Hey Utes,

I'm a Duck fan moving to Salt lake in a couple weeks, I'm looking for recommendations of good sports bars near campus so I can follow the Pac-10. Any other bar or restaurant recommendations near campus would be greatly appreciated.

Also I want to catch a game at the stadium, would it be worth the price of going to a BYU game to experience the rivalry or should I just try to get good seats to less interesting game?

Cheers,

Brad

Here

Bellotti explicitly says the Kelly transition will probably take place in 1-2 years. As far as I know this was speculated based on some of what he said, but this is the first time I've read that he specifically said he will probably step down in 2 years. I agree with Pflugrad:

"I was a little surprised, you know, because coach Bellotti’s done such a good job," Pflugrad said. "He’s got a lot of years left."

Masoli and Greatwood are worried about Kelly moving to the field. Honestly, if Kelly is still creating the game plan and coaching QBs I'd be ok if a Kelly Disciple was calling the plays. But we can all look forward to around 2 years of speculation about this!

 

Junior cornerbacks Walter Thurmond III and Jairus Byrd said Friday they plan to investigate their potential position in April’s NFL draft before deciding whether to return for their senior season.

I think that is because of the NFL players contract (or whatever it's called) ending soon. My guess is they will learn that they will still make more money by waiting a year and raising their draft stock then by leaving now and getting drafted in the 6th+ round

However, tight end Ed Dickson and running back LeGarrette Blount said they intend to remain in school and play as seniors in 2009.

 

This is good news, I was worried about Blount leaving, the logic being that a 2nd or 3rd round pick might make more money this year than a 1st next year (if the NFL institutes a rookie salary max).

That's what Frohnmayer says here. I understand that maybe the last few games of the regular season for the top 4 would be less interesting, but wouldn't the last few games for those ranked 5-12 be incredible. A fan of #12th ranked team would not only be watching their team's games but have huge rooting interests in the games of teams below them, not to mention any conference races, now a 12th ranked team only has t their conference championship race to follow - maybe a BCS bid.

Am I crazy, but wouldn't giving more people rooting interest in more games a good thing? Doesn't having more teams in the position of just having to win out to make a playoff make for better games of their fans? Am I wrong to feel a little betrayed by Frohnmayer? Can I type out four consecutive questions? I wonder if that comment really just the NCAA way of telling Obamma to stay out of the NCAA  business, which I guess I understand. /end rambling

Hey Ducks in the Chicago area,

So I hear that (a) Rocks got rented out Saturday and (b) the game will be available on FSN NW via satellite. So a group of us are heading back to Witts (our bar from last year) to watch the game, please feel free to join us. It's located at 2913 N Lincoln parking in the area is tough but doable. Hope to see a big group of us there.

Pre Game

West Lafayette is definitely a great college town. We got in at about noon, on our way from the parking lot to the bar we were stopped by 2 coeds dressed as blind mice. That’s when we were reminded of breakfast club. Every home game the bars open up at 7am, people dress up like it’s Halloween and drink till game time. Really this tradition is ingenious, when I was in college Halloween was always my favorite holiday, now they get it 6-8 extra times a year. They live it up too, apparently for the rivalry games people will get inline for the bar hours early. Suffice to say, most of the Purdue fans were good and plastered at the bar.

The thing that we were all most surprised about at the bar was how nice everyone was (the drinking probably helped). People would just come up to us, and the conversation would usually go like this:

Drunk Purdue fan: “We’re going to win” or “You guys suck”

Brad and his buddies – trying to catch up on the drinking: “I doubt it” or “Not as bad as you”

Purdue fan - slurring: “It’s all in good fun, did you guys come from Oregon?”

Brad and his confused buddies – stop to order another pitcher: “Some of us are the rest from Chicago”

Purdue fan: “Cool, have a good time”

The two notable exceptions: The one asshole wearing mullet wig was really annoying, he thought it would be cool to tap me and another one of us a bunch on the O on our hats. I was not happy. Another guy (must have been an econ major) thought he would intelligent to make the point that we were stupid for supporting their local economy. I mentioned to him that Purdue would be going to Eugene next year and he stopped.

At the bar we were at there was one or two other big groups of Oregon fans as well as a smattering of Oregon couples, Purdue fans were impressed with how well we like to travel. We made friends with one group who not only knew to wear costumes but brought their own Oregon mallet. Good thing too, because they told us at half time there were plenty of seats open in the third row at half time so we got a nice little upgrade.

The Campus and Stadium:

Both look great, very clean, everything was made of nice looking brick and all in one tight spot. We were in a hurry to catch the USC tOSU game so we didn’t stay to watch some kind of post game pep rally in quad, but it seemed like a nice little tradition they had.

Post Game:

We went back to the same bar, even after a tough loss it was still pretty crowded. Thankfully one of the guys in my group made friends with a couple girls on a big table and got them to share it with us. When we got there they noticed we were duck fans, chatted politely for a few minutes then left the bar. So, we had a nice pizza and watched the best team in the nation do what they do.

All in all we had a great time surrounding a very scary game.

Sorry for posting another NCAA 09 post. The old one was closed and this cracked me up.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but seriously EA choose J Will to demonstrate the new bobbling animations, still the vid looks pretty cool, but I think they made 08 into a bit of a straw man - the presnap and sideline animations are better than what they showed.

http://www.easports.com/ncaa09/media.jsp?contentID=yoy_features

For those who care about who EA thinks our best players are, here is a screen shot of Oregon's top 7 according to a preliminary roster.

http://www.operationsports.com/mediaview.php?id=417&page=5

EA seams to respect our D and O-line. Unger, Tupo, Boyd, Chung, J-Will all are about 90.

I'm surprised Chung isn't a little higher and Boyd isn't a little lower. I disagree with how high Will's overall is, but am not surprised given his tangibles - I'm very curious how his catch ratings will look.

The second to last guy is Thurmond which seams about right, but I'm not sure who DT#56 is - Gibbs? Or am I forgetting someone obvious

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3354845

For his sake I hope it's not too bad, but the irresponsible Duck fan in me hopes he's out for the opening game. Yes I'm a bad person.

According to ESPN's Pac-10 Primer (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3266832) Oregon has a QB battle between Roper and Kempt. Apparently he wrote this just before the Sun Bowl without doing any research, because he makes no mention of Costa and Thomas. Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I thought Kempt was being converted to Safety.

Oh well, maybe UW will read this and nothing else - and they'll end up preparing for a slow game managing QB instead of Costa or Thomas.

Random comment: When does Dave decide to take down the 2007 schedule and put up the 2008 schedule?

In case you missed it, there is a video on how Stewart is preparing for the draft.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3252468&categoryId=2564308

So my buddy told me that we control our own destiny - this was my response - I figured I might as well post it.

Look at the teams ranked 3-5 they are big-12 teams heading into a mini tourney with the winner of KU vs Missouri taking on Oak - which even team comes out that will have better computer ranking and just played (in the eyes of the voters) some really big games. Conversely we play three teams that aren't bowl eligible yet one of which loss to UCLA - I think they are good teams that are all capable of keeping it close against any team right now, but I don't think voters think that. Furthermore, the way the votes turn to the points that the BCS uses in calculations is important - the difference between a 1st and 2nd place vote is greater than the difference between a 2nd and 3rd place vote this means that if a team is taking up the lion's share of the 1st place votes the distance between the next two will be relatively small (see LSU's small lead on us last weak) - LSU is taking up 35 of 60. In the coaches poll we have 13 1st place votes but KU and Missouri have combined 11 place votes (there is no doubt in my mind that the big12 champ will get at least those 11 votes at the end of the season and likely will steal more from us) - The Harris poll follows this pattern (we have 22 1st and the big12 has 15). This means we will have a tiny poll lead at best and probably a deficit and we'll also probably be behind in the computers to the Big12 champs schedule. Not Good.

I think for us to go to New Orleans we need to win out and one or more of the follow must happen (ordered in most to least likely (my opinion):

1. LSU stumbles - probably against Georgia in the championship game, but maybe Arkansas will pull a UI and play like it's their national championship game
2. The winner of Big12 stumbles then wins - most likely way of happening if Oak St. beats OU then OU beats the winner of the big12 North - I don't see UK loosing to Texas Tech or Missouri loosing to Kansas St.
3. Aliens abduct the pollsters and force them to recognize that we are one of the top 2 teams in the nation.

http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/index

Go here and click on the herd mentality its all about the Duck game, and the Cal vs UO rivalry - also on ESPNU NCF Insider they talk about how we might be hurt by having our classes starting now. Anyone have insight on if this can hurt us?

My two cents just to fill the 300 character limit: Classes is code for beginning of the semester parties

I just moved and was wihtout internet at home for a fews days so I was communicating with a buddy of mine about football (the Ducks mostly) and a bit about video games.  Two nights ago we were exchanging text messages about wheather or not Stewert has been a dissapointment, especially considering his injury problems. Later that night I got a text message just as I was about to go to sleep - it just said "F@ck you stewert just lost #28 for the season I'm going to bed". Needless to say this freeked me out, and becasue I couldn't get any information on it until the next day at work I did not sleep well. Turns out my bastard "friend" had switched topics to his NCAA football 2008 dynasty.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2977178&sportCat=ncf

Forde says the SEC is better than the Pac-10 because they are stronger in the middle and lower tears. Personally I think our non-conference record is going to be better than theirs but he welcome to that opinion.

Interestingly he explains their superiority is the result of people in the South having little else to care about. Furthermore, west coasters are too spoiled to be terribly interested football. That seems offensive to everyone, but hey football's a-comin' so those southern boys will soon forget about his remarks and the west coast people will get some new sandals and a micro brew and feel all better.

He backs up this thesis with the following comparison. After Cal lost a close game to USC some Cal fans were smiling and remarked how good the game was. Conversely, when Georgia lost a close one to Auburn the Georgia fans were so upset that they threw stuff at Auburn. 1st I agree Cal fans aren't the most hard core group, however, is that fact that they can appreciate a good game and practice restraint and good sportsmanship a reason to question Pac-10 football fandom?

For those who have insider this is a link to a Vick story that has a link to the interview about half way down:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2972161

Harrington basically says all the "right" things kisses ass to his teammates (as he should), especially Joe Horn, and to the radio show. It finishes with the host kissing Harrington's ass - which is a nice change.  Nothing groundbreaking nor are there any mentions of Oregon - still its good to get a dose of Harrington.

New rule changes here http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/news/story?id=2966243
I like the switch back to the old clock rules - that is one of the reasons why college football is so exciting.  Additionally, for those who don't have insider, McShay thinks the change in the kick spot should benefit us because of Stewart's superior ability as a kick return.
http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/insider/columns/story?columnist=mcshay_todd&id=2964907