Sports Desk_ College Basketball Teams by Area Code in North Carolina (1 of 2)

We were hoping to add mascots from High Point University, Wake Forest and Western Carolina, but we are pressed for time here at the Hartford Public Library in Hartford, Conn. (not really where I am).

But, here is our first of two looks at North Carolina teams by area code. We have Virginia and Washington, DC, teams by area code on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

There are an impressive 18 Division One colleges with men's basketball teams in North Carolina. Even though the four ACC programs get a lot of attention, there are plenty of competitive teams outside Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill. Here is a look at some of them:

336 (Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point)

1. UNC-Greensboro  Spartans(10-12, Southern Con., picture): Next game vs. Appalachian State on Thursday @ 7:00 p.m.

2. North Carolina A & T Aggies (8-13, Greensboro, MEAC): Next game vs. Coppin State (Maryland) 8:00 p.m., tonight

3. High Point University Panthers (7-12, Big South) Next game @ Presbyterian (SC) @ 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

4. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (14-6, Winston-Salem, ACC): Next game vs. #2 Syracuse Wed. @ 9:00 p.m.

5. Elon Phoenix (10-11, Elon/Southern Con.): Next game vs. Western Carolina on Thurs. @ 7:00 p.m.

828 (Asheville, Boone)

 1. Appalachian State Mounatineers (6-13, Boone, Southern Conf.) See UNC-Greensboro

2. Western Carolina Catamonts (11-10, Southern Conf.) See Elon

3. UNC-Asheville Bulldogs (10-10, Big South): Next game vs. VMI, Tues. @ 7:00 p.m.


http://www.uncgspartans.com/

http://www.ncataggies.com

 http://www.wakeforestsports.com

http://www.uncabulldogs.com

The Funny Pages Dialogue_ Let's Go Shopping

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A few weeks ago, we thought about writing up a strange conversation involving nothing but dialogue from Sunday comic strips. Of course, this is, in part, because we envy people like cartoonist Stephen Pastis of "Pearls Before Swin." We still love his comic strip even though he created a character called Ataturk the Spitting Llama. In case this is your first time visiting our blog, it is edited by a 'prominent' Turkish-American named Tilly Gokbudak, who happens to be, well, me. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the founder of the Republic of Turkey.

And, we have nothing against Pastis, who is a Greek-American, although we may ask Jim Toomey who draws "Sherman's Lagoon" to create a character called Karamanlis the Octopus, after former Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis.

So, with that, here is some dialogue from comic strips featured in the Oct.14, 2012 edition of "The Roanoke Times."

"Shopping? Ok. I've got $126.13....How much do you need? (from "For Better or Worse")

"White Castle Rules!" (from "Agnes")

"What Happened?" (from "Baby Blues"

"Well, I'll be. She's sound asleep!" (from "Classic Peanuts, a line said by Charlie Brown)

"So, what's going on here?" (from "Funky Winkerbean")

"Take a look at this resume" (from "Dilbert")

"What's wrong, Red? You look frustrated." (from "Sally Forth")

"Tomorrow is another day." (from "Garfield")

"We need a little bull session after the game." (from "Hi and Lois")

SIDEBAR: We are diligently waiting for the score from today's Wake Forest-University of North Carolina women's field hockey (well, we believer, men's field hockey which is very popular in Pakistan, is not an NCAA sport) in the second round of the ACC tournament. The Tar Heels are hosting the Demon Deacons in Chapel Hill, NC, and the game is in session as we speak.

But, the reason for this mention is because we noticed in yesterday's edition of "The Daily Tar Heel" that UNC midfielder Kelsey Kolojechick has a very long name! UNC beat my alma mater Radford Univeristy* at home in their final regular season game 6-1 but we won't hold it against them.

For Wake Forest, Jess Newark, a freshman, scored a goal and two assists in the team's 3-1 first round win over Boston College.

And, we will salute Alayna Versage, a junior for RU, on being named all-conference in her sport (the Highlanders do not compete in the ACC).

Of course, field hockey has become a bit more popular since the gold-medal winning Dutch field hockey team got lots of coverage at the London 2012 Olympics.

*Radford University is located in Radford, Virginia.

THIS JUST IN: Though we are not in Chapel Hill, we can report a final as UNC wins over Wake Forest 4-0 to advance to the ACC final, which UNC will also host. Kelsey Kolojechick had an assist in the victory.


http://www.funkywinkerbean.com

http://www.dilbert.com

http://www.garfield.com

http://www.hiandlois.com

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.ruhighlanders.com

http://www.wakeforestsports.com

Sports Desk- ACC Volleyball, Miami (Fl) Is on a Role

We had difficulties finding a good image of Emani Sims, a sophomore for Miami (Fl.), was named ACC Player of the Week and National Player of Week as she scored a collective total of 27 kills and 23.0 blocks in the two road wins over the weekend for the Hurricanes, according to theacc.com, so we are going with an image of the school's mascot Sebastian the Ibis.

The toughest challenge for the Hurricanes came on Friday when they went to a full five sets against Clemson winning 3-2 (25-13, 21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-11); the 'Canes then won over Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Sunday by a score of 3-0 (25-22, 28-26, 25-15).

Another major story in ACC volleyball is one that is happening off the court as Wake Forest women's volleyball coach Heather Kahl Holmes is battling breast cancer; she was diagnosed in May. She was honored by the Virginia Tech team before a road game in Blacksburg, Va. The Demon Deacons next face a talented North Carolina State Wolfpack team at home in Winston-Salem, NC, on Friday, as part of the school's Dig for the Cure campaign.


Here is a look at Saturday and Sunday results; the scores for games on Friday night, which involved all 12 teams, will be on our other blog as well as a profile of Paige Nueuenfeldt for the University of North Carolina Tarheels who was named ACC Freshman of the Week: http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Saturday, Oct. 20th games:

*_denotes home team

#-denotes game that was broadcast on regional tv

*UNC 3 Boston College 0

*North Carolina St. 3 Maryland O

* Virginia Tech 3 Duke O (this game marked only the third the Hokies prevailed over the Blue Devils in women's volleyball in 27 tries).

*UVA 3 Wake Forest 1 (the win was the first conference victory for the Cavs this season)

Sunday, Oct. 21th

Florida State 3 *Clemson 0

#Miami (Fla)  3 *Georgia Tech 0

Quote of the Day/Week- Alicia Sacramone

We were going to quote American Olympic gold medal winners this month (for those of you blogging in from Argentina or Greece, I will quote international gold medal winners next month), but we realized two things: 1) Alicia Sacramone, women's gymnastics team captain of the 2008 Beijing Olympics team won a team silver and 2) Sacramone is sure to get more hits per day than 1984 Los Angeles gold medal winning gymnast Mary Lou Retton. So, we are 'cheating' today, by quipping Sacramone.

The 2012 Summer Olympics will take place in London this summer.

In 2010, Sacramone made a huge comeback by winning a gold medal on vault at the world gymnastics championships in Rotterdam, Holland.

Sacramone is a graduate of Winchester High School in her native Winchester, Mass.

In 2006, Sacramone had the tremendous distinction of competing in college gymnastics for Brown University in Providence, RI, while taking a full class load and still competing as an elite gymnast!

Last year, Sacramone made headlines again, but this time because she posed nude (the actual published pictures are actually partial nude shots) for the 'Body Issue' of "ESPN" magazine along with women's soccer star goalie Hope Solo.

Here is Sacramone's quote:

"Missing the Olympic team gave me the push I needed. I stepped it up a couple of notches and did my stuff."

SIDEBAR: It appears to be a virtual certainty that no local colleges will represent the Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC, area in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Today, North Carolina A & T fell to Howard University from Washington DC in the MEAC tournament. Three other local universities fell in their respective conference tournaments: Elon and UNC-Greensboro lost in the semi-finals of the Southern Conference, which was won by another North Carolina college in Davidson (which is near Charlotte) and High Point lost to eventual Big South champions UNC-Asheville in the the quarter-finals of the Big South Conference.

This means that Wake Forest, a very low seed in the ACC tournament, must somehow prevail over the likes of UNC, Duke and Florida State in Atlanta this weekend for a team from the Triad to get into the NCAAs.

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.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Halloween Dogs

If there is one thing about Americans which might make folks in Qom, Iran, Basra, Irag, or Pyongyang, North Korea (Forgive the political humor: I had to use the Axis of Evil countries to make fun of George W. Bush), it might well be our obsession with dogs.

There are lots of dogs and even some cats in very amusing photos in the current edition of "The Washingtonian."

While this is not from that magazine, it nevertheless is amusing.

And, with college football season in full-swing, one has to wonder if Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Northwestern will lobby the NCAA to join the Ivy League (the joke here for those of you in Axis of Evil nations is that these schools seem to be more interested in academics than athletics hence they may have even more problems competing in high sweepstakes sports than ever before)! Personally, if I were the dog, I'd go with Vanderbilt.

Sports Desk- North Carolina High School Game Goes Bonkers

While we were watching WFMY-2 (CBS-Greensboro,NC) the other night, my eyeballs literally popped out of my sockets as if I were a Tex Avery cartoon character as Mount Tabor High School from Winston-Salem, NC, defeated Carver High School by an 87-52 score in high school football. Yes, initially, I thought it had a be abasketball score too. To put in perspective, that means the two schools combined for 19 touchdowns and three field goals!

Two of our other favorite schools in the Greensboro region won easily as Ragsdale High School (Jamestown, NC) beat Parkland 56-7. Conversely, Rockingham County School (Wentworth,NC) trumped McMichaal 44-6 in a home game.

Here are some other scores from the Greensboro/Winston-Salem region:

Western Alamance 48 Morehead 13
Chapel Hill 17 Cedar Ridge 0
Dudley 30 Ben L. Smith 23
Reynolds 18 Northern Forsyth 15
Page 28 Western Guilford 0
High Point-Andrews 25 Southwestern Guilford 0
Eastern Forsyth 21 High Point Central 20
Western Stokes 17 Mount Airy 0
Reidsville 22 Barton Yancey 0

SIDEBAR: Since there are five women's volleyball players from Turkey, my late father's country, in the ACC this year, we plan on keeping tabs on the sport.

Those young women include Cagla Sen from Boston College, Serenat Yaz and Cansu Ozdemir of Clemson, and Duygu Duzceler and Fatma Yildirim for Florida State.

It was a very succesful weekend for both the Clemson Tigers and the Florida State Seminoles.

The Tigers swept two matches from Georgia Tech, while the FSU Seminoles won a straight-set victory over Miami (Fla) which puts them back in the top 25 at number
23.

Here in North Carolina, Wake Forest pulled off a home upset over visiting Duke 3 sets to 1. For Wake Forest, Kadja Fornah and Carlin Salmon hit 23 kills while Amanda Robertson of Duke, a senior from Roxboro, NC, scored a season-high 17 kills.

Quote of the Week- Maya Angelou

This Quote of the Week which is being done in conjunction with the Fourth of July as we are quoting famous Americans on Mondays this month. Since Bastille Day, the French day of independence in on July 14th, we will be quoting famous French people on Wednesdays this month as well.

I thought this quote from poet Maya Angelou who teaches just down the proverbial road at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, would be appropriate since we are working on the laundry!:

"Achievement brings its own anticlimax."

SIDEBAR: The Twitter feeds were quite busy this p.m.

We learned that Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle is lobbying to win a new Best in Seattle poll in "Seattle Weekly."

Nathan Tabor, a conservative activist in Winston-Salem who I normally differ strongly with, had an interesting link about a Texas store which sold an American flag with 61 stars. I guess they're counting Guam and Puerto Rico and some other places!

Cartoonist Darrin Bell who pens "Candorville" said: "I'm alone in a Cosco and so scared."

While "Zippy the Pinhead" himself (an alternative comic strip from Bill Griffith) said: "The Korean War must have been fun!"

Lastly, we learned that University of Michigan gymnast Kari Pierce who is actually from Ann Arbor, Mich., had a birthday today. We don't know; however, if she is old enough to drink an Amstel Light at Applebee's just quite yet!

More ACC Mascots

Well, we didn't want to snub anybody even though both Boston College and Wake Forest (pictured here) are already out of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, NC.

With the exception of Duke, this has actually been a down year for North Carolina's men college basketball teams. Western Carolina, North Carolina A & T and High Point University got to the semi-finals of their respective conferences, but alas all three teams fell short.

Appalachian State in Boone, NC, made it to the Southern Conference finals but they lost to Wooford University, which is located in Spartanburg, SC, at the conference tourney in Charlotte.

My friend Olaf Jacobsson (psedonymn) from Wilmington, NC, is an uber-Tarheel fan, but even he thinks that the very best they can do is beat Georgia Tech tonight (tipoff at 7:00 pm).