Hi All,

I wanted to let you know about something I'm involved in that could win you an Ipod Touch.  If you're in the Portland television market (i.e. you get Portland TV stations), please sign up for the KOIN College Hoops Challenge presented by McDonald's.  I work for KOIN Local 6 in Portland and I am the organizer of the tournament.

The challenge is a simple bracket-pool type affair, and I'd like to get as many people as possible to join.

Grand Prize is a 32GB Ipod Touch.  There aren't a ton of people playing in this, as it's a local tournament, so your chances of winning are pretty good!

To join, just go to hoops.koin.com, sign up, and make your picks.  It should be fun, and I wish you all good luck with all your brackets!

Just like the annual fire-Bellotti, and fire-Alliotti columns.  Just wait until football loses a couple games under Kelly.  All of a sudden we'll find out from Canzano et al. that he was never suited to be a head coach and we should cut our losses and hire Rich Rodriguez away from Michigan.

Comparisons have been made of Ernie's team to a high school team.  Hasn't anyone noticed that it basically IS a high school team?

19 years old is not that different than 18 (and I bet some of them are still 18). Considering that TP has the stature of a 7th grader, I would say that makes up for the fact that Catron and Odia are reasonably well-developed basketball players, though not stars by any means.

This has always been a team with VERY RAW potential and no real veteran leadership.  I'm not a total Ernie apologist, but let's remember that this team is performing exactly one spot away from where we (or at least where I) thought they would in the preseason-- 10th instead of 9th. And the only reason they're not tied for 9th is the Beavs played one good game.

They are going to suck. They are going to suck all year, and possibly next year too. That's what we've got when six of our top eight players are true freshmen (I'm thinking Longmire and Catron are probably at the same talent level as the frosh).  And they're not just true freshmen, but four of them would probably use a redshirt year under normal circumstances.

There's no question that some of this is on Ernie, but also look back at Bob Clark's blog entry on how we got here in the first place.  Ernie made good decisions at the times he made them, but still found himself in this position.  It's his mess to clean up now.  Should he be fired?  I don't think so, not right now. 

He should start fixing some of his other mistakes, though, like playing TP as a go-to scorer, (props for not starting him today, even though that didn't work out well either).  He has proven that the only thing he knows how to do is hit an open 3 when the defense collapses on a driving player.  Guess what?  None of our players can drive like AB, Bryce, Maarty, or Malik could.

Who would we hire, anyway?  Few is not coming back to Eugene, just like Pinkel didn't go back to Washington.  He's a hero in Spokane.  We're stuck in a conference that has the best top-to-bottom coaching in the nation.  Who is going to come in and compete?  We would have to gamble on an up-and-coming assistant, and we can't gamble when we have $200 million in state bonds to pay off.

Dear CV3000, Ruler Supreme and Fun Czar of Beaver Nation,

I know you like to talk smack.  I don't.  Sometimes, coming from you, it all seems like it's in good fun, and others, you just seem like a mean-spirited ass who tries to suck the fun out of a good football season for Oregon and Oregon State fans alike.

Your post, here, really pissed me off though.  The whole thing was immature, really, and after I read it and commented on it, I realized how much of a waste of time it is to even acknowledge you. 

But, drunk on the ambrosia of victory, I decided to think of you just one more time tonight, while you sulk for a while (I hope). 

Like I said, I don't like smack talk, but I'm stooping to your level, just once.  Maybe that's even a victory for you. 

I just have one question: how did that whole laughing thing go?

gribbit1

No comcast, so I couldn't see this one.  But this seems to have kinda sucked, judging by the radio broadcast.

Don't get me wrong.  I have Oregon pegged for 9th in the conference, ahead of only OSU.  We've got a lot of growing to do.  But Northern Colorado?  Really?  Winning by a couple missed free throws?  I hope NC turns out to be a much better team than I think they should be.

I have great hope for the future, but we can't seem to stop peneration, according to Jerry Allen. Maybe that's an easy fix with some scheming and teaching.

Looks Sounds like LeKendric Longmire had a great game overall.  I had really been hoping that he would be this player last year.  It sounds almost like he's playing the "Jordan Kent Memorial Hustle Player" role, only with scoring.

Still, the fact that (I think-- can't tell from the horrible stats on the internet) we were outrebounded by the Northern Colorado Bears does not bode well.  Maarty and Malik were great rebounders, despite their size, and we're definitely missing them now. 

TP had a terrible game.  I'm glad that won't happen every game.  As frustrating as he can be at times, we need him to play better than this.  He's a junior now.  Ernie loves the guy, and it's time for him to show us why he deserves to carry this team.

Most of all, I can't wait to see a game.  Comcast sucks, and so does IMG for entering into such a crappy media contract.  Who's running the tv negotiations for the ducks, Tom Hansen?  I WANT TO SEE SOME DUCKS BASKETBALL.  And it's not Dish Network's fault, or Charter's, or DirecTV.  It was a bad idea to begin with. 

I would just like to add that the postgame report on 95.5 just got preempted by the "Ducks Gridiron Report."  Now, I love football too, I'm headed for the Arizona game tomorrow, and that's all well and good.  But I WANTED TO HEAR THE BASKETBALL POSTGAME instead of people talking about what might happen tomorrow.  What is up with media coverage these days?

I would just like to say that no matter which quarterback starts next week, I hope you were taking notes as OSU knocked off USC.  While I would prefer Darron Thomas, I'll take anyone who helps us win, even if it's short-passing Justin Roper. 

It looked to me, though, like JJ and LB could do a damn good job running between the tackles.  If you need a smaller guy, Remene Alston fits the bill.  Apparently USC can't tackle short people.

Thanks,

Kevin

well, that was a poor showing. 

I had the opportunity to view my first CSN game today, as my beaver friends who have Comcast were out of town, and and allowed me to use their 16-foot projection screen.

I did not need to see this one in life-size HD. 

The first reason we lost was because of a cheap, illegal, dangerous hit by the Boise State safety against Masoli.  But it didn't end there. 

The second reason we lost was because after Masoli went down, Chip Kelly and/or Mike Bellotti were every bit as stubborn running the ball as Andy Ludwig was in calling the bubble screen.  It's clear that Harper has a long way to go to be a real QB.  He's a running back in a direct snap formation right now. What surprised me was we never saw a conventional option from Harper.  I can only guess that he hasn't been doing well with the lateral option play in practice.  And speaking of bubble screens, they're the only pass play Harper should run for a while.

I was about to turn off the tv and leave when I heard Giansante say Thomas was on the field.  "Well, let's see what he can do" I thought, and sat back down on the couch. 

What he can do is a pretty damn good impression of Dennis Dixon.  I can't remember who has the signature "d thomas=d dixon" but dude, you've got it right.

Thomas will make mistakes.  He's going to throw a bunch of interceptions once defensive coordinators learn his tendencies.  We ran pretty much the same play for him every down, too, and that won't work against pac 10 DBs,  but if he can make an option pitch or a read-option mesh reasonably well, we're in pretty good shape. 

But hey, he's a freshman.  Don't get too comfortable.  I see interceptions and fumbles in his future, and missed reads, some ill-advised sacks.  But you know what?  He looked better running this offense than Masoli, Harper, and Roper put together.  Chip Kelly has proven that he can instill confidence, so I'm not worried that he'll let mistakes go to his head. 

Thomas for QB.  We'll lose some games, but we'll lose playing OREGON FOOTBALL again.  At least, the kind that we played last year.  Wouldn't that be awesome?

I've seen very little interpretation out there on the intertubz regarding the carriage issues of Comcast and OSN's agreement, so I thought I would offer mine.

A little background, first: I am a media professional with extensive experience planning advertising campaigns for several regional advertisers in the Northwest.  I can virtually guarantee that if you live in Western Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, or Northern California, you've seen ads that I have helped to create and/or purchase.  I keep close tabs on the media, especially television, as it's my job to know what is going on in the industry.  I'm no expert, and I offer no inside information, but I consider myself an informed observer.  If anyone out there knows the facts better than I do, PLEASE feel free to correct me in the comments.  I'll endeavor to correct the original post to maintain its validity.

Most of what we know regarding the status of Comcast/IMG/OSN/Dish/Charter/DirecTV/etc. comes to us from goducks.com press releases or Joe Giansante's blog post with DSN here.  There is not much to go on. 

The root of this came when UO/OSN signed a pact with IMG a while back to be the promoter of the Oregon Athletics brand in just about all facets.  After looking at the details of the deal when it occurred, I believe it's probably a good deal, business-wise for the athletics department, especially with the financial committments they have for basketball and baseball venues.  If they didn't sign a deal like this, we never could have brought back baseball, and Uncle Phil never would have put down so much money for the hoops arena.

However, when UO signed their deal, they knew there would be problems and setbacks, too, and we're dealing with one of them here: The fact that UO shunned a longtime TV partner for a big, corporate entity that is a huge part of the sports marketing industry.   The money for UO Athletics is better, no doubt.  However, by changing the framework of the marketing arrangement, UO essentially shoved Chambers out of the picture, and I believe they knew this long before they signed the deal.

OSN/IMG will tell you that Chambers backed out at the last minute and it's all their fault, but that eventuality was a foregone conclusion the minute the IMG contract was signed.  IMG changed the game, and Chambers simply would not be able to live up to new contract conditions that would cause them to lose significant amounts of money if they aired the Ducks.

UO/OSN knew this sort of thing could happen.  If they didn't, then Pat Kilkenny and Joe Giansante were certainly not doing their jobs when negotiating the IMG deal.  Mr. Giansante, especially, should have known that Chambers needed significant revenue from advertising to support the rights fee they paid the Ducks in previous years.  After all, he worked for KEZI for years prior to becoming a UO employee.

So that's how we got into this situation.  What's keeping it from being resolved?

When Chambers backed out, the UO Athletics department scrambled for a new vendor for programming.  UO has always had a terrible relationship with Fox Sports Northwest, so that option was out immediately.  I can't really say I blame them, given their coverage of any team from Oregon sucks.  There are no statewide networks of broadcast stations to turn to, as Chambers was the only Oregon-based channel owner.  Fisher Broadcasting owns KATU and KVAL, but they're based in Seattle and are in serious financial trouble as a company

Comcast SportsNet was the obvious choice, and here's why: they have the money.  Comcast is a huge corporation based in Philadelphia, and they own most of the metropolitan cable systems in the United States, with the exception of the biggest markets, like New York and LA.  They have more subscribers than any other cable company.

Comcast has multiple revenue streams, and this helps them greatly.  They are able to sell cable subscriptions to people in their coverage areas, and they are able to sell local and quasi-national advertising to businesses who want to advertise on the cable networks. 

Years ago, they got another idea: why not control the content as well?  As the industry is set up, a cable company pays, say $3.26 per subscriber, per month to a third-party network like ESPN for rights to carry the network.  This is where much of our cable/sattelite bills go-- straight to the networks.  Comcast decided to do an end-run around the Fox Sports, YES Networks, and Raycom Sports of the world and start creating its own for-profit sports networks.  Not only would they get the content without rights fees and own all of the advertising inventory, but they could SELL THE CONTENT TO OTHER PROGRAMMING PROVIDERS for yet another revenue stream. 

This has worked well.  Comcast continues to expand its sports presence, and now has ten different networks across the country. Their typical MO is to become the official carrier of several local sports teams, and muscle the other content providers into carrying them because of the public outcry from disgruntled fans.

And this is where we lose.  Comcast is actively trying to get carriage on Charter, Dish, DirecTV, and all the others, just as OSN/IMG/CSN say.  But they want to get carriage at THEIR PRICE.  I don't know what they're charging, but it's too much at this point in time for any of the other providers to pay.  They have to consider thier own costs, too.  Do they drop another network to make room in the budget?  Do they raise rates in order to pay the rights fee? They're negotiating.  CSN wants as much money as possible, and your provider wants to bring you content for the lowest price possible.

That's why UO wants us to call our providers and tell them we want Comcast SportsNet.  Well, it's not our responsibility.  We're the victims here, in a game where IMG and Comcast are making all the money. 

Bottom line for me: I can't watch my team play.  It's frustrating and the situation is incredibly opaque.  I think Oregon fans are the losers here, at least in the short term.  UO and IMG have shown a pretty healthy disregard for the short-term well being of the fan base, mortgaging it for long-term profits.  It may all work out, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.  I would love to see some healthy communication from all parties, especially the UO Athletic Department, but we all know how much info the UO likes to give to the public.

Mostly, I resent being a pawn for all these big businesses.

So WTF's up with the NCAA suspending Tupou for accepting money from an agent?

These laws are terrible!  if the link is to be believed, he should be getting an medal for his efforts to return the money and to self-report.  If they're going to permit athletes to have contact with agents, the NCAA should be prepared for the eventuality that they will likely try to "force" benefits upon a potential client. 

So Tupou tries to give the money back, and then probably comes in to the Assistant AD's office in a panic, saying that he didn't mean to, that he doesn't want the money, just get rid of it so it doesn't cause trouble.  What do they do? Suspend him for the opener.  Shows a lot of understanding on the NCAA's part. 

But what am I complaining about?  We've always known the NCAA is totally exploitative, tyrannical, and bureaucratic.  I guess it's just another lost cause.

I just don't get the people out there who are freaking out about the potential loss of Costa as the starting QB.  Everybody seems to think that a "spread offense" automatically means the "spread option."  Well, at Florida, West Virginia, and now Michigan, that is what it means.  What people seem to miss is that there are many versions of the spread, and not all of them involve read-option plays.

6th-ranked Missouri is probably the best illustration of an excellent spread team that doesn't need a particularly mobile quarterback.  They come out in 4 wide receiver sets and pick you apart while using a few more passes than UO might have done last year, but they seem to be pretty effective at it.

For those of you who are skeptical that Chip Kelly's offense will work without an incredibly mobile QB, look to Ricky Santos, his award-winning signal-caller from New Hampshire just before he came to Oregon.  Much like Roper, he was semi-mobile, with good pocket awareness.  Roper won't be running downfield too often, but I don't see that as being a big problem for this team.  Roper will deliver crisper passes, be able to escape the pocket on occasion, and make more plays with his arm than Costa could. 

I'll still miss seeing Dennis smoke opposing defenses though.  If only Bellotti hadn't wasted his redshirt year.

I would just like to take a moment to thank Ted Miller for his  honest, thoughtful, and most importantly, educated look at the Ducks-Beavers rivalry.   

As a Duck, I've never really understood the hatred our Beaver brethren reserve for us.  I mean, sure, Oregon is well-promoted, flashy, and image-conscious, but as Beaver fans are quick to point out, the programs are roughly equal in standing over the last couple decades.  

I think most Ducks' attitude toward the Beavers is grudging respect, though we still like to call them our "little brothers" just to send them into a tizzy (if you can get a reaction like that out of someone, why not?).  You hear a Duck say "I root for the Beavs when they're not playing the Ducks" but you never hear a Beaver say the opposite.  I've also never heard a Duck assert that Civil War is "for the right to live in the state" like it's something that has bearing outside football.  My most recent favorite is "yeah, but ours is HD."  Think about whether you've ever met a fellow Duck who really, really hates the Beavers like they hate us.

The programs are different, sure.  Both teams have come up from virtually nothing in the last two decades, but they have done it in entirely different manners.  Bellotti has recruited, advertised, and upgraded, and Riley has coached, coached, coached.  They have completely different styles, and of course, completely different means.  But if the Resers owned, say, Taco Bell, and Phil Knight owned L.A. Gear, I bet we would be in the opposite situations and the Beavs would be more than willing to take the money. 

So the Ducks have money.  We have glitz, glamour, and national media attention.  Guess what?  That's how college sports work these days.  To get ahead, you have to advertise.  Sometimes, you do it with Times Square billboards and getting on the YES network for East Coast exposure-or even by spending on high-liter uniforms and world-class facilities to attract better athletes.  Maybe that's not what the residents of Corvallis like, but it has worked.  The Ducks have the attention of the nation, whether OSU thinks we deserve it or not.

Meanwhile, the Beavers, though proud of their "workmanlike" tradition, low profile, and ability to do lots with a little are pretty clearly jealous of all those fancy things they supposedly revile.  They would be better served just ignoring our pompous, crass, self-indulgent style and focus on their own success. 

Of course if they continue to be solid, workmanlike, and "coach up" all of their unheralded recruits, they're always going to be labeled as over-achieving, bland, and not very good in the preseason polls.  That's how things work.  These days, you're not just recognized for your record, your bowl performance, or your ability to make something out of nothing.  You're also recognized by the amount of attention you can command.

That's the fundamental difference between the programs: They are roughly equal in record, but the Ducks get the media's attention with all the crazy stuff we do.  So Beavers, quit hating us for grabbing attention when we can.  It makes business sense, and that is why even though Mike Belotti is the state's highest-paid employee, you don't pay a dime of it.  We Ducks DO pay Mike Riley's though, and every other Beaver Athletic department employee, because the Beavs don't turn a profit. 

We like you, we really do.  It's just that we have a grasp on the sports-as-business model that prevails today.  If you don't like that, take it up with the NCAA, not the Ducks.

Meanwhile, we'll keep hating the Fuskies, because we actually have reasons to do so.

...and ended up writing a treatise.

Continue reading this post »

because the wife was out of town and I had nothing better to do, I decided to watch the McDonald's All-American game tonight with an eye trained on Dunigan to see what we've got for next year.

First off, it was a typical bunch of 18-year-olds playing an exhibition game, so I don't put much stock into it, but...

Dunigan looked pretty good, considering the circumstances.  The main problem was he never got a chance to play his game of posting up and overpowering a man down low.  This was definitely a guards' game from start to finish.  The big men all around were left to rebound and block shots.  There was a distinct lack of effort, but I think that's a direct result of him playing in a meaningless exhibition game.

I noticed two things though:

One, he altered or blocked plenty of shots.  I think he'll get credit for two blocks this game, but for what it's worth, he was a defensive presence in a game with no defense.

Second, he has some power in his legs.  this guy is going to have great post up moves, especially if he learns anything from Joevan Catron with all his fakes and passing skills.  

I'm really interested in how Ernie and the assistants are going to coach him next year.  They have NEVER had anyone like Dunigan in the Kent era.  The closest player I can think of is Robert Johnson, but Dunigan clearly has more scoring potential than Johnson ever had.

If he can play a little like Kevin Love on the defensive end, forcing bad shots, getting blocks and defensive rebounds, he's going to be a great asset for the transition game and players like TP and Longmire.  Outlet passing will be key to his game.

Anybody else watch?  what do you think?