Hawkeyes vs Michigan State from the sidelines...

Last weekend I got a great chance to go to East Lansing and see the Hawkeyes play the MSU Spartans. I have to say, I was more than a little worried heading in there.

We left from Sioux City at 1pm Saturday, stopped by and picked up some people in Iowa City on the way and then flew the rest of the way to Lansing, MI. After landing there, we geared up and went to a pre-game place called The Landshark for some food before the game. Among our entourage was former Hawkeyes John Derby and Jared DeVries. Tailgating with an NFL Defensive End to go root on the Hawkeyes made me feel even more pumped up than I already was.

Around 6pm, we started our way to the stadium. The MSU fans weren't too friendly, but nothing unexpected. We crossed a beautiful campus with trees changing every color as both dusk and gametime neared. Our final approach to the stadium we crossed the famed "Red Cedar River" and entered the grounds of Spartan Stadium.

I had a benefit of a sideline pass, and a great Canon lens borrowed from a friend. My photography skills and then posting the pics on a blog don't do justice to document the game, but I will share what I got. I still ended up with some pretty great pics, and the benefit of watching the whole game literally on the sideline with the players. And now that we all know the outcome, it's one of those games where someday I will reminisce...."I was there"....

The Spartan fans were ready to rock. Not just the jocks, but the Star Wars nerds like myself donned their war gear and showed up to watch The Spartans take on the Undefeated #6 Iowa Hawkeyes.
We started with the ball, (surprise!). The game started like many of our games so far this year, trading punches to the jaw. Holding our ground and weathering the initial rush of emotion from the crowd and home team environment.

To get the crowd pumped up on third downs they play a clip of Leonidas shouting, "SPARTANS! What is your profession?" The crowd responds with an emphatic "Haroo! Haroo! Haroo!" while thrusting their fists in the air as if they were carrying spears like in the movie.
Here's Sparty! Ok, I love Herky, but Sparty is pretty damn cool. He's been in some great commercials and is the first non-athlete to grace the cover of NCAA Football, (Wii edition, 2009). During half time Jon Thorburn and I went upstairs to get some hot chocolate and in a very surreal moment Sparty walked on to the elevator with us. I felt like I was in an ESPN commercial riding up to the Press Box with Sparty.
Adrian Clayborn and the defense showed up to play.

I went to the end zone for some pics for Brandon Wegher returning.

I really like this pic. Brandon Wegher waiting for and wanting the ball while 75,000 Spartan fans cheer against him.

Ummm, sadly this is where I would curl up in the fetal position.

D-Line chomping the bit to feast on some Spartan.

Hunter and Binns

I had to look this guy up. Next man in.

Ferentz and staff watching the D-Line hold MSU to a field goal.

More pics of the offense. I really like the last one just above with CL Rocker in focus. He gave us fits all night, and almost got away with a defensive holding that would have ended the game for The Hawks.

Ballard lays out Cousins just after the throw.

The Defense walking up to the line.....

....while Cousins gets ready to make a play. The stadium was rocking. Chants of "Go Green!...Go White!" back and forth every time a timeout was called or Iowa touched the ball. MSU drives....hook and ladder to Blair White? No! With 1:37 left in the game MSU takes the lead, 13-9 a few plays later with none other than Blair White catching a pass in the end zone.

Stanzi and Vandenburg discussing the play just before the drive down the field.

I grabbed this last pic before I put my camera away so I could just cheer on The Hawks the last few plays of the game. As you know, with goal-to-go, Iowa used every second and down, coverting the 4th down play to Marvin McNutt for the winning touchdown. We went nuts. The crowd went silent. An unbelievable moment. It may not have been the 1985 field goal, or Tate to Holloway, but it was certainly special. An ending every Hawkeye fan will remember for years to come, marking history as The University of Iowa Hawkeyes move to 8-0 for the first time. Ever.

A few more pics below I uploaded to share...with a couple from the end of the game celebration.

8-0

A happy Peltgrande after the game. It's great to be a Hawkeye!

Go Hawks!

ER doctor analyzes health reform debate

Not this ER doctor, but another one, Dr. Rey. I read this and want other people to read it too, so I am sharing it. The first couple of paragraphs are key to me, describing the problem. The solution is debatable, but the need for a solution is real.

ER doctor analyzes health reform debate
Dr. Michael T. Rey • October 23, 2009 12:15 AM

This country needs radical reform to fix a health care system that currently encourages poor-quality medical care and costs too much. A universal single-payer system would put the focus back on patient care, where it belongs, and reduce costs.

In my 30 years as an emergency room physician, I have seen the quality of patient care plummet as a result of a lopsided reimbursement system. Family physicians and general internists cannot make a living providing basic health care unless they cram more patients into every hour, spending less time with each. Other doctors can make a very good living if they are “procedural specialists” (doctors who treat a few medical problems, in a limited anatomic area, and do so using a diagnostic or therapeutic tool).

This happens, in part, because billing codes favor “doing” over listening, talking and thinking, even when the “doing” has no proven medical benefit. An example is the “vertebroplasty” procedure that has proliferated recently, in which a physician injects glue into a patient's spine to bond vertebral compression fractures. A Mayo Clinic study published in the New England Journal of Medicine questioned whether vertebroplasty works, yet this lucrative procedure, performed by orthopedic subspecialists, attracts more and more doctors, while the number of general orthopedists, surgeons, internists, and family practitioners declines.

Third-party payers (health insurance companies, preferred provider organizations and HMOs) have tried to improve efficiency and increase profits by controlling the behavior of doctors and nurses, rather than by reducing paperwork and redundant documentation. Thus, under the current system, doctors focus on producing patient records that are designed less to document important clinical events or enhance patient care, and more to maximize revenue and reduce liability. Nurses spend less time at patient bedsides and more time at computer workstations. Medical conferences now allocate large blocks of time to coding and billing strategies.

Each insurance company has its own forms, fee schedules and documentation requirements, resulting in wasteful duplication of effort. Out of every health care dollar, a cut must go to the transcription service, the company that assigns billing codes and makes sure the physician's documentation supports the codes, and collection services. Hospitals hire less clinical staff (nurses and medical technicians) and more clerical staff (billing, coding, and insurance collections experts). Entire floors of hospitals are devoted to appeasing the administrative requirements of hundreds of third-party payers.Forcing doctors and nurses to focus more attention on record-keeping, coding and reimbursement does not promote good patient care, and is not cost-efficient. A single-payer, public plan would eliminate wasteful administrative requirements and ensure that economic factors unrelated to patient care no longer drive health care decisions. Physicians and nurses should do what they do best and continue putting the needs of the patient above shareholder and institutional interests. We can afford quality health care but only if we eliminate the middlemen.

The need for universal care is undisputed — our nation already acknowledges that no one should suffer pain, disability or death as a result of being unable to provide proof of ability to pay. The federal Emergency Medical Treatment And Labor , passed in 1986, requires all hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing treatment.

Having acknowledged the principle that everyone is entitled to care, we should now fund that care. Like automobile insurance, health insurance must be required, available and affordable for everyone.

Some opponents of health care reform argue that taxpayers will have to pay too much for a single-payer public plan or see it as a “government takeover.” They forget that most health insurance is already government insurance. Medicare and Medicaid payments provide more than half of the average hospital's revenues. Few of those who heckle the president at town hall meetings will refuse Medicare insurance when they turn 65.Our nation can no longer afford to accept the propaganda of third-party payers, who claim that a free-market model is appropriate for health care. Their free-market model has resulted in a slow but unrelenting decline in the quality of medical care.

Dr. Michael T. Rey lives in Waynesville. He is a board-certified emergency physician and fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He has practiced in Western North Carolina for 27 years.

Enjoying Summer with The Girls