Sun Bowl Daze: Spawn Of Satan 3 Pitt 0

(And as CBS Sportsline has it, a SNOREFEST ).


Listening to part of this on the radio today was excruciating (20 punts, five third downs converted, a total of 451 yards of offense), and none of my b..v.r coworkers were especially thrilled with the manner in which the victory was achieved, but hey, a win is a win is a win, and one in a bowl game is always welcome, especially in Corvallis.


I figured the OSU defense would step up after their embarrassment in the Civil War (and they did), but the Pitt quarterback was positively anemic in the passing game; the relative tie in the running game was eclipsed by the relatively superior passing game of the b..v.rs that gave them the edge in field position, enough so that a late second quarter field goal held up for the rest of the game.



No Rodgers brothers were certainly the reason for the lack of offense on the b..v.r side, but from all accounts I've come across, this was one of the most mind-numbing displays of football to have been aired in a long, long while. It was bad enough to listen to on the radio, my sympathies to those who actually had to watch the damn thing.

Oregon 42 Oklahoma State 31: What A Holiday!

Nice come from behind victory for Oregon against a determined Oklahoma State team in a typical high-scoring Holiday Bowl affair.


The Ducks found themselves trailing after the first quarter 17-7 (that was the halftime score as well) due to the combination of standout OSU receiver Dez Bryant and a Cowboy defense eager to make a name for itself against a standout offensive team from another conference. Bryant was everything that he was touted as, and he wound up catching a bowl record 13 passes (for 167 yards and the games first touchdown), while the defense showed enough skill to disrupt the timing of Oregon's offensive line and stall most of their first half drives.



Oregon's first touchdown came on another long spectacular Jeremiah Johnson run, 76 yards (another bowl record) down the Duck sideline, more props must be given to receiver Jaison Williams for his downfield blocking, he took out two different defenders that sprung Johnson for the last leg of the touchdown run. Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli also was running interference on the play and slowed the progress of one Cowboy just enough, though he was rewarded for that effort by being knocked on his backside.


Masoli took the game into his own hands in the third quarter (let's face it, it had a lot to do with his feet as well) and ran for three touchdowns. The first was set up by a spectacular half opening kick-off return from Walter Thurmond III that set the Ducks up inside the OSU five yard line.


The second touchdown is the one that most people will probably recall from this game, a 41 yard dash that went through and over the Cowboy defense, his blasting of hapless safety Quinton Moore was the stuff of YouTube videos, and that score gave the Ducks their first lead of the game at 21-17.


Masoli's third touchdown run (toward the end of the quarter, and a reply to an Oklahoma State touchdown that allowed the Cowboys to reclaim the lead) was a "relatively" easy 17 yard attempt that fooled the defense; I'm not sure that many Cowboys knew who had the ball until Masoli was almost in the end zone.


Oklahoma State replied on their next drive with another touchdown to go on top again, however, by this point, Bryant was lost for further game use resulting from an earlier leg injury, and quarterback Zac Robinson was continually getting blasted by an Oregon defense that had started to reassert itself physically since the beginning of the second quarter. That combination was a factor in the ineffectiveness in their offensive output for the rest of the game.


Duck receiver Williams made an excellent catch to give the Ducks the lead back for good, and tailback LaGarrette Blount capped the game off with an astounding 29 yard run, one in which he leap-frogged a diving Moore and shrugged off a couple of more Cowboy defenders in the last part of the run. A note must be paid to the Cowboy defense, on the previous Oregon possession, the Ducks had a first and goal inside the five, and were turned back repeatedly until the Ducks turned it over on downs; the Cowboys certainly still had the will to win the game, but the injuries for them on the offensive side limited their capacity to go out and do it.



Too tired to speculate as if this was Mike Belotti's last game as Oregon head coach (for the record, I say one more year) but it was certainly a nice cap to a good football year...........and it's going to be weird next year to see that people like Nick Reed, Max Unger and Patrick Chung won't be playing, and how hard it will be to replace them. Then I remember, I can still recall worrying about how the Ducks were ever going to get a running back as good as Latin Berry again. Based on the evidence from the last (near)twenty years, I'd speculate that I shouldn't worry about things like that ever again. Let's go Ducks!!!!






ESPN RECAP , STILLWATER RECAP , REGISTER GUARD RECAP

WBA 2 Spurs 0 & Clint Dempsey's Bookend Goals Deny Chelski Three Points

A miserable day in the West Midlands for Spurs, falling to bottom dwellers West Bromwich Albion on two late goals in the last ten minutes. Spurs played most of the match with 10 men, after Benoit Assou-Ekotto was sent off in the 35th minute for a rash challenge. This match was on FSC on replay, but after following it via gametracker, there was really no reason to watch it at all.



Much better was the result Fulham got from playing Chelsea at Craven Cottage, two goals from Clint Dempsey were on either side of two goals from Frank Lampard as the Cottagers proved their resilience at home yet again this season, where they've lost just one match so far.



Dempsey's first goal came in the tenth minute off of a free kick, a ball that he chested neatly and delivered into the back of the net with his right foot at point blank range in front of the goal. He celebrated that goal by ENJOYING A COLD ONE FOR HIS WORK right in front of the Chelsea fans, and there were a number of them who were less than pleased with this action. His second goal came off of a corner kick in the dying moments of regulation, a perfect header toward the undefended left corner post that momentarily paralyzed the Chelsea defenders in the net.








DEMPSEY'S FIRST GOAL



DEMPSEY'S SECOND GOAL


FULHAM/CHELSEA MATCH REPORT



FULHAM/CHELSEA VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS


BAGGIES/SPURS MATCH REPORT

MLB Network Here On Jan. 1st

Got the notice via the cable box last week that the MLB NETWORK will debut on New Year's Day, channel 419, at 3 p.m. PST. Glancing through the schedule that they've lined up for the first month, it's safe to say that I won't have the channel on continuously, at least for that time frame.


It's great to note that they have already stated that they don't WANT TO BE 'BASEBALL CLASSIC' but given that there's still a long time before spring training opens, the 'classic content' that is lined up involves some teams and World Series that I'd just as soon not revisit any time soon. Those teams would include the Red Sox, Phillies and Cardinals. About the only time I saw the Mets mentioned was on a replay of game seven from the 2006 NLCS, so one can figure out why that would be. Shows on the 69 and 86 Mets can't get aired soon enough.



However, the channel is airing the Ken Burns series that originally ran on PBS, which I haven't seen in a long, long time; the timing is just right to get reacquainted with that program. In addition, the big draw for me concerning the modern game will be the Hot Stove Live show as the place to get my daily fix on issues related to player transactions.


They've also announced plans to televise 26 games during the regular season (I think I read in one of their myriad pieces regard the channel debut that these would be on Thursday night; I wonder if the blackout issues that prevent a good number of Saturday day games from being televised on the ExtraInnings package will come into play in this relationship).



We'll sign off with an article from MLB.com, THE TOP 10 REASONS TO WATCH MLB NETWORK. (Your mileage may vary, of course.)

Dock Ellis, R.I.P.

A remembrance of former major league pitcher Dock Ellis, who passed away from liver disease today at age 63. Of course, one of the first items people associated with Ellis is his claim that he pitched a no-hitter in the major leagues whilst under the influence of LSD. Reading the ESPN bio just now, I'd forgotten that he was the pitcher who gave up the monster home run to Reggie Jackson in the 1971 All-Star game in Detroit, a blast to right field that hit the lights. It's one of my earliest baseball memories. And while I have always been a Mets fan, I'd always had a healthy respect for the Pirates teams back then, easy to do with players like Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillen and Roberto Clemente on the team.



ESPN STORY

Oh Joy, A Week Plus Of Wintry Weather Has Arrived

Good news for the kids and those who are able to stay at home, bad news for those who have to drive in the stuff for a living.


After being shown the videos of the snow in Portland all day Sunday, the icy wonder finally arrived in full force here in the mid-valley early Sunday evening, and with this snow lying on top of some of the melted snow and rain from earlier in the day, it certainly made for some hazardous driving conditions in this area all day long.



I actually walked to work today, a 15 minute task that presented no great obstacle. I was also wondering if we were going to be able to get our Eugene route on the road for the day.


The roads here were pretty slick, but at least they showed signs of having been worked on, down in Eugene, particularly on Coburg Road heading south and most of 99W heading north towards Junction City from the Beltline, it certainly looked as if most of the road was simply packed snow and ice. It took me about 40 plus minutes to get from Jerry's Home Improvement to the north end of Junction City in the afternoon. The Coburg route, which I undertook just before noon, was a nervy game of keeping far enough back and letting the guy in front of you work out his traction problems. I have no explanation of why Coburg Road south was so packed of snow and ice north of Cal Young Road, but on a hunch, based partly on being tired of using the curbs as bumpers to steer myself back onto the main road, I headed over to Oakway Road and found the path to downtown Eugene a bit easier to navigate.


Pearl Street wasn't too bad, but both westbound 18th and 11th streets had their moments of icy patches in the early afternoon, luckily the traffic was light enough so that give the traffic that was out the room to move fairly easily. Eastbound on the Beltline to 99W was no picnic though, and after reports of the westbound lanes of the highway being close, that traffic had barely begun to have proceeded on that path when I passed it close to 2 p.m.



I was a bit worn out by the time I had made it home, but for some reason, 99W north of Harrisburg was clear of snow and ice for substantial stretches at a time, and between Halsey and Shedd, it was possible to hit 50 mph. That all changed of course once I hit the city limits but it was still a damn sight better than crawling through Eugene traffic.


Here's the STORY about the upcoming weather prospects, and the picture above was taken earlier today shortly after 10 a.m. just south of Shedd looking west. It's not too often we get to see those hills so clearly defined.

Spurs 0 Man United 0: Gomes The Hero

Not a bad result at all, but ideally this would have been a 1-0 match won by Spurs, the winning score being an own goal from Dimitar Berbatov just so that he could be serenaded one more time in song from the White Hart Lane faithful.


Things didn't look promising for the home side, with captain and defender Ledley King missing the match, and with Jonathan Woodgate being forced out with an injury just 10 minutes in, to be replaced by Tom Huddlestone. With those big departures in the Spurs defense combined with the erratic play from goalie Heurelho Gomes, fans were rightly nervous about how the defense would hold up against Carlos Tevez and Berbatov (Wayne Rooney sat this one out).


Man United certainly were the more determined team, holding on to the ball for long stretches of the game and garnering a large number of corner kicks, but the combination of the make-shift Spurs defense and some inspired play by Gomes kept the visitors off of the scoreboard.


Spurs did not just bunker down and forget about the offensive end of play in an effort to salvage a point, there were a number of fine opportunities throughout the game that kept the Red Devils honest, and goalie Edwin van der Sar had his chances to shine in goal as well.



Play of the game had to be Gomes swatting away a free-kick from Ryan Giggs at the very end of regulation time, a curling shot that looked to be a certain goal. For Gomes, there were fewer punched balls (the best being one that denied Berbatov a goal in the first half, a low cross in the box was deftly knocked away before the sliding Bulgarian could get his foot on the ball) and some clean catches of missed shots. Gomes failed once in awhile getting the ball to his side cleanly, but at least the Man United offense had to start up near midfield rather than in front of the goal on those occasions.



Berbatov was booed relentlessly on his every touch of the ball and at several times found himself missing clear shots on goal by a matter of inches, to the delight of the home crowd.



Once again, a fair enough result for a highly entertaining match that never lacked from excitement, any point these days, especially against one of the big four is certainly welcome. Come on you Spurs!



BBC, GUARDIAN , SOCCERNET

Themed Holiday Trees

No, it's not Halloween anymore, it's a couple of weeks before Christmas.......and my mother has decided to deck out her "seasonal" tree in one corner of her house with orange lights and a string of Oregon State lights. (She'll decorate the tree throughout the year with seasonal/current holiday ornaments.) Now, come Christmas eve, instead of waiting for Santa Claus, the thought that the Great Pumpkin will likely soon appear before us is going through my mind at the moment.

Beverly Garland, R.I.P.

Farewell to an actress who best dominated a cheesy sci-fi flick as best she could: the role Beverly Garland played in the film of It Conquered The World was a splendid bit of going against the grain of depending on a man for resolvement of problems. While the character Beverly played may not have actually killed the creature from the film herself, she clearly was the catalyst for getting it killed in the end. The episode guide of Mystery Science Theater 3000 puts it best.



Married to an idiot, she realizes it and takes matters into her own hand. She finds the Venusian pickle and delivers a dressing down that had to leave the poor creature more than a little abashed. Unfortunately she's then eaten, but she goes down shooting, probably praying she'll get stuck in the bastard's throat and choke him.

In certain respects it's a ridiculous scene. Yet she delivers her lecture with the strongest commitment you could ever hope for. In that moment she is a woman enraged at a pickle.


Can't say that I recall her work on My Three Sons, but her stellar work on the film that provided the fodder for one of the greatest MST3K episodes of all time should not be unacknowledged.



LA TIMES OBIT

Preaching To The Converted: 'Emotional Instability' Of Beaver Fans

An article from the G-T detailing the less savoury aspects of last Saturday's Civil War game. No surprise from these quarters living near and amongst them.



G-T STORY

2008 Civil War Highlight Video

Better than 'the pick' cause this lasted the whole damn game....he he he! Just wish they could've got a shot of the crowd leaving the game early.