Washington Waddler

Great article David. A less visible reaction to the difference between the Oregon way and that of TAMU or USC is that by bringing in proven players who are being paid for their recognized worth, Oregon creates less chance of position room friction than the potentially hidden resentment veterans may feel towards newly minted high school millionaires. That may have played a part in Pregnon’s decision to transfer. Recognized worth is valued by veterans.

Once upon a time (in a universe far, far away?), there was a game called football played almost exclusively at colleges and universities by those affluent and privileged enough to attend, and enjoyed by fans of the same ilk in stadiums reported upon by newspapers, and occasionally by a new fangled thing called radio that would let the great unwashed in on what they were missing. It was a violent pastime of the upper class who felt no need to regulate what they controlled and tacitly agreed upon was a four year amateur sport mostly left behind by participants once they entered the real world. No fortunes were waiting to be amassed, either as a player or celebrity; and anyway, they already owned all the fortunes. What possible role could be played by antitrust sentiments in a sporting event where hardly anyone involved wasn’t in some way part of, or privy to this exclusive galaxy operated by and for themselves? How things have changed: enter the great unwashed wanting to be part of the fun; professional football; obscene university contracts with broadcast tv/mass media; and now at last, new fortunes just waiting to be made. Poor, poor upper class. No one seemed to understand anymore that this game belonged to them. Even their clubhouse rules (NCAA) were no longer enforceable in the face of the cultural juggernaut their little game had become. So, the moral to this tale is, once football’s white collar became blue, it became probably best to just let this horse have its head to eventually either run off a cliff, or return to the barn. Your guess is as good as mine.

Only way the NFL would agree to allow their players to participate? Ultimate Frisbee would be more interesting than this.

If you’re a fan or not of ‘Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted’, the chef’s season 2, episode 2 offering titled ‘The Wilds of South Africa’ will give you an up close and personal view of the difference between rhinos and hippos. Both funny and tense. On the question at hand, I’ve occasionally wondered how fast Ducks fly when invading the dreams of Beavis fans.

Not sure which is crazier, the Troylets paying Bowman 10 mil to play in the top revenue generating sport, or Texas Tech’s 1 year deal for 1 mil+ (her senior year has yet to be negotiated) to NiJaree Canady to play in a non-revenue generating sport.

Love this team. They never gave up, never quit. A couple of swings of the bat was the difference. The Lombardi era has now been WCWS christened. They’ve had a taste, and you know they’re going to want more. Looking forward to version 8!

Don’t know whether to assign this to the Ironic or Academic Prowess Dept. - maybe both: During the game, the roving tv camera would occasionally pick out a Rebel holding a sign reading, “BEAT EVERYBODY!” Guess that Ole Miss fan didn’t quite understand that ‘everybody’ includes themselves.

10th inning walk-off walk by Rebel pitcher and Ducks beat Ole Miss 6-5!

Agreed, no team should ever be able to score runs based on a rule technicality.

At this point in the NIL/transfer Age (not knowing as yet how the House settlement will effect that equation), there isn’t much left anyway of college football’s once honored traditions to make me see the loss of one more as tragic.

Probably a good idea here to recall that $$ may not have been the primary consideration during ‘negotiations’ between Mullens and White. There were enough off the record, anonymous insider ‘quotes’ that place the final decision on a clash of personalities between two alpha dogs, neither of which was willing to back down. Costly? Yes. But Mullens had the cash. He just didn’t like the guy.

The trouble with becoming a ‘have’ is that it has a tendency to turn you into one of those programs you always despised - or was it always just envy?

Just curious if Mullens’s “strategic investments” will include ponying-up for a softball head coach who has now earned it - unlike the last time.

Give me Liberty or give me the rule book?

Kai likely not the only base runner to have utilized this springboard approach, and gotten away with it. Like pitchers getting caught pushing off with their pivot foot, base runners who have done this will now have to modify their take-off; otherwise, we’re in for a lot more riveting moments of watching umps staring into a little screen.

Agreed, get this game out of their system so they can start from scratch in the regionals. Like your tourney header said FD, “ . . . A Bad Matchup?”

Yes, wasn’t thinking Big Picture. And yes, too much fun scratching my head over OBD’s baseball future.

With Dzierwa going 6 innings, and Broderick 3.1 in Michigan State’s loss to Nebraska, does Wasikowski now strategize the pitching order with an eye towards the championship game by going by committee tomorrow, and then reversing his starting order in order to save Grinsell for a possible show down with UCLA?

Starting to regret they ever invited us to the party? You can just never be too careful, can you?

Huge for the freshman to get the job done under match play-off pressure. Well done An!

Regarding the Stanford logo, you can keep the ‘S’, but make the other part a stump.

Yes, so many moments, so many heroics, but it was Staci’s 4+ innings that kept us in it and allowed the offense to chip away.

My wife and I were sitting in ‘The Bob’ when Lombardi and Oklahoma came to town in 2018. That 5-0 Duck victory left a lasting impression on her of the program and facilities. But, what probably tipped the scale (as she has mentioned many times) was the fan support. Even by Oklahoma standards, it moved the needle.

Tournament time is all about pitching. Lombardi is (understandably) tight-lipped regarding any issues effecting her staff. We are left to speculate and wonder. She has two remarkable pitchers in Grein and Sokolsky. That said, there still remains a significant difference between recruiting the top national prospects, and attracting talented projects from less competitive programs looking to use their last year or two to their advantage. Irregardless of their accelerated rate of development, that difference often does show up at tourney time when facing the toughest competition. Image wise, Oregon’s softball commitment and stability probably took a big hit among high school coaches and players when it refused to pony-up in order to keep one of the most successful head coaches in the game from moving on. By earning the program’s first regional hosting since then, Lombardi has begun to close that perception gap; and, along with her stellar credentials, will hopefully now start getting commitments from the kind of talent that she will need down the road.

Yes, feels a bit like softball’s tourney game against Michigan: a strong, traditional B1G opponent that will likely feel obligated to put the new comers in their place, and try to stop the onslaught on B1G championships. Finding agreement in the polls is about as rare as an unassisted triple play.