Whenever I watch a Portland Trail Blazer’s game, no matter who they are playing, I always know the Blazers have a chance because they have Damian “Dame Time” Lilliard. And when it comes to the Oregon Men’s Basketball Team, I know the Ducks always have a chance because of Coach Dana Altman. In regards to the NCAA Tournament, when I …
My impressions of the Ducks’ 2021 schedule are being made through the visual lens that the Ducks will play up to their talent and potential in 2021. I had written this past fall that with all the Covid-19 craziness tearing apart the 2020 season, that I considered last year to be a practice-season. Now it’s time for the Ducks to …
Piggybacking off of my previous post about Mario Cristobal costing Justin Herbert being the No. 1 draft pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, I wanted to explore what’s to come for Herbert and his draft day “rival” Tua Tagovailoa. But first, I must come clean. I must admit my “sin” of wishing a fellow human being to not succeed. While …
Perhaps it is the long cold winters I spend up here in eastern Washington, but the grouch in me has returned. It’s been a while, but like a broken record, I’m placing Oregon’s offense inconsistencies once again on Mario Cristobal’s shoulders. Having not been kind to Cristobal in the way he had handled the Oregon offense with the uber-talented Justin …
Come this June, the Pac-12 will purchase one final plane ticket for current Commissioner Larry Scott, and it will be a one-way ticket to anywhere but here. Thank goodness. While Scott did bring the Pac-12 up to date and into the 2000s (His predecessor Tom Hansen had fallen woefully behind the times) with marketing and branding, it became …
(Update added late last night: Oregon didn’t look overly impressive in a laboring win against a badly-overmatched Eastern Washington last night. But, this is what Oregon basketball is — a continually evolving process that ultimately always ends in success. See you in March!) +++++ Another year and another “Who the heck are these guys?” for Oregon basketball. As I took …
If there was ever a year in which the Oregon Ducks would not play up to snuff, 2020 is that year. This year brings about plenty of baked-in excuses as to why a team like Oregon might not play up to its lofty expectations. Lack of a full off-season, several key starters sitting out, and a shortened season that just …
Of course, I hope I’m wrong. The Ducks have (for the most part) dominated the Beavers over the past decade, so like any green-blooded Oregon fan, I’d like to see the carnage continue. But the Ducks have played with fire so far this season by slipping and stumbling past supposedly lesser opponents in Stanford, WSU, and UCLA. A revamped offense …
Out west, Oregon Basketball has become comparable to the legendary comedian Rodney Dangerfield. Oregon gets no respect. Take a look here at this year’s pre-season media poll: 2020-21 PAC-12 MEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON MEDIA POLL TEAM (first-place votes) POINTS 1. UCLA (9) 251 2. Arizona State (5) 246 3. Oregon (7) 241 4. Stanford (1) 209 5. Arizona 173 6. USC …
We have every reason to believe the Cougar Curse it is behind us. The Ducks beat Washington State last year (barely), Mike Leach has moved on, and WSU has a new head coach and starting quarterback. The Cougars seem to be descending from a certain perch of theirs. On the other hand, the Ducks are the more talented team, they’ve …
This Halloween weekend took me down memory lane over 20 years ago to my final year of college in Eugene. There was a big Halloween Party that all my friends were going to, but I had to work until 10 pm that night at my part-time restaurant job. When ten o’clock hit I flew out the door, sped home, threw …
It’s my birthday today. And while I am not a big birthday person (after 21, do any of them really matter?), it would have been a nice gift for our Ducks to be 2-0. This, of course, would have meant a gigantic victory over Ohio State, which would have gifted me the right to rub it into the faces of …