If one thing is certain about the 2018-19 version of the Alabama Crimson Tide, it’s that they will once again be contenders for yet another national championship. Four times under head coach Nick Saban, they have found themselves ranked as the top-ranked team preseason, and again boast that poll positioning entering into the upcoming college football season.
With a perennial embarrassment of 5-star riches, the Tide typically replace top-flight athlete with more of the same at each position, and the same is true of this season. College football spreads, while early, currently favor Alabama to repeat as national champions, led by what many assume to be a frontrunner for the Heisman after his dazzling performance in the title game, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Continue reading
SOLO (1980) – Written by Jack Higgins. Solo is not exactly one of my favorite espionage novels but it is definitely my favorite by Jack Higgins. It’s the story of efforts to catch an international assassin code-named the Cretan Lover. Luckily that ludicrous codename is often shortened to just “The Cretan” throughout the novel. I’ll use the same review format that I used for my look at The Top Seven Robert Ludlum Novels. 
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The 3rd seeded CAMPBELLSVILLE UNIVERSITY TIGERS did battle with the Cinderella 7 seeds – the WARNER UNIVERSITY ROYALS. 
HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! As always Balladeer’s Blog marks the event with a few looks at neglected conflicts from America’s past. The servicemen who fought in those actions are just as deserving of being memorialized as those who fought in more familiar wars. 
WILLIAM F LUKES 
THE AVENGERS Volume One, Number 94 (December 1971) 
Synopsis: Our story this time picks up just over an hour after the Avengers defeated the three Skrulls who were simulating the powers of the Fantastic Four. During that same battle Super-Skrull, the Skrull agent with ALL of the Fantastic Four’s powers in one defeated his Kree archenemy, the Avenger called Captain Marvel, and fled in a spaceship with Mar-Vell, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch as captives. 
The 6th seeded UNIVERSITY OF SAINT KATHERINE FIREBIRDS served up one of the biggest upsets of Day One of Pool Play at this year’s NCCAA World Series. After taking 3rd seeded Campbellsville University out to FIFTEEN INNINGS before dropping a 5-4 game the Firebirds faced the 2nd ranked COLORADO CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY COUGARS. 
CORPSE EATERS (1974) – No, not The Brain Eaters and not The Worm Eaters, both of which are real movies, but Corpse Eaters without any “the” in front. This 57 minute wonder actually manages to overstay its welcome, believe it or not, which is just as well because the similar low-budget film Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things did everything better than this film does. 
