Usually I have something major that is tugging at me to comment on … but this time it is a number of topics that I am looking to see if others agree/disagree on and while each is not a full article? They still carry a lot of bite with me.
Can the Women of Oregon Pull off THREE National Championships?
The Oregon women pulled off a major upset winning the National Championship in Cross Country after going into the meet ranked at just No. 12. The knowledgeable people in T&F I know of believe that this special group of extraordinary athletes have a real shot at winning the Indoor NC, along with the Outdoor later this spring.
FishDuck.com Editor/Writer Mike Merrell advised that,
“Last year the women won the championship by 3 points with 53 points. (First place in an event is worth 10 points.) When you consider that the women most likely will win in 5 events, plus in danger of sweeping the top three places in the sprints — and that doesn’t even count a whole lot of scorers; e.g., Raevyn Rogers in the 800 — they mostly will have to just make sure they get their shoes on the right feet to win it.”
Truth is, the women could possibly score enough points to win the title in just the 60 and 200 alone. (Oregon has the potential to break the all-time Indoor point total of 71 for women.)
Would Altman stand pat with the conference tourney?
Photo by Kevin Cline
Basketball Conference Tournaments Are a CROCK!!
Pac-12 conference teams play 18 games and yet they have to play teams a third time to see if one of the three between Oregon, UCLA, and Arizona gets a shot at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament? The grind of the season isn’t enough? How much money does the Pac-12 actually make off the Pac-12 tourney?!
This has been a pet peeve of mine for years, as it enables conferences to slide in marginal teams to the Big Dance, with conference tournament results given far more weight than deserved compared to the regular season champion. Why not eliminate the Pac-12 tournament and expand the conference schedule to a true round robin by going from 18 to 22 games?
I cannot believe the smaller conferences — like the Horizons of the world — who play all season and have the conference tournament to determine who gets to play Villanova in the first round of the NCAA tourney. The conference season wasn’t enough? And it’s not like you have a lot of TV money for the smaller conference tournaments!
When are the schools going to quit following the money? Just once why doesn’t a conference stand up and say,
“This is a crock and we aren’t going to be a part of it.”
Cristobal Not Impressed with the Offensive Line?
I noticed that we had offered scholarships to number of big offensive linemen for the 2017 signing date and an example is the massive George Moore. He is a JC transfer with three years to play, so that is almost as good as a high school player with room to develop, although Moore has excellent credentials.
Tramonda Moore
Photo by Brian Perroni of 247 Sports
However, I’ve noticed that Oregon has offered some more Junior College offensive linemen for 2018? We have four RS sophomore starters, and common sense would dictate recruiting high school players who can grow into the job? Yet offensive line coach Mario Cristobal is operating like the offensive line is in need of a sizable upgrade — and to happen sooner than later?
The Ducks have offered on the towering JC Tramonda Moore (no relation to current recruit) at 6-6, and 330 pounds, and if that was not enough? Oregon has offered on another JC prospect, the five-star monster Anthony McKinney who blots out the sun at 6-8, and 330 pounds.
I don’t know if this is troubling in terms of the future offensive linemen not being as mobile as the current smaller, faster ones for Outside Zone Reads or Sweep Reads, or if it is disconcerting because Coach Willie Taggart wants to run a Power-Game, but feels he cannot with the current offensive linemen? This will be very interesting to watch and again — one of a hundred interesting dramas to watch play out with the new coaching staff and players brought in.
How Many Times Have I Shut Down and Started up the Site Again?
FishDuck.com has driven me crazy, as I’ve changed my mind about its future more often than an attention-starved, Twitter-whore high school football recruit.
I am really not that flaky.
Steven Wright is serious about quality.
It has been hard to do two full-time jobs — but harder yet to give up the site. I love to write and comment, and a small percentage of Oregon fans like to ponder right along with me. That part has always been a blast, but managing 20-30 writers and editors has not.
Fortunately we have arrived at a solution and a salvation for the site in new Managing Editor, Steven Wright, who will take many of the managing duties off my shoulders to allow me to write and to create new article-types/profiles to entertain Oregon fans that much more as we move to a pay-wall in about six months.
Watch our progress, and tell others to check on us — especially after June 1st, when a tremendous article line-up will be available for free for two months. It is great to see many of our “Fish-Friends” back in the comments.
And thank you for bearing with my hodge-podge bunch of thoughts! (Debate is welcome!)
Top Photo Credit: Kevin Cline
Charles Fischer
Eugene, Oregon
Charles Fischer has been an intense fan of the Ducks, a season ticket holder at Autzen Stadium for 38 years and has written reports on football boards for over 26 years. Known as “FishDuck” on those boards, he is acknowledged for providing intense detail in his scrimmage reports, and in his Xs and Os play analyses. He is single, has a daughter Christine, and resides in Eugene Oregon where he was a Financial Advisor for 36 years.
He now focuses full-time on Charitable Planned Giving Workshops for churches and non-profit organizations in addition to managing his two Oregon Football Websites, of FishDuck.com and the Our Beloved Ducks forum. He is a busy man!
He does not profess to be a coach or analyst, but simply a “hack” that enjoys sharing what he has learned and invites others to correct or add to this body of Oregon Football! See More…