I think it’s safe to say that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has opened an interesting can of worms recently at a rather inopportune moment. They have published what is, to my understanding, an evidence-based report on screening for breast cancer, including the use of mammograms. Emotional topic, without a doubt.
There have been some rather extreme responses as can often be expected when the discussion is driven by emotion. This discussion is taking place at a time when the current health care reform climate is volatile at best. People have already started proclaiming that “this is rationing of care – and exactly what health care reform is going to do”, “this will prevent women from getting the care they need”, and “hell yes, as a doctor I am still going to perform them regardless of what the study says”.
Let’s make sure that we understand the conclusions of the report. All suggestions are given a grade that reflects the level or degree of recommendation. Recommendations are just that – recommendations, not demands or rules.
The part that seems to have everyone outraged is this:
Thirty-something bowl games later. That’s a whole lot of football. And, frankly, much ado over nothing. Another year of college football ends in turmoil. Sure, there was a “national championship” game, and yes, there was a winner of this “national championship” game. But when the best bowl game was the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl, you really have to wonder about the state of the post-season.
As an aside, the Humanitarian Bowl had Idaho edging Bowling Green 43 – 42. The fourth quarter was, without doubt, the most entertaining (and refreshing) 15 minutes of football all year. With the game tied at 35, Bowling Green scored a touchdown with 32 seconds left. Score: Bowling Green 42, Idaho 35. Idaho then stormed back to score a touchdown with 4 ticks left on the clock, making it 42 – 41. In perhaps the gutsiest coaching move I’ve seen in a long time, Idaho went for the two point conversion – and made it – to win 43 – 42. Now that’s not something that even Les Miles or Nick Saban would do.
Games like this would be commonplace if college football had a playoff. It is laughable that the NCAA continues to claim that the BCS is “in the best interest of the universities”. As it stands, there are 34 bowl games, which means that 68 of 120 schools are in a bowl game. Most of these bowl games have incredibly low attendance. If this is what is “in the best interest of the universities”, then it’s kind of like being in elementary school and everyone getting participation awards because “everyone’s a winner”. And if that is the case, there is a lot of money being invested in college football so that “everyone is a winner”. Yeah right.
Now that we have the benefit of having watched a few bowl games, and having established who showed up and who didn’t, let’s take one final look at December Delirium, and find us a real national champion. The good ‘ole fashioned way – on the field.
Five plays. That was the sum total of playing time for Colt McCoy during the national championship game. Instead of watching McCoy, the University of Texas’ senior quarterback, battle Alabama’s defense for 60 minutes, his college football career ended abruptly on the fifth play of the first Longhorn drive of the game. Sadly, he was forced to watch his final college game from the sidelines as him team lost to Alabama 37 – 21. It was hard to imagine, almost surreal, that the all-time win leader in college football would end up with this type of career finish. Here is a young man that has given everything to his team and to this program. He had prepared for 4 years to play on the game’s biggest stage. Watching his post-game interview was just plain sad.
I can’t imagine how Colt is feeling right now, but I do have a few words for him. First of all, a personal thank you for all of the memories. From the first moment you took the field in the void left by Vince Young – through each and every one of those 45 wins – you have exhibited the highest level of class and sportsmanship while representing the University of Texas. You’ve brought great joy to all of the fans like myself that have followed you and the Longhorns. Though I have no doubt that this is a very difficult time for you, I know that many good things lie ahead for you. We remember you not for those five plays tonight, but for times like the photo above.
As an aside - yes, there was a game last night.
I know that you’ve all been anxiously awaiting the 2nd annual December Delirium – a fully functional and highly effective NCAA college football playoff proposal. This year, it has become even more appropriate to have December Delirium since we have 5 unbeaten teams all vying for that coveted BCS National Championship game. It’s rather obvious that all 5 didn’t get the nod, and it’s been hotly debated as to who should and should not have been given the championship game berths.
On a quick sidebar, it seems like everything in college football this year was hotly debated. The winner of the Heisman Trophy – Mark Ingram of Alabama – wasn’t even the best running back in the pack. But, he does play for one of those national championship playing teams, so I guess that was enough rationale for people to select him for the Heisman Trophy. Fortunately, we’ll see if the real Mark Ingram is the one that showed up against Florida – or the one that didn’t show up against Auburn. And it won’t come easy against the Texas defense. It seems to me that the last time Texas won the National Championship, their quarterback (Vince Young) finished second in the Heisman voting, being beaten out by running back Reggie Bush. Will Colt McCoy deliver the same message? As Yogi Berra might say, it’s deja vu all over again.
But … back to the discussion at hand – the 2009 December Delirium bracket buster show!
I will confess - I was always thankful for physics in high school. Strange as that may sound, it was one of my strongest subjects. But beyond that minor digression, physics defines what we experience in the physical world. Newton and Einstein, among many others, have contributed greatly to our understanding of the dynamics of the world around us. At this point, you must be asking “why ponder physics on New Year’s Eve?”, and this would undoubtedly be a fair question. Physics certainly doesn’t involve resolutions, or the consumption of alcohol, or watching the ball drop on Time’s Square.
But when left to your own thoughts about life, when left facing the challenges of your world, you may sometimes revel in some newfound insight. And insight finds us at the strangest moments, at times when we are open to what the universe has to say to us. Perhaps the problems don’t change, but the way we see them changes. As Einstein himself noted, “the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them”. Smart man, that Einstein guy.
Strangely enough, physics may indeed contribute to not only our understanding of the world around us – but the world within us as well. There are two optical principles that I can think of right now that apply to life as well as they do to our physical realm.
The NCAA needs a college football playoff. I’ve said it once (or twice) before, and I will say it again. Annually. It’s pretty simple, actually. No matter how many people you talk to, it seems that the overwhelming response is yes, there needs to be a playoff format for the top 4, 8, or 16 teams. But in 2009, we have another year, and another mess. Sadly, the only people that don’t tend to agree with this are the school presidents and conference commissioners. We’ve heard all sorts of reasons to not have a playoff, most of which are incredibly lame and self-serving. Let’s be realistic here – the number one reason (unspoken, perhaps, after everything is said and done) is “maintaining the status quo”. Now the federal government – yes, the same government that is struggling with health care reform, the banking industry, and two wars – has put college football in the political spectrum. Please welcome H.R. 390, the College Football Playoffs Act. It’s good to see our government working on things that truly effect the population [sarcasm inserted here].
But seriously folks, this is what the law would look like:
The current versions of health care reform being proposed and debated are really starting to make me wonder. We started off with “making the system better”, “outcomes”, “efficacy”, and “coverage for all”. Now we’re talking about something that is becoming increasingly far-removed from that. And it’s getting worse.
We’re now being told – in the latest iteration of legislation - that there will only be coverage for part of the population (current estimate: 93%). We’re being told that tort reform has to be a significant factor in health care reform – yet in states in which it has occurred, there have been no savings to the patient. We’re being told that the patient will be forced to buy health insurance – in a system that has not inherently changed. It’s like taking your beat-up 1972 Ford Pinto into the shop for a quick coat of spray paint, thinking that might get you a few extra years of driving – but never looking at the oil leak or the old tires. Or the product recall.
The debate now is about protecting the status quo – and has become misguided to say the least, and unethical to say the most. But fortunately, it should now become readily apparent that there is but one solution to health care reform debate.
It’s name? Legislative reform.
Up to 60% of runners will sustain an injury within any given year. Poor running mechanics, in conjunction with poor, ineffective and outdated training methods, can pose a significant injury risk. "RunSmart" was written to address these issues in the running community.
"Running Injuries: Etiology And Recovery- Based Treatment" (co-author Bridget Clark, PT) appears in the third edition and fourth editions of "Clinical Orthopaedic Rehabilitation: A Team Approach" by Charles Giangarra, MD and Robert C. Manske, PT.
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.
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