Dear Longhorns:

Hey, that 52 - 10 thrashing of Rice sure does look impressive. Colt McCoy is moving up the ranks of all-time UT quarterbacks, and now that he has passed Major Applewhite in career touchdown passes, I am sure he'll be able to apply for sainthood sometime soon. The defense had a memorable stand as well, stopping Rice 11 times inside the 10 yard line.

On the surface, it all looks pretty good as we head towards our re-scheduled game against Arkansas and then conference play.

But is the future as rosy as it may appear?

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Before we even get into this discussion, a quick definition is in order:

“Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs,opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie. Hypocrisy may come from a desire to hide from others actual motives or feelings.”

We’ve come a long way since March 5, 2009. That was the day of the first “summit” on health care reform. Oh, I remember it well. All the stakeholders, all the players, were so excited to be a part of the summit, a part of the process.

It was an exciting time. Until the stakeholders realized that the promise of reform was for real.

The stakeholders that have the most to lose are now spending millions of dollars to cover their reform-exposed asses. I think the last number I read was $1.4 million per DAY from the big money stakeholders. It’s Big Pharma … Big Insurance … Big Hospitals … Big Medicine …

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A few days ago, I was thinking about the upcoming election and all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds it. There have been a lot of things to ponder: the mud-slinging, the role of the media, the "fear factor" ... but it extends far beyond these boundaries. This election has forced us to consider the true meaning of equality of both race and gender. It has forced many of us to look deep into our collective souls, to think deeply about the true values of this country, about leadership, about insight and vision for the country both inside and outside our borders. And amongst all of that, I was thinking about the beauty of the democratic process - of upholding your responsibility to vote so that you can then have an active voice in the future of the country and the freedoms we hold dear.

In the midst of this, I thought a great deal about some basic elements that I think get to the root of what we hold true. I think the labels may change, but when you get down to it, "red" states and "blue" states all have people like you and I that still just want to grow, learn, earn a living, raise a family, be all that they can be, love their parents and family and friends, and in all of this, maybe even leave a legacy and make the world a little bit better place than when we arrived on it.

I set out to create a reminder of all of these things, a sort of "Election Day Credo" to keep in mind as we rapidly approach November 4, a day that we may look back at as truly significant for our generation and those after us.

So here it is ... my Election Day Credo ... so repeat after me:

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I hate to admit, but the heat has gotten to me a little earlier than usual this year.

So far this spring and summer, Austin has had something to the effect of 32+ days over 100 degrees. The typical annual average? Eleven. Holy Heatwave, Batman, this has been one hot summer thus far - and we're barely past the solstice!

With that in mind, I thought it would be appropriate to post a few thoughts about the heat - and, specifically, training in these dastardly conditions.

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