Author Archives: balladeer

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About balladeer

I am passionately interested in college sports, ancient Greek comedies, bad/weird movies, mythology, the American Revolution, Puck Magazine, World War I, U.S. Presidential history, silent movies, the English Civil War, epic, lyric and comic poetry, U.S. Supreme Court history, the Revolutions of 1848, the Philippine War and old pulp heroes like The Moon Man, Pilot G8, Silver John and The Rio Kid.
February 4, 2018 · 11:54 pm

EIGHT MORE COOL FOOTBALL HELMETS FROM NEGLECTED TEAMS

punxsutawney chucksPUNXSATAWNEY CHUCKS

Comment: With Groundhog Day just a few days back this is a very appropriate team to start out with!

The Punxsatawney Chucks (short for Woodchucks) not only have appealing helmets but they deserve the world’s thanks for not taking the easy way out and calling themselves the Punxsatawney Phils.

Holy Cross CrusadersHOLY CROSS CRUSADERS

Comment: It’s no secret that “Crusaders” is one of the coolest names for sports teams.

And if your institution is called Holy Cross then why not go with the stark simplicity of these lids? I really like the white on green color scheme of these helmets, too. Gold on green would be the only thing better.

conestoga valley buckskinsCONESTOGA VALLEY BUCKSKINS

Comment: Okay, so we were all hoping for a Conestoga Wagon to be on the helmets of this team, but still …

The more I looked at these helmets the more they grew on me. What finally pushed me off the fence was the infinitely cool team name Buckskins.  Continue reading →

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February 3, 2018 · 5:55 pm

TOP FIVE FLASHMAN NOVELS: NUMBER THREE

For Balladeer’s Blog’s Number One Harry Flashman Novel click HERE 

For background info on George MacDonald Fraser’s infamous anti-hero Harry Paget Flashman you can click the above link.

Flashman's Lady3. FLASHMAN’S LADY (1977)

Time Period: 1842-1845

The Flashman Papers jump around to various periods in Ol’ Flash Harry’s life. This particular novel covers our scurvy protagonist’s bed and battle adventures following his triumphant return from the First Afghan War all the way up to his pivotal role in a neglected Anglo-French action.

Along the way he clashes with London gangsters, battles Borneo Pirates and becomes a sex-slave/ military aide to an infamous African Queen. 

Favorite Book Blurb: “Harry Flashman, that swashbuckling gremlin in the works of 19th Century history, is back in an around-the- world adventure that would turn Queen Victoria pale with shock and James Bond green with envy!”

NOTE: This novel is called Flashman’s Lady not just because of his beautiful blonde wife Elspeth’s larger than usual role but because excerpts from her diary complement Flashman’s memoirs in this tale. As all Flashman fans know, Elspeth cheats on Harry just as much as he cheats on her but his ego inevitably prompts him to half-believe the outrageous excuses she uses to cover her affairs. She outdoes herself in this story.  

Flashman's Lady 2Synopsis: As the story begins Harry Flashman is still enjoying War Hero status and converting that fame into easier access to the bedrooms of various ladies. Presently the scoundrel finds himself pressed into playing on a Cricket team with some of his former classmates from Rugby School in Warwickshire.

Everyone tactfully avoids mentioning Flashman’s expulsion for drunken misconduct years earlier and he agrees. Always as physically strong as he is morally weak, Harry shines as his team’s Bowler (Pitcher for us Yanks) and leads them to victory. 

That kicks off a successful run for Flashman playing Bowler in a series of those quasi-official, no-American-who-has-ever-lived-can-understand Cricket matches like you find in Raffles stories. Harry being Harry he also begins making side money shaving points and throwing games in league with some London gangsters. Continue reading →

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February 3, 2018 · 1:31 pm

THE MEMO: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Democrat Crime FamilyI’m still weighing and sifting everything from the explosive Memo that the nation is talking about. It looks very, very bad for Hillary, Obama and the rest of the anti-Trump cabal.

Right now the Democrats are proving as reluctant as many Republicans were to accept their own side’s exposed abuses years ago.

The anti-Trump cabal’s abuses were far worse, apparently, since they assumed Hillary would win and that none of their crimes and other misdeeds would ever have come to light. No wonder they’ve been raving lunatics since President Trump won.

And the Democrats’ house organs are complicit in the attempted coverup. The Washington Post should change its motto to “Democracy Dies At Our Hands, God Willing.”  Continue reading →

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February 2, 2018 · 11:44 pm

BILLY JOEL: SAY GOODBYE TO HOLLYWOOD

Once again it’s Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring bit “Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead.” And Billy Joel isn’t dead yet, he just looks that way. (I’m kidding!)

 

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February 2, 2018 · 10:00 am

IT’S JAMES JOYCE’S BIRTHDAY!

jamesjoyceHAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMES JOYCE! His works got me hooked in my teens when I really related to his character Stephen Dedalus as he rejected his religion and indulged what I call his “young and pretentious side” in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I wore out my copy of Joyce’s novel Ulysses and continue to mark Bloom’s Day to this very day.

Over the years Finnegans Wake replaced Ulysses as my favorite Joyce novel and I’m fonder than many people are of his play Exiles. Naturally, I’m also into his “epiphanies” in Dubliners and, poetry geek that I am, even Pomes Penyeach and Chamber Music. So, if you live in Ireland, say hello to Anna Livia Plurabelle for me today!   Continue reading →

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February 2, 2018 · 5:35 am

WOMEN’S COLLEGE SWIMMING & DIVING RANKINGS FROM BALLADEER’S BLOG

Per the Glitternight Index here’s the latest:

SCAD BeesNAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) – 1. SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN BEES    ###     2. LINDENWOOD UNIVERSITY AT BELLEVILLE LYNX    ###     3. COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES    ###    4. BRENAU UNIVERSITY GOLDEN TIGERS    ###     5. LOYOLA UNIVERSITY (LA) WOLFPACK    ###      Continue reading →

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February 1, 2018 · 9:49 pm

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEMOCRATS: PRESIDENT TRUMP’S SOTU IS A TRIUMPH

donald-trump-and-flagPresident Donald Trump – America’s de facto Third Party President AND “the new Franklin Roosevelt” – delivered his first State of the Union address Tuesday Night to an approving citizenry … and to a dour-faced and hate-filled Democrat Gang.

The Democrats have become so twisted and bitter they seem to WANT to be known as a one-issue party, and that one issue is ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS UBER ALLES! According to some of those polls that Democrats eat, sleep and breathe by, more and more African-Americans are noticing that Democrats have brutally tossed them aside to pander to illegals.

As just one of many examples, one of the African-American parents whose children died at the hands of illegal immigrants has been speaking out since Tuesday night about how disgusted he is that the Democrats – even their Kapos in the Congressional Black Caucus – refused to show any compassion for the plight of families like his.

Stolen Lives QuiltThe Democrats are so far-gone on this issue- and have taken to rejecting ANY voices that tell them how callous they come across – that they refuse to even put on a public show of mourning the dead victims of their beloved illegal aliens. What a pack of unfeeling political robots. 

But enough about that one lone issue. President Trump highlighted his many, many accomplishments and once again came off looking like a reasonable, compassionate leader while the Democrats looked bitter, hate-filled and partisan.  Continue reading →

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January 31, 2018 · 11:50 pm

ASK BALLADEER: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO “AGENTS OF I.S.L.A.M?”

Mascot FOUR original pics

Balladeer’s Blog

As ever I’m all about you readers, so here’s another edition of Ask Balladeer. Many of you have been asking whatever happened to my mock t.v. series Agents of I.S.L.A.M.

Now that’ll take ya back!

Actually, that non-existent program was just a maneuver of mine years ago when my blog posts about Muslim fanatics were temporarily being shadow-banned. That conflict has been over and done with for a long time now, so I won’t dredge it back up by mentioning specific sites that were doing it.

What happened was they had started screening and blocking any blog posts from me which included the words “Muslim” or “Islam.” Since they thought I was being “controversial” by writing about those violent attacks I then played a game of being even MORE outrageous, getting the point across but without ever using the words “Muslim” or “Islam.”

The result was my series of mock reviews about episodes of a non-existent television series called Agents of I.S.L.A.M. (Intolerant Savages Loathing All Modernity)

Without using the two trigger words I would go on and on describing these Agents of I.S.L.A.M. and their attacks on innocent people. With tongue in cheek I even used to pretend to be baffled about what particular religion, if any, the deadly agents of the title belonged to.

In the end a compromise was reached. The offending sites agreed not to shadow-ban EVERY post I made regardless of subject matter as long as I went back to my usual, less sensational Muslim Fascist Atrocity Roundup format. They also agreed not to shadow-ban THOSE blog posts anymore. And we’ve all kept our ends of the bargain since. 

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January 31, 2018 · 2:05 am

TOP FIVE HARRY FLASHMAN NOVELS: NUMBER TWO

For Balladeer’s Blog’s Number One Harry Flashman Novel click HERE  For background info on George MacDonald Fraser’s infamous anti-hero Harry Paget Flashman you can also click that link. 

Flashman in the Great Game2. FLASHMAN IN THE GREAT GAME (1975)

Time Period: The Great Mutiny (1857-1858)

This Flashman novel comes in a very close second to my top selection, which I examined last time around. Ultimately the way that a portion of Flashman in the Great Game gets a wee bit unfocused relegated it to the Number 2 spot.

Synopsis: As the title indicates, this time around Harry Flashman, the most self-serving and roguish Cavalry Officer in Queen Victoria’s army, gets caught up in what diplomats of the 1800s called “The Great Game.” Said game involved the figurative chess match played by Great Britain, Russia and other powers as they all angled to extend or maintain their power and influence in Central Asia, especially India.   

Alan Bates -better Flashman than MalcolmLord Palmerston of Her Majesty’s Government is wary of a potential uprising among the Indian troops employed by the British East India Company and of Russian interference in the form of Flashman’s old foe, (the real life) Count Ignatieff.

Once again the fate of nations rests on the thoroughly unreliable shoulders of Harry Paget Flashman. (See pic of Alan Bates at left)

Laila Rouass perfect LakshmibaiIn India our swashbuckling protagonist struggles to stay alive amid assassination attempts by Russian agents while vying with Count Ignatieff for political influence in the court of (the real life) Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi. (See pic of Laila Rouass to the right)

Lakshmibai’s overwhelming beauty, feisty spirit, skill at horsemanship and magnificent fencing abilities make her one of the few women to actually tug at Flashman’s heart and not just his man-parts.

In real life many prudish British politicians of the time called her “The Jezebel of Jhansi” over her sexual openness but such a derogatory nickname would only enhance her standing in the eyes of the lustful Colonel Flashman.       Continue reading →

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January 30, 2018 · 11:35 pm

AEROSMITH: THE OTHER SIDE

Once again it’s Balladeer’s Blog’s “Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead.” This time around it’s Aerosmith and their song The Other Side. 

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