Washington Waddler

Outsider analysts are almost always drawn to the fresh face just because they have no stake in the race. But, this guy does sound like the sort who never fails to put all his $$ on the 85 to 1 horse in the Derby, as well as making a mid major his march madness bracket fav.

Some coaches who move up to P5 schools never adapt to the requirements of elite level recruiting. Their recruit comfort zone can often mirror the mid-level mind set of schools like FSU: good but not great, and driven by an underdog mentality that thrives on proving themselves via big game upsets. Deboer may be one of those who can’t move from being the hunter into having the target on his back.

Cowturd is applying the same avoidance logic used by draftable players to avoid injury, only now it’s a whole team? What’s next? The SEC champion drops out of the CFP to avoid injury so they can participate in the NFL play offs? Eat what’s on your plate!

Misery loves company? Barnes may be the type who can’t resist preaching to the choir.

No guts no glory. Reached down deep inside and went for it. 47 seconds. You can send congrats and get well cards to the ICU in Port Angeles.

The good old days. I still think the urge to expand Autzen and allow controlled beer sales started with all the last second whizzing on the hillsides because you knew the lack of cans would make the lines too long.

Agree. The pitiful truth is he could have been one of the great complete players had he been willing to do the work, rather than just looking the part. The image means more to him than the reality. He’s passing the same message on as a head coach: lotsa bark can substitute for a lack of bite. Only someone who prefers acting the part could ever have said, “Sure we’re in Limos. We’re stars. How else is a star supposed to travel?” Just like his high-stepping pretense after every pick six, Dion will always prefer acting like he’s been there, to actually being there.

Wouldn’t be surprised if there was some debate among the poster creators as to whether or not to leave the ‘O’ in BO in the same font as the ‘B’, or change it to the Oregon ‘O’. Right choice. The name is about the person. The rest leaves no doubts, and that we’re behind him 100%. Nice job!

Just think, the next cave gets the benefit of all those . . . “You know, wouldn’t it be cool if . . .?” thoughts from the first one. And remember, change may be hard, but laughter and the Ducks make it a lot easier.

One addition to the expansion issue. The space required to do the work.

Not the first look into expanding the north side and hooking up the end zones. The big issue has always been space between an expanded stadium with surrounding foot traffic area, gate, exterior side walk and MLK: just not enough space to accommodate all that as it stands.. Of course it can be done. But, a sizable purchase of developed property north of MLK would be required to create a reasonable traffic flow bow in MLK that would accommodate the push out, and not excessively interfere with normal traffic speed. Lots of problems to solve, but we’ve done it before.

Anyone whose been around long enough can remember when Oregon was primarily a Beavers football state (just look at the number of high schools wearing orange and black). Until the Ducks made their move in the 90’s, you could say Portland was solidly OSU, and The Oregonian sports dept were their cheerleaders. Again, anyone who remembers reading early Canzano columns knows how his bias reflected that reality. It was only when he and all the other rodent rooters were forced to accept that something was changing that they zipped it and went to neutral ground. But, being forced to accept anything never alters a bias. Canzano, in order to survive, matured and out grew it. Oram simply reflects the reemergence of that old reality as it bubbles to the surface in bitter defense of the ‘true’ Oregon team suffering the indignities forced upon them by those upstarts down south.

It’s always interesting to reverse the roles. You think the rodents would’ve hesitated to blow us a kiss on their way out the door?

It’s kind of anticlimactic. This is only the beginning. Rather than watch the west setting with the sun, B1G is forming a western division. In five years when media streaming has settled in and taken the place of cable/satellite, we’ll all vote to leave the B1G and reform the PAC? In the meantime, thank goodness the B1G couldn’t face the fall without their traditional west coast buddies.

From Fight On! to Dream On. Avoid things rather than face them is their new mantra?

When commercial cable/satellite sports channels replaced free broadcast channels as the means by which we watch CFB, sports tv viewers were moved from a national to a regional format whose focus was primarily on the highest number of tv sets tuning-in at prime viewing times. In light of that, it’s hard to blame sports media for viewing the western time zone as a big deficit. From the midwest eastward, you get viewers of both colleges plus those interested in any given game. In the west you get both colleges and everyone else in bed. ESPN and Fox, seeing the writing on the wall, did what any companies would do in our country: they sought to monopolize the markets that gave them the best return on their investment. Athletic Dept. of these midwest and southeastern universities simply saw what was offered as a chance to strengthen their bottom line. It can be viewed as conspiracy-collusion, but to be fair, I’m not sure any college at the time those deals were done would have been aware of the effect those deals would eventually have on western colleges, as a result of sports media financial priorities. If we need to point the finger, maybe we should all just look in the mirror. Sports media couldn’t do what they do without our support.

How about we agree to remain in the PAC if Beaver fans agree to all wear green at the next C***l War game?

When I read these USC forum comments, it makes me think of The Wizard of Oz. Their recent history with us is for them like Dorothy’s bad dream from which they’ll soon awake, and everything will be back to normal: from the nightmare of Oz (Oregon/PAC-12) to the comforting relief of Kansas (B1G). Like the Tinseltown they live in, Trojan fans confuse escapism with reality.

It ain’t over til we say it’s over! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? When the going gets tough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the tough get going! (apologies to John Belushi)

While not a major doubt, I’m still a bit on the fence regarding the ‘all systems go’ effectiveness of our reconfigured OL until someone takes charge of being the play calling center. While we may not have a clear choice like Grasu or Forsyth, Powers-Johnson and Harper are both inching into that role. It is key to the effectiveness of Stein’s calls and Nix’s execution.

Yes, just like USC’s is Dream On!

As a rule, desperation is to your disadvantage when bargaining for what you want. With the departure of Colorado, can’t help but wonder if the media types have taken the reins in negotiating price with GK and the universities.

IF the rumor is true, they’d have to rename the B1G, the JL18 - for jet lag.

Colorado’s best memories are as a member of the B12. Wave good-bye to Ralphie as he charges into the past.

Because the common goal between them (to make $$) falls apart once geographic priorities come into play: college demands all reference back to where they are; an unchangeable situation. Sports media demands are area-oriented, and based upon dense markets (lots of colleges) and continuous viewing eyes unaffected by beddy-bye time zone issues. Even with a national conference, that sports media-driven sliding-scale cost analysis problem doesn’t go away: the west is always going to get less, and the rest of the country more. At one time, it didn’t matter. When national broadcast tv ran the show there weren’t any contractual negotiations between them and colleges because sports represented but one slice of there financial pie. ABC, etc did what they wanted, picked the games they wanted, because their bottom line wasn’t dependent upon them. Enter sports exclusive cable/satellite companies and all that changes: we stop being a national viewing audience and become regional, based upon the financial realities of sports media. They may offer a lot, but beware of what you become addicted to; I can’t remember the last time I watched ESPN, and as little of Fox as I can get away with. I get the feeling that people out here are slowly waking up to this. I don’t think forced immigrant sports fans will be any happier than the real ones: always dreaming of the homeland, or their bygone regional conference. Interestingly, there is a past cable tv model that offers a possible solution to this. It’s called community access tv. Similar to the Fed in the 1970’s requiring cable stations to offer a local viewing option (irregardless of cost) if they wanted a license, enough area sports fans coming together to demand equal treatment to any other area in the country could force the Fed to revisit the licensing requirements for sports media, thereby undermining their CFB conference contract cycle. Pie in the sky? Probably. In a capital-driven society like ours (which I prefer), it’s very hard to create level playing fields. Nevertheless, pursuit of a national model is a worthy cause to try and keep our regional identity.