Thanksgiving

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 28, 2013 - It is a day, if not unique to these United States and our northern neighbor, Canada, then certainly one best known for its founding here. It is a day set aside at the tail end of the harvest season to give thanks to the Almighty for the bounty bestowed upon us.  In the United States it is the fourth Thursday in November.  In Canada it is the second Monday in October.  In the United States it is one of the three holidays that compose the so-called holiday season.  The "First Thanksgiving" was observed in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1521.  At the end of the harvest, 90 American Indians and 53 Pilgrims came together for a three-day feast thanking the Almighty for the bountiful harvest.  In the church I attend the Pastor, at the outset of the service last night and again this morning, asked worshipers to break off into small groups and there to pray about and discuss the things each person was thankful for.  The session lasted about two minutes.  Again, after the sermon he did the same thing, and after another couple of minutes he invited anyone who cared to, to come forward and tell the congregation about  the things they were thankful for.  Upon such an invitation, two (this morning) or four (last night) folk did come forward and recite things they were thankful for.  Each person coming forward was thankful for three things: the church, the pastor, and their family.  Some recited unexpected medical recoveries.  Some pointed out individual members who helped them through hard times.  The pastor was named because he is new and, in the tradition and protocol of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church, our congregation "called" him after being provided a list of pastors said to be willing to consider a call.  For churches without a full time pastor, the process can easily be discouraging.  Sundays are covered by guest preachers.  But in general, the time a church does not have a pastor is a time of wasting away, both in number of members and in the energy expended by members who remain.  Therefore, the news that our new pastor had accepted the "call," was met with all-around joy.
       The sermon concentrated on the many and countless blessings we have all received.  Often we concentrate on what we don't have or what we really really want, instead of all that we have.  Many of us are out of work.  Some of us are ill.  Some of us have lost loved ones.  Some of us are involved in bad domestic situations.  And to be sure each of these things are serious.  And they must be addressed.  Thanksgiving, however, is a day that compels us to recall the things we are thankful for.  Out of work? You have a family that loves you still and always will.  Ill?  Again, a family is by your side, caring for you.  People still love you.  If a spouse or parent has died, you have those many years with that person to be thankful for.  You have the survivors in the family - they are probably many in number - still there for you.  In a bad marraige?  You have children and parents to be thankful for.  You have your job or your school.
       The late great Thornton Wilder wrote a short, almost sweet play called "Our Town".  In the play, most of which, as I recall, takes place in a graveyard, the dead discuss life in the adjacent small town.  The subject they discuss, mostly, is how much time the living waste.  One or more would give almost anything for even one hour in the arms of someone they loved when they were alive.  The dead cringe when they see people they know love each other, instead involving themselves in petty arguments and other mean-spirited activities.   If, indeed, you have lost someone whom you love, you know what the play is about.  Many go through their lives just hoping to get it over with.  Many go through their lives longing for more money or more material wealth.  Others live for that promotion, that new job or that new home or whatever.  I do not say any of these are worthless endeavors.  But how much time do we waste in all-out pursuit of such things while ignoring or trampling on people we need to love.  "Our Town" is, in the end, a play about the old adage, 'life is too short.'

Soccer: Terps Beat Back Friars in NCAA 2nd round, Retrievers ousted in heartbreaker; Round 2 Wrap-up; Basketball: Terps win Paradise Jame

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 25, 2013 - It does seem like every November Maryland's elite soccer side runs into one large physical team after another in the NCAA Tournament.  So it was, again, on a very cold and windy Sunday night in College Park, when a below-the-radar Providence team, came into College Park with a solid and, through the 86th minute, battled the Terps at every turn.  In that 86th minute, with the Terps ahead, 2-1, big Jake Pace counterattacked a Providence Side pushed up as far as a team can go, and beat the plucky Friar Keeper, Keasel Broome, on a low bullet from the top of the 18.  Until Pace's score, Providence had gone head-to-head with the Terps, ranked third in two polls and fourth in another.  Michael Sauers scored the only goal of the first half in the 19th minute, though the Terps were outshot by Providence 6-5.  In the second half Maryland did seem to get a better grip on the game and in the end did outshoot Providence, 15-12, but Providence kept pushing right back.  Neither side seemed able to mount sustained possessions.  In the 69th minute the Friars tied the score.  Junior Fabio Machado, a Brazil native, sent a wonderful feed right at the goal, and fellow Junior, Phil Towler, an Englishman, finished with a mere flick of his foot, misdirecting the shot past Maryland's dependable Freshman Keeper, Nick Steffan.   But the tie hardly lasted a wink and a nod, because almost at once Patrick Mullins had a ball in the Friar box and their defense panicked. Mullins, marked by a closing double team, deftly kicked the ball backwards with his heel to a charging Tsubasa Endoh.  Endoh might have shot immediately, but he sensed he could push through two off-balance Friar defensive players.  He did get the ball through, but as he followed he was tripped.  A penalty kick ensued which Mullins made easily.  Broome guessed that Mullins would shoot to his right and he dove that way as Mullins fired.  But as Broome dove to his left, Mullins shot to his right.  It was, as it turned out, the winning score.  But it left Maryland ahead by just one goal.  Providence turned up the heat, but to do that against a good team like Maryland, you leave your defense exposed.  Pace was almost cherry-picking when he took a clearing kick, turned and kicked toward the goal from near midfield.  Challenged on a breakaway, Broome left the line.  Pace, to his credit, didn't wait to get too close.  Instead he fired low from the top of the 18.  Broome had no chance.  Maryland plays its third-round match against the Anteaters of UC Irvine next Sunday at 5 pm in College Park.  The Anteaters advanced by winning a defensive thriller over North Carolina in California.  With only two seconds left, Christopher Santana took a pass from Michael Sperber and beat Brendan Moore, the Tar Heel Keeper, with a hard shot that went just inside the left post.  UC  Irvine will come to College Park with a 15-4-5 record.  Maryland is now 14-3-5. In other games, UMBC lost a heartbreaking match with Connecticut, on penalty kicks.  The two teams each scored two second half goals, after a scoreless first half and before two scoreless overtime periods.  In the penalty kick phase, where the teams shoot alternately, the Retrievers moved ahead after each side had shot twice by a 2-1 count.  In the end, the Huskies prevailed in the shootout, 4-2.  Connecticut will now play top seeded UCLA in Los Angeles next Sunday at 9 pm eastern time.  The Bruins whacked Elon, 4-1.  The Phoenix had beaten Clemson in penalty kicks Thursday night on the East Coast, then flew to LA for Sunday's showdown.  In other games, Marquette scored a golden goal in the final minute of the first overtime to stun powerful Akron, 1-0.  The Warriors will take on Virginia, which had little trouble beating St. John's, 2-0.  The game will take place Sunday at 1 pm at Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville.  Also on Sunday, determined Coastal Carolina made a first half goal standup for a 1-0 win over 13th-seeded Charlotte, and California got two goals from Alec Sundly to beat back tired but plucky Bradley, 3-1.  The Braves were down, 2-0 at the half, but Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Wojciech Wojcik scored two minutes into the second half to bring Bradley within one goal.  That score stood for the next ten minutes of play before Sundly scored his second goal of the game to seal the decision.  The Chanticleers and Bears play Sunday in Berkley, California.  Meanwhile in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,  Navy and Wake Forest traded first half goals before Ricky Greensfelder found the back of the net for the Deacons in the 54th minute to send Wake Forest into the third round against ACC-rival Notre Dame.  The Deacons outshot the Midshipmen, 18-8. The Irish slugged Wisconsin, 4-0 to advance.  The game will be played in South Bend, as the Irish are seeded third.  In Washington, D.C., Georgetown eased past Old Dominion, 3-0. The Hoyas will entertain Michigan State on Sunday after the Spartans edged Louisville, 1-0.  The match's only score came seven minutes into the second overtime, when State's Tim Kreutz scored on assists from Kevin Cope and Adam Montague.  Penn State was the only side to travel across the country and still win.  The Lions' Connor Maloney scored the games only goal in Penn State's 1-0 over UC Santa Barbara.  Jordan Tyler assisted on Maloney's score.  The Lions now will pretty much have to do the whole traveling thing again, as they fly to Albuquerque to face New Mexico.  The Lobos advanced by beating George Mason, 1-0, on James Rogers goal with less than eight minutes left.  New Mexico outshot the Patriots, 19-4.  The other round of 16 game will pit two Pac-12 sides.  Stanford whipped CSU Northridge, 1-0 to set up a match with No. 2 seed Washington.  The Huskies survived a frantic comeback by upset-minded Seattle, finally stopping the Redhawks, 4-2.  Washington seemed to have the game well in hand when they built up a 4-0 advantage on scores by Darwin Jones in the 28th minute, Josh Heard in the 48th minute, Christian Roldan in the 57th minute and Mason Robertson in the 66th minute.  But was the clocked ticked into the 72nd minute the lid seemed to come off the Washington net.  In the space of 60 seconds Chase Hanson and Michael Roberts both scored for Seattle to cut the Husky advantage exactly in half.  Washington then regrouped, especially its keeper, and it was a good thing.  Within the next five minutes Seattle put shots on goal twice, but Husky keeper Herman Ryan stopped both.  The game next Sunday will in Seattle.  When the two schools met in early October, the Huskies prevailed, 3-1.

In the United States' Virgin Islands, at the NCAA-sanctioned Paradise Jam Tournament, Maryland ran off three impressive wins in four days to win the championship.  Dez Wells of Maryland was named the Tournament MVP and Evan Smotrycz was named to the All-Tournament team.  Maryland routed Marist in the first round last Friday, pulled away from a good Northern Iowa team on Sunday, then warded off a strong Providence rally to hand the Friars their first loss in the title game. Dez Wells showed his enviable talent and commanding presence in the title game, driving to the basket for critical buckets even as Providence rallied to within one point after trailing early in the second half by 19.  Smotrycz had looked uncomfortable at times in early games, but that all ended in St. Thomas, the capital of the Islands.  Scoring inside and out, rebounding, and upping his defensive presence, he showed why his transfer to Maryland from Michigan was a tremendous asset for the Terps.  Nick Faust is also a 20 point threat in every game and his defense is about as it gets.  The fourth muskateer, so to speak, is Jake Layman, a 6'9" guard forward, who is a deadly outside shooter who this year has been displaying a new-found inside, drive to the bucket game he did not display last season.  As Maryland proved in its opener, a one-point loss to Connecticut - after trailing by double digits - it can play and probably beat anybody. The trick is to do it every night.  You find out about kids on a team like this.

Eight Minute Blitz in Second Half Sends Midshipmen to NCAA Second Round; North Carolina, Elon and Akron Advance; Blue Hens Dumped; Maryland to Face Providence on Sunday; Retrievers to host Connecticut

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 22, 2013 - For 68 minutes, Navy and Virginia Commonwealth battled in a tense scoreless deadlock, and then in eight magical minutes it was over.  Navy exploded for three goals in eight minutes deep into the second half Thursday night in Richmond, and went on to beat a very good Virginia Commonwealth side, 3-0.  Geoff Fries, who scored his first goal of the season in Navy's last match, a 2-0 win over Holy Cross in the Patriot League Championship game, quickly scored two more on Thursday.  Both goals came after Martin Sanchez opened the scoring in the 68th minute to put Navy on top, 1-0.  Three minutes later Fries scored his first goal of the night, and five minutes after that he scored again.  Gavin Snyder made four saves in recording the shut-out, four days after he shut out the Crusaders to put Navy in the national tournament.  Navy now travels to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to face Wake Forest on Sunday evening.

There were some 16 first round games on Thursday, and three were decided by more than one goal, proving again how much parity there is in college soccer.  Seven of the games went into overtime and five ended in a Penalty Kick Shootout.  In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Omar Holness scored the only goal of the game four minutes into the first half and the Tar Heels held on to beat South Florida, 1-0.  North Carolina will now face the University of California at Irvine on Sunday evening at the Anteaters home field on the West Coast.  In Akron, Ohio the Zips built up a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 advantage on defending National Champ Indiana, then watched in near horror as the Hoosiers scored twice within a minute to turn a rout into a nail-biter.  But Akron closed the door after Dylan Lax and Jacob Bushue scored at the 52 and 53 minute marks of the second half.  The final was 3-2 Akron.  The Zips now travel to Milwaukee to face over-seeded Marquette and its five losses on Sunday night.  In Clemson, South Carolina a surging Elon University Soccer Side outscored Clemson, 4-1 in penalty kicks to advance to a Sunday night showdown in Los Angeles, California against No. 1 ranked and top-seeded UCLA.  Phoenix Keeper Nathan Dean stopped three shots throughout regulation and overtime, then allowed only one of five penalty kicks to count during the shootout.  Delaware's season came to an end in Newark when St. John's Jordan Rouse scored a golden goal nine minutes into overtime.  The two sides finished regulation time tied at 1-1.  In Philadelphia, the Quakers of Penn allowed a 1-0 lead to get away, then lost a shootout, 3-1 to Providence.  The Friars now travel to College Park, Maryland to challenge No. 4 Maryland.  In Storrs, Connecticut the Huskies' Mamadou doudou Diouf scored in the 81st minute to lead his side over Quinipiac, 2-1.  Now the Huskies travel to Catonsiville, Maryland to face UMBC on Sunday evening.  In other first round games, Old Dominion crushed Drexel, 5-1, Coastal Carolina scored two first half goals to defeat East Tennessee State, 2-0, George Mason surprised William and Mary by winning a shootout, 4-2.  The two teams played to a 2-2 tie in regulation, but neither scored during two ten minute overtime periods, leading to the shootout. In Louisville, the Cardinal survived a classic defensive struggle with upset=minded Denver.  The Pioneers battled the homestanding Cardinal throughout 90 scoreless minutes of regulation and 20 scoreless minutes of overtime.  In the shootout, the Cardinal eaked out a 3-2 advantage to survive and advance.  On Sunday they will be in East Lansing, Michigan to play the Spartans of Michigan State.  In State College Pennsylvania, Eli Dennis scored in the 37th minute and Andrew Wolverton recorded a shutout as the Nittany Lions beat back St. Francis of Brooklyn, 1-0. Penn State will now travel to Santa Barbara, California to play UC Santa Barbara on Sunday night. A third entry from the Big Ten, Northwestern, lost at home to Bradley. The Braves scored twice in the first half; Scott Davis scored first at the 6:09 mark, on an assist from Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, Wojciech Wojcik.  Wojcik himself scored the second, heading in a corner kick at 26:43. In between those scores, the Wildcats got on the board.  Cole Missimo of Northwestern made a wonderful run down the right side of the pitch, then sent a beautiful feed into Nikko Boxall.  Boxall one-timed the ball into the goal from only 7 yards out.  For fifteen minutes the score was tied.  But Wojcik, who was just getting started, put the Braves ahead and the lead lasted a long time.  Halftime arrived and the visitors were still up.  Then ten minutes of the second half passed and the Braves' lead stood.  Twenty minutes passed and the Braves still lead.  A full half hour of play in the second half came and went and Bradley remained ahead, 2-1.  And then, late in the 77th minute Bradley was called for a foul and Chris Ritter of the Wildcats was selected to take the set play.  The ball was 84 feet from the Brave Goal. Brian Billings, the Braves Keeper, made four saves for the game, including the seering shot that Chris Ritter took on the set play.  The shot was so hard that Billings was unable to control the ball.  He'd kept it out of the goal and protected the Brave lead - for now - but the ball bounced free in the box.  Grant Wilson of Northwestern ran on to the ball and shot it passed Billings.  With just over ten minutes left, the score was tied.  It stayed tied to the end of regulation.  Now the game moved into overtime and the air began to swirl with bad omens for the home team.  Twice before Bradley had come to Northwestern to play soccer.  On both of those occassions, the Braves left Evanston with a win.  On this third sojourn, the result stayed the same.  Once again it was the multi-talented Wojcik.  He took a high ball a full 36 feet from the goal and headed it over Tyler Miller's head for the golden goal.  It came six minutes and 47 seconds into overtime. Incidentally, with his assist on Bradley's first goal, Wojcik moved into a tie with Evansville's Faik Hajderovich for the Division I lead in that category.  Both now have 14.  The Braves now head west to Berkley, California to take on the California Bears. a team that was ranked number one for many many weeks this season. Bradley is now 14-6-2 while Northwestern completed its season at 10-8-2.  California will come in to the second round game with a record of 12-4-2.  A cynic might wonder how the Wildcats even got an at-large tournament berth with seven losses, while teams like Duke (9-5-8), University of Illinois at Chicago, i.e., UIC (16-4-0), Army (12-3-3). Gonzaga (10-6-3) and Furman (11-5-2) (including 4-1-2 in road games) did not get a a tournament berth.  Go Figure!  One of the more shocking results of the opening round was Seattle's victory over Creighton.  The Blue Jays were in the Final Four last season and had equally high expectations this season. But on Thursday night the Red Hawks, with an RPI ranking of 123, lowest in the tournament, got two goals Miguel Gonzalez - one in the first half at the 31-minute mark and one in the second half at the 72-minute mark - to beat Creighton in Lincoln, 2-1.  The Red Hawks (10-8-4), which according to the NCAA gained the school's first Division I postseason victory in any sport since 1964, advance and will travel a comparative 'hop, skip and jump' across town to face the second-seeded Washington Huskies (14-1-4), and winner of the Pac-10 tournament.  Also on Thursday in the first round, Wisconsin just got by Milwaukee, 1-0 and Stanford beat Loyola Marymount in Penalty Kicks, 3-2, after playing the Lions to a 1-1 tie through regulation and overtime.  Stanford advances to play CSU Northridge while Wisconsin will travel to South Bend, Indiana to play Notre Dame.  




 

When it comes to lieing, obama seems not to be able to help himself

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 21, 2013 - obama came out and made a statement after the ever-slimy Harry Reid invoked the so-called nuclear option in the United States Senate, and by a straight party vote of 52-48 changed the number of votes necessary to confirm judicial nominees.  Before today, a nominee needed 60 votes in the Senate to be approved.  Now, just 51 are necessary.  According to several sources, the vote only applies to non-Supreme Court nominees and does not apply to legislation.  Typical of obama, this statement of his was composed of one bald-faced lie after another.  He said that the failure of the Republicans to approve his judicial nominees had had an impact on his ability to address the ridiculously high unemployment figures.  To me, it is just stunning that somebody could say something like that with a straight face.  But apparently obama has had so much practice that spewing forth lies is a natural trait of someone like him who lives and breathes super far left dogma. But even for this person, it was appalling. There are hundeds of things that obama could do to have an immediate and lasting impact on the high unemployment figures, and he isn't interested in any of them.  The purpose of requiring 60 votes to confirm judicial nominees is to prevent one party or the other from appointing hardline idealogues to judicial posts.  No one in the history of the United States has been more guilty of appointing people with absolute fringe political views than obama. No one is even close.  What was the name of the one dude who believed Bush was in on 9/11?  And obama knowingly appointed him to a cabinet-level position.  Sen Alexander of Tennessee recited facts which he obtained from the Senate's official historian that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this Congress has been no worse than any other in approving judicial nominees. Sadly, over 200 of obama's far left nominees have been approved. Two, count them, two have been rejected.  But as obama attempted to jam the D.C. Court of Appeals with far left nominees who would then be in a position to affirm the 100 tons of regulations that his far left bureaucracy has churned out, the 48 (out of 100) Senators that are Republican tried to put the brakes on, using the exact same tool that Democrats used to do the exact same thing to President Bush's nominees.  And who can forget that it was the Democrats who started the entire precedent of blocking judicial nominees when they blocked President Bush Sr.'s nomination of D.C. Circuit Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.  Bork was unanimously approved by every Bar Association Congress consulted but Liberals blocked the nomination of Bork solely because of his political views.  For hundreds of years - the rule changed today by the Dems has stood since the 1700's and is believed to have been authored by Thomas Jefferson - the rule has been tolerated by the majority party because they knew that when the political winds changed and the majority slid into the minority, they would have it to rely on if the other party nominated somebody too far out on the fringe.  No one anticipated the day when a candidate like obama, with views so far out on the fringe they make the founding fathers turnover in their graves, actually came to power and every one of his nominees seem like they were sent here by Castro himself.  It is an evil wind that blows through Congress today.  Sometime in the future, maybe sometime sooner than we think, someone on the far far right will come to power with a similar small majority in the Senate.  And that far right president might begin putting one far right judge after another up for confirmation.  What will the Dems say then?  If they are like obama and reid, they will merely lie.  What in the name of the Lord has happened to our party?

Who poisons our party more? obama or reid?

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 21, 2013 - As a Democrat for life, I wonder often who is doing more damage to the party, obama or the slimy Senate president, Harry the Sleeze Reid.  obama's far left, anti-American policies have gutted the economy, weakened our defense, belittled our international standing, hurt the long drive toward minority equality, and left this justly proud nation on a five year ride of a speeding downbound train.  Reid has been an enabler at every turn, not to mention putting his anti-black, anti-American policy choices on international display.  Nobody could be a worse choice for Senate President. Nobody.  Only through heavy-handed thugism has he avoided jail, and that is just the start.  I was reminded, once again, what a total sleeze Reid is when I heard of his plan to change decades-old Senate rules to allow judicial nominees to be approved with a bare majority.  Ever a total hypocrit, Reid spoke loud and long when Republicans threatened such a move when they were the majority party.  Now, when the GOP has only this weapon to avoid some of obama's most disgustingly far left nominees, Reid wants to change the rules because the GOP is doing exactly what the Democrats did when President Bush was in the White House.  Most observers think it is a desperate tool to take the national attention away from obamashame.  Sadly, he apparently has his goofy majority in line and is pushing for a quick vote.  Some say that what goes around comes around, and while that may well be, the damage that far left anti-American judges can do is almost unimaginable.  Not a single law in the nation is safe.  In the meantime, somebody has to get this man out of the Senate President seat by legitimate means.  The nation's health and safety are depending on it.  Now obama blames GOP for failures of obamashame:  Many recall that not a single Republican voted for obamashame.  Many coerced into speaking with him during the process recall his constant reminder that he won the election and he was going to do this his own way.  And so he rammed this legislative disaster down the country's throat.  Now, many Dems who voted for the shameful amalgamation of marxist and socialist legislation are backing away from it, hoping their constituents will remember this most recent posture rather than their complicity in passing it.  Passing it was a mix of illegal and improper maneuvers, all of which got the Supreme Court's imprimitur when the man masquerading as a Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Benedict Arnold Roberts, aka Benny Roberts, joined the four far left folk already entrenched on the court to uphold it.  He will never live it down and if you doubt that, ask how much Benedict Arnold's reputation has improved in the intervening centuries.  Now obamashame implodes daily, with more and more outrageous and illegal aspects of the shameful mess being discovered with each passing hour.  In the middle of it, obama tells the Wall Street Journal that it is all the fault of the GOP.  Huh?  That would be like Hitler blaming some nobody in China for his downfall.  obama, the GOP doesn't want anything to do with this embarassment.  Not even the half-dozen Republicans who almost always act like Democrats would vote for this horror.  Is it the GOP's fault that his own party is beating each other over the head to get out on the gang plank?  Hey obama, there's a reason your law is called obamashame.  It is a shame on you and on the people who voted for it.  No matter the spin you put on it, that will not change.




Jose Baez

Soccer News: NCAA Div 1 Tournament Starts Tomorrow; Burnley Faces Important Test; A Matter of Divisions

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 20, 2013 - The road to the NCAA Soccer Title starts tomorrow with 16 first round games throughout the United States.

Maryland, Navy, UMBC, Virginia, Delaware learn NCAA Tournament Match-ups; NCAA Selection Committee shafts Maryland and UMBC and gives unfair advantage to UCLA

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 18, 2013 - The NCAA released the 48-team field for the 2013 NCAA Soccer Championship on Monday, doing a number on UMBC and Maryland and other traditional ACC schools in the process, while giving great advantages to the Pac-12 and UCLA in particular. Maryland (13-3-5), regular season ACC Co-Champ and winner of the ACC Tournament Sunday in Germantown, will play Sunday in College Park against the winner of Thursday's first round match between Providence (12-5-3) and Penn (8-8-1).  Should the Terps prevail, they will play the following weekend against the team that emerges from the trio of North Carolina (8-5-5), South Florida (8-3-9), and the University of California at Irvine. The Anteaters (14-4-3), and ranked No. 18 in the most recent NSCAA Coach's poll, are the other seeded team besides Maryland in that sextet of schools.  The NCAA Selection Committee seeded three Pac-12 schools in the top 4, including UCLA (11-3-4) No. 1, Washington (14-1-4) No. 2 and California (12-4-2) No. 4.  Notre Dame (12-1-6), which finished tied with Maryland for the ACC regular season title, but lost to Virginia in the semi-finals of the ACC Tournament after blowing leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the second half, is seeded third while Maryland is seeded fifth (the NCAA tries to say that Notre Dame did not lose the match on Friday because it was tied at the end of overtime.  But the winner of the match was determined in a shootout in which each team takes five penalty kicks and Virginia won that, 4-3).  Virginia is seeded eighth.  The Cavaliers were 12th in the last poll, while the Irish were No. 1 and Maryland No. 4.  Wake Forest of the ACC, which lost in the conference quarterfinals, is seeded 14th.  UMBC, ranked in the top 10 all season and with only one loss, is seeded 16th even though it routed Hartford, 4-0, in the America East Tournament Championship. Two other ACC Schools were named to the Tournament field without being seeded, meaning they will play in the first round on Thursday evening.  As mentioned, North Carolina will play South Florida while Clemson, a 1-0 ACC Tournament loser to Maryland, in overtime, in the semi-finals last Friday, will play at home against Elon, which was in and out of the Top 25 during the season and finished with a mark of 15-4-2.  The Phoenix beat Wofford (11-7-1), 1-0, in a steady rain in Greenville, South Carolina, when Junior Jason Waterman took a pass from Sophmore Caue Da Silva and beat Terrier Freshman Keeper Garrett Closs in the second minute of the second overtime.  It was Elon's third straight Southern Conference Championship.  The winner of that game will fly across the country to play UCLA on Sunday in Los Angeles. Throughout team sports, teams forced to fly across the country to play fare worse than teams with lesser distances between their home and their opposition's home.  Certainly the Committee was aware of this, yet they give UCLA this advantage in several rounds.  UMBC (16-1-2) will play the winner of Quinipiac (9-4-7) and Connecticut (11-2-6) on Sunday evening in Catonsville.  Should the Retrievers prevail, they, too, face the prospect of flying across the country to Los Angeles to face UCLA.  Of course, the Bruins would have to beat Clemson or Elon to make that happen, and it is no sure bet despite the NCAA giving the Bruins a huge advantage.  UCLA, despite three losses, including in the Pac-12 tournament and against two non-conference opponents from lesser conferences, without a great distance to travel until the fourth round at the earliest, when it will likely face the winner of Akron and Virginia (for reasons known only to the Committee it has seeded Marquette, with five losses, ninth and has not seeded Akron.  But the Zips, should they beat sub-.500 Indiana, will face Marquette in the second round.  If Akron wins there - an extremely likely result -  it would face the winner of the trio of Delaware, St. John's and Virginia.  That is likely to be Virginia if the Cavaliers aren't too discombobulated by their loss to arch rival Maryland in the ACC Championshp.  Sadly, after that game the Virginia coach was critical of star defender Matt McBride, who inadvertently was charged with an own goal after a stunning drive by All-American Patrick Mullins of Maryland.).  Navy won the Patriot League Title on Sunday when it shut out Holy Cross (9-9-2), 2-0.  It was the ninth shut out for Navy, which now travels to Richmond to play Virginia Commonwealth, with the winner drawing Wake Forest on Sunday in Winston-Salem.  Geoff Fries and Joseph Greenspan scored for the Midshipmen (15-3-2), Fries' goal - his first of the season - came on a breakaway which got started when Senior Patrick Sopko launched a bicycle kick from near his own goal that was kicked with enough power to sail over everyone's head.  Fries ran onto it and then beat the Crusader Keeper, who followed conventional wisdom and came off the line to challenge Fries.  Navy's Coach, Dave Brandt, told the School's web reporter that he honestly believes his side - below the radar all season - is a true threat in the NCAA, and he may be right.  Wake Forest is totally unpredictable: able to upend Maryland in a critical test in College Park, but capable of losing to anybody.  The Deacons failed to win a single game in the ACC Tournament. Delaware (14-4-1), the only team to beat UMBC, will play St. John's (10-6-2) on Thursday in New York City.  If the Blue Hens win they will travel to Charlottesville to play Virginia on Sunday.  Defending National Champ Indiana, which had a miserable season and finished 8-11-2, pulled itself together in the end and won the Big Ten Tournament by beating Michigan State, 1-0.  The Hoosiers will play powerful Akron (16-3-2), winner of the Mid-American Conference.  The Zips whacked Western Michigan (9-9-1), the tournament's No. 2 seek, 4-1, scoring two goals in the first 13 minutes and cruising from there. Actually, the school's website reported that the final score indicates a game that in reality wasn't that close.  Besides the two early scores, the Zips actually missed a penalty kick in the 4th minute and had two other goals disallowed for alleged offsides.

The NCAA will try to say that UMBC suffered due to a weak schedule. The cancellation of the Retriever's game at William and Mary - a tournament at-large team - certainly contributed to that situation.  But with the parity that prevails throughout Division I, a campaign with only one loss in 19 matches is indicative of a superior team with superior talent.  To seed a side like that 16th while seeding a side like Marquette, with nearly a half-dozen losses, ninth, is indicative of a group of people with agendas that went beyond results on the field. and who knows what this committee will say about the way it treated Maryland.  The Terps tied Notre Dame in South Bend, tied for the Regular Season ACC crown with the Irish, and won the post-season tournament that saw Notre Dame bow out in the second round, yet Maryland was seeded behind Notre Dame.  Maryland opened the season at Stanford (a draw) then lost at California in overtime.  Both are in the national tournament. Besides beating its ACC rivals, the Terps also played and beat Drexel and tied Old Dominion, also going to the national tournament.  They also played Virginia Commonwealth and lost narrowly.  Virtually all of Maryland's setbacks came early in the season as they broke in true freshmen at both center defense positions and at Keeper.  In their last nine matches, dating from October 15, the Terps have given up more than one goal only once, and in the ACC Tournament they recorded three consecutive shutouts even though two of the games went into overtime.  Truth be known, Maryland expected to be mistreated throughout this season because of their decision to leave the ACC for the Big Ten.  But they expected most of the shafting to be done by the conference, not the national governing body.  Maryland Coach Sascho Cirovski is in his 21st season in College Park without even a hint of misdeeds and now with 20 consecutive winning seasons.  He is regarded as a visionary.  One wonders what one has to do to get a fair shake from people pretending to be his peers.  Truth be known, it was an obvious groveling attempt to butter-up Notre Dame that prompted this absurd shaft of one of the college game's most storied teams, Maryland.  The ACC sends a country-best six teams to the national tournament (and the decision not to select Duke and Boston College is certainly open to criticism), proving without question that the ACC is the toughest conference in the land, yet winning both the ACC's regular season and post-season tournament is not enough to get a seed higher than another one of the conference's other teams. Yikes! I wonder if the NCAA will make available a list of the sport's Tournament Selection Committee?

More Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Maryland Wins ACC Soccer Title; Ravens endure long weather delay, but lose in OT after rallying to force OT

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 17, 2013 - Mullins leads Maryland to ACC Title:  The box score will show that Maryland won the ACC Soccer Championship - in their last season in the ACC - when Virginia scored an own goal in the waning minutes of play.  But anyone who witnessed it will know it was Patrick Mullins who scored the goal; the only thing Virginia did was be in the right place at the right time and have Mullins use it like a pinball player uses a bumper.  Mullins got possession deep in the offensive end, then raced toward the end line and turned to the goal despite a defender hanging all over him.  As he boared in on goal he had no direct angle to shoot and the Cavaliers braced for a centering pass.  But Mullins instead smashed a pulsating shot across the goal mouth.  Cavalier Defender Kevin McBride was facing the open goal just a foot or two from the line.  He tried, frantically, to display his legs to deflect the cross away, but the shear speed and power of the played ball frustrated his intentions, and the ball deflected off one of his legs and directly into the goal.  McBride collapsed on the ground, realizing the gravity of his error.  Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch would not directly blame McBride when interviewed by the Baltimore Sun, but allowed that the senior would have been better off letting the ball go, chancing that another Terp would not get there to tap it in.  It was difficult to speculate since replays shown did not give an adequate picture.  Gelnovatch told the Baltimore Sun that he did not speak with McBride because he was a big boy and would be fine after the game.  But even big boys need a lift from time to time. It is clear that Virginia, ranked No. 12, would be awarded an NCAA bid despite the loss.  Maryland, on the other hand, will certainly get a first round bye with the win. The top 16 teams get byes in the 48 team tournament.  Correction: The NCAA will announce the field for the National Soccer Tournament on Monday, not Sunday evening as reported here before. Ravens lose in overtime after late rally ties game in regulation:  Even as Maryland's basketball team prepared to take the floor in College Park, the Ravens were defeated in overtime in Chicago when a 37-year-old FG was ruled good when it may well not have been.  The Ravens had marched down the field in the waning seconds of regulation and tied the game on Justin Tucker's field goal with two seconds left.  The Ravens had moved to a first and goal with just over a minute left on deft running by Ray Rice, who was outstanding in defeat with well over 130 rushing yards on a quagmire field.  Rice raced inside the ten to the Bear three on first down, but was stopped at about the one on second down.  A third down pass from Flacco to Tory Smith was high in the 40 miles per hour wind.  Flacco had to dig a low snap out of the brown watery muck, then stand and throw with the feroucious Bears boaring in on him.  In overtime the Ravens came up one yard short of a first down on the first series of downs and had to punt, but Sam Koch's punt went over 50 yards. The defense forced a third and long but the Bears converted.  Seconds later a long pass was caught giving the Bears a first down at the Ravens 30.  Several plays later their FG attempt, from 37 yards, looked to be over the right post - making it no good - but the game officials, who blew several calls, called it good.  It was on the Basketball.  Terps stop Beavers:  

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 17, 2013 - This is the day of the Lord, and the day that the Ravens are in the Windy City - which the weather folk say will more than live up to its name as a cold front moves through - and the day that Maryland and Virginia play for the Atlantic Coast Conference Soccer Championship. Football: A Terrapin Stunner: Yesterday was the day that Maryland's football team overcame a massive dose of injuries and stunned Virginia Tech, 27-24, in overtime.  Brandon Ross and Quarterback C. J. Brown combined for 195 rushing yards, and fill-in receivers Nigel King and Amba Etta-Tawo combined for ten receptions, as the Terps won for the first time in Blacksburg since 1949. 1949!  In overtime, the Hokies drove inside the Terrapin ten yard line - thanks, mainly, to a pass interference call against the visiting Terps - for a first and goal, but the Terp defense dug in and, on a critical third down, sacked Hokie quarterback Logan Thomas for a loss.  That forced Virginia Tech to settle for a field goal and a 24-21 advantage.  Maryland then took over at the Tech 25 and on two Ross runs gained a first and goal at the Hokie 3-yard line.  On second down, Brown dropped to throw after play action faking, then, finding no one open, ran to his left.  At about the two, he dove at the goal line pylon.  His entire body was airborne when the ball, secured in one hand, crashed into the pylon for a touchdown.  A wild celebration ensued because the game immediately ended.  Terp coach Randy Edsall joyously jumped into the air time after time, his snow white Maryland sweat shirt compelling attention from the disappointed Hokie  crowd.  The win made Maryland bowl eligible and left Tech's ACC divisional title hopes in ruin.   Soccer: Terps, Cavaliers to play for ACC Title and Automatic NCAA Berth: The Terp soccer team has beaten back Clemson in the ACC semi-finals, setting the stage for today's 2 pm showdown with the Virginia Cavaliers for the ACC title and the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA National Championship Tournament, the field for which will be announced Monday at noon.  The match will be nationally televised on ESPNU.  Freshman Michael Sauers scored the only goal of the semi-final win with six seconds left in overtime.  The Terps were swarming in the Tiger penalty area, taking shot after shot.  Sauers moved onto a rebound and richochet and launched a rocket past the Clemson keeper. Game, Set and Match.   Virginia, for its part, staged an amazing comeback against No. 1 Notre Dame.  The Irish have lost but two games all season, both to the Cavaliers.  And, amazingly, neither win was at Charlottesville.  Notre Dame, at one point well into the second half, had a 2-0 lead and was preparing to take a penalty kick.  But the kick was no good.  From my viewpoint, the Cav's keeper got a hand on the shot, deflecting it just enough to cause it to smash off the post.  The Virginia defense swarmed over the rebound and a major bullet was dodged.  Shortly thereafter Virginia was awarded a penalty kick of their own and converted.  But Notre Dame scored again and was ahead, 3-1, with just 15 minutes to play.  At this juncture Virginia let it all go and in the space of just a few minutes tied the game.  Into overtime the two teams played, but after six goals in 90 minutes of regulation, neither team scored in overtime.  Then came penalty kicks and here, the Cavaliers prevailed, 4-3.

As I finish this piece the Ravens have moved ahead of Chicago, 10-0, thanks to superior running by Ray Rice.  He broke a long run from scrimmage, then scored a touchdown on an explosive short run.  He also ran for key yardage on Baltimore's next possession, setting up a long 52-yard field goal by Justin Tucker.  Then the cold wave hit with an imminent tornado threat, wild swirling winds and rains, and equally wild lightning.  A delay was announced and continues now after some 40 minutes.

The Terp basketball team is in action tonight on national TV against Oregon State.  The game is scheduled in College Park.

Freshman scores after 99:54, Maryland advances to ACC Finals

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 16, 2013 - After 99 minutes and 54 seconds, a freshman striker finally broke up a scoreless battle for the ages, and Maryland advanced to the ACC Soccer Championship Game.  Michael Sauers, who Terp Coach Sascho Cirovski does not start but seems to have in games at their most critical junctures, moved onto a loose ball in the Clemson Penalty area, and rocketed home a 15-foot shot with six seconds left in overtime, giving powerful Maryland a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Clemson.  The win, combined with No. 12 Virginia's win over No. 1 Notre Dame, places the two long-time rivals in the ACC Final Sunday afternoon in Maryland's swan song to the conference it helped found.  The Terps move to the Nation's premier athletic conference next season when they begin play in the Big Ten.  Considering the Terrapins almost total dominance of ACC Soccer in the last 20 years, many coaches and players will be glad to see them go.

Report: China easing one-child policy and abolishing labor camps

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 15, 2013 - China is said to be easing its decade-old policy of limiting couples to one child.  It is also said to be abolishing so-called labor camps.

The report by Haartz.com, posted on Twitter (so please consider the source) is interesting if only in the sense that the Communist Regime admits to having the labor camps, something they have strongly denied in the past.  As for the one-child policy, one cannot help but recall the terrible incident several years ago when dozens of young children were killed when their elementary school was destroyed, and the regime refused to allow the parents to have another child. The government of China believes the country must limit population growth to prosper economically.

obams rejects Flunky overhaul

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 14, 2013 - obama has rejected a common sense replacement for one of his most notorious flunkies - Kathleen Sebelius - choosing instead to follow his propensity of sticking with his worst selections.  Having screwed up obamashame and other hot button obama initiatives, obama was presented with what one bard called a "perfect" replacement, former Tennessee Governor and Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen.  Credited with saving Tennessee's screwed-up health system, he was a finalist for the job laughably given to Sebelius.  Administration insiders were pushing Bredesen for a life-preserving replacement appointment, but the narcisstic obama thumbed his nose at them since replacing sebelius would look like a departure from his super far left agenda.  The Washington Examiner's Paul Beddard and the bloggers Weasel Zippers and the Irishman get the credit for this breaking news.  They also published this photo from an obama press meeting today:

obamashame; Cold Weather; Colmes can't see obama clearly; Maryland in ACC semis; Burnley has 2 point lead in Championship

BALTIMORE, Maryland November 12, 2013 - obama's pride and joy a lead weight on dems as many cut and run: On this site we've changed the tab of the Affordable Care Act from obamamess to obamashame.  The Quinipiac Poll says a shocking 52% of all Americans believe obama is a liar.  Swish that around for a minute or two.  No one has ever accused the Quinipiac folk of being conservatives.  On any other day in America's history you would know that a poll result that says most Americans believe their president is a liar would spur immediate action by that president.  He would either act immediately to regain the nation's trust, or die trying.  Immediate and dynamic action.  Taken at once.  But not this group of far left, anti-American zealots.  In their fringe world, bombing the pentagon is OK.  Ramming marxist legislation down the country' throat is OK.  Appointing far left zealots to mainstream bureaucratic jobs is OK.  Being honest?  Not necessary and not a big deal because, after all, in their screwed up world, speaking lies is part of getting things done...A cold autumn, damnit: It is cold, again, on the Atlantic Seaboard.  Many are happy about it, not because they like cold weather this early in the autumn, but because it is contrary to those who back the idea that man is changing the climate....One of the weather websites in the climate change bag is saying a warming trend is quickly coming.  They say this even though yet another cold wave is already forming up and about to move toward the Atlantic Seaboard.  Sad.  I am not a weather man but I know that when there is very very cold temperatures in the Arctic, it will bust out and descend on the temperate zones sooner rather than later.  Right before this latest series of cold waves weather stations throughout the Arctic region were reporting temperatures far below zero.  After a series of cold fronts came down from up there, those temps in the Arctic had moderated.  Now, it is getting very cold in a larger and larger area...Colmes skips the reality of the situation: I used to really like Alan Colmes.  In reality, I like any liberal who, like myself, is honest enough to stop his support of so-called liberal causes when they move from liberal to leftist.  I believe that liberals are one kind of political animal and leftists are an entirely different kind.  Liberals love the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights (some, admittedly, have problems with the second amendment. I was one of them, until this administration came along, but that's for another day or week) Liberals believe in the First Amendment with uncontrolled zeal.  Alan Colmes was like that.  But obama and his pro-marxist, pro dictator, pro-islamic fascist tendencies have brought a d-day of sorts to liberals.  Some few knew it was time to bail out and realize that obama is no friend of liberals and is, instead, a hard-core unrestricted anti-American leftist.  First, and most obvious, when obama faces a choice between protecting Americans and patronizing his far left fringe mob, he does not hesitate in choosing mob interests.  (In the background, as I write this, another democrat in the House, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, is spending committee time criticizing republicans instead of bringing out the truth from the witness closely involved in setting up the disasterous web site.  This witness has a special insight into the problems of the legislation at the core of these problems torturing his country and his constituents.  Instead of joining in the vetting of the problem, Cummings wastes his time criticizing the GOP with his five minutes of time. When his time is up he whines about being jipped out of his time by the need to blast the GOP.  He demands more time.  The committee chair rightfully ignores him and moves on. Elijah Cummings: a true American.  The witness continues to avoid giving straight answers to questions like what was the capacity of the obamashame web site on the day it was first opened to the public.  Witness won't answer  Dems defend that. I'm a Dem and a reporter.  How is it a legitimate purpose to do this stuff during a fact-finding hearing?  Cummings, like many Dems, defends obama come hell or high water.  Does Mr. Cummings believe that obama has done a good job finding work for his constituents?  Does this obamashame legislation have even a small chance of improving health care? It does not.  I would expect a congressman to be extremely interested in finding out why. Frankly and obviously, such information does not matter to him.  Cummings is pro-obama even if being pro-obama is being anti-constituent.  Black unemployment has worsened under obama, who, despite tons of rhetoric, does absolutely nothing to improve the jobs situation, especially for blacks.  If obama cared one "iota" for finding and creating jobs, he would cut corporation taxes, create enterprise zones, cut personal taxes to stimulate spending, and a million other things other presidents have done when confronted with the kinds of problems obama is confronted with.  Instead, obama continually has done things to discourage job creation.  Why?  There is only one reason.  obama is a life-long member of the far, far left, the anti-capitalism, anti-American far left.  Like other folk in that strata of society, formerly known as the lunatic fringe, they put their line of thinking ahead of everything else in their wary existence.  John Kennedy - my hero - cut taxes when the situation called for it.  The situation calls for it now.  In fact, it begs for it.  obama isn't even slightly interested.  The far far left is out there, as they are, on the fringe of rational thinking.  obama will not consider any policy initiative that is not in the far left playbook.  That is the sure sign of an idealogue in a leadership role, one he is not suited for.  A leader will consider anything that will aid those he is charged with caring for.  obama, as President, is charged with leading the United States.  He must consider any step that will improve the life of his constituents.  But he will not because the group whose approval he puts above everything else is his hardcore, far far left mob.  America comes second, if, in fact, they are that high on the obama priority list...Maryland moves into ACC soccer semi-finals, will tackle Clemson on Friday night:  Maryland beat back Boston College on Tuesday, 2-0, behind goals by Junior Mikias Eticha and Sophmore Tsubasa Endoh, and another shut-out by Freshman Keeper Zack Steffan.  Both Terp scores came in the second half after a scoreless first half.  Maryland's triumphant coach, Sascho Cirovski, directed particular praise to his sometimes belittled defense.  Chris Odoi-Atsem, Mikey Ambrose, Jereme Raley and Suli Dainkeh combined to limit the Eagles to just six shots over the entire 90 minutes, and often were so effective that they were able to keep the opposition completely out of Maryland's defensive half of the field. The tournament now moves from campus sites to Germantown, Maryland for the semi-finals and finals.  At 5:30 pm on Friday evening, Notre Dame will take on Virginia, and at 8 pm Maryland collides with Clemson.  The Irish advanced by virtue of a 1-0 win over Duke, while Virginia beat back Wake Forest, also by a 1-0 score.  Clemson, meanwhile, advanced with an amazing 2-1 win over North Carolina.  The Tar Heels scored first, just :29 seconds into the game.  The score remained 1-0 North Carolina until 75 minutes of play had passed.  Then, the Tigers scored twice in the final 15 minutes to win.  The ACC soccer schools who did not earn tournament berths were Syracuse, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech.  Duke was near the bottom of the standings all season long before surging at the end to earn the seventh seed. Duke and Boston College are really the only two ACC tournament qualifiers who are in danger of not getting NCAA bids.  The other six have all been nationally ranked during the season.  Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Notre Dame, Clemson and Wake Forest have all spent time in the top ten.  Currently Notre Dame is No. 1, Maryland is No. 4, Wake Forest is No. 9, Virginia is No. 12 and North Carolina is No. 24.  Clemson and Duke are unranked but with votes. Other teams local to Maryland with votes or ranks are UMBC, with only one loss (to unranked Delaware), is No. 6 and Navy has three points.  Delaware would be No. 28 were to rankings extended.  The field for the 48 team national tournament will be announced on Sunday at about 6 pm...Burnley on Critical Two-Game Road Junket:  Amazing Burnley's magical run in the English Championship Division is due a critical test over the next ten days, as they travel first to Nottingham Forest and then to Huddersfield Town for matches that will have a huge bearing on whether their league lead will live on or fizzle.  After beating up on the Queens Park Rangers on October 26, 2-0, the Burnley side has gone 0-1-2, although the one loss was in the League Cup and not the Championship League.  On October 29, just three days after whacking the Rangers, the Claret lost a heartbreaking 2-0 affair to West Ham, of the Premier League, in the Cup.  After that they played both long-time rival Millwall and AFC Bournmouth to draws.  The two draws leave the Claret with a two-point lead on both Leicester City and the Rangers.  Nottingham Forest cooled off the Foxes, 2-0, last Saturday, a result that kept Leicester from pulling ahead of Burnley.  Before that match the Foxes were red hot, winning seven straight including a 4-3 win over Fulham of the Premier in the League Cup.  The Foxes are one of eight teams left in that traditional tournament involving all English sides.  In the West Ham loss the Claret did not even dress veteran midfielder Dean Marney.  The 29-year-old is a steadying influence on the Claret and has started almost every Championship League match for Burnley. But Marney was apparently injured in the QPR match and was subbed for in the 83rd minute.  He did not dress for the match at Millwall, but was back in the starting line-up last Saturday at Turf Moor for the AFC Bournemouth match.