We're Going to the Final Four in Indy......

Great, exciting news: Since a friend of mine in Charlotte, NC, has a very sick puppy (a Yorkie named B.B. King), I have been given tickets to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

To be honest, I'm not sure which section to sit in. The Michigan State Spartans defeated the UVA Cavaliers early in the tourney, so I will not be sitting beside Magic Johnson (his alma mater). The Wisconsin Badgers have a great mascot in Bucky the Badger (top image), but I've only been to that state once and it would feel awkward sitting with their fans.

It would be nice to sit with the Kentucky Wildcats fans, especially if I were somehow close to sitting by actress Ashley Judd, one of the team's superfans, but I'm sure even if that happened, she would have a body guard who looks like Kevin Costner as well as a boyfriend who looks like Kevin Costner. Also, I'm not sure what to make of the team's coach John Calipari. While he is amusing enough to follow on Twitter, he comes across as a narcissist.

This leaves the Duke Blue Devils, coached by Mike Kryzewski who has been with the team since I was ten years old, which was when "Mork and Mindy" was still on the air. They are from the ACC. They are from North Carolina, a neighboring state. Durham, NC, is a pretty cool town, they even made a movie about their baseball team "Bull Durham," which starred Kevin Costner. But, Coach K is a Republican and he's already won four NCAA titles. The Badgers haven't won since Benny Goodman and Woody Herman were on the radio during the Big Band era. But, Coach K did write a letter to little boy in Oklahoma. Somehow, I doubt the other three coaches would have done that.

But, in reality, Kentucky will probably beat them in the NCAA finals, and go 40-0; that's just the way the world works. At any rate, I'm looking forward to driving through West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio to be at the Final Four. It truly is a dream come true!

Note: The bottom image is the jersey of Kentucky basketball great Jamal Mashburn

Top Ten Men's College Basketball Teams: Arizona is Numero Uno

Greetings to our blog readers in Finland, Italy and Japan.

Today, we actually have an image of another Wildcat De'Mon Brooks of Davidson University with this entry (both Davidson and the University of Arizona are nicknamed Wildcats), but our focus in on the Wildcats in Tucson, Ariz., as they are the number-one ranked team in the land. But, Davidson also had a major 93-82  victory on the road at UNC-Greensboro.

Before we get to the Top Ten, here are some conference players of the week in men's basketball:

ACC: Rasheed Sulaimon (Duke)

SEC: Marshall Henderson (Ole Miss)

Big 10: Nik Stauskos (Michigan)

Big 12: Naadir Thorpe (Kansas)

PAC 12: Delon Wright (Utah)

Big South: Rodney Glasgow (VMI) and Javante Green (Radford U, our alma mater)

Southern Conference: De'Mon Brooks (Davidson, pictured)

Now, here is the Top Ten, all times for the teams' next games are eastern):

1. Arizona (18-0) Hosts previously ranked Colorado  on Thurs. @ 9:00 p.m.

2. Syracuse (18-0) @ Miami on Sat. @ 1:00 p.m.

3. Michigan State (18-1; the team JUST won over Indiana 71-66)

4. Villanova (16-2) Lost to Creighton 96-68 on Monday

5. Wichita State (19-0) @ Illinois State on Wed. at 8:05 p.m.

6. Florida (15-2) @ Alabama on Thurs. at 7:00 p.m.

7. San Diego State (16-1) @ San Jose State 10:00 p.m.

8. Kansas (14-4) Won 78-68 over Baylor on Monday, will play @ TCU on Sat. @ 9:00 p.m.

9. Wisconsin (16-2) @ Minnesota Wed. at 9:00 p.m.

10. Iowa (15-3) @ Michigan, Wed. 7:00 p.m.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/


http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball

SIDEBAR: "The Sporting News" features a very amusing photo essay by contributor Ryan Fagan who saw four games in one day in North Carolina: Boston College @ UNC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina State @ Duke in Durham, Davidson @ UNCG in Greensboro (mentioned top) and The Citadel @ Elon in Elon; the home team Phoenix (yes, that is their nickname) won the game 75-66.

SIDEBAR #2: We also have a feature on the Top Ten teams in women's gymnastics; the Florida Gators, who are ranked third in that sport, is the only team that ranks in the top ten in both sports.

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/

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 Week: Leo Tolstoy

I may not share my fellow Turkish-American Elif Batuman's love for Russian literature. Batuman, whom I've never met, is a respected nonfiction writer who has published many articles in "The New Yorker" and she wrote a brilliant 2010 memoir "The Possessed." While much of that book talks about long, famous Russian novels, Batuman also talks about spending time in Uzbekistan where she spent a considerable long time engrossing the fascinating, yet very remote country.

Of course, one of the novels that Batuman was examining was the epic 1869 work "War and Peace" from Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) which is 1,225 pages.

Here is Tolstoy's quote:

"Historians are life deaf people who go on answering questions that no one asks them."

SIDEBAR: When I saw the headline in "The Huffington Post" that "Man Survives 96 Minutes Without a Pulse," I thought they might be refering to Dick Cheney, but the man is in fact an unmplyed chef named Howard Snitzer from Goodhue, Minnesota.

SIDEBAR TWO: Earlier tonight, we had a chance to listen to the show "Progressive Torch and Twang," an alternative country/folk/Americana music show from Impact89-FM, the college station from Michigan State via the Internet. The show is extremely entertaining and amusing. Among the highlights on tonight's show was a song from Eddie Spaghetti, an alt country singer from Seattle, who sang a tune called "Jesus Never Lived on Mars." We can't imagine that one would ever hear it on a country music station in Lynchburg, Va.!

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.

March Madness with Mapquest (for Friday Games)

As I indicated on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire," this may be one of the craziest things I've done in a long while as I used MapQuest.com to figure out the distances between the teams facing each other in the Sweet 16 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament.

The move is perhaps more zany because all of the teams are playing on neutral sites though Baylor University located in Waco, Tex., is playing the St. Mary's Gaels, located in Moraga, Calif., in Houston which is in Baylor's home state.

For this entry, we are focusing on the Friday night games. The other games and teams were mentioned in the 'Vampire' entry (see links).

The other game that will be played in Houston will feature the Duke Blue Devils (pictured here) against Purdue University from West Laffayette, Ind.

Meanwhile in St.Louis, the cinderella Northern Iowa Panthers will face the Michigan State Spartans from the Big Ten. The other game in Arch City will between Ohio State and Tennessee.

Before this tourney, I was actually not certain which town Northern Iowa University was in. As it turns out, they are located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, which is also the home of Pepper's Grill and Sports Pub. The bar is about 515 miles (an 8 hour, 20 minute drive) from the Michigan State Student Bookstore in East Lansing, Mich.

Since I'm a Turkish-American, I couldn't resist seeing how far Cafe Istanbul, located at 3983 Worth Ave in Columbus, Ohio, which is the home of Ohio State, was from Niro's Gyros, a Greek restaurant located at 711 17th Street SW, in Knoxville, Tenn. It turns out the two restaurants from rival ethnic groups are 369 miles apart, which makes for about a six hour drive. Much to my surprise, I found out that these are the two schools which are closest to each other in mileage in the Sweet 16!

As for the games in Houston, Temple Rodef Sholom in Waco, Tex., which is home to Baylor University, is 1,789 miles (26 hours, 45 minutes by car) from Ristore Amoroma, an Italian Restaurant in Moraga, Calif., where St. Mary's is located. I initially searched for mega-churches in Waco, but I found so many listed on the web I thought it would be easier to try a synagogue instead.

Much to my surprise, there are actually two of them besides Temple Rodef Sholom is the Southern Baptist-stronghold of Waco, which is also where the infamous incident with the David Koresh cult took place in the 1990s.

Lastly, Durham, NC, where Duke University and the Carolina Theatre are located (not to be confused with the other Carolina Theatre in Greensboro) is 723 miles or 11.5 hours away from the Purdue University Bookstore in West Laffayette, Ind. The Carolina Theatre, which screens films on a regular basis, is now showing the delightful French animated film "A Town Called Panic," which caught by chance last week at another theatre in the Raleigh area.

Well, it is lunch time here in Floyd, Va. (not where I'm actually at, but it is a town just as small and isolated), so it's time to get me a gyro........oh, I forgot.....the zip code I'm presently at doesn't have either a Turkish or a Greek restaurant. I envy those of you in Columbus or Knoxville!

Here is My Final Four

I am picking Michigan State, Missouri, Pitt and Arizona State in the Final Four.

For those reading my other blog "The Daily Vampire," you may have noticed that my Final Four picks there are slightly different.

Here I am going to project that my alma mater Radford University will beat the number one-seeded UNC Tarheels in the first round and put the whole tournament in a tail spin.

I do hate to leave the ACC out of the Final Four. Since I live in North Carolina, this would be considered a cardinal sin, but hey I'm not Catholic! So, why worry about cardinal sins???!!!

Oh, I am actually picking Pitt to win it all, but I prefer the look of the Michigan State mascot.