2002duck

Anyone have any insight into why Jurrion Dickey only essentially went in for a play in the 4th, and wasn't targeted? Was there some sort of injury or personal issue that happened in fall camp that I'm not aware of?

I say it depends on if you are a current student or not. I'm in my forties, so booing anyone but the Huskies would be a bit sophomoric for me. That said, in the late 90's or Y2K timeframe, when the internet e-commerce world was just getting its legs, I ordered a custom bumper sticker that said "OSU FOOTBALL SUCKS". I don't regret doing that at all, mostly because it was a one off that nobody else was doing, so it was all in good fun. I never stuck it to my car (I leaned it up against the rear window inside) because I didn't want to get keyed, but I did get a handwritten note left on my windshield one time from an Oregon State fan even though I was parked by the UO bookstore. About a few months later someone broke into my car and stole it. To justify why I ordered it- my girlfriend at the time graduated was living in Portland while I was at UO, and out of nowhere the Beavers actually had a good season, causing tons of OSU fans to buy tons of flair for their cars, which drove me crazy while driving to Portland every other weekend. I made sure the Beaver fans read it before speeding off after they would honk and scream. Pretty juvenile- I know! Anyway, I don't really recommend booing the other team when they come out unless it's the Huskies (or the refs?), but I certainly wouldn't clap for anyone either. Also, I generally want the Ducks to run up the score as much as possible in every game- so there is that.

Hard pass. Uneven divisions. We don't have to be beggars anymore now that we are in. I vote for NO divisions.

Herman lived a few doors down from me in the athlete's floor at the University Inn dorm (I think it's called Barnhart Hall now). That was in the fall of 1998. I saw on the news article that Herman was 44 when he died. Far too young. So, he was actually a bit old for a freshman- he would have been 19 and born in 1979. I'm 43, and I don't turn 44 until January. Herman was a bit of an intimidating guy. He was pretty big, and did not talk too much. He used to show some of us his highlights from high school on VHS in his room. His door was often open, and he would lie down in the middle of the hallway with his long hair spread out, drying after he showered. I don't think his hair went down to his waist, but it was very long. I always felt a little bad for him because he didn't seem happy- but who am I to know exactly what was going on. He fumbled the ball *a lot*, I'm not sure if you folks remember, and people/fans kind of gave him a hard time. He also had really high expectations, so that did not help. I was very surprised, and very heartened to read that he was living in Oregon in his final days. I always assumed he may have thought we abandoned him. Clearly, I was wrong. Rest in peace Herman.

All I've got to say is that I was an A-student my whole life, and the only reason I ever got sent to the principal's office is because I got sucked into the Arsenio Hall and MC Hammer hype. Some friends and I were doing the Arsenio Hall audience "woot-woot" routine at a school talent show, and when we were told to stop I told the chaperone that we were "2 Legit 2 Quit". Deion jeopardized my academic career! Luckily, it was the last day of elementary school, and it was not placed on my "record'!

I had to google "Jofa helmet Parkdale Pool jump movie" to see what this movie you were talking about. The first link was an article that said the following: "Depending who’s asked, “Hot Rod” is either the greatest comedy ever or the worst piece of movie trash in the history of Hollywood." But heh, it has Bill Hader in it, and I loved "Barry" on HBO. One of my favorite movies growing up was "Stand By Me" which was filmed just outside of Eugene. I just watched a behind the scenes Youtube video with Rob Reiner the other day, and he, Corey Feldman, and Will Wheaton talked about living in Eugene during filming, and I noticed this image:

Yeah, I've read that as well. We will have to see how he pans out. We didn't get to see much from Novasad in the Spring Game.

I think geography and Carmen Sandiego have something to do with it. Who's on the case, Junior Detectives?

If you're looking in specific areas you'll hear a lot of noise blaming the Ducks. John Canzano pretty much fielded 90% Beaver calls the day the Ducks left. The callers that were Duck fans couldn't show much excitement, lest it be distasteful. It took a lot of restraint from me not to call into Canzano's radio show and say, "I've been sorting by new/recent and F5ing every day for the past year, all to see the news that the Oregon Ducks are going to the Big Ten. This is one of the biggest moments in Oregon Football history, and a positive one!" Anyway, the national consensus is that Oregon did the right thing. Heck, I don't even blame USC and UCLA for bailing. I respected that move the day it happened. I was not happy to see Dante Moore decommit to go to UCLA & the B1G, though.

Is there a "Crystal Ball Watch" somewhere? It would be nice to tune into players who are predicted to sign with us in the coming days or weeks. Hoping we can finally get a 5-star sooner rather than later.

Oregon is Chargers country. Especially Eugene. They air the Chargers game/pre-game/post game on the radio here, and not Seattle. Thank Good Gosh.

This is one that I find interesting. If GK was honest with the Presidents about the type of deal(s) that were coming in then the Pac 10 would have simply collapsed earlier. Seeing that the Ducks got to go to the B1G, I would change absolutely nothing about anything that happened ever since the ESPN deal was turned down and the Big 12 took that money away. Seems to me that the Apple TV deal presented at the end was Apple being "nice", and that all other offers or brainstorming ideas (CW, Bravo, PBS?) were simply terrible. So, I kind of don't know what people want when there were literally no other options... I kind of blame George for turning down the $30M ESPN offer, though I bet it had a lot of ESPN+ streaming in the contract. Fans and Presidents would have had a conniption fit if Kliakoff accepted that off the bat. And to think, George wanted to be my conference expansion salesman.

The biggest surprise for me, and one that I think borders on "malpractice", is that apparently Oregon was "50/50" on whether to accept $30M plus free loans from future payouts from the B1G, or stay in a doomed Pac conference. What??? I would have been fine if Phil Knight paid the B1G $10M to let us in the conference, with us then receiving partial shares of $30M starting in year two until we got full shares in 2031.

The ESPN offer was last offseason, right after UCLA & USC left, and just before the BIG 12 got the deal instead. The only offer presented in the past year was from Apple TV for $25M with impossible escalators to get bonus money for the regular season. No chance in a million years that 1M would sign up for the Pac-10 package if it were not free for football season ticket holders (like all MLS season ticket holder accounts get) or if it were free via T-Mobile/Verizon/AT&T.

I'm not sure when you graduated from the UO, but I got my undergraduate degree in 2002 and I can tell you that football and basketball players showed up to class very infrequently- like three times in a term- even Joey Harrington in business school courses. Now that we have sophisticated online course capabilities, I can only imagine it would be that much easier for student athletes to do remote learning. What's more, kids these days love taking pictures or videos to post on Instagram or TikTok. They can take selfies with the Manhattan skyline in the background when they go to Rutgers, and the Washington Monument and the Washington Mall if they drive 30 minutes (about 12 miles) south from Maryland's campus. The student athletes should be honored and thankful to have the opportunity to fly across our nation's country.

Well, it sounds like you are giving a friendly reminder to fans of the "haves", and that is actually very sensitive and nice of you. Personally, I haved never harbored any ill will towards USC or UCLA for bailing to the B1G. It was clear the writing was on the wall before USC/UCLA left that the future was in the SEC and the B1g, and not much else. I still think the BIG 12, even with their recent Pac additions, is basically B-team conference. The Pac was almost that as well before the LA teams left, and certainly, in my opinion, became a budget class conference afterwards. It would be pretty hard to do, but I hope more people can learn to take things less personal- or to let things go. I hate to say it, but I do not feel too sorry for Oregon State.

Spring is a lot drier in the Mid-Atlantic than in the Willamette Valley.

Well, first of all, about 500k of Apple's MLS subscribers get it for free. Also, their numbers grew to about 1M after Messi came. The Pac does not have a Messi, and Apple was not going to give free Pac packages to season ticket holders at all of the schools. > How will I receive my MLS Season Pass? The Full-Season Ticket Account Owner will receive their free MLS Season Pass and redemption instructions via email from their Club on or around February 1, 2023. If you have not received your MLS Season Pass, please contact your Club Representative. Can I share my MLS Season Pass subscription with family members? Yes, you can share your MLS Season Pass subscription with up to 5 family members by setting up Family Sharing on your Apple device.

This is why I do not put any stock into streaming sports at this time. In fact, I think the entire Hollywood business market is a disaster right now- streaming simply is not profitable. Platforms must show advertisements. And preferably ones from Fortune 500 companies like McDonalds, Coke, Pepsi, Toyota, Frito-Lay, Budweiser, and Coors. That's where the money comes from. Do everything possible to make people watch ads on every single platform, and make it so you can't skip them. If Americans want their entertainment to be cheap (read: subsidized), then they need give up on feeling entitled to not watch ads. I know what you're thinking: "this guy is crazy, is he saying he wants to force Americans to watch ads?" Yes!

Zero point zero chance that 1.7M people would pay $100 for the Apple TV + Pac 10 package.

If people want to play the "it's all about now" game, then I recommend following recruiting closely. Winning National Championships should be constant long term goals, and being top-10 or top-5 in recruiting rankings should be short term goals. Needless to say, I am a huge fan of tanking in the NBA. If you're a small market team like Portland or OKC, where zero free agents want to sign with or live in, then the draft and rare trades are the only way to go. The Oregon Ducks defy the geographical problem by having the best facilities and branding, and one could easily argue that giving up an easier path to the playoffs for a few years (only to end up in a conference that will be extinct) to go to the B1G now is akin to "tanking".

I'm just some otherwise ordinary citizen, so what do I know? That said, I have a very hard time that Phil Knight and Oregon would not have immediately accepted a reduced share to join the B1G after UCLA and USC left. There was certainly no guarantee that the Ducks would be accepted to the BIG in 2031. FSU, NC, ND, etc. could have locked us out. Having an easier path to the playoffs for 5 years means nothing if you're in a lame duck conference at the end of that date. At our age, we wake up and 5 years has passed- you know what I mean? It's all about the future.

Well, the PAC was only going to get one spot each year, so we'd have to win the PAC 7/8/9/10 title and/or be the top ranked PAC team each year. In the B1G there might be three spots- or even four sometimes as the playoffs change further. Personally, I'd say the second USC & UCLA left the PAC was forever to be a B-team conference no matter what. The only way it wouldn't would be if we got Oklahoma and Texas to replace them. Which...obviously was less likely than USC/UCLA coming back. On the plus side, you could say that every year is almost like one long Playoff now. If you aren't the best one or two teams in the country- you don't deserve to win the NC anyway. Underdog titles are fun for middle and high school sports, but in the real world the teams with the talent deserve to and should win. Also, there is recruiting. We can get better recruits being in the B1G and playing in LA every year than we could in the PAC- which would always be a few years away from collapsing.

Hmm, that sounds exactly like what John Canzano has been telling his audience. I like Canzano as a person and writer, and I think his radio segment is great during the hour his wife is with him, but the reality is he's not an Oregon Ducks fan. Seems to me that Canzano has no real sources with the Ducks and the Blazers- the two biggest teams in the state by a wide margin. Ducks football even has a significant lead on the Blazers regarding fans in all metrics. Anyway, if you ask PK or Rob Mullens if a path to making the playoffs is important- they will answer "yes". However, Oregon and Washington 100% absolutely had to join the B1G at the next B1G media deal. The future is consolidating all the good teams into a few conferences because the media outfits won't pay for "tradition" and "regionality"- they just want numbers. Let's not forget all the reports of Phil Knight begging the B1G to accept Oregon after USC & UCLA bolted. That is all you need to know.

Apple is bidding against themselves right now. Nobody else wants the vast bulk of whatever the PAC is.