New AD says WVU wants to keep 'status quo'

West Virginia University needs to be savvy when addressing potential conference realignment scenarios, new athletic director Oliver Luck said Monday.

Luck said he would like to see the Big East continue in its current state, which includes eight members in football and 16 in basketball.

"I certainly think it's safe to say that we'd love to see the Status Quo continue, but like every other university, I think we need to be smart, strategic and try to figure out if X, Y and Z happened, what are our alternatives," Luck said. "We are talking to a lot of folks to make sure we do have potential opportunities should certain contingencies take place."

Big 12 members Colorado and Nebraska have announced their departures for the Pac-10 and Big Ten, respectively. Administrators at Texas and Oklahoma plan to hold meetings this week to determine their conference futures.

Luck said WVU's location in the East and its popularity on network television for basketball and football games makes the university an attraction for potential suitors.

"Obviously it's a challenging time within intercollegiate athletics given all the talk of conference realignment," Luck said. "I think our university has a tremendous opportunity."

WVU President James Clements hired Luck last week and introduced him at the news conference in a building attached to WVU's football stadium that opened in Morgantown in 1980, Luck's junior season. He ranks fourth on the school's all-time passing list and led WVU to a Peach Bowl win over Florida in his final game.

The 50-year-old Luck, who was president of Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo and served as CEO of NFL Europe, will replace the retiring Ed Pastilong on July 1. Before taking the job, Luck stepped down from the WVU Board of Governors where he served for two years.

"Hardest Working Band for the Year 2009".

Status Quo have been recognised as the hardest-working band in the British music industry.

The Performing Rights Society list also included Cliff Richard And The Shadows, Take That, Coldplay and Kings Of Leon, who took the second, third, fourth and fifth spots respectively, according to BBC News.

The list was compiled based on the number of fans bands performed to in the UK during 2009.Status Quo played to 250,000 people at 27 arenas, putting them at the top of the list.

Frontman Francis Rossi said: "Performing in front of thousands of fans is the ultimate experience for any band.

Status Quo receive OBEs at Buckingham Palace

Status Quo rockers Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt have described being appointed OBEs as the most exceptional moment of their musical careers.
The pair were given the honour for their services to music and charity in the Queen's New Year Honours list.
"It's wonderful that we have been recognised for what we've done," Parfitt said.
The band, whose songs include Rockin' All Over The World, first had a hit in 1968 with Pictures Of Matchstick Men.
"This is the most exceptional moment of our careers - there's no two ways about it," Rossi said.
"Live Aid was contrastingly very different and important, and there was a great euphoric feeling on the day, but nothing can make you forget this.

Status Quo cancel gigs

London: Rockers Status Quo have been forced to scrap three shows after singer/guitarist Rick Parfitt fell ill. The band had to perform in Ipswich, but the gigs had to be cancelled after Parfitt was diagnosed with an upper respiratory tract infection.

"We're really sorry to have to let the fans down, but Rick has picked up an infection and is in no fit state to take to the stage and the last thing we would ever want to do is to give a substandard performance," the Daily Express quoted frontman Francis Rossi as saying on the band's official website.

Meanwhile, organisers have failed to reschedule scrap gigs due to scheduling conflicts and fans have been asked to apply for refunds.

Parfitt underwent heart bypass surgery in 1997 and suffered a cancer scare in 2005 when growths were found in his throat.

The growths were subsequently found to be benign.

STATUS QUO: ROSSI 'I'M AN IDIOT ONSTAGE'

FRANCIS ROSSI STATUS QUO rocker can't bear to watch footage of the band's live shows because he looks like an "idiot" onstage. The Rockin' All Over The World hitmaker admits his moves during the band's concerts make him cringe, so he tries to avoid the television whenever a Quo show is broadcast. He tells DVD & Blu Ray Review magazine, "If I look at something we've done and it's live, I think I'm there. The heart rate goes up and I'm hoping I don't make a mistake, which is kind of stupid. "I don't mind watching the rest of the band but I find it very difficult watching me. There are some things I do physically onstage that make me think, 'You f**king idiot, don't do that.'"

Says analyst, Status quo Turkey's role in Karabakh dispute

Turkish Azerbaijani relations'Maybe there is a need to redefine. Turkey and Azerbaijan are one nation and two states, but the two are not one state. The family is getting crowded,' says a senior foreign policy analyst from TEPAV
Turkish support for Azerbaijan, expressed by keeping the Turkish Armenian border closed, has proved nothing more than a symbolic gesture, says a senior foreign policy analyst.
In addition, poor Turkish Armenian relations have hindered Ankara’s prospects of playing an influential role in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
“For the last 17 years, Turkey’s boycott of Armenia has not brought about a solution. It seems difficult to argue that the insistence on keeping the border with Armenia closed has had any positive impact on the resolution of the Karabakh problem,” Dr. Burcu Gültekin Punsmann wrote in a policy note for the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey, or TEPAV, an Ankara-based think tank.
“Moreover, Turkey’s policy has limited Ankara’s potential influence over Armenia,” Dr. Punsmann added. “While being a permanent member of the Minsk group and supporting its work, poor Turkish Armenian relations have hindered Turkey’s prospects of playing an active mediating role in the Karabakh conflict.”
Turkey and Armenia inked two protocols this month to normalize their troubled relationship in defiance of domestic opposition, the first intergovernmental text signed between the two neighboring states since the 1921 Treaty of Kars. The agreement is likely to be a harbinger of different in the south Caucasus, where the status quo, characterized by conflicts, divisions, blockades and trade restrictions, is far from being satisfactory, according to Punsmann.
“The status quo was not helpful for Turkey in terms of achieving its policy objectives,” she wrote. “The status quo is also hardly beneficial for Azerbaijan.”

China should accept status quo across Taiwan strait

TAIPEI, TAIWAN - China should accept the status quo across the Taiwan strait, Premier Wu Den-yih said yesterday.
Commenting on Chinese President Hu Jintao's October 1 national day message, Premier Wu said tensions have eased over the strait and both sides are trying to develop peaceful relations.
Hu said at Tiananmen Square China will continue to strive for better cross-strait relations in line with the principle of "one country two systems" and for "full unification of the fatherland."
"This is the common desire for whose realization the Chinese nation is striving for," Hu pointed out as he marked the 60th founding anniversary of the People's Republic.
"We hope," Premier Wu said, "the other side of the strait will under and accept the fact that the two sides are under two different governments.
"Only with this understanding can peaceful relations be developed."
The two sides should respect each other, Wu went on. That is the basis on which peace can be achieved between them, he added.
Peace contributes to the welfare of the people on both sides of the strait as well as to the security of Asia and Pacific and the whole world, Premier Wu said.
The task ahead for both sides is to "shelve dispute to bring about a win-win situation," Wu went on. "That should be the only choice for all the people on the two sides of the strait," he pointed out.
He stressed the importance of defense. "We cannot rely solely on the goodwill of the other side," he said, "for goodwill may not last forever.
"We want to purchase necessary arms and equipment to safeguard the security and sovereignty of the Republic of China."
Lai Shing-yuan, chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council, told lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan the people support the conclusion of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China.
One MAC poll shows a 54 percent majority of the people support the ECFA, which was questioned by Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Trong Chai, the minority leader in parliament.
"The fact is that a majority supports the ECFA, of whose details not all the people fully understand," Lai said. "But we are in the right direction trying to conclude the pact," she stressed.
She said she does not know what "Founding of a Republic" is.
It's an epic film made in China to mark the 60th founding anniversary of the People's Republic which DPP lawmaker Yeh Yi-tsin said describes the end of the Republic of China on Taiwan.