Ten Wins In-A-Row

The Columbus Blue Jackets won nine games in a row a couple years ago. They set a new streak record last night with a 3-2 shootout win over Los Angeles in Nationwide Arena. Since my last post the Jackets have beaten DET, NYI, EDM, CGY, VAN and LA, in that order.

There were a couple big games in Las Vegas last Saturday. Ohio State played pretty well early but lost to UCLA 86-73. The Bruins might be the best team in basketball this year. The second game will go down as a classic, as Kentucky beat North Carolina 103-100. Malik Monk was the star for the Cats with 40+ points.

Defense seems to be somewhat lacking in college basketball this season. But tonight, Kentucky visits Louisville, one team that has been playing some D. I’m expecting a great game as usual.

The Ohio State women continue their rugged schedule, and are currently 9-4. Monday night the Bucks visited Connecticut and lost 82-63.

Since last time, the Kentucky women suffered a loss to Arizona State in Rupp Arena. Today the Cats opened up a 28-8 lead over Washington State, then held on for a 69-67 win in Memorial Coliseum. The Cougars are coached by a husband and wife duo, the Daughertys, who both played at Ohio State during the years I was enrolled there.

The ARRL Ten-Meter contest, held in early December, is one of my favorites. But with the sunspot cycle on a downward spiral, the band was in very poor shape. I managed 20 contacts running 5 watts. Under “normal” conditions, I would usually have over 100.

Happy Holidays to all readers! My best wishes for a joyous season for you and yours

The End of a Long Streak

The Kentucky men hadn’t lost at home since February of 2014. And not too many people expected them to lose Saturday. But an excellent UCLA team came in and knocked off the Cats in Rupp 97-92, ending a streak of 42 in-a-row. Giving up 97 points was quite a shocker to fans that had thought UK had been playing pretty good defense so far this season.

The loss to the Bruins was not the end of the world but Ohio State did have a very embarrassing loss last night in the Schottenstein Center to an unheralded Florida Atlantic team, in overtime. As was the case last year, the Buckeyes seem to often play with little or no inspiration whatsoever.

Since last time, the Blue Jackets have two wins over Arizona, one of which was a shootout win. The Ohio State women had no trouble with in-state rival Cincinnati, but the Kentucky women lost a heartbreaker at Louisville.

Sunday the college football playoff seedings were announced. Ohio State is third and will take on Clemson. The winner of that game gets the winner of Washington-Alabama in the championship game.

The First Month of Basketball

November saw the end of the college football regular season but also the beginning of college basketball.

The Kentucky men are ranked #1 in the polls, have looked great and have been playing excellent defense. The current crop of Cats are unselfish and playing well together as a team. Big game tomorrow as UCLA visits Rupp Arena.

Ohio State has not been particularly impressive but was undefeated until last night. The Bucks visited Virginia as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. OSU was ahead by 16 in the first half, but the Hoos worked their way back on the strength of an early second half run, and ended up winning by 2.

The Kentucky women are recovering from the loss of a number of players but are playing well. They’ve won all their home games including last night’s 82-68 win over #12 Oklahoma. That was the first game I have been able to see. They visited Colorado in mid-November and lost 79-69, the only blemish on their record so far. The Cats travel to Louisville on Sunday.

As was the case last year, the Ohio State women have played a rugged early schedule and have losses to South Carolina, Baylor and Miami (Fla). They were ranked in the top ten in the last set of polls.

 

 

“A November to Remember”

They’re calling it a “November to remember” in Blue Jackets country, as Columbus went 9-2-3. Bobrovsky has been brilliant between the pipes, and the skaters have been scoring plenty of goals. Just ask the Montreal Canadians, who lost in Columbus 10-0! After last night’s win at Colorado, the Jackets are third in the Metropolitan division.

My big project in October was building a Little Free Library. With the help of my friend, Brad, the library was installed in my front yard early in November. A lot of books have been taken, and I’ve received a lot of donations as well. It’s been a great experience. Go here to learn more about the LFL project: http://www.littlefreelibrary.org. A Facebook page for my library is set up at: http://www.facebook.com/LFL45857/

Bonnie and I visited the Voice of America Museum outside Cincinnati. It is a work in progress, and currently they are only open to the public one Saturday a month for three hours. It is located on the site of the old VOA “Bethany Relay Station”. Pictures are here: flic.kr/s/aHskoH1GdL

We also went to EnterTRAINment Junction. I shot some video but haven’t had a chance to put it up on YouTube yet. It is a large model railroad layout and is well worth a visit. The Wikipedia page for EnterTRAINment Junction is here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EnterTRAINment_Junction

The Kentucky football team lost its last two SEC games to Georgia and Tennessee and finished the conference schedule with a 4-4 record. A win over Austin Peay gave the Cats 6 wins and bowl eligibility. But the biggest game of the season was an incredible 41-38 upset win at Louisville. UK was a 4-touchdown underdog going into the game, but the Cards had been slumping in the latter part of the season.

During November, Ohio State had 62-3 wins over Nebraska and Maryland, then slipped past Michigan State 17-16. Then, in a classic, the Bucks fell behind Michigan in Ohio Stadium before coming back to win 30-27 in overtime. OSU and Penn State finished with identical 7-1 conference records, but the Lions will represent the Big Ten East in the conference championship game on the strength of its win over the Buckeyes. The Bucks are currently ranked #2 in the college football playoff rankings.