At Least 34 Killed As Tornadoes and Storms Rake Through Southeastern USA

After a fairly quiet start to the tornado season, a major storm system moving over Texas and Oklahoma spawned at least 60 tornadoes in the southeast over the last couple of days, as well as some flooding along the Gulf Coast and mid-Atlantic.



The tornado that struck Faulkner County, Arkansas on Sunday was reportedly the deadliest tornado to strike the state in nearly 17 years as it killed 15 people, most of them around the town of Mayflower, AR.

Deadly twisters also tore through Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama and Georgia over the next two days while the storm also saturated rivers and caused flooding along Alabama's Gulf Coast and Florida's panhandle before moving to the northeast.

More than 60 million people from southeastern Michigan to the central Gulf Coast to the Carolinas and southern Virginia were at risk of severe storms and tornadoes, AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said Tuesday.

Mississippi and Alabama remained the states with the highest risk of severe weather, with cities such as Meridian, Miss., and Birmingham, Ala., in the cross hairs for tornadoes, the weather service said.

Mississippi was hit the hardest Monday. The tornado that struck the Louisville, Miss., area was given a preliminary rating of at least EF4 by the National Weather Service. EF4 tornadoes have winds of 166-200 mph, making the Louisville twister the most powerful one to hit the USA this year.

Twelve deaths were reported in the state, nine of them in and around Louisville, a town of about 6,600 people. State Sen. Giles Ward said he was huddled in a bathroom with his wife, four other family members and their dog Monday night as a tornado destroyed his two-story brick house and turned his son-in-law's SUV upside down onto the patio in Louisville.

In Tupelo, Miss., dozens of buildings were damaged and 30 people sought treatment at Northeast Mississippi Medical Center. Four people were admitted.

Two deaths were reported in Tennessee. In Lincoln County, the National Weather Service lifted an initial tornado warning shortly after 7 p.m. Monday, but at 8:24 p.m. it warned a tornado was coming. "Catastrophic damage likely with storm in Lincoln County," the message read. "170 (knots) of rotation with debris extending above 20,000 feet."

Within minutes, the warnings grew more dire with winds exceeding 190 mph, The Tennessean reported. Two people were killed in Lincoln County and several homes were destroyed, The Tennessean reports.

The warning seemingly came out of nowhere, said Chris Murdock, who lives 4 miles from a damaged elementary school. Although he and his family didn't see the tornado, the gusts and hail they saw as they went to a friend's basement were enough for him to know this wasn't an average spring storm.

"Just by the looks of it, you could tell something terrible was happening," he said.

In Alabama, University of Alabama student John Servati, a member of the Crimson Tide swim team, was killed when he took shelter in the basement of a Tuscaloosa home and a retaining wall collapsed on him. In Athens, Ala., the Limestone County Sheriff's Department reported two deaths from a twister that hit a mobile home park west of the town.

In Baltimore, the storm dumped 7 inches of rain onto the area and triggered landslides and sinkholes in some parts of Maryland. Further north, local officials in Philadelphia estimated that the flooding was worse than 2012 superstorm Sandy and at least 60 people had to be rescued from their vehicles as they tried traversing flooded streets and roadways.

Blue Red State Graft Watch- Democrat Officials in Arkansas, Mississippi in Trouble Over Ballot Fraud

An Arkansas state representative along with three others have pleaded guilty to federal charges of Consipracy to commit voter fraud last week.

Democrat State Representative Hudson Hollum, his father Kent Hollum, W. Memphis city councilman Phillip Wayne Carter and W. Memphis police officer Sam Malone admitted to securing absentee ballots from voters in exchange for food, liquor, cigarettes or cash as well as destroying absentee ballots in unsealed envelopes where Hollum's opponent was chosen

West Memphis City Councilman Phillip Carter, West Memphis Police Officer Sam Malone, Hudson Hallum, and his father Kent Hallum all pleaded guilty in a conspiracy to bribe voters to influence absentee votes in the District 54 primary election runoff in 2011. Hudson Hallum beat his opponent by just 8 votes. Many came from absentee ballots, reviewed by Hallum before they were mailed to election headquarters.

“The runners of this organization, the Malones and the Carters if you will, would accumulate the absentee ballots and give them to Kent or Hudson Hallum for basically their review," said the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Jane Duke. “They wanted to make sure if the absentee ballots had been in fact cast for Hudson Hallum. If it had not been, in most circumstances if not all, the ballots were destroyed and were not mailed on to the clerk's office for count."

"I warned him,” said the police officer’s former friend and an attorney in Crittenden County, Hubert Bass. “He (Malone) would brag to me about how he was handling the absentee ballots, that he would go to people's mailboxes and get them out and I told him, Malone you can't do that, you're going to get in trouble.”

Hallum resigned as state representative for the 54th district on September 5th as the indictments were handed down. Arkansas's 54th district covers West Memphis as well as the towns of Marion, Earle, Turrell and other rural areas of Crittenden county.

Across the river and to the south, an NAACP official in Tunica county, Mississippi was sentenced in July on 10 counts of fradulently casting ballots in the 2008 Presidential campaign.

[...] a Tunica County, Miss., jury convicted NAACP official Lessadolla Sowers on 10 counts of fraudulently casting absentee ballots. Sowers is identified on an NAACP website as a member of the Tunica County NAACP Executive Committee.

Sowers received a five-year prison term for each of the 10 counts, but Circuit Court Judge Charles Webster permitted Sowers to serve those terms concurrently, according to the Tunica Times

Sowers was found guilty of voting in the names of Carrie Collins, Walter Howard, Sheena Shelton, Alberta Pickett, Draper Cotton and Eddie Davis. She was also convicted of voting in the names of four dead persons: James L. Young, Dora Price, Dorothy Harris, and David Ross.

In the trial, forensic scientist Bo Scales testified that Sowers’s DNA was found on the inner seals of five envelopes containing absentee ballots.

The Democrat Party has sought to minimize and ridicule allegations of ballot fraud- or even deny that it exists- in the face of voter ID laws being passed in a number of states.

Centennial Sports Chowdah- Beckett Rebounds in Red Sox Home Opener; B's Open Up Playoffs By Working OT; Razorback's Edge- Arkansas Fires Petrino

Getty Images

BOSTON RED SOX- After a forgettable 1-5 start in Detroit and Toronto, the Red Sox returned to Boston on Friday for not just any ordinary opening day, but to christen the 100th season of Red Sox baseball in Fenway Park.

Fenway is the oldest active ballpark in the major leagues and was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places last month.



With pregame ceremonies that included the national anthem as sung by the Boston Pops, a flyover of F16s from the Vermont Air National Guard as well as cermonial first pitches being tossed out by recently-retired Red Sox Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek, the game against the Tampa Bay Rays got underway from Boston on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

Last Month, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine announced that Josh Beckett would be the starter for the Red Sox for their Friday the 13th home opener. Six days prior, Beckett had allowed 5 home runs in a 10-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers on the second game of the season.

Although Beckett would allow an RBI double off of Rays 2B Jeff Keppinger in the top of the second for the game's first run, he would get plenty of support in the bottom of the third when the Red Sox got on board thanks to an Adrian Gonzalez RBI single after Rays starter David Price struck Sox catcher Kelly Shoppach with a pitch to lead off the inning. 3B Kevin Youkilis would bring in another run on a sac-fly and David Ortiz would get an RBI single off of Price to make it a 3-1 Red Sox lead. In the bottom of the 4th, Kelly Shoppach would add on another run with a 1-out double to make it 4-1.



After giving up the run to Keppinger, Beckett would pitch 6 shutout innings and the Red Sox would explode for 8 runs off the Rays bullpen in the bottom of the 8th to make it 12-1. While Mark Melancon would allow a solo homer off the bat of Ben Zobrist, he would close out the game and seal Boston's 12-2 win.

In eight innings of work, Beckett would allow five hits, one walk, one earned run and strike out one batter. Kelly Schoppach would go 3-4 with 2 RBI on the day while 3B Kevin Youkilis would go 2 for 4 with 3 RBI. Center Fielder Jacoby Ellsbury had to leave the game in the bottom of the 4th after sliding into second base attempting to break up a double play. Ellsbury was examined at Mass General, although the team still hasn't announced the full extent of Ellsbury's injuries or whether or not he's expected to return anytime soon. Ryan Sweeney came in for the injured Ellsbury and went 1 for 3 with 2 RBI.

Saturday's game will get underway at 4:05 ET and will feature Clay Buccholz. Tampa Bay is expected to send Jeremy Hellicson onto the mound. The game will be televised on NESN tomorrow afternoon.

AP Photo

BOSTON BRUINS- The Bruins defense of their Stanley Cup title got underway on Thursday night in the Garden when they hosted the #7 seed Washington Capitols. Heading into the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Caps held a 3-1 advantage over Boston in the regular season.

The scoring summary on this one was mercifully brief. After a scoreless regulation, Chris Kelly scored the game-winner for Boston 1:18 into OT.



Prior to Kelly's shot on goal, Washington goaltender Braden Holtby had turned aside 29 shots while Tim Thomas turned aside all 17 shots that he faced. During the regular season, Holtby was 4-2 in the 6 games he started in. The Caps didn't capitalize on their two power plays while the Bruins went 0-3 with the man advantage.

A rather bizarre incident took place shortly after Kelly's game-winner. As the Bruins were still celebrating the win on the ice, some fans pushing against the plexiglass panel in front of their rinkside seats had managed to dislodge it.



The large pane of glass then hit C David Krejci on the head as it fell, sending him to the ice. Fortunately, Krejci was still wearing his helmet an although he still had a sore neck on Friday, he was expected to appear in game 2 on Saturday.

Game two will be televised on NBC on Saturday from Boston with a 3:00 PM faceoff.



NCAA FOOTBALL- Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bobby Petrino has been fired by the school's administration after lying about a motorcycle accident he and his mistress- 25 year old Jessica Dorrell- were involved in earlier this month.

In public statements, Petrino said that he was alone at the time of the accident but an Arkansas State Police accident report released a few days later contradicted his version of events and the married 50 year old coach admitted to having an affair with Dorrell.

"Just a few more questions about the accident, coach..."
"Go away! Leave me alone!"

Cellphone records indicate that Petrino and Dorrell exchanged 4300 texts and more than 300 phone calls over a 7-month span.

Petrino also reportedly gave Dorrell a $20,000 'gift' which she used to purchase a new Acura. On Petrino's reccomendation, Dorrell was offered a position as student development coordinator with the football program last month, but after being hired she has since been suspended by the University. The 2008 graduate and four time letter winner with the Razorbacks volleyball program was also engaged to marry the director of swimming operations for Arkansas.

I have to say that the only entity I really feel bad for in all of this is the Razorbacks volleyball program- seems as though the only reason people are even tangentially interested in the topic is because of somebody who hasn't played with them for nearly 4 years.

NBA- After back-to-back wins in which they bested the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks earlier this week, the Celtics pretty much laid an egg against the Toronto Raptors, losing by a 79-84 final on Friday Night. However, they still remain 3 games up on both the 76ers and Knicks for first place in the Atlantic Division.

On Saturday night, the Celtics will travel to New Jersey to take on the 22-38 Nets. Tip off starts at 7:30 and the game will be televised on CSNE.

Opening Day Sports Chowdah Update- Marlins Christen New Stadium; Sox Drop Season Opener in 1st Game of Valentine Era; Bruins Clinch #2 Spot in East

Believe it or not, there's a ballpark in there somewhere.

MLB- The defending World Series Champion St Louis Cardinals spoiled the opening game in the Miami Marlins new ballpark on Wednesday night.

Before a sellout crowd of 36,601, Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse had an early lead to work with a 2-RBI single from 3B David Freese in the 1st and another RBI single from SS Rafael Furcal in the 2nd inning to put the Cards up 3-0.

Lohse carried a no-hitter through 6 innings before Miami SS Jose Reyes led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a single to right field. The Marlins got on the board thanks to a John Buck RBI double, but that would be all Miami would get as the Cardinals would go on to win 4-1 in Miami's new park, their first regular season win without slugger Albert Pujols since losing him to free agency in the offseason.


RED SOX- The opening game stateside for the American League got underway on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park in a pitcher's duel between Boston's Jon Lester and Detroit's Justin Verlander.

Although Lester allowed four leadoff singles, he threw 6 shutout innings against the Tigers before Tigers catcher Alex Avila drove in Jhonny Peralta with an RBI double in the bottom of the 7th. Detroit would then take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 8th on a Prince Fielder sac fly.

Tigers closer Jose Valverde came on to close out the game but immediately gave up a leadoff single to Dustin Pedroia and moving to third on an Adrian Gonzalez single. Gonzalez was pulled for pinch-runner Darnell McDonald. The Red Sox then got on the board when David Ortiz drove home Pedroia on a sac fly to center field. After Youkilis struck out for the second out in the 9th, McDonald stole second base before Ryan Sweeney belted a triple deep to the right-field corner, driving in the tying run before Cody Ross grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.

With offseason acquisiton Andrew Bailey going on the DL for thumb surgery right at the end of Spring Training, the Red Sox bullpen was left in a state of flux. Mark Melancon came on in the bottom of the 9th for the Sox, and after getting the first out, gave up singles to Peralta and Avila before being pulled for Alfredo Aceves. Aceves hit the first batter he faced, sending Ramon Santiago to first an loading the bases. Austin Jackson then drove an Aceves offering past a diving Nick Punto for a walkoff single and 3-2 Tigers win at the season opener in Comerica Park.

In the wake of the turbulent offseason, Red Sox Nation took the news of the opening day loss in stride.



With the Rays, Yankees and Orioles not getting started until Friday and the Blue Jays winning on Thursday, the loss leaves the Red Sox in the AL East basement to start off the regular season. Jon Lester went 7 innings allowing 6 hits and 1 earned run while last year's Cy Young winner Justin Verlander went 8 shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out 7. Depsite the blown save, Valverde is credited with the win and Melancon gets the loss.

The two teams have Friday off, but will go back at it on Saturday, with Josh Beckett getting the start against Doug Fister. The game will get underway at 4:05 ET and will air on FOX.

ELSEWHERE IN THE AL EAST- It took 16 innings, but thanks to a blown save in the top of the 9th by Chris Perez and a 3-run homer by Jays catcher JP Arencibia in the top of the 16th, the Blue Jays won the longest opening day game in MLB history by a 7-4 final. The win, coupled with the Red Sox loss and Baltimore, Tampa Bay and the Yankees being idle puts the Jays into first place in the AL East.



NCAA HOOPS- Kentucky's 67-59 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA title game for their 8th NCAA title was almost an afterthough as University of Kentucky Students rioted. At least one person was shot and there were a number of arson fires [including couches for some reason- NANESB!] in the Lexington, KY area immediately after the Monday night title game.

With the Jayhawks focused on Anthony Davis, Sophmore Doron Lamb had 22 points for the Wildcats in the Championship game. The win is the first NCAA title for former UMASS coach John Calipari.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA HOOPS- In the NIT tournament, the UMASS Minutemen lost out to eventual champions Stanford in the semifinals by a 64-74 margin. The Stanford Cardinals would then go on to topple the Minnesota Golden Gophers by a 75-51 final in the NIT title game.


NHL- After a New York road trip that saw wins against the Rangers and Islanders followed by a home loss against the Penguins, the Bruins embarked on their final road game of the regular season up in Ottawa. Goalie Anton Khudobin was called up from Providence to make his Boston debut [but not his NHL debut- he had a couple of apprearences with Minnesota in 2009 and 2010- NANESB!]- a thumb injury last month prevented him from arriving in Boston, leaving the B's to pull Marty Turco- presently 2-2- from Austria after Tukka Rask was injured.

Khudobin got some offensive support early thanks to a Benoit Pouliot goal in the first and a rare Greg Zanon goal for Boston (his 3rd of the season) to build up a 2-0 advantage. Jason Spezza cut the Senators defecit in half late in the second. Boston would make it a 2 goal game once again with a Milan Lucic tally to make it a 3-1 Boston lead late in the 3rd, and that would be the final.

Khudobin stopped 44 of 45 shots faced while Ottawa's Ben Bishop would allow 3 goals on 27 shots faced. Both teams were 0-3 on the power play on Thursday Night.

For the regular season finale, the Bruins will host the Buffalo Sabres at the Garden on Saturday at 4:00 PM. After a late-season resurgence, the Sabres were eliminated from the playoffs with their Thursday night loss to Philadelphia. The game will be televised on NESN.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The Washington Capitals secured the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Both Winnipeg and Buffalo were eliminated with the Washington win and Buffalo loss to Philly and a Winnipeg loss to the Islanders.

Out west, the playoff situation is a little tighter as the Los Angels Kings and San Jose Sharks jockey for position in the Pacific Division with a home and away series between the two teams to wrap up the regular season. The two teams are tied at 94 points on the season after the Sharks beat the kings 6-5 in a shootout in LA on Thursday night. The tie-breaker will take place in San Jose on Saturday night at 10:30 ET. With the Avalanche, Stars and Flames eliminated, the Phoenix Coyotes have wrapped up the 8th and final Western conference playoff spot.

NBA- Despite losing two games in a row, the Boston Celtics remain atop the Atlantic divison. On Wednesday, the Spurs managed to hold off the Celtics for an 87-86 win on Wednesday while the C's lost to the Bulls in the Windy City by an 86-93 final.

The Celtics will head on to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers Saturday night before returning to the Garden to take on the 76ers on Sunday.


NCAA HOCKEY- The Boston College Eagles punched their ticket to the NCAA Men's Hockey finals in a convincing fashion with a 6-1 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday night. After taking a 1-0 lead for the first, the Eagles exploded for 3 more goals from Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider and Paul Carey in the 3rd to build up a 4-0 lead. Minnesota's lone goal came early in the 3rd, but Boston College responded with two more unanswered tallies for the 6-1 final.

The Eagles will face the Ferris State Bulldogs in the Finals on Saturday at 7:00 PM ET. The small Western Minnesota school got past Schenechtady, NY's Union College by a 3-1 final on Thursday. This is the first trip to the Frozen Four for both Ferris State and Union.

Petrino's reported mistress Jessica Dorrell in her Razorback volleyball days

NCAA FOOTBALL- University of Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino has been placed on administative leave by the University after an accident report from the Arkansas State Police contradicted his earlier public statements after he crashed his motorcycle over the weekend.

In public statements, the married 50 year old Petrino stated that he was alone when the crash took place in Madison county. However, the Arkansas State Police accident reports names 25 year old Jessica Dorrell as a passenger on Petrino's motorcycle. After the police report was made public, Petrino admitted to having a 'previous inappropriate relationship' with Dorrell.

A 2008 Arkansas graduate, Dorrell was a four time letter winner in the Razorbacks volleyball program and handled fundraising duties for the Razorback Foundation. Just last week, she was named student development coordinator for the football program, co-ordinating on campus recruitment and eligibility issues for incoming players. Dorell also has a fiancee who's the director of swimming operations for the Razorbacks [altho the Arkansas Razorbacks swimming & diving team page currently lists Megan Haskins as the director- NANESB].

Petrino arrived in Arkansas from the NFL after quitting in the final month of the Atlanta Falcons 2007 NFL season. The Razorback football program has had winning seasons for three of the last four years and have been invited to the Liberty, Sugar and Cotton Bowls under Petrino.

Today's Train of Thought- Southern Belle Calendar Girl, November 19, 2011

Today's train of thought takes us to the Ozarks near the Arkansas/Oklahoma border. Apparently when shooting their company calender, the Kansas City Southern had the change of season in the Ozarks in mind when the railway's F units and office cars were repainted into the striking 'Southern belle' paint scheme reminiscent of KCS's earlier diesels- although F9A #KCS1 was purchased from VIA Rail Canada.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Michael Biehn caught the A-B-A combo of brightly painted F Units as they made their way through Howard, AR, seemingly trying to one-up the surrounding fall foliage for their calendat shoot on a sunny November 8, 2007.

The F units are a few days out of the paint shop, having made their debut by hauling an intermodal train over the KCS Vicksburg subdivision. The paint scheme seems to have stuck, with subsequent units from brand new ES44AC GEVOS to rebuilt, lower emissions 2nd generation locomotives like the GP22ECO

Government Files Suit Against Trucking Company For Dismissing Alcoholic Driver

A North Carolina based trucking company is being taken to court by the government for firing an alcoholic truck driver- a move the US Equal Employment Opportunities Commission claims is in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.

Thomasville, NC-based Old Dominion Freight Line [NASDAQ: ODFL] dismissed a driver in June 2009 based in an Arkansas service center. The driver, Charles Grams, had approached company supervisors and informed them he had a drinking problem

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit this week arguing that Old Dominion Freight Line discriminated against Charles Grams by stripping him of his position and offering him a demotion even if he completed a substance abuse counseling program

Instead, the EEOC argued, the North Carolina-based company, which has a service center in Arkansas, should have complied with the law, known as the ADA, while ensuring safety.

“The ADA mandates that persons with disabilities have an equal opportunity to achieve in the workplace,” said Katharine Kores, director of the EEOCs Memphis District Office, which covers Arkansas. “While the EEOC agrees that an employer’s concern regarding safety on our highways is a legitimate issue, an employer can both ensure safety and comply with the ADA.”

The EEOC says alcoholism is a recognized disability under the ADA and that the company violated the law with its policy that bans any driver who admits alcohol abuse from driving again.

The EEOC wants the company to reinstate Grams and another affected driver to their previous positions and provide them with back pay, compensatory and punitive damages and compensation for lost benefits. The EEOC is also seeking to block the company’s alcohol-related policy.

Joel McCarty, general counsel to Old Dominion, wouldn’t comment on the details of the pending litigation. But he told FoxNews.com, “We intend to vigorously defend our position.”

When asked to respond to EEOC’s comments and rationale behind the lawsuit, McCarty said, “Obviously, we disagree with their position totally.”

“Our concern is safety,” he said. “And that’s why we intend to defend the policy.”

According to the EEOC’s suit, Grams, who had been with Old Dominion for five years without incident, informed the company in June 2009 that he believed he had an alcohol problem.

The company suspended him from his driving position, which paid him nearly $22 per hour, including benefits. In compliance with U.S. Transportation Department regulations, Grams met with a substance abuse professional who notified the company that Grams would participate in an outpatient treatment program and could return to work.

But Old Dominion told Grams that he wouldn’t be allowed to drive again for the company and instead offered him a part-time position as a dock worker as soon as it became available. The position paid $12 per hour without benefits, the lawsuit alleges.

Grams then decided he couldn't afford treatment because he believed he would have to pay for it upfront and be reimbursed by his insurance company only if it approved the treatment. Instead, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous. Old Dominion fired him in July for job abandonment.

The EEOC contends that the company's actions deprived Grams and other affected drivers of "equal employment opportunities and otherwise adversely affect their status as employees, in violation of the ADA."

"Grams is a qualified individual with a disability under ADA ... who can perform the essential functions of a driving position," the suit says, adding that Grams and other employees wouldn't need treatment to perform non-driving duties.

Does anybody else remember that King of the Hill episode where Hank hires this seemingly clean-cut guy to work at Strickland Propane only to learn that he's a drug addict? Then once he's hired, he's next to impossible to get rid of because he's a drug addict?

So this begs the question if Alcoholism is covered under the ADA, what about drug use? I mean the potential ramifications of a driver operating a commercial vehicle impaired and over the road is no different if that driver's been knocking back Jack Daniels or snorting cocaine. And moreover, the government is ordering that the company assume the risk and liability that comes with a driver with a history or alcohol or substance abuse.

Sports Chowdah w/Sugar On Top- Sooners Pound Puppies; Cry TimberWolf!; Soggy Classic; B's Skid Stopped by Leafs; Pats Go (1st Round) Bye Bye

NCAA HOOPS: I blame myself- almost as soon as I pointed out UConn's record breaking performance in women's hoops, they lose on the road to the #8 ranked Stanford Cardinals by a 71-59 final last week. I blame myself for jinxing them and take full responsibility- my apologies.

Still, it will be interesting to see if any men's or women's team can come close to threatening the UConn Women's record and Stanford might end up usurping Tennessee as the lady Huskies main rival.


NCAA FOOTBALL: Let's face it- it simply hasn't been that good a week for UConn on the hardwood or gridiron. The men's hoops (currently ranked #8) lost to Notre Dame on Tuesday night.

But out in the desert on the first night of 2011, the UConn football team demonstrated that mammals were capable of oviparity when the Huskies went out and laid an egg against the Oklahoma Sooners in the second half of the Fiesta Bowl.

Three years after getting blown out by another Big East team (West Virginia) and four years after Boise State's shocking upset over the Sooners in the very same Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma started strong and finished strong against the UConn Huskies, taking a 20-10 lead into halftime.

Oklahoma got out the the early 14-0 lead when UConn CB Dwayne Gratz intercepted Sooners QB Landry Jones and returned it 46 yards for paydirt. Dave Teggart would follow that up with a 37 yard FG towards the end of the first half.

As tenacious as UConn was in the first half, they were pretty much completely absent (aside from a 95 yard kickoff return from Robbie Frey) in the second as the Sooners got two pick-6s from Huskies QB Zach Frasier for the 48-20 Sooners win.

Keep in mind that UConn still hasn't scored an offensive touchdown since the 4th quarter of their Nov 27th game against the Cincinnati Bearcats. So that didn't really bode well for a UConn team that made it to a BCS game on the basis of tie-breakers and Big East rivals screwing the proverbial pooch. While they no doubt had their moments, by and large UConn had this 'not-quite-ready-for-prime-time' feel to their lackluster performance in the Fiesta Bowl.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: As lacking as UConn's performance in the Fiesta Bowl might've been, imagine a whole conference faring worse than the Huskies did as a team on New Year's Day. You don't have to, since there was the Big Ten's woeful results from the various Bowl games on New Year's Day:

Ticket City Bowl:
Northwestern 38- Texas Tech 45

Outback Bowl:
Florida 37- Penn State 24

Capital One Bowl:
#15 Alabama 49- #7 Michigan State 7

Gator Bowl
#21 Mississippi State 52- Michigan 14

Rose Bowl
#4 Wisconsin 19- #3 Texas Christian 21

Actually, the Outback Bowl was a little closer than the score would indicate if not for a late Penn State drive that ended in an interception being run back for a TD with just over a minute remaining in the 4th. As you might suspect, the Rose Bowl actually made for some fine viewing even for those who didn't have a stake in the outcome. Still, that's 0-4 in one day for the Big 10.


ORANGE BOWL: The Orange Bowl on Monday night featured a matchup between #5 Stanford and #12 Virginia Tech amid speculation this could be head coach Jim Harbaugh's last game as a number of NFL teams expressed an interest in his services.

In the first half, things didn't quite seem to be going the Cardinals way, with a missed PAT by kicker Nate Whittaker (one of two missed on the night), a fluky play that would've resulted in a safety no matter what and Hokies QB Tyrod Taylor making an 11 yard TD pass when it looked for all the world like he was being chased backwards and out of bounds. Still, the Cardinals would head into the locker room at the half with a 13-12 lead after Virginia Tech got a FG with 7 seconds remaining in the half.

But that would be the last time the Hokies would find the end zone or uprights. Stanford would score 27 unanswered points to take down Virginia Tech by a final of 40-12.

SUGAR BOWL: Ladies and gentlemen, there's been a Big 10 sighting! The 2011 Sugar Bowl pitted #6 Ohio State against #8 Arkansas on Tuesday night, and the Buckeyes fared much better than the rest of the Big 10 on New Year's Day. Granted that's not saying much....

Although the Buckeyes got out to a pretty commanding 28-10 lead at halftime, the Razorbacks held them to just 3 points in the 2nd half as Arkansas clawed back to make it a 26-31 game in the 4th. After attempting to bleed the clock late in the 4th, the Buckeyes decided to punt on 4th and 3 from their own 38 yard line. However, the punt was blocked, giving the Razorbacks the ball with good field position and very little time.

The first pass attempt from Arkansas' Ryan Mallet was incomplete- the second was picked off and the Buckeyes absolutely dodged a bullet there. Ohio State hangs on to win by the final of 31-26.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Here are some finals from what some would refer to as the 'lesser' Bowl games [not me, tho'- NANESB!] prior to New Year's Day:

December 30:
Music City Bowl:
North Carolina 30- Tennessee 27 (2 OT)

Holiday Bowl
#17 Nebraska 7- Washington 19

December 31:
Meineke Bowl
South Florida 31- Clemson 26

Sun Bowl
Notre Dame 33- Miami (FL) 17

Liberty Bowl
Central Florida 10- Georgia 6

Chick-Fil-A Bowl
#19 South Carolina 17- #23 Florida State 26

NFL: Not that much to report as far as the Pats are concerned. Some of the starters got some rest on Sunday's 38-7 rout of the Miami Dolphins in South Florida, sweeping the season series. This is the 8th straight win for New England and also the 8th straight game where they scored more than 30 points, finishing with a 14-2 regular season record.

Now all that's left is to wait and see who New England gets after Wild Card weekend.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Speaking of- here's the Wild Card weekend schedule:

Saturday- 1/8
New Orleans Saints @ Seattle Seahawks- 4:30 PM ET
NY Jets @ Indianapolis Colts- 8:00 PM ET

Sunday- 1/9
Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs- 1:00 PM ET
Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles- 4:30 PM ET

NBA: Well....while I was watching all this football, it seemed to escape my attention that Rajon Rondo is back. He had a fairly low-key return in Sunday night's 93-79 win over the Toronto Raptors with 8 assists, a rebound and 4 points (8? Maybe not that low-key, then).

Getty images

On Monday night's game at the Garden, they got some unexpectedly stiff competiton from the Minnesota Timberwolves as Kevin Love had 24 points for the visiting T'Wolves. After trailing at halftime 47-43, Paul Pierce scored 15 of his 23 points in the 3rd quarter to help close what was once a double-digit gap before the C's went ahead and held on to win by the final on 96-93.

Interestingly, the Celtics have never lost to the Timberwolves since the acquisition of Kevin Garnett in 2007 (KG is still on the disabled list however, and did not play against his former team).

The C's have a tough one coming up Wednesday night at the garden as they'll play host to the San Antionio Spurs as they come to Beantown with the NBA's best record.



NHL: After back-to-back shootout losses against Atlanta and Buffalo (where they at least got a point for their trouble) the Bruins went north of the border to take on the Maple Leafs.

Tim Thomas had the night off and the elusive Tukka Rask got the start between the pipes for the B's instead. Although Toronto got on the board first with a Mikhail Grabovski goal, Rask turned aside 36 shots on goal- many of them coming from former Bruins teammate Phil Kessel.

Nathaniel Horton and Marc Savard would score in the second to put the Bruins up for good by a final of 2-1, snapping their 2-game slide.

The B's will next take on the Minnesota Wild at the Garden on Thursday night, 7 PM ET.

Justin K. Aller/ Getty

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: The 2011 Winter Classic belatedly got underway Saturday night between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals amid intermittent rain showers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA.

The original start time of 1 PM Eastern was pushed back to 8 PM ET [might this be a sign of things to come for future Winter Classics? -NANESB!] in the hopes that the rain would clear by then. But it was a very wet Winter Classic indeed as the Penguins got out to a 1-0 lead on a Evgeni Malkin goal in the 2nd. However, the Caps would come right back with a power play goal from Mike Knuble and follow that one up with a tally from Caps RW Eric Fehr to take the 2-1 lead in the second. Fehr would provide Washington with some insurance in the 3rd with another tally to make it 3-1 Washington- the final score.

Washington's Semyon Varlamov turned aside 32 of the 33 shots he faced while Pens netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 of 32 shots faced.

IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Jeez- I had no idea that these were underway until Monday night when the Maple Leafs announcers were updating the score of the USA/Canada game.....which alas, the USA lost 4-1. This means that the host USA will play Sweden in the Bronze medal game on Wednesday afternoon while Canada will take on Russia in the Gold medal game at Buffalo's HSBC Arena on Wednesday night.

MLB: Free agent and former Red Sox and Mariners 3B Adrian Beltre and the Texas Rangers have reached a preliminary agreement on a six-year, $96 million contract pending a physical late on Tuesday.

Today's Train of Thought, September 16 2010- Hope and Change of Scenery

Since it's 1999 takeover of shortline operator RailTex, Rail America hasn't been very shy about mixing and matching motive power between several of their properties. Often, this leads to curious sights like Florida East Coast power on the New England Central in Western Massachusetts and Vermont or Kyle railroad power imported from Kansas on Central California's San Joaquin Valley Railroad.

In 2002, Rail America took over the then-independent Kiamichi Railroad, which had operated some 230 miles of former St Louis-San Francisco (Frisco) track between Hope, AR and Madill, OK, with a north-south branchline running between Paris, TX and Antlers, OK meeting with the main east-west route at Hugo, OK. In 1987, the Burlington Northern decided the trackage through southwestern Arkansas, Northeastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma that they obtained in their acquisition of the Frisco was redundant and the Kiamichi Railroad was born.

About a decade prior, the Indiana & Ohio Railway got off to its modest start as tourist train and shortline freight hauler in Western Ohio. In 1991, after having already acquired some former Penn Central branches, the ambitious shortline expanded considerably when it acquired the former Detroit, Toledo and Ironton line between Washington Courthouse, OH and suburban Detroit. By the time Rail America acquired the I&O in 2000, it was operating nearly 570 miles of track between Cincinnati and Detroit as well as former Conrail and CSX branches in Ohio and southern Indiana.

Since the acquisition by Rail America, some of the I&O units have made their way as far west as Texas, while the I&O continued borrowing rent-a-wrecks and some SD70Ms from the New York, Susquehanna & Western to augment their own fleet. As for the Kiamichi, there hardly any locomotives from their 1987 start-up remaining on the property, simply engines from other Rail America properties re-lettered for Kiamichi.

On a sunny April 2010 morning, railpictures.net contributor Sid Vaught caught Indiana & Ohio GP40 #4050 and a sibling I&O GP40-2 still in their catchy pre Rail America paint scheme crossing Peacock Drive in Ashdown, AR on their way east to the Union Pacific interchange at Hope. The trailing unit is the only one lettered for the 'hometown' Kiamichi this day.

Private William Andrew Long: June 26 1985- June 1 2009

Today marks what would've been the 25th Birthday of US Army Pvt. William 'Andy' Long of Conway, AR.

On June 1st, 2009, Long and Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula were both shot outside a Little Rock, AR US Army recruiting center in broad daylight. Long was killed while Ezegwula was hospitalized and survived. American Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad- nee Carlos Bledsoe- was arrested the same day and confessed to the shooting.

The shooting took place one day after abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was gunned down in his Wichita, KS church, vindicating an earlier Homeland Security report naming gun owners, military veterans, the tea party and pro-life groups among others as potential domestic terrorists in the eyes of the Obama Administration and their unquestioning supporters on the left and in the mainstream media.

Almost immediately in the wake of Tiller's murder, Attorney General Eric Holder sent US Marshals to protect an unspecified number of abortion clinics. However, it took more than 4 days for Holder or the Justice Department to publicly comment on the shooting of Pvt. Long. The White House did issue a brief statement approximately 48 hours after the Little Rock murder took place, but if the media wasn't busy attempting to portray every last granny as a potential domestic terrorist, they were waiting in breathless anticipation for the President's June 4, 2009 speech to the Islamic world from Cairo's Al-Azhar University.

Long's death was considered to be the first time since the Septeber 11 2001 attack on the Pentagon that terrorists killed an active-duty member of the military on American soil.

The family, understandably distrustful of the media, has been mostly reluctant to talk to the press- although the William's father did do an interview with Little Rock's KATV and William's uncle penned an op-ed for the Racine, WI Journal -Times earlier this month.

Veterans Hit the Campaign Trail

Fresh off of last week's announcement that unions like the SEIU and AFSCME will be spending at least $100 million to prop up embattled Dems who voted in favor of 0bamacare, I came across a Political Action Committee called Vets For Freedom.

The Veterans For Freedom PAC endorsement criteria falls along these lines:

1) Please outline your previous military experience.

2) Did you serve in Iraq or Afghanistan? Provide details.

3) What is your position on the war in Afghanistan? Similarly, do you agree or disagree with President Obama's surge of forces to Afghanistan in 2009? Explain.

4) What is your position on the war in Iraq and the 2007 surge of American forces? Similarly, what is your view of current American policy in Iraq?

5) Should the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba be closed? Either way, describe considerations and options.

6) Should the United States bring terrorism detainees to trial in civilian courts or in military commission courts?

7) Should Iran be allowed to procure nuclear weapons? Would you support decisive U.S. action--militarily or otherwise--to prevent a nuclear Iran?

8) What role should American power--militarily and economically--play in the world? Explain.

9) What is the legacy of America's post-9/11 warrior class? If elected, how do you plan to influence this legacy?

10) Why do you want to serve in elected office?

In other words, odds are they will be in direct opposition to the tax-and-spend liberals that the unions are throwing millions of dollars at this year. The Veterans for Freedom PAC has endorsed the following candidates as well.

Army Captain Kevin Calvey (Oklahoma-5)

Army Colonel Chris Gibson (New York-20)

Army Major Tim Griffin (Arkansas-2)

Army Colonel Joe Heck (Nevada-3)

Air Force Captain Adam Kinzinger (Illinois-11)

Marine Lieutenant Ilario Pantano (North Carolina-7)

Army Captain Jonathan Paton (Arizona-8)

Marine Captain Brian Rooney (Michigan-7)

Army Lieutenant Colonel Steve Stivers (Ohio-15)

Army Lieutenant Colonel Allen West (Florida-22)

Army Lieutenant Colonel Lang Silas (Colorado-7)

Navy Commander Mark Kirk (Illinois Senate)

*Marine Gunnery Sargeant Nick Popaditch (California- 51)

*not endorsed by the VFF PAC yet, but seems to meet the criteria so far.

Now, off the top of my head I can name two candidates who are running against the Democrat incumbents that voted 'Yes' on 0bamacare that the SEIU and other unions are throwing money at to help retain their seats (Kinzinger and Heck).

It should also be worth mentioning that both West and Pantano were the subject of a Daily Beast hatchet job depicting them as dangerous renegade soldiers, although one would suspect the Daily Beast wouldn't consider them quite as 'renegade' if they ran as Democrats.

More than half the candidates listed are running against Democrat incumbents that voted 'Yes' on 0bamacare, although all but a handful still have a protracted and contested primary ahead of them.

While on the subject of Vets running for office, here are a few you'd be better off staying the hell away from.

Adam Kokesh- New Mexico's 3rd district. Bloggette and Marine wife Cassy Fiano warned readers about anti-war turncoat Adam Kokesh running for Congress as a Republican in Northern New Mexico. While in IVAW (Iraq Vets Against the War), Kokesh distributed Islamophobic fliers and falsely attributed them to George Washington University's chapter of the Young America foundation and also urged troops stationed in Germany to go AWOL. As a group, IVAW has threatened to bomb counterprotestors and assassinate conservative columnists, so I fail to see what good cold ever come from associating with IVAW [For the record, I'm not saying they have zero right to speak out against Iraq or Afghanistan, but I do take issue with the 'OMG! Everybody who served in that theater is a war criminal except for me me me me!' narrative that seems to be the IVAW's stock in trade- plus I think it's very disingenuous of them to try and create the impression that they speak for all vets- NANESB!].

Those of you interested in helping a Republican in that district, give Tom Mullins a look.

Matthew Zeller- New York's 29th district. This is the disgraced Eric 'Tickle-Me' Massa's former district. The 28-year old Zeller joined the Army shortly after 9/11, and after serving as an embedded combat mentor to Afghan police and military was tapped to run as pretty much the only Democrat in the NY-29 special election this fall. His service record apparently doesn't have any obvious red flags and for all I know is impeccable. However, Zeller didn't even live in the district as of April and he supports the bailout, 0bamacare and is against dilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale along New York's Southern Tier according to an interview in the Corning Leader.

Former Corning, NY mayor Tom Reed is the presumptive GOP nominee for the district.

[Cross Posted at Correspondence Committee]

Today's Train of Thought- The Ozarks Become the Smokies; April 30 2010

Despite being out of business for 40 years, there remains a certain brand-loyalty to locomotives manufactured by ALCO. Not surprisingly, a good number of the railroads that still use ALCO locomotives are in New York state, not far from the site of ALCO's Schenectady, NY headquarters. However, there are ALCO holdouts as far away as Arizona or even Argentina.

One such holdout is the Arkansas & Missouri railroad, operating 140 miles of former St. Louis-San Francisco ('Frisco') trackage from Ft. Smith, AR through the Ozarks and to a BNSF interchange in the Southwestern corner of Missouri. The line was completed by the Frisco in 1882 and stayed in company hands through the Burlington Northern's 1980 acquisition of the SLSF. In 1986, Burlington Northern decided to lease the line to Tony Hannold's Arkansas & Missouri Railroad. Almost immediately, the A&M cobbled together a roster of ALCO C420s from railroads like the Delaware & Hudson, Indiana Hi Rail and British Columbia Rail, along with smaller ALCO end-cab and road-switchers brought in from Hannold's other shortline operations on the Delmarva Peninsula. The A&M interchanges with the Kansas City Southern and Pioneer Railcorp's Ft. Smith Railroad in Ft Smith, AR; the Union Pacific in Van Bueren, AR and the BNSF in Monnet, MO.

The A&M purchased the line outright from BNSF in 2001 and upgraded the line over the next few years with continuous welded rail. Besides freight and switching, the A&M also offers seasonal excursions on their line between Springdale and Ft. Smith, AR with passenger cars provided by Boston Mountain chapter of the NRHS. Films like Biloxi Blues and Forces of Nature have been filmed along the A&M as well.

Of course, the A&M's bread and butter is freight- primarily grain and feed as well as scrap metal, plastics, food products and lumber. Above, we see A&M C420 #60 (former D&H 413, nee Lehigh Valley 413) on the northern end of the railroad at Butterfield, MO on April 15, 2010. Railpictures.net contributor Dane Carlisle caught the quartet of C420s doing what an ALCO does best as they throttle up getting ready to deliver a cut of cars to the nearby grain elevator. A quarter century of the hard-pulling, sure-footed ALCOs still working away in the Ozarks. What's not to love?