On 4/7/2022 at 3:53 PM, Jon Joseph said:

Vandy = The Commodores

     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.

On 4/1/2022 at 4:33 PM, DanLduck said:

We should refer to that Texas school as ATM!!

All That Money

     There is a good reason why sales and advertising people are not involved in business operations. Mario is the rare exception, and the results verify why you don’t mix the two departments.

When you look at the production Gonzaga gets compared to us from its bigs - even from frosh - is that just a talent gap, or is it also knowing how to get the most from them?

     Like others here have pondered, how much did the loss of Tony Stubblefield affect recruiting, player development and motivation? Altman put staff along side gym rat mentality as issues to rectify.

On 3/21/2022 at 2:00 PM, DanLduck said:

As this goes along, companies and boosters will require more specifics when handing out big cash.

ROI will become an issue.

      I’m not sure that’s even remotely possible with high school students.

     On a national level, assessing a player’s raw talent by the star system appears to be the only means possible to give some general sense of what a football program stands to gain by offering a scholarship and NILS $ in exchange for at least one year of service.

 

     Past that, evaluation is much more difficult, simply because it involves the development of  innumerable intangibles that effect, but rarely light up stat sheets and scoreboards. Those assessments are the outcome of coaches committed to their students, and often involve slow, painstaking teaching that can result in the maturing of the whole player.

 

     That kind of player attract stars, but more importantly, attracts program interest within the channels of mentoring relationships that coaches truly rely upon to get the fuller picture of what a player is about. It’s a smaller system than the star one, but it gets results.

 

     

     Yes, feel for Yanez with the year she was expecting to have. Hard hit on the team, but this is a resilient group that’s learning on the move how to step it up. 
 

     Anyone understand the mechanics of the under-hand throwing motion and the type of stresses it can create?  Lacking any real knowledge, I’ve always heard that the differing softball throwing motions create less torque than the over-hand motions do, but the cumulative effect of high stress repetitive motions in both have to have a lot of similarities you’d think.

On 3/7/2022 at 7:02 PM, MaiTaiDuck said:

We've seen him do more with way less and those teams just played hard most nights.

     When I think of Dana, I see a Nebraska guy with deep, blue collar roots, and an unimpeachable record of success built on the buy-in from guys like himself who were focused on the reason they came to play for him. I don’t think he understands people who are not as selfless and committed to ‘team’ as he is. 
 

     For my money, you can take the ‘star’ system, and flush it down the toilet. 
 

     

On 3/7/2022 at 4:12 PM, Haywarduck said:

He better shoot better than 61% from the charity line or I would seldom even take him off the bench. If you can't make free throws, you are a small role player, should be the mantra next year.

     And that was preseason - in conference play, he dipped well below 60%.

What’s happening with Wong? Whatever she’s having for breakfast, give me some! Our newest hammer!

On 3/4/2022 at 12:43 PM, Axel said:

There is only so much torture that Duck fans should be made to endure.

     Couldn’t agree more! But this isn’t about the fans. This about time in the saddle. If you’re a coach, you never turn down the chance to improve, and the extra time to do it in. It’s a case of functionality over bruised egos.

 

     In regard to Will, what happened to him was Jalen Terry. When he left, Will’s true roll went up in smoke. A shame he’ll not get the chance to redeem his game along side Dior Johnson.

 

 

 

 

 

I stand with the Cane community on this one: my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

     While I completely understand the armchair fun of this plug-and-play strategizing that dominates the conversation regarding which QB and what scenario will best serve the 2022 season, it troubles me a bit the way the focus has drifted further and further away from the older idea of developing quarterbacks in favor of this high stakes mentality where each QB seems to be nothing more than a disposable pawn in search of the ever elusive brass ring?

     Wherever a team bonding trip might end up going - and their all good choices - don’t let Bill Walton know. He’d want to be the tour guide.

     Grew up in the Coliseum (Dad USC class of 33) watching Trojans steamroll whoever - fun as a kid. Travels somehow brought me to Oregon in early 70’s, working my way as a picker and ranch-hand until I landed a job at SPRR in Eugene.

 

     Father sent me a ticket to 1974 game. Sitting among the Trojan faithful, as I so often had as a kid, it brought back a familiar, blasé feeling — an unconcerned, excessively indulged appetite for winning that was reflected in so many of those complacent, supremely confident faces I was sitting with.

 

     Remember it was a good game - close. Remember the Oregon fans living and dying with every play, the energy and noise ceaseless. Remember the USC fans sitting smugly expectant, erupting on occasion with polite clapping. Looking back and forth between the two, I vaguely remember yelling something like, “what the f**k is wrong with you people?” and moving to Autzen’s rim among the Ducks, and never looked back.

     

On 2/23/2022 at 8:29 AM, David Marsh said:

What about club sports? You counted club sports right? RIGHT?! 

     Suppose if they could keep their noses out of one another’s rear ends, and their eyes on the trail, they’d do ok at the Iditarod. Nah

On 2/22/2022 at 10:09 AM, Annie said:

But I'll bet lots of Duck fans would drive/fly to Vegas. Not sure about Georgia fans

     Give the LV promotion machine a crack at them, and they’ll have those puppies believing the slots will come up triple peaches every time.

On 2/22/2022 at 8:05 AM, Darren Perkins said:

There's nothing wrong with Richardson, he's just not a goto guy.

     For me, the telling difference between Payton and Will is found not in the three ball, but  in the way they drive to the basket.  Payton lowered the shoulder, used his speed, and said here I come, try and stop me. Will - more often than not - will probe with hesitation, trying to finesse an opening that may or may not appear.

 

     It’s that try and stop me attitude that a go to guy just has to have.

On 2/21/2022 at 9:06 AM, WiseKwacker said:

Phil is helping engineer the Ducks' approach to NIL and NFT. So, in this case, I just fall back on a simple motto as a Duck fan: In Phil I Trust.  🤞

     In matters having to do with the on field product, Oregon has often had to be the first out of the gate - to be the innovator - in order to over come limitations created by both the perception and reality of the program on a national level. We had to create in order to both change minds and to change our own destiny.

 

     But when it comes to the business end (NILS/NFT) of football, no such limitation exists. It’s Nike. If Phil clears his throat, recruits and the rest of the NILS world will go quiet and listen.

 

     That’s why I’m not particularly worried about Oregon not jumping as fast as it can into the hog trough that spews dollars at every recruit with a pulse. Let the WSU’s and AT&M’s of the world go raging down that road; I’ll put my money on the wait and see attitude we’re utilizing. When we’re ready to jump, they’ll know it.