The Crimson Pigskin e-Letter: Vol 11, Issue 5

THE CRIMSON PIGSKIN e-LETTER

 

ROBOBILITATION

 

The robot at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City isn't just a set of peculiar "dance" moves left over from the 1980's.  The University of Oklahoma Priority Report (not to be confused with the Tom Cruise motion picture Minority Report) for September, 2008 informs readers OUHSC students currently have the opportunity to learn to use robots as rehabilitation aids for patients who have suffered from skeletal, muscular trauma or degenerative neuromuscular disease.  The apparatus looks like gymnastic parallel bars with cables and weights which help to balance ergonomic braces for knees, hips, elbows and shoulders. 

 

The braces look like parts of the suit built by the hero in this summer's hit movie Iron Man.  While the cables don't send patients hurdling through the air like a superhero, the robots are electronically cued to help the braced body parts move synergistically, allowing for increased ranges of motion for joints and comfortable stretching of muscles.  This kind of technology can be used to help thousands of people overcome obstacles which would keep them from a better quality of life and extend lives in many cases.  OUHSC – Healing people in the spirit of Darth Vader and Robocop one dance move at a time.

 

NFL HEADS TO THE FUTURE

 

In a report this week on FoxNews.com, at least a dozen former National Football League players plan to "donate their brains to study the long-term effects of concussions" when they are finished with them.  Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy isn't after the amount of information or lack thereof stored in the brain of the average NFL linebacker but would like to correlate existing injuries to the experimental brains with memory loss, depression and other conditions. 

 

FoxNews.com adds,…Interestingly enough, the footballers are joined by one former Florida Panther's hockey player and a former female soccer player from the U.S. national soccer team.  Information gained from the research could be used to prevent future head injuries in contact sports.  The sight of an aging Muhammad Ali riding a golf cart on the sidelines of last weekend's University of Louisville Cardinal's football game serves as a reminder of how prolonged exposure to concussive blows to the head can lead to a trying future for even the greatest superstars.  Preventative measures discovered as a result of BU's studies may help pro sports retirees enjoy more of their time when the glory days of the NFL are long gone.

 

TULSA

 

The Hurricane blew past New Mexico Saturday evening at Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  This was Tulsa's first home game of the season and they won in the fashion worthy of a stadium grand reopening by a score of 56-14.  This is shaping up to be another magical season for Tulsa which, if the team performs up to expectations, has a chance to win each game on the schedule.  The win brings TU to 3-0.

 

Central Arkansas visits Skelly Field this week and the game is scheduled for a 6pm CDT kick-off.  This game may provide a mild workout for Tulsa and the fans should get to see a lot of benchwarmers on the field, styling and profiling for friends and family who attend.  There will be more scrubs on the field than one would find in a medical supply store. 

 

Good thing the athletic department shelled out for that new tele (British for television) screen.  The score portion may need to be modified to display 3 digits as the Hurricane whisks the Bears (yeah, more Bears this week as in Lions and Tigers and,…oh my!) away.  Tulsa 70, UCA 0.

 

ARKANSAS

 

In order to play for a conference title, a team in the Southeastern Conference has to win most of their divisional games.  U of A had a divisional conference game in Fayetteville, Arkansas Saturday against a very good Alabama team and didn't make any headway toward the SEC title game.  After getting rolled by the Crimson Tide, the most pleasant surprise team of the Southeastern Conference this season 49-14, Arkansas doesn't have time to worry about what happened or they may get trampled by a herd of Longhorns Saturday in Austin, Texas.

 

Athletes go to the University of Arkansas because they know they're going to get to compete against the elite of college football, on and off the SEC schedule.  This year is no exception and now that the cupcakes of Western Illinois and Louisiana-Monroe are just after-party memories, the terrain gets tougher and the stakes get higher.  While UT is not a conference game, it could go a long way towards recruiting the Lone Star State for the Hogs who need talent from outside their own borders to regain a winning tradition.  No tall order under a first year coach and one year removed from the services of Heisman runner-up Darren McFadden.

 

When this game got postponed due to Hurricane Ike's imminent landfall, it just put off the inevitable.  Now a softened up sty of Razorbacks faces another one of the best teams in the nation in Texas which is 3-0 to date.  Hog fans may be glad this one got delayed.  sMack Brown and company no doubt have seen the game films and are well aware of the weaknesses 'Bama exploited.  UT has the athletes to do the same thing.  As Yogi Berra (not the cartoon Yogi Bear, Boo Boo) was quoted as saying, "It's like deja vu all over again".  "Roll" the tape from last week.  'Horns 55, Hogs 24.

 

TENNESSEE

 

Crimsonpigskin.com has a brief correction posted from last week's newsletter in which CPEL reported Tennessee was visiting Florida.  The game was played in Knoxville, Tennessee but the CPEL prediction held true as Florida won the game 30-6.  This was expected and Tennessee will have to regroup quickly so their season doesn't become a bunch of players going through the motions while disinterested fans load up the internet sports message boards with lamentations about falling off of Rocky Top without a tether. 

 

A 1-2 band of Volunteers limps into Auburn, Alabama for an inter-divisional SEC game against some of the aforementioned Tigers (oh my!).  This won't be pretty for UT fans.  Auburn has one of the stingiest defensive units in the country and with Tennessee struggling to put points on the board against Florida last week, unless coach Phil Fulmer gives the team a win one for the Gipper speech and the team plays way above its talent level, they're gonna reach 1-3 post haste.  Auburn 13, Tennessee 10.

 

OKLAHOMA STATE

 

The story is set just like an old western story,…The Cowboy loses a battle only to return and exact his revenge on the band of outlaws who stole his cattle, ran him off his ranch or called him names at the local saloon.  Flashing back to last season and a night in Troy, Alabama on which the Troy Trojans could do no wrong, Poke fans cringe remembering how the game got so out of hand so quickly then stayed out of hand until it was too late.  Enter Pistol Pete and his "Posse".

 

Riding up with an unshaven, mustached, weathered face, peering out from under the brim of an oversized orange cowboy hat, chaps flapping in the wind, Pete spurs his trusty horse Bullet, in pursuit of the game rustlers who stole his thunder last season.  As he climbs down from the saddle, he spits his chaw (Pete's not much on reading any recent literature on the effects of using smokeless tobacco but he plans on catching up someday after Dexter Manley teaches him how.) on the red clay under his feet and says,

 

"Ya'll ain't from these parts 'er ye?" 

"No", the visitors reply.  "Is this an old west Hollywood backlot?" 

"No, it ain't!" Pete responds.  "As a matter of fact, ya'll done landed yerselves in a whole heapa trouble.  You're the filthy pig stealers who took away our pride last season at that purgatory you call a stadium and we's aimin' to take it back!"

"Well Tex, you're gonna have to take it!"

 

After this sophisticated repartee has concluded, and just about the time the kick-off teams collide for the first scrum of the night, the Troyans will realize they're in a whole different league than the one they're used to and be served a reminder of how good the upper echelon conferences can be from top to bottom (except Baylor).  Then, since they're not playing Baylor, Troy will settle in for a battle and unless OSU confuses them for the University of Southern California's outstanding team it is a battle they will not win,…this time.  Then Oklahoma State, saddle sore and blinded by revenge will vanquish Troy (Brad Pitt et al).  Poignant drama unleashed at The Boone.  OSU 30, Troy 16.

 

OKLAHOMA

 

The last time Texas Christian University visited Owen Field it wasn't exactly a crimson lettered day for OU.  TCU took a page from Clint Eastwood and turned the Sooners Any Which Way But Loose.  Yep,…it was ugly. 

 

This time around, Oklahoma has had a week off to prepare for the Horned Frogs but the main focus of practices in Norman, Oklahoma this time of the season is the Texas Longhorns.  Looking ahead may cost Oklahoma a few points in the margin of victory Saturday but if all the talent holds true to form and the fans show up for the 6pm CDT kick-off ready to cheer like champions, crisis can be averted and OU can continue its run of success this early season.

 

The Sooners won't play another game in Norman until Kansas visits on October 18.  KU's chance at another miracle run like the one that led last year's team to an Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech was effectively removed from view two weeks ago.  That's when the Jayhawks couldn't find a place to land because all the trees were palm trees in a loss at South Florida.  The loss just fans the flames on years of speculation as to whether Jayhawks can fly or if they even exist.

 

They could have waited and lost to one of the really good teams on the schedule but now the pressure is off and they can make lazy circles in the sky until head coach Mark Mangino, former Oklahoma offensive coordinator takes his team to Norman.  It could provide motivation for Kansas if 2^nd ranked Oklahoma is still undefeated on that day.  Even more if USC stubs its toe and the Sooners sneak (as they've been known to do) into the nation's top spot. 

 

An excellent coach, the team will need to pour two coolers of Gatorade on the king-sized Mangino if they win before he will notice he's been doused.  The fact he is a great developer of young talent and gets the most out of his players, has kept KU near the top of the Big 12 Conference's northern division, just below the Missouri Tigers (oh my!).  All this to say the Sooners' return to Norman, will be a classic, and should be enjoyable to all fans (extinct, fossilized) Jayhawk, or otherwise.

 

Which game was this week again?  Oh, right.  Stoopsey starts pulling in the reins on the Sooner Schooner before Big 12 play begins.  Oklahoma 38, TCU 7.

 

THE PERCENTAGES

 

The CPEL went 3-0 again on the picks last week.  That translates to 14-1 on the year.  That's 93% for all those Central Arkansas University gene pool analysts out there.  Onward and upward!

 

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

 

Carlos

 

THE CRIMSON PIGSKIN e-LETTER