JANUARY 21 UPDATE

PAC 10 POLL

The conference softball coaches have picked UCLA as the pre-season favorite to win the PAC 10.  In order, the coaches then picked Arizona, California, Washington, Stanford, Arizona State, Oregon and Oregon State.  This ranking differs from that published by ESPN/USA Softball which had California ahead of Arizona, and Oregon higher than Arizona State and Oregon State.

GREEK OLYMPIC TEAM CHOSEN

Linda Wells, Head Coach of the Greek team, announced the roster for the Athens International Softball Tournament (Olympic Test Event), March 24-28 in Greece.  

Those players are: Alesha Argeras, Jessica Bashor, Joanna Bouziou, Vanessa Czarnecki, Christa Dalakis, Stephanie Ewing, Stacey Farnworth, Joanna Gail, Ginny Georgantäs, Pauline Glenn, Lindsay James, Katerina Koutougkou, Michelle Lemons, Chloe Kloezeman, Kristen Karanzias, Katina Kramos, and Stephanie Skegas-Maxwell.  

They will compete against the Czech Republic, Great Britain, and Russia in an event being conducted to test the facilities and technologies to be used in the Olympic Games in August, as well as the grounds and other workings of the venue. 

AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC TEAM SELECTED

Softball Australia, together with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), is pleased to announce the 2004 AIS / Australian women’s softball squad, which will form the basis of the 2004 Australian Olympic softball team.

The 25-player squad was selected at the conclusion of the 2004 Australian Open Women’s Fastpitch Championship held recently in Queensland, and identifies those athletes staking a claim on Athens as well as Australia’s next generation of international representatives.

Under Head Coach, Simon Roskvist, the squad features five members of the 1996 and 2000 Australian Olympic softball teams, including current captain and equal Olympic home-run record holder, Peta Edebone (VIC), shortstop, Natalie Ward (NSW), and pitchers Tanya Harding (QLD), Brooke Wilkins (QLD) and Melanie Roche (NSW).

The squad also features five members of the Sydney Olympic team, and two Sydney Olympic reserves. Roskvist said he was very pleased with the selection of this squad, because although it focuses on Australia’s Olympic campaign in the short-term, it also introduces a number of exciting, younger players into the program for the very first time.

Those members of the 2003 Australian under 19 women’s world championship team include Queensland duo, Kylie Cronk (outfield) and Jocelyn McCallum (pitcher) and New South Wales catcher, Heather Southwood.

Those selected are as follows:  Sandra Allen, Marissa Carpadios, Fiona 

Crawford, Kylie Cronk*, Alisa Denne, Amanda Doman*, Peta Edebone, Kelly Gentle, 

Kelly Hardie, Tanya Harding, Natalie Hodgskin, Jocelyn McCallum*, Simmone 

Morrow, Tracey Mosley, Stacey Porter, Leah Quackenbush*, Kate Quigley, Melanie 

Roche, Heather Southwood*, Natalie Titcume, Natalie Ward, Danica White, Brooke 

Wilkins, Belinda Wright, and Kerry Wyborn.  (Asterisks denote a selection into 

the senior squad for the first time)

NFCA POLL SCHEDULE

NFCA Release

The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 will debut with its preseason poll on Wednesday, January 28. Beginning on February 18, the Division I poll we be released on subsequent Wednesday mornings in USA Today, as well as on the NFCA Web Site at www.nfca.org. The final poll will be announced on June 2.

The NFCA Division II Preseason poll will also be released on January 28. Beginning on March 10, the Division II poll will be released every two weeks until the final poll on June 2. The Division III Top 25 poll will debut on February 11 with its preseason ranking, and then every two weeks beginning March 31, and concluding on June 2.

The USA Today/NFCA High School Poll will first be released on March 11, and will be released weekly on Thursdays a final poll on June 24, after Pennsylvania and Michigan complete their high school seasons.  NFCA Home Plate, Monday, January 19, 2004

THE COBBER

We have often wondered why the British or American film studios have not made a film about the life and death of Edgar James Kain, the New Zealander who became the first Allied air ace of World War II – and perhaps the first ace to die.  Known affectionately to his fellow fighter pilots in the Battle of Britain as “Cobber,” the lanky Kiwi led a glamorous life in and out of the cockpit.  His exploits in a Hurricane were legendary, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and his 19 victories included duels he won against German pilots in their Messerschmidt 109s.  On one occasion, a German pilot destroyed Cobber’s engine; he glided 30 miles from an altitude of 20,000 feet to reach Allied lines – anyone who has ever flown a plane will tell you how difficult that is.  On several occasions, he continued flying and fighting while his Hurricane was burning, and bailed out more than once, including an occasion when he was severely injured but brought down a bomber before leaving his plane.  Cobber later flew Spitfires.  Cobber was a darling of the British press and you can find his life story on the Internet.  In the early days of the War, the RAF flew from bases in France and England.  While back in Britain, Cobber became engaged to the beautiful actress, Joyce Phillips.  On June 7, 1940, Cobber was ordered to fly back to France; an accomplished aerialist, he put the Hurricane into a low loop and crashed.  He was 20 days shy of his 22^nd birthday.  Ironically, his Mother and sister were aboard ship, sailing from New Zealand to England for his wedding to Joyce.  (Ed note: a younger Michael Caine could play this role; Tom Cruise is too short, etc.  A good story which should be told.)

WHERE IS SINGAPORE?

There was a game – can’t remember whether it was a board game or something on TV – which challenged players to identify/locate places and things around the world.  Need to bring it back.  Hello, National Geographic?  Geographic once funded a program in numerous schools to teach geography.  It is needed.  At a Shamrock practice last Sunday, a player noted that the balls they were throwing were made in Singapore, and, asked out loud, Where is Singapore?  Immediately, another player replied, It’s in China.  Overhearing this, I said to the group I was watching, It’s at the tip of the Malaysian archipelago – and one of my group, acting as though she knew this all along, shouted out to the others in the gym, It’s in the Malaysian archipelago.  Assuring me these girls were knowledgable about geography, a Shamrock coach asked a group of infielders, Which countries border Iraq?  Silence.

Too much television and listening to rappers who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.

During under-graduate days, the eminent Middle East historian, E T Duncan, mumbled something as he walked into class, then shouted, Mr. Hesse.  I had not heard the question, which he repeated while warning that half of my semester grade depended on the answer: Would the internationalization of the Dardanelles be beneficial to our foreign policy vis a vis the Soviet Union?  Fortunately, I knew where the Dardanelles were, and knew of the historic Russian search for warm water ports, etc., so I provided an answer.  And, that was before I traveled much of the world.  Less challenging, I told my internist at Johns Hopkins that one of her wall pictures was a painting of Dubrovnik and the other the famous bridge in Singapore’s Garden of Peace – because I had been to both places.

The world is a fascinating place, well worth the study.  And, travel.

Of course, the younger of the two gastroenterologists who worked on me Tuesday did not know about Singapore either, and he studied at the famed Thomas Jefferson medical school in Philadelphia.  (Ed note: I know TJ; a very prominent Frenchman begged me to help with his daughter, a physician, who was addicted to barbiturates.  I got her back to the USA – she overdosed on the plane, using suppositories – and into TJ under a quiet name and they cured her.)  The other physician was amazed that I had been in the very poor section of Southern India where he was born.

But, I couldn’t tell him why I was there.  On that note, I refused the anesthetic, even though I knew the two procedures would be painful (endoscopy and colonoscopy).  They administer a narcotic and a tranquilizer; I knew that the one drug causes temporary amnesia but the other makes you babble like a brook.  I told them that if I took the drug and started rambling, I would have to kill them.  Old CIA joke which they didn’t get.

I told the young pharmacist in attendance I thought the procedures had been invented by the Marquis de Sade.  She didn’t know what I was talking about; neither did the young gastroenterologist.  At least she had an excuse; she was from Mounds, OK.  But, a nurse looked over at the colonoscopy machine, and said  with certainty it was not made by the de Sade company.

My health?  Not certain.  Found 15 polyps; had removed 5 when they found the cause of my internal bleeding: a tumor in the upper colon.  While one doctor believes the tumor may be malignant, the pathology report was not available Wednesday evening, so we wait.  On the bright side, a CAT scan did not reveal any problems (cancer) in the stomach, kidneys, or liver, so this tumor may be isolated.  If malignant, I will have it removed immediately.  Stay tuned.

End

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