Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out A long time ago I was presented with a riddle that involved a war in the Middle East and went something like this: You take a hand-held calculator and add up or multiply this and that representing the numbers of opposing forces, tanks, aircraft, etc. Based upon the numbers given, you come up with 14,215,469. Then you …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out When Texas A&M’s Pat Henry complained about Oregon’s “unfair advantage” in hosting the NCAA Championships through 2021, he inadvertently called attention to the changing landscape of college athlete recruiting. Why Henry’s complaint is really about his position in the changing landscape of recruiting — rather than the advantage once on the track — is the subject of this …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out Texas A&M track coach Pat Henry thinks that Oregon has an unfair advantage at the NCAA Track & Field Championships, according to a Saturday article by Oregonlive’s Andrew Greif. Henry, it seems, thinks that the home field advantage works to Oregon’s favor — and he’s right. But Henry misses the boat when he jumps from “advantage” to …
By Mike Merrell, reporting direct from Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon for FishDuck.com Jenna Prandini and Raevyn Rogers led the Oregon Women’s Track & Field Team to its first NCAA title in thirty years Saturday, sealing a rare double win for the Ducks’ track program. The Ducks’ men’s team took top honors in action completed Friday. The women were …
Mike Merrell, reporting direct from Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon What was supposed to be a close team race turned into a romp as the Oregon Men’s Track & Field Team ran away with a second straight NCAA Outdoor title. The Ducks racked up 85 points to outdistance second place Florida with 56. Track & Field News had projected …
Mike Merrell, reporting from Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon The University of Oregon Ducks Men’s Track and Field Team made another positive move toward a second-straight NCAA Division I championship Thursday when decathlete Dakota Keys wrestled his way up from fifth place to third with a total score of 7863, just short of his personal best of 8,086. Keys …
The Oregon Ducks Men’s Track & Field team held form and then some on the first day of the 2015 NCAA Championships at Historic Hayward Field, setting up a Friday showdown with co-favorite Florida. The Ducks scored 33 big first-day points to take what looks like a commanding lead, but Florida, with 16 points, stands poised to cut deeply into …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out With the upcoming NCAA Track & Field Championships – and with the utter failure of the preliminary rounds as spectator events — those who oversee the events ponder what to do to generate more spectator interest, and, presumably, therefore more dollars. But maybe efforts to promote track & field should be made with something besides dollars in mind. …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out In a gag-me-with-a-spoon move coming from two time zones away, ESPN’s Adam Rittenburg dished up an unappetizing morsel about the professionalism of Jim Mora and the UCLA football program. Mora, it seems, runs his organization like an NFL team. Since Rittenburg went to Northwestern and is currently rumored to be living just outside Chicago, he is a good …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out Every school has its irritating fans, and the Ducks are certainly no exception. Stanford has its offensive band that — due to some transgressions — got banned from traveling to away games next season. And when it comes to irritating, USC’s band and the only song it knows are hard to beat. But when it comes to …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out Most college team mascots were chosen long before Title IX came along, and naturally no thought was given to the possibility that women might someday bear the name on the battlefields. So when Title IX created intercollegiate women’s sports, the dilemma of what to do about team mascots came with it. Somebody got the bright idea to …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out In a move certain to offend all college football fans who haven’t been advised to sell when their IQs reach 50, Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan labeled ASU’s Todd Graham (77-41) the best head football coach in the Pac-12. If that wasn’t gray matter-challenged enough, he relegated Oregon’s Mark Helfrich to the bottom half. It’s time for Lassan …
