Drake

It has a much better color scheme. It still is honoring people that have had a big impact on a lot of the schools facilities, and the college itself. The State of Oregon has always been known for its wood products. So “Deep in the Woods” is Oregon. It is innovative and some traditionalists may not approve. But, it wasn’t built to appeal to them.

It is common for Oregon to be in the top 10 of both men’s and women’s track and field. They have won around 32 National Championships between Indoor, Outdoor, and Cross Country. There was controversy with Robert Johnson, the track coach, regarding the approach to weight and body fat percentages. There were athletes that went public with allegations that the approach led to eating disorders. Oregon did not renew the Coach’s contract in 2022, and Oregon has revised guidelines and training methods. Oregon hired Jerry Schumacher to lead the team. He was the coach for the Nike Bowerman track club and is considered a world class coach in distance running. My take is that the controversy definitely hurt Oregon track and field recruiting. Probably missed out on some top athletes that would have attended Oregon. I believe that Schumacher will definitely recruit top distance runners. To be determined whether he can recruit other athletes in the sprints, and field events. You need more than just distance runners to win the National Championship.

We just need the Crouser family to get more of their offspring to go to Oregon. Ryan is the World record holder in shot put, and won multiple NCAA Championships, but went to Texas.

The current team is listed at goducks.com. There is not recruiting info, but at least it lists people’s personal bests on the track, or in the field. Freshmen and sophomores generally have a small paragraph regarding high school accomplishments. Btw…Oregon has a freshman by the name of Simeon Birnbaum, who looks to be another solid 1500 meter runner. Not fast enough to qualify for the Olympics this year, but could contend in another 4 to 8 years.

That is classic. Head quarters will be in a trailer park that they are still trying to negotiate terms.

Expansion for any business venture always has growing pains. Too much time and money spent in one area, and not enough in others. It will take time for the network to iron out all of those wrinkles. I fully expect a decent product to be produced by the network, since viewership is the catalyst that pays the bills. Sports entertainment is getting more complicated, and expensive, to receive at home. It looks like it will probably continue to get worse before it gets better. With streaming platforms picking up some regular season, and playoff games. The ability to watch “your” team comes with additional costs.

The private equity group is trying to create a unique income producing investment. However, I would question the small print regarding exit strategies. I would guarantee the valuation method to exit the agreement creates benefits for the private equity group. No way any equity group throws $1 billion down a black hole.

It will be interesting to see what he will do with Dante Moore, and Austin Novosad. If he can develop those guys, he will be a hot commodity for a HC job.

What do you need when 100 attorneys are buried up to their necks in sand? More sand.

OSU, and WSU football highlights over the years has been mainly as spoilers within the conference. They can talk about “ what if” scenarios all they want, but what colleges want to make long term financial decisions based upon joining two teams that haven’t got anything to offer?

Tough environment. Honestly, I feel bad for the kid. He will relive that inning for a long time.

Washington tried to finesse their way into the end zone, and “ The Pick” sent both teams into different trajectories. “The Pick” kick started an upward trajectory for Oregon and a downward spiral for Washington. Donations went on an uptick and Phil Knight started to use his influence, and money, to help build amenities for athletes and students.

I know the smaller schools athletic departments send their football teams out to get slaughtered for money. While it helps their non- revenue sports budgeting it doesn’t make for interesting matchups. I think scheduling should have teams play the same number of conference games each year. That would be the only thing I would advocate within the new playoff system.

You have to love the seventies. Dimers nights were a thing. Some Eugene taverns had 10 cent beers, great for broke students, bad for the surrounding neighborhoods. One is too many, and a thousand isn’t enough was a common saying at those taverns back then. The other memorable seventies baseball fan promotion was in 1979 at Comiskey in Chicago.

Years ago, the Blazers had a game against the Lakers when Luke Walton was playing and one of our young Blazer fans was asking players for autographs outside of the locker room. The Lakers had lost the game and most players were not in the mood to sign anything. Luke came out and spoke to the young boy, he then went back into the locker room and brought out a pair of shoes. He signed them and gave them to the young fan. The Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I played in a golf tournament recently and played in a group with a bitter rodent grad. He actually said that U of O, by itself no less, could have saved the PAC. Apparently, in their scrambled egg brains, they think that we have an unlimited supply of capital, and superpowers. We should have used both for the greater good of the PAC, and OSU. I tried to keep from laughing out loud. Their alumni need to quit blaming someone else for their problems, and start coming up with solutions.

How to turn a minor rule violation into a multi-million dollar civil law suit. Based on his pregame antics at Autzen, it seems that the parents skipped a few lessons on self discipline.

My vote goes to Phil Knight and his team that helped change the Oregon brand. Btw…Brooks recruited a local QB named Chris Miller. Miller’s success with an undersized OL in front of him started our string of success. Miller was followed by Musgrave, and ONeil.

Rashada was given $150,000 by Florida booster so he could pay back monies he had already received from a John Ruiz Miami NIL deal. They gave him the money so that he could avoid possible litigation for breaking that NIL contract. Too funny.

Some good athletes in the family. Get smoked in a pickup basketball game against them…lol Welcome to Oregon.

After leadership failed the PAC 12 for far too many years, I accepted the move to the BIG 10 quickly. To stay viable in collegiate sports currently costs the Ducks in excess of $130 million a year. Going down with the sinking wreckage of the PAC 12 was not a viable option. When billions of dollars are being paid for broadcasting rights, and salaries of coaches are starting to exceed $10 million per year, What possibly could go wrong? sigh….

With households eliminating the all encompassing cable subscription packages, and choosing tailored streaming, this is just another add-on. A subscription to this “service” is simply tailored to the sports fans wallet. They will start with a “friendly” entry price, and then it will increase to whatever the market can afford. Content is always an issue with subscription services. If this becomes the only way to watch Duck football I will subscribe. However, most of it, I will never watch.

I think teams have to be good on this list to consistently bring in sellout crowds that will make a lot of noise. The Autzen crowd has been measured as high as 127 decibels on the field. Anything sustained over 120 decibels will damage hearing.

The click speech is always worth a revisit. The buff chip, and the Texas Tech videos, were my favorites from last year. The buff chip players took on the bad boy persona of their coach before the game, and deserved to lose by more than the final score. The Ducks almost sent both of Deion’s kids to the hospital with the beating they took from our “small team”.

Had the pleasure of meeting Admiral John Dick, who was a forward for the Tall Firs, while I attended U of O. He enlisted into the Navy in WW 2 as an aviator and rose to the rank of Rear Admiral. His jersey (#18) has been retired by the Ducks, and an award in his name is given to the top defender each year. He was an advisor for the Sigma Nu fraternity and would frequently drop in to review our finances. A true gentleman.