Kudos to UNC Women's Lacrosse Team and Remembering Fallen Soldiers

Kudos to the University of North Carolina's women lacrosse team which pulled off an upset over the top-ranked University of Maryland to win an NCAA national championship by a 13-12 margin in a game that lasted three overtimes in Villanova, Pa., just outside of Philadelphia.

Ironically, UNC's long-standing rival the Duke Blue Devils prevailed in the men's final in Philadelphia today by defeating Syracuse 16-10.

For the Lady Tar Heels, Sammy Jo Tracy, a sophomore from Bedford, NY, scored the magical, winning goal against the Lady Terps, a team that finished the season at 22-1, with Sunday's loss being their first ever of the year.

It was the Terps that won the ACC title in the sport a few weeks ago; UNC is in the same conference. The Tar Heels finished 18-3, and the game was the longest women's lacrosse title game in NCAA history. Tracy scored the goal a mere 31 seconds into the third overtime.

The Tar Heels flew back from Philadelphia this morning, and they were greeted home by a jubilant group of supporters upon arriving back in North Carolina.

SIDEBAR: We also want to take a moment to recognize fallen soldiers who lost their lives while serving combat missions for the American military. Today is Memorial Day here in America. My late stepfather Donald Sullivan was a WW-2 veteran.

Today, President Barack Obama marked Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., where the likes of President John F. Kennedy, boxer Joe Louis and actor Lee Marvin are buried. In his comments, Obama spoke to veterans in attendance and to troops who are still serving in the war in Afghanistan.

http://www.goheels.com

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil

http://www.arlingtonva.us

http://www.visitchapel.org

http://www.unc.edu

Father's Day Kitsch

This is basically a complementary entry to my tribute to my father Methmet Gokbudak
(1921-1983) and my second stepfather Donald Sullivan (1918-2003), two men I always remember on Father's Day.

When my mom recently relocated, I came across two vinyl records that I will always associate with dad and Donald.

One is a collection called "German Beer Drinking Music" which was recorded in Germany by Hans Braun and his chorus. I tried to find information about the record on the Internet which was to no avail. Shockingly enough, Diplomat Records in Newark, NJ, which made the record happens to be the name of a rap music label that was founded in 2002! Though I can not confirm when the record was released (my guess is 1962), there was an image of the album and a web site was offering to sell the record for $9.99.

More information was available regarding "The Fading Giant," a recording of steam engines made for O. Winston Link Railway Productions. The record was made in 1958 in conjunction with Link's famous photographs of trains in places like Roanoke, Va. (my hometown), Bristol,Va/Tenn. (there are two Bristols in two neighboring state which border each other), Rural Retreat, Va. and Welch, WVa.

The photographs taken by Link (1914-2001) became quite famous, especially in Europe and there is now an O. Winston Link Museum, housing many of his famous photographs, in Roanoke.

Donald was very fascinated with both trains and airplanes whereas my father was more into bicycles and his Porche.

I suppose all of us are defined by our favorite modes of transportation. I find the old slow boats in Istanbul, Turkey, where my father grew up to be very fascinating though it always seems like the boat to the Princess Islands will NEVER reach Kinali Island, the small island that is the first stop on the way to Buyukada, the largest of the four Princess Islands.

But, ultimately, I most fascinated by buses. I recently saw an abandoned passenger bus marked Knoxville, Tenn., on Route 220 near Martinsville, Va. I wondered what its' journey was, and how the bus ended up being left along a road that is some five and a hours away from its origin.