NCAA Gymnastic Champions Tweets: Greetings from Forth Worth, Texas

The NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships are underway in Forth Worth, Texas, which is not where we actually are. But, even though some local folks may be more interested in the Assassination City Roller Derby match in Dallas, Tex., given that no Texas Superconference school has a women's gymnastics program, we thought we'd post some tweets from some of the participating schools.

We are going with an image of former North Carolina State Wolfpack gymnast Ashley Shepard to show neutrality as the school did qualify at regionals for the championships, and we wanted to go with an image of Cam the Ram, the mascot for Colorado State University, as well. But, since Colorado State doesn't even have a gymnastics team, we figured none of our blog-readers would be amused.

Here are the tweets (Note: Some schools have gymnasts competing individually even though their teams did not qualify):

1) Kentucky Gymnastics: NCAA gym warmups are underway! Sydney Waltz will compete in Stanford's rotation of bye, bars, beam, bye, floor, vault.

2) Florida Gators Gymnastics: Gator senior Rachel Spicer returns to Texas as NCAA Championships cap emotional senior year.

3) Samantha Peszeck: It's game time Bruins, lezzzgoooo

4) LSU Gymnastics: LSU competes for a spot in the Super Six in NCAA Semifinal II.

5) NC State Gymnastics: Brittni Watkins and Michaela Jayne ready to go!

6) WVU Gymnastics: Congratulations, Jaida Lawrence to co-Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Week!

7) CSU Cam the Ram: Happy Friday, Rams! Hope that rain jacket is green and gold! (The tweet actually featured a sheep wearing a raincoat!)

8) UCLA Gymnastics: All gymnasts master difficult skills. Danusia Francis likes to invent new ones.

9) Urban Dictionary: Hater_ A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success.

March Madness Finale: NCAA Tourney Teams with Women's Gymnastics Programs

We conclude our five entries dedicated to the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness, with a look at ten schools who made the Big Dance that also happen to have women's gymnastics programs. In total, 30 schools of the men's basketball field have women's gymnastics team. Of the ten teams listed here, only three are still in the tournament:

1) Florida Gators * (pictured top: Florida gymnast Kytra Hunter. Amazingly enough, the Gators are ranked number one in both sports)

2) Nebraska Cornhuskers (The team's mascot Lil' Red is pictured center)

3) Western Michigan Broncos ^ (We couldn't find an image we could use of the basketball team, so we went with an image of the Broncos' hockey goalie Lukas Hafner instead).

4) Ohio State Buckeyes. ^

5) Arizona State Sun Devils

6) UNC Tar Heels

7) Michigan State Spartans *^

8) Michigan Wolverines *^

9) Oklahoma Sooners (The Sooners have a solid chance of winning the NCAAs in gymnastics)

10) North Carolina State Wolfpack.

*-Teams still in the NCAA Tournament

^- Teams that also have men's hockey programs

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

College Gymnastics Lists (3 of 4): Gymnasts from the Southeastern Conference (SEC)

Only three of 14 Southeastern Conference (SEC) universities made into the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, but there are four conference schools (Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU) which could make it to the Super Six women's gymnastics championships in Birmingham, Ala., in April. Interestingly enough, the Florida Gators are ranked number one in both men's basketball and women's gymnastics (the gym Gators are in fact defending NCAA champs as well). Bridget Sloan was named SEC Gymnast of the Week.

Here are 10 gymnasts from the SEC, including one Gator, one Gym Dawg and one Wildcat, who are pictured above:

1) Alaina Johnson. Florida. Senior (pictured top)

2) Cat Hires, Georgia. Senior (pictured center)

3) Kenzie Hedges, Kentucky. Junior (pictured bottom)

4) Lauren Beers. Alabama. Sophomore.

5) Chelsea Davis, Georgia. Junior

6) Amanda Wellick. Arkansas. Freshman.

7) Kaleigh Dickson. LSU. Senior.

8) Lexus Demers. Auburn. Sophomore (yes, she does share her name with a car)

9) Bridgette Caquatto. Florida. Sophomore.

10) Miranda Eubank. Missouri. Sophomore.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/

College Gymnastics Lists (2 of 4): The All-Stars

Here is a list of NCAA gymnasts who have been stand-outs all year or all during their respective collegiate careers. The order presented here by no means suggests where each gymnast stands nationally. It's interesting that both Bridget Sloan and Samantha Peszek who competed as Olympians for Team USA are from Indiana:

1) Bridget Sloan. Florida. Sophomore (pictured top)

2) Samantha Peszek. UCLA. Senior (pictured center)

3) Emily Wong, Nebraska. Senior (pictured bottom, she will compete for her third straight Big 10 all-around this weekend)

4) Nicolette McNair.. Stanford. Freshman.

5) Diandra Miller. Alabama. Senior.

6) Brittany Rogers. Georgia. Sophomore. (Rogers competed for Canada in the 2012 London Olympics)

7) Joanna Sampson. Michigan. Senior

8) Nansy Damianova. Utah. Senior (The Canadian gymnast's parents were gymnasts in Bulgaria)

9) Jessie Jordan. LSU. Junior.

10) Haley Scaman. Oklahoma. Sophomore.

http://www.collegegymfans.com

College Game Day Tweets (Mostly Women's Gymnastics): The Bruins Hit the Road; the Heels Stay Home

1) Samantah Peszek (pictured, a UCLA gymnast): "It's a travel day for the bruins. Off to NoCal we go." (posted Thurs.)

2) VCU Athletics (Men's basketball team has 11:00 a.m. vs. cross-town rival Richmond): "Be early. Be loud. Wear Black. Wreck HAVOC. Let's Go VCU!

3) West Virginia U Gymnastics: "We host our pink meet Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Coliseum!"

4) Kansas Women's Basketball: "Kwbb hopes to continue its Red Raider dominance in Lubbock, Tex. tomorrow"

5) UNC Gymnastics: "Carmichael Arena is ready and waiting for tonight's meet vs. Pitt! Come cheer us on at 7:00......free admission" (Meet will be televised live on ESPN3).

6) Penn State Gymnastics: "Excited for another BUS trip to Columbus, Ohio, tomorrow." (Posted Thurs.)

7). Florida Gators Gymnastics: "When combined rank of teams is less than the ticket-price- that's a deal! No2 Gators vs. #1 Oklahoma. Tix: $5"

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Women's College Gymnastics News and Rankings: Oklahoma is Numero Uno

Greetings to our blog readers in South Korea, India and Chile.

Erica Brewer (pictured above) was named Big 12 Gymnast of the Week, and her Sooners teammate Lara Albright was named the conference specialist of the week following Oklahoma U's win over Big 12 rival Iowa State. The Sooners, a team which has never won a NCAA title in women's gymnastics but come close on several occasions, is also ranked number one nationally.

Here are the other major conference Gymnasts of the Week:

1) SEC: Bridget Sloan (Florida)

2) Big 10: Joanna Sampson (Michigan)

3) Pac 12: Olivia Courtney (UCLA)

Other gymnasts to look for on top ten teams include Rheagan Courville and Jessie Jordan of LSU, Kytra Hunter of Florida, Danuisca Francis of UCLA and Georgia Dabrist (Utah).

Here is the current top ten in the sport, with a look at their respective weekend meets, (all times given are eastern time):

1. Oklahoma 197.188 (@ Ariz. #17 on Sat. at 6:00 p.m.)

2. LSU 197.038 (Hosts Arkansas #14 on Fri at 8:00 p.m.

3. Florida 196.863 (Hosts Georgia #6 on Friday at 7:00 p.m.; last week's meet with Auburn will be televised on ESPN-U on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.)

4. Utah 196. 763 (Hosts UCLA #8 on Sat. @ 9:30 p.m.)

5. Michigan 196.663 (Hosts Ohio State #23 on Sat. @ 4:00 p.m.)

6. Georgia 196.608 (see Florida)

7. Alabama 196.600 (Hosts #10 Arkansas on Fri @ 8:30 p.m.)

8. UCLA 196.525 (see Utah)

9. Nebraska 196.438 (@ Iowa Fri, 8:00 p.m.)

10. Arkansas (see Alabama)

http://www.collegegymfans.com

Sports Desk: Florida Edges UCLA in Road Meet

Greetings to our blog-readers in Russia, India and Brazil.

In the City of Angels (Los Angeles, Calif.), the top-ranked, defending NCAA champion Florida Gators met the fourth-ranked UCLA Bruins in a very significant early season meet before both teams face their respective conference rivals.

In the end, Florida won by a very narrow 196.625-196.650, with the Gators prevailing by a margin of .025.

The Gators team had won the 2013 NCAA title at UCLA, but Marissa King, on the team leaders for the Gators, had finished her last year of eligibility. But, the team still includes former Team USA Olympian Bridget Sloan (pictured top), who was the 2013 AA champ at the NCAAs, Kytra Hunter, and sisters Bridgette and Mackenzie Caquatto.

For the Bruins, the 2014 team features stand-out Samantha Peszek, Danusia Francis (pictured bottom), Sydney Sawa and Olivia Courtney.

The Gators swept the all-around with Kytra Hunter (39.375), Bridget Sloan (38.875) and Mackenzie Caquatto (37.300) taking the top three slots.

But, the Bruins featured many outstanding performances in their own right. Olivia Courtney scored a career-best on vault with 9.975 and on bars with a 9.900; on that event, Courtney tied for first with Bridgette Coquatto.

Courtney edged out Sloan, who scored a 9.925 on vault, while her teammate Sawa tied Hunter of Florida with a 9.9 on that same event.

Hunter won floor for Florida with a 9.925; Peszek won balance beam for UCLA with a 9.925.

But, the WOW moment of the meet came from Peszek's teammate Francis, one of two British gymnasts for the Bruins, a team which also features three Canadians, on the beam.

For that event, Francis, who finished with 9.900 on the beam, performed a sideways aerial into a full-twisting dismount.

We imagine it will get lots of hits on Youtube.

UPDATE: This is the corrected version of this story. A blog reader pointed out several errors we made, but like most people who criticize, he/she did not give me credit for spelling Mackenzie Caquatto's name correctly, so we will give ourselves a standing ovation!

SPOILER ALERT: Kudos to Florida on Winning NCAA Women's Gymnastics Crown

The University of Florida Gators are only the fifth school to win a NCAA Women's Gymnastics title; they join the ranks of UCLA, Utah, Georgia and Alabama. Each of those schools, except Utah, qualified for the Super Six finals.

In victory, the Gators edged out second-place Oklahoma, third-place Alabama, the two-time NCAA champ and fourth place UCLA, the host school. LSU finished fifth; Georgia came in sixth.

For Gators' Coach Rhonda Faehn, a UCLA alum in her 11th year as coach of Florida after a coaching stint at Penn State, the title comes after years of heart-breaking near misses, includes last year's NCAA Championships in Georgia.

The Gators team consists of two Olympians: British national Marissa King, who also celebrated a birthday on Saturday and American Bridget Sloan, who is a freshman from Pittsboro, Ind.

Other stand-outs on the squad include Kytra Hunter (pictured top), Randy Stageberg (pictured bottom), Ashanee Dickerson and Alaina Johnson.

Here is the order of finish:

1. Florida 197.575

2. Oklahoma 197.375

3. Alabama 197.100

4. UCLA 197.100

5. LSU 197.050

6. Georgia 196.675

We issued a SPOILER ALERT because the meets airs on ESPN-U at 8:00 p.m. on April 30th.

For a look at the individual results from today's competition, go to our sister blog:
http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Friday Night Tweets: Sports, Sports, Sports....well, mostly college women's gymnastics

Since I may well be the one crossover NCAA Women's College Gymnastics fan who also happens to love Turkish soccer (I'm a Turkish-American), I want to start by mentioning that Istanbul powerhouse GalataSaray clubbed ElazigSpor, a team from Elazig, which is in eastern Turkey, by a 3-1 score thanks to two goal from Didier Drogba, the former Chelsea star and Ivory Coast national, and one goal by emerging Turkish superstar Burak Yilmaz, earlier today.

Now for the reason 97 percent of you are tuning in, here are some tweets that were generating in regard to the the first session of today's NCAA women's gymnastics championships being held on the campus of UCLA.

The college gymnasts pictured here are British Olympian Marissa King who competes for the Florida Gators (top) and Canadian Olympian Brittany Rogers who competes for the Georgia BullDogs/GymDawgs; both teams, along with the LSU Tigers, advanced today.

The two Big 10 schools in the first session: Illinois and Minnesota were both competing in their first national championships.


There are some other tweets regarding other sporting events, but they are not many, not many at all in fact!

Here we go:

1. @UIBaseball Iowa Baseball: "Tonight's game has been postponed due to rain. #Hawks play a double header with Penn State tomorrow starting at 1:05 CST."

2. Gators Gymnastics: "Gymnastics team advances to Super Six; Bridget Sloan is All-Around leader."

3. Illini Gymnastics @IlliniGym: "Florida, LSU, Georgia advance to Super Six #Illini women finish 5th in session with a 195.7, their highest team total ever."

4. MacKenzi Caquatto @MackMacko (a gymnast with Florida): "@AlexMorganVarga: Congrats to @MackMacko and the Gators for finishing first at NCAA Qualifying #ncaagym_ thank you. Good luck to y'all "

5. UCLA Gymnastics @uclagymnastics: "Session 1 #ncaawgym Finals: Florida-197.775, LSU 19.325, Georgia 197.150, Minnesota 196.375, Illinois 195.700, Stanford 194.700"

6. Minnesota Gymnastics @GophersWomensGym: "@KylaSledita recieves a 9.85 on vault and @JennyCovers gets a 9.825."

7. USA Water Polo @USAWP: "Also don't forget to mention our own Adam Kirkorian @WaterPoloCoachK will be live tweeting tonight's USC-UCLA matchup."

8. Chelsea Davis @Gymdogchels: "RT @ChelseaDfans: Congrats to Georgia #supersix! Thank you!!!

http://www.collegegymfans.com

http://www.twitter.com/turkishsoccer

Tweets for a Snowy Friday Night

Since there is a major SEC women's gymnastics meet between the University of Florida Gators and the Auburn Tigers tonight, we thought we'd go with this image of an alligator; our apologies to Auburn fans as we would also post an image of a tiger but we want to get this entry up before 5:00 a.m., Dubai time (they are nine hours ahead of New York); here we go!:

1) Auburn Gymnastics @AuGymnastics: "Florida native Abby Habicht scores a 9.775. Megan up now."

2) Washington DC News @wasdcnews: "Obama Heaps Praise on Hillary Clinton in Joint Appearance."

3) Gator Gymnastics @GatorZoneGym: "Ashanee Dickerson scores a 9.925 on vault! Go #Gators! #LinktoPink

4) Sundance Channel @SundanceChannel: "@ItsDakotaFannin stopped by #Sundance Channel HQ to tell us a secret and discuss Very Good Girls."

5) AnthonyWilson @AWilsonABC11: "Downtown Raleigh, a ghost town. The ice u cant see can hurt you, so avoid the roads and #dont drive."

6)Hartford Courant @hartfordcourant: "Legislators Hear Calls for More Mental Health Services in Schools, More Police Officers."

7) Post Sports @PostSports: "Nats name William Howard Taft new racing president."

http://www.auburngymnastics.com

www.gatorzone.com/gymnastics

http://www.sundancechannel.com

http://www.sundance.org/festival

http://www.courant.com

http://www.washingpost.com/nationalsfans

Congratulations to Alabama for Winning 2012 NCAAs in Gymnastics

Hmmmm.......yes, a lot has happened in the world since the University of Alabama won its seventh team title in women's gymnastics in Duluth, Ga., back on April 21. In fact, the horse I'll Have Another upset Bodemeiser at the Kentucky, Michelle Obama gave the commencement at Virginia Tech and Kim Spradling became the latest person to win it all on the reality tv show "Survivor."

But, nonetheless, we have been saluting the NCAA winners in women's gymnastics for several years now, and we wanted to continue that tradition even though the finals have aired on various ESPN networks.

For the Crimson Tide, seniors Geralen Stack-Eaton (pictured here) and Ashley Priess came though on balance beam on the final rotation to seal the deal, and help Alabama win its first back-to-back NCAA title in the sport.

Alabama edged out top-ranked Florida, which once again came very, very close to winning the Gators' first title; the team has been second or third on numerous occasions.

UCLA, a team that along with Utah and Georgia has also won several NCAA titles, finished in a narrow third.

The Standings thus finished: 1) Alabama 197.85; 2) Florida 197.775; and UCLA 197.75. Finishing out the order in the Super Six were Stanford in 4th, Utah in 5th and Arkansas in 6th. Each of the schools in Super Six were from either the Southeastern Conference or the PAC-12, which Utah just joined this year.

For the Gators, there is some great news though as Freshman Kyra Hunter of Frederick, Md., became the first freshman to win the Honda Sports Award in women's gymnastics since 1991.

NCAA Gymnastics Preview_ Kytra Hunter of Florida

The Florida Gators have been the proverbial bridesmaid but not the bride countless times in NCAA Women's Gymnastics, but since they are the number one team heading into the NCAA Championships in Gwinnett, Georgia, this weekend, this might well be the year they win it all.

One of the reasons for the team's success is an outstanding freshman named Kytra Hunter from Frederick, Md., a medium sized city known for its minor league baseball team the Frederick Keys, which is west of Baltimore and Washington, DC.

Hunter has a number of SEC honors for the 2012 gymnastics season, including being named SEC Freshman of the Week along with Jessie Jordan of LSU on Jan. 24 for an outstanding 39.475 all-around performance in a win over Kentucky. A week later, Hunter won the same honor again.

On Feb. 14, Hunter won the Freshman of the Week honor for a startling third time thanks to an impressive performance in a home meet win over LSU, a consistent gymnastics team in the SEC.

On Feb. 28, Hunter won her biggest honor of the season as she was named SEC Gymnast of the Week for her 39.675 performance in a victory over then third-ranked Georgia.

At the end of the regular season, Hunter was awarded All-SEC honors with fellow Gators gymnasts Marissa King, a stand-out gymnast from the United Kingdom, Alaina Johnson and Mackenzie Caquatto.

Sports Desk- Kentucky Wins NCAA Men's Basketball, etc.

The big sports news here in the United States this week is that the Kentucky Wildcats beat the Kansas Jayhawks 67-59 for the NCAA men's basketball championship. The Wildcats were the overall number one seed and the team favored to win it all.

In Monday's title game, Doron Lamb guided the Wildcats to victory with 22 points. Anthony Davis, the 'Cats' top player, scored only six points in New Orleans, but he grabbed 16 rebounds, had six blocked shots, five assists and three steals.

The NCAA title is the first for Kentucky coach John Calipari, who has been the head coach of the 'Cats for three years.

SOCCER (MLS)_ While soccer season is winding down in Europe, it is full swing in the United States and Canada. Here are select scores from this weekend's play; the major headline appears to be that the New England Revolution won over the Los Angeles Galaxy, the defending MLS champion:

DC United 4 FC Dallas 1

New England 3 LA Galaxy 1

Colorado Rapids 2 Chicago Fire 0

New York Red Bulls 5 Montreal Impact 2

Real Salt Lake 3 Portland Timbers 2

SOCCER (Turkey): It was a good weekend for traditional Istanbul soccer power Galatasaray; the same can not be said for Fenerbahce and Besiktash, the team's main two cross-town rivals. Here is a partial list of the league games over the weekend:

Galatasaray 2 Orduspor 0

Bursaspor 3 Antalyaspor 1

Samsunspor 1 Besiktash 0

Istanbul BB 1 Sivasspor 0

Trabzonspor 1 Fenerbahce 1, tie

College Gymnastics:

This Saturday, 36 different schools will be in action as the six regional meets will determine the 12 teams that go to the national championships in women's gymnastics in Gwinnett, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb, from April 20-22.

The Florida Gators, winner of the Southeastern Conference, are the overall number one team in the country. The Gators, a team that has come close but never won a title in women's gymnastics, is the top seed in the Raleigh, NC, regional meet.

The regional meets in Champaign, Ill., figure to be exciting as well as the Oklahoma Sooners will face the Stanford Cardinal and a highly competitive Denver Pioneers squad. And, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Big Ten champs, will try to win regionals over the home team Utah Utes, while the Minnnesota Golden Gophers attempt to be upset spoilers.

Here is a list of the teams in these three regional meets; the others will be posted on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time:"


Champaign Regional

1. Oklahoma
2. Stanford
3. Denver
4. Illinois
5. Kentucky
6. Ill-Chicago

Raleigh Regional

1. Florida
2. Ohio State
3. Penn State
4. North Carolina State
5. Kent State
6. UNC Tarheels

SLC Regional

1. Nebraska
2. Utah
3. Minnesota
4. Iowa State
5. Arizona State
6. San Jose State

Status Update_ Does Modern Technology Really Work....

Status Update 1/29: "Last night, I was watching the Stanford-Utah meet live from Salt Lake City when the feed gave out during the last five minutes. I didn't know who won the meet until almost an hour later!"

Hence, the reason why I am going with an image of iconic Soviet/Belarusian Olympic gymnast Olga Korbut who won gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics. She is now a gymnastics teacher in Scotsdale, Ariz.

Stanford (ranked #2) won the narrow meet over Utah (ranked #4) by 196.825-196.500 margin in front of an impressive 13,835 fans at the Huntsman Center.

Ashley Morgan, daughter of baseball great Joe Morgan, Shelley Alexander and team captain Danielle Ikoma helped Stanford by nailing the beam in the final rotation. Morgan scored a very good 9.9 on that event.

The win by the Stanford Cardinal (remember no 's') marked the end of a 20-meet home winning streak by the Utes.

But, for Utah, freshman gymnast Nancy Damianova from Montreal, Canada, was quite a standout. And, I expect she could well be the next Daria Bijak (well, perhaps). One has to be impressed by the loyal following that Coach Greg Marsden has developed for the Utah gymnastics program.

In other college gym news, top-ranked Florida won its home meet over Penn State and our beloved N.C. State Wolfpack by a score of 197.5-195.3-194.075 (yes, I know the sport's scoring system is confusing for those who don't follow the sport, hey, it's even that way for me!). The Wolfpack were missing gymnasts Brittany Vontz and Brooke Barr, but Jess Panza scored an overall 9.775 for the 'Pack. Alaina Johnson and Ashanee Dickerson lead the way for Florida.

SIDEBAR: I am starting to wonder if someone at Fox Searchlight Pictures is reading my blog. The film "127 Hours" did finally open in the Roanoke, Va., and Greensboro, NC, area yesterday (see earlier entry). For those in Winston-Salem, I highly recommend seeing the film at the A/Peture Cinema, a place I've heard lots of good things about.

Top Ten List of the Week- My Favorite College Football Teams

Admitedly, it is perhaps a bit too early for this Top Ten list, but the ESPN show "SportsNation," which I usually enjoy (who doesn't love watching clips of a sheep jumping up and down on a bed) said that my Virginia Tech Hokies (actually, I went to school at nearby Radford University in Radford, Va.) were 'over-rated.'

This leads us to this list today which is of our Top Ten favorite teams to follow in college football:

1. Virginia Tech Hokies- We start the season with a game against Boise State. At least, the Hokies don't have to travel all the way to Idaho for the game since that would make for a very long Greyhound bus ride for the fans from Blacksburg, Va.

2. UNC Tarheels- Perhaps, I've lived in The Tarheel State too long but I'm starting to like the Smurfs (I call the Tarheels that because they are also in blue and white). I was caught in an awkward moment when the 'Heels actually beat the Hokies in football in Blacksburg last year. But, the Hokies turned around and beat the boys the boys from Chapel Hill in men's basketball.

3. University of Michigan- My late father Mehmet Gokbudak went to school in Ann Arbor a very, very long time ago (he graduated with the class of 1949) but we still love the Big Blue who were alas pretty dismal in football last year.

4. West Virginia University- This choice is made easier by the fact that the Mountaineers no longer play Virginia Tech in football unless they were to meet in a bowl game.

5. University of Florida- I just love alligators (for those in Uzbekistan, the team's nickname is the Gators), but it's best to see them in a zoo.

6. Colorado University- We just love Boulder!

7. North Carolina State- The ACC rules!

8. UCLA- We like the women's gymnastics team that won the NCAA's this year more, but if we have to root for someone in the PAC-10 it's da Bruins.

9.University of Georgia- We love Athens, Ga.!

10. Univeristy of Maryland- Love the team's mascot (an adorable turtle). Don't tell my friends in Blacksburg or Chapel Hill, but I personally think it's the best mascot in the ACC!

SIDEBAR: Since everything is closed on Sundays in Graham, NC, (not really where I'm at) except the Waffle House, the fundamentalist Southern Baptist Church and the local friendly neighborhood crackhouse, we will have to post our entry on 50 Beers of the World on Monday, a day which no religion in the world has proclaimed for a Sabbath (to our knowledge!).

SIDEBAR TWO: We learned from "Mental Floss" magazine that llama meat is a delicacy in Bolivia. According to the periodical, the meat is often eaten dried, salted or (yuck!) fried in oil which makes for a 'tasty treat' known as 'ch'arki.'