Sports Desk_ High School Football in Va and NC

For those hoping to see scores from games in Richmond, Va., or Charlotte, NC, I should point out that these scores are for games in the Roanoke, Va. region, and the Greensboro, NC region. Hmmmm....I sense we lost some sponsors in Mecklenburg County (where Charlotte is located), oh well!

For starters, it was not a good Friday night for the two high schools in my hometown of Salem, Va. My alma mater Glenvar High School lost on the road at Radford High School by a 21-14 score. The visiting Highlanders were up 14-0, but according to "The Roanoke Times," the home Bobcats were helped by when the team's quarterback Hunter Marshall put the 'Cats ahead for the remainder of the fourth quarter with a three-yard touchdown dive.

But, it was also a bad night for the Salem High School Spartans (pictured) as they faced the emerging powerhouse Christiansburg High School Blue Demons, a team that is now 8-0 on the season, on the road. The Demons pulled off a close 42-36 victory with two touchdown runs and TD passes from quarterback Brenden Motley. Though Marty Bishop of Salem rushed for 244 yards and five touchdowns despite the loss.

In other Roanoke action, the Northside High School Vikings edged out the William Byrd High School Terriers 21-20 thanks to outstnading play from Tyler Fisher. And, the Partick Henry Patriots won its homecoming game over the Halifax Count Comets, a team that had to put up with a two hour-plus bus ride back to South Boston, by a 41-0score.

In Greensboro, NC, the Page High School Pirates (yes, they are the reason why we posted an image of the Captain Crunch cereal) decked cross-town rivals Dudley HS 21-0 thanks to two touchdowns from Drew Rogers, according to "The News-Record."

And, the Western Guilford Hornets made the playoffs by upsetting the Southeast Guilford Falcons 20-10 while the East Forsyth Eagles topped the Northwest Guilford Vikings in a surprisingly easy 35-6 victory (given that both teams had similar records).

Here is the scoreboard:

Virginia

Radford 21 Glenvar 14
Christiansburg 42 Salem 36
Northside 21 William Byrd 20
Patrick Henry 41 Halifax County 0
Hidden Valley 13 Pulaski County 10
Franklin County 34 George Washington (Danville) 20
Martinsville 46 Bassett 34
Tunstall 21 Patrick County 13
James River 14 Parry McCluer 13

North Carolina

Page 21 Dudley 0
Western Guilford 20 Southeast Guilford 10
Northern Guilford 49 Morehead 8
East Forsyth 35 Northwest Guilford 6
Ragsdale 21 Glenn 0
Northeast Guilford 36 North Forsyth 26
Western Alamance 32 McMichael 21
Reidsville 42 Providence Gap 7
Eastern Alamance 16 Rockingham County 12

SIDEBAR: Yes, it can be quite challenging to know if the satire newspaper/news organization "The Onion," which now has weekly 'newscasts' on IFC here in the United States is actually being serious or taking things a bit too far.

Today, "The Onion" actually had the following headline: "Al Qaeda Also Fed Up with Ground Zero Construction Delays." Anyway, we are just relaying the news, or in this case, the fake news, not actually reporting it.

Ten Years Later- The Australian Tourist (Part 2 of 2)

"In the shadows of the Twin Towers, she just got swallowed up," was what Amanda Rigg's sister Jodie told "The Sydney Morning Herald."

Amanda Rigg was killed on Sept.10, 2001, by a suicide bomber in Istanbul, Turkey, named Uugur Bumbul who was with a radical left-wing militant, very much similar to Dev Sol, a '70s Turkish terrorist organization, which is amazingly still in existence today.

I was on the same street that Rigg , who was 22, was some 15-20 minutes prior to the attack that also killed two Istanbul police officers.

When I heard about how all air travel in the United States had bee grounded because of the stikes on the Twin Towers and The Pentagon, I realized if I had been hurt by the blast, my mother would have been unable to visit me in the hospital. Many people were also injured by the blast, which was seemingly meant to kill significantly more than it did. When I heard the noise from the blast, I noticed that the windows in my aunt's aprtment were actully vibrating.

The "SMH" story published on Aug. 4, 2007, also revealed some unsetlling information, which I had never known.

The "SMH" story said that the Australian government gave financial support to its citizens who were victimes of the bombings in Bali and London, but Rigg's family received no such funds. The explanation given by the Australian government, according to the "SMH," was that Rigg had not died in 'a mass casualty incident.'
The total cost of bringing her body back to Australia was $16,000.

In all four corners of the globe, even in Turkey, the incident was dwarfed by
9-11. Much of the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television) coverage focused on the Turkish citizens who had lost their lives on 9-11, including Zuhtu Ibis, a 25-year-old man who working on the 103rd floor on the World Trade Center.

I was walking the streets of Buyukada, an island off the coast of Turkey, on September 11th, and I was trying to read the article in the Turkish newspaper "Hurriyet" about the blast. I was completely oblivious to what had just happened back home in America.

There were still some uncertainities about what had happened in Istanbul in the media that next day. It had also been a very busy day for us, as we waited patiently for hours trying to resolve family business that was blocked by bureaucracy. By the time everything was resolved, it was around 4:00 p.m. in Turkey, which is typically seven hours ahead of America.

I was hoping as I walked up the hill to the house in Buyukada where I was staying that I would finally find piece of mind. It had only been three days since we had arived in Turkey. I was hearing televisions from the open windows in the old houses that grace the streets of Buyukada.

Something terrible was happening somewhere. Ordinarily, I would have perhaps poked my head in one of those windows and asked what was happening. Such behavior might seem rude in many places, but not on the friendly island, where many residents from Istanbul come to get away the hustle and bustle of one of the world's largest cities.
In fact, when a major soccer game is going on, those who walk the street- even at night, will ask people watching the game in their homes what the score is.

At the time, I could not have imagined that wthe sounds I was hearing were from those traumatic events of 9-11. It would take three hours to call my mom because of the phone line blockage in America, and inform her of the fact that we missed a serious blast in Istanbul as he was watching CNN, and trying to figure out 9-11 as the whole world was. And, it would be a long time before I found that piece of mind, yet alone fully understood the impact of those very long 48 hours.

PERSONAL NOTE: The first part of this series is on my sister blog "The Daily Vampire" (www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com); it is also where the second part of my series on the victims of September 11th will be.

Ten Years Later- Remembering September 11th (One of Two)

Her mother Marion Kminek told "The Washington Post" that Mari-Rae Sopper 'lived, breathes, and ate gymnastics.'

Sopper, 35, who had just accepted a job as the women's gymnastics coach for The University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) was in the process of leaving her job as DC-Metro area lawyer for the dream job she always wanted when the plane she was on, Flight 77, crashed into The Pentagon, killing all aboard on September 11th.

Mike Sharpless, her coach at Iowa State where Sopper was a stand-out gymnast said the following words which are on her memorial site (www.mari-rae.net) a few days after that tragic day: "Mari-Rae is an unrelenting force, hungry for excellence. I heard last Tuesday she entered heaven and she went with full force."

Sopper, who had been a resident of Maryland, took the Gauchos coaching post knowing that it would be the last year for the program. But, Sopper had hopes that she could change the outcome of UCSB's decision.

The Gauchos did in fact end up losing the gymnastics program at the end of their last season in 2002.

But, Sopper's memorial web site indicated that a fund in the former Cyclones gymnast's name had raised over $91,000.

PERSONAL NOTE: I chose Sopper's story because I follow college gymnastics very closely, and her story is one I still find compelling to this day.

Tomorrow, I will conclude what was originally intended to be a three-part series with a glance at three of the other people who needlessly lost their life on that day.

The photo used for this entry is of the Tear of Grief Memorial that was a gift from Russia. The piece by Zurab Tsereti is in Bayonne, New Jersey, and is meant to remember those who have lost their lives to terrorism. It was dedicated on Sept. 11, 2006.

Things We Learned on Google Today- When in Tajikistan...

When in Tajikistan, the latest country we are looking at in our series on former Soviet republics that are now independent countries, one should speak Tajik. It is the official language of Tajikistan, and according to Google and Wikipedia, the Persian-type language is also spoken widely in neighboring Uzbekistan.

Here are some other facts about the landlocked nation:

1) The capital and largest city of Tajikistan is Dushande.

2) Tajikistan was part of the Samandi Empire (existed from circa 800-1000 A.D) which also included parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Russia.

3) The Russians Are Coming was perhaps first uttered in 1864 when the Ruskies invaded Tajikistan, which later lead to it becoming a Soviet republic.

4) Sadly, Tajikistan is the poorest country in central Asia, and the country suffered a major famine in 2001.

5) Amazingly enough, there is a small Jewish population in Tajikistan; they call themselves the Bukhara Jews.

6) Tajikistan is a land-locked country that borders Afghanistan, China, Uzbekistan and Krgyzstan.




SIDEBAR: Tomorrow, we will start a special three-part series on the 10th anniversary of September 11th. Among the entries we hope to post is one Marie-Rae Sopper, who was slated to become the new women's gymnastics coach at the University of California-Santa Barbara. She was killed on her way to California aboard Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon. Sopper, who was a collegiate stand-out at Iowa State, was 35 years old.