Washington Waddler

Added thought — the beauty of green and yellow is that both colors seem to lend themselves to a variety of hues that red and blue don’t. We’re very fortunate in that way.

Don’t necessarily see this as an ‘either or’ thing. While I basically side with Charles on this, I don’t see why wardrobe couldn’t pull the Darth Vader uni out of the closet on a very limited basis — once a year, once every two years? Gives it a better focus that way.

Had to have been one of the Husky qbs preparing himself for the coming season.

UCLA unis traditionally were always given high national recognition because they were ‘aesthetically’ pleasing. Meh.

Looks like they are listed at # 9.

What can you say? Guess it’s worth whatever puts the git in your gritty-up.

Football IQ is being smart enough to know you need as much live playing time as you can possibly get in order to develop football IQ.

Welcome Stormrider! Great points, great post!

The formula is simple and remains the same: you want people - players and coaches - who really want to be here.

Such a move, if implemented, should help remove the ‘impulse’ generated portal moves that keep players and coaches alike in a state of ‘what next?’ chaos. Making young minds discipline themselves to a schedule is part of what education and growing-up is all about.

Hey, as the hydrant wetters like to boast, Husky Stadium is ‘the most beautiful location in the nation for football’. Couldn’t agree more: it serene, quiet and empty - kinda like a retirement home.

Excellent points PD. The sum of all these insightful views would seem to point towards the need to create an athletic department exploratory committee whose goal would be to help determine athletes’ needs regarding the cause and effect of leaving early, leading towards the possible creation of an official counseling service (attached to the Jaqua Center?) that would enlighten this life-changing decision process. Yet again, Oregon’s unique capacity for innovation could be a great help to athletes.

Okay, know it’s only a top 10, but here’s 11. Keep getting thrown out at 1st while trying to use the field ump as a scratching post.

Both Joe Walsh and Lincoln Riley. Life is hard on those LA freeways - in the back of a limo.

Unlike the sled pullers, USC has a genuine pedigree of past accomplishment. They talk real because they’ve been real. Their biggest obstacle to reclaiming that former glory is the inability to keep from tripping over the hubris generated by that past. They just can’t believe anyone worth anything would ever want to come to Eugene instead of Troyletown. Arrogance is blinding, and that can work in the other’s favor. And, let’s give credit where credit’s due? A lil shout-out to Mario for raising the elite recognition bar higher, and putting Dan in position to take advantage of it.

As much as I enjoy rubbing Husky snouts in their own droppings, the seismic center of this recruiting win is in LA where Riley has just received his first of hopefully many cold baths dished out from Eugene.

Liked his DAT finish line head-bob at the goal - good to see speed guys wanting to come here again.

Great job! It’s pathetic that these transfers can use the same language as those who are really moving on to the next level and foregoing their college eligibility. Not only do they lack honesty, they also lack imagination. Good riddance.

Thanks FD - some great memories! Was sitting with my wife in a sea of orange & white when LaMike made that reverse field end around. Got quite a few SEC glares for my display of Duck enthusiasm!

Easily forgotten because it’s easily shortened to Commodes.

This geography vs culture argument is pretty interesting. But, can’t say if it’s one thing or the other. Think they’re intertwined - they bounce off each other. While there’s no way you can dismiss the advantage of being close to home, what keeps you home is the strength of culture; and the south has that in spades. My time in the south taught me numerous things, but one thing indelibly: there is a line non-southerners can’t cross in trying to get to know some deeply-rooted southerners. When that relating point is touched, there’s a shut down. It becomes you against him; us against them. Without falling off an historical cliff which is - aside from pointless - nowhere I want to go, suffice to say the line I experienced felt like a kind of indelible mark of difference that saturates - for some - this southern sense of self, and flows through every aspect of southern life including the symbolic battleground of football. It can take the artificial and make it real. We westerners are as serious about our football as those in the south are, but we also maintain a sense of humor about these self-imposed images. I remember once passing a USC fan at Autzen and saying, “welcome to Duck country condom”, and him replying, “thanks, dinner”. We’re serious, but not so serious as to not laugh at ourselves. That’s harder to do with southern football fans. Case in point: had a quick encounter with an Auburn fan before the Natty during which I shared with him my western sense of humor. I said to him, you guys sure have more than your share of imposing mascots, and went on to say, “all you need is to add one more, and I’d feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz saying, War Eagles, Tigers, and Bears, oh my!” Not even the glimmer of a grin - just a transfixed stare. He then instructed me that, no, there is NO Bear. There are ONLY War Eagles and Tigers. End of encounter. I think things are slowly changing. Football-wise, maybe we are getting a little more SECish, and them a little less resistant to the outside world? Maybe that’s why we are seeing more southern recruits willing to jump ship and take a chance on Oregon. So, while you can’t take the south out of the recruit, in a changing world, you can sometimes take the recruit out of the south. Go Ducks!

Have the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor yet? Not going to worry about Kelly’s team until then.

The only image UW should be filing for trademark is a ‘dawg’ chasing its own tail.

Agree with your premise - the sea change in college athletics to invest the athlete with more and more control over his/her destiny forces everyone else with an interest in those destinies to either adjust or go bonkers. Me, I’m looking to the nimble-minded coaches who seek an advantage for their players in every situation for my inspiration. There are emerging ways to coach-up and keep kids if you’re willing to grasp and present both the benefits and disadvantages of NIL and the transfer portal to the players most affect by them. Neither is an end-all, be-all solution for them, and the coaches that see that are the ones I want at Oregon.

With Chip and Mark we use to refer to it as playing in space. Whatever the terminology, it’s good to hear that offensive approach being talked again.