Charles Fischer

Pennsylvania Duck...what you did in posting was just fantastic--this match and the others before. THANK YOU!

My FishDuck Friends, I was pondering Oregon football recruiting and all the players still out there who are seriously considering Oregon. One pay-site principal believes that 5-Star Kadyn Proctor will flip to Oregon later, and between two 5-Stars (Rivals) and the rest that could sign among all the recruits that the Ducks are pursuing? A Top-Five high school recruiting class is possible. Forget last year as TAMU bought all those recruits, but look at the 2021 recruiting class as an example and you can see that if things fall, (as they have a decent probability of)...Oregon can do it! Now add the all the possible killer portal-transfers....and Our Beloved Ducks have the potential for the biggest/best recruiting class in the history of Oregon football. Are you with me? Jurrion Dickey Calm down, Charles...

This is one time I wish Mike Leach was still in the Pac-12. Imagine the trash-talking taking place between he and Deion before and after their game? Who else wants that entertainment?

Usually with the business world...we are dealing with older adults. Not so here, and especially in this new culture? In the business world today, if you give a negative referral for someone--they can turn and sue you. I have to imagine those same risks exist for football programs, and then there are privacy laws... Not trying to argue, but bring up other points. I thought the same--just call the other coach...but can he really tell you anything? Will he? In my view, it adds to the risk factors of portal transfers.

I cannot agree more--a big shout-out to those who post great thoughts and follow our rules to make it so FUN to read things here. I actually had someone email me as he was very mad about the lack of human touch toward those who violated rules. (When the new system is begun) I explained that I really don't want to deal with all the fighting and insults with so many of the emails I receive, hence why notifying people of violations will be automated. (Moderation, the process of deciding what is a violation is still done by humans) He responded with a flurry of insults and his anger continued about my new upcoming policy. So let me see if I got this right...."you are mad and emailed me your wrath because I no longer wanted to receive emails where people are mad and email me their wrath?" I can't make this stuff up. This is how it feels sometimes, and I am not the Dragon...

Me too. I thought they did superb last year with the portal, in fact I wrote how they WON the portal game in previous articles. One former OBD member gnashed his teeth several times a day at how the portal was another nail in the coffin of college football, and how Oregon would be hurt by it. Nope...we won the portal battle in 2022. I never stated I did not have confidence in the staff, but simply stating what I believe is the obvious; a scholarship that is tied up via a portal transfer is inherently more risky than a HS scholarship.

No disagreement...as I wrote in the article. I would like a few portal transfers this year to plug some holes, but they gotta work out. Otherwise we are screwed; we have not solved the problem and we have tied up a scholarship.

Then we will disagree--no sweat. The difference is the nature of the scholarship as I wrote at the beginning of the article. A HS scholarship is not tied up, and can be quickly recycled if things don't work out. Not so with a portal scholarship.... as you are stuck with the player regardless of results. That, to me, is a lot more risk.

I did not say that we do NOT take ANY portal transfers, but plug some holes where recruiting has not worked out. (I believe that was in the article?) The majority of the Oregon players transferring out played very little, hence very little data on them. Even worse is a very small window of time to get acquainted with players who are putting their best foot forward and behaving for a while as schools court them. The "Bad-Attitude" players are going to be harder to sift out. Meanwhile you have had reams of conversations with HS players over a couple of years. IMHO, there is much more data going that direction. Keep in mind that we had TONS of data on Bo Nix coming here, but there were still quite a few doubts and concerns about him--even after the Spring Game. Bo Nix's Picks: Can You Live With Them? FISHDUCK.COM Right now Oregon fans are almost swooning in a classic "honeymoon" phase with new head coach Dan Lanning before any games are played. To a degree...

Good gosh, that is the epic line that has to be attached to him in this forum always.

I am not going to dig up all the dirt, but the more I read about him--I cannot imagine this will go well for Colorado. Opposing coaches were not wild about him... To summarize? (This might be the only time I do that!) "It is all about ME." On the other hand...he might just fit in just fine!

Yep, we did see it under Dilly, and you didn't see me get wacked out over it. As you indicated, it is not the formation, but how it is used. For me...under Mario...

Totally blown away from that ranking! It felt different than that!

This is really, really good. But the Pistol?

Thanks for being a good sport, and I'd like to think the new "Word Filter" software might make that easier on all of us.

That is the biggest compliment ever, and thanks so much. I've really enjoyed the great Utah and Georgia fans who chime in here, as all of us together make it a richer experience.

Sometimes figuring out Oregon events in the future hinges on hints of what is not happening. For example, I realize we will not officially know the decision of Bo Nix until after the Bowl game, but it would appear that the Ducks are leading candidates for some big portal transfers on offense. Would this be happening if Bo Nix was leaving with an unknown quarterback, (or Ty Thompson) leading Oregon? (One major Oregon pay-site has the principal leaning to Nix staying) The Ducks are being visited by stud Arizona receiver, Dorian Singer, this weekend. Wouldn't a whisper to "Nix your worries about Bo; he'll be the one to throw," help seal-the-deal? What a replacement for Chase Cota that would be! But wait! Alabama transfer receiver Traeshon Holden, (6'3" and former Rivals 4-Star) is also interested in Oregon...would he be without Nix? The big (6'4", 315 lbs.) Rhode Island OL transfer, Ajani Cornelius, is visiting this weekend as well. Wouldn't some Nix-News sweeten that pot? Or am I letting visions of sugar-plums merge with my crazy Duck-Love to imagine what I want for Christmas? Dorian Singer

I felt it was important to explain to everyone how taxing it is to deal with some of the violators. And when I roll out this new way of notifying rule-violators....I did not want to do it without some explanation as to "why," and this article not only does so now, but the link to that explanation article is something I can include with the templates I create of which are sent to violators later. A year and a half ago--I went to the powers-that-be of the forum software company with my individual-post moderating plug-in request. They did not receive it well, and practically laughed me out of their Tech-Exchange forum. (Long story) But in the last two months they included in their latest update patches--components of what I wanted back then. Apparently others began requesting it too? So there are elements of the original forum software my web developer will be using, components that are now new in the last two months within the forum software, and then there is the moderation plug-in you are familiar with that has the check box and moderating dashboard that pops up. Between these three--I can get a compromise built that will take me personally out of the equation, and thus make it easier for me. There is a downside for the violators, (the loss of personal contact with me) and while I regret that...I think I've endured enough from the problem-cases to warrant this change. We are still working on it, and I am excited about it. Thank you for your kind thoughts and offer!

There is a lot of risk going this route, and I'll explain in an article on Saturday.

You have no idea what your post means to me. I am a little misty-eyed as I write this. THANK YOU.

My friend, you have really nailed the crux of it. I am a crazy, ridiculous fan...I mean who else would go through all this work as a fan? Fanatic...that is me. Dealing with the selfishness over-and-over was not killing my Duck-Love, but my interest in a forum. But with new tech alternatives--I think I can make this work. It will not operate very well for the violators, but I have to structure it to work well for me, and my mental well-being. These encounters are very energy and life-draining, and of all the things I manage with both sites--it is the one area I am not good at handling. Most negative with me is "water-off-a-Duck" which is why the Eeyores of the forum will annoy me on occasion. But the intense encounters--by email even--display the dark side of humanity. You just don't want to be a part of it very often. Of course when I ban someone...they have to send the "get-even" email, or the "save-face" email, (I even have category names for them!) and usually I take it with humor and look for new innovative insults. But some are not something I would wish on anyone. Thank you for your thoughtfulness.

Yep, as I often say, "none of us here wear halos," as I've made mistakes too, only mine are usually a lot more public. Thanks again for being a good sport, and moving forward to new great discussions.

Yes, and I wrote in the emails that "we forget about it now and move forward," and we did. No big deal, and you have been a great fan and OBD member. Thank you...

Marshall! And I thought I scared you off! Your example is a timely one, because with the new technology I am using--it will operate on a "penalty-point" system, and someone could be banned in their first post for multiple violations. Back then when I called you--I went through a period of trying to talk with tons of people to gather information how to make the rules better--communicate our policies better, etc. it was real helpful at the time. I did that for a couple of month period and now I do not call violators unless it is a Duck-Buddy or a "regular" to soothe over that "an email is coming." Even with that...I've had regulars be outraged at receiving a notification email, when it was their actions that brought the series of events about. No matter. They chose to leave, and that was never my intent. A ton of great people have left because they love the wonderful clean pool to swim in as a Duck, and they want the rules enforced on everyone else to keep the pool clean, but they want to be the only person who gets an exception to pee in it. Not how this Duck Pond works! Great to see you, and thank you for your kind thoughts.

Expressing that frustration is fine, as long as it is within our rules...that have proven to work. Negative posts are fine, critical analysis is not only accepted, but encouraged. It is when someone does an excessive number of over-the-top negative posts that I have to step in with them. We don't have anyone like that right now, but we do have an Eeyore or two who seem to look for the negative in nearly every topic. That annoys me, but it is not a violation. Oh my,...don't you know it is all going bad for Oregon?