In governance, it’s a truism that if you want more of a behavior, all you have to do is subsidize it. Of course, the dark side of subsidizing something is that it fosters dependency and an entitlement mentality in the recipients. When a public entity is not exposed to the stimulating pain of its own errors, it fails to develop …
This is not my regular column because the topic is not about anything that regularly happens with Oregon Football. Chip Kelly has departed for the Philadelphia Eagles. To that I am inclined to say only, “Thanks Chip and good luck.” The man doesn’t technically owe Oregon Football anything but ongoing gratitude for plucking him out of obscurity. He strikes me …
You might recall the last time I mentioned the Stanford Cardinal because I certainly do. I gave short shrift to Stanford Cardinal football, and after they beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl I will eat my words, along with a serving of crow. I apologize to Stanford fans everywhere. Despite the Ducks having drilled your team in 2010 and 11, …
In these times of economic uncertainty and political discord, when one cannot even go shopping at a suburban mall or take in a movie without feeling the need to go armed, it is reassuring to know there is one constant to life in Oregon besides the rain — that the typical beavis fan is a loser. Not only are they …
First, a housekeeping matter. I apologize for not providing the readership with a column last month. I had smashed my middle finger on my left hand in an ill fated attempt to repair my malfunctioning garage door and was unable to do production level typing for two weeks. I am fully healed now, so here we go. ————— This Saturday …
There have been many occasions where the national punditry, and even opposing fans say the Ducks run a “gimmick” offense. The notion is that the Ducks can only beat those hapless programs beneath them through finesse tactics, that they don’t play “real football,” but when they run into teams with time to prepare, or superior athleticism, then Oregon can’t win. …
I have no direct experience when it comes to facing sports juggernauts, but my eldest now does since this past spring one of our district’s five Little League teams went through the season undefeated. My son’s team only lost six games and finished second, but five of those losses were to the undefeated team. Two of those defeats were by …
With USC fans gloating uncontrollably over the star magnitude of their 2012 recruiting class, I found myself dragged to the past for a moment. I could almost hear the Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Nikita Kruschev, screaming into a UN microphone, “WE WILL BURY YOU!” For a few moments this week, the Trojans fans brought to mind that …
Take your mind all the way back to last May. The buzz around the conference then was the details of the television deal that Larry Scott negotiated with Fox and ESPN. Without rehashing all of the particulars, the biggest news was that each member would pocket, on average, around $21 million annually over the twelve- year contract. Any way you …
Anyone who has read my various musings over the years knows that I am not into conducting amateur psycho-analysis on opposing fan bases. That said, every so often, the “real world” intrudes and basically confirms what I already suspect about the opposition. Such an intrusion was recently captured in a photo at Goss Stadium in Corvallis during Civil War baseball …
History is replete with famous correspondence between luminaries, some of it philosophical, some religious, and some, shall we say, steamy. In an age when the postal service is fading away due to email, instant messaging, and video chat, and which sees that letter writing is becoming a lost art, something remarkable has taken place recently: A fully grown man in …
As a society, we Americans have never been serious about ending the “scourge” of intoxicant abuse. We have undertaken some flamboyant half-measures, such as Prohibition and The War On Drugs, but we aren’t really serious about such things despite the real world violence and imprisonment that arise out of the good versus evil pantomimes we produce. Places like Singapore and …