival held in Floyd, Va, every July) on Saturday.

UPDATE- Cat's Cradle announced today that Saturday's Railroad Earth concert has been indefinitely postponed. But, we can tell you that the Floyd Country Store in Floyd, Va., will be hoping this weekend!

Valentine's Day Dance in Floyd, Va.

Perhaps, the two unluckiest days of the year for me are Valentine's Day and my birthday (which is March 4).

I can never seem to get a date on Valentine's Day, and people have been known to die on my birthday (including my father!).

But, for those of you who are lucky to have a date on V-Day, there is a Valentine's Day contra dance at the Sun Music Hall in Floyd, Va.

And, in case you were wondering that is the Little Red Hair Girl in this picture!