2002duck

Without USC and UCLA the Ducks will have to go undefeated to even be considered for a Playoff spot.

Jon Canzano is a champion for the little guy. He seems to be most interested in talking about anything remotely positive Oregon State does, non-mainstream college sports, and baseball. Every year on his radio/TV show he has his interns conduct a survey on the most popular sports in Portland Metro and in Oregon in general, and every year it is always the same: Oregon Football is #1 by a mile, the Blazers are #2, and then there is a gigantic drop off. Jon invariably sighs and rolls his eyes, and says "Well folks, that's not what this show is all about, I'm here for (insert something about a team or person overcoming adversity)...." Canzano doesn't want to write about the Ducks hypothetically going to the Big 10. He wants Oregon to be more blue collar, to earn it the hard way. He's not a friend of the Ducks.

But the bust is looking more and more like the most likely outcome. The PAC 10 is extremely weak without the LA market, and the Big 12 has nothing to offer. Unless the Pac 10 can merge with the ACC, or at least their best teams, then we're totally screwed. Joining the SEC would be a godsend at that point. Oregon does not have the tv market or a national brand to go independent, but at this point it's just as bad as staying with the Pac.

All of my hopes now rest on Oregon going to the Big 10. Our players are "paid athletes" these days. They can man up and travel on a charter jet to the Midwest, and have zero complaints. What we really need is for ND to join the Big 10, then Stanford, UO, and Washington would complete the conference. Recruiting would nosedive in a hapless Pac/Big 12 conference. We have to let our players play in LA once a year. We have to get them to the Playoffs, even with a loss on our record.

I'm sure they would, it's business. Oregon would bail for the Big 10 at the drop of hat at this point, and you couldn't blame them for doing so. Blame USC and UCLA. Blame the Big 10. Don't blame any one at all. Schools should be trying to get the best deals possible for themselves.

The LA Times reported at 6pm that the Big 10 isn't adding anymore PAC teams at this time. Bad. Very, very bad.

I'm not so sure about that. They could have been thinking that if they told or invited Oregon and Washington earlier, then that would give Oregon and Washington AD's time to talk USC and UCLA out of it. Now that USC and UCLA are in the Big 10, they can reel in Oregon and Washington. They'd have them begging instead of trying to stop it.

It's time for Rob Mullens to earn his keep, too. He needs to tell George Kliavkoff, "Sorry, George. I hate to put you in this position, but if USC and UCLA are going to the BIG 10, we will be doing everything we can to follow them. It's nothing personal."

Wow. This day just keeps getting worse for sports in Oregon. The PAC 12 is dead, Oregon Basketball loses another five star and shows they can't seem to keep them, and the Blazers overpay Simmons on a 4 year/$100M contract. The only good thing that could happen is for Oregon to announce they are applying to join the Big 10, and for the Blazers to trade for Kevin Durant. The Ducks basketball program seems to be hapless when it comes to keeping top talent even when we get it. No hope there.

This is going to hurt us badly in recruiting. We could lose recruits starting tomorrow. Who wants to join a lame Duck conference? Rob Mullens better do everything humanly possible to follow USC and UCLA to the Big 10.

I don't think anyone is worried about where Washington or Baylor are ranked right now. Many people just like seeing 4 and 5 star players announcing to the world that they are committing to Oregon. It's a "what have you done for me lately" society out there. There's a reason why year-round Christmas decoration stores exist. We want to win, and we want to win now!

Well, when I look at most professional/college distance runners I think they're all much thinner and fragile than what a normal person should be, male or female. They're molded that way for a reason, and it's to get the fastest time possible. I personally have no problem with athletes sacrificing their bodies for the glory of victory, but I understand that's definitely not for everyone, and I think UO scouts should be telling recruits they will be periodically tested for biological metrics to get the fastest speeds. If the NCAA bans the practice then the UO can fall in line with the rules at that time.

I agree. I'm getting a bit tired of checking the Reddit college football forum every day and there's tons of big time players committing to other schools. Is our process of allowing players to commit all of a sudden different? Because it's been crickets for us for quite a while.

"“We are not professional athletes. We do not have access to a bounty of organic food. We do not have unlimited time to cook. We cannot plan our days around our nutrition, and we are not the 30-year-old Olympians that coach Johnson seeks to compare our body fat percentage to." I'm sorry, but I'm just not very sympathetic with all of these former Oregon track athletes complaining that their body fat percentages are being tracked, and that they're being told their percentages need to be very low in order to be an elite runner. Perhaps Oregon should be more upfront prospects about this process in the recruitment process, because if you are on the University of Oregon Track & Field team, you should be striving to be an Olympian, and soon.

I hoped the Blazers would draft him. Portland needs to shoot for the moon. Trading the #7 pick for mediocre vets would get Portland nowhere. The Blazers aren't Duck Football, they don't have all stars lining up hoping to play for them. They have to draft their good players against their will.

It actually will make him a senior, graduating in spring 2026. He's going to be a HS freshman this coming year, and his QB profile says he was born in 2007- making him 14 or 15 now depending on his date of birth. So, he can commit in December 2024. That's right around the corner. Not too soon for what's more of a symbolic offer.

I'd prefer a walk-on kicker or punter over a QB, but I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Hmm, right when he gets back he's off to Guatemala. The same Guatemala that ranks ninth in the most violent countries in the world. Stay safe Snee!

If LIV Golf was banking on people caring less and less about Saudi Arabia's role in their tour over time, count me in as that demographic. The tour is on its first event, and I have moved on. I'm not necessarily hoping LIV Golf survives for many years, I just hope it sparks big changes in the PGA, such as guaranteed money per event, paid airfare and lodging, better (player-friendly) refereeing on the course, and more access given to players to market themselves if the PGA won't do it for them. Until then, I hope LIV prospers. Also, LIV has three of my top-5 favorite players on their tour. Wake up PGA!

That's very unfortunate. Will Richardson better have his best season by far next year if we're losing recruits because of his return. I can't blame Dior Johnson for leaving if he wasn't going to get enough minutes, as he's a one and done player. Selfishly, I'd like it if he had stayed and beaten out everyone else for a starting spot.

I think the Ducks should always use a metric with something like... 1) Determine the ten teams who have the best end of season rankings based on a three year average. 2) Figure out as best as possible how much money in NIL contracts these ten teams gave out. 3) Hit the computer button thingy and hit enter. 4) Give Oregon players the average of what these top ten teams gave. 5) If necessary give more than the average. 6) Never give less than the average.

It would be interesting to see how much (if any) money those paid through NIL would give to their parents. When the student-athletes sign a contract for their NIL the money goes directly to the player, and they have zero obligation to give money to anyone. I'm not entirely sure how payments will be made, or put on reserve if requested, if and when the player is still 17 years-old. I'm guessing many players will help their parents out if they are in low-income households.

Canzano dislikes the Ducks more than he is professionally allowed to or wants to lead on to- even if if he claims he has his own terms that afford that. He throws away money not throwing bones to the Ducks or the Portland Trailblazers- and that's fine. It's surely not the journalist I'd want in a tiny populated state with two amazing, storied options to cover. He's a great writer and speaker, though. I wouldn't want him to go against his mantra. That said, Georgia is the second biggest game of the year to lose, only compared to the bigger one that we may lose, in the PAC Final. I'm assuming we only have two losses tops (as always), so how would that most devastational loss be "zero pressure"? Always assume 10 or 11 wins, I'd say.

Based on talent it's easily LeGarette Blount. He didn't do much for the Ducks, though. But I'm in the opinion that it's the thought that counts. High school kids want to play where other stars have played. The program should shoot for the best talent possible every time, with a couple of spots (like two per year tops) for the hustle guys and the diamonds in the rough.

I once lived in an awkwardly swanky high-rise condo in Portland. To my amazement, there was a car that I parked next to in the garage every day that had vintage Oregon Duck gear displayed in the rear- and it was routinely rotated. I never got to know my fellow Oregon alum, other than just saying "Go Ducks" on the occasion. Unfortunately, someone broke into our garage, and every single car was broken into except for mine. I had a good alarm system. Anyway, I felt so terrible for my fellow Duck fan losing his memorabilia. I left a note on his car that said that I had lots of Oregon memorabilia stored away, and that I noticed he was a friend of the Ducks- and I'd give him things when I could. So I would just buy things for him on ebay, and he'd place them in his car's rear window. I think he was about 80 years-old at the time. I was about 30 back then. Anyway, I'd just say if you have interesting Oregon gear that you don't wear, it's best to give it to other Duck fans that would love it!