Location: Lawrence, KS
Site: http://www.haskell.edu/index.html
Comment: Haskell plays college football in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) and regular readers of my blog have seen the institution’s name in plenty of my sports reports. HINU is the premier institution of higher education for Native Americans throughout the CONUS and Continue reading
Filed under Cool Helmets
Balladeer’s Blog
Recently one of my favorite bloggers, Sara from Midaeval Maiden and Life With 4 Cats, asked me a question about Egyptian mythology being influenced by other cultures. I provided an answer where the words just flowed along nicely and so, since I get occassional e-mails asking me similar questions I figured I would post my answer to Sara in the spirit of a FAQ. All in all, it saves me from coming up with a totally new post today … I think you’ll agree.
My Answer: This sort of inter-cultural influence is pretty standard in mythology. No belief system springs from a vacuum. It springs from previous belief systems in the region and also from appropriating elements of belief systems of other cultures they come into contact with. The process is called syncretism.
Even the big three religions have done it. Zoroastrianism predates Christianity, Islam and Judaism and all three of those Continue reading
Filed under Mythology
The Saint Xavier University Cougars remain at number 1 in the NAIA football poll for the 5th straight week, but to get some helmet variety in here I went with a pic of the 2nd ranked Marian University Knights. The Knights are enjoying another week at their highest ranking in team history and continue to make me look like a gridiron Nostradamus. Back in 2010 during the preseason I predicted that the Knights were about to take off in a big way. Marian then had a stellar season and won their first round playoff game, then this season came out blazing since Week 1 just to show last year was no fluke. The Menlo Oaks, meanwhile, move back into the Top 25 one week after falling out. The Chabot College Gladiators (love that name!) moved up to 10th in the NCFA Poll. And now the rankings in the divisions of college football covered by Balladeer’s Blog.
NAIA – 1. SXU COUGARS … 2. MARIAN KNIGHTS … 3. CC FIGHTING SAINTS (defending champs) … 4. MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE VIKINGS … 5. GEORGETOWN (KY) TIGERS … 6. ST FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS … 7. MIDAMERICA NAZARENE PIONEERS … 8. MORNINGSIDE MUSTANGS … 9. BENEDICTINE RAVENS … 10. AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS (1st Top Ten ranking since 2006) … 11. WILLIAM PENN STATESMEN … 12. ST FRANCIS (IL) FIGHTING SAINTS (Upset former #4 William Penn) … 13. DAKOTA WESLEYAN TIGERS … 14. ST AMBROSE UNIVERSITY FIGHTING BEES … 15. SOUTHERN NAZARENE UNIVERSITY CRIMSON STORM (Love that name!) … 16. OTTAWA (KS) BRAVES … 17. BETHEL (TN) WILDCATS … 18. VCS VIKINGS … 19. DOANE TIGERS … 20. CUMBERLAND BULLDOGS (Up 5 spots from last week) … 21. ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BATTLIN’ BEARS … 22. BETHANY SWEDES (Down 8 spots from last week) … T23. EASTERN OREGON MOUNTAINEERS … T23. NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE RANGERS … 25. MENLO OAKS
NCAA D3- 1. WHITEWATER WARHAWKS (defending champs) … 2. MT UNION PURPLE RAIDERS (Warhawks and Purple Raiders have played each other in the last 6 D3 title games in a row, splitting 3 each) … 3. ST THOMAS TOMMIES … 4. MHBU CRUSADERS Continue reading
Filed under college football
Balladeer’s Blog hit a new single- day high for hits on Saturday, October 8th. That new high for a single day is 12,577. Thank all of you for reading and for spreading the word about my odd combination of college sports, mythology, bad movies, ancient Greek comedies and forgotten history. I’ve had an interesting time writing this blog and have blazed my own trail, much to the annoyance of one or two long- time bloggers who live up to the outdated negative stereotype of bloggers being people who act like the Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons. 99% of the people I’ve gotten to interact with have been interesting and courteous and Continue reading
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FIGHTING SAINTS UPSET NUMBER 4 STATESMEN – The NAIA’s 15th ranked ST FRANCIS (IL) FIGHTING SAINTS brought down the mighty number 4 WILLIAM PENN STATESMEN in a pigskin Ragnarok yesterday. The final score in this game with national and MSFA implications was a tight 36-35. The Fighting Saints faithful await the next poll rankings with baited breath.
EDWARD WATERS AND LANGSTON RULE THE WORLD – Each week usually gives us at least one NAIA team toppling a higher division team but yesterday we had two. The EDWARD WATERS TIGERS won an Instant Classic against D2’s LIVINGSTONE BLUE BEARS by a score of 14-13. The NAIA’s LANGSTON LIONS pulled off their THIRD upset of a D2 team this season, bringing down the PANHANDLE STATE AGGIES 41-23.
RANGERS AND THE STORM (For you Doors fans) – I had put the NAIA’s 10th ranked SOUTHERN NAZARENE CRIMSON STORM on upset alert yesterday and was proven right when they fell on the road at the NW OKLAHOMA STATE RANGERS. The Crimson Storm led 12-6 at one point but the Rangers’ Black Cloud defense stepped up big, shutting SNU out for the rest of the game. The Crimson Storm wound up losing 28-12.
HYLININGSFEST HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA – The number 14 BETHANY SWEDES were celebrating both Homecoming and Hyliningsfest yesterday . That way you don’t have to do your holiday shopping separately for each event. The ST MARY SPIRES played Grinch to the celebrating Swedes, however, by upsetting the home team in a nail-biting 35-32 Instant Classic.
TOP 25 UPSETS – NAIA – In addition to the above mentioned upsets, the 17th ranked EASTERN OREGON Continue reading
Filed under college football
In the NAIA the William Penn University Statesmen are ranked 4th in the nation and continue saying “Just TRY to leave us out of the playoffs this year”. Last year WPU ended the year ranked at 11 but were unjustifiably left out of the 16 team NAIA playoff field. (That’s right, the divisions of college football covered by Balladeer’s Blog settle things with a playoff!) The Statesmen are on the road today against the 15th ranked St Francis (IL) Fighting Saints in a crucial Mid States Football Association matchup. Both teams lead their respective divisions of “The Association” as Jim Rome would call it, and are unbeaten in conference play.
Keeping to the theme of games between ranked teams today, the 9th ranked Morningside Mustangs, back on track to take the Great Plains Athletic Conference title following their upset at the hands of the Nebraska Wesleyan University Prairie Wolves a few weeks ago, host the 13th ranked Doane Tigers, who upset Midland University last week. The number 25 Cumberland Bulldogs meanwhile are at the 22nd ranked Shorter Hawks with the loser obviously knocked out of the rankings completely. Only one team is ranked in what I think may be the most exciting game of the day as the number 10 Southern Nazarene University Crimson Storm are on the road against the ever-tough Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers.
D2 treats us to a Show Me State showdown between the 7th ranked Northwest Missouri Bearcats and the number 14 Central Missouri Mules. D3’s only matchup between ranked teams finds the 15th ranked Cortland State Red Dragons at the number 11 Montclair State Red Hawks. And now, links to updating scoreboards for the divisions I cover:
NAIA – http://www.victorysportsnetwork.com/sport/0/14.php
D3 – http://d3football.com/scoreboard/composite
D2 – http://www.d2football.com/scores/
NJCAA – http://www.njcaa.org/sports_schedules.cfm?category=Schedules%2FScores&sid=11&divid=0&slid=5
SCFA – http://www.scfafootball.com/statistics/scoreboard.html
Filed under college football
FOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION IF YOU MISSED MY FIRST POST ON ANCIENT GREEK COMEDIES CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/2011/09/22/at-long-last-my-ancient-greek-comedy-posts-begin/
The Clouds was written by Aristophanes around 423 BCE and next to Lysistrata, which I examined last week, is the Big A’s most- discussed satire, mostly because of its lampooning of the philosopher Socrates, a contemporary of Aristophanes. Many modern readers, who have been programmed to sneeringly “deconstruct” old works of art rather than understand them, love to regard this comedy with hostility. They accuse Aristophanes of being “anti – intellectual” for subjecting Socrates in particular and the Sophist philosophers in general to the same satirical criticism that every other aspect of Athenian society was subjected to in comic plays.
There are many arguments I can use to refute this claim, and I’ll present them below following my synopsis of the play itself. To provide just a brief argument right now since you may be curious, let me remind everyone that Shakespeare is famous for the line about killing all the lawyers, but I’ve never met one rational person who thinks that line means Shakespeare was seriously proposing the execution of all lawyers or the elimination of the law and/or the judiciary system. By the same token I hardly think Aristophanes was railing against every form of education or intellectual inquiry. More on this controversy, including the trial of Socrates, below.
THE PREMISE
In the ancient Greek democracy Athenian citizens were expected to represent themselves in court in both criminal and civil proceedings.
Since juries are the same no matter what the time period a guilty person who was a good speaker could get acquitted while an innocent person who was an inept speaker could get found guilty.
Conversely, since there were no public prosecutors, citizens could charge their fellow Athenians with crimes and if they were skilled enough at speaking they could railroad an innocent person. Many Athenian citizens who faced a court date would Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Greek Comedy
FOR MORE BAD MOVIE REVIEWS CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/bad-movies/
Balladeer’s Blog
HELLROLLER (1992) – Category: Enyoyably bad movie but not fun-bad enough to earn my highest rating In honor of the upcoming Halloween holiday, here’s another review of a bad horror film. Hellroller is the infamous movie about a slasher who is confined to a wheelchair and uses it to get around as he slices and dices his victims. Ron Litman stars, if “stars” isn’t too strong a word, as Eugene, our twitchy, slobbering paraplegic. Eugene is the product of a Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
Coach Mike Feminis and his Saint Xavier University Cougars remain the pride of Chicago as they retain the top spot in the NAIA Top 25 for the 4th consecutive week. The 5-0 Cougars from the land of Koz (As in Rich Koz) once again received all of the 1st place votes. Meanwhile, there are new number 1’s in 2 of the polls after some upsets this past Saturday.
NAIA – 1. SXU Cougars … 2. Marian Knights (highest ranking in team history) … 3. CC Fighting Saints (defending champs) … 4. William Penn Statesmen … 5. MVC Vikings … 6. Georgetown (KY) Tigers … 7. St Francis (IN) Cougars … 8. MidAmerica Nazarene Pioneers … 9. Morningside Mustangs … 10. Southern Nazarene University Crimson Storm … 11. Benedictine Ravens … 12. Azusa Pacific Cougars … 13. Doane Tigers … 14. Bethany Swedes … 15. St Francis (IL) Fighting Saints … 16. Dakota Wesleyan Tigers … 17. Eastern Oregon Mountaineers … 18. St Ambrose Fighting Bees … 19. Ottawa (KS) Braves … 20. VCS Vikings … 21. Bethel (TN) Wildcats … 22. Shorter Hawks … 23. Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears … 24. Midland Warriors … 25. Cumberland Bulldogs
NCAA DIVISION 3 – 1. Whitewater Warhawks (defending champs) … 2. Mt Union Purple Raiders (The Warhawks and the Purple Raiders have played each other in the past 6 D3 championship games in a row, splitting 3 each) … 3. St Thomas Tommies … 4. MHBU Crusaders Continue reading
Filed under college football
Recently a few of my fellow bloggers were kind enough to bestow awards on me, and the awards come with some challenges. The easy part is naming other blogs here at WP that I love to read. The other part involved fitting some of my blog posts to various categories. I’ll do the difficult part first – some of my most memorable and/or controversial blog posts –
1. MY MOST BEAUTIFUL POST – I’ll use this one since I used it to pay some deserved compliments to two of the greatest friends anyone could ask for – Noralee and Bill – https://glitternight.com/2010/11/18/special-guest-commentators-oolong-and-pekoe-ask-whats-up-with-all-these-teams-called-tigers/
2. MY MOST POPULAR POST – It may be its longevity that has given it the cumulative edge, but it’s my very first blog post, from June 21st of 2010. It’s a funny (?) list – https://glitternight.com/2010/06/21/the-20-coolest-named-college-sports-teams-you-may-have-never-heard-of-naia-edition/
3. MY MOST CONTROVERSIAL POSTS – Here Continue reading
Filed under humor
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