College Schools Nicknames- More Angry Birds

On our other blog, in honor of March Madness (for those of you in Latvia and Peru this is the time of year when American college basketball teams try to win both their conference and national tournament), we are dedicating an entry to teams with fowl nicknames since we are more or less addicted to the video game/computer app Angry Birds. as are 2.4 billion people around the world.

Not all of these teams are going to the NCAA tournament, which will have pairings announced on Sunday, but both the Kansas Jayhawks and the Temple Owls (pictured here) are going to be in the tournament. In fact, Kansas may get a number one seed.

The other school pictured here is the Southern Utah Thunderbirds which have a fairly competitive women's gymnastics program.

Here are the teams; there are three schools from Ohio on the list:

1. Elon Phoenix, Big South, Elon, NC.

2. Hartford Hawks, American East, Hartford, Conn.

3. Jacksonville State Gamecocks, Ohio Valley, Jacksonville, Ala.

4. Kansas Jayhwaks. Big 12. Lawrence, Kan.

5. Kent State Golden Flashes, Mid-America Conference, Kent, Ohio.

6. Loyola (Ca.) Lions. West Coast Conference. Los Angeles, Calif.

7. Miami (Ohio) Redhawks. Mid-America Conference. Oxford, Ohio.

8. Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. Summit League. Tulsa, Okl.

9. Southern Utah Thunderbirds. Summit League. Cedar City, Utah.

10. Temple Owls. Atlantic-10. Philadelphia, Pa.

11. Winthrop Eagles. Big South. Rock Hill, SC.

12. Youngstown State Penguins, Horizon, Youngstown, Ohio.

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.