Per the Glitternight index Balladeer’s Blog has named the WILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADES MECHANICS football’s National Champions of the USCAA (United States Collegiate Athletic Association).
The runners-up for 2017 are the Dean College Bulldogs, the defending National Champions who edged out the Newport News Apprentice School Builders for the 2016 title.
Filed under college football
Blood Freak (1972)
For Thanksgiving time Balladeer’s Blog often gives shout-outs to bad movies and hilariously lame educational shorts that have a specific Thanksgiving theme. As always my Bad Movie page contains full-length reviews of the films I’m offering a brief synopsis of here.
BLOOD FREAK (1972) – This movie is about a man who turns into a murderous monster with the head of a turkey after he eats a chemically treated gobbler at the turkey farm where he works. Blood Freak has been a cult classic for Thanksgiving for decades now, with many Movie Host shows of the late 70’s onward making a point of screening it at this time of year (including The Texas 27 Film Vault). The biker who turns into the blood-crazed turkey monster is Continue reading
Filed under Bad and weird movies
Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the 32 teams playing in this Saturday’s opening round of the D3 football playoffs.
UW-OSHKOSH REGION
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT 
OSHKOSH TITANS
Will host the …
LAKELAND COLLEGE MUSKIES
TRINE UNIVERSITY 
THUNDER
Will host the …
MONMOUTH COLLEGE FIGHTING SCOTS Continue reading
Filed under college football
THE QUEER SIDE OF THINGS (1890s) – Written by James Frank Sullivan. Straight from the Gay Nineties, it’s a selection of Sullivan’s contributions to the Strand magazine’s short fiction column The Queer Side of Things.
So, before we all find ourselves on Queer Street just because some Dick wants to arrest us for seeming as queer as a clockwork orange, here’s a snatch of J.F.’s work from The Queer Side of Things column.
OLD PROFESSOR WILLETT (December 1892) – Professor Willett announces to his family that his latest invention is going to make all of them rich but refuses to elaborate. Willett disappears after a few days without revealing any more details.
Foul play is suspected and the story’s narrator investigates. It turns out the Professor had devised a highly advanced explosive made from natural fibers. The explosive goes off with no sound and is so rapid its victims seem to simply vanish.
Willett was the first to go during an accident with his invention. Other family members have been perishing/ vanishing, too and the narrator is desperate to save his fiancée – one of the Professor’s daughters – from meeting the same fate.
SPOILER: He is too late and in despair lets himself die from the super-explosive, too.
THE DWINDLING HOUR (January 1893) – Pre-Einsteinian look at Relativity. A relic in the form of a water clock made from rare stone around 5000 B.C. gets passed down from civilization to civilization. Odd changes in the size of the water hole in the bowl of the water clock seem harmless at first but eventually are understood to be ominous. Continue reading
Filed under Ancient Science Fiction
Twenty-Eight teams make the playoffs in Division Two. There are four Super Regions with seven teams each, and the top seeds in each Super Region have a Bye in Round One.
ONE SEEDS – Super Region 1 – INDIANA UNIVERSITY IN PENNSYLVANIA CRIMSON HAWKS ### Super Region 2 – UNIVERSITY OF WEST ALABAMA TIGERS ### Super Region 3 – FORT HAYS STATE TIGERS ### Super Region 4 – CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY WILDCATS
Matchups for Saturday:
SUPER REGION ONE
(3) ASSUMPTION COLLEGE GREYHOUNDS
Affiliation: Northeast Ten Conference
Will host the …
(6) CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA VULCANS
Affiliation: Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference
Kickoff Time: 1:00PM ET Continue reading
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Balladeer’s Blog’s “Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead” segment strikes again with this shoutout to Pearl Jam and Corduroy.
Filed under Neo-Pulp
The post-season in the Divisions covered here at Balladeer’s Blog begins this Saturday. Here are the 16 teams from the NAIA.
GAME ONE
(1) UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS
(Defending Champions & Champions of the MSFA-Mideast League)
Will host the …
(16) BENEDICTINE COLLEGE RAVENS
(At-Large Playoff Berth Number Four)
Kickoff Time: Noon ET
GAME TWO
(2) REINHARDT UNIVERSITY EAGLES
(Mid-South Conference Champions – Appalachian Division)
Will host the …
(15) CONCORDIA (MI) CARDINALS
(At-Large Playoff Berth Number Three)
Kickoff Time: 12:30PM ET
GAME THREE Continue reading
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THE MANIPULATORS (1970) – The words “gritty” and “streetwise” seem never to be used when describing vintage television programs from Canada but they certainly apply to The Manipulators (Originally the title was to be The Clients).
If you enjoyed underrated Canadian shows like The Beachcombers or Police Surgeon you might like The Manipulators, an hour-long dramatic series about parole officers and the men and women they were responsible for. Compared to 21st Century television, which seems infested with law enforcement procedural shows 24/7, this program would have seemed much less derivative for early 70s viewers. Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television
From the people who brought you The Titmouse on the Titanic
THANKSGIVING IS ALMOST HERE! ONE OF THE GREATEST HOLIDAYS OF THE YEAR!
THE MOUSE ON THE MAYFLOWER (1968) – Country western star Tennessee Ernie Ford narrates and supplies the voice of the title character – a Puritan mouse named Willum – who stows away on the Mayflower during its trip to America.
The little rodent also gets to participate in the very first Thanksgiving celebration with a Native American mouse. Continue reading
Filed under Forgotten Television
*** HEADLINES ***
NUMBER SIX GOES DOWN – With the playoffs beginning next weekend this final Saturday of the Regular Season saw the WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN welcome the nation’s 6th ranked GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS. The Statesmen marked Senior Day in style, knocking off the storied Vikings by an authoritative score of 33-14.
EASY AS ONE, TWO, THREE – The top 3 teams in the nation over in D2 prevailed. The (1) INDIANA UNIVERSITY IN PENNSYLVANIA CRIMSON HAWKS logged a 24-7 road smackdown of the WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY GOLDEN RAMS ### Meanwhile the (2) MINNESOTA STATE MAVERICKS survived a 27-24 visit with the (11) UNIVERSITY OF SIOUX FALLS COUGARS ### And the (3) ASHLAND EAGLES defeated the SAGINAW VALLEY CARDINALS 31-19.
USCAA GAME OF THE WEEK – In the United States Collegiate Athletic Association the NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (formerly the Shipbuilders) were on the road against the HUDSON VALLEY COLLEGE VIKINGS. A 7-7 Halftime tie became a 21-21 deadlock to end Regulation. In Overtime the Builders won it 28-27 off a missed PAT by the Vikings. Continue reading
Filed under college football
