Thursday, January 7, 2016

Terps Punish Rutgers, 88-63; Layman, Stone Pace Maryland Rout; Dreaded Polar Vortex To Inundate USA, including Atlantic Seaboard, Early Next Week; Snow and Bitter Cold Coming With It; With a Poem by John Keats and Some Verses From the Acts of the Apostles

BALTIMORE, Maryland January 7, 2016 - On a night when All-American Melo Trimble didn't step a foot onto the basketball court after halftime, or score a field goal during the entire game, Maryland completely dominated an out-manned Rutgers team and won for the third time in as many Big Ten Conference Games to move back into a tie for first place in the powerful league.

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon told reporters after the game that "Melo is fine," and would be ready to participate fully when the Terps again take to the road for a game Saturday at Wisconsin,  Last night in College Park, Trimble turned over the scoring duties to his teammates, and they didn't miss a beat.  Jake Layman poured in 18 points, and Diamond Stone and Rasheed Sulaimon added 15 each to lead Maryland, now 14-1 overall and 3=0 in the Big Ten.  The Terps are once again tied for the league lead with Iowa, Ohio State and Indiana, and Michgan can join that leader group if they can win at Purdue tonight.

Trimble told Turgeon that his leg was "tight," and, rather than risk further injury, the Maryland coach elected to hold Trimble out of the second half last night.  It was an easy decision considering the score and the lopsided nature of the game.  Two of Rutgers front court players didn't make the trip to Maryland, and two others got into serious foul trouble in the first half.  Things were so bad that the coach of the Scarlet Knights thanked Turgeon publicly for holding Maryland's starters out of the game for most of the second half.  Of the five starters, only Layman played more than 23 minutes.  In fact, Jared Nickens got more time off the bench than did three of Maryland's starters.

Besides Layman, Stone and Sulaimon, Maryland got significant scoring contributions from Robert Carter, who had 12 points, Nickens, who had 9, and Varun Ram, who finished with 5 points.  Maryland completely dominated the boards.  At halftime, the Terps had our-rebounded Rutgers by a 31-12 count.  For the game, the advantage was 49-27.  Stone and Nickens tied for the team lead with 10 each.

Fourteen players saw action for Maryland, and eleven of them scored.  Rutgers was led by Corey Sanders, who scored 16 points.  Omari Grier added 13 for the Scarlet Knights.  Rutgers is now 0-3 in the Big Ten and 6-10 overall.

Going into Saturday's match-up, Wisconsin is 1-2 in the Big Ten and 9-6 overall.  Having graduated all but two of the key players from the team that lost the NCAA Championship game to Duke last April, the Badgers have been up and down, with some very nice wins, hard-to-believe losses and a win or two and loss or two that are of the "wow" variety.  The good wins are over Virginia Commonwealth and at Syracuse.  The bad losses are both at home.  On opening night the Badgers lost to Western Illinois.  Then, on December 9 Wisconsin lost at home to Milwaukee.  Then there are these results: a two point home loss to Marquette, a 6 point home loss to Purdue and a one point road loss at Indiana.  Food for thought.

 Forecasters Warn Polar Vortex Coming to USA; For Mid-Atlantic, Coldest Air of Winter and Significant Snowfall
Accu-Weather forecasters warned today that a Polar Vortex will make its way into these United States beginning this weekend, bringing with it the coldest air of the winter, wave after wave of reinforcing cold fronts, and an excellent chance for significant snowfall.

Accu-Weather's Alex Sosnowski said the Polar Vortex will enter the USA this weekend with a broad sweep across the Rocky Mountains and Central Plains.  Fans planning on attending the NFL Playoff Game this weekend in Minneapolis should be prepared for the coldest weather ever experienced at an NFL Game in Minnesota, he said.

By later Monday and early Tuesday the Cold Air will invade the East.  And unlike the cold snap that hit the northeast and east this past weekend, this Polar Vortex has staying power.  Sosnowski quoted AccuWeather Chief Long Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok, who explained that the Polar Air coming to the USA next week is usually ensconced in far northern Canada, near the North Pole.  But with the new pattern, the Polar Vortex will move southward and take up residence near the Hudson Bay. "Additional waves of frigid air will rotate around the polar vortex like a giant wheel with each pushing progressively colder air farther east and south.  A blast will sweep quickly southeastward around Jan. 13, followed by another blast around Jan. 16," Pastelok noted..


Even though the air will continue to moderate as it moves along this path, there is still the likelihood of the lowest temperatures of the season so far from the northern Rockies and Plains to the Midwest, and South during the middle days of the month. The cold air could even dip below levels reached during Jan. 3-4 in the Northeast.

And the cold air won't be coming alone.  By later Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, there is every chance that a storm bringing significant snow accumulations will materialize along the entire I-95 Corridor, the forecasters said.  High Temperatures during the cold wave will struggle to get out of the 20's in this area.

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A Poem by John Keats: 
One of the greatest English Poets, one only wonders what he could have done had his life not been cut short by tuberculosis, the same disease that killed his mother and brother.  Keats was born on October 31, 1795 in London and he died on February 23, 1821 in Rome, where he had went on doctors' orders to avoid the cold wet English Winter.  He was 25 years old.  Keats was educated as an apothecary but never practiced his trade, instead taking up poetry.  He had three volumes of poems published during his lifetime.  The first was met with hopeful praise.  The second volume was harshly condemned, although it was re-evaluated after his third volume was published.  His third volume, published in the final months of his life, was lavishly praised and some of the poems in it are considered among the best in the English language.


The Human Seasons
by John Keats (31 October 1795 - 23 February 1821) 

Four seasons fill the measure of the year;
    There are four seasons in the mind of man.
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
    Takes in all beauty with an easy span.
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
    Spring's honeyed cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming nigh
    His nearest unto heaven.  Quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
    He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness -- to let fair things
    Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook.
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.
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Some verses from the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 21, beginning with Verse 15: After these days we made ready and went up to Jerusalem.  Verse 16: And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge.

Verse 17: When we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.  Verse 18: On the following day Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present.  Verse 19: After greeting tbem, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.  Verse 20: And when thety heard it, they glorified God.  And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousdand there are among the Jews of those who have believed; they are all zealots for the law, Verse 21: and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.  Verse 22: What then is to be done?  They will certainly hear that you have come.  Verse 23: Do therefore what we tell you.  We have four men who are under a vow; Verse 24: take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads.  Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you but that you yourself live in observance of the law.  Verse 25: But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity."  Verse 26: Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself with them and went into the temple, to give notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for every one of them. 
       Credible and Incisive will continue this selection in the next post.  It isn't one of the best know of Bible Stories, but it has a deep meaning and some scholars have commented on it. 

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