Trade Brandon Roy?

Too soon?

He's sucking it up lately, as is widely reported in the local press. And it seems he just can't seem to put together a decent streak with our present line-up. Whether it's slowness, bad knees, some sort of mental disorder, or whatever, it is seeming like B-Roy is perhaps becoming a liability.

Clearly, he can still have good games. But he seems to be of the opinion that our current line-up is a hindrance and not a help. What to do?

Some feel B-Roy is still untouchable. I'm coming to be less and less of that opinion all the time. We have Matthews, Batum, and Fernandez, all of whom can platoon his position as we shed his weight with Pryzbilla or Miller's expiring contract (which are probably the only thing that would add sizzle to a B-Roy trade-steak at this point). Roy probably has substantial value somewhere; it's seeming less-and-less likely that that value is here, this year or for the next couple.

I'm coming to be of the opinion that it's time to start cutting bait and moving toward tomorrow. Today, clearly, sucks...

WTF is going on at UO?

So University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer announced yesterday that Mike Bellotti is Oregon's new AD, and Chip Kelly (the current offensive coordinator for the football team) is the new head coach for the Ducks.

Except for one thing.

The moves will take place in an indisclosed time. John Canzano showed up on today's MSP to discuss, and said that Bellotti's identified the timeframe for the transition as being within the next 10 years.

Canzano expressed exasperation at the move, saying that it doesn't make sense for Oregon to enter into this sort of agreement if the move is not goin gto happen soon. The only rationale he could identify would be to ease the minds of recruits, since Chip's been identified as a head coach candidate by other schools and appeared ready to move. MSP host Gavin Dawson pointed out that a solid timeline raised the danger of a lame-duck scenario.

So what is going on? I think this move automatically raises a lame-duck scenario, with or without a set timeline. Much like the situation in Dallas with the Cowboys coaching situation, people will start looking at Bellotti as a caretaker and a head coach in name only. Sure, as the next AD he'll always be Chip's boss and Chip needs to toe the line, but when the players know that Bellotti's heading out (whenever that happens) and that Chip's the guy they have to suck up to, it creates issues in leading the team.

Besides, I don't think the team does this to keep recruits interested. The teams been through several offensive coordinators in the last 5 years, and has been consistently great. That indicates a solid program and solid leadership at the top, and so as long as Bellotti is there running the program, changing coordinators isn't the issue.

I don't think Chip Kelly signs this contract (and I'm sure there's a contract here) without some pretty specific assurances. I don't think he rides backseat to Mike for an indetermined amount of time when he could be a head coach now. And I don't think he signs a deal for a short term, either. The upside of this deal is that UO is a BCS power-program and has developed into a juggernaut; it's not likely he'd get a better shot anywhere else for a while. The downside is that (as Canzano said today) his offense will lose its luster and his stock will drop -- he must know football well enough to know that he needs to make his power play now.

I think we'll find out in the next few weeks (translation: after the impending bowl game) that Bellotti will coach one more season. Pat Kilkenny, who gets the credit for getting the new basketball arena built, will stick long enough to see the project through and, perhaps, bring on a new basketball coach (like Mark Few from Gonzaga), and then the transition takes place to a new sports regime with a new AD, football, and hoops coach rising (or falling) together. Meanwhile, I'm sure Chip is getting a nice Christmas bonus and, I'd guess, will play a pretty huge role in recruiting once the situation has gelled in the press.

Time will tell. I think it's a good move as long as it plays out in the near-term. If this transition takes more than a year, I think a lot of people will regret yesterday's announcement.

Why We Bracket

I have three different NCAA Brackets in four different pools. One office pool, one buddy pool (those are both comprised of my one entry at ESPN.com, and I'm winning both right now), one in John Canzano's B Pool at CBSSportsline (I didn't get in on time to be in the A Pool, though I should've been in it since I've participated twice before) where I'm tied for third with eleventy-nine other people, and one in the Utterlyboring.com pool at Yahoo (where I'm in second, which is where I finished last year).

Why am I in these pools? Canzano asked the people in his tourney pool why, and I decided to share.

The answer is a firm "I don't know." I don't follow college hoops, beyond keeping a loose awareness of who the top few teams in the country are and how the Ducks and Beavers and Zags are doing. I don't really even like college hoops. I probably should, but since they are composed now of a bunch of one-and-done exciting players coupled with a bunch of utility guys, it just doesn't interest me at all. I like teams with players I can follow for at least 3 years at a time.

So, it's not out of enthusiasm for the sport. And it isn't out of great enthusiasm for money, since the office pool is small potatoes (total pot = $70) and the others are essentially non-profit.

I guess it's just out of a desire to see if my knee-jerk, loosely-informed decision-making process will be vindicated. In my line of work, a lot of what I do relies on my ability to make quick judgments and to ride them to whereever they take me. So, like with my job, my pools are based on stuff I hear others say, my own gut feelings, and prejudice (Duke sucks, always bet against BYU in basketball, UCLA can never be number one, even if they deserve to be).

I will note that I broke my BYU rule this year. I decided to play that part of the bracket straight, and it's effed me. So that rule will be strictly enforced from now on.

How about you? Why do you bracket?

Arlen Specter, Patriot(hater)

Arlen Specter, long-in-the-tooth Republican senator and general boob, is raising a ruckus trying to pull the commissioner of the NFL before Congress to discuss the destruction of the "Spygate" NFL tapes. Specter's reasoning appears to be that, as football enjoys some protection from federal anti-trust laws, it is important to police the game to guarantee integrity to the fans.

Whatever.

It's one thing for Congress to prod into baseball. There, the only American game to be completely shielded from anti-trust laws was (at least tacitly) encouraging the use of drugs that are (and have long been) illegal to drive interest in particular players and the game in general, and as such was promoting a product that was wrong on many, many levels.

But with the NFL, and Spygate, we have one team using lawful measures (videotaping) to gain a competitive advantage, and the league stepping in and taking pretty extraordinary measures when it was investigated.

My guess is that Congress is trying to throw MLB a bone by drawing attention away from them, even as Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite are being grilled on Capitol Hill. It reeks of cronyism to me.

But, just to make my point, here are just a few things I'd like Congress to deal with before worrying about who videotapes who in professional football:

1. The War(s) in the Mid-East
2. Funding cures for cancer, AIDS, and a plethora of other diseases
3. Adequately funding our educational institutions (and students)
4. Forgiving my student loan debt
5. Encouraging business to go green while still being profitable
6. Interstate Bridge repair
7. Expatriating OJ Simpson
8. Finally, once-and-for-all annexing Canada
9. Strengthening the dollar
10. Making a world safe for my 2 year-old daughter.

Once Congress does something on each of these fronts, I'll entertain their notion that valuable time needs to be devoted to "Spygate." But unless and until there's some sort of satisfactory demonstration of why this is worthy of such devoted attention by the lawmakers of our nation, I'll just call it what it is.

Ridiculous.

Suck It Patterson, Part D'uh

The word that I've continued to ponder all season with this Blazers team, and have failed entirely to blog about, is "chemistry." As in Steve Patterson's famous aversion to team chemistry in favor of raw talent. His fan-like devotion to rotisserie-esque, stats-based team construction was usually reviled, but we were too-far removed from the trifecta of consummate teammates Clyde, Terry, Jerome and Buck to realize what was going wrong.

Juxtapose "I didn't major in chemistry" with this quote from KP, courtesy of Jason Quick's blog at Oregonlive today:

"We're not making any trades,'' Pritchard said Tuesday afternoon in New Orleans, where the team is preparing to play the Hornets tonight. "I mean, why? What
benefit is there? If I did a trade right now that didn't pan out, I would be
crucified. What would be my motivation to trade - we have a good young team that
likes each other and is playing well. . . Now, if Cleveland wanted to include
LeBron James, we would certainly listen. But, I like my team. We are the
youngest team in the NBA, we have a great young coach and we have a team that
likes each other and plays unselfishly. I don't want to do anything that would
be disruptive to what we have going on.''

That's refreshing, isn't it? Recognize what we have, that it works well together, and that there isn't internal dissent and bickering and cancer, and encourage the chemistry to take place, as opposed to snuffing it out. Just another reason why I say KP for president.

Suck it, Steve Patterson!

Cudos to Canzano for pointing out this study which rates past and present NBA GM's based on a variety of performance criteria.

What does it show us? What we already knew, which is that (A) Steve Patterson sucked, and (B) Kevin Pritchard's going to rock (note that, in order to get him and the other first-year GM's into the study, they were each given a league-average season plus their current performance; Pritchard still comes in the upper 50%, which says he's trending nicely).

I love KP, and I love the team these days. Too bad I haven't had the time or the scratch to get to a game. By the way, whenever I do, Mark Mason promised me a beer to make up for the previously-mentioned snub for the Sam Adams party (which, it turns out, was likely as much my fault as Mark and Dave's). Mark Mason made it clear in the e-mail that he's read some of my other stuff, which I appreciated.

Fire Mike Bellotti

This season has been glorious. Mike Bellotti put together a wonderful team, a wonderful coaching staff, and had us all on the edge of our seats thinking about Oregon's first shot at a national championship.

In fact, over the years, Bellotti has done far more good than bad as Oregon's coach, and has been a key piece in bringing the team to its almost-current prominent (and dominant) position nationally.

All that said, assuming John Hunt and John Canzano at the Oregonian are telling the truth (and I'm assuming they are), Mike Bellotti needs to be let go. Now.

Quoth Hunt: "Dixon had a torn anterior cruciate ligament, but he did not suffer the injury on that first-quarter play. He had torn it on a similar move 12 days earlier, against Arizona State. After that game, and after discussing his short- and long-term future with those closest to him, he decided to try to play with a completely torn ACL.

"'Dennis asked of us, on behalf of himself and his family, to not let anybody know -- he wanted to continue to try to play,' Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said of Dixon, who has rehabbed the knee since the ASU game and wore a brace Thursday night. 'But he did feel some instability, obviously, on the play in question -- that was the concern that we had.

"'Our doctors had talked with him extensively about his knee and his situation, and I had told him I would support him in whatever he wanted to do -- whether he wanted to play or not play.'"

Quoth Canzano: "Team doctors knew about Dixon's injury, suffered Nov. 3 against Arizona State. Trainers knew. Coach Mike Bellotti and his staff knew. Dixon and his family knew. And so did the Ducks' teammates. Turns out, the only ones who were in position to do a preemptive thing about it -- the coaching staff -- decided the best plan was to bet the house and play ACL-roulette?"

WTF? Sure, Dixon's no kid. He's a fifth-year senior playing his heart and his guts (and his knees) out for a team he loves and a cause he believes in. That said, it's up to Bellotti and the team's coaches and staff to look out for this guy who had been their meal ticket and make the mature and responsible choice when his heart wouldn't let him. There's no way a guy who's future is in jeopardy and who's at risk to lose millions of dollars should be allowed by his college coach to play on an already-torn ACL. That's simply ridiculous. I'm terribly, terribly disappointed.

As much as I was hoping for the Ducks to finish at the top this season, I would never ask Dixon to play with a torn ACL, even though I've already said on this very blog that the Ducks have no hope of doing anything without him. And if some no-name idiot like me is smart enough and responsible enough to make the right call despite my sincere wish to see the Ducks go all the way, the coach making the millions should be held to that same standard.

Fire Mike Bellotti. Like the Blazers before, I'd rather see integrity and character than success.

Jason Quick is a Good Guy

I often enjoy tuning into The Fan to listen to Jason Quick's "Blazer Insider" bits on game days and on other occasional times when Blazers news is afoot. He's a solid reporter who clearly knows how to toe the fine line between keeping the confidence of the team while keeping things as transparent as possible for the fans. He's really a very good beat reporter, and I'm so happy he's around.

Also interesting, though, is his blog at the Oregonian. And today I saw what has been, perhaps, one of his better pieces in awhile. It's always nice to get a feeling for the people who's stuff we read so often.

I'm copying Quick's post below. The original is here. This is really good stuff, in both telling us how helping others is so good for helping ourselves, and in also telling us some of the good stuff the Blazers are doing in the community. I think for those who don't normally see his blog, this is worthy of sharing

It's been a long time since I've had a bad day.

But sure enough, Monday came and brought with it everything that could possibly go wrong. Everything, it seemed, was going against me.

As a result, I was in a foul mood.

And then, it all changed, and it came from the place I least expected.

After a horrible morning, and a bad afternoon at Blazers practice, I begrudgingly headed to a volunteer commitment for the Blazers at their 12th annual Harvest Dinner at the Rose Garden.

As it turns out, the Harvest Dinner completely changed my day.

The Blazers on Monday opened the doors of the Rose Garden to anyone in need and offered them a free meal of turkey, ham, stuffing, green beans and rolls. There was also an area where people from SuperCuts gave free haircuts.

I helped dish some green beans. To my right, Blazers center Joel Przybilla handed out rolls. Down the line, general manager Kevin Pritchard was spooning heapings of ham. And behind me, Greg Oden was plopping handfuls of stuffing. All of the players and coaches were there, dishing out food and signing autographs.

The people were hungry, humble, and very polite. I can't count how many times I heard them thank the players. Some of them wore old Blazers shirts. And some of them brought plastic containers to load up food for the coming days.

In all, the Blazers figure they fed more than 5,000 people.

I only spent about 90 minutes at the event, which lasted more than 5 hours. But in those 90 minutes, my day changed completely. I began to smile. I started to feel good. I realized my nagging problems were so trivial. And I realized what an impact the Blazers organization has on this community.

As the people streamed through the food line, many of them recognized Oden. Some of them shouted out to him to take care of his leg. Others gawked at his size while nudging the person next to them, saying "That's Oden.'' Clearly, it was a big deal for these people to see him, and Greg didn't let them down, talking freely and easily with them all. He is going to be such a huge asset to this community.

At any rate, it was and is a great event, one that made thousands of people feel better.

In all my years of covering the team, I had never helped out at this event, and quite frankly, I'm embarrassed that it took me nearly 10 years to do so. I will never miss another one.

--Quick

So, How Good Are the Oregon Ducks?

Tonight I was listening to the radio as I headed to dinner with a friend. I caught a 15 minute segment of John Canzano's Bald-Faced Truth show, and they were talking about the Ducks.

I like Canzano. He's a good guy. He and I have been able to go back and forth in the past, discussing a variety of sports stuff, thanks to having a mutual friend and both enjoying the use of e-mail (seriously, the guy answers e-mail proficiently, which is super-cool from the local big-time sports columnist). He and his co-host were previewing the remainder of the Ducks' season, and their prospects for post-season bowl play, and it got me thinking of related thoughts which, as far as I can tell, are actually my own.

First, they were saying that the Ducks have an excellent shot at making the national championship game. I agree that they do, if they win out. I think LSU probably has a loss coming (I'd guess to Florida, as opposed to Georgia, but I could be wrong) and I wouldn't be shocked to see Ohio State slip up to Michigan in the Big House (other than the Appalachian State loss, Michigan's had a pretty good season).

But we saw on Saturday that there is one big problem with the "if they win out" portion of the Ducks' equation. Because, if Dennis Dixon goes down, I don't believe that Brady Leaf can effectively run the Ducks' offense.



As an aside, that also has me worried for next year. If he's the slated starter for the 2008 campaign, we're in trouble, because our offense revolves around speed at the quarterback. But, I digress.

My belief, sadly, is that if the Ducks are able to make it to the national championship game, they will lose. Production has fallen way off as our receiving corps has been decimated, and we are getting way too one-dimensional. And, no disrespect to Aaron Pflugrad, who's having a great year for a freshman, but when he's quickly becoming your go-to receiver as a 5'8", 170-pound guy, you're really in trouble. The fact is, as Oregon has lost our top two guys to injuries and our next guy to a team suspension, we've seen Dennis Dixon's passing yards, and our team's scoring totals, dwindle steadily. Dixon's picking up the slack with his feet, but as defenses become less worried about the pass, they can start to focus more on following the ball in Oregon's confusing ground game.

My second thought is born out of watching the team struggle with Leaf on Saturday. It's so clear that Dixon is such an essential element on this team in creating its success that I don't know how Dixon doesn't get the Heisman, assuming he just maintains the status quo. Sure, Johnathan Stewart will be the higher draft pick (probably), but Dixon is the reason this offense works. His quickness on the field physically, his great decision-making, and his very adequate passing skills have combined with Chip Kelly's system to produce a potent offensive backfield that just wouldn't exist with any other quarterback I can think of.

Next year I predict a slump that will highlight how special Dennis Dixon was for this team. And any objective Heisman voter should be able to see the tremendous impact Dixon has had on this team's good fortunes as clear as the nose on their face. As Canzano noted, it's Dixon's award to lose at this point. Assuming he stays healthy and maintains a 3-1 TD to INT ratio in his last two games, along with at least 80 yards rushing, I think he takes it.

Chime in. Your thoughts are welcome.

Another Jailblazer Moment?

So, a bar fight, a broken arm, and a Blazer in the mix. What else is new?

So little, and yet so much. In a town where the Jailblazer name became a standard part of the lexicon (although most of us have managed to rip it out of our dictionary in the last year or two), news that a Portland Trail Blazer was in the midst of a bar fight is almost old.

Being that I've often talked about how Darius Miles, the Blazer in question, is a general piece, and how I want him gone, and how I think he's the last bad apple in the ol' rotten barrel, I'll note that this news story is exceptional mostly for how little it convinces me that Darius has done anything wrong.

In a bar, during a bar fight? For shame!!!

Now, I've had my issues in the past with Darius and bars and fights. Of course, those were strip clubs and fights that he had a less-tenuous connection with. But for heaven's sakes, people, this is a fight in a sports bar, where the only incriminating evidence is that Darius was there. It would be easy to jump the gun, but for the fact that I've been to sports bars where I've seen fights break out, and I wasn't involved.

Darius has hired an attorney, Steven Houze, which is setting off bells at Bojack, but means nothing to me. In these days, and given his reputation, hiring an attorney is a good idea, even if it's bad PR. I figure that, given Darius' a-holery in the past and his obvious knack for drawing unwelcome attention, a finger or two may end up getting pointed his way, and he very well may end up being some sort of person of interest. Being ready for that isn't a bad idea.

I don't know why PPB is making such a point of throwing dirt at Darius, other than he's an easy target. I still don't like him, and I still think he needs to go, but in this case I'm holding judgment until there's an actual finger pointing at him regarding some actual misconduct.

Beavers the Big News, While Ducks Take Care of Business

Wow. The Beavers continue to be the Giant-Killers.

Last year, they knocked off #1 USC early in the season, turning a bad season into a good one and surprising, oh, I don't know, EVERYONE. Then, this year, they went into the Cal Bears game as firm underdogs, but underdogs who everyone knew to be wary about. And, again, they shocked a highly-ranked unbeaten, downing the #2 Bears 31-28 in one of those "I knew it would happen" "upsets" that noone saw coming, yet noone finds shocking.

OSU has loved playing spoiler. Let's look at what they've done the last few years to solidify their status as one of the sure-fire spoilers of the NCAA.

2007: Defeated #2, undefeated Cal 31-28.
2006: Defeated #1, undefeated USC 33-31.
2005: Defeated #18 Cal, 23-20
2004: Took #3 LSU to overtime before losing 22-21.

How any team looks past OSU confounds me. The Beavers may not be perennially ranked, but they are not a team to be taken lightly in any season.

Meanwhile, the Ducks avoided a rehash of last year, when they lost a heart-breaker to Cal and then went into a shame spiral, by coming off of a bye week to absolutely man-handle WSU by a final score of 53-7. This is one of those games where Oregon should've won, but every Ducks fan in the land was nervous because the Ducks of the last couple of seasons have had trouble pulling it together after a tough loss.

The game featured two players going down, WR Cameron Colvin (who's UO career is certainly done with a broken right ankle) and over-used backup RB Jeremiah Johnson, who suffered an ACL tear and is thus out for the season.

I don't think this spells the end for the Ducks. Colvin, who was highly-touted when he was signed to a promise sheet, has been sporadic at best for the Ducks. His highlight this season is a dropped ball leading to Oregon's shouldn't-have-happened loss to Cal (I don't believe in laying it all on one guy, but that play was a make-or-break for a team that needed that catch to survive).

JJ has been a stable performer, and appears to be the Duck's smash-mouth touchdown-type back. He's the back-up to lead RB Johnathan Stewart, who hasn't been used enough and who now will have the opportunity to highlight his talent more.

Neither loss is a good one, but the Ducks have the tools to succeed. A schedule that looked entirely winnable at this point now holds a little more intrigue, and probably one extra loss, but the Ducks will make a decent bowl for the first time in a few years. Maybe even the Rose Bowl.

And this is looking like a great year to score some Civil War tickets. Better get on it now...

Kevin Pritchard to Anonymous Tipsters: "Shut the Eff Up."

In the on-going wake of KneeGate, Kevin Pritchard's taken a beating in numerous places on the web (you can Google it for yourself) regarding the decision to draft Greg Oden over Kevin Durant. The current story is that Pritchard and his staff opted for Oden despite having reason to worry about his knees.

Pritchard responds by saying "That's just stupid," and noting that the knees were checked out in particular, and MRI's came back "absolutely pristine."

I'm still waiting to grade KP. I may have to wait an extra season now. But so far I've been impressed with his work, and I think he has integrity, and I'm going to guess that given all the pre-draft press about Oden's potential problems, Pritchard most likely did everything he could to confirm the knee wasn't an issue prior to drafting the future of our franchise.

Oh, and Greg, get well soon. The Oden's Hammer Fan Club still loves you.

UPDATE: Thanks to Casey at OLive for the mention, based on my post title. You never know what's going to catch someone's eye, but it took me a couple of minutes to figure out why I'd gotten so many hits today (400+ and counting...). If you're here, feel free to look around and let me know what you think.

OJ Simpson: Class Personified

I know, I know, "innocent until proven guilty."

But as a much-avowed OJ-despiser, I feel the need to pile on when able.

OJ Simpson, allegedly, is now not only a wife-and-waiter-murderer, but is now an armed casino robber as well (allegedly).

Of course, he denies any involvement and the whole thing's still in the "we have to qualify everything in this post by saying 'allegedly'" stage, but apparently Las Vegas PD is investigating and armed breaking-into of a casino hotel room, where (per the alleged victim) Simpson was "retrieving" sports memorabilia that he later told police had been stolen from him. Simpson went on to tell the Associated Press that he was conducting a "sting operation." I wonder if he meant "stab."

The auction house owner who Simpson claims was working with him isn't returning press calls. It's interesting that Simpson would claim that the alleged victim called the police to report the break-in if the stuff being stolen was actually Simpson's in the first place. Because, you know, if I'm a thief I'm naturally going to call attention to my thieving by telling the police when the property's real owner has come to claim it.

And, of course, there's the whole part where Simpson auctioned off his sports memorabilia to pay off part of the $33.5 million dollar judgment levied against him by a jury which found him responsible for the nigh-decapitation of Nicole Brown Simpson and the uber-shivving of waiter Ron Goldman.

It will be interesting to see what happens here next. This, however, only supports my general gut feeling that OJ Simpson is the world's biggest a-hole.

Stupid Fine for Stupid Rule levied against Stupid Pats

So, the NFL has fined the New England Patriots $250k and at least one draft pick next year (could be two if they don't make the playoffs), and additionally fined Bill Belichick $500k. All this for filming the signals called in for plays on the sidelines.

Now, I understand the concept that "rules are rules." Over the off-season a rule was introduced to address the allegations that the Pats were filming the plays called in, which allegedly gave them an unfair advantage. And they broke the rule. Fine.

But it's a stupid rule.

First, the entire field (and the coaches who can be seen from the field) is in public view. There's no reasonable expectation of privacy in any signals sent visually from the sidelines. Since a guy could just sit at the side of the field (or in the stands, with binoculars) and keep a hand-written chart of play signals and the plays run afterward, this is simply using technology to simplify a job.

Second, it's not like cameras on the field are unexpected. All NFL games are televised and all have all sorts of photographers (including team photographers and videographers) taking all sorts of shots all throughout. Is there any reason any team should believe that the coaches aren't being filmed, even if it's indirectly (i.e. caught in the periphery of a shot of the field of play)?

Third, how many other coaches were already doing this? The Jets coach used to be a Belichick employee; certainly he benefitted from (and probably endorsed) the same practice he's complaining about back when he was winning games and building his resume with the Patriots. I'm sure other teams have done the same.

If anything, it's an innovative approach. As long as radio isn't being intercepted (that would be an invasion of privacy), I'm for it. It's about adapting, overcoming, and improving as an organization.

Which is what I thought the NFL was about, as well. It's been seen as the big daddy of all American sport, in part because it's always working to improve the product. Why the sudden step back from innovation?

So, sure, fine the Patriots. Punish them for breaking a rule. But realize that it's a stupid fine for a stupid rule, and embrace change instead of fearing it.

Breaking News! Oden Out!

Just heard on The Fan that Yahoo Sports is reporting that Trail Blazers center Greg Oden is out for the season. The story is here.

Of course, the surgery was just this morning, so this seems like an awfully quick announcement to me. In the current environment of press folk trying to scoop eachother, I'd rather wait to hear something official before I buy this one. Once there's some confirmation, I'll discuss it more.

UPDATE: Okay, it's official. Oden's arthroscopic surgery turned into microfracture surgery to repair some cartilage damage to his knee.

What does this mean? Well, first of all, the rest of his knee looks good, which is a good thing, I guess.

Second, Oden doesn't seem to be a Darius. I'd suspect that his work ethic exceeds that of Mr. Miles, so I don't think we'll see a guy packing on 30 pounds and (allegedly) pounding multiple beers in short periods of time out of sheer boredom.

Third, this was a rebuilding season, anyway. Fans who expected the playoffs (me included) were probably setting our sights a bit too high.

What's next? Well, we have Przybilla, McRoberts and LaFrentz who can all put time in at center. This will clear up some of the jam at PF, and Aldridge and Frye will be able to share more minutes there. I don't think we're screwed or anything, but this is a disappointment.

Your thoughts?

A Couple of Thoughts on the Ducks (and Michigan)

Oregon absolutely rolled Michigan yesterday, after previously doing what, frankly, was expected and rolling their 1-AA foe in their season opener.

Of course, doing what's expected isn't always easy. I mean, just ask Michigan. They managed to keep it close against Appalachian State last week, but lost to their 1-AA warm-up. Yesterday they were expected by everyone (including me) to stomp on the Ducks, and got their asses handed to them instead.

I've seen at least a couple of titles in my Bloglines (from ESPN, etc.) that alluded to yesterday's loss being an embarassment. I can see how it is, in the sense that losing 39-7 on your own field to an unranked opponent is embarassing. But, really, should we be so shocked that Oregon took care of business?

Don't get me wrong. I'm aware that Oregon has had its troubles the last few years. But they have very good seasons (often surprisingly good) mixed in with their disappointments, and we shouldn't forget that. Sure, they lost in their not-so-bowl game last year. But the year before we were #5 at the end of the season, and since 2000 we've also been ranked #7 and #2 at season's end.

I suspect we won't be a top-10 team by the end of the season, but I wouldn't be surprised to see is in the top 25 in the next week or two, and further wouldn't be surprised to see us in the rankings for most of the season.

Of course, it'll be interesting to see what happens to the Beavers after they got curb-stomped in Cincy last week...

By the way, not sure anyone noticed, but Dennis Dixon was named this week's College Negro Quarterback of the Week by some blog. Not sure how necessary such awards are, but at least our team's getting recognized somewhere.

For some more interesting scoop from the game, check out today's article by my man JC. Sometimes being a sports reporter pays off. Sure, he had to watch OSU get stomped, but he got to see yesterday's drubbing and take in the sights afterwards. Someday I've gotta by Johnny a beer.

What an effed-up state of affairs

The US President makes $400,000 per year, and the Vice President makes $208,100.

A US Senator or Representative makes $162,100.

A US Supreme Court Justice makes $199,200.

Closer to home, Ted Kulongoski, the chief elected official of the State of Oregon, pulls in $93,600. Oregon legislators make $18,408. Oregon Supreme Court Justices make $105,000.

What brings this all up? This report on how each state's governors fare economically with the highest paid employees (who are generally university football coaches). (Hat tip to the O's "Playbooks and Profits" blog).

U of O's Mike Bellotti makes about $1.25 million a year (despite consistently under-performing and habitually firing assistants as scapegoats). The highest paid state employee of all is Alabama's Nick Saban, who famously bolted from the Miami Dolphins for a lucrative $4 million of taxpayer money per year.

I understand that university sports are profit centers for schools. But often the sports, at best, pay for themselves. They generally don't add to the educational environment. That many argue that sports drive alumni giving isn't a fully-considered argument, since most of that money is given to sports programs, and thus doesn't benefit the educational environment anyway.

Meanwhile, states don't pay competitive salaries to their leaders. Any wonder that most people feel our politicians are poor leaders? Any wonder that they appear to be willing to go to great lengths to sweeten their pots in marginally legal, or downright illegal, ways?

I don't know the solution to the problem. I'm sure I don't even understand the whole problem. But, certainly, there's a problem, and it needs to be fixed...

Hockey Brawl

If your average hockey game was still like this, ESPN would be all-hockey, all-the-time.

Obligatory "Barry Hit 756" Acknowledgement

If you're looking for coverage on the "new record holder," you can go to this link for a good run-down of what's being said out there. I'm also borrowing their asterisk, because I can't get a big enough font on Blogger.



It's no mistake that Kurt Vonnegut drew an asterisk when referring to an asshole. He must've seen this coming.

Anyway, now that I don't have to hear about Barry trying to chase down Hank Aaron's record anymore, I can go back to what I was doing yesterday -- acknowledging Hammering Hank as the all-time home run king. As long as the asterisk remains, Bonds has no legitimacy to me whatsoever, and thus needn't be acknowledged any further.

State of the Blazers (Graphic Version)

Do you agree?


(Click here to go see the article. Hat tip to TrueHoop and BlazersEdge).