Sports Desk_ College Basketball Teams by Area Code in Virginia (2 of 2)

Juvante Reddic, the reigning Atlantic Ten Player of the Week, who is from Winston-Salem, NC, and plays for Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond is one of many stars playing for the schools listed below, by area code.

Other star players from these area codes include Joe Harris (UVA), Kendall Anthony (Richmond) and Aaron Bacote (ODU).

434

UVA (15-5, Charlottesville, ACC): Next game @ Notre Dame tonight on ESPN-U.

Liberty University Flames (9-12, Lynchburg, Big South): Next game @ Coastal Carolina on Wed. @ 7:00 p.m.

Longwood Lancers (7-14, Farmville, Big South): Next game vs. Gardner-Webb on Wed. @ 7:00 p.m.

703

George Mason Patriots (7-13, Fairfax, Atl. 10)" Next game @ St. Louis on Sat. @ 2:30 p.m.

757

Old Dominion Monarchs (10-10, Norfolk, Conf. USA) Next game @ UAB on Thurs. @ 8:00 p.m.

Norfolk State Spartans (12-9, MEAC): Next game @ Miami (Fl) on Sat. @ 4:00 p.m. ESPN3

Hampton University Pirates (10-10, MEAC): Next game @ Coppin State on Sat. @ 4:00 p..m

William and Mary Tribe (12-7, Williamsburg, Colonial Ath.): Next game vs. Delaware on Wed. @ 7:00 p.m.

804

VCU (16-4, Atlantic 10): Next game vs. Fordham on Wed. @ 7:00 p.m.

University of Richmond (14-6, Atlantic 10): Next game @ St. Louis on Wed. @ 8:00 p.m.

http://www.longwoodlancers.com

http://www.virginiasports.com

http://www.richmondspiders.com

http://www.odusports.com

http://www.nsuspartans.com

Sports Desk: Princeton Tigers Go to Lynchburg and Win

Earlier in the season my alma mater Radford University, a Big South school, faced the Cornell Bears, an Ivy League team, and won. But, given that Big South schools stretch from Lexington, Va. (VMI) to Charleston, SC, (Charleston Southern), and Ivy League are from the northeast, the two conferences don't play with each other that often.

But, on Saturday, the Princeton Tigers in their last game before the start of conference play, headed down to Lynchburg, Va., to face the Liberty Flames on Saturday in the first meeting in men's basketball between the two schools.

And, it was Princeton (11-2), a team which traveled from New Jersey, which prevailed with an 80-74 win that was propelled by T.J. Bray (pictured) who almost matched his career-high with 24 points and his teammate Ben Hazel who added 18 points. For Liberty, John Caleb Saunders scored 25 points.

SIDEBAR: There was a shocking upset in Winston-Salem, NC, on Sunday night, as the home court Wake Forest Demon Deacons shocked the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, ranked 19th in the country at the time, 73-67.

The win was the first for Wake Forest over UNC since 2001 in a series that the Tar Heels have dominated in more recent years. Senior Travis McKie from Richmond, Va., lead the home team in scoring with 16 points, and he shot 7 for 11 from the floor.

SIDEBAR 2: Well, when the West Virginia Mountaineers joined the BIG 12, geographic rivalries went out the window as the closest conference school to Morgantown, WVa., is (we believe) Iowa State, located in Ames, Iowa.

Tonight, WVU traveled even farther away as they headed to Lubbock, Tex., and got an 89-86 (OT) win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Juwan Staten lead WVU in scoring with 25 points, and Terry Henderson hit a crucial three-pointer with :18 left to play in regulation.

10 People Who will Decide Election_Pennsylvania

Today, we continue our series with a look at Pennsylvania as we also feature this 1996 presidential campaign button featuring Bob Dole and the late Jack Kemp.

Here is a look at our fictional voter of the day:

Name: Rev. Paul Frederickson

Occupation: Baptist Minister

Residency: Scranton, Pa.

Will Likely Vote for: Mitt Romney

"Politico" reported at last check that Barack Obama is winning Pennsylvania 48.3 % to 42.3 %, but an alarming new story from "USA Today" shows that Romney is closing the gap there as well as in Michigan (hey if Fox News can be biased and pretend to be objective, why can't we?).

Though Pennsylvania is primarily a Catholic state, there are a fair number of Baptists and Jews in the demographic mix. Most evangelicals are supporting Romney even though many of them have negative views of Romney's Mormon faith. This was made evident when Romney was invited to give the commencement at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., which has become a mecca for college students from very religious families.

But, Bill Maher made a controversial comment when he said Liberty University was not really a real college because it is not fully accredited; the school also has negative views on Charles Darwin and evolution, from what we gather.


http://www.scrantonrevivalbaptistchurch.com (the web site for an actual Baptist church in Scranton, Pa.; the minister's name is not Paul Frederickson. Yeah, we checked!

Sports Desk- Women's NCAA Volleyball Tourney Begins

The University of Hawaii Rainbow (picture; 29-1) will be among the 64 teams seeking the NCAA Women's national championship in volleyball. The team will start play in Honolulu against the University of Northern Colorado Bears. Among the standouts for Hawaii are Kanani Danielson, Emily Maeda and Jane Croson. The Rainbow have won 24 games in a row; the Bears have not played in Hawaii since 2003.

Eight teams from the Big 10 made the field as did five teams from the PAC 12, including Oregon, which will play against Colorado State in Honolulu.

The more familiar UNC, the school in Chapel Hill, NC, will head all the way out to Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., to face the University of California. Last week, the Cal Bears upset sixth-ranked Stanford thanks to Tarah Murray, who was named Pac 12 Player of the Week. But, the Bears will face a solid challenge from the Tarheels as the team features Cameron Von Noy, the ACC Freshman of the year. And, three All ACC players in Kaylie Gibson, Emily McGee and Chaniel Nelson. The two teams play at 5:00 p.m. (esatern time) on Dec. 1.

Two of the other three ACC schools in the field of 64 include both Florida State and Miami (Fl).

The Seminoles actually get to host their first round game against the University of Albany. The 'Noles have perhaps the most internationally diverse squad in the field as their roster includes the likes of Duygu Duzceler and Fatma Yildirim (both from Turkey), Rachael Morgan (New Zealand), Patricia Fiqueriedo (Brazil) as well as two players from Serbia and one from Latvia. Their opponents, the Great Danes, lead by senior Brooke Stanley also have a player from Croatia. That game will take place on Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m.

Their conference and in-state rivals Miami (Fl) travel to Ames, Iowa (Iowa State University), to face Northern Illinois. The Hurricanes team includes ACC Player of the Year Lane Carico.

The top four teams in the field are Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa State and Texas. The national championship game will be played on Dec. 17th in San Antonio, Texas.

In the whoops department, we misinformed the public by saying that my alma mater Radford University had won the Big South Tournament in Charleston, SC, several days ago. It was in fact our arch rivals, the Liberty Flames, that won the tournament. But, the team from Lynchburg, Va., now has the challenge of facing defending four-time NCAA champion Penn State on the Nittany Lions' home floor.

SIDEBAR: Since we have many blog readers in Turkey, at least as of late (I am a Turkish-American), I thought it would be good to run a list of scores from this weekend's soccer action. In what was arguably the game of the week, Istanbul powerhouse Besiktas beat Trabzonspor 1-0. A feat that is made more impressive because Trabzonspor is playing Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League at the moment.

Here is a partial list of other scores from the Turkish Premiere League:

Samsunspor 1 Antalyaspor 0
GalataSaray 2 Sivasspor 1
Ankara GB 0 Fenerbahce (Istanbul) 0
Karabukspor 2 Bursaspor 0

Top 10 Riskiest Neckties to Wear to Work...

The "Tom and Jerry" necktie pictured above probably would NOT cause problems at work unless you had a very uptight boss, however even in hip, liberal places like Berkeley, Calif., or Boulder, Colo., many of these neckties would not be cool. Conversely, rebel flag and Stop Abortion neckties would not work well in an office environment in Lynchburg, Va., (actually we're not certain about that!).

Incidentally, all of these listed ties are available from zazzle.com or other Internet outlets!

Here is our list:

1. Che Guevara necktie (pictured)
2. Marijuana leaf necktie (pictured)
3. Old Soviet Union flag necktie
4. Chairman Mao neckties
5. Stop Abortion neckties
6. Koranic scripture neckties (definitely not a good idea on the Liberty University campus!)
7. Confederate Flag necktie
8. Playboy emblem necktie
9. Two Grooms with Brown Hair necktie (or any other overt gay neckties, not in the fashion sense)
10. Nude Woman Drinking Beer necktie

Other ties that were considered:

Palestinian Flag neckties (really bad idea if you're going to meet with Sen. Joe Lieberman on The Hill).
Rush Limbuagh neckties
Josef Stalin neckties
No Condom neckties
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk neckties (bad idea if you're in Glendale, Calif., which is home to America's largest Armenian population!)

Things We Learned on Twitter This PM-College Volleyball Team Looking for Facebook Fans.

According to a tweet from the University of Michigan's women's volleyball team, the lady Wolverines are looking for Facebook fans.

The team, which is in their off-season, put up a Facebook site over the weekend and they got 100 fans in less than a week. Michigan finished second in the Big Ten to Penn State, which is currently dominating the sport.

In other collegiate sports news, The University of North Carolina Tarheels are hosting Virginia Tech in baseball in Chapel Hill this afternoon, even though both schools are in recess.

Author John Grisham ("The Pelican Brief") gave the commencement at UNC, while Virginia's new very conservative governor Bob McDonnell did the honors at Virginia Tech.

Just down the road, right-wing nut Glenn Beck spoke at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Yes, I wouldn't want to go to school there either!

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........?

Radford University Loses Heart-Breaker to Coastal Carolina

During a home game in Radford, Va., just prior to Valentine's Day on Saturday night, my alma mater The Radford University Highlanders dropped a heart-breaking game to visiting Coastal Carolina by a score of 52-51.

The game was decided by a last second free-throw from Coastal's freshman Danny Niemans from Concord, NC.

RU trailed by 16 at the half, but the Highlanders went on a 17-3 spurt to start the second half. According to the RU men's basketball web site, the home team trimmed the lead to 40-38 with 11:39 left in the game.

The win puts Coastal Carolina, a school in Conway, SC, (near Myrtle Beach) with a commanding two game lead in the Big South Conference.

For the visiting Chanticleers (which to me has always seemed like a very unusual school nickname), Mario Edwards lead the way with 13 points. Chad Gray added 12 points to the team's total.

There were some positive things for the Highlanders though, including the fact that guard Amir Johnson of Pittsburgh, Pa., broke the conference assist total with 568.

The Highlanders actually took the lead for the first time in the game at 50-49 with 1:46 remaining thanks to a dunk by standout center Art Parakhouski of Belarus (pictured here).

RU coach Brad Greenberg said he was pleased with the team's efforts in spite of the loss:

"I'm extremely proud of our team. We had an extraordinary second half, holding one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country to just three field goals."

Parakhouski lead RU in scoring with 16 points. Laz Trifunoivc of Serbia added 13 points for the Highlanders.

RU will next head to hostile Lynchburg, Va., for a game with conference arch rival Liberty University on Tuesday night in a game that will be televised regionally on MASN starting at 7 p.m.

The Highlanders also have a home game against UNC-Wilmington during ESPN's Bracket Busters on Sat., Feb. 20, which is also when the school will be hosting its rescheduled Homecoming Weekend.

Coastal Carolina next heads to Durham, NC, for a non-conference game with North Carolina Central. The team's next home game is against conference foe Charleston Southern in a game that will also be played on Feb. 20.

The Big South Tournament starts at various locations on March 2.