Ask any auto racer or motorcycle racer and they will tell you that to be fast, you have to be on the edge. Racing fast is all about being on that fine razor’s edge of adhesion, or power, or control.
Pushing 200 mph is no place for irresponsibility or silliness. Forget that – pushing 150 mph is no place for it. It doesn’t matter if the car is open wheeled or not, though the ramifications of two (or more) open wheeled cars coming together can create some serious drama quickly. Just reflect on the sad events that took place in Las Vegas recently when Dan Wheldon was killed in a horrific multi-car accident.
Racers will tell you that accidents are a part of their sport. Every racer will tell you that. The teams and series organizers do what they can to remove as much danger as possible and to keep the drivers out of harm’s way.
But racing fast also requires some level of responsibility, to yourself and to your fellow drivers. Which brings me to the saga of Kyle Busch.
Last weekend’s game against Missouri gave us both the lost – and the found – of Texas football. “Lost” was the offensive awakening and resurgence that progressively appeared over the past few weeks. It was now suddenly stranded on a desert island, lost at sea, away without leave, gone without a trace. “Found” in this case was the Longhorns defense. They were dominant again, a quality that has been lacking for some time.
When everything was said and done, the final result was a 17 – 5 Missouri win.
Did I read that correctly? It sounds more like a baseball score than anything else. Five points. One safety and one field goal. That is a pretty anemic offensive showing, when the defense scores almost as many points as the offense.
But I for one knew it was coming – it was just a matter of time.
It’s one of the greatest quotes in movie history: “It goes to eleven”.
If you are a guitar player or rock music aficionado, you would attribute this piece of heavy metal existentialism to none other than Nigel Tufnel, lead guitar player for Spinal Tap. Ah yes, the movie/rockumentary (or perhaps mockumentary) “This Is Spinal Tap” is one of my all time favorites. It follows the day-to-day trials and tribulations of the band Spinal Tap and their history as one of the great heavy metal acts of all time.
If you could ever have one movie that displayed all of the “stereotypes” of the heavy metal and rock guitar genres, it would be this movie. The more you know about music history and the musicians, the more inside jokes you will catch, each and every time you watch this movie.
So why has November 11, 2011 been declared “Nigel Tufnel Day”?
Unemployment numbers and slow job growth continue to be an issue for this country. These days, having a job at all is a step in the right direction. People seem to be far less concerned about being over-qualified for a job. Paying the bills takes precedence, doesn’t it?
Of course, you can also be under-qualified (and unprepared) for a certain job. If you don’t meet the job criteria, you will oftentimes have to get more training or experience prior to re-applying for the position.
This seems to be an issue in politics these days. With that said, this episode of the Rhubarb Report takes a look at some seriously ripe political Rhubarb, and ends with a feel-good moment for sports fans everywhere.
For many years, it has been hard to believe that the school that gave us Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams has been so deficient on the running back front. Surely there would be some phenomenal high school running back or a dozen in the state of Texas that would be ready to throw on the burnt orange, wouldn’t there?
The last notable Longhorn in the backfield was Jamaal Charles in 2007. Since then, the Longhorn backfield has remained pretty anemic. One hundred yard games were a thing of the past. It has been a long time since I have been able to report that the University Of Texas Longhorns have a running game.
Until now.
No, really. It isn’t an aberration of some sort. It’s not a mirage that happens to exist in the center of DKR Memorial Stadium these days. It is a true, smash-mouth, running game.
Stop. Take a look around you. Breathe it all in. Reflect on the meaning of it.
I think there are times when we don’t do enough of this. It is easy to get distracted by the plethora of “critical” daily issues we face as time just ticks away on us.
Then there are those moments that we all share when we stop and wonder about our place in the cosmos. It will oftentimes creep up on us when we are faced with an event like a birth, a wedding, a graduation, or a death. It could be something that causes us to take stock of our lives, our family, our friends, or our journey. It might even provoke us to ponder our existence or the very essence of our meaning. It might shake the very foundations upon which we build – or have built.
Imagine you only had one day left on the planet – today. What would you do? And if you were writing your own eulogy for tomorrow, how would you want to be remembered? What would they say if you left here today?
I guess at first glance, this weekend’s University of Texas football game was a good one. How can you complain about a final score of 43 – 0? A shutout is always a great thing.
It was a beautiful evening for a game. The temperatures are finally starting to drop a little, and this is the first time all season that I actually had to take a light jacket to the game. College football weather – at least what I would consider college football weather – is upon us.
This week’s victim was Kansas. Rumor has it that they brought a team from Lawrence, Kansas to play the Longhorns. Let’s just say it must have been 3:06 worth of despair for the Jayhawks. There was no Rock, no Chalk, and little Jayhawk. It was a far cry from the KU basketball team who, by the way, might have scored as many points as the football team if not a few more. And they only start 5 players.
Allan Besselink, PT, DPT, Ph.D., Dip.MDT has a unique voice in the world of sports, education, and health care. Read more about Allan here.