Colleges Nicknames- Is that Really Tulsa's Nickname?

We conclude our project of showing the nicknames of 96 different NCAA schools (in men's college basketball). We wish we could share them all them all, but there are 334 schools! If it's any consilation, I left out the Radford University Highlanders, my own alma mater.

Today, we look at some of the most distinctive and in some cases outright strange college nicknames.

One that always stands out from the pack is the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. For those of you residing in Sri Lanka who are perhaps unfamiliar with American geography, Tulsa, Oklahoma, is far, far away from both coasts. Though Oklahoma is quite vulnerable to tornadoes. Nevertheless, it is an absolute impossibility that Oklahoma could ever get hit by a hurricane.

The three schools we have pictured here are the Akron Zips, the Sacramento State Hornets and the Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos.

Of the schools listed here, it is a virtual certainty that both Florida and Georgetown will into the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Florida A & M has a chance if they beat Norfolk State today in the MEAC semi-finals and then win the conference tourney. Akron is also in their conference tournament semi-finals today as they face Kent State.

We believe that we got all 33 or 33 of the conferences, but we did inadvertently snub some states, including West Virginia, Minnesota, New Mexico and New Hampshire. While we did have a huge number of schools of these eight lists from North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and California.


Here are the teams, yes we are not making some of these crazy nicknames up:

1. Akron Zips, Mid-America, Akron, Ohio.

2. Denver Pioneers, Sun Belt, Denver, Colo.

3. East Tennessee State Buccaneers, Atlantic Sun, Johnson City, Tenn.

4. Evansville Purple Aces, Missouri Valley, Evansville, Ind.

5. Florida Gators, SEC, Gainesville, Fla.

6. Florida A & M Rattlers, MEAC, Tallahassee, Fla.

7. Georgetown Hoyas, Big East, Washington, DC.

8. Maine Black Bears, Northeast, Orono, Maine.

9. Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos, Summit, Kansas City, Mo.

10. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, Big Sky, Flagstaff, Ariz.

11. Sacramento State Hornets, Big Sky, Sacramento, Calif.

12. Tulsa Golden Hurricanes, C-USA, Tulsa, Okl.

Colleges Nicknames List: Smart Schools

Since the Harvard University men's basketball team has been enjoying an exceptional season, thanks in part to Brandyn Curry from Huntersville, NC, we thought we'd dedicate an entire list to smart schools and their nicknames.

I thought about jokingly adding my own alma mater Radford University, located in Radford, Va., but that seemed like a conflict of interests_ not that bloggers actually care about these things. But, one of the schools listed here the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT, and yes, they are in the Great West Conference?!), happens to also have RU's nickname, which is Highlanders.

Here is the list, in addition to Harvard, Duke and Vanderbilt are assured of being in the NCAA tournament while Northwestern is a bubble team:

1. American University Eagles. Patriot League. Washignton, DC.

2. Cal-Poly Mustangs. Big West. Ponoma, Calif.

3. Colorado Buffaloes. Pac-12. Boulder, Colo.

4. Cornell Big Red. Ivy. Ithaca, NY.

5. Duke Bluedevils. ACC. Durham, NC.

6. Harvard Crimson. Ivy. Cambridge, Mass.

7. NJIT Highlanders. Great West. Newark, NJ.

8. Northwestern Wildcats. Big 10. Evanston, Ill.

9. Stanford Cardinal. Pac-12. Palo Alto, Calif.

10. Vanderbilt Commodores. SEC. Nashville, Tenn.

11. Wake Forest Demon Deacons. ACC. Winston-Salem, NC

12. William and Mary Tribe. Colonial Athletic. Williamsburg, Va.

Quote of the Day/Week- Martin Scorsese

It appears to be a low traffic day here today on the blog, though 'simit,' a Turkish sesame pastry which one can easily find from a vendor along the Bosporus shores of Istanbul is a trending topic!

Today, we continue with quotes from Oscar-winning film directors with a quip from Martin Scorsese who finally won a well-deserved Academy Award for "The Departed" (2006). Scorsese is again nominated this year for yet another superb film "Hugo." The other Best Directors nominees includes the likes of Woody Allen, Terence Malick and Alexander Payne.

Here is Scorsese's quip:

"I know there were many good policemen who died doing their duty. Some of the cops were even friends of ours. But, a cop can both ways."

The poster above is for the early Scorsese cinematic gem "Mean Streets" (1973).

SIDEBAR: Kudos to my alma mater Radford University in Radford, Va., for breaking a 29-game road losing streak in men's basketball with a 58-54 victory over Big South rival Gardner-Webb in Boiling Springs, NC (near Hickory).

Freshman Javonte Green from Alberta, Va., lead the Highlanders in scoring 12 points.

Bonus Road Trips (10 of 10) Provo to Raleigh...beware of the traffic

We wish to warn not only incomers from Provo, Utah, but also anyone coming into Raleigh, NC, via I-40 or I-85, that this seemingly small city is quite overgrown and congested! So, I will wager that at least one angry Pittsburgh Penguins fan missed a game against the Carolina Hurricanes as I'm sure at least one angry college gymnastics missed an North Carolina State Wolfpack meet (hmm...we aren't naming names).

On Saturday, the visiting Brigham Young Cougars start their season at North Carolina State, and it is quite a trek. Assuredly, the visiting women's gymnastics team from Provo, Utah, will be flying in for the meet. But, today, we look at how long that journey would take if one came to Raleigh from Provo in a Hyundai Accent.

For our points of destination, we are going with the famous restaurant, The Pit Authentic Barbecue, which was featured on the reality/cooking show "Ludo Bites America," with the ever-passionate five-star French chef Ludo Lefebrve, on the Sundance Channel. It is still showing in reruns.

As for Provo, Utah, where those of us who voted for Barack Obama may feel like Chomskyite hippies wearing Che Guevara t-shirts and Birkenstocks, (for those of you in Gyumri, Armenia, Provo, Utah, is considered the most conservative city in the land) we are selecting the Sensous Sandwich Shop on West Center Street.

Despite solid performances from Wolfpack gymnasts Diahanna Ham, Lane Jarred and Brooke Barr, the team fell to the third-ranked Florida Gators 196.025-194.675, who probably were fortunate enough not to deal with I-40.

So, just how far is Provo from Raleigh, assuming traffic is not backed up to Greensboro on I-40 (45 miles west of Raleigh); is the answer?

A) 31 hours even

B) 32 hours even

C) 33 hours even

D) 34 hours even

SIDEBAR: We want to take a moment to congratulate Radford University Highlanders' freshman R.J. Price for being named Big South Freshman of the Week in men's basketball. My alma has been on hard times as of late as the team lost its 13th basketball game in a row on Thursday night in Rock Hill, SC, to Winthrop University by a score of 70-54. But, in spite of the team loss, Price scored 19 points in the game. The Highlanders next face arch rival Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., on Thursday night.

Sports Desk- Women's NCAA Volleyball Tourney Begins

The University of Hawaii Rainbow (picture; 29-1) will be among the 64 teams seeking the NCAA Women's national championship in volleyball. The team will start play in Honolulu against the University of Northern Colorado Bears. Among the standouts for Hawaii are Kanani Danielson, Emily Maeda and Jane Croson. The Rainbow have won 24 games in a row; the Bears have not played in Hawaii since 2003.

Eight teams from the Big 10 made the field as did five teams from the PAC 12, including Oregon, which will play against Colorado State in Honolulu.

The more familiar UNC, the school in Chapel Hill, NC, will head all the way out to Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., to face the University of California. Last week, the Cal Bears upset sixth-ranked Stanford thanks to Tarah Murray, who was named Pac 12 Player of the Week. But, the Bears will face a solid challenge from the Tarheels as the team features Cameron Von Noy, the ACC Freshman of the year. And, three All ACC players in Kaylie Gibson, Emily McGee and Chaniel Nelson. The two teams play at 5:00 p.m. (esatern time) on Dec. 1.

Two of the other three ACC schools in the field of 64 include both Florida State and Miami (Fl).

The Seminoles actually get to host their first round game against the University of Albany. The 'Noles have perhaps the most internationally diverse squad in the field as their roster includes the likes of Duygu Duzceler and Fatma Yildirim (both from Turkey), Rachael Morgan (New Zealand), Patricia Fiqueriedo (Brazil) as well as two players from Serbia and one from Latvia. Their opponents, the Great Danes, lead by senior Brooke Stanley also have a player from Croatia. That game will take place on Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m.

Their conference and in-state rivals Miami (Fl) travel to Ames, Iowa (Iowa State University), to face Northern Illinois. The Hurricanes team includes ACC Player of the Year Lane Carico.

The top four teams in the field are Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa State and Texas. The national championship game will be played on Dec. 17th in San Antonio, Texas.

In the whoops department, we misinformed the public by saying that my alma mater Radford University had won the Big South Tournament in Charleston, SC, several days ago. It was in fact our arch rivals, the Liberty Flames, that won the tournament. But, the team from Lynchburg, Va., now has the challenge of facing defending four-time NCAA champion Penn State on the Nittany Lions' home floor.

SIDEBAR: Since we have many blog readers in Turkey, at least as of late (I am a Turkish-American), I thought it would be good to run a list of scores from this weekend's soccer action. In what was arguably the game of the week, Istanbul powerhouse Besiktas beat Trabzonspor 1-0. A feat that is made more impressive because Trabzonspor is playing Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League at the moment.

Here is a partial list of other scores from the Turkish Premiere League:

Samsunspor 1 Antalyaspor 0
GalataSaray 2 Sivasspor 1
Ankara GB 0 Fenerbahce (Istanbul) 0
Karabukspor 2 Bursaspor 0

Happy Thanksgiving from Lucy van Pelt

As is our custom, we are wishing everyone a Happy holiday from a cartoon character, though at times, we've used obscure celebrities or politicians (I think we said "Merry Christmas from Bob Dole" once).

Today in New York, an estimated 3.5 million people watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from the streets alone. Among the balloons were Snoopy, who debuted at the parade in 1968.

As for Lucy van Pelt, we found out while researching that not only is Linus her younger brother, but so is Rerun, an infrequent "Peanuts" character. Lucy is a nemesis to Charlie Brown, and we're not sure if Snoopy and Woodstock like her either.

Lucy, who is known for pulling the football and her five cents psychiatry booths, actually made her "Peanuts" debut a year and a half after Charlie Brown and Snoopy on March 3, 1952. But, she joined them in the final original strip for "Peanuts" on Feb. 13, 2000, which was published right away the series' cretor Charles Schultz
(1922-2000) had died.

Amazingly enough, Lucy actually liked Charlie Brown at first!

SIDEDISH: I wanted to wish a special congratulations to the Radford University women's volleyball team. The squad, which represents my alma mater, won the Big South tournament over top-seed Liberty University in Charleston, SC, on Sunday. the Highlanders scored the victory in straight sets (25-20, 25-23, 25-22). They will now head to the NCAA tournament. Seedings will be announced this Sunday.

SIDEDISH TWO: We are happy to report that my friend Chris Knight in North Carolina did not get injured when deep-frying his turkeys today, as is his annual Thanksgiving tradition. Because of the high potential risk for deep-frying turkeys, many celebrities, including William Shatner, have spoken out against it. But, that didn't prevented Knight from engaging in his holiday ritual.

Things We Learned on Google Today- Ajax Amsterdam Has Won It All

Today, we continue our look at soccer teams around the world (most entries have been for European teams), which has been on both of my blogs. And, we move to the Netherlands/Holland, where we asked the might Google: How many domestic titles has Ajaz Amsterdam won?

The answer is an astonishing 30 Dutch Premiere League titles dating back to the 1917-18 season (the team was founded in 1900). The latest title was won by last year's team.

This seaon Ajax Amsterdam is participating in the UEFA Champions League where they are currently in third place in Group D, behind Real Madrid (Spain) and Lyon (France), but they are ahead of last place Dynamo Zagreb (Croatia).

Over the weekend, in domestic play, Ajax Amsterdam tied AZ Alkmaar 2-2. Their next Dutch game will against rival Feyenoord Rotterdam in a game that will be played on Oct. 23 at 6:30 a.m., New York time (yikes!).

The team captain for Ajax Amsterdam is Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen, 24, (pictured) and the co-captain is Dutch mid-fielder Theo Janssen, 30. The team also consists of many star players, including Uruguayan Nicolas Lodeiro.

On an interesting note, while researching this piece, we saw that Aras Ozbilis, 20, was on the team's roster. We don't know all the details of his personal history. But, Ozbilis is a person of Armenian heritage who was born in the Bakirkoy suburbs of Istanbul, not far from where my late Turkish aunt resided. He apparently moved to the Netherlands with his family. And, earlier in the week, he was rewarded with Armenian citizenship which will make him eligible to play for the Armenian national team.

On a personal note, I want to wish the Turkish soccer team Trabzonspor from Trabzon, Turkey, a city in the eastern Black Sea region, well. The team is currently on top of Group B in UEFA play. Domestically, Trabzonspor beat Ankara Gucu 3-2 over the weekend. Goalie and team captain Tolga Zengin has been helping his team in their early successes so far.

We also learned that my two favorite teams BursaSpor and GalataSaray met this weekend, with GalataSaray prevailing 2-1. On Youtube, there is apparently a video of Kobe Bryant trying to kick a penalty kick against GalataSary goalie Ufik Ceylan while on a visit to Istanbul.

SIDEBAR: We forgot to mention in our last entry that Barry Manilow is playing a regular gig at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas from now until at least the end of the time.

SPORTS SIDEBAR: Since we mention the University of North Carolina Tarheels' succesful week of play in women's volleyball, we thought it was only fair to give equal time no not to the Duke BlueDevils, but the 'other UNC.' That would be the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo. Ironically, I saw a bumper sticker for that school during a visit to Chapel Hill a few years ago.

The UNC in Greeley, Colo., call themselves the Bears and their volleyball won a home match in straight sets thanks 15 kills from Amanda Arterburn.

My alma mater Radford University in Radford, Va., also had a solid week in women's volleyball action as they won home games over both Charleston Southern (in straight sets) and Coastal Carolina (a five-set nail-bitter).

Carly Fleming lead the Highlanders with 15 kills against Coastal Carolina for the major Big Conference win.

Sports Desk- Vikings and Spartans Victorious in Virginia

Yes, a Spartan mask from a museum was not our initial choice for an image for this blog, but all the marching band photos were either too big or unavailable for legal reasons.

As it is, my alma mater Glenvar High School from Salem, Va., was not in action, but 'the big school' Salem High School was. And, the Salem Spartans defeated the William Byrd Terriers 27-13 in a home game.

Up the road, the visiting Northside Vikings beat the Hidden Valley Titans 21-17. Hidden Valley High School is one of two Roanoke-area high schools, including Eastern Montgomery High School, which did not exist in the 1980s, when I was a star quarterback for the Glenvar Highlanders (that is a joke, our real quarterback was a guy named Barry).

Here is a rundown of other high school scores from the Roanoke/Lynchburg/Blacksburg region:

Cave Spring 34 Lord Botetourt 18
Christiansburg 47 Bassett 0
Galax 43 Radford 0
Magna Vista 28 Franklin County 26
E.C. Glass 21 William Fleming 20
Martinsville 44 Liberty 34
George Wythe 31 Floyd County 19

SIDEBAR: We learned recently that an alum of Glenvar High School named Liz Trinchere plays volleyball for Virginia Tech. The Hokies were victorious over their arch rivals the University of Virginia Cavaliers by a 3 sets to 1 score in Blacksburg. Cara Baarendsey, a junior from Mason, Ohio, scored 13 kills and 16 digs for the Hokies in the home victory.

It was a mixed bag for the UNC Tarheels in women's volleyball this weekend. The team hosted the Tarheels Classic, and they scored wins over St. Louis and Miami (Ohio), but the 'Heels feel to Tulsa 3-1. Kaylie Gibson of Apex, NC, and Aleksandra Georgieva of Bulgaria combined for 13 kills despite the loss.

Conversely, my alma mater Radford University fell in a road game to UNC-Greensboro in the Spartan Spiketacular in straight sets on Saturday in front of 311 spectators. Radford Highlanders senior Carly Fleming of Manassas, Va., did become the school's all-time solo blocks leader (50) in spite of the defeat.

Karrian Chambers, from College Station, Tex., helped guide the Spartans to their victory and she recieved all-conference honors as well.

Status Update_ Cat Scratch Fever

My six-year-old (soon to be seven-year-old) cat Gizmo is actually a tuxedo cat. But he is one with a naughty streak.

This morning, as I was feeding him no less, he scratched my hand and hissed. I suppose he doesn't tuna (he must be one of the very few cats in the old who would prefer something else.....moo goo gaipan?!)

So my Status Update for 1/30/11 is: "This morning, my crazy Gizmo scratched the hell out of me."

I suppose that is one of the nice things about living in Cucumber, W.Va*, it is that it brings pure delight to use the word hell on a Sunday morning. Of course, doing it publicly is perhaps not a good idea, definitely not in a small hamlet in southeastern West Virginia.

For those who wish to adopt a cat or dog in Greensboro, NC, they can reach the Guilford County Animal Shelter at 336-297-5020. And, for those in Richmond, Va., they can contact the Henrico County Animal Shelter at 804-652-3360.

And, to those in the Washington, DC metro area who want to ease my guilt for listening to Mozart via an Internet stream from WETA-FM (an NPR station that only plays classical music), they can go to http://weta.org/fm (.), but don't tell them I sent you!

Alas, we can not list every animal shelter in the country up here, but we can always make fun of West Virginia!

*- Yes, Cucumber, W.Va., does really exist. No, I don't actually live there. According to Wikipedia (don't tell them, I 'borrowed' info on them, the small mining community in McDowell County is the only Cucumber in America!

PS- Alas, my beloved Radford University Highlanders lost to Coastal Carolina yesterday, but we did found out that surprisingly enough the women's tennis team has four young ladies from Croatia, and one of them, Mia Drobnjak has a name that's very hard to spell (well, she has my sympathies actually!)

Status Update_ I Feel Like....

Status Update for 1/28: "For some very strange reason, I sure feel like a cooked goose today."

For many reasons, personal and not-so-personal, this just hasn't been my week. But lots of folks seem to be in a seasonal late January funk these days. Somehow, I don't think going to the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., to see "Rabbit Hole" with Nicole Kidman (she got an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film) which is reportedly a very depressing film, would help things. But, maybe I can see if there are reruns of "The Love Boat" at my local public library (on second thougt, no that would only make things worse too!).

SIDEBAR: I want to wish the Radford University men's basketball team bonne chance/good luck in their homecoming game with Coastal Carolina University who will be coming into Radford, Va., from the Myrtle Beach, SC area (Conway, SC, to be percise). My alma mater is lead by a Turkish player named Gorkem Sonmez. As a Turkish-American and an alum of RU, I'm very proud of him. Another Turkish player named Tolga Cerrah plays the Highlanders too.