Washington Waddler

When it comes to sports mediaites, it’s rarely what they say, but rather what compels them to say it that interests me most. In other words, the hidden, little kid fan that lives in each of us. At PFF, 30 analysts are listed on their web page. Of those 30, five have no biographical data that I could find. Two are from the UK, and one from Germany. Of the remaining 22, seven grew-up in the midwest, ten on the east coast, two in the southeast, and three out west. The breakdown by area of where they went to college places six in the Midwest, four in the southeast, nine on the east coast and three in the west. By major conference, three are SEC, five are B1G, one is ACC, one is Big East, one is Ivy League, and one is PAC10. When it comes to the media-driven feeding frenzy that seems to infect many sites like PFF (located in Cincinnati OH) regarding the demise of the PAC10, it’s hard not to see them as no longer critically unbiased, but rather just preaching to the choir.

People can only focus on one thing at a time with any genuine effectiveness. So long as the search light is obsessed with the PAC?$$ mess, coaching jobs sit safely in the dark.

You’re undoubtedly right David. What I recall were occasional reports of ‘feelers’ - testing the water - being made in order to gauge Peterson’s level of interest in the job during his tenure in Boise, but no hard offer.

If memory serves, I think we tried pretty hard; for what ever reason, just never got any traction.

What’s interesting is how much puppy fans sound exactly like Trojan fans did prior to the program getting off its butt and hiring someone who could get them back in the game. Not saying the verdict is in on DeBoer, but lots of mutts quietly pondering how lucky they were to have had Chris Peterson.

Good stuff. What’s fascinating is the sheer number of coaches whose hidden, self-centered ambitions blinded them from ‘seeing’ what their recruits saw and still do. You can’t put a label on it, and words fail to express it. It’s just Oregon.

Agreed - there was something simple and straight forward about those Green & Yellows that defined Brooks’ commitment to hard-nosed football. I’m onboard.

Add me to the list of wannabes - not sure I’ll be able to make it down from the north Olympic peninsula, but I’ll certainly try. But no matter where we are, and even with Williams at the top of his game, we’ll all be cheering our Ducks on to flush the Troylets into the B1G!

Great take David on dealing with the challenges any OC must face whose recruited successfully. By comparison, it made me think of those heavily-stocked USC RB rooms back in the 80’s & 90’s before the portal that just looked flat trying to re-establish their traditional power game against well-prepared defensive alignments. Don’t think that will be an issue with Stein. As with any OC though, he will be reacting to what DC’s are anticipating from him. That will influence somewhat the touches we see from his charges.

Whatever USC does now and in the future to improve their football fortunes, they can never escape from the fact that they started it all as quitters who ran away from competition they couldn’t overcome.

There’s a fine line between a psychological disorder being a condition for responsible awareness, and when it crosses over into becoming an excuse for the behavior.

While we don’t want to be perceived as a blue-blood stepping stone, it reflects well on Dana’s choices and capacity to develop his assistants. On the other hand, I think it has become very clear over the years how much he requires and depends upon consistency among his assistants. Wish him well in his new search.

I think we all have our own axes that always want grinding. I know I’ve got mine. It’s just up to each of us to control the impulse.

The bigger the market, the more provincial the foaming-at-the-mouth media advocates become - nothing new there. Adding up hidden costs; however, are usually reserved for TBD time because they’re unknowable until then. Can’t help but think though that the purse strings people at both LA schools are getting just a bit nervous. Regarding the no-name brands that litter the B1G, my wife & I traveled to West Lafayette in 2008 for the Purdue game. As a non-con no counter, you couldn’t have asked for more: double overtime thriller with the Ducks pulling it out in the end (thank you Jarius Byrd & LaGarrette Blount). Aside from that, what I remember most is the utter lack of resonance - zero. We might as well have been playing in Bulgaria. Not sure we even spoke the same language. For a non-con, that’s fine; as a counter, not sure how the LA schools will react to feeling no sense of identifiable rivalry.

With no ears at the negotiation table, we’re all left to play this frustrating, venting game of guessing. So, here’s mine. SDSU was given no other choice but to act as it did because of a protracted disagreement between media and PAC10 negotiators over the actual added-value represented by SDSU’s tv viewing presence in Southern California: yet TBD. Hate to say it, but the reality of our situation just doesn’t allow me to play the blame game. Personally, I can’t think of anyone who could, or would want to play our weak hand as it stands right now. Too many losses, too much potentially in the wind and too many rumors to appear as anything other than backed into a corner. Hope I’m wrong, and that that’s an ace up our sleeve, and not a joker.

S2 may put a number on a qb’s productive potential, but it can’t measure the player’s drive, desire and determination that leads to that achievement. What I love about Young is how he never lets momentary failures affect his focus on the over all goal to succeed. He’s a prime example of how you learn from your mistakes in game time, and turn those into advantages. The back door advantage to not being the most athletic or having the strongest throwing arm is the willingness to learn how to maximize what you do have - if you have the desire to do so. You don’t need S2 to see that in Young.

Yes, good article. Have to agree though that the LA schools are probably gone for good. If the B1G is intent on keeping them, any issues either school has with travel costs and scheduling will be negotiated in-house. Even if one or both wished to feel-out what PAC-12 re-entry would look like, the #1 issue on the table would still remain media-driven $$. As an alternative view, there remains the long-term possibility that a majority of the PAC-12 does remain together, but only as the result of coming through the back-door by merging with the B1G as its western division, thereby putting to rest most of the travel/scheduling cost issues.

I don’t agree with the cynical outlook that views Lanning’s use of faith as simply a recruit targeting tool; as a disingenuous attempt to convince of something not truly shared. If a recruit’s radar doesn’t pick that up right away, it’s only a matter of time before the truth becomes plain to see. Telling a recruit what they want to hear without believing it yourself is the surest way to lose them. Lanning knows that.

Faith, and all what that word triggers, is what makes it such a loaded term. Just saying the word can elicit responses anywhere between wide-open acceptance, and the uttering of a dirty word. Caution is probably the most common approach when mentioned in public settings. Very few - if any - assistant coaches ascend to the top spot in this day and age without well-developed instincts and radar when it comes to dealing with anything that touches on race, religion or politics. The days of Woody Hayes are long gone - thank gosh. Under the right conditions, anyone is capable of inserting foot in mouth. It happens to the best of us, Lanning included. But I don’t believe such a response would arise from him as the result of him not knowing how to act in the best interests of team and university.

That’s life in a sports top-heavy town like Seattle. That sucking sound the Washington Athletics Dept. never can keep from hearing? The finite wallet contents of average fans being magnetized by whoever the latest new kid in town happens to be; right now, probably the Kraken.

Yet again (since we all seem to need reminding of this on a regular basis), it’s not the dazzle of media stars that matter, but the relationship between high school student athletes and mentoring assistant coaches.

By comparison, it’s important to point out that of the four pitchers used by ORU in game three, not one was a freshman. There starting nine was composed of six seniors and three juniors. Experience - having been there before - is the best remedy for pressure situations. While it hurts to not be going to Omaha, what our frosh pitchers went through was priceless - developmental gold.

Guess I’m just a traditionalist. Always thought it stood for Florists’ Transworld Delivery. That said, I did come across another definition for the acronym: Fronto Temporal Disorder. Among the possible symptoms are, “ . . . unusual behavior, emotional problems . . .” So, whenever you hear (or read) a rodent fan uttering those three letters, the considerate thing to do is call them an ambulance. They may be suffering from Duck Envy which can lead to FTD.

Agreed. So many "hate Oregon more than they love Oregon State." So, any further questions as to why it’s called the Civil War, and always will be?

Yeah, sure, all at the same time they’re sticking pins in their Duck voodoo dolls.