Monthly Archives: May 2019

May 10, 2019 · 5:27 pm

COLLEGE BASEBALL: NAIA NATIONAL TOURNAMENT BRACKETS

georgia gwinnettLAWRENCEVILLE BRACKET

Top Seed: GEORGIA GWINNETT COLLEGE GRIZZLIES

2. GEORGETOWN (KY) COLLEGE TIGERS    ###    3. INDIANA UNIVERSITY SOUTHEAST GRENADIERS    ###    4. SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS    ###    5. UNION COLLEGE BULLDOGS

Southeastern University Fire NEWMACON BRACKET

Top Seed: SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FIRE (Defending Champions) 

2. MIDDLE GEORGIA STATE KNIGHTS    ###   3. UNIVERSITY OF RIO GRANDE (OH) RED STORM    ###   4. HUNTINGTON UNIVERSITY FORESTERS    ###   5. UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA THUNDERBIRDS

USAO Drover newSANTA BARBARA BRACKET

Top Seed: UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & ARTS OF OKLAHOMA DROVERS

2. WESTMONT COLLEGE WARRIORS    ###   3. UNIVERSITY OF ANTELOPE VALLEY PIONEERS   ###   4. ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM   ###   5. UNIVERSITY OF JAMESTOWN JIMMIES   Continue reading →

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May 9, 2019 · 9:51 pm

FOOL KILLER: PART SIXTEEN – JAMES LARKIN PEARSON

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE

Fool Killer 1910-1929PART SIXTEEN: James Larkin Pearson, poet and newspaper man, carried on the Fool Killer tradition from 1910 to 1917, then again from 1919 to 1929. Pearson’s fellow North Carolinian Charles Napoleon Bonaparte Evans had written the Fool Killer Letters of the 19th Century so it’s appropriate that another Tar Heel continue the lore for so many years of the 20th Century.

James Larkin PearsonIn August of 1917 Pearson’s nationwide publication called The Fool-Killer changed its title and format because of America’s entry into World War One four months earlier. That change from the hard-hitting satire of Fool Killing was made to show solidarity while the war raged.

In August of 1919 Pearson changed the name back to The Fool-Killer and resumed the hard-hitting political satire. For us fans of Fool Killer lore we can put tongue in cheek and assume that the figure had gone into hibernation for a few years, like he had during the Civil War.   Continue reading →

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May 9, 2019 · 5:43 pm

COLLEGE BASEBALL: EVEN MORE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT CHAMPS

Four more tickets punched to the NAIA National Tournament.

SOONER ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

USAO Drover newCHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The top seeds – the storied UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & ARTS OF OKLAHOMA DROVERS – took on the 8th seeded SOUTHWESTERN ASSEMBLIES OF GOD UNIVERSITY LIONS. Midnight finally tolled for the Cinderella Lions as the Drovers parlayed a 3-1 1st Inning lead into a mammoth 13-2 advantage in the 3rd.

USAO continued dominating the rest of the way, folding, spindling and mutilating SAGU to the tune of TWENTY-TWO to THREE! Ricardo Velez pitched for the win. * THE DROVERS ARE CHAMPIONS OF THE SAC TOURNAMENT * 

RED RIVER ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

LSU Shreveport Pilots NEWCHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The top seeded LSU-SHREVEPORT PILOTS faced the 6 seeds – the JARVIS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE BULLDOGS. The Bulldogs held a 2-1 edge by the 2nd Inning but the Pilots knotted things up at 2-2 in the 4th.

Jarvis Christian College went back on top 3-2 in the 7th Inning but LSU-Shreveport tied up the score 3-3 in the 8th and then won the game 4-3 in the 9th. Pitcher Brendan Owens notched the W. * THE PILOTS ARE CHAMPIONS OF THE RRAC TOURNAMENT * Continue reading →

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May 8, 2019 · 8:05 pm

DEMOCRAT ATROCITY ROUNDUP: STACEY ABRAMS EDITION

Stacey AbramsDemocrat Stacey Abrams is still denying that she lost her failed campaign to become governor of Georgia in 2018. She insists she won it. 

Yes, just like career criminal Hillary “Fake Charity” Clinton, ANOTHER Democrat – the party which pretends President Trump will be as destructively fascistic as they are if he loses his reelection bid in 2020 – has blatantly defied election results.

In fact, Abrams blatantly said that Democrats “don’t have to concede anymore” (see below). She claimed that since “the system” is “unfair” then election results under an unfair system don’t need to be honored. Except, apparently, when Democrats win. Seriously, it’s ridiculous how Democrat fascists can support Abrams’ remarks (silence IS consent, Democrats are forever sniveling) yet claim it will be horrible if President Trump behaves the same way.

Stacey Abrams and Hillary Clinton

TWO DEMOCRAT FASCISTS WHO REJECT THE ELECTORAL PROCESS.

So, Stacey and your fellow Democrat fascists, how about when Republicans of Color lose elections? Is that, too, just a sign of an unfair system? Should THOSE election results be disregarded, too? If prominent Democrat Party members like Abrams – who is often touted as a potential Vice Presidential candidate in 2020 – publicly endorse the notion that election results don’t need to be accepted then that’s an open invitation to violence.

And by the way, DON’T BLAME THIS ON ABRAMS’ RACE. Plenty of Candidates of Color who are Republicans are mature and accept election results. IT IS STACEY ABRAMS’ STATUS AS A DEMOCRAT THAT MAKES HER ENDORSE THE FASCIST NOTION OF IGNORING ELECTION RESULTS.

PEOPLE CANNOT HELP WHAT THEIR SKIN COLOR IS, BUT THEY CAN HELP WHAT POLITICAL PARTY THEY BELONG TO. MAKING THE CONSCIOUS DECISION TO BELONG TO THE PARTY OF THE KU KLUX KLAN, SLAVERY, JIM CROW, THE TRAIL OF TEARS, THE JAPANESE INTERNMENT, THE REJECTION OF ELECTION RESULTS, ETC SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT A PERSON’S NATURE.

#WALKAWAY FROM THE DEMOCRATS AND BECOME AN INDEPENDENT VOTER LIKE SO MANY OF US FORMER DEMOCRATS HAVE. The Democrat Party is too disgusting to be associated with. It’s a home now for fascists like Stacey Abrams and anti-Semitic hatemongers like Ilhan Omar.

Continue reading →

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May 7, 2019 · 11:07 pm

FLASHMAN OF ARABIA: LOST FLASHMAN PAPERS

henry cavill good flashmanFor Flashman Down Under, Flashman in the Opium War & Flashman and the Kings click HERE  

For Flashman on the Gold Coast click HERE  .

Balladeer’s Blog now moves on to another Harry Flashman adventure referred to but never completed before George MacDonald Fraser’s death.

Lee Horsley Flashman

IF HE WAS BRITISH, LEE HORSLEY WOULD HAVE MADE A PERFECT HARRY FLASHMAN.

Projected Title: FLASHMAN OF ARABIA

Time Period: 1852-1854

The Setup: Sometime in the second half of 1852 Harry Flashman at last arrives back in England from his travels which began in 1848. The scandals he fled have fallen into relative obscurity and he’s getting some positive acclaim over his recent experiences during the Australian Gold Rush and earlier participation in a wagon train across America.

In addition he’s finally gotten to see his son “Havvy” (not Harry), the child his wife Elspeth was pregnant with when his travels began.

The Story: The one and only Richard Burton, viewing Harry as a kindred spirit, reaches out via correspondence and personally to encourage Flashman to write some papers and deliver public talks about his journey through America and Australia. Always ready to play to his public, and now discovering the raconteur side of his personality, Harry writes a (very) bowdlerized account of his adventures of the past four years and even delivers a few talks at which he meets Burton in person.  

Burton's bookThe duo enjoy diving into the darker and more forbidden side of life where sex, booze and other diversions are concerned. Flashman happens to be with Burton in Egypt in early 1853 when the famous explorer begins his journey to Medina and Mecca disguised as a Muslim.

We will learn he originally invited Harry to accompany him, since our protagonist was fluent in the necessary languages and was well-versed in Muslim customs from his military service in Afghanistan in the early 1840s. Flashman would have initially turned down the offer and stayed behind in Egypt until, getting into his usual trouble from boozing, whoring and gambling he would wind up fleeing for his life. Continue reading →

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May 7, 2019 · 3:57 pm

COLLEGE BASEBALL: MORE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT CHAMPS

Five more tickets punched to the NAIA National Tournament.

RIVER STATES CONFERENCE

Rio Grande Red Storm Big OCHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The last 2 teams standing in this Conference Tournament were the 4 seeds – the UNIVERSITY OF RIO GRANDE (OH) RED STORM – and the 3rd seeded INDIANA UNIVERSITY AT KOKOMO COUGARS. When the Cougars grabbed a 6-1 lead in the 1st Inning few could have guessed this game would last TWELVE INNINGS.

The Red Storm kept IU-Kokomo off the scoreboard for the entire rest of the game while adding Runs in the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th Innings for a 6-6 tie. Neither team scored in the 10th or 11th but Rio Grande emerged with a 7-6 victory in the 12th. Zach Harvey pitched for the win. * THE RED STORM ARE CHAMPIONS OF THE RSC TOURNAMENT *

THE SUN CONFERENCE

thomas-university-night-hawks-bigCHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The Cinderella 6th seeded THOMAS UNIVERSITY NIGHT HAWKS remained THE story of the Sun Conference tourney as they battled the 3 seeds – the WEBBER INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY WARRIORS – for the title.

A 1-0 Night Hawks edge in the 2nd Inning became a 1-1 tie in the 4th. Thomas University drove in 3 more Runs in the 5th Inning to take a 4-1 advantage and rode 3 more in the 7th to a 7-1 triumph. Chance Carter was the winning Pitcher. * THE NIGHT HAWKS ARE CHAMPIONS OF THE SUN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT *  Continue reading →

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May 7, 2019 · 10:40 am

NICK GILDER: HOT CHILD IN THE CITY

Balladeer’s Blog’s feature Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead is back with Nick Gelded Gilder and his Wide World of High-Pitched Voices hit Hot Child in the City. I was tempted to start a new category titled I Always Thought That Was A Woman Singing That but decided against it.

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May 6, 2019 · 8:37 pm

FOOL KILLER: PART FIFTEEN – O HENRY

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE

Matthew as the Fool Killer would be perfectPART FIFTEEN: Last time around I examined Joel Chandler Harris’ 1902 story Flingin’ Jim And His Fool-Killer, set in Georgia in October of 1872, plus Ridgway Hill’s Facts For The Fool-Killer, set in and around Buffalo, NY in 1909.

Now we back up a year for the great O Henry’s story The Fool-Killer, published as part of The Voice of the City in 1908. In his younger years O Henry (William Sidney Porter) had personally known Charles Napoleon Bonaparte Evans, the editor of the Milton Chronicle.

Evans was the man behind the earliest written examples of Fool Killer stories and published them as if they were letters from the “real” Fool Killer himself, who claimed Jesse Holmes was his actual name. O Henry started his short story The Fool-Killer by recapping the fame of the folk-figure, claiming he was known “from Roanoke to the Rio Grande.” 

In apparent deference to his old friend Charles Evans, Porter kept Jesse Holmes as the Fool Killer’s “real” name, but introduced some of his own innovations to Fool Killer lore.      Continue reading →

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May 6, 2019 · 4:59 am

EVEN TWO CNN REPORTERS ADMIT JOE BIDEN IS LYING ABOUT TRUMP’S “FINE PEOPLE” REMARK

biden two gun poseWhen even some reporters at the Democrat media outlet CNN realize that the lies Democrats tell about President Trump’s Charlottesville remarks have been exposed you’d think Joe Biden would know better than to try peddling them.

Or maybe not. The reason so many of us former Democrats decided to #WALKAWAY is because being a Democrat now means lying on a daily basis.

At any rate CNN’s Jake Tapper and Steve Cortes called out the lies Biden was throwing around about President Trump’s remarks about Charlottesville last year. Trump NEVER called hatemongers like Nazis and Klansmen “fine people.” The “very fine people on both sides” remark clearly referred to there being fine people on both sides of the public debate regarding old war monuments and on what happened at Charlottesville.

#WalkAwayDemocrats and their media outlets have been trying to sell their lies about Trump’s remarks ever since then, with Crazy Joe Biden even perpetuating that lie when he joined 9,783 other Democrats in the presidential race.

Anyway, as even veteran Trump-hater Jake Tapper had to admit:

“Now, elsewhere in those remarks, Trump did condemn neo-Nazis and white supremacists. So he’s not saying that the neo-Nazis and white supremacists are very fine people.”

That rare moment of honesty from Tapper was good to see, but the way so many Democrats continue pushing that lie wins stronger support for Trump among his supporters and people on the fence. As the now-cliché goes about Democrats’ dishonest attacks on the President, “Do you want more Trump? Because THIS is how you get more Trump.” 

Among the many sources where you can verify that President Trump clearly condemned the Neo-Nazis, Antifa Fascists and Neo-Klansmen and did NOT call them “fine people”: Continue reading →

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May 5, 2019 · 11:28 pm

COLLEGE BASEBALL: CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS ROLL ON

CHICAGOLAND COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

TRINITY CHRISTIAN TROLLDAY TWO, GAME ONE: The 4 seeds – the TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE TROLLS – took the diamond against the 8th seeded INDIANA UNIVERSITY AT SOUTH BEND TITANS. Neither team drove in a Run until the Titans grabbed a 2-0 lead in the 3rd Inning.

The Trolls pulled to within 2-1 in the 4th, then knotted things up at 2-2 in the 5th. The score remained deadlocked until the bottom of the 9th when Trinity Christian College won the game 3-2. Trolls Pitcher Bryan Vanderlee got the W. Continue reading →

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