Charles Fischer

It hurts our depth, but that is the issue; he was not going be a starter, is a senior, and wants to play. I can’t blame him, but it does give some highly talented RS freshmen, and incoming freshmen who are highly heralded to have a shot at playing time as backups.

And you, sir, are a good man!

Update at 5:23 PM on Thursday...they have reset the ad parameters, and the problem will gradually go away over the next 12 hours or so. (Cache' has to clear) If on Friday you see ads inside of posts--do let me know. They are supposed to be in between posts, but not actually in them. Apparently somebody there "turned on the full spread" of ads, and they do not know how/why it was initiated. At least they owned it this time, as usually they deny and say the problem is on my end...but it mysteriously goes away after while when I did nothing to solve it. (They did in the background) But I can't complain, as they admitted to it this time... Thanks for your patience!

I would like to think that over the years--as they get used to us and enjoy the glory Oregon teams bring to the B1G, they will warm up to us?

Here is the interview for anyone interested... (Note the camera angle is not straight ahead, but UP!)

Ads are showing up in the new forum posts, and I am working to STOP IT. Damn these people...they never ask, they just do stuff that was never approved and won't do anything unless you scream. So I will...

EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon football head coach Dan Lanning announced the hiring of Ross Douglas as the Ducks’ new wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator on Thursday. Douglas joins the Ducks after spending the 2024 season in the same role at Syracuse. He was the wide receivers coach for the New England Patriots for three seasons prior to going to Syracuse, and has also had collegiate coaching stints at Richmond and Rutgers. “We are thrilled to welcome Coach Douglas, his wife, Kaylyn, and their son, RJ, to our Oregon family,” Lanning said. “Ross is an extremely bright coach who will be a tremendous addition to our coaching staff, bringing valuable experience both at the college and professional levels. He does a great job of building relationships with his players both on and off the field, and I know he is going to work tirelessly to get the best out of our student-athletes. Ross’s experience makes him a great fit to enhance our passing game and we’re excited to get him to Eugene.” Douglas helped direct the nation’s top passing offense at Syracuse in 2024, as the Orange led the FBS with 370.0 passing yards per game while ranking sixth with 34 passing touchdowns. “It is an honor and a privilege to join Dan Lanning and the football staff at the University of Oregon,” Douglas said. “This is a prestigious university with a great tradition of excellence within the athletic department. I am excited to give everything I have to our players and program on a daily basis so we can compete for championships.” Syracuse’s rise to the top passing offense in the nation with Douglas on staff came after the Orange ranked 116th nationally in passing in 2023. The Orange passed for at least 300 yards in 12 of 13 games, and had multiple passing touchdowns in 11 contests including five in a 52-35 win over Washington State in the Holiday Bowl. With Douglas coordinating the passing game, Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord led the nation in passing yards per game (367.6) and the trio of Jackson Meeks (78.5 receiving yards per game), Trebor Pena (72.4) and Oronde Gadsden II (71.8) all ranked in the top five in the ACC in receiving. Douglas spent three seasons with the New England Patriots prior to going to Syracuse, joining Bill Belichick’s staff prior to the 2021 season. He worked as a defensive assistant in 2021 before being promoted to wide receivers coach in 2022, becoming the youngest position coach in the NFL at the time. Under Douglas’ guidance in 2022, Patriots receiver Jakobi Meyers set new career highs in receiving yards (804) and receiving touchdowns (6) as New England earned a spot in the postseason as a wild card team. Prior to the 2022 season, Douglas served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the West team in the East-West Shrine Bowl. A former defensive back at Michigan (2013-15) and Rutgers (2016-17), Douglas began his coaching career as a defensive graduate assistant for the Scarlet Knights from 2018-20. He worked primarily with the secondary, helping Rutgers lead the Big Ten in takeaways and tackles for loss in his final season in 2020. Douglas had a brief stint at Richmond as cornerbacks coach in the spring of 2021 before joining Belichick and the Patriots ahead of the 2021 season. Douglas appeared in 18 games across three seasons at Michigan before transferring to Rutgers, where he was a two-time letter-winner and started every game as a senior in 2017. A native of Avon, Ohio, Douglas graduated from Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in 2016 and earned his master’s degree from Rutgers in 2018.

The transfer pitcher from St. Mary's was listed on the program at 6'9", but in yesterday's interview with the media he admitted that he is actually 6'11"! Good grief...how you like to see that unloading on you as a batter when he already starts higher on the mound? He is third game starter, the second game of the double-header on Saturday like last week. He had scoreless innings, but only went three innings as they are building him up with a pitch-count. He threw between 92 mph to 99 mph, and has a change-up, and slider. Fun to watch!

Here is something to share that I thought the Hockey fans who will be watching US vs. Canada tonight at 5:00 PM PST on ESPN might enjoy... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More Important Than the Stanley Cup? Maybe... I was not in the room when NHL officials planned the 4 Nations Face-Off, but I can tell you with certainty that tonight’s final, a matchup between Canada and the United States, is what they hoped for. The entire hockey sports world will be watching. Experts expect ratings rivaling a Stanley Cup Game 7 Final, or better. No matter what happens tonight, the 4 Nations experiment is a massive win — and don’t be surprised if other pro sports follow hockey’s lead on this, in some form. But what’s going to actually happen? Let’s hit some key points: Who’s the favorite? Our friends at BetMGM have this at even odds entering the game, despite the U.S. win over Canada earlier in this tournament. A survey of The Athletic’s hockey staff essentially confirmed that sentiment. Players to watch? I’ll give you three. First, for Canada, it’s always Sidney Crosby, no matter the young talent surrounding him. The 37-year-old is the center of Canada’s universe here. Just read his teammates’ quotes in this piece to see how revered the living legend is. For the Americans, both players to watch have the last name Tkachuk. Both are healthy enough to play, and the pair have become the heart of an American team that’s been nearly flawless this tournament. Expect a big hit or two from either brother early in this one. Tone-setting, and all that. The irresistible alternate history: Canada coach Jon Cooper could’ve easily been behind the opposite bench tonight, as the dual citizen was recruited by both countries' programs at the same time. Literally — Hockey Canada and USA Hockey called Cooper within 10 minutes of each other back in 2017, when both needed a coach for the World Championship. Canada called first. One major snag: The Americans are banged up. The U.S. has had multiple players go down this tournament, the latest blow coming with defenseman Charlie McAvoy falling ill with an infection. Quinn Hughes, the choice to replace him, is not with Team USA due to some light chaos with Hughes’ NHL team, the Vancouver Canucks. Above all, though, legacies are at stake, and we can look beyond Crosby for that. Sid the Kid is a legend, win or lose. But for Canada’s Connor McDavid and the U.S.’s Auston Matthews — two of the sport’s brightest stars — this will define their careers going forward. Can’t ask for much better than that.

Ducks are playing AT Iowa City, and lead 45-37 at the half!

Gotta win!

This is a very interesting article that gives good thoughts about the B1G-SEC Playoff preference, and why... "Setting up playoff access accordingly isn’t creating 3 separate tiers; it’s simply acknowledging that 3 tiers already exist and constructing the system to match reality." Why the B1G and SEC Proposed Playoff Changes Are Good for College Football - On3 WWW.ON3.COM The Big Ten and the SEC want to alter the playoff model giving them four automatic bids each. Here's why I like it. "In reality, neither the Big Ten nor the SEC trusts the selection committee to be able to properly evaluate teams for at-large bids across conferences while the playing field is so completely unlevelled."

TV, not movies?

While I squirm at the term, "mercenary," like Jon, I like how your article defined the strategy, the weakness, and the huge upside the portal transfers brought us. In particular I have enjoyed how Lanning's staff has developed transfers into better players, and that has helped the recruiting as well. Lanning has built a Blue-Chip roster from high school recruits, and this year we begin to see the fruits of that, with even more kicking in for the 2026 season. B1G is not thrilled with their new Daddy...

Playing No. 7 Oregon State four times will not be easy, and when you add Washington, UCLA, and USC...we still have four former Pac-12 teams on the schedule.

Let's move this hockey discussion to one of the other hockey threads begun, or start a new one! (Three pages is too long)

When Cristobal was here....he named a son "Rocko," and while the explanation given was after this friend, "the Rock,".....I thought of the cartoon my daughter and I watched together and enjoyed...hmmmm.

She is in her 30s now, but when my daughter was growing up..."we" watched cartoons together often. I would even pause and we would discuss or laugh at something, hence my occasional reference to Spongebob Squarepants of which we watched a TON. But Rocko's Modern Life was another that we enjoyed. An Aussie accent dog and his sidekicks... And who can forget..."Mr. BigHead!" Rocko was great fun, and like Spongebob...there were tons of jokes that a child would never understand, thus written to make ME laugh. (They succeeded)

If there is a new game going on...let's start a new thread instead of three pages here...

First of all, I agree that a loss like this cannot happen often, and I don't think it will. It was a perfect storm of that outfielder saving a HR and who knows how many runs, and some damn fine pitching by Toledo that day. It will happen like that, because as they say, "that's Baseball!" We also had a transfer pitcher in for the first time, and literally could not get an out. Had to be pulled after the fourth batter... A different pitcher for Oregon perhaps gives us a win, but in the early games like this--you gotta play people and see who is good. Oregon also played a number of freshmen in the field, and my gosh we got two impressive freshman catchers. Something I just learned from Waz in an interview was why our pitching staff collapsed against Texas A&M, as I could not understand how Brock Moore could mow down Oregon State, but just got shelled at College Station. Apparently the majority of our pitching staff was SICK after the first game, and that is some bad luck. I was not sure I believed Coach Waz when he said before the season that, "our pitching depth is better than last year." Really? We lost most of who was good, and we have no idea what they are being replaced with...but Waz knew. This is an experienced, savvy team with deep pitching, and Omaha is possible! (Charles, put down those Pom-Poms) Gabe Howard, the 6'3" freshman from West Linn left them scoreless..

A lot of love for Michigan! Damn, these B1G fans have RIVALRIES.

It is a slow time, and we all need a smile. (Even if Gallows humor)