Epic Weekend

I apologize for not writing in a while, but the hospital has been keeping me busy. As you peruse the standings, you might notice that most of the House brothers are having a rough year. Our dear leader sits in dead last, even behind Gran. The Underdog pool is a game of skill- the same players often lead the field, like MiniMike and his wife GopherGirl. But the Underdog pool is also a game of inches- a couple of missed field goals here and a few fumbles there and you end up in 38th place like me. But while the leaders scrap and struggle for the few precious points to hold off upstarts RickRob and BShedek, the rest of the us can relax and enjoy the joy of college football for what it is.




What an amazing weekend it was!



Halfway through the season, we were really lucky to get so many top 20 matchups, including two meetings of undefeated teams. I could have watched football all day, so I did. Mostly, I sat in the first aid station at Kinnick stadium, babysitting the drunk freshmen and watching on the monitor the game outside my door: Iowa – Wisconsin.  It was back and forth all game and, as expected, came down to the wire.  In the end, the Badgers played mistake-free ball and earned it.  No trip to Pasadena this year for Hawkeye fans; it looks like another New Years in the Outback or Capitol One bowl. 


I was thrilled to see Missouri put the BCS human vs computer debate to rest with their upset of Oklahoma.  When I looked at the standings, I thought the Sooners were due for a stumble, since they had barely beaten Air Force and Cincinatti.  Now, the national championship race is focused mostly in the west, with Oregon, the TCU/ Utah winner, and Boisie St scrambling for the top.  Auburn, Michigan St, and now Missouri are right behind.  With USC playing Oregon next week, could a number 1 fall for the 4th week in a row?



In anticipation of the Ducks visit to the Coliseum next week, I enjoyed watching their rout of UCLA. Of course, it is always fun to watch UCLA lose. But the artistry with which the Oregon offense moves the ball is nothing short of magical. The statistical accomplishments of that offense is truly astounding. After the first 4 games, they were on a score a minute pace- they had literally scored at least one point for every minute of game time. Right now, they sit at a mere 0.92 points per minute. But I noticed how quickly they scored and how they are constantly trailing in time of possession, so I looked up their points per minute of possession. For every minute the Oregon offense has the ball, they have scored 2.2 points!



I was also thrilled to see the plan for the Pac-12 divisions and excited that it will start next year (Colorado was somewhat in doubt over their Big12 buy out). They kept the teams paired with their rival, but split California schools: USC/UCLA, Arizona/ASU, Colorado and Utah will be the Pac-12 south and Cal/Stanford, Oregon/OSU, Washington/WSU will be the north. Yet they will have a guaranteed crossover for the California schools, so USC will still play Cal and Stanford every year (yes, I want to play Stanford every year- I want every chance I get to get back at that jerk Harbaugh . . . grumble, grumble). It was the best possible result for the LA schools. Most of our games will be within a 6 hour drive, and we get to make a mountain road trip to Boulder or Salt Lake City every year. Best of all for me in Iowa, I now have direct flights to half of USC’s schedule!



The big surprise in the Pac-12 plan came with their championship game. Unlike everyone else, they are not going to hold it at a neutral field! The team with the best record will host the game! So Utah could find itself traveling to Eugene for the first Pac-12 championship game.



What a country!



Fight on,
Hans

Football 2.0

I awoke last Friday to thunderstorms in Las Vegas. The sky was overcast, the ground wet, and the light artificial. I boarded a plane and emerged in Iowa at the end of a perfect Indian Summer day: the sky was crystal clear and robin-egg blue. The light from the slowly setting sun illuminated the farms and fields with a bright enriching glow. The contrast between the dull, hungover depression of Vegas and the vibrant energy of the heartland could not have been more apparent.



Following my week in Vegas, I was happy to get back home. Besides playing with my daughter, I had two ER shifts to work. I was scheduled to be locked up in a plexiglass cubicle during the most exciting three hours of football Saturday night: Oregon- Stanford, Alabama-Florida, USC-Washington, Iowa- Penn State, and Boston College- Notre Dame. With the Iowa game raging just across the street, we expected to be flooded with patients before and after, but be relatively quiet during the game. In reality, the ER was surprisingly calm the entire time- all our patients were too busy watching football.



Enter the blessing of new football technologies.



First, I must give credit to the amazing website Dent Earl has developed. Wow. I am discovering new, wonderful features of that site on a daily basis. I love the graphical analysis of the results and picks. I love the continuous updates during game time. I even appreciate the rotating languages of salutations on the home page. DEARL, you rock! I kept the site open and watched as my picks went down in flames one by one.



Another amazing advance in football entertainment is ESPN3. When I saw the ads for it, I was highly skeptical. I assumed its was yet another subscription service that may or may not work in your area and was not worth the money. I am thrilled to report that I was wrong- not only was I able to get it on my local carrier, but the service is free. That’s right: free. The quality of streaming picture was perfect. And I was even able to select two games to project simultaneously. Even better, the site works in our hospital, behind the vaunted hospital IT firewall.



So there I was, saving lives, curing disease, teaching students, and I hardly missed a snap of the USC-Washington debacle! Different year, different stadium, same kicker and same result. Why didn’t I pick Washington?

Fight On,

Hans



PS: To all the Nitany Lions out there: I am sorry Iowa beat you again. But at least this time the result was never in doubt. The Hawkeyes came through on my promise to put the game out of reach early. I am sure Penn State is happy they get a break from the Hawks for a few years.