Washington Waddler

Love the humor; have to, because it’s such a pathetic joke. The beauty of out of control situations is that they eventually run smack into a wall or drown themselves. Either way is fine with me. When that happens, the universities will once again have the chance to do what they should have done in the first place when this media-driven mad cash cow first started to raise its ugly head: funnel ALL sports-related income into general funds governed by boards of trustees who mutually agree to limit this arms race because they can now see it only leads to mutual self-destruction. Agree to a certain percentage for athletic departments reviewable annually, and allow the NCAA to once again have the teeth to deal with the back alley deals driven by boosters. If the Alabama’s and 5*s of this world bridle at such a decision, so be it. If the NFL wants some kid bad enough and the kid wants to go, go the basketball route, and let them have him. Education first; sports second. That’s the only way college sports can survive.

Not too many desirable recruits are going to have the vision to see through the glitzy surface being presented by some recruiters. But, it’s the ones who do — who think outside the box (football success only) — that will not only be drawn to Oregon, but will help others to see this important academic result, and end up being some of our best recruiters. Thib is a case in point. Not only is he a great athlete, but he has a vision of his own success after football. And, he’s not afraid to talk about how Oregon helps build its program-continuum to benefit the chances of the student/athlete to realize and grasp this later success. From the concrete emphasis place on athlete academic excellence demonstrated by the Jaqua Center, to the manifold Nike-driven benefits that athletes can take advantage of during and after their days at Oregon, this built-in molding of the entire person needs to be perceived for what it is: Oregon’s focus on not just using the athlete, but being of genuine use to the athlete afterwards. Thibs gets this, and gets that message out there. Thank you!

Yup, feels like the cop whose writing a loitering ticket for some panhandler while the mayor’s limo roars by at twice the speed limit.

Before going the cable tv commentator route, Miller was an assistant coach at ASU, Texas, Eastern Kentucky, and; yes . . . . wait for it — USC.

Like Dana said, it wasn’t like some magic pill; it was effort — playing harder, and that always starts on defense. No matter when it finally happens, it sure is exciting when Altman gets the engine tuned!

Think we saw it following that USC inbound pass on our end of the court that we jammed into a shot clock expiration. The camera went to Enfield, and you can read his lips saying, “what the f**k are you doing!”.

I pretty much agree with what Lanning said at the press conference. The kids you want are the ones who want to be here.

There is always a tendency to only see the negative rather than the positive anytime you lose a coach to another program — human nature. It soothes the pain, and makes the loss not seem so bad. That said, Mario is good people — period. He not only means well, he does well, to the best of his ability. His list of strengths is a lot longer than his weaknesses. Unfortunately, it was one of those weaknesses that was driving most of us to the looney bin. But in the end, I think most of us wish him nothing but the best.

About the only way that’s going to happen is if Miami forfeits all there time-outs.

Mario ‘what you see is not what you get’ Cristobal will do just as well if not better recruiting to his new program. What he won’t get are all those frustrated, untapped, hungry kids from the Miami neighborhoods that filled the roster in his playing days. They now get top drawer offers from everywhere. And with the inability MC has shown thus far to transform talent into players, that local source of hungry motivation will be sorely missed.

Anybody whose ever been on the other side of the fence knows you don’t get much juice from an orange you just stepped on. Like it or not, it’s a relationship between writer and coach that requires trust. While a HC has to be the public face that ooze sunshine from time to time, it’s that trust that gets the real comment.

Just happy Nix is already on campus. So many of the variables already mentioned are greatly affected by the off-screen chemistry developed off season between QBs and receivers. We’ve got a great - if young - stable. If Nix puts in the time with our receiving talent, it should be one heck of a competition come spring for the job.

Is what we are seeing the corrupting by players of what was originally intended to be a simple, one time side-ways move, into a form of leveraging playing power by playing the old program off against a potential new one, thereby transforming the Portal into a portal-ploy to gain traction or guarantees? God, I hope not.

Couldn’t agree more. The challenge for Lanning is to mirror Saban’s strategy, but not approach it as recreating, but simply to reclaim our offensive identity. Saban’s task was to maintain and not lose his defensive identity edge while in the process of establishing a new offensive image. Lanning’s job is a bit the opposite: to create a new defensive identity while at the same time reclaiming our offensive image that is already their in the minds of recruits.

They should officially change their name from Texas A&M to Texas ATM.

It’s a major part of what makes the great ones great: they don’t lose focus on the big picture, and they never sweat the small stuff.

Don’t mean to dismiss our effort in Columbus; it was everything and more that’s been said about it. However, comparing to how the tree nuts played in that game to the rest of there season tells me we caught them on a very very good day. Based on that notion, it brings me back around to inexperienced head coaching, and MC not knowing how to balance his natural inclination to applaud great effort with bringing his team back to earth by reminding them how dumb luck always plays a part in beating teams like tosu. The idea of course is not to dismiss a win, but to balance the highs and lows, and maintain focused effort going into the next game — a mind set I don’t think we managed very well. Can’t call it a prediction, but one thing I’d like to see in 2022 is our inexperienced head coach relying on his veteran assistants to help keep the team focused.

What makes something ‘alive’ is the unpredictable nature of independent behavior: you can’t control it no matter how hard you try. Cases in point — the weather and Covid-19. While college football is hardly a force of nature, until now, it has always shown a resilience — a life of its own — because the majority of those who participate in it have shown a willingness to moderate personal desire, employee an independent governing body (NCAA), and adapt to change that helped maintain that independent character, and helped insure no person or thing could completely control it. So long as college football revenue was primarily driven by stadium sales, this balance could be maintained, even in light of social and cultural abuses within its own ranks that took generations to resolve, if ever. In spite of that, what college football could not change was the basic inequity of its own origins: that of being founded on the privilege of financial access to a university education, and all that that entailed. Inclusion, diversification, and the many forms of financial aid that we now take for granted helped alleviate this somewhat, but it could not change the basic unfairness of life. With the advent of social media — the steady march of access to increased revenue from radio through cable tv and Internet entities — it shattered forever that balance, because everyone likes lots of money. Greed trumps better instincts. The NCAA destroyed its own ethical and governing footing by using tv contracts to enrich university programs and not its players. And now, NIL and portal-driven cash has brought the universities themselves under the sway of the free market — and neutered their power to protect the independent character of college football — as the money door swings wide open to . . . what? I’m pretty sure most of us still fiercely love and would do anything we could to ensure the ‘aliveness’ and independence of this thing we call college football. With all the changes it has gone through, it’s hard to recognize it sometimes. But at its core, I cling to the belief that it’s spirit rages against the powers that would control and eventually destroy it. I cling to the hope that the SEC and ESPN will eventually teeter and fall like some latter day Towers of Babel from the sheer weight of their own greed, and we can then find a better way to make the system work so we can again enjoy thing we all love. But until then, I guess I’ll just enjoy being a Duck, and get on with life!

Don’t slip in the clam dip.

Recruiting is a confidence game, and the more time in the saddle, the more confident the recruit becomes. Miami has that in spades. Moss could be that rare high schooler (like DAT) who thinks outside the box, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Okay, I’ll play devil’s advocate on this one, and say that the Dood dudes are not necessarily anti-Lanning, but being fence sitters; hedging their bets on a guy who is obviously a comer, but has yet to sit in the hot seat. I think it’s more of a wait and see attitude than a judgment on his abilities. But, I also think everyone who has suggested it is spot-on that the top drawer assistants drawn to the program demonstrate a trust in Lanning’s leadership prowess (thanks Jimmy, you left us with a wonderful word), and that alone moves the needle into the ‘A’ bracket after everything is added up.

It’s a keeper! But, you know some bow wow down and out is going to suggest you change it to The Forum with Decoyum. There, shot that one down right here!

I agree with everything you said HD except recruiting. Just because MC was incapable of turning high school recruits into college-level players doesn’t mean winning the recruiting wars becomes any less important. A crucial key for me in turning PAC 12 fortunes around is to keep the focus on bringing the best coaching talent out there into the PAC 12. We need to slow the bleeding of western recruits into the midwest and southeast, and top coaching will help do that. The key to that, again, is Oregon and SC. Those two do well, and interest in the PAC 12 will grow.

Agree. In addition, over-looked in the recent success of ‘left over’ B12 bowl teams is the backs-to-the-wall psychology that helped generate that success: the pride in conference factor. Being in the PAC 12 this season by any of those teams would most likely not have created that same energy. As a long term investment; good risk, but in the short term; I agree, the results risk applies.

Washington — but only to go outside to go potty because they’re not house-broken.