College Volleyball Notebook: Ivy League vs. Pac-12

It will be presumably easier for Yale Bulldogs fans to travel from New Haven, Conn., to University Park, Pa. (the Penn State campus) than it will be for Utah Utes fans to trek into the Quaker State from Salt Lake City. But, the two teams will meet there at 5:00 p.m., the winner will very likely face host Penn State, a national championship contender, in the next round.

For Yale (20-4), Kendall Polan (pictured top) is the three-time Ivy League player of the year. Her teammates include fellow all-Ivy League team members Mollie Rogers and Kelli Johnson. For Utah, players to watch include Erin Redd-Brando (wearing number 17, bottom), a senior middle-blocker.

Here are a look at four games on Friday, all times are eastern:

Utah vs. Yale 5:00 p.m. Penn State

Charleston College @ Duke 7:30 p.m.

Univ. of Cal-Santa Barbara @ San Diego 10:30 p.m.

Wichita State @ Kansas 7:30 p.m. on ESPN3


For other games, check out our sister blog: http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.espn3.com

http://www.kuathletics.com

http://www.yalebulldogs.com

NOTE: Incidentally, this is our 2,500th entry!

More College Nicknames- Dukes, Bluejays and Anteaters

Here is our follow-up from yesterday's entry on college nicknames. Perhaps even long-time ESPN college basketball commentator Dick Vitale doesn't know a few of the more obscure ones:

More Smart Schools:

1. California Golden Bears (Cal; Pac-12)*
2. Brown Bears (R.I.; Ivy)
3. Lafayette Leopards (Pa, Patriot League)
4. JMU Dukes (Va; Colonial- pictured top)*

More Angry Birds:

5. Louisville Cardinals (Ky; Big East)*
6. Creighton Bluejays  (Neb.; Missouri Valley)*
7. Illinois State Redbirds (Ill.; Missouri Valley)
8. Kansas Jayhawks (Kan.; Big-12-pictured center)*

Canines and Foxes

9. The Citadel Bulldogs (SC, Southern Con.)
10. Boston University Terriers (Mass., America East)
11. Georgetown Hoyas (Wash. D.C.; Big East- pictured bottom, that is Patrick Ewings' jersey)
12. Marist Red Foxes (New York, Metro-Atlantic)

Best of the Rest

13. UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos (Calif.; Big West)
14. Campbell Fighting Camels (NC; Big South)
15.DePaul Blue Demons (Ill.; Big East)
16. Mississippi Valley Delta Devils (Ms., SWAC)
17. UC-Irvine Anteaters (Calif.' Big West)

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).

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.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Former Guns N Roses Member Has a Beef

For those who grew up with Guns N Roses in the late 1980s, the band's anthem "Welcome to the Jungle" has a special place in our hearts.

But, Duff McKagan, a former member of the band, wrote in "Seattle Weekly" that he is not happy the song is now being played to rev up fans at Yankee Stadium.

Duff made his comments in a guest column for the journal, and he said while he is a huge sports fan, the song simply wasn't intended to be the equivalent of Queen's song "We Will Rock You."

SIDEBAR: Hooray for Duke University's hapless football team which beat Navy 34-31 for their first win of the year in Annapolis, Md., last weekend. This week, the BlueDevils host The University at noon on their home turf in Durham, NC.

My alma mater Glenvar High School in Salem, Va., goes on the road to the mountain hamlet of Floyd, Va., to face the Floyd County High School Buffalos. We wish the Highlanders luck, though personally I prefer the other school's mascot to our's!

SIDEBAR TWO: Our fellow liberal friend The Kansan, who is really from Kansas and a Kansas Jayhawks fan, tweeted today that: "One often hears the question: Do you have to politicize everything? The answer is of course yes!

On that note, we invite our readers to insert their favorite Sarah Palin joke in our comment section. I am deliberating as to which country I would move to if she becomes president in 2012. My top three choices are Norway, Costa Rica and Tunisia (we had to choose one Muslim to irk the Christian conservatives, though admitedly it would be quite hot in North Africa!).

Things We Learned on Twitter Very Early This A.M.

Before anyone accuses us of being snotty liberals who use the beloved "Sesame Street" characters Bert and Ernie to represent the homosexual lifestyle, we should remind you that it was The Rev. Joseph Chambers of Charlotte, NC, who first made the claim that they were a gay couple back in 1994.

Personally, I think one can tell society has gone whacko when the sexual orientation of children's tv show characters are being questioned.

But, this does bring us to What We Learned on Twitter in the wee hours of the morning today when we suffering from insomnia.

It was at this juncture that I saw a tweet from a college student in Lawerence, Kan., that according to the liberal-leaning mega-blog "The Huffington Post" it appears that Cong. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), 50, who is running for Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat may well be a closeted homosexual.

The allegation comes from gay activist blogger Mike Rogers, who is based in Washington, DC, and was featured in the recent documentary film "Outrage" which deals with politicians who are suspected of being gay but vote against gay and lesbian political interests.

Rogers said that he was initially reluctant to pursue the matter of Cong. Kirk's sexual orientation since he has generally been more favorable towards gays than most Republicans. But when Cong. Kirk decided to vote against the lifting of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military, Rogers felt it was appropriate to disclose the allegations.

Rogers said that two men claimed to have had homosexual relations with Kirk while they were in college. The gay blogger also told "The Huffington Post" that someone met Kirk at a 2004 house party and the congressman reportedly asked if a gay man he came across at the party was 'single' (apparently, he wasn't).

For what it's worth, Kirk's ex-wife Kimberly Vertolli who divorced Kirk last year has vehemently denied the rumors.

As for the female college student from Kansas, who 'broke' the story on Twitter for me, she had this thought-provoking tweet this afternoon: "Have I ever told y'all how much guys suck? Cause they do."

I also reached yet another silly Twitter milestone this afternoon, as Boulder the Cat (we are not sure if the feline actually resides in Boulder, Colo.) became the 1,500th 'person' I'm following on Twitter. The cat, whose gender was uncertain at press time, left the following tweet several days ago: "You know to me, personally, a cat that twitters is just as impressive as a dog that skateboards."

We couldn't agree more!

Tweet of the Day- What Does Keith Olbermann Wear?

We started following "The Kansan" thinking it was the student newspaper of the same name for Kansas University in Lawrence, Kan. Now, I think it may just happen to be a left-of-center young lady who resides in Kansas, which must make her feel like a Pakistani student at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. (we love to take digs at Jerry Falwell even though he's no longer with us!).

The Kansan posted this interesting tweet last week in regards to MSNBC talk show host Keith Olbermann who apparently isn't romantically linked to Anne Coulter:

"I wonder if Keith Olbermann wears suit pants during his show, or pjs on the bottom with a suit jacket on top?-LOL! I'd wear pjs on the bottom."

It's your show Keith. We'd never tell you what to do........?

The Oklahoma City Miracle

Ali Farokhmanesh may have the hardest name to spell of any basketball player in the country (but, hey my name is Tilly Gokbudak and I am not a girl- see earlier entry), but the University of Northern Iowa's star player hit a game-winning three-point shots with :35 remaining over top-seeded Kansas in Oklahoma City on Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers beat the Jayhawks, who many including President Barack Obama, ESPN basketball analyst Dick Vitale and my cousin Michael from Rock Hill, SC, thought would win the NCAA championship (my choice of Georgetown lost in the very first round!), 69-67.

"The Des-Moines Regsiter" reported that the Panthers landed at the airport in Waterloo, Iowa, which is relatively close to the UNI campus in Cedar Falls at about 2:30 a.m. But, there were around 50 fans to greet them there.

"We thought it might be a little too late or a little too cold," said Ali F., a senior from Iowa City who turns 22 on Apr. 16, "This is awesome."

The same newspaper quoted Panthers player Jordan Egleseder who said he was pleased with the turnout for the team.

"Yeah, it's crazy," Eglesder said. "I wasn't expecting at all. Our fans have been great all year."

"The Kansan," the student newspaper for the University of Kansas had a different headline about the game: "Stellar season ends in heartbreak."

The Jayhawks' coach Bill Self has reportedly said that he will never watch any taped footage of the game.


SIDEBAR: Alas, the Brigham Young Cougars will not be advancing to the Sweet 16 either. The team from Provo, Utah, was impresive in their first-round win over Florida, but they fell to Kansas State in the second round. But, the Cougars' star player Jimmer Fredette left an impression on Oklahoma City Thunder's star player Kevin Durant, who had the following tweet before BYU's game on Saturday: "How many points is Jimmer Fredette gonna score tonight? He is a monster....