It was reported and confirmed that Mike Bellotti the head coach at the University of Oregon since 1995 will step up to become the athletic director and his current  offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly will assume the position of head coach.  No time table was announced but it is believed to take place after the 2010 season.

This move was recommended by Coach Bellotti to the University president, Dave Frohnmeyer in response to interest in coach Kelly from Syracuse and other schools for the position of head coach.  Kelly came to Oregon from the University of New Hamphire and is credited for development of the spread offense that is run at Oregon and various other schools.

What does this mean for the future of Oregon football?  Hell I don't know.  I haven't posted anything for a while and I thought I would beat Kellyscott to the punch.

Gout and out.

Did you see what I saw?  Yeah I may have had a few, well several, well may be a lot  of beers too many on Saturday but I saw some damn good football.   West of the Rockies that is.  I saw some teams with familiar intials beat up and steal the lunch money of some unworthy opponents, I don't have to spell you out you know who you are.  I saw USC show two fingers to the east coast.  One on the left hand and one one the right  hand.  Yeah! show those birds to the experts and tell 'em who is really number one in the nation.  I saw Virigina Tech take ECU for granted and get it handed to them.  I saw Utah spank Michigan.  I saw Clemson take the award for this years most overrated while Bama sent a message about being underrated.   I saw the dangerous fatmans golden bears continue to play the same way under coach Tedford that they have since he has been there.  Dump the gatorade on the coach after the first quarter and hug and high five eachother while the other team catches up and then barely pull it out at the end.  I would rather be lucky than good anyday.  Poor Nate Longshore.

But let me tell what I saw in Eugene Saturday night.  I saw a football program that has morphed into one my paperboy could play quarterback for and challange for a BCS bowl.  The Ducks ran three quarterbacks on the field against the over matched Dawgs of Washington for forty four points.  Justin Roper a tall skinny kid from Georgia started the game, put ten points on the board and sorry to say he will never play football in the state of Oregon again.  Ask A.J. Feeley or Justin Fife or Brady Leaf if you don't believe me.  Mike Bellotti has a history of playing two quarterbacks until one emereges as the unquestionable starter.  Those two this year are a kid named Harper a true freshman from Texas and Masoli a Juco transfer.  These two guys were made for the spread offense.  Harper left high school and enrolled in school last spring to get a jump on the offense.  Masoli won the juco national championship last year and can throw a ball through a brick wall.  Both these guys are the real deal.  Jerimia Johnson is the best running back I saw yesterday.  Back from a knee injury last year he is bigger, stronger and faster than ever.  The recievers were fast and caught the ball.  The defense will carry this team this year.  They are faster and meaner than any I've seen in Eugene.   Mike Bellotti has done a great job of keeping this team under the radar and uderstating how good they really are.

Yeah I'm a homer but if I could have gotten the blog I wrote Friday Posted you would understand I'm not blind.  These are good days to be a football fan and especially a duck fan.  If you didn't see the ducks play don't quote what you have read on paper as an argument.  I have been in the locker room as a player unable to stand still during the pregame prayer.  I have heard teammates throw up in anticipation of the battle about to take place.  I have never heard a coach take out a piece of paper  and tell his team "don't bother playing hard today the experts say we are only going to win six or seven games this year and we are ahead of that pace."  Football is played on the field and we are finally at that time of year again.  I get tired of experts.  I trust my own eyes better plus I don't believe everything I read.  Go Ducks!!!

It has been fall weather all week here in Eugene, cool temperatures and it rained a few days.  There is on shore flow this morning which means cool coastal air over warm air results in a high but not ground fog and it is supposed to rain tomorrow.  It is still August and  this weather pattern usually appears in September and October to announce the arrival of college football in the Willamette Valley.  The weather has changed early this year because  the Ducks play their bitter rival Dawgs from Washington tomorrow.  This game usually takes place later in the season and is looked forward to almost as much as the civil war game against the Beavers from that cow college forty minutes north of here.  It is because of this rivalry that the ducks were launched from an always hopeful but middle of the pack program kicking and screaming into a major football program in the national, well west of the rockies, spotlight.  Kenny Wheaton intercepted a Huskie pass in the end zone and returned it one hundred plus yards for a touchdown to beat the Dawgs who were a national power at the time.  Things have never been the same for either the Ducks or Dawgs since.

CAUTION:  These writings will now take the route of "in my day things were...."  I put this disclaimer here because I am the first one to admit that I often compare today to those of days past.  I am not saying things were better, they were different.  I am the first one to admit that I can no longer live comfortably without Direct tv,  the internet, twist off  beer caps or pizza delivery.  Yesterday I was sixteen I woke up this morning fifty five and I am in awe of how things have changed so drasticly and quickly.  Now get off my lawn or read on.

Brian Scott wrote an excellent blog on ten reasons why college football is better than pro football.  I started to comment and that comment became this blog.  He noted stadiums on the list and it got me to thinking about all of the stadiums I have been to and hope to go to someday.  My first college game was at Hayward field.  If you watched the olympic trials you saw the modern day infield and track but the grandstands are the same as they were in nineteen sixty two.  Hayward field evolved into Autzen stadium in nineteen sixty nine.  I played football on friday nights there in high school and would go to the Duck games on Saturday.  The field at Autzen in those days was astroturf invented by a sadists it was akin to playing in the street.  Those were the days of Dan Fouts, Bobby Moore and Tom Grahem.  Pretty decent teams but never made the Rose Bowl.   When the Dawgs came to town not all of the players helments matched some were gold some were purple.  I was told this was due to their athletic budget.  How things have changed.  My life path has taken me to games in the what was then the Southwestern Conference.  The Astrodome, Rice Stadium, College Station, Austin,  Fayetville and the Cotton Bowl.  My Favorite was Fayetville.  My people are from Arkansas.  Most unusual was Rice, a student body of just over five thousand with a stadium that seated over seventy thousand.  The Marching Owl Band (the mob) was quite entaining in the same sense as the Stanford band.  They run onto the field with no formation nor do the have a drum major.  Rice was playing  the Aggies, the Corps was finishing their goose step routine when a bunch of the mob ran through their formation The Aggie drum major chased one of the mob knocked her down and pulled his sword, yes he was wearing a sword and stood over her with it pointed at her at her chest.  Three Texas State Patrol officers had to restrain him.  Too Bizzare!  Needless to say my least favorite venue was College Station.  Rabid fans who don't sit during a game is very intimidating.   I went to the games with my cousin who was an alum, midway through the second quarter the Yukon Jack kicked in and I had to sit down.  My cousin was horrified and pulled me back up to my feet, I looked around at faces of the people in our section and I was horrified with him.  If someone had yelled "somebody get a rope" I wouldn't be writing this today.   My all time favorite venue is FSU.  When that politically incorrected warrior figure throws that spear at midfield the rush is unequaled.  This from an old hippie so it has to be good.  I am not a FSU fan but I yelled my arse off the whole game.  The snoot full of Yukon Jack helped but that was the most intense stimulas filled venue I have ever experienced.  Before I die and they mix my ashes with the sideline chalk at my high school field.   I hope to attend an Ivy leage game.   I have an image of the last venue in college football that is played for the love of the game.  No delusions that they are USC, OSU or LSU.  Besides their schools have names not intials.  The combination of football and a New England fall day is very appealing to me.

Brian mentions marching bands, tailgating and the fans also.  From sixty nine to when Wheaton picked off that Huskie pass you could walk up to the ticket booth on game day morning buy your tickets drink Yukon Jack from a flask and have a great time.  Before school was in session there would be around twenty thousand loyal fans in attendance, after school started there would be twenty five thousand.  Prior to school starting  there was no marching band instead  there was a rock band.  I liken the Oregon fight song played on a Stratacaster to Hendrix playing the star spangled banner at Woodstock.  Spine tingling an somewhat hallucinogenic, or that may have been the Yukon Jack.  Tailgating was was from a conversion van in the expanse of the parking lot that went on for ever.  A keg of beer and a bag of Bob's burger.  The only smoke was coming from the inside of the van.  Webers were still ten years away.    Tailgating now takes place in one of the four thousand parking places that are left due to the athletic departments expansion.  it is for the corporates or elite.  I am elite but that doesn't mean I like elitist.  Nice seque to the fans.  After the Wheaton interception the demand for tickets went through the roof.  Sky boxes went in and tickets became seasonal.  They are not impossible to get, the ticket agencies have a multitude from season ticket holders waiting to see how the season goes before making that leap to the band wagon.  I know a number of people who attend one or two of the high profile games though they have full season tickets.  Is this being a fan? Hell no!  A fan stands with the team when they win and continues to stand with them when the lose.  Does it hurt when the lose?  Hell yes!  But the team knows I'll be back next Saturday and the Saturday after that.  If not just drop those expensive jackets, shirts and caps, those diamond encrusted Daisy Duck necklaces and your season tickets at the gate on the way out. 

I am attending two Duck games this year thanks to the above mentioned fans who sold me their tickets for a nice profit.  I have not been to a game in fifteen years though I am still a fan.  The reason I have mentioned before is comfort related, I prefer my HD and easy chair.  My wife and young daughters have never seen a college game before and I think it's high time they went.  I have been to games at every stadium in the Pac-10 and each game I go with the attitude of a fan and to enjoy myself to the extreme that I expienced many years ago.  My snoot hasn't been full of Yukon Jack for a long time.  Thanks for lettin' me ramble,  I gotta go yell at the kids on my lawn.  Go Ducks!!!

 Charley Rosen has posed an interesting question and I write this as a trubute to Kevin Duckworth who passed away this morning at the young age of 44.  Thank you Kevin from those of us who watched Blazers in the early 90's go to two NBA finals.   The Blazers beat The Admiral two years in a row to enter the finals against the four men and a baby Pistons.  Those were exciting finals and great days to be a Blazer fan, Rip City was alive and rockin'.  I don't recall the year but I do recall Kevin being injured and questionable in the semi's against the Spurs.  Kevin entered the court right before tip off in true Willis Reed fashion.  The crowd erupted and that gave the Blazers momentum to finish off the Spurs and gave the fans hope against the Bad Boys.  God bless.

I was born in 1952 and I say this because there must have been something in the water in 52.  I am six feet seven inches tall.  I was not the tallest player in my high school basketball league.  I was not the tallest player on my high school team.  I played along side a seven footer who UCLA and a lot of other schools were very interested in but that is another story for another time.  There were five players in our league six nine or taller, hell one school had a pair of twins who were six eleven.  This from a high school league of nine teams.  You could throw a rock and hit a kid six seven or taller.

When I played basketball there were three positions.  two guards,  two forwards and one center.  There was no point guard no shooting guard no power forward or shooting forward.  There was no three point line or shot clock.  Yes we had rims with nets and not peach baskets but we couldn't dunk.  It is not that we were not capable it was the racialy charged rule by the NCAA that forbade it.  A technical foul was assessed if you dunked in warm ups and each game started with teams shooting techincals before the tip off.  Yes we still jumped center in those days.  Try holding back the energy in a gym when the pep band was playing the theme to Peter Gunn and the crowd would explode when rogues such as myself would throw down during pre game routines.  In my opinion this rule which is seldom discussed in the history of the sport and was implemented because of Lew Alcindor and his dominance was a true, no pun intended, black eye for the NCAA.  I remember being at an Oregon vs. USC basketball game right after the no dunk rule was rescinded.  Paul Westphal went over three Oregon players for a three hundred sixty degree dunk.  There was a loud gasp from the crowd, people crossed themselves while others shielded their eyes not believeing what they had just seen.  It took what seemed like a full minute but when the crowd realized what happened Mac court exploded.  The game was back.  Once the techinicals and tip off was decided the dance began.  Defense was played with the feet and straight up.  The squeek of the high top chucks was a symphony, the coaches yelling hands up was the chorus.  A beautiful thing to watch and be a part of.  Free throws were shot in silence which was more unnerving and pressure packed than the noise generated in todays gyms.  Each player understood his role.  There was no worry about the number of touches or who is getting who off.  The plays were run, if you were open you shot, if not you passed the ball yes I said pass.  There was no forcing it inside and crying because no foul was called.  You Passed The Ball!  The role of the center was to post high or low, hit the cutter or take it to the hole.  No one cleared out and stood and watched while you backed your man down missed an impossible shot and cried to the official where is the foul while your man was laying the ball in on the other end of the court.  That is not part of the dance.  On defense the center worked for position, which wasn't hard because you moved your feet and stayed between your man and the basket you got the rebound, hit the outlet who then got the ball to the center of the court who was flanked by two players bustin' it to the rim.  Transition was a major move in the dance.  The center was  the enforcer when someone yelled helped it was the center who responded, took the charge, no flopping, blocked the shot or forced the ball back out top.  If you don't dance you don't play.  For those of you who play or haved played basketball you understand the dance.  If you play pick up basket ball or with an inexperineced player there is a lot of running into each other, stepping on feet and just a general clumsiness to the game until everyone gets their moves down and flow with the game. This can be frustrating and tiresom.  But to dance with other dancers there is nothing better.

There are several theories I have about the demise of the true center.  The athlete vs. the ball player.  Give me five ballplayers and I will beat your five athletes seven games out of ten.  Athletes will win games eight nine and ten.  The ball players are just trying to get the series over so they can have a cigarette, a big mac , large coke and fries followed by another cigarette.  Ball players believe there is more to life than just basketball.  Athletes spend all their practice time on high flying dunks, shoe combinations and facial expressions toward officials on called fouls.  Ball players work on passing, free throws and the fifteen foot jumper.  Centers have a history of being slow of foot and not great jumpers.  Billy Paultz, look him up yourself, was the consumate center to me.  He plodded but hustled, he gave up his body and was never out of position.  A sub six foot point guard never got in his face about the play of his game.  The anthesis is Vlade Divac the first wimp to ever play center in the NBA.  The inventor of the flop and was Magics bitc,h.  The image of Vlade finally doing something right and running over to Magic who patted his head like a puppy will forever sicken me, I can taste bile in the back of my throat as I write about it.  I believe Shaq also led to the demise of the center position.  I am not a Shaq hater nor do I appreciate his approach to the game.  If you invite a bull into a china shop don't complain about the mess. The athletes have taken over.  Charley Rosen presents in my final theory that lack of big man coaching has effected the game.  The game evolved so quickly from the magic/bird era to the MJ era to the current day.  Look at coaches who don't even incorporate a center into their team and the power forwards who play the center position.  Speed has changed everything in the game.  There is no place left for the plodding big man who can pass,rebound and play defense according to todays coaches.   When my oldest son was in high school he was  six eight and an all state football player.  He wanted to play basketball but was cut all four years.  He was an offensive tackle with very quick feet and ok speed, could shoot rebound and pass.  The problem was according to the coach was he didn't fit into the team make up.  The coach was five eight and the tallest player on the team was six two.  They won no more than seven games a season but they were fast and athletic.  When a kid six eight shows up in try outs he gets a jersey if he can figure out how to put it on. 

As I write this I realize it is not the game that has changed, it is the image of the game.  Few people appreciate the dance, they want to see the slam dunks that are preceded by traveling or palming the ball.  The one on one is painful for me to watch eight guys standing around yelling for the ball while two guys freestyle is like listening to someone sing out of key, for non musical people it is ok but the rest of us are uncomfortable.   There are numerous points I failed to make in my ramblings but I think this is enough.  I urge you to play defense with your feet, hit the open man and keep you hands up.  Dance if you can!

Shoot baby bow your neck out there!   Hon now!  Hum baby!

I awoke this morning speaking infield chatter to my wife and daughters.  They are used to these bouts of regression and tolerate me knowing it wil pass in six to fortyeight hours.  Until my return to normalcy they are subjected to hand clapping, motivational encouragement in their daily routine of keep your head up and glove down.  Lay off the high stuff.  Swing from your hips and keep the trademark up.  Find the sweet spot baby.  I'm not sure they understand the meanings of these ramblings, hell who does, but they respond to them and enjoy their chores as I rant on.  The best moment of my life was when I was headed out the door and my five year old daughter swatted me on the butt and said "go hell bent for leather out there today."  The tears welled up and my heart almost burst with pride.

I'm not sure of the origins of baseball chatter or if it is still spoken on big league or little league fields.  I do know that it was passed along to me by several coaches who insisted it would keep you loose and your head in the game.  My high school coach was a master linguist and started every sentence with shoot baby.  Shoot baby back in fifty four when I first broke in with the Dodgers....  This phrase was music  to my ears because a thirty minute story always followed about how he roomed with the Duke or caught hell from Leo.  I hung on every word.  I run into former teammates and the first words out of our mouths are shoot baby how's it goin'?

Please pass along your favorite chatter phrases if you have any.  Remember don't sack your bats til the game is over and don't spit your seeds on the carpet.  This is not a dugout!

Does any one really watch sports?  Lisa H. posed a question a while back about bloggers and their effects on sporting events.  Questions of this sort tend to stay with me during the day and into the wee hours of the morning where true reflection competes with sleep.  Sorry to say sleep is not a worthy opponent these days.  I pose this question because of the recent NBA finals which I watched on t.v. with my wife and all of you bloggers who shared your passion for the game.  I enjoyed these finals more than any I can remember.  I felt as though I watched the game with a third eye, sometimes 20/20, sometimes legally blind.  Always entertaining.  I remind myself of my father yelling at the t.v. during a baseball game the way I laugh and yell at some of you and your comments on the computer screen.

My favorite question during these finals is who is the greatest of all time?  Is it  Kobe or MJ .?  Wilt or Russell?  Magic or Bird?  The Beatles or the Stones?  Does it really matter?  The game itself is the important thing.  No one player is greater than the game.  They may be good enough to have an impact on how fans perceive the game.  They may be good enough to impact the rules of the game.  Bob Gibson in baseball.  Lew Alcindor (Kareem to the youngsters,) to name a few.  I plan on living forever and so far so good on that one.  I hope that I have not seen the greatest of all time as of yet.  It would be similiar to already living the best moment of your life and just hangin' out waiting for the reaper.

Yes there is a point here.  Do we really watch a game anymore or just catch the highlights or read about it on the computer and allow a reporter or sports writer or even a blogger to shape what our perception of the game was without experiencing a moment.  My favorite moments are the "I have never seen that before" moments.  Last year in the heat of the wild card race the Mariners vs. Yankees.  J.J. is pitching to A Rod. 98 mph fast ball high and inside.  A Rod turned on it and it went into the left field seats.  I have never seen such hitting before.  This truely is a gifted athlete.  The headlines the next day questioned if A Rod would get the Yankees into the playoffs and if so would he produce?  Not one mention of the I have never seen that before moment.

I no longer attend live sporting events, I watch on t.v. or listen to the radio.  My reasons are mainly comfort related and the fact I have witnessed too many great moments and my appreciation and passion, until recently, have turned to cynicism of what sports has evolved to in my life time.  I witnessed Steve Prefontain run in high school and the night he set the american record for the 10k then was killed by a rock in Hendricks Park.  I saw Pistol Pete put on his pre-game show when LSU played the Beavers in Corvallis.  I have seen Nolan Ryan pitch a no hitter.  I have seen the Doors and Janis Joplin at Hayward Field.  I have seen a lot of those "I have never seen that before" moments and they all belong to me.  I am always willing to share them. 

I would like to thank all you bloggers for a great NBA finals and I look forward to the baseball playoffs and world series followed by college football and the NFL.  Keep the third eye open and to quote a line out of a book I just finished.  Grab the day before the day grabs you.