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.

Sports Desk: Penn State Goes over the Hills and through the Woods to win at Iowa State in women's gymnastics

Gathering from the photos we saw from the Penn State women's gymnastics team, the Nittany Lions had quite a trek to Ames, Iowa, where they faced Iowa State in the first major NCAA meet of the season in women's college gymnastics.

Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, we could see the team's photos of snowy places, such as West Virginia, as they journeyed to middle of the Hawkeye State in what is normally and presumably a 15-hour drive.

Thanks to two LSU transfers, juniors Randi Lau of Hawaii and Sidney Sanabria-Robles (the image is of Penn State gymnast Sharaya Musser who graduated last year), Penn State edged out a 193.925-193.550 win over the home mat Cyclones.

Lau's outstanding 9.825 performance on the vault was crucial for the visitors. Lau also tied for second in the all-around with Sanabria-Robles.

For the Cyclones, Caitlin Brown, a stand-out junior, won the all-around with a career-best 38.900; Brown also won the balance beam for the home team.

SIDEBAR: Back on Dec. 22, Penn State's women's volleyball won their fifth NCAA title in seven years in Seattle. The Nittany Lions faced their surprising Big 10 Conference Rival Wisconsin Badgers in the title game. The Badgers shocked the college volleyball world by upsetting then-defending NCAA champs in Texas in the semi-finals.

Senior Deja McClendon, from Louisville, Ky., delivered the game-winning kill which propelled Penn State to win the match 3-1.

SIDEBAR TWO: Lastly on New Year's Day, it was a grand Rose Bowl for the Michigan State Spartans football team as they pulled a slight and narrow 24-20 upset over Stanford in Pasadena, Calif. Spartans quarterback Connor Crook, a sophomore, threw for a career high 332-yards win in the victory for the Big Ten champions.

Bonus Road Trip- Nebraska to Wisconsin (3 of 10)

Today, we look at the distances between two college towns which both happen to be state capitals named after two legendary American presidents: Lincoln, Nebr., to Madison, Wisc.

On Saturday, the Wisconsin Badgers won a home victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, a team that was making its Big Ten debut (there are actually now 12 teams in the Big 10) by a surprisingly devstating 48-17 score, which help move the Badgers into the top ten.

But, both schools also strong women's volleyball programs, and in that sport Nebraska will travel to Wisconsin for an important game on Oct. 14th.

On Saturday, the Nebraska women's volleyball team won a crucial road game at Michigan State on the part of 22 kills from Cornhusker stand-out Morgan Broekhius.

The Cronhuskers have several players from Nebraska on their squad, including Laren Cook, a junior from Lincoln and Brigette Root, a senior from Grand Island.

As for the Badgers volleyball team, they play four-time champion Penn State for a road game on Friday.

Nebraska also has a competitive women's gymnastics team, which has come close to winning a national championship at several intervals in recent years. That team's first home meet will be against Denver University on Jan. 13, 2012. The team has at least one gymnast from Nebraska, including Deanna Barrmore from Omaha.

So, for this segment, we are comparing the distances between two panckae houses, including the Original Pancake House at 5518 University Avenue in Madison (the state-wide chain has four other locations in Wisconsin) and Greenfields Pancake House on South 87th Street in Lincoln.

The distances between these two places is:

A) 7 hours, 30 minutes

B) 7 hours, 40 minutes

C) 7 hours, 50 minutes

D) 8 hours even

Give us your answers, and you may qualify to win a vintage 1970s Oak Ridge Boys record on vinyl (that is a joke, folks!).

Quote of the Week- Joan Baez

Today, we profile right-wing blow-fish Glenn Beck's favorite singer Joan Baez (that is a joke for those of you in Tashkent, Uzbekistan!) with a quip from her.

Baez who was recently in North Carolina for a concert in Raleigh will be resuming her tour shortly.

Among her fall dates are a performance at The Unity Temple in Kansas City, Mo., on Oct. 5 along with concerts at The Englet Theatre in Iowa City on Oct. 6 and The Wisconsin Union Theatre in Madison (where The University of Wisconsin is) on Oct. 8.

Here is the quote from this '60s icon and folk-singing legend:

"Hypothetical questions get hypothetical answers."

The Smart Boys from Cornell Are in Sweet 16

Until yesterday, probably half the country, myself included, wasn't exactly sure what the nickname for Cornell University Athletics was. The answer is in fact: Big Red!

I knew the school in Ithaca, NY, was renown for its academians including the late astronomer Carl Sagan, but this year Cornell's men's basketball team became the first Ivy League team to advance to the Sweet 16 since the Penn Quakers in the late
'70s (a team which ended up going to the Final 4).

Cornell got their proverbial ticket punched yesterday when they defeated the fourth-seeded Wisconsin Badgers by a 87-69 margin. The Big Red won the game, which was played in Jacksonville, Fla., through the efforts of senior Louis Dale (pictured here) from Birmingham, Ala., who scored 26 points.

Senior forward Ryan Wittman added 24, and senior Jeff Foote and sophomore Chris Wroblewski scored 12 points each.

Dale told Ann Ju of the Cornell University student newspaper "The Chronicle" that the win was a team effort:

"We have so many unselfish guys on this team," Dale said. "Nobody really cares how it gets done and we come out and make big plays."

Cornell will play top-seeded Kentucky which destroyed our local team Wake Forest by a 90-60 margin on Saturday night.

Here are my picks for the Sweet 16 games, but keep in mind, I picked Georgetown to win it all, and apparently do did political commentator David Brooks of "The New York Times."

No. Iowa over Michigan St.

Tenn. over Ohio St.

Syracuse over Butler

Kentucky over Cornell

Duke over Purdue

WVU over Washington

St.Mary's over Baylor

Kansas St. over Xavier (Ohio)