Congratulations to the University of Alabama for Winning Gymnastics Title

Yes, college gymnastics fans will undoubtedly notice that the headline and the photo of Georgia gymnast Kat Ding, a senior from Sparks, Nev., may not seem to go well, but please read the entry first!

And, before we get to that, I forgot to thank blog readers from Belgium, Portugal and Australia on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire,' in addition to them, I want to thank those of you from Bulgaria and Indonesia who have stopped by here in the last 24 hours.

The University of Alabama did indeed win its seventh NCAA championship in women's gymnastics on April 21, and this was the first time that the Crimson Tide had successfully defended its title.

For Tide senior Geralen Stack-Eaton, it must have been a particularly rewarding weekend for she also won an individual title on the balance beam.

Meanwhile, Ding defender her national title on bars with a 9.875 and she had a 9.995 on floor, which gave her a title on that apparatus as well; Ding edged out Stack-Eaton, the defending floor champ, and Ellyse Hopfner-Hobbs of UCLA, who is perhaps the top Canadian gymnast in the world at the moment.

Kyra Hunter of Florida won both the coveted all-around title as well as an apparatus title on vault. The Gators finished a very close second to the Tide in the team competition with the Bruins of UCLA coming in a close third.

Next year, UCLA hosts the NCAA championships in the sport.

NCAA Gymnastics Preview_ Kat Ding of Georgia

The University of Georgia Gym Dawgs team is back in contender mode this year thanks in large part to Kat Ding, a senior from Sparks, Nev.

Ding was named SEC Gymnast of the Week on Feb. 14 for her 39.550 performance in a win over Arkansas. In that meet, Ding finished first on bars with a 9.95 and she tied for first on vault with a 9.9 during the meet with the Razorbacks.

Ding was also featured in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of "Sports Illustrated" (Feb. 27th issue). Ding also scored another 39.550 in a win over Kentucky.

Other gymnasts for the fifth-ranked Gym Dawgs, which will be vital as the team hosts the NCAAs in Gwinnett, Ga., (an Atlanta suburb some 45 miles from the UGA campus in Athens), are Gino Nuccio, Shayla Worley and Noel Couch.

NCAA Gymnastics Preview_ Corrie Lothrop of Utah

The NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships will be underway starting Friday from Gwinnett, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, and though the seventh-ranked Utah Utes may seem like a slight long-shot, the team has been known to perform well under pressure thanks to the guidance of co-coach Greg Marsden.

One of the gymnasts to watch from the Utes squad is Corrie Lothrop, a sophomore from Donvers, Mass., who was named PAC-12 Gymnast of the week on Feb. 7 for her outstanding 39.475 all-around score, which included a 9.9 on the balance beam, in a win over Georgia.

Lothrop was also named to the first team all-around team for the PAC-12 Conference, along with her teammate Stephanie McAllister. Lothrop was also named Honorable Mention for the PAC-12 All-Academic Team.

Bonus Picture to Fill Space- Big Bass

Today, since we are behind with entries, we are featuring an entry of a big bass, this one presumably caught in a river or lake in Texas.

For those residing near Clarkesville, Georgia, there will be a senior fishing rodeo at Moccasin State Park from 8:00-11:00 a.m.; for more info, one can call (706) 947-3194.

SIDEBAR ONE: For those who like the intellectual side of sports, the public radio series "Only A Game" broadcast nationally through WBUR/Boston will feature a segment on the controversial new Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen (hmmm...we just realized the Marlins might be the only pro sports team with the name of a fish) who surprisingly praised Cuba's Fidel Castro, which did not go over to well whttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifith Miami's Cuban-American community.

SIDEBAR TWO: Kudos to the following six women's college gymnastics teams (the other six are listen on our other blog "The Daily Vampire") for qualifying for nationals:

Champaign, Ill., Regionals: 1. Oklahoma 2. Stanford; Auburn, Ala., Regionals: 1. Georgia 2. Oregon State; Seattle Regionals: 1. Alabama 2. LSU

Sweet Sixteen by the Numbers- It's Really Been a Long Time for Badgers Fans

We found out some interesting things while researching this piece: It has been a very, very long time since the Wisconsin Badgers won a NCAA title in men's basketball and Kenny Belton, a senior for the Ohio Bobcats, a team that will face the UNC Tarheels in the Sweet 16, graduated from Dudley High School in Greensboro, NC, so perhaps he even rooted for the 'Heels growing up!

And, yes, we realize that Ramsey, the UNC Tarheels' mascot doesn't really go with our entry title, but we are not exactly "The New York Times" here!

Here we go:

71: Years since Wisconsin won NCAA title; the Badgers took it all in 1941.

52: Years since Ohio State won NCAA men's basketball title

50: Years since the Cincinnati Bearcats won title, they won back-to-back titles (1961 and 1962) with Oscar Robinson.

34: Number of points that Florida beat Norfolk State by in the round of 32.

32: Number of miles between Chapel Hill and downtown Raleigh

31: Number of games won by the UNC Tarheels

29: Number of games won by Ohio University; years since North Carolina State last won NCAA tournament.

21: Number of points scored by junior Walter Offutt in the Ohio Bobcats' upset over South Florida in the round of 32.

14: Numbers of points that UNC beat Creighton by in the round of 32; years since Kentucky last won NCAA tournament; number of schools from major conferences in Sweet 16.

13- Number of teams in Sweet 16 that have won NCAA titles in men's basketball before

8- Number of players from North Carolina on UNC's roster

7- Number of Sweet 16 teams from my brackets which actually made it to the Sweet 16!; number of titles won by Kentucky.

6- Number of Ohio Bobcats players from Ohio; number of NC St. players from North Carolina (including star player sophomore C.J. Leslie from Holly Springs, NC); number of points that Ohio beat South Florida by; number of coaches in Sweet 16 who've won the NCAA title; number of schools in Sweet 16 with women's gymnastics programs.

5- Number of titles won by UNC.

4- Number of teams from Ohio in Sweet 16; number of teams from the Big 10; number of teams from the Big East

3_ Number of UNC players from the Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC area; number of international players for NC St. (Australia, Belgium and Canada); number of teams with feline nicknames; number of teams with bird-related nicknames.

2_ Number of school from old Metro Conference in Sweet 16 (Louisville and Cincinnati); number of ACC schools in Sweet 16; number of SEC schools; number of Big 12 schools; number of schools that are not from super conferences.

1_ Number of schools with dog-related nicknames (NC St. Wolfpack); number of schools that also made the Sweet 16 in NCAA men's hockey (Michigan State Spartans).

Quote of the Day/Week-Mary Lou Retton

Today, we continue quoting American athletes who won either gold or silver medals at the Summer Olympics with a quip from Mary Lou Retton, 44, whose image with a red, white and blue leotard is making its way back to Wheaties cereal boxes.

We will be quoting international athletes, including perhaps Nadia Comaneci of Romania, who was a major influence on Retton, who won both team and individual gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Retton is from Fairmont, West Virginia, and she is a member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness, which is slightly ironic as Retton is a Republican as she attended the 2004 Republican convention.

Gymnasts of today have also been influenced by Retton as she developed 'the Retton flip' move on bars.

Here is her quote:

"If I had a bad performance in a particular leotard, I threw it in the trash."

SIDEBAR: People in Retton's home state of West Virginia are likely not to happy today as West Virginia University lost to Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament yesterday.

I was also disappointed to see Harvard lose to Vanderbilt 79-70 though President Barack Obama, a graduate of Harvard, said he had to reluctantly pick Vandy since that school has just won the SEC Tournament.

But, there is happy basketball news for my home state of Virginia because Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) 'upset' Wichita State 62-59 in Portland, Oregon, in the NCAA tournament last night.

UPDATE: When we posted this entry earlier in the day, we did not know the first name of Mary Lou Retton's sister who was a great gymnast in her own right at West Virginia University. Her name is Shari Retton.

As for the current Mountaineers gymnastics team, they head to Baton Rouge, La., tonight for a meet with SEC power LSU. For WVU, current gymnast Kaylyn Milick was named EAGL Conference Gymnast of the week. The Mountaineers also have an exceptional, nationally-ranked gymnast in Hope Sloanhaffer.

Sports Desk: Princeton Beats Harvard 70-62

It is a very rare occasion when an Ivy League men's basketball is nationally televised, but since then 21st ranked Harvard University had won nine basketball games in a row, it's road game with Princeton on Saturday night set up a pivotal match-up.

And, the underdog Princeton Tigers (13-10, 4-3 in Ivy League play) prevailed with a 70-62 win thanks in large part to Ian Hummer's (pictured) 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Other players for the Tigers who scored in double figures were T.J. Bray (12), Brendan Connolly (11), Denton Koon (10) and Mark Darrow (10).

In defeat for the Crimson, Keith Wright scored 16 points and Brandyn Curry, of Huntersville, NC, scored 15 points.

Harvard did prevail in the team's road game against Pennsylvania by a 56-50 score on Friday night with 17 points from freshman Corbin Miller.

On Friday night, Princeton won its home game over struggling Dartmouth, a team with a 4-20 record, by a 59-47 margin.

Like Princeton, Cornell also had a triumphant homestand over the weekend in the Ivy League. The Big Red (10-12, 5-3) went on a 15-1 run in the second half to defeat Brown 72-63 on Saturday night. The night before, the team won an overtime thriller over Yale 85-84 in overtime.

For the Big Red, Chris Wroblewski, a senior from Highland Park, Ill., was named Ivy League Men's Basketball Palyer of the Week.

In other Ivy League sports, Harvard's women's hockey player Jillian Dempsey was named the school's athelete of the week as she scored five goals, one short of an NCAA record, in the team's 10-1 victory over Princeton.

And, in women's gymnastics, Cornell, one of four Ivy League schools with women's gymnastics teams (Yale, Brown and Penn are the others) came in second at the team's Big Red Invitanial.

The school in Ithaca, New York, came in second behind Southern Connecticut in the four-team meet. Lexi Schupp of Cornell won bars and her teammate Maelanie Stanrdige won beam.

The final score of the meet was: Southern Connecticut 190.05, Cornell 189.55, Ithaca College 187.250 and West Chester 185. 750.

Here is the full scoreboard in men's basketball for the Ivy League, which traditionally plays its games on Friday and Saturday nights.

Friday:

Cornell 85 Yale 84, OT

Harvard 56 Penn 50

Princeton 59 Dartmouth 47

Columbia 86 Brown 60

Saturday:

Cornell 72 Brown 63

Princeton 70 Harvard 62

Penn 58 Dartmouth 55

Yale 59 Columbia 58

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Handsome Dan

Greetings to everyone in Moscow, Russia, where we are seemingly and surprisingly popular!

Today, we feature the Yale Bulldogs mascot Handsome Dan in our semi-weekly "Silly Photo to Fill Space" series. Yale University was the first university to have a mascot in the 1890s, and the current Handsome Dan, born in 2007 in Johnson City, Tenn.- of all places, is the 17th in the line.

On our sister blog, we dedicated an entry to John Harvard, who is the mascot for the Crimson.

Alas, this was not a very good weekend for Bulldogs fans as the school saw athletic losses in several sports. We mentioned the losses to rival Harvard (65-35), men's hockey (4-3) and women's hockey (8-0) on our sister blog.

But, the men's hockey team won a home game against Dartmouth 5-4 on a goal from Kenny Agostino, a junior from Flanders, NJ, that was scored with 38 seconds on the clock. We imagine the Big Green was not pleased to get on the bus back to New Hampshire afterwards.

Yale's women's hockey team had a particular rough weekend on the ice, but goalie Genny Lodgies, a junior from Canada, had 46 saves against Dartmouth's women's hockey team. The Big Green won that game over the Bulldogs by a 6-0 score.

Like the men's hockey team, Yale's men's basketball team got a victory by also beating Dartmouth by a 62-52 in a game that was played on Yale's home court in new Haven, Conn. Reggie Willhite scored 16 points for the Bulldogs in the win.

Unlike Harvard, Yale has a women's gymnastics team and they went to Philadelphia to face Penn-U over the weekend. The Bulldogs' gym team fell short as the Quakers won the meet 191.225-188.35 margin.

But, junior Tara Feld from Buffalo Grove, Ill., had strong vault and floor scores (both were 9.75) as well as a stellar score on beam (9.275).

Yale's gym team also has two sophomore sisters from Singapore in Nicole and Tabitha Tay. We think they might be twins, but we could not confirm that.

In the News_ American Postage Stamps Increase

On Monday, domestic postage stamp rates for letters go up here in the United States. So, if you want to send a congratulations card to Newt Gingrich for winning yesterday's South Carolina Republican Primary, you are already too late. Of course, those of you who know us well, realize we will not be among those sending the former House Speaker greeting cards anytime soon.

The Humphrey Bogart stamp (1997) shown here was part of a Legends of Hollywood series, which also included a Marilyn Monroe stamp.

SIDEBAR: Kudos to the nationally ranked men's basketball team from Harvard as they beat Dartmouth yesterday on the road in Hanover, NH, by a 54-38 score. But, interestingly enough, the school's Athlete of the Week is Haley Mendez, who plays women's squash?!

Also our congrats go out to the North Carolina State women's gymnastics team as earlier in the week sophomore Stephanie Ouellette was named EAGL Conference Gymnast of the Week. The Wolfpack also received honors for junior Rachel Fincham who was named EAGL Specialist of the Week, and freshman Lane Jarred who was named EAGL Rookie of the Week.

Over the weekend, the Wolfpack continued their success with a road victory over the University of Illinois-Chicago, which is, of course, located in the Windy City.

Quote of the Day/Week- Galileo Galileli

Since we had problems finding a quote from the Danish bishop and scientist Nicolas Steno, who is the subject of today's 'google doodle' as it is his 374th birthday, we are opting to go with the Italian astronomer Galileo Galileli (1564-1642) who would also be very, very old 'if he were alive today.'

In all seriousness, Galileo was responsible for the telescope. His name came up in September when Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, who got one percent of the vote in yesterday's New Hampshire primary, dropped his name when trying to figure out a scientist he could use to justify his denial of global warming....ok.

Here is the quip from the renown Italian physicist:

"By denying scientific principles, one may maintain any paradox."

SIDEBAR: Kudos to North Carolina State University; as we learned from Twitter today, that the school is sponsoring a book drive before tonight's men's basketball game with Georgia Tech, which tips off at 9:00 p.m. The Wolfpack women's gymnastics team has also sponsored book drives, and we imagine many other athletic teams on campus have as well.

Casulaties of Modern Technology_ Board Games

By no means is Monopoly a thing of the past, as one might infer from my heading. However, it is a safe assumption that most children of today prefer to play advanced video games with their friends as opposed to board games. Monopoly board games are still made today as our the likes of Trivial Pursuit and Clue.

According to Wikipedia, Monopoly was first played in 1904, and it was originally called The Landlord's Game. In 1934, Charles Darrow presented his own version of The Landlord's Game to various executives, and by the Christmas of 1935, Monopoly games were being sold throughout the United States.

Monopoly consists of three Chance spaces, four railroads, including the Reading Railroad, and a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card.

Traditional American versions of Monopoly are based on streets in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Since the '30s, the names of several streets have changed including Illinois Avenue which became Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the 1980s.

There are also popular college versions of Monopoly, including ones for the University of Alabama (pictured), Virginia Tech and the University of North Carolina.

In addition, there are international versions in many countries including South Korea, Japan and Russia. In the Australian version of Monopoly, a koala bear is one of the silver pieces.

There is also a periodic World Championship of Monopoly, which was last played in Las Vegas in 2009. The tournament was won by Bjorn Halvard Knappska from Norway.

Many parodies, including some that are unauthorized by Hasboro, the company which now makes Monopoly games, have surfaced over the years. Of these, the most recognized and infamous is perhaps Ghettopoly, which was released in 2003.

In Ghettopoly, railroads are replaced by liquor stores and a handgun is among the silver pieces. Hasbro successfully sued to prevent the game from being sold on the open market on the grounds of copyright infringement. The NAACP also found the game to be highly offensive.

As a result, the limited editions of Ghettopoly fetch between $120-300 on the Internet.

SIDEBAR: One of my favorite sports, women's college gymnastics, will be starting again soon. The University of Alabama, which was mentioned earlier in this piece, has the reigning NCAA title-winning team this year. They open their 2012 season at home on January 13th against their arch rivals from the University of Georgia at 7:30 p.m local time (8:30 p.m., eastern time).

The University of Georgia's team, which are also known as the Gym Dawgs (Georgia's athletic teams are officially called Bulldogs), has also won numerous NCAA titles in women's gymnastics, and the meets between the two schools frequently sell out.

Among the standout gymnasts for the Alabama Crimson Tide are junior Marissa Guiterrez and senior Geralen Stack-Eaton, who were key components of the team's national championship effort. For the Gym Dawgs, top gymnasts include senior standouts Kat Ding and Gina Nuccio.

The preseason national rankings have Alabama ranked second behind UCLA; Georgia is ranked ninth. The other SEC team in the top ten is the University of Florida; the Gators are ranked third.

The Top Ten Countries Where We Are Most Popular

We used to jokingly brag that we were the most popular American blog in Bergen, Norway, and Samarkand, Uzbekistan, but it appears that our blog hits are not coming from those countries. However, they are thankfully coming from lots of other places.

For this entry, we chose to go with an image of Syd, Ollie and Millie, the mascots of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where one of my all-time favorite collegiate gymnasts Yvonne Tousek of UCLA competed for Canada; the reason for this is that Australia is in our top ten for this blog as well as 'the other blog,' which is "The Daily Vampire."

Here is the list of the countries that really, really like us:

1. USA 66,460

2. Canada 6,543

3. UK 5,222

4. Germany 4,918

5. India 1,774

6. Brazil 1,567

7. France 1,313

8. Australia 1,269

9. Netherlands 1,040

10. Indonesia 613

SIDEBAR: Our friends at Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC, are set to open a new play in their UpStage Cabaret space when "The Mystery of Irma Vep" debuts on Sept. 29. The stage production will run through Oct. 15. If you are reading this at a cofffehouse in Hamburg, Germany, you should go ahead and take the 12-hour flight to North Carolina just to see this play!

Tweet of the Day- Courtney Kupets (Former Georgia Gymnast)

Well, the college gymnastics season has been over and Courtney Kupets ended her impressive career at the University of Georgia two years ago. But, we found this tweet from Kupets, who was also a member of the national Olympic team to be very intriguing:

"I'm learning how to keep my car lookin new! Car wash, vacuum, and buffer! Now, I just need to touch up paint. Thanks dad."

SIDEBAR: I know given that name is (mr) Tilly Gokbudak, I often feel like my long name causes me needless problems whether it is at the pharmacy or the bowling alley, but I found these five last names on the Internet which made me realize I really can't complain. Here they are:

1. Dzhamgerchinov (Russian)

2. Niratpattanasai (Thailand)

3. Kocakthugagullarindan (Turkey)

4. MacGhilleseathanich (Welsh)

5. Featherstonehaughwolfeschlegelsteinhausenerdorff (German)

Whew!

Congrats to Alabama Crimson Tide Gymnastics

The University of Alabama won their fifth women's gymnastics championship on Saturday in Cleveland thanks to the efforts of Kayla Hoffman (pictured here on floor) and Geralen Stack-Eaton (pictured here talking to Coach Sarah Patterson).

Kylee Botterman (whew!, we almost typed her name with one e!) of Michigan won all-around with a 39.525 as she edged out Hoffman from Alabama (39.5).

For the Crimson Tide, Stack-Eaton won the individual floor exercise event with a 9.937. Other individual winners included Marissa King of Florida who won vault with a 9.875; Kat Ding of Georgia who scored a 9.875 to win uneven bars and Sam Peszek of UCLA who won the balance beam with a 9.9 score.

Other teams had gymnasts who fared well including the Utes who finished fifth overall, but the team had stand-out performances from veteran gymnasts Gael Mackie and Stephanie McAllister.

SIDEBAR: Today was a good day for Geoffrey Mutai as the Kenyan runner finished the Boston Marathon in record time with a score of 2:03:02. His fellow Kenyan Moses Mosop finished second. And, Ethiopian runner Gebregziabher Gebermariam, who will qualify for our top ten list of impossible names (which we hoping to post one week from today) finished in third. Of course, we fully realized that we probably will have to apologize for not spelling his name right!

Stack-Eaton also won the floor exercise event with a 9.937 score.

Perhaps, It's a Good Thing I'm Not a Sportscaster

When it comes to predicting the outcomes of collegiate sports, my forecasting would assuredly have me fired from ESPN. Not only, did I miss every single game of the men's Final Four in basketball, I did the same for the women's Final Four in basketball and the Frozen Four in men's hockey over the weekend.

I had also only picked two games right in the men's and women's college basketball quaterfinals respectively as I missed all four games in the men's final eight!

As for the Frozen Four, which took place in St. Paul, Minn., from Thursday to Saturday, local favorite, the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, won the team's first NCAA title in the sport.

Kyle Schmidt, a senior left winger, scored with 3:22 left in overtime to score the game-winning goal over the University of Michigan Wolverines. Max Tardy, a freshman who is actually from Duluth, Minn., and Travis Oleksuk, a junior from Canada, also scored for the 'dogs in their victory.

In the first two games of the Frozen Four, the Bulldogs beat Notre Dame 4-3 and Michigan stunned North Dakota, the favorite to win the championship, by shutting down the Fighting Sioux 2-0.

My predictions in women's college gymnastics, my favorite sport, has been equally futile as I projected the Stanford Cardinal to win their first NCAA title in that sport this year.

But, the Cardinal came in fourth place at regionals in Ann Arbor, Mich., as the host Michigan Wolverines qualifed for the finals this weekend in Cleveland along with second place Kent State.

Nevertheless, both Ashley Morgan, daughter of baseball great Joe Morgan, Shelley Alexander and Danielle Ikoma, the team captain, had outstanding years for the Cardinal. Ikoma was also cited by Pac-10 for her outstanding academic accomplishments along with five other Stanford gymnasts.

So, if I take a resume up to Bristol, Conn., where ESPN's main offices are, I have a feeling the elevator person won't let me past the second floor.

NOTE: The image above is from the original 1977 version of the film "The Bad News Bears" about a losing baseball team that eventually somehow gets its act together.

PS_ We forgot to mention that the University of Connecticut beat out Butler for the men's basketball title. Ironically, it was the school's women's team that was favored. But, the Lady Huskies fell to Notre Dame in the Final Four. Then, the Lady Figthing Irish met with Texas A & M since the Aggies had upset Stanford. The Aggies then pulled another upset as they beat the Fighting Irish to capture the women's basketball title. Of course, I saw none of this happening!

Road Trip (Entry 3 of 20)- U of Kentucky to Ohio St.

Perhaps, today is the one day when I should send a 'telegram' thanking the annoying person sitting in close proximity to me at a public library in Smryna, Georgia* as I have tons of stuff to do, but we wanted to make sure we got this posted today or at least before the office zombies in Portland, Oregon, stumble upon this site as it is approximately 8:30 a.m. there as we speak.

We are continuing our look at the approximate distances between two college campuses who have to face each other in the NCAA tournament.

Today, we are looking at two places which are actually pretty close together in Ohio State (in Columbus, Ohio) and the University of Kentucky (in Lexington, Ky). Both schools have gymnastics programs and if we were pressed to find out how long "Mr. Ed" (pictured above; we thought of it because Kentucky is famous for horses) was on the air via Wikipedia, we would tell you how those respective teams are doing!

Hopefully, either a gymnast or coach from one or both of these teams can fill us in, or perhaps someone from collegegymfans.com; it would be so appreciated!

But, instead of actually going from campus to campus, we are looking at the driving distnace between Third Street Stuff, a coffee joint in Lexington, Ky., and the Northstar Cafe on N. High Street in Columbus, Ohio, (one of several establishments in what we believe to be a local chain).

Is the distance:

A) 3 hrs, 10 minutes

B) 3 hours, 25 minutes

C) 3 hours, 45 minutes

D) 3 hours, 55 minutes

Of course, we are not counting traffic congestion time!

*- We are not actually in Smyrna, Ga., which is said one of the nicer suburbs of Atlanta. That annoying person almost caused me to forget to mention this! The original Smyrna is in Turkey; the once predominantly Greek city in Ottoman times, that is now Izmir, is Turkey's third largest behind Istanbul and Ankara.

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

Well, for starters, we are not working for a PBS station in Canton, Ohio, but tech-wise it has been a very messed up weekend so far. In fact, we feel like jumping up and down like Speedy Gonzales, but I'm not sure how much the librarian here in Princeton, WVa*, would appreciate that. But, I do share the frustration that West Virginia U feel to Kentucky in the NCAAs earlier this afternoon since Deniz Kilicli of WVU is one of our favorite players.

But, I was able to read some cartoon books by Keith Knight and Tom Tomorrow which helped cheer me up a wee bit. I especially like Knight's segment in his "Knight Life" comic strips where he talks about life's sweet moments. I had earlier today here in rural West Virginia* when I passed a right-wing pick-up truck with an anti-United Nations bumper sticker and waved to him in my center-left vehicle decorated with Obama-Biden '08 bumper stickers.

I also thought one of Tom Tomorrow's "This Modern World" strips was quite prophetic (hey, it's not often us liberals use that word!) in its prediction that once some far-right nut tried to do something dangerous then the likes of Glenn Beck would somehow find a way to blame the left. And, amazingly enough, with the Tucson, Ariz., tragedy that is exactly what happened!

In other news, we want to congratulate the Utah Utes women's gymnastics team for winning their meet over Brigham Young U in Provo, Utah, last night. The Utes were helped by stand-out performances from the likes of Stephanie McAllister, who won the all-around competition.

Other Utes gymnasts with strong nights included Nansy Damianova, a Canadian Olympian whose parents were outstanding athletes themselves in Bulgaria. Nansy had a solid bars performance. Similarly, Mary Beth Lofgren of the Utes had a remarkable routine on the balance beam.

All college gym teams will be preparing for regionals within the next two weeks.

The BYU men's basketball team faces another western team in Gonzaga today in March Madness action.

The answer to our question of how far apart Los Angeles and East Lansing, Mich., was B. The two zip codes are approximately 33 hours and 20 minutes from each other.

Lastly, we found out while Googling ourselves that the name of the editor of this blog Dennis Alexander** is linked to Chang Beer from Thailand.

*- I am not actually in West Virginia at the moment

**- My name is not Dennis Alexander, but we are linked to Chang Beer!

Road Trip (2 of 20) March Madness Journey from LA to East Lansing

Today, we continue our Road Trip series with a special look at two teams who will be facing each other in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, otherwise known as March Madness, on Thursday night. The UCLA Bruins will face the Michigan State Spartans at 9:20 New York time for a game in Tampa, Fla.

The two schools have rich basketball traditions. The Spartans won the 1979 NCAA championship thanks to Magic Johnson who became a legend for the Los Angeles Lakers.

As for UCLA, they have won more NCAA men's basketball titles than any other school as they 11 in their trophy cases. According to mentalfloss.com, UCLA is also the most popular university in the country as the school gets about 60,000 applications each year.

UCLA also has a strong women's gymnastics program, which has won several NCAA titles. One of our favorite college gymnasts of all time Yvonne Tousek was a member of a 'dream team' squad that won many titles some eight years today. But, today UCLA maintains a strong gymnastics team thanks to the likes of Tauny Frattone, a junior who was named specialist of the week by the Pac-10 recently.

The Spartans are also among the 18 schools with gymnastics teams. Tragedy ensued the team right before the season started as gymnast Kathryn Mahoney was paralyzed after a horrific fall on the vault. But, the team has continued on, as Spartans gymnast Jackie Berg scored a 9.8 on bars recently at a meet in Norman, Okl.

So, today, we are asking just how far apart these two schools are. Instead of focusing on the campuses themselves, we will explore the distance between Sofra Kebab Express, a Turkish restaurant on Venice Blvd. in Los Angeles and the studios of the award-winning WDBM college radio station for Michigan State.

If you happen to wish for a Korean pop song, you can listen to 'Asian Invasion' on WDBM and tell the host Elsie that we were the ones who told you about the station. Their request line is 517-884-8989. Of course, if they get mad at us, we will deflect all responsibility!

So is the distance between Los Angeles and East Lansing, Mich:

A) 32 hours even
B) 33 hours and 20 minutes
C) 33 hours and 40 minutes
D) 34 hours and 30 minutes

The answer to our last road trip between Spartanburg, SC, and New York was B) 11 hours and 49 minutes.

Road Trip USA (1 of 20)_ A Night at the Opera

While we were listening to WVTF, the NPR station in Roanoke, Va., yesterday, I thought it was interesting that we heard the last minutes of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," which was being broadcast from Spartanburg, SC. Then, the next NPR show that aired was a live broadcast of the contemporary opera "Nixon in China," by the New York Met Opera.

All of this made me wonder how long it would take to get from Wade's Family Restaurant in Spartanburg (a city that is relatively close to Clemson University), which was mentioned in "Wait, Wait..." to the famed opera house (the opera pictured here is actually one of my favorites "Rigoletto.")

And, you get to take a guess here as to that answer...

Is it?:

a)10 hours and 17 minutes
b) 11 hours and 49 minutes
c) 12 hours and 28 minutes
d) 13 hours and 42 minutes

You would actually go through Roanoke while taking this trip!

SIDEBAR: Since I am a huge college gymnastics fan, I thought it would be interesting to mention that long-time powerhouse The University of Utah will be hosting Michigan on Friday. And, the Utes have a very unique promotion called Short Person Appreciation Night. Anyone who is under five feet tall gets in free! Today, happens to be the 19th birthday of sophomore Fumina Kobayashi of the Utes who is 5'2. Her teammate Nansy Damianova, a Canadian freshman from Montreal who speaks Bulgarian (?!), is 5'1.