These Things Come in Threes

Arkansas is the home of WalMart and Sam's Club, and the Ozarks, and Bill Clinton and a lot of other good things.  It was also the home of some more notorious persons, e.g. Roseanna from Texarkana, my former daughter-in-law, who after she became former ended up as a guest of the government in beautiful Leavenworth, Kansas, but that is another story.  While it is an incredible story, and I am likely the only person you know who can claim a former daughter-in-law who was a resident of Leavenworth, it is an extreme digression from today's topic and as such will be left to another time. I must focus on Arkansas. 

Arkansas, home of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, has been in the news for some unusual occurrences.  On New Year's Day, residents of the town of Beebe, AR woke to find their streets filled with thousands of dead red-winged blackbirds, 5,000 being the published number.  This was very unpleasant, especially if you happen to be a red-winged blackbird-phile, or a red-winged blackbird. 

Two days earlier, in the Arkansas River, people found 83,000 dead fish, freshwater drum they were.  Who counted the dead fish to arrive at the 83,000 figure was not immediately clear, but there are many jobs out there that we don't generally hear about, and Dead Freshwater Drum in the River Counter Person may be one of them. 

Now it has occurred to me that tragedies of this type, involving mortality, seem to come in groups of three.  It is with a heavy heart that I predict that the Arkansas Razorback Hog will meet its demise this evening in NOLA, thereby becoming the final casualty of this wildlife death trilogy.

Here's the short form numbers for tonight's Sugar Bowl:
#6 Ohio State, 11-2 v #8 Arkansas, 11-1

OSU is 0-9 all time v SEC in bowl games
UA is 0-3 v Big 10 all time in bowl games

OSU's lone loss was to Wisconsin
UA's two losses: to Alabama, 24-20, and to Auburn, 65-43

OSU's offense is ranked #20 nationally
UA's offense is ranked #8 nationally

OSU's defense is ranked #3 nationally
UA's defense is ranked #33 nationally

OSU's offense is lead by QB Terrelle Pryor, who says's he returning next year
UA's offense is lead by QB Ryan Mallet, who already returned

I was ready to pick the Hogs, when the 3's came to the surface. 

• OSU's #3 defense
• UA's #33 defense
• OSU 3x3 losses to SEC bowlers
• UA 3 losses to Big Ten bowlers

Ohio State -3

Arkansas Razorbacks, loss #3 tonight.

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Meanwhile, yesterday, on January 3, Stanford was a big winner, good for us.