It’s Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead, one of Balladeer’s Blog’s recurring bits. This time around it’s Soul Asylum with their song Somebody to Shove.
Tag Archives: Balladeer’s Blog
FINAL FOUR SET IN THE NJCAA PLUS DAY TWO ACTION IN THE NAIA
NJCAA DIVISION ONE
FINAL FOUR: FIRST BERTH – The 8 seeds – the RANGER COLLEGE RANGERS – took on the top seeded NORTHWEST FLORIDA STATE RAIDERS. Stifling defense was the theme of the opening Half, which ended with the Rangers chasing the Raiders 29-26. From there Ranger College outscored Northwest Florida State 40-34 for a comeback win in this 66-63 Upset. Jaren English led the Rangers with 24 points.
FINAL FOUR: SECOND BERTH – In this game the 4th seeded COFFEYVILLE COLLEGE RED RAVENS did battle with the 5 seeds – the NORTH CENTRAL MISSOURI PIRATES. A 32-31 Halftime edge for the Pirates wound up as a 60-60 tie to end Regulation. In Overtime the Red Ravens emerged with a 67-66 triumph. Keon Queen led Coffeyville with a Double Double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
NAIA NATIONAL TOURNAMENT DAY ONE RESULTS PLUS MORE NJCAA ACTION
NAIA DIVISION ONE
DAY ONE, GAME ONE – The LSU-SHREVEPORT PILOTS (Riverboat Pilots) clashed with the WILLIAM JESSUP UNIVERSITY WARRIORS. The Pilots were chasing the Warriors 32-29 at Halftime but outscored them 54-33 after the break for an 83-65 comeback win. LSU-Shreveport was led by Jeff Garrett with his Double Double of 20 points and 13 rebounds.
DAY ONE, GAME TWO – In this game the ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM took on the WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY PIONEERS (should be the Flying W’s). The Firestorm held a slight 41-40 edge at the Half then left the Pioneers a bit further behind to defeat them 81-73. Callum Lawson led the way for Arizona Christian University with a Double Double of 23 points and 11 rebounds.
DAY ONE, GAME THREE – The WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN faced the VANGUARD UNIVERSITY LIONS. The defenses dominated in the opening Half, which ended with the Statesmen clinging to a 29-28 lead. After the break William Penn U got some more separation from the Lions for a 69-53 victory. Sixteen points from Abrian Edwards led the way for the Statesmen. Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
FLASHMAN NOVELS: TENTH PLACE
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.
10. ROYAL FLASH (1970)
Time Period: The Revolutions of 1848 (1847-1848)
Favorite Book Blurbs: “Just when the Revolutions of 1848 are sweeping across Europe … Just when the masses are rising up against their ages-old masters … Just when no throne seems safe from the emerging wave of egalitarianism … Yes, just when being a monarch is synonymous with being a marked man, guess who should find himself forced into masquerading as a certain pompous, blue-blooded boor? “
“Horse riding, sword fighting, brawling, drinking and humping, Harry is always in the thick of 19th Century history! This time the lusty scoundrel is tangled up in political intrigues involving Otto Von Bismarck, Lola Montez, Karl Marx and the Schleswig-Holstein Question.”
NOTE: Please don’t judge this novel based on the god-awful movie adaptation from 1975. For the role of Harry Flashman you need a handsome, charming British version of James Garner. Alan Bates would have made a much better Flashman than Malcolm McDowell in my opinion, but he was instead cast as Rudi Von Starnberg (I could picture the 1975 Timothy Dalton as Rudi to Bates’ Flashman.)
And yes, I know George MacDonald Fraser worked on the screenplay but in my view Director Richard Lester overdid the goofiness level on the movie, just like he did with Superman III. Instead of shooting for Anthony Valentine’s Raffles series crossed with Tom Jones and Barry Lyndon, Lester treated this like a British Don Knotts movie. Or, God forbid, Jerry Lewis.
Synopsis: Harry Flashman, fleeing a police raid on a gambling establishment he was frequenting, winds up meeting the legendary real-life adventuress Lola Montez, one of the few women to tug at Flashman’s heart, not just his man-parts. During their romantic nine-day wonder of wild love-making and tempestuous quarreling, Harry also winds up clashing with future statesman Otto Von Bismarck in clubrooms, on the hunt and on the riding range.
Following a bitter breakup with the lovely Lola as well as outdoing Bismarck on the social circuit, Flashman little dreams that the vengeful duo will team up and use him as a sacrificial pawn in political intrigues. When Lola uses her overwhelming beauty and dazzling personality to wrap King Ludwig of Bavaria around her little finger (as historically DID happen) she summons Harry to Munich, supposedly to bury the hatchet and join her stud-line of lovers on the side. Continue reading
Filed under Neglected History, opinion, Pulp Heroes
NCAA D2 ELITE EIGHT SET, PLUS NJCAA ACTION CONTINUES
NCAA DIVISION TWO
ELITE EIGHT: FIRST BERTH – One of the remaining 1 seeds – the POINT LOMA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY SEA LIONS – took on the 3rd seeded SAINT MARTIN’S UNIVERSITY SAINTS. The Sea Lions put up 30 points in the 1st Half compared to the 24 scored by the Saints. In the 2nd Half the teams notched another 30 points each, giving Point Loma Nazarene University a 60-54 victory. Daulton Hommes led the Sea Lions with 25 points.
ELITE EIGHT: SECOND BERTH – The 4th seeded UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN INDIANA SCREAMING EAGLES did battle with their Region’s 2 seeds – the BELLARMINE UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS. The Screaming Eagles seemed doomed to defeat at Halftime, trailing the Knights 42-26. However, from there USI outscored Bellarmine U 50-27 for a 76-69 comeback Upset. Twenty-seven points from Alex Stein led the Screaming Eagles.
ELITE EIGHT: THIRD BERTH – Another remaining 1 seed – the NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SHARKS – went up against the 3rd seeded LYNN UNIVERSITY FIGHTING KNIGHTS. The Sharks methodically parlayed a 44-39 Halftime advantage into a comfortable 89-74 triumph. Nova Southeastern University was led by David Dennis with his 28 points. Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
PULP HERO THE NYCTALOPE: MORE BLOG POSTS WILL BE COMING
Balladeer’s Blog’s posts about neglected Pulp Heroes like the Nyctalope, G-8 and His Battle Aces and others have proven enduringly popular over the years. My work on the then-obscure Moon Man from the 1930s caught the eye of author Greg Hatcher, who was kind enough to thank me for my synopses of all 38 original Moon Man stories AND to send me a copy of his story in the 2014 collection of new Moon Man (and other hero) tales by modern authors.
Since I’m as vain as the next guy I’ll even thank Mr Hatcher again for his kind November 2013 note that read in part: “I was writing to thank you for your invaluable index (Of Moon Man stories). I literally couldn’t have done it without your scholarship to fall back on … I thought the least I could do was let you have mine in advance as a thank-you, and also let you see the afterword where you and your blog are acknowledged.”
Anyway, writing a blog isn’t JUST about getting death-threats and such. You sometimes hear from very kind-hearted people like Greg Hatcher.
This brings us back to the Nyctalope, the neglected bionic French Pulp Hero created in the VERY early 20th century by France’s sci fi icon Jean de la Hire. My review of some of the Nyctalope novels in the original French predated a couple of the recently published English language translations and assorted readers were wondering when I would finish the whole series, like I did with G-8, Silver John and Northwest Smith.
Rest assured my reviews of The Moroccan Sphinx, The Amazons of Everest, Voyage of the Nyctalope, The Nude Sorceress, Assassination of the Nyctalope and The Mysterious Skeleton are forthcoming … Just like my completion of the Son of the Black Mass samurai films & novels, The Flashman Papers and other items. Hopefully we’ll all still be alive by then.
FOR MY ORIGINAL NYCTALOPE ARTICLE CLICK HERE
Filed under Pulp Heroes
NJCAA COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT ACTION
NJCAA DIVISION ONE
DAY ONE, GAME ONE – Tipping off the 2019 National Tournament for the NJCAA Division One was this clash between the 17 seeds – the CAPE FEAR COLLEGE SEA DEVILS – and the 16th seeded ARIZONA WESTERN COLLEGE MATADORS. The Sea Devils led 48-40 at Halftime, following which points continued to fly like shrapnel. In the end Cape Fear College defeated the Matadors by a Century Club-level score of 104-90. JJ Miles put up 28 points to lead the Sea Devils.
DAY ONE, GAME TWO – Next the 20th seeded KASKASKIA COLLEGE BLUE ANGELS faced the 13 seeds – the SHERIDAN COLLEGE GENERALS. The Blue Angels put the Generals on Upset Alert by the break with their 47-37 advantage. From there Kaskaskia College managed to eke out just an inch more separation to win the game 92-80. Parker Dortch couldn’t lose, leading the way for the Blue Angels with his 21 points. Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
ENDGAME: MOVIE REVIEW
ENDGAME (1983) – More Weirdness at the End of the World with yet another Italian imitation of The Road Warrior. These Spaghetti-pocalypse movies were to the 80s what Spaghetti Westerns were to the 60s and 70s.
Directed by the legendary Joe D’Amato under one of his rolodex-full of aliases, Endgame is one of the most watchable of these cheapjack end of the world exercises. It’s not good, mind you, just watchable.
D’Amato wasn’t the only one operating under an assumed name in this movie. Laura Gemser, cult sexploitation starlet, stars under the name Moira Chen. She portrays Lilith, a telepathic mutant leader. In Endgame‘s 2025 setting, World War Three has come and gone and mutants are feared and persecuted because of their paranormal powers.
Though there are scattered portions of Post-Apocalypse America where mutants are accepted and other scattered portions where mutants rule, in the big cities mutants are hunted down and killed on sight.
Lilith works like a figurative Mutant Called Moses (with apologies to Harriet Tubman) and has been heroically smuggling mutants out of the cities, Underground Railroad style.
Her cover was blown recently and she needs to get herself and one last gathering of mutant fugitives out of New York City, to the west and safety. Among those mutants is Tommy, a little boy with so much power that Lilith has been telepathically suppressing it. Unchecked, Tommy could level whole neighborhoods.
The film’s male lead is Ron Shannon, played by Al Cliver aka Pierluigi Conti, fresh off my favorite BAD Post-Apocalypse movie, 2020 Texas Gladiators in 1982. Ron Shannon is your regulation world-weary, burned-out warrior, highly skilled at armed and unarmed combat. Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
COLLEGE BASKETBALL: DAY THREE RESULTS FROM NCAA D2 TOURNAMENT
NCAA DIVISION TWO
DAY THREE, GAME ONE – One of the 1 seeds – the NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY SHARKS (“or something” as Nicolas Cage would say) – took on their Region’s 5th seeded UNIVERSITY OF WEST ALABAMA TIGERS. By Halftime the Sharks were up on the Tigers 41-31 and for the rest of the game NSU kept their opponents at roughly that same distance. The final tally was Sharks 89 West Alabama 80. THIRTY-TWO points from Mark Matthews led Nova Southeastern.
DAY THREE, GAME TWO – The 2nd seeded AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY JAGUARS faced the 3 seeds – the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AT AIKEN PACERS. The Pacers were leading 37-28 at the break but the Jaguars roared back to force Overtime with an 84-84 tie. In the extra session Augusta University won it 93-89. Tyvez Monroe led the Jaguars with 21 points.
DAY THREE, GAME THREE – This game pitted another 1 seed – the QUEENS UNIVERSITY OF CHARLOTTE ROYALS – against the 4th seeded CATAWBA COLLEGE INDIANS. The Royals had compiled a 44-35 advantage by the midpoint but then had to hold on tight for a 96-93 victory. Daniel Carr put up THIRTY-THREE points to lead Queens University of Charlotte. Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
NCCAA, NJCAA AND D3 CHAMPS CROWNED PLUS MORE D2 ACTION
NCCAA DIVISION ONE
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The top seeded CEDARVILLE UNIVERSITY YELLOW JACKETS faced the 2 seeds – the ROBERTS WESLEYAN COLLEGE REDHAWKS – for the title in the NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association). The opening Half was a defensive epic which ended with the teams tied up at 26-26. After the break the Yellow Jackets mustered a bit of separation from the Redhawks for a 64-58 victory. Conner TenHove’s 14 points led Cedarville U. * THE YELLOW JACKETS ARE NCCAA CHAMPIONS *
NJCAA DIVISION THREE
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The last two teams standing in this Tournament were the 2 seeds – the HERKIMER COLLEGE GENERALS – and the 5th seeded ROCK VALLEY COLLEGE GOLDEN EAGLES. An Upset seemed to be in the offing as the Golden Eagles led 37-31 at Halftime. From there the Generals came from behind to win the game by a comfortable 72-60. Herkimer College ends the season with one lone loss. * THE GENERALS ARE CHAMPIONS OF NJCAA DIVISION THREE * Continue reading
Filed under College Basketball
