Category: Uncategorized

A wonderful Thursday morning. The response to yesterday’s article is very positive. I find covering stories like this very personally gratifying. Every once in a while we get a chance to do good rather than just do. One question which came up yesterday was about why I am writing stories from a blog instead of my normal outlet. That actually is not very complicated. I write here stuff that is...

For those that have been around a while, this will look different. It has been a somewhat tumultuous year and that is all good.Yesterday, I was working on an article for Duck Sports Authority; a feature article like I have not done in quite some time, and I ran across an article from another site. Suddenly it struck me that I have been too focused on the wrong things. So, here I am, changing direc

WHO: Willie Taggart, head coach South Florida 18-14 (Overall: 40-45) Taggart, the former head coach at South Florida Bulls, is set to be announced as the next head coach at Oregon. South Florida is a team Duck fans should be familiar with as both Oregon and South Florida rose to the #2 ranking nationally in the 2007 season before meeting in the Sun Bowl. The Ducks came out on top of that matc

When you sit in the press box and watch plays as they develop, over the due course of time you begin to recognize a different game; one that is less about what I hope and more about a better understanding of what I see. There is a harsher truth, sometimes, to what I see, than there ever is to what I hope.Some time ago, I wrote a line that I really think is so true to so many moments that I will r...

IN DEFENSE OF HELFRICHIt might seem somewhat unfathomable in such times as these that a coach whose team has seen their performance demonstrably deteriorate over the course of the last two seasons might have the kind of redeeming qualities on which to write an affirmative response to his possible retention – and yet it is a task to which I endeavor today.First, I revert back to an earlier article...

With the third straight defeat on Saturday night, the low din of dissatisfaction rose to the level of uproar. A program just two years removed from a national championship appearance appears headed to the bottom of the Pac-12 Conference. Based on their play over the course of the first five games this season, that is not an improbable destination.To be fair - it appears that Oregon State is even l

Fan. It is an interesting word. It typically is considered to be the derivative of the longer term ‘fanatic.’ Looking at the definition of fan we see what we already know: that a fan is an enthusiastic devotee or an ardent admirer or enthusiast. This does not require, necessarily, fanatical behavior.But, do you see what is missing? The term consumer. In these trying times for Oregon football fans...

So, I am not going to defend or condemn any of the coaches. What I will say is this; about 12 years ago I coined a phrase following the 2004 season when everyone called for Bellotti and staff to be fired: Arkansas Syndrome.It is about 545 miles from Fayetteville, AR to Tuscaloosa, Alabama yet they might as well be a million miles apart. Arkansas has neither the tradition nor the identity to b

A brief glint of un-shimmering darkness. We stride through the light and darkness with a numbing lack of our own existence beyond that which we know.The vast majority - all of us - simply exist. In some ways, that is all we are ever asked to do, but is it all we should expect of ourselves. We are sentient beings and we simply refuse to see anything more than that which is easiest to see.Sometimes

As many of you know, recently I took a bit of a ‘respite from reality’ with a bit of solitude. I was completely off the grid for three days. I did not see so much as a single Facebook notification or receive a recruiting update. My telephone was incapable of ringing and no emails made it through ‘Airplane Mode’ during my brief escape.I feel compelled to divulge some honesty – this was a trip more...