Kicking off this Wednesday, when it is supposed to hit 91 here in the Washington area, with two quick notes.

First, in what can only be considered an American travesty, astronaut Buzz Aldrin was booted off Dancing with the Stars last night. No, I did not watch. I've already seen video of him moonwalking.

Second, a huge congratulations to what may very well be the greatest team in the history of women's college basketball. Topped only by John Wooden's UCLA Bruins teams in the 60's and 70's. The Wizard of Westwood lead seven-straight national championship groups and presided over an 88-game winning streak.

Well, last night, Connecticut and its head coach Geno Auriemma, pushed their streak to a mind-boggling 78 games, while winning their second-consecutive title and capping off back-to-back 39-0 seasons. The Huskies are the first women's program to ever do that. It is the fourth undefeated season for the program, all under Auriemma, and six championship since 2000.

And it wasn't easy. UConn had just 12 points at halftime against Stanford, who finished the season with just two losses - both to the Huskies - and looked completely lost. But a 41-point second half, dominated by superstar Maya Moore, left no doubt. The only question mark was whether the win would be by more than ten, as the previous 77 were. It wasn't, for once.

Let it be recognized that this is the greatest women's team of all time and quite possibly the greatest overall program, given how much harder it is to win so many games in this age of college basketball.

- Staying with the sports tilt - in a rare occurrence, the University of Washington Athletic Department reported a $5.5 million loss last year, something that would raise eyebrows during this economy.

UW is known as one of the less than 20 or so schools that operates in the black on a regular basis. Obviously having a struggling football program does not help. However, AD Scott Woodward said it was mostly based on a couple of one-time occurrences that won't happen again, and cited a couple of upcoming money-making opportunities for the department as reasons he is not overly concerned.

Washington is also one of the few self-sustaining programs in the country, drawing money from the University and state only for tuition wavers and Title IX compliance.

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The search and rescue mission continues for four miners in West Virginia, who are hoped to be locked in an airtight room in the mine, built just for instances such as these. The longer it goes, the more hope wains. Anderson Cooper continues to have great coverage on CNN, with this video providing a great breakdown:


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Moving on to just some other news:

- A story about Glenn Beck is gaining more and more traction. After he admonished congressional leaders, including one Civil Rights leader, for comparing themselves to members of the C.R. movement, Beck appears to compare himself to Rosa Parks in this clip.

The interesting thing about Beck is that I don't think anyone really believes he is some big leader for change. Actually, I know they don't. And even further, because of the channel he is on, many people simply see him is part of the conservative eco-chamber. Now, if you listen what he says, he really does say some different things, all with anti-government tilt. But he even admonishes the church and other hardcore conservative ideals. What he isn't, however, is any sort of leader.

- Bob McDonnell, the governor of Virginia, has brought back a famous pastime in the state: Confederate History Month. One must realize that Virginia was the capitol of the confederacy and I was told yesterday that there is actually a street in Richmond line with statues of famous Civil War heroes. There was even some controversy years ago when the city wanted to add a statue of legendary black tennis player Arthur Ashe, the man for whom the U.S. Open stadium is named. The move was blocked.

Because it is history, and particularly the history of that commonwealth, it should be studied and not forgotten. A month might be in excess, but it absolutely should be state-based textbooks. Someone I know argued that that would be like having a "Hitler history month." Completely disagree. We study WWII in America. We also study the Civil War. And if you live in Virginia, a major part of that war was that you were on the other side of it.

Two other things. One, that same conversation also turned into an argument about the "three-fifths" rule, because the constitution of the confederacy explicitly endorsed slavery. In my opinion, the three-fifths rule may have been the best decision made when writing the document. So many say that it was to appease the South, but I can't believe that. Southern slave owners would had to have know that a) slaves would never vote and b) the larger the slave population, the more representation they get in Congress. Can you imagine if the south had the majority it should've had? I don't want to.

And two, maybe I'm awful for this, but one of my favorite part of the Civil War was William Sherman's march through the South, specifically his stop in what is probably the region's greatest city now: Atlanta.

"Behind us lay Atlanta smoldering and in ruins, the black smoke rising high in the air and hanging like a ball over the ruined city."

History nerdism right there.

- A Yakima man was arrested yesterday for threatening to kill Washington state Senator Patty Murray. He is believed to be the first person arrested on such a charge since this backlash to health care reform began.

I'm stopping because I need to do work, but if you end up needing a laugh at some point today, you can't wrong with 10 minutes watch Charles Barkley's best moments on television.