Thursday July 24, 2008

Ryan Update / Vegas

Ryan Update 7-24
The doctors and staff met about Ryan today and they had great news for us. They have decided to keep Ryan here until August 14th. Most of the time you want to get released from the hospital as soon as possible but this case is different. Ryan is making such good strides that they want to keep him three more weeks. This is a major blessing.

We also had some great news last night when Ryan laughed for the first time since the accident. He had this huge smile on his face and began this silent laugh where his belly was shaking. He later repeated it and even faked it a couple of times but this was the first emotion we have seen from Ryan. The lack of emotion is not uncommon in brain injuries so we were not expecting it but it was nice to see the laugh.

Ryan's days are full of occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, cognitive therapy and recreational therapy. He is usually better in the mornings but yesterday he had a strong afternoon. In occupational therapy he was able to reach for stuffed animals, grab them and then move his hand up to a nerf basketball goal to release them for two points. The thing he struggles with the most is lifting his right arm up. There may be some extensive nerve damage in his right shoulder but we don't know that at this point.

In his afternoon class Ryan was able to solve math problems and read fairly big words. He has vision issues when he gets tired though. Objects appear blurry to Ryan some times and he does not see some quadrants in his vision.

In physical therapy Ryan was able to walk about 25-30 yards with the therapist holding him up on each side. His steps are quicker and much straighter than they were a few days ago.

I have come to realize just how long this therapy and rehab will be. Ryan has a very long road ahead of him and a lot of hard work. However, he is progressing at such a rapid rate so we are all encouraged.

Two of the best things going for Ryan right now is his attitude and his faith. Ryan understand God's will and we all trust God's plan. Your prayers continue to show up in Ryan's life. Thanks for your prayers!

Vegas
I keep hearing some talk about Clemson's schedule and how weak it is. You won't get any arguments here. The Tigers have a very easy schedule that sets up for a lot of success. They also have top ten kind of talent which is a major benefit. Combine those two and I cannot see Clemson being an underdog in any of its regular season games in 2008.

However, just because you are favored to in each game does not mean an undefeated season should be expected. I think Clemson has a better chance of losing two games than going undefeated. The college football season is long and pressure mounts. Undefeated seasons don't happen too often in the game anymore. I just don't see anyone going undefeated this year.

Last year Oklahoma had a great season. They won their division and conference and played in the BCS. Oklahoma was favored 14 games a year ago but lost three and still had a great campaign. The Sooners were a 23-point favorite against Colorado and got beat. They were a 7-point favorite against Texas Tech and fell. In the Fiesta Bowl they were a touchdown favorite and lost to West Virginia.

West Virginia would have played for the national title if they had not lost to Pittsburgh at home in a game where they were favored by 29 points.

Southern Cal was favored by a combined 56 points in the two games they lost last year. National champion LSU lost to Kentucky despite being a 9-point favorite and Arkansas when they were 13-point favorites. Ohio State's only regular season lost came when they were favored by 15 over Illinois at home.

Clemson has been favored in 27 of its past 30 games. Clemson has been a an underdog in each of the last three seasons against FSU but won all three so the Tigers are 3-0 as an underdog.

The Tigers are 18-9 in games where they have been favored over the past 30 games. Six of those nine losses have come when Clemson was favored by five or less points. In 2006 Clemson was favored by two at Boston College, five at Virginia Tech and five against South Carolina. In 2007 the Tigers were favored by three at Georgia Tech, five against Virginia Tech and two against Auburn. The only games were Clemson has been a touchdown or more favorite was last season against Boston College when Clemson was favored by eight and two bad losses in 2006 when they lost despite being 19-point favorites against Maryland and 10-point favorites against Kentucky.

The college season is too long and too terribly difficult to go undefeated. Clemson is as good or better than every team they play this season. But the cumulative effect of having to play well each week wears you down. Injuries, bad officiating, bad matchups, luck, motivation, bad coaching, turnovers and weather are just a few things that sometimes can overcome talent advantages.

So the keys are the timing of your losses and luck. Luck comes into play when you need the other schools ahead of you in your conference or ahead of you in the rankings to lose.

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