Washington Waddler

Makes me drool like a bloodhound just imagining Herbie running Chip’s version of the outside zone read.

With his experience and connections recruiting top-notch event assistants to the new facility should not be a problem.

I’m no lawyer, but it may be time for the FTC to review the traditional relationships of trust built over time between tv media and CFB’s cultural and financial investment by schools and fan bases in those relationship to see if any antitrust laws may apply as they might pertain to the FCC’s obligation to monitor antitrust activity by media corporations seeking to alter and monopolize markets previously built on these relationships. The move towards two mega conferences that affects the financial and cultural solvency of these long standing relationships between the private and public sectors could be interpreted as a violation by both Fox and ESPN as an attempt to restrain regional competition in their effort to acquire a monopoly that undercuts that well established relationship of trust (and financial solvency) between the sectors. Putting teeth in the FCC’s regulatory authority over attempts by Fox and ESPN to alter and monopolize this previously established relationship of trust might be the only way to create a limitation on the corrosive effect of tv media dollars. I know this is likely all hot air, but there has got to be some way of protecting something we all highly value from predators like Fox and ESPN who could care less. And without them, there is no poaching by B1G or the SEC.

Like um!

Like Mike Bellotti has considered, before Autzen’s expansion, we use to be a lot louder because the rebound volume was greater off the southern awning since it was lower and closer to the playing field. Not sure how you regain that advantage. Maybe a north side expansion with identical awning might do the trick?

There’s not much you can do when reality catches up to a coach who is unwilling to adjust to it. MC’s team produced during the Rose Bowl season, but the following year when opposing defensive coordinators played catch-up and studied his blue print, he never adjusted to their adjustments, and he lost his team’s faith in his vision.

Not coming from a financials background, I don’t pretend to grasp the contractual commitment difference between a tv and equity deal, but if one ties a percentage of a school’s value to private holdings irregardless of not knowing what may or may not effect a school’s future, I’d be inclined to question the wisdom of such a choice.

I get that. Volunteer fans were not the most hospitable to us traveling Ducks; almost as bad as the Michigan fans we sat around. Have to admit, if I ever hear Rocky Top again, it’ll be too soon. Welcome to the forum Dawg. Did a working stint in Atlanta a ways back (Sodom & Gomorrah is right), and enjoyed my trips to Athens. Lot of similarities to Eugene.

There’s a lot of interesting opinions stacking up out there in media-land concerning the eventual effect the move towards two super conferences will have on college football. Here’s an excerpt from one by a columnist at the Peninsula Daily News on the north olympic peninsula. Believe him to be partial to the Cougs. “The realignment will work . . . at first. The millions will be made for the networks and the lucky 32 or 48 or 64 programs included, but the shine will come off those nonsensical match-ups pretty fast, and the sport will be gutted of what makes it special and weird and different from the boring, corporate NFL: genuine regional rivalries and the passion of attending or holding a lifelong allegiance to a particular program.”

Finding her legs. It was only a matter of time.

Agree with TexasDuck that the SouCal teams aren’t so much running away from us as trying to shake up recruiting by changing conferences because they’ve been totally lost as to how to reclaim their traditional territory from us.

Nice to see that Trikweze Bridges, Steve Stephens IV and Patrick Herbert were part of this group. Learning to help others can’t help but benefit team chemistry.

Better late than never! Happy Birthday Charles! And how can crazed be considered anything but normal in a Duck fan if you’ve ever seen some Donald Duck cartoons, the model for our mascot.

The NFL model of control can only go so far in attempting to regulate the effect that media giants are having on college conferences because athletes aren’t the soul concern of universities. How could you implement NFL strategy in order to level the playing field If it could only lead to ridiculous scenarios such as drafting 4 and 5 star athletes but allowing 2 and 3 star to choose where they went? Students must always be the primary focus in the selection process. Another problem with the NFL model is how do you financially level the playing field between conferences? All the NFL commissioner has to do is deal with tv contracts and owners. A CFB commissioner would have to contend with university presidents, conference administrators and media corporations all of who have vested interest in maintaining there regional status quo. The advantage the NFL has over CFB is that it doesn’t have to deal with students, and it has effectively removed the power of regionalism from the decision process by maintaining control from beneath one umbrella. Regionalism defines college football, and students must always have the first say. You’ve got to start from there if you’re to ever find an answer.

Hi everybody, my name is Washington Waddler and I’m a Duckaholic . . . (Hello Washington Waddler) . . . and I’ve now gone almost ten minutes without thinking about USC or The Big Ten (clapping) . . . and . . . Ah Sh*t! Did I just fall off the wagon again? (Yes, but don’t stop trying!) . . . ah, thanks, I really need the support . . .

Some sports may be forced back into intramural status if the expected conference cut per school isn’t what programs are expecting.

Many of there ‘Ins’ are so similar in stature to those on there list of ‘Outs’ as to make you wonder why one is and another isn’t. Personal bias? Interesting that Washington State doesn’t even earn an honorable mention.

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you . . . from ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling Right now it’s hard to tell if any action we would take would be headed in the right direction, or - if like Icarus - headed into the sun. Sometimes patience is the key.

The thing about ground zero swear words is they lack imagination, and are just plain lazy thinking. When you don’t want to take the time to find words that express strong emotions, that’s where you go. They’re the default for the dumb and dumber.

Whether CalBear’s idea (which is brilliant!) gained traction now or not, the eventual reality of travel cost over runs for in the red revenue sports and the back lash that would incur when subjected to being cut would create a regional bond that would bring us back to CalBear’s idea anyway, so why not do it from the get go?

Good, dispassionate analysis Mike. I to think we all need to - at last - come to terms with these realities, and still know we’ll always love our Ducks and the game(s) they play, regardless of what the future brings. As you point out, the big business $$ part of CFB has always resided mainly east (and slightly west) of the Mississippi. That’s to be expected since that’s where the vast majority of major universities are, and the origins of our sport reside.mm But, despite all that eastern power, the one thing that they didn’t own - couldn’t buy - was the image residing at the pinnacle of our sport: the double edged sword of the mythical, voted-on national title, and the one game the entire nation looked to to represent the best our sport had to offer - The Rose Bowl. It drove them crazy. It made the east feel slighted and disrespected. Envy and discontent simmered just below the surface. Desire and greed are ugly task masters. Just ask Saudi Arabia and pro golfers. And, the rest is history. The eastern, media-driven frenzy for a ‘real’ national champion coupled with the advent of cable tv opened the door to whorehouse operations like ESPN to gobble-up that desire and turn it into stock options leading to the BCS and what came after that knocked the Rose Bowl from its perch and allowed $$ to be the only determinate in the bowl-go-round. But, as you point out, it had always been there. Regionalism is real. Its what you identify with. It’s what drove the east to where things are right now. The west is a region without at present a sports identity we can all gather around. But it’s still our region and our identity. The thing about money is it follows desire. Only time will tell what our eventual fate will be.

Wish-washy SouCal chameleons. You can never paint over who you really are. Regional identity in football is the bottom line.

In spite of all the contributing factors, the significant difference between SB and AB last year was that SB upped his game and AB didn’t.

Crocodile tears. Saban was doing what he always does - stall and confuse with a media smoke screen in order to buy some time to get up to speed with the latest innovation.

Could be one of the reasons recruits are delaying their verbals is the wait and see game on what the portal will do.