Top 10 Olympic Lists (5 of 10): Athletes from European Nations

Stefan Grothius, a gold medal winner in speed-skating for the Netherlands, is our pictured athlete; he is NOT the Dutch speed-skater who is engaged to American speed-skater Heather Richardson from High Point, NC. North Carolina is one of many states seeing major snowfall in America, which has also hit South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland very hard.

In fact, the Greek Embassy in Washington, DC, tweeted that they were closed for the day!

Here are our ten athletes from European Union countries:

1) Stefan Groothius. 32. Netherlands. Men's Speed-skating. Won gold.

2) Jenni Asserholt. 25. Sweden. Women's Hockey.

3) Marian Hossa. 35. Slovakia. Men's Hockey. Plays for the Chicago Blackhawks. The Slovakian team lost to the USA by a score of 7-1.

4) Justnya Kowalczyk. 31. Poland. Women's Cross-country Skiing. Won gold.

5) Martin Erat. 32. Czech Republic. Men's Hockey. Plays for the Washington Capitals. The Czechs lost 4-2 to Sweden yesterday.

6) Tatjana Hufner. 30. Germany. Women's luge. Won silver.

7) Ander Mirambell. 30. Spain. Men's Skeleton.

8) Mae Berenie Meite. 19. France. Women's Figure Skating.

9) Armin Zoggeler. 40. Italy. Men's Luge. Won bronze. He is among the most decorated athletes ever in his sport.

10) Jenny Jones. 33. Great Britain. Snowboarding. Won bronze. She is the only medalist for her country as of this entry.

http://www.sochi2014.com/en

http://www.nbcolympics.com/

http://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-olympics/2014

http://www.rnw.nl/english (Radio Netherlands)

Tweets of the Night

There are lots of sporting reports in tonight's tweets. Whether the athletes has donned skis, like Lindsey Vonn, laced up sneakers, like a Michigan State basketball player, or strutted across the balance beam in bare feet, like a Minnesota gymnast, there has been lots of action tonight.

Of course, there are political and news matters being discussed as well.

Let's check out the tweets:

1) Denver Post Sports @DenverSportsNews: Lindsey Vonn wins World Cup downhill for first win in five weeks.

2) Minnesota Gymnastics @GophersWomensGym: The #Gophers started on Bars, so they'll compete next on the Balance Beam. Still waiting for final two scores to be posted.

3) Katrina vandenHeuvel @KatrinaNation (managing editor of "The Nation"): "Different times, but still worth thinking about what a second-term Obama Can Learn from FDR."

4) Huffington Post @HuffingtonPost: "Suspected U.S. drone attack kills at least 8 in Yemen."

5) Heather Richardson @hlynnrichardson: "Thank you all so much for all the kind messages! So proud of teammate @BrrittanyBowe w/ her first podium." (Richardson, an American speed skater won gold at the sport's world championships in Calgary, Canada, she is originally from High Point, NC)

6) Spartan Basketball @MSU_Basketball: "Coach Tom Izzo calls a :30 timeour with 1:08 left in the second half and MSU leading Ohio St. 53-51." (Sparty, pictured, is the school's mascot)

7) Norfolk Admirals @AdsGameUpdates: "The puck has been dropped and the #pinkintherink game is underway!"

http://www.teamusa.org/Athletes/RI/Heather-Richardson.aspx

http://www.thenation.com/

http://www.norfolkadmirals.com/

Happy Thanksgiving/Black Friday from Howdy Doody

Gazooks! Gazooks! Gazooks!

As we were finishing up this entry about 45 minutes ago, my mom's whole computer abruptly crashed!

So, let's cut to the chase before anything else goes wrong!

I did want to mention that even though I'm not a vegetarian or vegan myself, that I thought it was interesting that WUNC-FM reported yesterday that the largest vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner in the nation is served in the Raleigh, NC, area.

This year, Dilip Barman put together two T'giving dinners: one at Cafe Parizade in Durham and another at Spice Street Restaurant in Durham. A total of some 800 folks come out for the gathering, and it sold out weeks in advance. The Triangle Vegan Society is in fact already taking reservations for next year!

I have to wonder if an evangelical like Rev. Chris Hazilip of Salisbury, NC (a real person) would venture to such an event, but since most vegans are very, very liberal and most revival preachers are EXTREMELY conservative, it might not go over well here in Purple Carolina.

Alas, our beloved Ragsdale Flying Tigers from Jamestown, NC, fell to arch rival High Point Central, the alma mater of Olympic speedskater Heather Richardson, by a 21-14 count last week. But, we wish them well next year.

Finally, NPR reported today that the Mister Kool Aid float made its debut at the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York today. I was only able to get a glimpse of the Hello Kitty float on tv; it made its debut in 2007.

Well, no crashes this time around, but of course, mom is not going to be too happy with me!