Leaving the Razorbacks

The Razorback Nation is reeling this week after the announcements that Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn and Freshman Quarterback Mitch Mustain are both leaving the University of Arkansas.

Malzahn announced on Monday that he would be leaving the Razorbacks to go to the University of Tulsa, where he will be Co-Offensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach. More importantly, he will be able to implement the hurry-up, no huddle offense that he is famous for, yet wasn’t allowed to use at Arkansas. It was also reported that Arkansas Head Coach Houston Nutt was planning on demoting Malzahn to Co-Offensive Coordinator at UA, and after a season where Malzahn was named the National Offensive Coordinator of the Year by Rivals.com, it seems like that was the last straw.

One day after his former high school coach decided to leave, Mustain, the former Parade Magazine High School Player of the Year, was granted a release from the program as well. After compiling an 8-0 record as a starter, Mustain was replaced at QB by Casey Dick (2-3 as a starter this season), and was reportedly very upset when Malzahn, his mentor, decided to leave. At this point, Mustain hasn’t announced where he will transfer, but he won’t be suiting up for the Hogs next fall.

Both Malzahn and Mustain have been very diplomatic about their departures, and have had absolutely nothing negative to say about Houston Nutt, but that speaks more for their character than his.

What has become abundantly clear is this: in December 2005, when Nutt hired Malzahn as Offensive Coordinator, he didn’t do it to help out the Razorback offense; he did it to lure the prized Springdale recruits and ultimately, to save his job.

Once he succeeded in saving that job, he couldn’t have cared less about Malzahn and Mustain, and in fact, seemed to resent their presence as a constant reminder of how they had saved his job.

I wish the best to Malzahn and Mustain, and hope they succeed at their new schools.

On the other hand, Nutt has proved himself (time and time again) to be a petty and dishonest man (as well as a pretty mediocre coach), and he needs to be fired.

• • •

As the third piece of a staggering hat-trick to the U of A, I also have decided to leave school.

This might come as somewhat of a surprise since it wasn’t that long ago that I got accepted, but believe me when I say that no one is more surprised about this than me.

I went to class for the first time on Tuesday, met with my adviser, and then began my reading assignments. It became very clear to me that the program was going to be very difficult, but it being difficult was not the reason for my decision. However, because it was going to be difficult, it made me stop to consider the reasons why I decided to begin the program in the first place, and I discovered that they weren’t very good.

There are certainly several good reasons to go to graduate school, including:

1. You are really interested in what you’re studying.
2. You need to have a graduate degree to get the job that you really want.
3. You really like being in school in general.

There are also several bad reasons for deciding to go to grad school, such as:

1. You don’t know what you want to do in life and are just putting off figuring it out.
2. Your brother and sister went to grad school and it just seems like the thing to do.
3. You don’t want to grow up.
4. You want to continue your college ultimate frisbee career.

When I was honest with myself, I realized that I didn’t really have any good reasons for being in grad school, and that (as you probably surmised) my main reasons were the bad ones listed above.

I really think it was the right decision, but it was certainly a very difficult one. It’s a little scary when you change the plans that you made without having a new plan to replace it. But it will be okay.

So, my defection from the University of Arkansas might be more surprising than those of Gus Malzahn and Mitch Mustain, but at least it wasn’t caused by Houston Nutt. Though, he certainly didn’t help. And he should still be fired.

A Wasp that can do Brain Surgery?

I don’t usually post for the sole purpose of linking to something I think is interesting, but tonight, I will make an exception.

As a Christian, I am always interested to find occurrences in nature that seem too remarkable to have happened just by chance, without a Creator behind it. This is certainly one of the more remarkable things I have come across.

Apparently, during its reproductive process, the emerald cockroach wasp does what basically amounts to a form of neurosurgery on a cockroach that makes it docile and ultimately suitable as a nest for the wasp’s larva.

But maybe this is no evidence for a Creator at all, and the wasp just decided one day to try and operate on a cockroach after watching an episode of ER.

Yeah, maybe the Cubs will win the World Series this year too.

34 Years Ago Today

Baseball legend Roberto Clemente died 34 years ago today.

Born into humble circumstances on August 18, 1934 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Clemente was a gifted athlete with a passion for baseball, and by the time he was 17, he was playing for the Santurce Crangejeros, a Puerto Rican minor league team.

Roberto was a real talent who could do it all; he could hit to all fields with power, he was a great baserunner, and he had an incomparably strong throwing arm.

While playing for Santurce, he was discovered and drafted by the Dodgers, signed to play for the same AAA Montreal Royals that Jackie Robinson played for, and experienced much of the same types of racial discrimination.

On top of that, because he was a bonus baby, Clemente had to fight through the Dodgers’ efforts to hide his talents. Not wanting other clubs to discover how good he really was, the Royals’ manager would keep Roberto, a right-handed batter, out of the lineup against left-handed pitching, and would bench him enough to prevent him from getting into any sort of rhythm with his swing.

But some talents cannot be hidden, and realizing how good Roberto could be, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed him after the 1954 season for $4,000.

After a mediocre rookie season (he only hit .255), Clemente hit .311 in 1956 and began to form his reputation as one of the best players in the game. In the field, he made spectacular catches and threw out runners all over the basepaths with his incredibly strong and lethally accurate arm (Vin Scully once said that Clemente could field the ball in New York and throw out a guy in Pennsylvania), and at the plate, he hit to all parts of the field and came up with big hits in clutch situations.

But not all was perfect in Pittsburgh. Clemente felt out of place and isolated there, living in a city with no Hispanic community to speak of. Proud of his Latino heritage, he bristled when sportswriters called him “Bobby”, and was constantly accused by the media and fans alike of being a hypochondriac, despite the fact that he played in constant back pain from a spinal injury he suffered in a car accident during his rookie season, and played 152 games during the 1965 season while suffering from an attack of malaria.

Roberto also felt under-appreciated as a Latino star playing for the small-market Pirates, as he received little nationwide attention despite leading Pittsburgh to a World Series title in 1960 and winning batting titles in 1961 and 1964. Even after a dazzling 1966 season that won him the National League MVP award, he was still not as well-known as other stars like Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.

By 1971, Clemente was a veteran of 16 seasons in the Major Leagues, and was undoubtedly one of the very top players in the game, but still didn’t receive much national attention. But in 1971, the Pirates played the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series, finally putting Roberto in the national spotlight, and he made the most of it. He played inspired baseball, hitting .414 for the series with 12 hits and two home runs, while playing his usual spectacular defense in the outfield. Pittsburgh won the series four games to three, and Clemente won the MVP award for the series.

The next fall, on September 30, 1972, Clemente doubled off of Jon Matlack of the New York Mets. It was the 3,000th hit of his illustrious career.

It would also turn out to be his last.

After the end of the season, on December 23, 1972, a severe earthquake hit the city of Managua, Nicaragua, killing over 7,000 people and leaving over 250,000 homeless. Roberto, who had previously traveled to Nicaragua and had many friends there, was affected very deeply, and, according to his wife, said over and over, “Something has to be done! Somebody has to do something!”

What he did was to work furiously over the next few days collecting supplies and donations for the earthquake victims. He worked close to 20 hours a day, sleeping very little, and not even taking the time to open Christmas presents. But his work was a success, as he collected over $150,000 and more than 26 tons of clothing, food and medicine.

Roberto hired an old DC-7 airplane to take some of the supplies down to Nicaragua on December 31, but the plane was barely in the air when one of the engines began to vibrate and caught fire. After a series of explosions, the plane fell to the Atlantic Ocean, within a mile of the Puerto Rican coast. There were no survivors, and the bodies of Clemente and the other four passengers were never recovered.

In 1973, Clemente became the second Latin American to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball commissioner Bowie Kühn waived the mandatory five-year waiting period, saying it wasn’t necessary “because of how great Clemente was as a player, how great he was as a leader and how great he was as a humanitarian.”

Kühn also said:

“[Clemente] gave the term ‘complete’ a new meaning. He made the word ‘superstar’ seem inadequate. He had about him the touch of royalty.”

Apart from being a Hall of Fame caliber player, Roberto Clemente was a pioneer, whose excellence in the Big Leagues opened the door for the Latin American players of the future. Due in large part to his accomplishments, Latin Americans dominate today’s game as never before.

But Clemente was more than that. In his life, he was the pride of Latin America, and a hero and example for his teammates, his fans and his family. In his death, he was the pride of the whole world, and was a hero and example for all of us.

Roberto Clemente’s life made him famous; his death made him a legend.


Sources for this post include The Baseball Almanac, BaseballLibrary.com, El Pelotero Online, Latino Sports Legends, and Baseball Reference.

Looking for a Good Movie to Watch?

I know that Christmas might technically over, but I’m not having Christmas with my family until tomorrow night, so for me it isn’t. Based on that, and the fact that I find myself with some extra time over the holidays, I am pleased to present you with Luke’s Top 10 Movies to Watch over the Holidays. Enjoy.

10. Holiday Inn (1942): Bing Crosby runs an inn that is open only for the holidays and tries to prevent Fred Astaire from stealing his girl. Contrary to popular belief, Bing’s Christmas classic jingle, “White Christmas” comes from this movie.

9. A Christmas Story (1983) has been somewhat of a cult classic in recent years, and features young Ralphie’s quest to obtain a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. Humorous and quaint, TBS does both the film and the entire world a great disservice by showing it for 24 hours straight on Christmas Day.

8. The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Okay, I know that technically, The Empire Strikes Back is not a Christmas movie, but it still fits in this list for several reasons: (1) There is a lot of snow in it, (2) the wampa ice creatures kind of look like polar bears, (3) Boba Fett embodies the true spirit of Christmas when he gives Jabba the Hutt what he’s always wanted: Han Solo all wrapped up in carbonite, and (4) what time of year is not a good time to watch the Best Of All Star Wars Movies?

7. A Christmas Carol (1951): The best of all the versions I’ve seen of Dickens’ classic tale (with the possible exception of the Disney version). The ghost of Jacob Marley may be pretty laughable now, but I bet he scared kids to death in 1951.

6. Elf (2003) is probably the funniest Christmas movie of all time. I’m not a big Will Ferrell fan, but he is outstanding as Buddy the Elf. Also, Zooey Deschanel's version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” is probably the best ever.

5. Miracle on 34th Street (1947): I actually hadn’t seen the original version until this year, and was pleasantly surprised at how good it is. It certainly deserves its status as a Christmas classic.

4. The Shop Around the Corner (1940): This movie is not as well known as You’ve Got Mail, which was based on it, but it is a lot better. James Stewart, Frank Morgan, William Tracy and Felix Bressart all put in good performances, and it would be even better if Stewart’s love interest in the movie (Margaret Sullivan) didn’t look quite so much like a chipmunk.

3. Home Alone (1990): Macaulay Culkin may have been the best child actor of all time, and this is his best movie. What helps this movie the most is that for years it was played on Thanksgiving night, and really signified the beginning of the Christmas season.

2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969): I consider myself to be somewhat of a James Bond expert, and this is my favorite Bond movie, and George Lazenby is my favorite Bond actor. The movie is set up in the Alps (among other places) and really does have a Christmas-y feel to it, complete with ice skating and carols, snow, and Christmas presents.

The opening scene might be my favorite of the movie, with some pretty cool camera work and Lazenby breaking the fourth wall by looking at the camera and saying, “This never happened to the other fellow.” Diana Rigg also does a great job playing the only Bond girl who succeeded in getting James to walk down the aisle.

1. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) has been the stereotypical Christmas movie for years, always appearing on network TV, which is kind of a shame, as it makes people take it for granted and not appreciate how good it really is. Of all the movies on this list, It’s a Wonderful Life is the only one which would also rank high my list of Best Movies of All-Time.

Arguably the movie for which James Stewart is best known for, It’s a Wonderful Life was also the first movie he appeared in after his decorated service in World War II, and apparently, he wasn’t sure if he still had it or not. Just watch the scene in Martini’s bar where a distraught George Bailey is praying, and you can see that he was still at the top of his game.

So there you have it: Luke’s Top 10 Movies to Watch over the Holidays. What do you think? Am I right on target, or way off base? Either way, I hope you enjoyed the list, and enjoy the rest of the holiday season.