We Are Going to the Final Four in Indy............

Yes, indeed, a good friend of mine from Charlotte, NC, backed out of going to the NCAA Tournament so he could tend to the health of his ailing Yorkie terrier B.B. King (named after the blues legend, of course). We wish B.B. the best, but we are going to Indianapolis!

For those of you who are politically liberal, you will be delighted to learn that because of a hotel shortage in the Indiana capital, where Republican governor Mike Pence signed a stupid gay discrimination bill cloaked as religious freedom, I will be staying in Louisville, Ky., instead.

The issue has been the talk of both the political and sports world circuit. Dave Zirin of "The Nation" said that Duke University Coach Mike Krzyzewski (also known as Coach K) was a coward for not standing up to the measure. But, we did learn that the Duke coach recently wrote a letter to a struggling grade school kid in Oklahoma, urging him to make a strong effort in school. Unlike Zirin, a rare progressive sports writer, David Brooks, who is center-right politically, criticized gay rights groups for being too political, or something to that effect.

But, I am nevertheless pleased to go to the Final Four; the ironic thing is that I would have been just as happy to go to the Frozen Four in Philadelphia!

Images: 1) the retired jersey of Kentucky Wildcats great Sam Bowie wh played there in the early eighties, 2) the Duke Blue Devils mascot who is simply known as Blue Devil, 3) Frank Kaminisky, number 44 in red, in action for the Wisconisn Badgers.

The Michigan State Spartans are the fourth team in the Final Four.

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/

Friday Night Tweets, Contd_ The Bard is Back

Yes, it's a snowy night here in Coffin Gulch, Nebraska.....well, that is a fictional town in the tv version of Lucky Luke aka the French cowboy and we are pretty far from the Cornhusker State, but it is snowing here in the Mid-Atlantic part of America.

So, we thought it was a good time to post some new entries and look at tweets from the college gymnastics world, pro hockey and PBS, which we imagine Mitt Romney is watching right now with his grandchildren (forgive the political humor); here are the tweets:

1) Alabama Gymnastics @BamaGymnastics: Sophomore Kayla Williams just tied her career best on the balance beam with a a score of 9.9

2) IlliniGymnastics @IlliniGym: #Illini women vs. #spartans tomorrow at 4. #PinkMeet RT @ MSUGymnastics: We have arrived in Champaign.

3) Washington Capitals @WasCaps: Ilya Kovalchuk scores Devils goal in overtime: Final score: Devils 3 Caps 2 OT

4) AngelicaAlvarez_WTVD @Alvarez_wtvd: Car having trouble getting up a hill on Wade Ave in Raleigh.

5) UK Gymnastics @UK Gymnastics_ Kentucky is facing Alabama tonight on the road: Kenzie Hedges and Shannon Mitchell post solid scores for UK both earning 9.85

6) Pete Cashmore @mashable: Exxon Mobil Passes Apple to Become World's Most Valuable Company.

7) PBS @PBS: If you're watching Shakespeare Uncovered tonight let us know what you think please use hashtags #PBS


http://www.womenslacrosse.com

http://www.unc.edu

http://www.ncat.edu

http://www.wdbj7.com

http://www.gopack.com

http://www.cornellsun.com

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

The Final Four Is Set_ Not a Good NCAAs for Tobacco Road

One week from today, we will see if Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self (pictured here) and his team will win the NCAA tournament as they did in 2008.

Yesterday, the Jayhawks defeated a UNC Tarheels team that was without starting point guard Kendall Marshall by a score of 80-67 in a game that close until its last minutes. In the Sweet 16, the Jayhawks narrowly avoided an upset from the North Carolina State Wolfpack in their 60-57 win.

In the win over the Tarheels, Tysham Taylor scored 22 points, Thomas Robinson scored 18 points and Jeff Whiley had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Jayhawks. For the Tarheels, the excellent career of ACC Player of the Year Tyler Zeller, who won a final Four championship in 2009 came to an end.

Kansas will now face Ohio State in New Orleans as Jared Sullinger scored 19 points in the Buckeyes' win over Syracuse in the Elite 8.

There was only team in the Elite 8 which had never won a national championship. But, unfortunately for the Baylor Bears their opponent was overall number one seed Kentucky. In an impressive regionals for the Wildcats, they defeated the Indiana Hooisers 102-90 on Friday, and then turned around to beat the Bears 82-70.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 19 points for the Wildcats and Anthony Davis scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

They will meet in-state rival Louisville, which lost to the Wildcats 69-62 earlier in the year, as the Cardinals made a 23-8 rally to defeat the Florida Gators 72-68. Russ Smith lead the way for the Cardinals with 19 points.

The Kentucky-Louisville game appears to be the more interesting of the two match-ups for another reason: The Cardinals' coach Rick Pitino used to coach the Wildcats. Both Pitino and Kentucky coach John Calipari are the only two coaches who have taken three different teams to the Final Four.

My NCAA Brackets....I'm Picking Those Pesky Wildcats

I haven't seen what every single one of my friends is projecting for the NCAA final, but I am inclined to agree with both President Barack Obama and ESPN college basketball commentator Dick Vitale that Kentucky and North Carolina will meet for the championship game.

But, even though I am a Democrat who lives in North Carolina and a Tarheels fan (ok, I'm a band-wagoner_Virginia Tech is the team I have been rooting for 95-percent of my life), I have to agree with Vitale that the Kentucky Wildcats will prevail.

Assuredly, if this does come true, actress Ashley Judd, an unabashed Wildcats fan and UK alumnus will be very happy.

In my Final Four, I am also projecting Florida State to win the east region, Michigan State to win the west region, to complete the brackets.

The four teams I have in the Elite 8 are Duke (South; losing to Kentucky), Missouri (West; losing to Michigan State), Kansas (Midwest; losing to UNC) and Syracuse (East; losing to FSU).

In the first round of games which start tomorrow, I am picking the following upsets: In the south, I am picking Colorado (#11) to upset UNLV (#6); in the west, I like Davidson (#13) over Louisville (#4); in the east, I like Harvard (#12) over Vanderbilt (#5) and lastly, in a tough call, in the west, I am going with North Carolina State (#11) over San Diego State (#6).

In addition, I am picking one nine-seed St.Louis to beat an eight-seed Memphis, in the west. And, conversely, I like the ten-seed West Virginia over seven-seed Gonzaga (east region) and ten-seed Purdue over seven-seed St. Mary's (midwest region).

SIDEBAR: Quite a few of the 68 schools in the tournament (well, technically it is now 66 as of this writing), have nationally-ranked teams in other sports. There are four tournament schools with Top-20 men's hockey teams (Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Harvard). Similarly, there are seven schools with Top-25 women's gymnastics teams (Florida, Alabama, Ohio State, Missouri, North Carolina State, Michigan and Kentucky). In addition, there are four NCAA tournament teams with top-20 teams in women's water polo (San Diego State, Michigan, Indiana and Long Beach State).

SIDEBAR 2: We want to congratulate Lori Anne Madison, age 6, of Woodbridge, Va., for being the youngest person ever to reach the finals of the National Spelling Bee. For her sake, we hope she isn't asked how to spell "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (yes, that "Mary Poppins" term is now in the dictionary!...we believe).

CollegesNicknames- The Felines

Today's list features schools with feline nicknames; they include Princeton University, Montana State and Vermont (all three are pictured here).

One team that is on this list, the Kentucky Wildcats are virtually assured of a number-one seed in the NCAA torunament.

Since we like to make fun of Provo, Utah (it is presumably the most politically conservative place in America), we thought we'd include the Brigham Young Cougars as a goodwill gesture.

Three of these schools, Penn State, Pitt and Lafayette are in Pennsylvania.

Here are the schools:

1. BYU Cougars, West Coast Conference, Provo, Utah

2. Clemson Tigers, ACC, Clemson, SC

3. Columbia Lions, Ivy, New York, New York

4. High Point University Panthers, Big South, High Point, NC

5. Idaho State Bengals, Big Sky, Pocatello, Ida.

6. Kentucky Wildcats, SEC, Lexington, Ky.

7. Lafayette Leopards, Patriot, Easton, Pa.

8. Montana State Bobcats, Big Sky, Bozeman, Mont.

9. Penn State Nittany Lions, Big Ten, State College, Pa.

10. Pitt Panthers, Big East, Pittsburgh, Pa.

11. Priceton Tigers, Ivy, Princeton, NJ

12. Vermont Catamounts, America East, Burlington, Vt.

'Official' High School of the Week- Madison Central High (Ky)

Since women's college gymnastics season is right around the corner, well it doesn't start until January, we thought we'd go with an alma mater of a college gymnast.

We arbitrarily chose Madison Central High School from Richmond, Ky, where University of Kentucky gymnast Hillary Ferguson (pictured here) went to school.

Ferguson, who will is now a senior, has had an outstanding career as she scored a 9.825 on vault against Florida in 2009. She also got an impressive 9.875 on bars in a meet against Ohio State in 2008.

As for her alma mater, the team mascot for Madison Central High School is The Indian (not this particular Indian) which has been declared to be politically incorrect at the NCAA level. The team plays a war chant during football and basketball games.

The school principal is Elmer Thomas. And, the school's state champion baseball team went 40-0 during the 1982 season.

As for the Wildcats, the UKy football team plays at Louisville on Sept. 4. Ferguson and her teammates host Illinois on Jan. 8.

SIDE NOTE- Our next High School of the Week feature will be displayed on Tuesday. We are looking for a high school in Hawa'ii. If you have any suggestions, for a future segment, you can publish a comment here or email me at tango74@aol.com

March Marchness with Mapquest (for Thursday Games)

This could arguably be one of the craziest series of posts I've done in a while (the sister entry is on our other blog 'Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time.')

For this particular entry, we will focus on the distances between the towns of the college teams that advanced to the Sweet 16 for the Thursday night sessions.

The Syracuse-Butler game will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah, as will Kansas State-Xavier (Ohio) game.

The other two Thursday games will be held in Syracuse, NY, where Syracuse University will ironically not play. But, nearby Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, will face top-seeded Kentucky in Syracuse which also where West Virginia University will take on the University of Washington.

To figure out the distances, we arbitrarily found some nifty places on the web in each of the college towns. Should the University of North Carolina have qualified for the NCAA Tournament, we would have mentioned Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel Hill, NC, where my friend Andrew Neal will find you the latest issue of....well, we better not make any promises.

As one might fully expect West Virginia University located in Morgantown, WV, also home of the Sahara Bar (a hookah lounge), is 2,596 miles from the Cherry Street Coffee House in Seattle, the city which is home to the University of Washington. According to MapQuest.com, that makes for a 39 hour, 13 minute drive. At least for Mountaineer fans, the trek to Syracuse is much closer!

As for Syracuse University, the city of Syracuse is 647 miles from Indianapolis, which is the home of their opponent Butler University. Of course, Salt Lake City where they will play the Sweet 16 game is much farther for both schools.

Syracuse is also the home of Syracuse Stage which is currently producing the acclaimed play "Almost, Maine" (alas Syracuse is also quite far from Greensboro, NC, where I live or I'd go up there to see the play!). And, Indianapolis is a city which features the Claddah Irish Pub (part of a regional chain) located at 234 South Meridian Street downtown. We should note that we believe the image here is of Syracuse player Wes Johnson.

There is no actual radio station called WKRP in Cincinnati which was where the late'70s/early '80s sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati" took place (the show is a personal favorite of my friend Moviezzz's who has a great blog on tv and movies). But, there is a WKRQ in Cincinnati (also known as Q-102.

Cincy is also home of the Xavier Muskeeters. Though they will face the Kansas State Wildcats in Utah, Cincy is 713 miles from Manhattan, Kansas, where one can also find Kite's Grille and Bar at 615 North 12th Street.

Lastly, Ithaca- home of the Cornell Big Red is 682 miles (a virtual 11 hour drive) from Lexington, Ky. In Ithaca, one can probably find a J.D. Salinger novel at Autumn Leaves Used Books. While in Lexington, one can probably find a nice oak desk at Blue Grass Antique Market on 801 Winchester Road.

My mother incidentally sells antiques in Lexington, Va., at Duke's Antique Mall, but I'm not sure if she has a big oak desk and if she did then advertisiting it here might be a conflict of interest (not that we really care about such things!)