Glad I Don't Take Recruiting That Seriously

Nice to see that the mentor of the nation's top running back recruit will be charging $9.99 a month for updates on the status of Bryce Brown, who has postponed his school decision until the first of March. No word yet if the recruiters from each prospective school will be afforded a special rate, an item with a link to the Miami Herald story is HERE.

Man United 2 Spurs 1: Two Minutes Of Madness Sink Spurs

JUDAS,JUDAS, JUDAS












An entertaining match from the fourth round of the FA Cup saw the home side overcome an early deficit with two quick goals toward the end of the first half that saw them defeat Spurs today.


Roman Pavlyuchenko deftly headed home a neat pass from Tom Huddlestone in the fifth minute to give Spurs the lead, much to the shock of the crowd at Old Trafford, and it took a bit of time for the Red Devils to get their offensive game on track. (Both teams, plagued by injuries, fielded teams that featured a number of reserve players).


That attack started around the 18th minute, with a couple of shots from Carlos Tevez testing reserve Spurs goalie Ben Alwick. The first barely hit the fingertips of the goalie before tipping over the goal bar, the second one, in the 22nd minute, produced an excellent save that had all Spurs fan breathing deep sighs of relief.


The news for Spurs went bad in the 35th minute when a couple of ex-Spurs combined on two different plays for the difference in the match, with Michael Carrick the central figure in both of them. While the Spurs were doing a fine job defending Man United early on, Carrick delivered a pass that Paul Scholes drilled toward the goal from outside the box which glanced off of Huddlestone into the net, with Alwick having no chance to stop the blast.


Mere seconds later, Carrick linked up with Dimitar "Judas 2" Berbatov on a long pass, with the Bulgarian quickly leaving the Spurs defense in an awkward position with some fancy footwork, leaving him with an inviting look at goal that he confidently cashed in, much to the displeasure of Spurs fans everywhere.


In the GUARDIAN MATCH REPORT , Sir Alex Ferguson was quoted as saying the reception given to Berbatov from Spurs fans was "a social disease...we must be the only club to actually welcome back our former players". SAF, I can safely say that it's how players leave one club to another that is the basis for the nature of that reception, and given how nasty (and lengthy) the departure of Berbatov from Spurs was, I find it hard to believe that SAF would have an issue with that.



At any rate, that's it for Spurs in the FA Cup this year, up next is a crucial EPL fixture with Stoke that is crucial for the two teams, both of them hovering dangerously near the relegation zone. Come on you Spurs!!!



ESPN SOCCERNET

Spurs 1 Portsmouth 1: Defoe To The Rescue

It was a perfect time for Jermaine Defoe to score his first goal since his return to Spurs by knocking in the leveler at the 70th minute mark to give Spurs a vital point and lift them off of the foot of the EPL table. What made the shot even better was that is was perfectly driven between the legs of former Spurs defender Sol 'Judas' Campbell.


Portsmouth had grabbed the lead 10 minutes earlier on a great strike from David Nugent, but there was certainly a sense from the team and the home crowd at White Hart Lane that the match was far from settled. The game up to that point had been a lively affair, with Spurs having the greater number of chances. However, perfect Portsmouth defending and some excellent saves from goalie David James ensured that Spurs would be held scoreless for the majority of the affair.


The bad news for Spurs would be on the injury front, the tally on that from coach Harry Redknapp is at the bottom of the match report from Spurs HERE, most troubling is that captain Ledley King has a hamstring injury requiring his absence for an extended period.






SOCCERNET REPORT

$100 Trillion Note To Be Introduced In Zimbabwe

An unbelievable value in an unbelievably sad situation, when will Robert Mugabe do the sensible thing and leave office so that his country might begin to rebound from the severe harm he has done for Zimbabwe?


STORY

New Mac User On Board: The Aluminum MacBook Is Now Mine

Needing a laptop, an instinct was directing my mind, body (and money!) towards buying a Mac over any kind of Windows-based machine. Having no need to make or edit movies and video, the MacBook pro was definitely on the high end of the spectrum, whilst I had my doubts about how the exterior of white version would hold up after time. I do appreciate the sturdy aluminum body of this machine.


Most of the negative reviews for this book seem to bemoan the absence of a firewire port, but seeing as I do not own any device requiring that port, this is a moot detail for me.



Sad to say, this post is not being written on the new toy, still using the trusy ol' PC for that task at the moment (being held back by a stubborn wireless network....a long story itself). I do love the features that I've been able to access, but I've found out that I've got to considerably sharpen my chess skills to beat this opponent, but hey, if I can do well in the two-deck version of Spider Solitaire, it'll just be a matter of playing again to get better.

Wigan 1 Spurs 0: Unremittingly Stupid Loss

(title chosen because I rarely get to use 'unremittingly' and 'stupid' in the same sentence).


What else is new? Spurs allow an injury-time goal to Wigan ( a decent side this season ) off of a corner kick to allow the home-side a 1-0 victory at the JJB earlier today. I hate reading the match reports that say the late goal allowed that team to earn a well-deserved victory........but why put lipstick on a pig, unless you're into that sort of thing (NTTAWWT!). The depressing story of the result is HERE , leaving Spurs in the relegation zone once again. Nothing personal against Wigan or their coach Steve Bruce, both of whom I've felt a sense of liking to in the past few years, it's just that I expected a bit more from a Spurs side desperately trying to reassert its identity after a truly dismal start to the season. Pass the alcohol......please!

Andrew Meinert, R.I.P.

Deepest sympathies to the Meinert family for their loss on the 30th of December during Oregon/Oklahoma State Holiday Bowl, a loss that is the passing of their youngest son Andrew from an especially aggressive form of cancer.


In this world full of injustices, it's not right that innocent people suffer from horrible maladies, and the fact that this scourge has been unleashed on a couple of the finest people it has been my pleasure to meet and chat with over the years (Andrew's parents sit directly in front of me at Autzen for Duck football games, I've been in this section for over a decade and I must emphatically state that they're among the reasons I have no desire to improve my seat location.)



With every passing calendar year, it's become an assumption that those of us in our section will see each other next fall, when football resumes and we can continue our silly obessions. Andrew's passing is a stark reminder that we should all not automatically assume that these things will come to pass, Andrew sometimes sat in those seats in front of me when his mother or father could not make the games for various reasons, and whatever collective enjoyment we got from rooting the Ducks on to victory on those days doesn't even begin to address the sorrow that the Meinert family is feeling on such a sorrowful occasion.



George Schroeder of the Eugene Register-Guard has written a couple of articles concerning Andrew and his brief encounter with his favourite Duck player, Walter Thurmond III, who made a surprise visit to Newbert to visit the stricken kid, along with Patrick Chung, the first of which is HERE and recounts the events surrounding that visit. The second story is from TODAY and tells of Andrew's passing away during the Holiday Bowl; it was good to know that at least Andrew got to hear about Walter Thurmond III's momentum changing kick-off return to start the second half for the Ducks.



All I know for sure is that when the 2009 Oregon football season rolls around, it's going to be a little tough to acknowledge the loss of a loved one, but as Mark and Anne already know, the people in our section care about them very, very much. God bless you Meinerts, see you soon...............and Let's Go Ducks!!!!

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.

Oregon 65 Oregon State 38 : Rose Bowl Hopes Trampled Underfoot

Okay, there is still a slim chance the Beavers could go the granddaddy of them all if somehow the UCLA Bruins find a way to defeat USC this coming weekend, but the pummeling that the Oregon Ducks gave the Beavers yesterday was about as sweet as it gets.



Consider some of the staggering numbers: 694 yards of total offense for the Ducks, an average of over 10 yards per play, 385 yards rushing against one of the top defenses in the country, with Jeremiah Johnson getting over 200 yards of that total in the first half alone. 12 completed passes for 309 yards, including a terrifically defended effort on a pass from freshman Darron Thomas that set up one Duck score.


The name of the game was breaks, and all of them went Oregon's way. A blown interception attempt on the second Duck drive, a couple of Beaver drives into the red zone that ended with just a field goal or no points at all in addition to some athletic offensive plays that certainly took the wind out of the Beaver defense in situations when they were defending well, the best example of that would certainly have to be the pass that Jeremiah Masoli made as he was going out of bounds early in the fourth quarter, finding tight end Ed Dickson for a spectacular 45 yard gain. This play was made even sweeter by the blocking of receiver Jaison Williams, who took out two Beavers at the same time in the play. I have to say that this play will certainly be ranked in my top ten Duck plays of all time.


Sure, there was a lot to nitpick about: abysmal third down defense, especially in the first half, some shoddy kick off and coverage efforts, and a ton of penalties. But, a Civil War victory is always something to appreciate, one that is made immeasurably better by severely damaging their hopes for a Rose Bowl appearance.



It was great driving around town early this morning to buy the papers, it certainly seemed to be that only Duck fans were about, we all waved, signaled, and honked our horns to each other at the recognition.



I do feel sorry for a large number of Beaver fans, the good kind who can keep the rivalry in its proper perspective, but for the large number of "beaver" "nation" "citizens" around here, it will be smiles and laughter all the way round for a long, long time to come. Plus spontaneous rounds of singing the chorus of Dead Flowers by the Rolling Stones. Get yer ya-yas out indeed!



REGISTER-GUARD , GAZETTE TIMES , ESPN


Let's Go Ducks!

Don't Do That, Can't You Read The Sign?

Helpful hints in a Hyderabad (India) restaurant. I just wonder what happened before to cause the owners to act to put up such warnings. The link to the original posts are HERE .