I have two decent visitor side (Level C, Section 4, Row 30, Seats 7-8) MBB tickets Ducks @ Cal on Thursday. I bought them back in November (half priced on Black Friday), hoping to go with my dad. He's been recovering from minor surgery (and complications) and may not have the strength to make it to the game.

One of my friends is interested in the tickets, but may not know until the day of the game. If I don't go to the game, I have to send/fax a letter (tickets with a copy of my photo ID) outlining my consent for someone other than me to pick up the tickets one to two days before the game, I thought I'd gauge interest (read: tickets are not currently available) to allow someone to pick the tickets up from the will call office without my presence.

The tickets are $11.00+$4.00 each in fees, plus a $3.00 delivery charge (even though I'm picking them up at will call? WTF?) for a total of $33.00 (a steal!). I'm only looking to recoup what I paid. We'll know more after a doctor appointment on Tuesday. If neither myself, nor my friend are able to go, I'd like to have a person or two I can contact who would be interested in going. I figure I'll give y'all a chance to speak for the tickets before I post this at CGB.

Please email me through my SBN profile if you are interested.

Thanks,

Andrew

It's that time again. The time to abandon wives, children, careers, hobbies, and any social interaction and gear up for the Ironman of fantasy sports. That's right, fantasy baseball season is approaching.

The last two seasons of ATQ fantasy baseball have ended in similar fashion: with ntrebon and myself in the finals. In 2010, Nick took the title; last season, I exacted my revenge. Can anyone else challenge us?

I've activated the ATQ league for 2012, and any owner who participated last year needs to confirm that they're in again for this season. You have until the end of February to confirm your ownership, otherwise you forfeit your spot.

For anyone who is interested in joining and would like to, leave a comment with your preferred email, and invites (if there are open spots) will be sent out on a first come, first served basis.

Current ATQ Fantasy Owners

Takimoto - confirmed

ntrebon - confirmed

jtlight - confirmed

David Piper - confirmed

jcgoducks

axemen23 - confirmed

DuckFanAndy

ConnorOSU - out

benzduck

HoodRiverDuck

JShufelt - out

duck_sir - confirmed

fowlball - confirmed

QuackQuackAttack

You'll notice that I've changed my ATQ avatar. To purple. The reason is thus:

This weekend marks 1 year since the tragic drowning of two universally loved seniors in my high school class Connor and Jack while on a Mr. Axemem retreat at the coast. Their deaths really shocked,stunned, and brought our community together. While the pain was different for many and the wounds at various levels of health, it still hurts.

I've changed my profile picture on Facebook to the purple square, same as last year, and it seems right to have all of my "profile pictures" reflect the same. So please no jokes, no poking fun, no harassing me about it. Save it for later; I'll change it back Monday.

Best,

Axemen23

I know it might be heresy to say so, but hear me out. Let me preface this by saying if this was Oregon's class 5-10 years ago I would be ecstatic with today's haul, but times have changed. Oregon is coming off a Rose Bowl victory this year, a BCS title game appearance and near win last year, and another Rose Bowl appearance two years back along with three conference titles in a row. So why is this class ranked the 15th best in the country? How did Oregon finish 4th in the conference in recruting rankings (according to Rivals), and did so behind UCLA (12th)??? Even USC (7th) who was thought to be truly hampered by the sanctions romped.

The point is that in 2011 recruiting, Oregon finished 9th and 2nd in the conference, in 2010 they were 13th and 4th in conference. So why are things regressing at this point? I figured the continued buzz we always hear about the uniforms, the beautiful facilities, and the recent excellence would lift the Ducks ever higher. Help me see the light on this fellas as to me something is not quite right with this picture.

Signing Day is upon us once again. Oregon is fortunate to be in the running for a good number of blue chip recruits. Every year fans across the country covetously scan recruiting lists dreaming of a class full of 4 and 5 star prospects. And as signing day nears and passes, fans imagine how each of these coveted prospects will lead their school to glory.
But then, once the ink is dry and the LOIs are all faxed, all those shiny prospects become actual players on the team. Some highly rated players excel, while some struggle, and others never make it to campus. To put this year's crop of blue chip prospects in perspective, I wanted to see just how often players pan out, and how often they tend to disappoint. The following is a list of all 4 and 5 star prospects to sign with Oregon since 2002. The ratings are from Rivals, since I tend to prefer their rankings to Scout and others, and to include others would have been a lot more work. The 2002 cutoff happens to be the earliest class that Rivals has recorded online, but it also gives us a round decade of prospects. The players are then divided into groups depending upon their ultimate performance - those that were worth the hype, those that fell short of the hype but still made meaningful contributions to the program, and those that were busts. Since many recent signees remain unknown, those are noted where applicable. And of course we all remember Terrance Kelly and Todd Doxey. Player ratings are based upon my own opinions, so feel free to disagree. EDIT: In rating players, I looked solely at what they did for the Ducks, so transfers who blew up elsewhere are still counted as not worth the hype for others. For instance, it doesn't matter what Seastrunk does at Baylor, and I wish him the best there, as he's already a washout for the Ducks.

On to the list:

Continue reading this post »

The 1978 Civil War -- won by the Ducks, 24-3, keeping the Ducks out of the cellar and OAC where they belonged -- was unusual in one respect that I don't remember anyone making note of at the time; it's certainly not unusual now.

It was the first time in 15 seasons that something happened.

The last time it happened, it was also against the beavs, back in 1963, when Berry and Renfro hammered OSC 31-14 on their way to the Sun Bowl.

Before 1963, this had only happened twice since 1945 -- both in the same season (but not in the same game).

But this has happened regularly since 1978. So regularly, in fact, that it's unusual for it not to happen.

When it does, It drives most fans crazy.

What is it?

Continue reading this post »

I hope that this question does not need to be answered! No one can argue that Chip is one of the best coaches in college football, and I cannot think of any coach that I would rather have for the Ducks. That being said, if Kelly does leave then the Ducks seem to be in a very tough position... All of the "top tier" coaches have already signed with other schools. Urban Meyer would be the dream hire, but he is at Ohio St. Rich Rodriguez seems to me like the best replacement but he was just signed by Arizona. Chris Peterson would be a good fit, but he just signed a big extension.... I really hope that Chip wouldn't leave at this point when it is too late to find a good replacement.

Story's original appearance at www.oregonsportsnews.com: http://www.oregonsportsnews.com/team-news/oregon-ducks/darron-thomas-surprise-decision-to-bolt-for-nfl-should-be-celebrated-not-scorned.html

Last Saturday, Oregon football fans, still basking in the glow of the program’s first Rose Bowl victory since the Woodrow Wilson presidency, suddenly felt like wounded ducks. The news that star quarterback Darron Thomas had decided to leave the team for a chance to play in the NFL was more surprising than a Greg Oden All-Star appearance.

Ducks fans expected this from LaMichael James, who broke nearly every UO rushing record over the course of his three-year career, and had nothing left to prove on a college football field—but Darron Thomas was supposed to be a lock to return for his senior year and run an offense that he and Chip Kelly built into a Mach 5 machine.

We probably will never know the true reason that Thomas wanted to give up his chance at becoming the best quarterback in Oregon history for an opportunity to play with the big boys on Sundays.

Perhaps, like James, Thomas wanted to go out on top after enduring the pain of coming a downed knee away from winning a national championship. Perhaps, as Oregonian columnist John Canzano suggests, Thomas feared baby-faced backup QB Bryan Bennett beating him out for the starting spot come September. Or perhaps, the decision was purely economic in nature—a prime opportunity for Thomas to give back to his mother who has worked the early shift at Target for the last 16 years.

Whatever the reason, the vitriol and negativity coming from Duck country and the national media must end.

In many ways, the decision does feel premature and a bit shortsighted for an undersized quarterback plagued by accuracy issues. But with all that Thomas has given to this program, how can Ducks fans have any response other than support and gratitude?

Thomas took Oregon places that seemed impossible just 10 years ago. He leaves UO as the all-time leader in passing touchdowns with 66, ranks sixth in total offense and seventh in career passing yards. Most importantly, Thomas went 23-3 as a starter, making him the winningest quarterback in Oregon history.

Only a handful of Oregon quarterbacks are in the mix with Thomas in a greatest-of-all-time discussion. Dan Fouts, Joey Harrington, Dennis Dixon and Kellen Clemens come to mind, but even they never came a field goal away from being the best team in the land.

Thomas probably will be a late sixth or seventh round pick. He may not get picked at all and have to finagle his way onto an NFL roster through free agency. But there’s no telling that another year playing at Oregon would have done much to improve his draft stock.

However Thomas’ career turns out, I have nothing but respect and well wishes for him.

This is not to say that Thomas’ departure won’t hurt the Ducks plenty. His decision is made even more painful by Matt Barkley’s choice to return for his senior year at USC.

But all of these worries permeated through Eugene when a certain laptop enthusiast named Jeremiah Masoli was forced to turn the reins over to an inexperienced young quarterback named Darron Thomas.

The Thomas era now becomes the Bennett era, which may be even more successful, and electrifying.

Bennett brings skills to the field that can potentially make this team faster and more unpredictable than before. We saw flashes of his deceptive mobility and arm strength against Arizona State, Colorado and Washington State this year.

Whether he transforms into a proven winner has yet to be seen, but you have to trust that Kelly knew something about this kid when he recruited him.

So look forward to the future, Duck fans, but never forget that whatever successes the program may enjoy under Bennett came on the back of the most successful quarterback in Oregon history.

For the record, I strongly dislike the Pats, Tom Brady & that dirtbag Bill Belichek. However I do respect them, as does Chip Kelly. So, what can the Ducks learn from them? Its all about tight ends baby. Rob Gronkowski set the NFL record for touchdowns by a tight end in a single season with 17. Behind him on the depth chart sits Aaron Hernandez, who finished the season with 79 catches, for 910 yards with 7 touchdowns. Before this year, those type of numbers were unheard of for the tight end position.

A few years ago, almost all plays the Pats called were 4 & 5 wide receiver sets. With Randy Moss commanding constant double teams, and Wes Welker dominating the short passing game. Now it is focused on multiple Tight End sets, they adapted & overcame the loss of Moss. I think we can apply the same thinking to the Ducks offense.

The Boston TE Party

Continue reading this post »

Look at the hair! LOOK AT IT!

Darron is gone you say?

PANIC! EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND PANIC RIGHT NOW! ARE YOU PANICKING WITH ME? GOOD! PANIC SOME MORE! AND..... stop. Ok, enough panic for now. But when Darron Thomas pulls a Sanchez and leaves us early, it's always good to get a little panic in every now and again. I personally recommend at least 3 minutes and 51 seconds of panic every hour to maintain peak panic condition.

First things first: I love Darron Thomas. Like man-crush love. Over the past 4 seasons (fBSU 2008 anyone) I viewed him as the future of the program, and boy did he deliver. Sure, he may have thrown high every once and awhile, but the guy only lost 3 games as a starter. THREE GAMES. You can't argue with results. But this article is not about Darron Thomas. It's about those 3 guys who were going to be behind him on the depth chart: Bryan Bennett, Marcus Mariota and Jake Rodrigues

This is going to be a pretty video intense article and is also going to be fairly lengthy, I hope you all don't mind.

This is also purely my opinion. Don't take what I say and apply it to all Oregon Fans. There will be no generalizations here.

Continue reading this post »