For Syracuse basketball fans, the wait until next season is longer than ever

Syracuse vs NC State | 2014-15 ACC Men"s Basketball Highlights

The final horn sounded on the 2014-15 Syracuse University basketball season at 1:59 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C., when N.C. State completed a 71-57 win over the Orange on Saturday.

Hence began the longest "wait till next year" ever for SU basketball fans.

The time and final score were the only formalities left to fill on Saturday as Syracuse University basketball fans settled in to watch what they knew would be the last game of the season.

Man, that still feels weird to say, doesn"t it?

What they knew would be the last game of the season.

It"s just not supposed to work like that in college basketball.

Sure, there is always the possibility that each game can be your last in the postseason.

We all know Syracuse got sent home much earlier than expected last year thanks to the Dayton Flyers.

The year before, Syracuse was one of the last ones standing at the 2013 Final Four.

So it goes for SU basketball fans. From Final Four to early exit to no postseason at all.

The question is if the recent NCAA developments surrounding Syracuse athletics will shake the deep-seated loyalty of Orange basketball fans?

Let me answer that for you:

Heck no.

It will be a tough pill to swallow to watch every other team in the ACC head for the conference tournament this week (and you said you didn"t want to go to Greensboro).

I think the ratings for "Selection Sunday" on CBS will be at an all-time low in the Syracuse market as well.

Cruelly, the NCAA Tournament East Regional will plant itself in town later this month and offer an in-your-face reminder of what we missed.

But eventually the snow will melt (I promise it will. Really. Like in July.) and we"ll occupy our sports minds with baseball, Syracuse lacrosse, Crunch hockey, the NBA and NHL playoffs or whatever keeps your interest with SU hoops on hiatus.

You"ll still check in on your beloved Orange, eagerly anticipating who Thomas Bryant will commit to and following the latest developments on the NCAA case, especially if SU appeals, as anticipated.

Eventually spring will become summer, and trudging up the hill in 10-degree weather will be the furthest thing from your mind while you put for par on the eighth hole at Green Lakes or fall asleep while drifting Oneida Lake looking for the big one.

Before you know it, The Fair will be here and you"ll notice a little bit of a chill in the air.

Football season will arrive and the Orange will keep you interested until LSU comes to the Carrier Dome on Sept. 26 and wins big, prompting the first cries of "when is basketball season?"

That"s when you will really start to wonder if Kaleb Joseph"s new-and-improved physique will help him play better defense, if Michael Gbinije will play the point and if Trevor Cooney can have a redemptive senior year like Rakeem Christmas.

You"ll debate if the front court of McCullough, Coleman and Roberson can be matched in the ACC and who among the new crop of talented freshman will get serious playing time.

Then, albeit for a brief moment, you may remember the dread of awaiting noon on March 6 when the NCAA report came out.

You"ll probably forget that you felt relief upon learning that Syracuse didn"t get a postseason ban and your shock when seeing they did get hammered with 12 scholarship losses (which cost them a shot at Thomas Bryant), a nine-game suspension for Jim Boeheim in ACC play and more penalties than you anticipated.

But will it stop you dead in your tracks and squash the usual swell of excitement Halloween brings, knowing how close the new Orange basketball season is?

No. No, it won"t.

You"ll be back.

You"ll be back and ready to settle in for the thing that brings you through the first reports of black ice in early-November to the "will-you-just-stop-snowing-for-the-love-of-G*d!" days of late-March: Syracuse basketball.

A little ruling from the NCAA won"t stop you from coming back. Ancient history by then, right?

Besides, you have to see how Mike Hopkins does in his first year as head coach.

I kid, I kid! Just making sure you made it this far into the column.

Of course you"ll want to see how Boeheim makes it happen in his 40th season at the controls, even with 1,000 wins a goal no longer attainable thanks to the NCAA taking away 108 wins, because that"s such an effective punishment for his crimes at Syracuse (commence eye roll).

The fact is, by the time November rolls around, all the nonsense we have discussed in the last two days will be long forgotten and the dawn of a new basketball will wash out any disappointment about the longest wait ever between seasons.

It may feel as long as, say, how long it took the NCAA to investigate Syracuse, but we"ll get there.

Now if you"ll excuse me, I have to go cancel my reservation for the Denny"s in Greensboro.

Contact Brent Axe: Email | Twitter

Listen to "On the Block" with Brent Axe weekdays from 5-6 p.m. on ESPN Radio Syracuse

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/axeman/index.ssf/2015/03/for_syracuse_basketball_fans_the_wait_until_next_season_is_longer_than_ever.html

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Chris Hemsworth plays Thor in "Avengers" sketch on "SNL"

iggy azalea chris hemsworth snl Saturday night live 3/7/2015
Chris Hemsworth plays Thor in a sketch on "Saturday Night Live."

Image: NBC/SNL

It was inevitable that Chris Hemsworth, who is best known for playing Thor in Marvel"s The Avengers series, would bring that character to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center when hosting Saturday Night Live.

In the sketch, Thor, along with his fellow superheroes, break down their hard-won battle against evil super-villain Ultron by participating in postgame-style interviews familiar to pro sports.

It features appearances by other Avengers characters, including the Hulk (played by cast member Pete Davidson), who has a sneaking suspicion that he went too far when fighting Ultron. Davidson, who at 21 years old is SNL"s youngest cast member, may have stolen the scene from Hemsworth with his well-executed, albeit brief, appearance.

Check out his performance, above although the whole thing is worth watching for Avengers fans, in particular.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Topics:avengers, Chris Hemsworth, Entertainment, Saturday Night Live, thor, Television, Ultron

Source: http://mashable.com/2015/03/08/chris-hemsworth-avengers-snl/

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Syracuse basketball recruiting target Tyus Battle is still considering Orange ...

CBB 13/14 North Carolina Tar Heels vs #2 Syracuse Orange 01/11/14 (Full Game)

Syracuse, N.Y. Tyus Battle, a point guard in the Class of 2016 long coveted by the Syracuse basketball program, has not eliminated the Orange from his recruiting list, his father said today.

NCAA sanctions, announced last Friday, trimmed a total of 12 men"s basketball scholarships over four seasons starting in 2016-17, suspended head coach Jim Boeheim through nine ACC games next year and put the men"s basketball and football programs on probation for five years.

"At this point, now that I understand it better, as long as they have a scholarship for Tyus, as long as they can field a strong team that can compete for a national championship, I"m OK with it," Gary Battle said in a telephone conversation.

Battle said he has not spoken with Orange coaches who are recruiting his son since news of the NCAA sanctions broke. He has had previous conversations with SU coaches about potential punishments.

Whether or not Syracuse will have a scholarship to offer Battle, one of the nation"s most sought-after players in the Class of 2016, remains a mystery at this point. SU coaches have told Matthew Moyer, a 2016 forward who has verbally committed to the Orange, that a scholarship will be available for him. How the math of it all shakes out in the future depends on movement on SU"s current roster. Will players leave either this season or next season? Right now, that"s impossible to predict.

Battle, a 6-foot-5 guard who can play point guard or shooting guard, is currently recovering from a foot injury that has nagged him in his junior season at Gill St. Bernard"s School in Gladstone, N.J. He first injured the foot playing with USA Basketball last summer. His dad said Tyus aggravated the injury over the course of his high school season and is now wearing a protective boot to allow it to fully heal. The boot is scheduled to come off later this month.

Tyus Battle recently narrowed his list of potential college destinations to Connecticut, Duke, Louisville, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Syracuse.

Gary Battle said the family likes Syracuse University, its communications program, its proximity to their New Jersey home and Orange coaches" willingness to develop bigger point guards like Tyus.

"I told Tyus what was going on, he read a few articles," Gary Battle said. "He said, "If there"s just 10 guys on scholarship, there"s more playing time for me.""

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/index.ssf/2015/03/syracuse_basketball_recruiting_target_tyus_battle_is_still_considering_orange_de.html

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Airliner Skids Off Snowy Runway At LaGuardia Airport

Delta passenger plane skids off runway at New York"s LaGuardia Airport

A few passengers were injured when an airliner skidded off the runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Thursday. A snow storm is disrupting air travel in the region.

Copyright 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

A Delta passenger jet from Atlanta to New York skidded off the runway at LaGuardia Airport this morning in heavy snow. The plane crashed through a chain-link fence and came to rest just feet from Flushing Bay.

(SOUNDBITE OF TOWER CONTROL CALLS)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: We need a team to go onto 1-3.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Tower, you copy? Call 100. Runway 1-3 is closed.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Call 100, you said runway 1-3 is closed?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Affirmative, 1-3 is closed.

BLOCK: Rescue crews on the radio with tower control, the audio posted on liveatc.net. Immediately all of LaGuardia was shut down.

(SOUNDBITE OF TOWER CONTROL CALLS)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: The airport is closed. We got a 3-4.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: Call 100. Say again?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #6: Tower, you have an aircraft on 3-1 on the north vehicle service road. Please advise crash rescue. LaGuardia Airport is closed at this time.

BLOCK: All 132 people aboard the plane were evacuated safely, some taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Fred Mogul of member station WNYC joins us from LaGuardia Airport, where officials are investigating the incident. And Fred, the images from this incident are dramatic. This plane swerved when it touched down, went through a fence, came really close to sliding into the icy water. This could"ve been much, much worse.

FRED MOGUL: It could"ve. You know, officials actually sort of downplayed how much danger the plane ever was, even though those images show how close it was to the water. They said, you know, actually that the passengers really weren"t at any great risk at any point. There were about 50 responders who obviously pounced on the scene. Some of them helped get the passengers to the terminal using buses, others helped stopped a fuel leak. But even that they said wasn"t that bad, it was about a gallon a minute pouring out, which was not that large a volume. They got foam on it quickly and environmental investigators are there, but they say over all, things are in pretty good shape.

BLOCK: And Fred, we mentioned this accident came in the midst of heavy snow. Are investigators blaming this on the weather?

MOGUL: Well, the officials from the Port Authority, which run all the airports in New York and New Jersey and this area, declined to speculate about what had caused the accident. Clearly the weather played some role, but they said that other pilots had landed planes just recently and had said the braking action on the tarmac was just fine. They had plowed runway. So they hadn"t been anticipating anything and they hadn"t shut the airport, clearly, though some individual flights had been canceled by that point. So they"re saying that, you know, they need to investigate further to find out what actually caused the plane to veer off the runway.

BLOCK: When are things likely to get back to normal? The airport was shut down completely for a time.

MOGUL: It was, for the better part of three hours. Now one of the two runways is still shut, the other is open. So, that obviously generates a lot of cancellations, but they expect the second runway will be open as well within a few more hours once the investigators have come from the NPSB to check the situation out.

BLOCK: OK. Fred Mogul of member station WNYC, speaking with us from LaGuardia Airport. Fred, thanks very much.

MOGUL: Thank you.

Copyright 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR"s prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2015/03/05/391041900/airliner-skids-off-snowy-runway-at-laguardia-airport

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Holi: Salman Khan celebrates with family and friends

SpiceJet"s Holi Flash Mob! Delhi Airport, March 5 2015

01

Salman Khan"s Holi celebrations: Salman Khan is known for celebrating all festivals with much pomp and fanfare. Whether it is Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi or Eid, he brings in the celebrations with his family. So was the case when the big Khan family gathered together to celebrate the festival of colours, Holi. From the youngest member of the Khan family to the eldest, everyone was seen enjoying and playing around with colours and water. Let"s take a look at who did what at Salman Khan"s grand Holi celebration.

(All photographs have been taken from Arpita Khan"s Instagram account).

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/Holi-Salman-Khan-celebrates-with-family-and-friends/photostory/46483821.cms

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Katie Hopkins: I hope my son is gay

Too Fat To Work | This Morning - Katie Hopkins and Jay Cole Interview

Controversy-monger Katie Hopkins has claimed she hopes her eight-year-old son will be gay.

The former Celebrity Big Brother star told QX Magazine of her 8-year-old Maximillian: Is my son gay? I kinda hope he is.

Everybody with a gay son is much more savvy, the son tells them exactly what they think.

My son really loves stuff to do with dancing, and fashion and he couldnt give a toss about boys things like football.

I walk my children to school and the key thing about doing that is your kids talk to you about whats going on.

The kids took the p*** out of my daughter because she had boys shoes because she wanted boys shoes.

But she said to the other kids, These are my feet, these are my shoes, you dont have to wear them.

And thats what I hope my kids are going to be like. Id hope that Im around enough to know if they were being bullied for being gay.

Hopkins came second in the latest season of Celebrity Big Brother behind former glamour model Katie Price.

She previously claimed Tom Daleys coming out was lame, saying: It was really lame we all knew he was gay.

People love Tom Daley and the people who watch divers [are the] kind of the people who like to read Womens Weekly.

Source: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/03/06/katie-hopkins-i-hope-my-son-is-gay/

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Here"s your first look at Melissa Benoist as Supergirl

Get to Know GLEE"s Marley Rose, Melissa Benoist!

Russian authorities announced on Saturday that they had arrested two men in connection with the murder of political opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, The Guardian reports.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia"s federal security service, named the pair as Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadayev, both from the southern region of Caucasus. It was unclear whether authorities believe either detained man is suspected of actually killing Nemtsov, or just of being involved in the murder.

Nemtsov, 55,was shot four times in the back while walking near the Kremlin on Feb. 27. Other opposition members have suggested that the killing could not have occurred without government help, and may have been meant to send a message.

"Russia has crossed the line after this murder," Nemtsov"s daughter Zhanna told CNN. "People will be frightened to express ideas contrary to the official standpoint."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the murder of his longtime opponent as a "provocation" and a "vile and cynical murder."

Source: http://theweek.com/speedreads/542951/heres-first-look-melissa-benoist-assupergirl

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