Power Lunch: Chat with Jenni Carlson
The Morning After: Perspective Needed
I woke up this morning in a hotel room in Kansas City. Our flight home after yesterday’s Oklahoma State game at Missouri isn’t until noon, so as I slowly came into consciousness, I was thinking about how to spend the time before we board the plane.
Trying to figure out how to write about the end of the “Name The Game” contest topped the list.
We had such grand plans to give this year’s Bedlam a special nickname. We asked you to send your submissions about what else to call this Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game, and hundreds of you joined right in. It was an overwhelming response, and every time I got an email or saw a blog comment with a new suggestion, it made me smile. All of you were like all of us on our staff — so excited about the possibilities of two undefeated teams in this year’s game.
But, of course, after Oklahoma’s 41-38 loss to Texas Tech late Saturday night, that isn’t going to happen now.
And neither is the eventual end to our contest.
As I sat down at my computer and started to think about what to write on the blog, I scrolled through my emails first. That’s when I saw an email that looks like several others I’ve received over the past couple months.
The sender: CaringBridge.
The subject: Journal Update Notification for Matt Allen.
As you may remember, Allen is a volunteer softball coach at Bishop McGuinness High School who is battling the most invasive, insidious form of brain cancer. He’s had three brain surgeries. He’s had two years of chemo and radiation. He’s had every reason to be gritchy.
But Matt walks around with a smile on his face.
He’s the most amazing man with the most unbelievable family.
And now, he’s facing more surgery. As Matt’s wife, Kelly, wrote on the CaringBridge website where they keep family and friends updated, doctors discovered this week that a spot on his brain is growing. Because it’s near a ventricle in his brain, chemo isn’t an option. If the chemo gets into the ventricle, the consequences could be extremely dire.
So, Matt is going back under the knife on Tuesday.
Brain surgery No. 4.
That, as my boss said, is bad news unless you’re looking for something to pray for this week.
When I read what Kelly had written about the surgery, everything else I was worried about seemed so irrelevant. Yes, I know OU fans are disappointed today. Yes, I realize Sooner Nation is reeling. And yes, I also understand that this might not make any difference to anyone who bleeds crimson and cream.
But to me, it was a needed dose of perspective.
Use it as you see fit.
“Name The Game” Submissions Abound
The suggestions for our “Name The Game” contest are already coming in. I’ll try to update the list as we go — submissions are due by 9 a.m Monday — but here are the ones that have made the cut so far:
Armabedlam
Armagedlam
Bayou or Bust
BCS Bedlam
BCS Bedlam Brawl
BCS Through BPS
BCSlahoma
B-Day
Bedlam Bonanza
Bedlam D3
Bedlam for Bourbon
Bedlam for Bourbon Street
Bedlam of Bedlams
Bedlam Shootout
Bedlam Slam
Bedlamania
Bedlamgeddon
Bedlamination
Bedlammageddon
Bedlamocalypse
Big 12 Championship Game
Bourbon Bedlam
Hypocalypse Now
Land Rush Bowl
National Semifinal
Occupy Bourbon Street
Occupy Hall of Fame Street
Occupy New Orleans
Oklahoma Shootout at the Cowboy Corral
Oklahoma Showdown
One Bedlam to Rule Them All
Shootout at the OK Corral
Shootout at the OK State Corral
The Bedlam of the Century
The Mother of All Bedlams
The Really Big One at the End
The Semifinals
Ultimate Bedlam
***
Thursday, 11:05 a.m. update
Just when I thought there couldn’t be THAT many more ideas out there, submissions are coming in a steady stream this morning. I’m so glad everyone’s joining in the fun. Here are some new options that we’ve received:
+1
Battle for the Bayou
Battle to the Big Easy
Bayou Battle Royal
Bayou Bedlam Battle
Bayou Bedlam Battle Royal
Bedlageddon
Bedlam and Then Some
Bedlam Battle Royal
Bedlam Behemoth
Bedlam Brawl
BCS: Bedlam Championship Saturday
BCS: Bedlam Championship Series
BCS: Bedlam Cowboys Sooners
Bedlam Eleven
Bedlam for the Ages
Bedlam Galactic
Bedlam Red Dirt Rumble
Bedlam Squared
Bedlamonium
Bedlampalooza
Bedlamship
Big Bad Bedlam
Big Easy Bedlam
Bourblam
Canadian-Cimmaron River Rivalry
Clash of the Oklahomans
Interstate of Hate Date
Mega-Bedlam
Mega Bedlamania
National Bedlamship
Oklahomageddon
Oklahoma’s Newest Lottery
Okie Bowl
Pistols N Ponies for All the Money
Red Dirt Rivalry
Red Dirt Rumble
Showdown in Poke Town
Territorial Dispute
The Bedlam Supremacy
The Bedlam to End All Bedlams
The Bedlam Ultimatum
The Dust Bowl
The Oklahoma World Championship
Bedlam 2011: This Game Needs a Name
This year’s edition of Bedlam is so big that the nickname Bedlam just won’t do.
This game needs a name.
While every Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game is a big deal, this season is setting up for a monumental showdown. The Sooners are No. 3 in the initial BCS rankings that came out Sunday. The Cowboys are No. 4. Even though both teams have hurdles between here and their Dec. 3 game, the chance of an undefeated showdown is high.
What grand fun it will be.
There will be so much on the line. A Big 12 championship. A trip to the BCS national championship game. Bragging rights like never before. It would be Bedlam, a pseudo-Big 12 title game and a pseudo-national semifinal all wrapped up into one.
All of that is why this momentous game needs a special name.
We’ve come up with a couple possibilities here at headquarters — Bedlam Bonanza and Bedlammageddon among them — but we want to hear from you.
What should this year’s edition of Bedlam be called?
You can post your suggestions in the comments section below or email them to me at jcarlson@opubco.com. We are going to take submissions, narrow down the choices, then let you, our readers and fans, vote on which name you want.
Our “Name the Game” Contest starts now!
Tragedy in Sports: Is Danger Just Part of It?
I’ve only seen the replay of the crash that killed Dan Wheldon once.
I don’t care to see it again.
The 15-car pile-up that took the IndyCar driver’s life Sunday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was painful to watch. Cars flipped and spun. Metal crunched. Fire plumed. The 33-year-old father of two suffered blunt force trauma to his head that ultimately killed him.
The incident spurred a conversation Monday between myself and Gina Mizell, one of our Oklahoma State writers.
Which would you be more likely to approve of your child being involved in: auto racing or football?
Football has its dangers, including short-term and long-term injuries. Psychological issues involving former pro and college athletes have become a hot topic in the sports world, as well they should be, but there is still so much we don’t know about those types of problems. Beyond that, there are hundreds of kids playing football in youth leagues that lack adequate medical oversight. Yes, there are ambulances and athletic trainers at most every high school game. But what about elementary-school tackle-football leagues? The costs of having such medical personnel there are prohibitive, but the dangers still exist.
Would I want my child (or brother or nephew or friend) playing football with such risks?
As we tragically saw last week with the death of Edmond North High football player Ryan Smith, football can cost players their lives.
The same, unfortunately, goes for auto racing.
A story like Wheldon’s resonates because he was an IndyCar champ, but death and injury happens in the sport at all levels. Even at the smallest of tracks, medical personnel are present, but sometimes the crashes are so severe that there’s nothing that can be done.
Would I want my child (or brother or nephew or friend) racing cars with such risks?
Perhaps the biggest difference between football and auto racing is that injuries in football are more frequent but injuries in auto racing are oftentimes deadly.
Frankly, both sports are scary. There are risks that everyone who plays football or races cars accepts as part of their sport, but as Gina pointed out when we were talking, there are risks in every day life that we have to accept. Any of us could step outside today and get hit by a bus.
Risk is part of living.
So, my answer to our original question of which sport I’d be more likely to allow my child to participate in is both. You can never eliminate the risks in anything that you do. You can only manage them. And as long as that was done as well as humanly possible with proper safety equipment and medical personnel on hand, I would approve of either sport.
Power Lunch: Chat with columnist Jenni Carlson
