Annie

If this is true, it will be interesting to see what happens if Miami has a so-so season or two. Will the fans give him a chance and stick with him, or will there be some boos in the stands at Hard Rock Stadium? And if there should be boos, how will he react?

My feeling is that since Mario is no longer the coach at Oregon that I don't have all that much interest in him anymore. He recruited well at Oregon, took the team to PAC-12 championships, but sometimes lost games that it certainly seems shouldn't have been lost, and left in a way that left a sour taste in the mouth in that he seemed to be out the door by the middle of November. But for good or ill, he's Miami's coach now. I'd much rather focus on Dan Lanning and the Ducks.

Well, let's see. The Ducks have an entirely new coaching staff, a QB who will be starting for the Ducks for the first time no matter who he is, and the usual number of good players who have graduated/left for the NFL/whatever, so others will have to step up. I'm certainly no football expert, so I'll just say that I'm going to strap myself into my seat for every game, home or away, and see what this team can do. One thing I think is fairly certain is that it will be exciting to watch.

Yes, near the student section on about the 25-30 yard line. Nice seats!

That reminds me of Brent Musburger whenever the camera lingered on a buxom fan in the stands. You could practically hear him drooling and leering. And of course we could hear his lascivious comments! Ick!

It's kind of interesting/funny that none of us have mentioned that some (6) of the cheerleaders are male, although they are listed as Stunt Base members of the cheer squad. 10 women are listed as Stunt Tops, and 15 women listed as Dancers.

It's about 33 minutes, covers a lot of ground. I found the talk about the rise of San Diego St. of particular interest.

Thanks for posting--fun to see what the players think.

It's not related to the Ducks, but two Al Michael's calls. First, of course, at the Olympics, "Do you believe in miracles?" Second, the World Series in SF, "I think we're having an earth--"

I am not interested in seeing pictures of cheerleaders. I don't watch them at games, haven't for years. They pretty much stopped leading cheers years ago when they started doing bump-and-grind dance routines instead. To each his or her own, but I have no interest in seeing photos of cheerleaders on FishDuck.

Let's hope that, among other things, Lanning can get the defense to really improve.

I remember years and years and years ago there were Duck fans who wanted Oregon to switch to the Mountain West Conference, I think it was, so that the Ducks "could win more often." My, how times have changed.

What if all 35 teams (that, I think, would be the number after USC and Ucla leave the Pac-12, and Big 12 without TX and OK) are one Super-Duper Conference? Divide it up with sub-conferences and divisions?

No article or research here, just pretty much the question, and a couple follow-up questions. Could it be done? How would it affect the SEC and the upcoming new Big 10?

I'm with the East to West being easier. I've had the worst jet lag going from Oregon to CT.

I can't speak for all of New Hampshire, but I grew up in CT, and I can tell you CK's personality does not represent most of New England!

Thing is, the PAC probably would want to add a couple California schools (for TV ratings). Of course, they could be added to the above list for a conference of 18 with 9 in each division. Or find a couple more schools and have 20/10.

That could certainly explain it.

"In terms of USC's program, Banuelos has been impressed by how quickly Lincoln Riley has turned the Trojans into a Pac-12 - and possibly national - contender." Remind me--what is USC's record since Riley took over?

Could've, would've, should've, not could of, would of, should of.

What's next--pension plans for student athletes?

My daughter asked the pretzel question.

The Big 10 may figure that having Stanford would lure in ND, since they have a long history of playing each other.