Repeat after me -
"We are number one - and OU still sucks!"
(the Longhorn fan in me just had to say so)
After a phenomenal team effort yesterday against the University of Oklahoma, the Longhorns were rewarded today with the number one ranking in college football. Well, at least for the next week. The next three weeks are still going to be tough, with Missouri, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech all waiting in the wings for an upset. But for the next 7 days, we can celebrate the #1 status, something we've not seen here in quite some time.
In the world of triathlon, it's all the rage.
Got aero?
It is a big trend in the triathlon community - the perceived benefits of aero tubing, aero helmets, aero bottle holders - you name it, aero is where it's at these days. Whether it's a more aerodynamic frame, or more aerodynamic bike fit/position, or a more aerodynamic helmet, "aero" is a huge catch phrase in the triathlon world. This focus on aero was once again brought to my attention at the Longhorn 70.3 half Ironman last weekend. As I was there supporting a number of athletes that were competing, I witnessed a lot of aero frames and helmets (or "coneheads" as one of my athletes calls them). In some ways, these struck me as frightening trends in that there is obviously a lot of talk and marketing dollars going into some of the beliefs held by triathletes these days.
And much of it revolves around the supposed benefits of aero on the cycling segment of the race.
I remember a Nike ad with Charles Barkley from many years ago. In it, he remarked ...
"I am not a role model".
Well, I am going to do my own ad ... and in it I will remark -
"I am not a friend of John".
In last night's Presidential debate, Senator McCain used this phrase 24 times in a 90 minute period. Everything ended or started in "my friends". According to my Canadian math, that would be once every 3:45. Oh, I forgot that Tom Brokaw had to spend a lot of time getting them both to follow the time rules - so let's subtract at least 5 minutes for that ... and I am sure there must be a couple of minutes of total time to actually have the audience ask the questions. So, let's call it seven minutes to take off the 90 minute total. Given that we would assume that his air time was half of the debate at most, this amounts to one utterance every 1:44.
If you're a Sooner or a Longhorn, this is exactly what you've been anticipating. The showdown in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl. October 10th, 11:00 central time. Let the games begin.
Every year, the season can be over before it truly gets started. Throughout most of the history of the Big 12 conference, the early season meeting between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas has had a huge impact on the season. There is the inevitable annual Red River bragging rights. The rivalry between these two programs is one of the greatest in college football. It was something that I knew about long before moving to Texas!
At the end of July, I attended the McKenzie Conference of the Americas in Orlando, Florida. Though Orlando doesn't rate very highly on my short list of conference locales, the conference itself was well worth the time in the Land of Mickey. And though it may seem that a report of this is a little bit of "old news", I still think it's important to bring this to the attention of both clinicians and patients alike.
The McKenzie Institute conference has a rotating schedule. In alternate years, it is an International conference which moves throughout the global regions that have branches of the McKenzie Institute. On alternate years, the conference is a regional one - for example, our region being the Americas. I've been able to attend all of the North American/Americas McKenzie conferences since 1994 (8), and about half of the international conferences (3) . After my first McKenzie conference in La Jolla, I came to the realization that the McKenzie Institute are commited to excellence in conference programming. Through the amazing work of Ann Carlton and the U.S. office, we have continually been provided with exemplary conference speakers and workshops.
There are a couple of aspects of the McKenzie conferences that have always struck me as important. The first is that the speakers have been incredible. They are always individuals that are actively involved in either research or clinical involvement, and the information presented is current. Yes, current. That is a novelty in the world of conferences these days. I've been to far too many conferences and course that were out of touch with the issues that truly impact our profession. More often than not, the literature presented is current and relevant to clinical practice - if not truly cutting-edge.
It should have been called something like "Governor Sunshine Goes To Washington" ... or perhaps "Washington University ".
Governor Sunshine - the smiling, awwwww-shucks, Joe-Six-Pack-and-soccer-mom-supporting Sarah Palin. The governor that spent the evening giving us a lot of fluff and not a lot of stuff.
I have to admit, it reminded me a bit of the 2000 and 2004 presidential debates ... in which we had the good-ole boy from Texas show us his relative lack of knowledge of anything worldly.
So here's what I heard her say tonight ...
Black Saturday.
Need I say more?
If you were a ranked team this past weekend, you had a 1 in 4 shot of losing to a lower ranked or unranked opponent. It seems there is always an early season "Black Saturday" and this was it. There was Oregon State over #1 USC, Alabama over #3 Georgia, Mississippi over #4 Florida, Michigan over #9 Wisconsin, Navy over #16 Wake Forest, Maryland over #20 Clemson, and Houston over #23 East Carolina. That's a rough weekend for the ranked!
The rankings come out and lo and behold, we've got more SEC-love again. Alabama jumps to #2 in the AP poll with LSU #3?? What is it that the pigskin prognosticators love about the SEC?
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.
Top 5 finalist in three categories: "Best Overall Blog", "Best PT Blog" and "Best Advocacy Blog".
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