Six new institutions will be joining the NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) for the 2018-2019 season. Here they are in descending order of team name coolness:
ERSKINE COLLEGE
Team Name: FLYING FLEET
Location: Due West, South Carolina
GENEVA COLLEGE
Team Name: GOLDEN TORNADOES
Location: Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
Filed under college sports, Cool names and cool logos
FOR PART ONE OF THIS LOOK AT THE KREE-SKRULL WAR (1971-1972) CLICK HERE
THE AVENGERS Volume One, Number 97 (May 1972)
AVENGERS ROSTER: THOR (Donald Blake, MD), IRON MAN (Tony Stark), CAPTAIN AMERICA (Steve Rogers), THE SCARLET WITCH (Wanda), GOLIATH (Clint Barton), QUICKSILVER (Pietro), THE VISION (Not Applicable), CAPTAIN MARVEL (Mar-Vell, Kree Captain)
NOTE: CAPTAIN MARVEL IS THE HERO THAT NICK FURY SUMMONED TO FIGHT THANOS IN THE POST-CREDITS SCENE TO AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR.
GODHOOD’S END
Synopsis: We pick up right where we left off: Rick Jones has just been transported back into the Negative Zone, the buffer dimension between the Matter Universe and the Anti-Matter Universe. He is being attacked by Annihilus, the Lord of the Negative Zone, who wants revenge on Rick for the way the Avengers prevented him from invading Earth back in Part One.
As Annihilus flies toward Rick as he floats around in the Negative Zone, Rick finds time slowing down for him. His mind begins to expand and – though he does not yet understand why – he begins to approach omniscience. His mind is filled with images of the perils faced at that very moment by the other Avengers and by the entire Earth:
… On the Skrull homeworld (name unpronounceable by a human tongue), Captain Marvel, the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are fighting against an entire army in the palace of Emperor Dorrek IV …
… On the flagship of a Skrull space fleet just outside our solar system Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and the Vision are fighting frantically to prevent that fleet from reaching Earth …
… On Hala, home planet of the Kree Empire, Ronan the Accuser watches his own fleet of spaceships depart for the Earth, intent on preventing the Skrulls from seizing the planet, even if that planet gets obliterated in the cataclysmic battle of starfleets …
… On a small Skrull spaceship hurtling toward Earth, Goliath, no longer possessed of his superpowers, stands unarmed against a squad of Skrull soldiers on a kamikaze mission to wipe out the Earth to prevent it from falling back into the hands of the Kree Empire … Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
One last round of congratulations to the college baseball champions from the nine divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog.
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics)
National Champions – SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FIRE
Runners-Up – Freed-Hardeman University Lions
2017 Champions – Lewis-Clark State Warriors
NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association)
National Champions – CAMPBELLSVILLE UNIVERSITY TIGERS
Runners-Up – Warner University Royals
2017 Champions – Oklahoma Baptist University Bison Continue reading
Filed under College Baseball
For a whole different feel to Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring bit Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead it’s Travis Tritt’s cover of the Elvis Presley hit T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
Filed under opinion
Recently Balladeer’s Blog had another posthumous interview with Mary Harris Jones aka “Mother” Jones. Despite passing away in 1930 Mother Jones told me she is still a devoted fan of de facto Third Party President Donald Trump. As usual I tried to rein in her enthusiasm for the Donald during the following interview but Mother Jones is a strong female character and is very empowered so she simply would not be denied. I know, right?
BALLADEER’S BLOG: Well, Mother Jones, in our past discussions you’ve called President Trump the new Franklin Roosevelt AND the new Harry Truman. You’ve also compared him to real-life heroes like Frank Serpico and cinematic heroes like Robert Redford’s Brubaker.
MOTHER JONES: And don’t forget I compared him to the character Richard Channing on the old soap opera Falcon Crest.
BB: Yes, of course. Have you been following the latest revelations about the corrupt actions taken against Trump by the rightfully despised thugs of America’s so-called “Intelligence Community?”
MJ: You bet I have! I told you last time about the Businessman’s Plot against Franklin Roosevelt long ago and the same type of bloated rich pigs have been attacking President Trump. Republican trash like Paul Ryan and Trey Gowdy are already selling out and trying to defend the corrupt forces aligned against the Donald.
BB: The past few years have certainly been shocking. Many have pointed out what an unlikely hero President Trump has turned out to be for the working class AND for all of us Third Party people who have been longing for attempted reforms to the Washington D.C. Swamp.
MJ: You know it, sonny! If we absolutely HAVE to have a tycoon as president at least let it be a tycoon with a sense of noblesse oblige like FDR and JFK. Trump is cut from the same cloth.
BB: I’m not quite as enthusiastic about him as you are, but –
MJ: Pipe down, already! I’ve got a bunch of links to share with your readers. Here we go:
*** Don Surber has been on fire lately with a lot of items about President Trump fighting BOTH the crooked Democrats AND the crooked Republicans. First is his item The Party of Trump in which he points out how the Democrats abandoned the working class and the poor. Find it HERE
*** Surber’s wonderful item in which THE 2016 DEMOCRATS WERE SAYING HILLARY COULD PARDON HERSELF IF ELECTED – find it HERE
Such hypocrites! And Surber had this bit titled The Left Comes to Grips with Obama’s Failure – HERE
*** American Thinker had this item about Susan Power and her ridiculous claim that “someone else in the Obama Administration” used her security clearance to unmask Americans corruptly targeted by “Intelligence Community” thugs. It’s HERE
*** And here’s yet ANOTHER figure of color praising President Trump and encouraging more African Americans to recognize that he has done more for them than the Democrats have in decades. Click HERE
And HERE Continue reading
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
*** NJCAA Division Three ***
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – It took THIRTEEN INNINGS for a champion to be crowned in NJCAA3. The two teams competing were the 4th seeded OAKTON COLLEGE OWLS and the 3 seeds – the 4-time defending champion TYLER COLLEGE APACHES.
By the 3rd Inning the score was knotted up at 2-2 but the Owls went on top 5-4 in the 4th. That became a 6-4 lead in the 5th Inning, 7-5 in the 8th and 7-7 to end the 9th. In the 10th Inning each team notched 2 more runs, ditto for the 11th. Neither team scored in the 12th, with Oakton College smacking in 3 runs in the top of the 13th, ultimately winning the game 14-11. Alexander Crinigan pitched for the win. * THE OWLS ARE CHAMPIONS OF NJCAA DIVISION THREE *
*** NJCAA DIVISION TWO *** Continue reading
Filed under College Baseball
FOR PART ONE OF THIS LOOK AT THE KREE-SKRULL WAR (1971-1972) CLICK HERE
THE AVENGERS Volume One, Number 96 (February 1972)
AVENGERS ROSTER: THOR (Donald Blake, MD), IRON MAN (Tony Stark), CAPTAIN AMERICA (Steve Rogers), THE SCARLET WITCH (Wanda), GOLIATH (Clint Barton), QUICKSILVER (Pietro), THE VISION (Not Applicable), CAPTAIN MARVEL (Mar-Vell, Kree Captain)
NOTE: CAPTAIN MARVEL IS THE HERO THAT NICK FURY SUMMONED TO FIGHT THANOS IN THE POST-CREDITS SCENE TO AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR.
Readers can’t get enough Marvel Superheroes. I’m glad to oblige since I still have a soft spot for superhero stories because reading them as a kid served as a gateway to two of my adult passions: mythology and opera.
THE ANDROMEDA SWARM
Synopsis: This part picks up a few days after the Avengers defeated Maximus the Mad and restored Black Bolt to the throne of Attilan, the Great Refuge. With the Kree now prevented from using the Inhumans as super-soldiers in their war with the Skrulls, our heroes were allowed to rest, regroup and plot their next move.
By staying in the hidden city of Attilan they also avoided having to deal with the ongoing manhunt for them run by Senator Craddock (a sleazy Robert Mueller type) and his reluctant S.H.I.E.L.D. allies. The Avengers have piloted their Quin-Jet to the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, which is in my opinion one of the dumbest things in the otherwise impressive Marvel Comics Universe. They should have at least dropped the absurd helicarrier bit for the movies.
Nick Fury has agreed to sacrifice his job by letting our heroes steal an internationally- constructed ship capable of space flight … if it only had a power source. Again, really dumb. The writers could have had the Avengers use a ship created in Attilan since it has futuristic Kree technology.
Anyway, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Goliath and the Vision board the ship, named Bogie, in honor of Humphrey Bogart. (?) With Thor’s hammer serving as the nearly infinite power source for the spacecraft – just like it could have for a craft built in Attilan – the Avengers fly off.
First they shatter the Kree Nega-Shield which has been surrounding Earth ever since Ronan the Accuser was forced to return to the planet Hala back in Part Three. After that it’s off through our solar system, just outside which lies the Stargate which the Kree, Skrulls, Shi’ar and other alien races use to bop to and from our solar system to deep space.
The Avengers plan to free the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Captain Marvel from captivity on the Skrull homeworld and then free Rick Jones from captivity on Hala, homeworld of the Kree Empire. Thor notices how tense the Vision seems, and Iron Man, who has gleaned that the android has fallen in love with the Scarlet Witch, begins to explain on the Vision’s behalf. Continue reading
Filed under Superheroes
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The two teams duking it out for the NCAA Division Two baseball title were the 5 seeds – the AUGUSTANA (SD) UNIVERSITY VIKINGS – and the 2nd seeded COLUMBUS STATE COUGARS.
The first 3 Innings were a Pitcher’s Duel with neither team scoring. The Vikings made it a 2-0 game in the 4th but in the bottom of the 5th Inning the Cougars tied things up at 2-2. Continue reading
Filed under College Baseball
Here are some recent political cartoons, starting off with one about Obama’s delusional claim that his administration was scandal-free. Uh. Yeah.
Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion
For Balladeer’s Blog’s review of the horrible yet hilarious spy movie The Man From S.E.X. click HERE
For this edition of Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead here’s the song Love Is A Fine Thing from that film – which was also released under the title Licensed to Love and Kill. Doreen Chanter sings it.
Filed under Bad and weird movies, opinion
Balladeer's Blog 