Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Predictions of Supersymmetric Particle Models: Sentiments on Dark Matter in the 21st Century and the 2008 NFL Season ~ Part II


(Ed Note- This was sent by Dick Tremaine from a phone booth in New Caledonia.Lyon, France is a pretty happening town. Loads of shit happens there. Go way back and you got the Gauls, the Franks, I'm sure Charlemagne was up in there at some point. It was a 19th Century player in the cinema market. It's a fashion hub. It spawned big chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech companies. It's on the river. The food's awesome.

It is also curiously close to the Swiss border.

CERN is headquartered in Geneve, Switzerland some 70 miles away. It's name is derived from the acronym for the French Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (a. k. a. ~ the European Organization for Nuclear Research). They have created one of these testbeds deep beneath the ground to observe their trials in search of dark matter. This is the French/Swiss border, 100 metres underground in a tunnel at CERN.

To the science community, this is the Super Bowl of all Super Bowls. The players are much smaller, they usually lead quieter lives. But for those around the globe chasing down this elusive scientific explanation this is an unending season of excitement and expecting the unexpected . For CERN, this is an example. Some hypothesize that messing with dark matter in such ways could ultimately bring about the end of the world, but we'll get to that later. Boston University has been working with MIT and Bradeis on similar experiments. China just spent $6.7 billion (with a "B") on a state of the art atom smasher 31 km long. England, Italy, Japan, Russia; they've all got 'em. There's caverns in Canada (which will host 8 NFL games over the next 5 years), abandoned iron mines in Minnesota and a defunct Gold mine in South Dakota six times deeper than the Empire State Building is tall.

In recent years, the CRAL has been working with the IPNL (Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon) on the Edelweiss projects. They have been "tweaking their lineup" of silicon and super-frozen germanium crystals based on research and analysis just like coaches who make roster adjustments which are based on analysis of practices and game tape, coachability, potential and the intangibles. Deciphering the intangibles is the key to success for physicists and coaches alike. Just as there is no perfect way to build a championship team, Juan Collar, a particle physicist at the University of Chicago and part of a team called COUPP, points out, "There's no perfect dark matter experiment or detector. All of them have their quirks and limitations."

AFC Nord
Pittsberg Fabricants d'Acier 9-7
I am expecting LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons to have solid second seasons for this already potent defense. Big Ben publicly hinted that he'd like a big WR and he gets it in rookie Limas Sweed. Inexplicably, RB Rashard Mendenhall fell into their laps in the late 1st Round. Talentwise, he could be the steal of the draft. If these two 'click' early with this offense, look out! Unfortunately, they have a schedule that is more brutal than one of Jacques Chirac's dairy farts.

Cincinnati Tigres 8-8
This defense ranked in the bottom six 4 of the last 5 seasons. I am of the opinion that Chad Johnson's very public frustration stems from this. Marvin Lewis is quickly becoming to defense what Brian Billick is to offense. TE Ben Utecht should help the offense, but they lost more than they gained with a very conservative free agency strategy. And they haven't done much better at keeping guys with checkered pasts off their roster. Maybe they can lure Zinedine Zidane out of retirement.


Cleveterre Marrons 7-9
I am taking the over in just about every game they play this season. WR Braylon Edwards made his stamp on the league by hauling in 16 TDs last season. This team boasts two of the most exciting players in the league in return man, Joshua Cribbs and TE Kellen Winslow who creates headaches for defensive coordinators (when healthy). They beefed up the DL through offseason trades, but giving up Leigh Bodden was a mistake. A crippling injury to CB Daven Holley leads me to believe any team with a halfway decent passing attack is going to be as successful as the Viet Minh were at Dien Bien Phu.


Baltimeure Corbeaux 4-12
They didn't have Jonathan Ogden most of last year and it showed. Now that he's retired, they have a three way race at QB to compliment an underachieving WR corps. Defensively, they have the potential to be one of the league's best with guys like Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs giving opposing teams fits. New head coach, John Harbaugh, has the level of competiton so high in "non-contact" OTAs that fights are breaking out. It's okay to call it a rebuilding year for a team likely be starting a rookie QB. The picture on the helmet might look intimidating (to small woodland creatures), but in reality, they will be about as threatening as a sparrow.

3 comments:

Kup said...

I have always wondered why Lyon was so close to the Swiss border...very curious indeed.

I did have one of the best sandwiches of my life there, and if the Dollar is ever worth anything against the Euro, I would definitely go back, assuming it is still there.

The Ravens are better than you credit them. Did you mistake them for the Jets or Jags?

puddy said...

to be completely honest, i'm sick of the swiss.

amazing pic of chirac.

i'm not sure how cinci can win a single game with all the on-field indictments.

Randal Graves said...

Figure the Ravens for about six wins, losing 17-10 a lot of the time.

As for us, man, what a winnable division. I still don't trust Anderson, but if he can cut down on the mistakes - ha ha - we'll simply outscore enough to win 9-10 games.

Cincy? Man, I almost feel bad for Palmer. Best QB in the division, but stuck with the screwiest team.