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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF TEAMS IN NCAA DIVISION THREE FOR 2018

Balladeer’s Blog presents the 32 playoff teams in NCAA Division Three and their opening round opponents for this Saturday.

Whitewater Warhawks helmet newUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT WHITEWATER

Team Name – WARHAWKS

First Round Opponents – Eureka College

Eureka red devilsEUREKA COLLEGE

Team Name – RED DEVILS

First Round Opponents – UW-Whitewater

St Norbert College Green KnightsSAINT NORBERT COLLEGE

Team Name – GREEN KNIGHTS

First Round Opponents – Trine University  Continue reading

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DURAN DURAN: GIRLS ON FILM

Balladeer’s Blog’s Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead returns with a look at the Duran Duran song Girls on Film

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2018 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF TEAMS IN NCAA DIVISION TWO

Here are the 28 teams in the 2018 playoff field in NCAA Division Two. The four 1 Seeds get a Bye in this Saturday’s First Round.

Minnesota State MavericksONE SEEDS – The MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS (overall top seed), the NOTRE DAME COLLEGE FALCONS, the VALDOSTA STATE BLAZERS and the OUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY TIGERS.

SUPER REGION FOUR OPENING ROUND GAMES

Tarleton State Texans helmetAzusa Pacific CougarsThe 2nd seeded TARLETON STATE TEXANS

will face the 7 seeds – the AZUSA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY COUGARS

Minnesota-DuluthThe 3rd seeded UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA AT DULUTHTexas A&M Commerce Lions BULLDOGS

will face the 6 seeds – the TEXAS A&M AT COMMERCE LIONS (Defending Champs) Continue reading

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NAIA COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF TEAMS FOR 2018

It’s that time of year again! Balladeer’s Blog will, of course, offer coverage of every game in the NAIA playoffs. Here are this Saturday’s 8 Round One matchups.

Morningside Mustangs(1) The MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE MUSTANGS

Great Plains Athletic Conference Champions

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Rocky Mountain College(16) The ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE BATTLIN’ BEARS

Frontier Conference Champions

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Marian Knights helmet new(2) The MARIAN UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS

MSFA Mideast Division Champions

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saint-xavier-cougars-helmet-new(15) The SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS

MSFA Midwest Division Champions

. Continue reading

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RANDOM WEIRDNESS V

OUT – Rapping their knuckles with a ruler.  IN – Pumping the little bastards full of lead.

Cleopatra Wong

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WORLD WAR ONE: SOME INTRIGUING BOOKS

With today’s marking of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War here are some books on that often neglected topic. (I will omit Barbara Tuchman’s Guns of August because of how well-known it is.) 

Hat in the Ring GangTHE HAT IN THE RING GANG: THE COMBAT HISTORY OF THE 94th AERO SQUADRON IN WORLD WAR ONE – Written by Charles Woolley, this excellent book covers America’s 94th Aero Squadron aka The Hat in the Ring Gang.

When it comes to Flying Aces of World War One the Americans in the Lafayette Escadrille get the lion’s share of the attention. That’s ironic since Eddie Rickenbacker, America’s greatest ace of the war, served in the Hat in the Ring Gang along with many other famous paladins of the skies. To buy it click HERE 

Doughboy WarDOUGHBOY WAR: THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN WORLD WAR I – Written/ edited by James H Hallas. I feel this book is perfect for people who are just diving into World War One and don’t want inundated with all of the overwhelming details of more involved works. Doughboy War covers every aspect of American soldiers’ experiences in the Great War, often in their own words.

Follow them from enlistment, training and crossing the Atlantic to facing action in Europe, including accounts of the ordeals faced by wounded Doughboys. To buy it click HERE    Continue reading

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HAPPY VETERANS DAY 2018

Veterans DayWell, it’s been ONE HUNDRED YEARS since November 11th, 1918 saw the end of World War One, or the Great War as it was called before anyone knew a second global conflict would occur. As we all know the date eventually became designated as the day for honoring the people who make it possible for the rest of us to lead our lives in relative safety. 

Irrational political partisans often forget that the only reason any of them have the luxury of sitting back and making pompous, self-righteous pronouncements is because of the men and women who go out and actually DO something.  Continue reading

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM NOVEMBER 10th

HEADLINES

Valdosta_StNUMBER THREE GETS TAKEN DOWN – In NCAA Division Two the 6th ranked VALDOSTA STATE BLAZERS played host to the nation’s number 3 UNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA WOLVES. A 10-7 1st Quarter edge for the Blazers turned into a 34-21 lead at Halftime. After the break Valdosta State coasted to a 47-31 upset of the Wolves.

Baker U Wildcats helmetDEFEAT FOR TWO NUMBER NINES – Over in the NAIA the number 14 BAKER UNIVERSITY WILDCATS took the field against the visiting 9th ranked EVANGEL UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS and toppled them 19-7   ###    And down in NCAA Division Three the (22) BETHEL (MN) ROYALS downed the (9) UNIVERSITY OF SAINT THOMAS TOMMIES 21-15. Continue reading

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MIDTERMS 2018 EXPLAINED FOR OVERSEAS READERS

Schumer cryingBalladeer’s Blog provides a look at the midterm elections for overseas readers since so many of you have asked for clarification amid the Democrat versus Republican smoke-blowing since Tuesday night. As always I’m a bit moved and humbled when you readers ask me to cut through some of the confusion since you know that I dislike both parties equally. So I will be 100% sincere with my impression of the 2018 midterms.

ONE – There was no “Blue Wave” despite the corporate media’s 24/7 propaganda blitz. 

TWO – Historically the political party that does NOT have the White House does very well in the midterms and it is always noteworthy when the President’s party does NOT lose large numbers of seats in Congress.

Democrats are sore losersFor instance, in Barack Obama’s first midterms he lost SIXTY-THREE seats in the House of Representatives AND lost 6 Senate seats. Bill Clinton ( Full disclosure: I liked Bill Clinton almost as much as I like Trump.) lost FIFTY-FOUR seats. Here in Trump’s first midterms he lost 30-some. 

That math makes it indisputable that he did better than Obama and Clinton in their first midterms. Does this prove he’s more popular than those two? I don’t think so, but I also would not have felt it made him LESS popular than them if he had done WORSE than those two. Too many variables in midterms, especially with a de facto Third Party Wild Card like Donald Trump in the White House. 

In addition, Trump’s nominal party, the Republicans, defied the usual midterm results by GAINING seats in the Senate. 

THREE – The Democrats’ usual, tired and so-transparent “chance discovery” of thousands of “uncounted” votes has become expected at this point in close races. (Look up Broward County, Florida’s long history of this anywhere you like.)

mascot new look donkey and elephant heads“Miraculously” this only ever happens in districts controlled by the Democrats and equally miraculously these “discovered uncounted votes” ALWAYS help the Democrat candidates. This has been going on for AT LEAST two decades but the clueless Republicans have always failed to do anything about it.

If Republican districts did this every two years by discovering boxes full of uncounted votes that help THEIR candidates they would rightfully be nailed to the wall by the media, but the Democrats’ media outlets so massively outnumber the Republicans’ media outlets that the Dems’ obvious chicanery is never given the coverage it deserves.

This all goes back to the biggest failure of the money and power people on the Republican side – the failure to keep up with the opposition party in the media arms race. In typical fashion, Republican rich pigs’ obsession with profits to the exclusion of all else caused this. Since you can’t measure media impact on a profit and loss sheet the GOP plutocrats let the Democrats get so far ahead in this area that it causes the loss of many, many OTHER battles in the political arena.  

FOUR – Democrat fanatics are ALREADY pushing ridiculous conspiracy theories that Trump will declare a crisis when his two terms (if he gets two) are up and cancel all further elections. I despised George W Bush AND Barack Obama but I NEVER bought into the ridiculous conspiracy theories claiming each one of THEM was going to conjure up an excuse to cling to power when their two terms were up. CAN WE AT LEAST SHOW ENOUGH SANITY TO NOT GO DOWN THIS SAME ROAD A THIRD PRESIDENT IN A ROW? 

FIVE – Continue reading

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL RESULTS FROM NOVEMBER 8th

Getting a jump on the weekend …

Southeastern Fire helmet REALTHE FIRE THIS TIME – In the NAIA the 25th ranked SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FIRE hosted the FAULKNER UNIVERSITY EAGLES (should be the Furies). A 13-10 1st Quarter edge for the Fire turned into a 16-13 lead for Faulkner U by Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with Southeastern University back on top 28-19 and from there the Fire won it 31-26. Continue reading

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