College Volleyball Notebook: It Was a Good Home Weekend for UNC and Virginia Tech

It was a busy weekend for the ACC in women's college volleyball play this weekend. Three teams from the conference, Duke, UNC and Florida State are nationally ranked while Virginia Tech has been a team on the rise.

UNC won two home games over Clemson and then Georgia Tech over the weekend. In Friday's win over Clemson, UNC had two outstanding performances from the Tarheels' two international players as Ece Taner, from Izmir, Turkey, had a career high 28 digs while her teammate Jovana Bjelica from Belgrade, Serbia, had 14 kills and 14 digs in the team's four-set win over the Tigers.

On Sunday, Paige Neuenfeldt (pictured top) posted 11 kills and four blocks in the three-set sweep over the Yellow Jackets.

This Saturday, UNC hosts Virginia Tech (pictured bottom), a team which also had a superb weekend which included a major upset over nationally-ranked Florida State.

On Friday, Lindsey Owens knocked down 15 kills in a four-set win over Miami (Fla). Then, on Saturday night, Victoria Hamsher and Samantha Gosling combined for 35 kills in the four-set win over the Seminoles. For her efforts, which included 13 kills versus the Hurricanes, Hamsher was also named ACC Player of the Week.

Here are weekend scores from the ACC:

Friday:

Duke 3 Maryland 0

Virginia Tech 3 Miami (Fla) 1

UNC 3 Clemson 1

Florida State 3 UVA 1

Pitt 3 Wake Forest 2

Saturday:

Virginia Tech 3 Florida State 1

Notre Dame 3 Boston College 2

UVA 3 Miami (Fla) 1

NC State 3 Georgia Tech 2

Sunday:

Maryland 3 Wake Forest 0

UNC 3 Georgia Tech 0

Syracuse 3 Boston College 2

Duke 3 Pitt 1

More College Nicknames- Bulldogs, Purple Aces and Explorers

We should point out that Tyrone Garland (pictured bottom) is actually in the NCAA tournament even though the Virginia Tech Hokies, the team I grew up with, is not. This is because Garland transferred to La Salle, the Philadelphia school in the A-10 won their play-in game over Boise State. Today, the La Salle Explorers face Kansas State in Kansas City, Mo, which is a mere two hours away from Manhattan, Ks., which is the home of the Kansas State Wildcats.


Here is our look at this and other college school nicknames:


More Smart Schools:

1. Radford University Highlanders (Va., Big South)#
 2. UCLA Bruins (Cal; Pac 12_ pictured top)*
3. Cal Poly Mustangs (Cal; Big West)
4. UNC Tarheels (NC, ACC)*

More Angry Birds:

5. Ball State Cardinals (Ind.; Mid America)
6. Elon Phoenix (NC, Big South)
7. Southern Utah Thunderbirds (Utah, Big Sky)
8. Fla Gulf Coast Eagles (Fla; Atlantic Sun)*

Canines and Wolves:

9. Gonzaga Bulldogs (Wash; WCC)*
10. Washington Huskies (Wash.; Pac-12)
11. UM-Baltimore Retrievers (Md., America East)
12. Michigan Wolverines (Mich., Big 10-pictured center)*

Best of the Rest:

13. Cal State Northridge Matadors (Cal.; Big West)
14. Cleveland State Vikings (Ohio; Horizon)
15. La Salle Explorers (Pa., A-10)*
16. Evansville Purple Aces (Ind., Missouri Valley)
17. Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos (Mo., Summit)

#- Radford is my alma mater, so I put it in as a smart school as a bit of a joke. The New Jersey Institte of Technology which is unquestionably a smart school has the same nickname.


*- Teams which are in the NCAA 68-team field

http://www.goexplorers.com

Greetings from Mister Frog

Even though none of us are biology majors here at "The Daily Vampire," we were startled to learn that frogs are not reptiles, but rather amphibians; we were thus unsure if we should include them as part of Reptile Week or not.

But, the frog lobby in Washington, D.C., lead by Cong. Clarence G. Burton (D-Va)*, made us decide that frogs deserved a blog entry of their own, so here it is.

The image here is of a poison dart frog, commonly found in Costa Rica as well as other Central American countries as well as South American countries, like Peru and Bolivia.

The poison dart frog is known for its bright-colored body. According to Wikipedia, most of these creatures are endangered species, and they live in tropical rain forests.

The Saint Louis Zoo is one American zoo which has an abundance of frogs, though we're not sure which types of frogs they have. We'll have to ask Javier the Intern** when he clocks in tomorrow morning.

And, greetings to those of you in Karachi, Pakistan, where we gather it is between 9:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., according to "Mental Floss," this is the time of the highest Internet traffic during the day, at least during the week. Of course, we should ask "Wired," a monthly technology magazine if their indirect competitors are accurate, but Javier is overwhelmed right now, especially since we're not paying him.

SIDEBAR: We were hoping to cover more women's college volleyball this year than we have, but we did get a chance to watch the women's volleyball game between the University of North Carolina and Virginia Tech live from Chapel Hill, NC, over the Internet at a Denny's (thanks for the good wi fi, Denny's).

Though it was a fairly competitive game, the home team Tarheels (we have also seen them referred to as the Tar Heels, but we have enough headaches right now) won in straight sets 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-21). UNC's standout player Emily McGee, a senior from Naperville, Illinois, guided the 'Heels with 15 digs and 11 kills.

For the visiting Hokies, Samantha Gostling, a junior from Charlotte, NC, had 11 kills.

UNC hosts the University of Virginia for Senior Night on Saturday, while the Hokies head down the road from Chapel Hill to Raleigh to face North Carolina State.

Here are the other ACC women's vollyeball scores from Friday night; the home team is marked with a # sign.

#Georgia Tech 3 Wake Forest 0

#Miami (Fla.) 3 Boston College 0

#Clemson 3 Duke 2 (more on this game on our other blog: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

#Florida State 3 Maryland 0

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.stlzoo.com

http://www.costaricanfrogs.com

http://www.thisiscostarica.com

*-Cong. Clarence G. Burton was an actual Democratic congressman from Virginia, but he died at age 91 or 92 back in 1982. We figured using a dead member of The Hill would cause us fewer problems.

**-Javier the Intern is a fictional character, though he has been a running gag on this blog for quite a while now.

Election Day By the #s (2 of 4)_ Ms. Duckworth Goes to Washington

Most of the numbers are in, and the good news is that Cong-elect Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is going to The Hill with a 55-45 percent victory over Cong. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), one of only 20 incumbents to lose this seat, which means 95 percent of the House is returning to Washington, D.C.

The bad news is that among the 95-percent is Cong. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). After winning the Ames, Iowa, Straw Poll, Bachmann just barely edged out Democratic challenger Jim Graves to keep her seat. On expects that she will continue to be one of the most vocal far, far members of the House.

Her fellow Minnesota House member Cong. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), one of the most progressive members on the Hill and the first and only Muslim congressional representative elected kept his seat by a considerably wider margin in a win over Republican Chris Fields.

Here are the numbers (we have some fun with these at the very end):

8,620- Number of votes that Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson got in New Hampshire, a swing state

697- Number of votes that Socialist Party candidate Peta Lindsay, who is only 28, got in Vermont.

72.8 %- Percent Mitt Romney got in Utah, the state in which he got the most support

70.6 %-Percent President Barack Obama got in the state of his birth, and is also the state in which he got the highest support.

51.2 %- Percent Obama got in Colorado, a swing state

50.6%- Percent Romney got in North Carolina, a swing state

46.1 %- Percent Romney got in Wisconsin, which went to Obama, in spite of being Paul Ryan's home state.

69%- Percentage of the Jewish vote that went for Obama

20, 938- Number of votes Duckworth won by.

13,000- Number of votes separating Martha McSally (R) from taking the seat that belonged to former Cong. Gabrielle Giffords before she was shot in Tempe, Ariz., early last year

11,400- Number of votes that Dan Forest (R) is winning by over Linda Coleman (D) in North Carolina's lt. governor race.

4,802- Number of votes Bachmann won by.

18- Number of women gymnasts on North Carolina State's team roster

15- Number of players on Georgetown's men's basketball team roster

14- Number of points Florida State was favored by against Virginia Tech

6- Number of points Florida State won by (the final was 28-22 in Blacksburg, Va.)

Image of the Day/Week- Pitbull Puppy

Since we are a cat-leaning blog (forgive the political humor), we thought we'd be nice and feature an image of a puppy dog today. Due in part to the dog-fighting scandal involving NFL quarterback and former Virginia Tech star Michael Vick, the breed has a reputation for being a rough dog. But I've been told from folks who have pitbulls and people who work in animal shelters, that the dogs can actually make for very loving pets.

We're not sure if McKamey Animal Center, an animal shelter in Chattanooga, Tenn., has any pitbull puppies up for adoption, but they are a seemingly large animal shelter in a major metro area. For those of you living in that part of the Volunteer State, the shelter's phone number is 423-305-6500.

SIDEBAR: We just got back from Washington, DC, and we are hoping to post a story about the trip up here either next week or within the coming weeks depending on our schedule here at our offices Toledo, Ohio (now where we are really located). The working title for the series, on this particular blog, is "Ronald Reagan Was on the Blue Line."

NOTE: We just noticed that our tag for 'animal shelters' was not spelled correctly, so we are including both the proper spelling and the incorrectly spelled versions here...in case, anyone wants to see past entries on this blog regarding animal shleters (animal shelters).mckameyanimalcenter.org

College Schools Nicknames- Retro Metro

Yes, there was once a college basketball conference called the Metro Conference, but it ceased to exist in the mid-1990s. But, today we remember the conference with its member schools (not all were in the Metro at the same time).

Since we are limiting these lists to 12 schools, we had to omit the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets, the first Metro team to defect to the ACC in 1979.

Four of these schools, Louisville, Memphis (the school was called Memphis State in its Metro days), Cincinnati and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) have reached the Final Four in men's basketball, while Louisville has won two NCAA titles in the sport. VCU has also qualified for this year's NCAA tournament by winning their conference tournament.

Here is the list of Metro Conference schools with their present conferences (note about the image, Virginia Tech has a club hockey team, not a NCAA team in the sport):


1. Cincinnati Bearcats. Big East. Cincinnati, Ohio.

2. Florida State Seminoles. ACC. Tallahassee, Fla.

3. Louisville Cardinals. Big East. Louisville, Ky.

4. Mephis Tigers. C-USA. Memphis, Tenn.

5. Saint Louis Billikens. Atlantic-10. St. Louis, Mo.

6. South Carolina Gamecocks. SEC. Columbia, SC.

7. South Florida Bulls. Big East. Tampa, Fla.

8. Southern Missippi Golden Eagles. C-USA. Hattiesburg, Miss.

9. Tulane Green Wave. C-USA. New Orleans, La.

10. UNC Charlotte '49ers. Atlantic-10. Charlotte, NC

11. VCU Rams. Colonial Athletic. Richmond, Va.

12. Virginia Tech Hokies. ACC. Blacksburg, Va.

From the Record Collection- (4 of 8) "More Songs..." by Talking Heads

It is a busy night for sports and politics here in the United States, as Virginia Tech and the University of Michigan, my late father's two alma maters are playing in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Meanwhile, Republicans are holding the Iowa Causes. NPR and "USA Today" have both projected that Mitt Romney has the leading going into tonight.

But, even at busy times like these, it feels like there are few things better than listening to old, vintage vinyl records. And, amongst the ones I have, few of them are played as often as "More Songs About Buildings and Food," the second studio album by Talking Heads which was released in 1978.

The album, which runs 41:32, includes the single "Take Me to the River," which is a cover of a version that rhythm and blues singer Al Green released in the early '70s. Other great songs on "More Songs..." include "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel" and the catchy tune "The Girls Just Want to be With the Girls."

"More Songs..." marked the first of three collaborations between Talking Heads and legendary producer Brian Eno, who has also worked with David Bowie and U2. The album got critical praise, but it didn't sell well upon initial release.

But, "Take Me to the River" made it to number 26 on the charts, and strangely enough it lead to Talking Heads appearing on "American Bandstand." Given that the band is an artsy New Wave punk band, one might sooner expect to see Toby Keith on "Austin City Limits" today.

The band consisted of lead singer David Byrne, who also designed the amazing art work on the album's cover which consists of many tiny Polaroid photos, drummer Chris Frantz, his wife and bass player Tina Weymouth and keyboardist/guitar player Jerry Harrison, who has since become a successful music producer since the band's split in 1991.

Bonus Road Trip (7 of 10) Clemson, SC, to the Orange Bowl

On Jan. 4, 2012, the Clemson Tigers, who for some reason had the Virginia Tech Hokies' number this season in the Atlantic Coast Conference (the Tigers were the only team to beat the Hokies; they did it twice) will go down to Miami, Fla., for the Orange Bowl.

The opposing team will be the West Virginia Mountaineers, a former rival of the Hokies, representing the Big East Conference.

The trip from the West Virginia University campus to Miami is an extensive 17 hours, 45 minute-drive, but the commute is slightly less painful from Clemson, SC.

To see the mileage between the two destinations, we chose the Friends Cafe, a hookah gathering place, in Clemson, and the Rice House of Kabob, a Middle Eastern eatery in Miami.

So, how long is the drive between Clemson, SC, and Miami, Fla?; is the answer:

A) 10 hours

B) 11 hours

C) 12 hours

D) 13 hours

E) 14 hours

SIDEBAR ONE: The NPR radio show "Way with Words" recently had a segment on very, very long titles, and we saw that this book was recently promoted on Book TV (
C-SPAN 2): "Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich Off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison" by Peter Schweizer.

SIDEBAR TWO: Stephen King fans who have either read "Tommyknockers" or seen the TV moive version where a man gets killed by flying Coke cans from a vending machine will be happy to know that according to "Wired" magazine, the actual odds of dying from a vending machine accident are about 1 in 112 million.

Sports Desk- ACC Volleyball Action

It was a very busy weekend for the ACC, but while most people were paying to the football games in the conference, many women's volleyball games were played as well as all 12 current ACC members were in action.

I had the chance to see two of the games, including UNC's win over Wake Forest on the road (28-30, 29-27, 27-25, 25-22) and Virginia Tech's home win in a highly competitive five-match game over Clemson (25-22, 13-25, 14-25, 25-19, 15-11).

ACC volleyball got my attention late in the season last year when I noticed there was a Turkish player at Florida State. As a Turkish-American, I was aware that volleyball was a popular sport among female athletes in Turkey, but I didn't realize just how many volleyball players from Turkey were playing in the NCAA.

In the ACC, on current rosters, there are eight such players, including Duygu Duzceler and Fatma Yildirim (Florida State), Serenat Yaz and Cansu Ozdemir (Clemson, team image is above), Ece Taner of UNC and Cagla Sen of Boston College.

And, as it turns out Liz Trinchere of Virginia Tech went to my high school in the Roanoke, Va., area.

In weekend action, the UNC Tarheels won a road game over Wake Forest 3-1 (28-30, 29-27, 27-25, 25-22) on Friday as each of the four sets in the match were nail-biters. The 'Heels are now 17-5 (9-2 in ACC play).

And, in Blacksburg, Va., on Sunday, the home-court Virginia Tech Hokies a highly competitive full five-set match over the Clemson Tigers by a score of 3-2 (25-22, 13-25, 14-25, 25-19, 15-11); the Hokies go to 13-9 (6-5 in the ACC) and Clemson now has a record of 14-8 (6-5 in the ACC).

During Friday's game in Winston-Salem, NC, Kaylie Gibson of the 'Heels scored 24 digs and her teammate Emily McGee, a former ACC Player of the Week, had her seventh double-double of the season.

For the home Demon Deacons, Dani Thompson scored 14 digs and Andrea Beck added 14 kills. The game included a breast cancer fund-raiser which raised over $5,600.

During Sunday's game at Virginia Tech, the Hokies won a third straight five-set victory. Three Hokies scored double-doubles, including Cara Baarendse (with 13 kills), Justine Record and Jordan Fish.

For the Tigers, the aforementioned Serenat Yaz was one of three players with double-doubles along with Mo Simmons and Hannah Brenner.

Here is a complete list of ACC scores from Friday to Sunday:

Friday:

Clemson 3 UVA 1
Florida State 3 Maryland 1
Va. Tech 3 Ga. Tech 2
UNC 3 Wake Forest 1
Duke 3 NC St. 0
Miami (Fl) 3 Boston College 1

Saturday:

Ga. Tech 3 UVa 1

Sunday:

Va. Tech 3 Clemson 2
Florida State 3 Boston College 0
Miami (Fl) 3 Maryland 1

Sidebar: On a more serious note, the Turkish-American Washington DC-based group ATAA has set up a relief fund for victims of the earthquake in the eastern city of Van:

Turkish Philantropy Funds
Re: Van Earthquake Relief Fund
216 E. 45th Street, 7th Floor
NY, NY 10017

I expect there will be a segment about the devastation on the NPR talk show "The World," which examines evolving stories from around the globe.

The Backpackers Are Beside BestBuy (entry 4 of 6)

We had great difficulties finding an image of "In Flux" by All Creations, which consists of two Wyoming artists Matt Rink and Bland Hoke, so we also went with this image of a big black dog, since the public art display is located behind Black Dog Salvage off Memorial Avenue in Roanoke, Va.

The fourth image of Art in Roanoke that I photographed is also the hardest one to find as there is a sharp curve behind the Black Dog Salvage antiques store which leads to Vic Thomas Park where "In Flux" is located. The turn comes right after one passes Memorial Bridge, and if you literally blink you will miss it.

The artists state that their mission is to: "Try to make constantly evolving work that adapts to a landscape."

"In Flux" is perhaps the most complicated of the seven sculptures, and it is one that makes the passerby study and scrutinize it more closely than some of the other pieces.

SIDEBAR: We are happy to report that DJ Cigdem Arca is returning to WUVT (90.7 FM-Blacksburg, Va.) with "The Turkish Music Hour," from 1:00-2:30 p.m. on Saturdays this fall. WUVT-FM is the student-run college radio station of Virginia Tech. The station also airs "The Greek Show" from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Thanks to "The Turkish Music Hour," I have become more aware of contemporary pop singers like Nil Karaibrahimgil which is quite refreshing given that the likes of Sezen Aksu ( who has been called The Turkish Madonna) and Tarkan, the internationally-known singer who has dominated Turkish pop for well over a decade.

The Backpackers Are Beside BestBuy- Entry 2

Actually, this entry was supposed to be on "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," our sister blog, but we got mixed up. Perhaps because we are posting this blog from a local library where there are all sorts of distractions; I'm sooooo glad I don't have kids! (Entry One in this series is on that other blog)

At any rate, I left off the first entry in downtown Roanoke where I had taken several snapshots of "Connect," the second of the seven art pieces from Art in Roanoke, that I had photographed.

My next destination was to go to Williamson Road to rediscover "Starburst" by Greeley, Pa., artist Tom Holmes. The piece is one of the easiest to find around town as it is located beside the Williamson Road Library.

There was a bit of annoying traffic on Williamson Road, which is known for being a place where teenage boys and girls cruise in search of potential members of the opposite gender. It is sort of like the Discovery Channel in that aspect, I suppose.

According to the "Art in Roanoke" web site, Holmes likes to make his work unique to its environment, and the sculpture is made out of wood.

I noticed that the landromat across the street from the library was filled with patrons. If I were an intrusive professional photographer, I would've seized the opportunity as if I were a crocodile pursuing a zebra in the jungles of Zimbabwe. But, I simply had other things to do.


SIDEBAR: Only in America, will one see a liberal blogger plugging a gun show, and that is the case here. The VFW 115 Flea Market and Gun Show in Hillsville, Va., is somehow the largest event taking place in Virginia on Labor Day weekend even though Hillsville is in southwest Virginia, far away from the DC and Richmond-metro areas.

But, the event draws 500,000 visitors into Carroll County from Friday until Monday. The Town of Hillsville is strongly advising those interested to come early.

I should add that there are many great antiques (full dsclosure: it is the family business) at the flea market.

Those coming in from Roanoke and points east should know there is also a Virginia Tech football game against Appalachian State in Blacksburg, which will likely bottleknock traffic from Salem to Christiansburg en route to Hillsville. The game starts at 12:30 p.m.

The Great Virginia Earthquake of 2011

"Yes, we felt it here in North Carolina," I told a friend of mine who lives near my hometown of Roanoke, Va., via Facebook. "In fact, it knocked over a framed photograph of Dean Martin on my mantle."

I'm not sure admitting that I have a framed photograph, which is actually a still from a western film, from Dean Martin (he was a lounge crooner superstar in the '50s and '60s for those of you born when George H.W. Bush was president) is a good idea. But, the 10-12 second tremor I felt at a public library near Greensboro, NC, yesterday, was quite surprising.

I have friends and family members who were at the scene during the great Los Angeles earthquake and the horrific 1999 earthquake which devastated Istanbul, Turkey, and nearby areas, so this was nothing of that magnitude (pardon the pun). No books were flying off the library shelves nor did anyone panic. We just all starred at each other as if we were in costume at a medevial fair.

Of course, since this is the first earthquake I've experienced, and it was a surprinsgly strong 5.9, making it the strongest earthquake in Virginia since 1875, the image of the reportedly over-the-top '70s natural disaster movie "Earthquake" with Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner seems appropriate.

"The Daily Tarheel" ironically reported (it is the student-run newspaper for The University of North Carolina" that University of Virginia Kyle Guest was taking a catnap at 1:52 p.m. earthquake when a strong tremor was felt on the UVA campus. Guest said that he felt like a spaceship had landed in his house. There was reportedly far less drama on the campus of UNC in Chapel Hill, though the quake was felt there. In fact, they even felt in Bath, Maine!

The earthquake happened relatively close to Charlottesville, Va., where UVA is, in the town of Mineral in Louisa County, Va., where it completely toppled groceries at Miller's Mart.

"The Collegiate Times," the student-run newspaper for Virginia Tech, reported that Newman Library on the Virginia Tech campus was evacuated when someone pulled the fire alarm in response to the tremor. Julia Delgaudio, a Hokie student, told the CT that she thought someone was shaking her chair, but there was no one there!

Apparently, We're NOT Back on the Air...

Achtung! I knew things were too good to be true. After 15 or 16 tries, we have decided to post this entry meant for our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" here instead.

If/when we get the chance, we will simply post 'silly photos' on that blog so it can catch up with this one, and hopefully that will happen soon.

While we are at it, we wanted to mention four college radio stations and their unique programs.

First of, I wanted to start with WUVT/90.7-FM, the student-run station at Virginia Tech where I co-hosted a Turkish music show in 1994. Today, DJ Cigdem is one of the show's hosts. And, this afternoon, she played an interesting mix on her show "The Turkish Music Hour" which runs from 1:00-2:30 p.m. (local time) including a song by the late Turkish rocker Baris Manco (1943-1999).

Amazingly enough, Manco had a following in Japan of all places! He was also known as 'the man who sang about vegetables" as one of his songs, the mid-80s pop hit "Domates, Biber, Patlican," means "Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplants." It wound much better in Turkish!

Down the road, in Raleigh, NC, WKNC/88.1-FM, the student-run station at North Carolina State, which was playing one of my favorite songs "Nothing But Flowers" by Talking Heads when we last checked in, features "Chainsaw Rock." The heavy metal show runs on Wednesday and Thursday nights starting at midnight, and on Friday nights from 8:00 p.m.-midnight. They were the ones who introduced me to Greek Heavy Metal (?!) which was made popular by a band called Rotting Christ. I imagine they will probably not be playing in Tulsa, Okl., anytime soon.

When we were in Athens, Ga., last week, we checked out the local University of Georgia student-run station WUOG-FM.; they were playing jazz great Chuck Mangione- of all people- when were listening. While researching this piece, we were happy to discover that the '70s soft jazz icon who was born in 1940 is alive and well. On Sundays, the station has a show called "Bluegrass Junction" which plays a combination of bluegrass and folk music. It airs at 4 p.m.

Lastly, for Asian music fans, Michigan State's student run station Impact 89 features a show called "Asian Invasion," airing at 8:00 p.m., which will undoubtedly educate you about the world of Japanese and Korean pop (presumably!).

The image above is from the late comedian Soupy Sales who died at age 83 in 2009. Whenever I have a tech glitch with a computer, I feel as if someone is throwing a pie in my face too!

Special Quote of the Week- Jonathan Swift

Today, we are continuing to quip famous people from Ireland with a quote from the great writer and essayist Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) who penned the famous novel "Gulliver's Travel" (1735) that was recently made into a Jack Black film that we haven't seen (I wonder if esteemed New York film critic Nathan Lee has seen it, but he probably doesn't want to be pestered about it).


According to Wikipedia and my tenth grade English teacher Mrs. Schultz* at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md.**, "Gulliver's Travel" is meant to be a satirical view of European government, illustrate the petty differences among faiths, question man's inherent nature and show that specific individuals may be good even if their tribe is bad.

Now that we have that important stuff out of the way, here is the quote:

"A tavern is a place where madness is sold by the bottle."

SIDEBAR: For those of you residing in the Blacksburg, Va., area, one of our favorite college radio stations (well, the one in which I actually 'worked' at) WUVT/90.7-FM is on the verge of hosting their fund-raiser for the spring.

WUVT is one of the few radio stations where one can hear the '80s cult indie rock band The Replacements and the Turkish folk group Kardes Turkuler (means Songs of Fraternity in English) within a two-hour time span!

WUVT did indeed air songs from both of these musical entities on Saturday. Their amazing lineup for that day includes "Hickory Dickory Dock," "The Greek Show," "The Turkish Show" and "Nathan and Jared."

"The Turkish Show" played several selections on Saturday from Kardes Turkuleri, a group conceived some 20 years ago which plays Anatolian folk songs in the languags of Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and Armenian. Songs from Kardes Turkuleri were featured on the soundtrack to the 2001 comedy film "Vizontele," which was a huge domestic box office hit in Turkey.

Later in the afternoon, "Nathan and Jared" played the song "Bastards of the Young" from The Replacements of the band's acclaimed 1985 release "Tim," which makes for great listening if you are writing that long-winded book report on "Gulliver's Travels."


*-pseudonymn, well I have no idea who my tenth grade English teacher was actually

**- Yes, there is actually a Walt Whitman HS in Bethesda, Md. No, I did not actually go to school there.

Quote of the Week- Niccollo Machiavelli

Today's quote of the day comes from Italian philosopher Niccollo Machiavelli (1469-1527) who authored the ever-controversial book "The Prince," which was listed by "Mental Floss" magazine as one of the best books to read that can be read in one sitting. (Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" alas did not qualify, though some inmate in Oklahoma has perhaps had the opportunity to read that Russian literary classic before the lights went out).

"The Prince" was intended to serve as a model for creating principalities and many scholars feel it has encouraged ruthless dictatorships and countless gangster movies. (A Virginia Tech student once told me a professor of his wanted him to compare "The Price" to the film version of "The Godfather.").

Perhaps, the book is also on Hosni Mubarak's amazon.com wish list. We would go with the even more infamous Libyan el presidente, but the former Egyptian dictator's name is much easier to spell and don't like complaints from Princeton University English professors (actually no one from the Ivy League has ever complained about this blog; yes- we are surprised by that too!).

Incidentally, Italy is celebratings its 150th anniversary, and we are going to quip other Italians for that occasion at some point this year. In the mean time, the BBC has produced has several interesting pieces about how Italy, which is more culturally divided that many may realize, is celebrtaing the milestone.

Here is the quip from this most contrversial philosopher, we strongly recommend that you not use this on a sympathy card:

"A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair."

Quote of the Week- Leon Trotsky

Today, we quote the Russian, Marxist philosopher/revolutionary figure Leon Trotsky
(1879-1940) who lived a life that would be worth of a 985-page biography that we have no time to read.

Instead, we can tell you a few things we already or learned from Wikipedia about this major figure of the October Revolution and Russian Civil War:

-Lead opposition to Joseph Stalin

-Ideas formed the basis for Trotskyism

-Exiled to Turkey in 1929, he spent four years of his life on Buyukada, the largest of the four Prince's Islands off the coast of Istanbul. This period of his life was the subject of a documentary film called "Exile in Buyukada" (2000, Turkey), which might still be available in America from Facets in Chicago.

-In 1935, Trotsky moved to Mexico where he befriended the famous artist couple of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Trotsky went on to have an affair with Frida, but amazingly enough Diego was not the one who tried to kill him.

-Trotsky was however succefully killed by a Spanish man named Ramon Mercader, who was working as a Soviet agent, at his home in the village of Coyocan, Mexico, in
1940.

-On film, Trotsky was played by Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush in the film "Frida."

Here is our quote from Trotsky, which pretty much indicates why supposedly smart people, like John McCain (note: I am not a Republican, but McCain is a lot smarter than many in his party) chose Sarah Palin as a running mate:

"If we had more time for discussion we should probably have made a great many more mistakes."

MONDAY LEFTOVERS-In our last entry, we talked about the Duke-UNC game for the ACC tourney championship. As everyone in Durham and Chapel Hill knows, Duke won the game 78-58, but that might be news for those of you in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.

In my hometown of Roanoke, Va., many people are unhappy today because the Virginia Tech Hokies were snubbed by the NCAA selction committee. "The Roanoke Times" quotes Hokies' coach Seth Greenberg as saying that 'there might be someone with a strong personality who views the Hokies as a fungus.'

We noted in another previous entry that Sofia Coppola's new film "Somewhere" is playing at the Galaxy Cinema in Cary, NC; the film is also playing up the road at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC. "Marie Antoinette," the film she directed before "Somewhere," will be shown on IFC on March 30 at 5:00 p.m.

Lastly and obviously, when we posted an entry which mentioned the devastating tsunami in Japan there were only 60 confirmed casualties. Tragically, that number now appears headed to top the 10,000 mark in the city of Miaygi alone. Anyone who wished to help can go www.redcross.org

Media outlets, such as MSNBC, are warning people to be fully aware of scams trying to take advantage of the tragedy.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Clash of the Titans

I fully expected that UNC and Duke would meet today in the ACC Tournament final in Greensboro, NC, but I didn't realize until I checked Twitter that it would for the eleventh time.

UNC holds a 6-4 advantage over Duke in the ACC final, but the Blue Devils have won the last two ACC finals over the Tarheels.

A Duke basketball tweet said that Kyle Irving, one of Duke's star players who has been injured, was practicing before the game.

Ian Williams, a columnist for "The Daily Tarheel," the UNC student-run newspaper has a humorous column called "Why I Hate Duke," and as one might expect the Town Hall Grill in Chapel Hill tweeted that they were supporting the 'Heels.

Duke beat Virginia Tech 77-63 yesterday to reach the final, and Hokies' coach Set Greenberg tweeted last night that he is anxiously awaiting the NCAA tournament selection committee's decision regarding his team, which has narrowly missed getting into the Big Dance several times before.

In other North Carolina news, WXII-TV in Winston-Salem tweeted that a dog's life have been saved through CPR. There were details. I guess we will have to wait for 'the film at 11.'

Silly Photo to Fill Space- The Hokie Bird

Initially, we were hoping to post a photograph of former Virginia Tech cheerleader Nichole Howarth from Chesterfield, Va. (near Richmond), who was named "Sports Illustrated" Cheerleader of the Week in October of last year.

Howarth posed for a series of photographs, which were made more interesting by the fact that she actually posed for them while barefoot which would make more sense if she was from a rural area like Boones Mill (we love tormenting folks from that Franklin County hamlet, some 15 miles south of Roanoke).

Though Howarth will not be with the Hokies, the team heads from Blacksburg to Chapel Hill, NC, (where Chapel Hill Comics happens to be hosting a free rap concert tomorrow night!) to face the UNC Tarheels in football tomorrow. The game will be broadcast by ABC and ESPN, and kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.

I suppose this will mean bragging rights for either Gov. Beverly Perdue (D-NC) who reportedly has a 25 percent approval rating according to "Yes Weekly" in Greensboro or Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va) a right-wing Christian conservative extremist who is undoubtedly polling well in places like Boones Mill. But, assuredly those of us who are Democrats realize that Howard Dean had a point when he said we need to recruit more barefoot rebel flag-waving hillbillies (not his exact words) and perhaps by doing that we can somehow get some Congressional seats back!

As for the game, I expect Virginia Tech will win 24-17.

SIDEBAR: Our beloved Floyd County (HS) Buffaloes lost to Fort Chiswell by a 28-13 margin according to Channel 7 (WDBJ) in Roanoke. But, the Franklin County Eagles (their alumnus assuredly hate me for my swipes at Boones Mill) beat Woodbridge HS 17-14 tonight. In other Virginia scores, Stonewall Jackson High School from Quicksburg (Mount Jackson) beat fellow Shenandoah Valley school Page County 41-18.

Quote of the Week- Spike Lee

Our Quote of the Week, which are publishing early this week, comes from movie director/political activist Spike Lee who I saw in person at Virginia Tech several years ago:

"Don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. I am still here, like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry. Seldom stopping to rest."

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.