The 2009 baseball schedule is out, and its a full 56 game schedule, with a full Pac-10 conference schedule.  No big names other than the Pac-10 teams, but we don't need to go out and get drilled in the non-conference next year.

We'll open up the season Feb. 20 at St. Mary's, first home game is Feb. 27 vs. Fresno State, and first conference home game is March 27 against the Beavers.  We also have a three game weekend tournament at PGE Park in Portland, and two Civil War games may be moved to PGE Park.  I can't wait for the return of hardball to UO!  For the full schedule, click 'read more' (HT:  DSN):

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It's been a boring week, so let's make fun of a writer at Oregon State!  Why?  Because we can!  And let's do it Fire Joe style.

This little number was written by a Jenna Santelli, a sports writer for Oregon State's newspaper, the Daily Barometer.  Take it away, Jenna!

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Since I refuse to acknowledge that anything happened last night, here's an interview with baseball coach George Horton from today's Portland Tribune.  It includes Horton's claim that the Ducks will be relevant nationally within three years, though he (smartly) backs off from saying we'll be on OSU's level.  Clearly, putting a timetable on when the team will reach an "elite" level with the opportunity to win back-to-back national titles is a fool's game.  The interview also asks how Horton feels about the potential for a multitude of Oregon jersey combinations...

Sorry for missing the two weeks, but if I was going to get a break, these were the two weeks to miss.

0-4.  Blah.

Three of those games came down to the final two minutes.  And, in those crucial minutes, you could see the difference between our teams and other teams:  other teams simply execute better.  When all was on the line, WSU executed better than Oregon.  UCLA executed better than Oregon.  USC executed better than Oregon.  This team is best in a free flowing game.  Put them in a tight siutation, and they wilt.  In my estimation, there are two reasons for this:

1.  There isn't a real point guard on this team.  I think that we can safely say that the TP at the point experiment has failed.  And that's not a knock on TP (who is totally awesome), its just a simple fact that TP is a 2, not a 1.  He's at his best coming off screens, spotting up, etc.  Creating off the dribble and distributing the basketball isn't really his strength.  Kamyron Brown is going to be a great PG, but he is only a freshman.  This reminds me a lot of 03-04.  Aaron Brooks was a freshman playing really inconsistetly, and Brandon Lincoln wasn't really a legit PG.  Next year, with Kam at the 1 and TP at the 2 all season, we'll be in pretty good shape.  But this year, we are suffering from having inexperience at the most important position on the floor.
2.  There is no real leader on this team.  Last year, you knew that AB was going to take the last shot--and there was nothing you could do to stop him.  It was the same thing with Freddie Jones in '02.  And while Malik and Bryce are very good players, they just aren't that player.  This team doens't really know where to go to in the crunch.

We have to be honest with ourselves--unless this team get really hot in the Pac-10 Tournament, this is an NIT team.  And while that's not bad, its disappointing considering talent and expectations.  A win over the Beavs this weekend will make me feel a whole lot better, if only temporairly.

Thoughts on other things:

•  I'm really tired of the whole Kevin Love things.  The guys on 1080 were going on about it again today.  Did some idiot college kids go too far?  Probably.  But its not the world-ending travesty that some people are making of it.  Bottom line--Kevin Love killed us.  I think that's revenge enough for anything.  Continuing to go on about it isn't helping anything.

•  I'm also really tiring of the Terrelle Pryor situation.  This kid has high maintenance written all over him, and I really don't think I want him around regardless of his talent.  We already have Chris Harper and Darron Thomas, who will both be badass.  Let Pryor go to tOSU, and they can deal with his issues.

•  Looks like the Autzen parking lot is going to be the final site for the new baseball stadium.  It also looks like the Ems will be joining the Ducks at MLK.  While I will mourn the loss of Civic, I am so freaking stoked for Duck baseball.  One more year!

Civil War up on Saturday, and we need a win badly.  I'll have a preview up Friday.

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave

On Tuedsay, there was a closed meeting between the Universtiy, the Emeralds, the city and the Eugene School District.  The purpose? To discuss some of the questions surrounding the baseball team, such as where they'll open play in 2009 and if they will share a stadium with the Emeralds.  In today's Register-Guard, there's a report on the meeting.  There's been talk of adding Civic Stadium to the National Register of Historic Places, which could complicate matters, particularly potential upgrades the Ducks might like to make.  Despite wanting to have a location selected by the end of the year, it doesn't sound like a whole lot was accomplished -- though it was the first time that all the groups were together to discuss the stadium issue.  

Also, something I had not seen before -- the Ducks will open league play against the Beavers on March 27, 2009 at a yet-to-be-determined Eugene site.  

Update [2007-9-5 14:34:5 by Dave]: Great Q&A with Horton in today's Baseball America. Well worth the read if you're interested in the direction of the baseball program.

Overshadowed by the start of football season was the fact that former CS Fullerton coach George Horton was introduced as Oregon's baseball coach.  We know the pedigree.  A national championship and six trips to the College World Series with Fullerton.  But who is George Horton?  And what inspired him to go from one of the most successful programs in the country to start a fledgling program in Eugene?

According to his Fullerton bio, Horton himself was a collegiate player first at Cerritos College, then at CS Fullerton.  He was a member of the first Fullerton team to go to the CWS in 1975.  Immediately after graduation in 1975, he worked his way through the JUCO coaching ranks, as an assistant at LA Valley College, then Cerritos College before finally landing the head gig at Cerritos in 1985.  In six years at Cerritos, he won three state JUCO championships while compiling a 226-53 record.  In 1990, he was hired as an assistant at his alma mater, and got the head job in 1996.

Horton's accomplishments at Fullerton are amazing.  In 11 years at the helm, he has that national championship and six years to the CWS.  He's a two time national coach of the year (2003, 2004).  His record at Fullerton:  an impeccable 452-187-1.  He has had 75 players drafted in that 11-year span.  The man can recruit and develop players.  Of that, there is no doubt.

You can't question the man has a baseball coach.  But the question has to be why?  Why would he leave a powerhouse to start a fledgling program at Oregon?  He's SoCal  raised, why would he just leave?  Especially with a daughter in high school?  This is the question that has everybody scratching their heads.

Horton says its not about the money--he'll earn about $400,000 annually both in his coaches duties and for doing coaches shows with OSN.  Horton maintains that its about the leadership and direction of the school, and Horton's total control over use of scholarships.  (Its should also be noted that this article says that the Ducks are likely to play their first season in Civic Stadium while a 5,000 seat on campus stadium is being built).

Its hard to tell what another guy is thinking, but I'm going to try to get inside Horton's head.  Its no secret what Oregon is doing.  They are spending millions of dollars.  Autzen expansion, an new arena and baseball stadium, the Mo Center, Kilkenny Field, etc.  Spending money to get top coaches and turn around even "minor" programs such as softball and volleyball.  Oregon is trying to build itself into becoming the next athletic powerhouse.  I think Horton saw this as an opportunity to move away from a place that's largely a commuter school to a place with a massive fan base and financial support for athletics.  The R-G recently said that Oregon could become "the SEC school of the west."  Horton saw the opportunity to become the pioneer of a powerhouse baseball program.  And even though he knew that Oregon is years away from becoming a power, he jumped at the opportunity to be a part of it.

Welcome to Eugene, Mr. Horton.

Thanks to LumberDuck, who reported this on the O-Live board.

According to Rivals, Oregon will announce tomorrow that they have hired George Horton as their head baseball coach.  This is huge--Horton is a national championship winning coach who has a .707 career winning percentage as has been Big West coach of the year five times.  Big hire for Oregon.

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave

The reinstatement of Oregon's baseball has already garnered the ill will of several Beaver fans, who insist that baseball at Oregon is the result of "Beaver Envy."  I haven't denied that charge, and contend that rather than being upset, the Beavers should actually be flattered by the gesture.

That being said, there is a line that you don't really want to cross.  And Oregon may have crossed that.  According to Brian Meehan at the Oregonian, AD Pat Kilkenny contacted Beaver coach Pat Casey about becoming the head man at Oregon.  

We all know that Kilkenny wants to make a splash and hire a big name.  And I'm all for that.  But you don't try to steal head coaches from other teams in your conference, ESPECIALLY ONES IN YOUR STATE.  Its bad business, and its bad etiquette.  you know that Oregon and Oregon State support each other when it comes to issues within the conference, and to try and endanger the good working relationship that the two schools have with a move such as this is borderline insane.

Besides, what's the upside for Casey that would make Kilkenny believe that he would even consider it?  It not as if Oregon is going to be a national power at any point within the next decade.  Does anyone really think that Casey would waste the prime years of his coaching career keeping afloat a fledgling program when he is currently coaching the twice defending national champions?

Things don't work quite the same way as they do in the business world.  You can't just throw a huge wad of cash at the employee at the other firm down the street and expect them to jump ship.  You've done some good things here, Mr. Kilkenny, but, to be frank, this move was boneheaded.

On other notes, this article talks about UC-Irvine coach Dave Serrano's interest.  I think that would be a fantastic choice, as Serrano had Irvine in the College World Series within six years of their program's reinstatement.

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave

Update [2007-8-14 0:0:3 by Dave]:Kilkenny denies that he ever contacted Casey with such an offer. Is Kilkenny doing some damage control, or does Meehan have bad sources?
Update [2007-8-14 by ntrebon]:Here's the denial in the Oregonian. Frohnmayer explicitly states that they decided Casey was "out of bounds" months ago.

I meant to get my Washington State preview up today, but real life got in the way.  So, I leave you with this:

Apparently, 20% of my site views come from people Googling Erin Andrews.  We've been over this before. Twice.  Yet, of all the women in the world, everybody is fixated on the mediocre Erin Andrews.

There are plenty of hot women out there.  You could Google Scarlett Johanssen, Jessica Alba, or Megan Fox.  If you're into reporters, you could go for Rachel Nichols or Melissa Stark.  But, no, Erin Andrews?

Again, its not that she's really ugly or anything like that.  Its that she's so painstakingly average, yet, for some strange reason, EVERYBODY wants a piece of her.

Apparently, my warnings have gone unheeded.  Therefore, I'm going to have to punish you.

Here's your Erin Andrews picture that you were so desperately seeking:

I'm only doing this because I care.  Get over your irrational obsession already.  Besides, what would your boss think if he knew you were Googling girly pics at work?

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave

Wow.  On May 31, I wrote a post asking the athletic department to consider bringing back baseball.  I figured that it would be five or six years down the line before something could happen.  Little did I, or anyone else for that matter, know that the athletic department was already thinking about it.  And here we stand today, knowing that we'll again have a baseball team in 2009.  I'm not really sure the steps Kilkenny had to take to make this happen in three months, but I am excited that my alma mater will finally have a baseball team to cheer for.

Before I go into baseball in detail, I want to mention the other aspects of this "reorganization" of the athletic department.  The negative consequence is that the wrestling program had to be cut.  The sad truth is that, to comply with Title IX, both programs could not exist.  This sucks.  I feel bad for the coaches and student-athletes in the wrestling program, as well as the Oregon wrestling community.  Oregon has a great wrestling tradition, and I hope that as soon as Oregon is Title IX compliant, that wrestling is brought back.  But the economic truth of the matter is that college baseball is surging in popularity and is sure to become a major source of revenue over the next decade.  Don't buy into Kilkenny's "facilities challenges" excuse.  Baseball has far more facilites issues than wrestling at this point.  This was an economic decision.  While, as a baseball fan, I am happy with a decision that results in bringing baseball back, it is easy to see why wrestling fans are upset.  They have every right to be.

But perhaps the most curious aspect of this whole thing is the decision to add women's competitive cheer.  We all knew that Oregon was going to add another women's sport as progress toward Title IX compliance.  The prevalent thought was that women's crew would be the sport added.  20 scholarships surely would have gone a long way toward gender equality. However, Oregon went with a sport that isn't even NCAA sanctioned.  Renee Baumgartner, the assistant AD, cited cheer's growing popularity as the reason for that decision, and is confident that it will be NCAA sanctioned within ten years.  However, this, too, was an economic decision.  This, too, was an economic decision.  No facilities would have to be built for cheer--as practices and competitions would be held in the Moshofsky Center, while current locker room facilites in the Casanova Center would be used.  Personally, I think cheer is a joke, and would rather have seen UO go with a much more traditonal sport (crew, gymnastics, or water polo), but it wasn't like I was actually going to go to any games anyway.  Cheer adds nine women's scholarships.  And don't worry, because scholarships are given, the fact that cheer is not NCAA sanctioned has no Title IX implications.

Now, back to baseball.  Many Beaver fans are up in arms over the decision, claiming that their success was the only reason this has happened. I believe that it was going to happen eventually because of the potential revenue.  However, there is no doubt that the success of OSU's baseball program made this happen a lot more quickly then it would have come other wise.  Although I am curious as to why many Beaver fans seem to be so upset about it.  You should be happy that you have had so much success that your rival want to emulate you.  And also be secure in the fact that you will dominate the series for the first 6-8 years.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  Take it as a compliment.

I'm not really sure how Kilkenny was able to pull this together so fast.  However, there are still many issues to be solved.  Where are the Ducks going to play?  Civic Stadium might be the place initially, but it is clear the the Ducks will need to have a ballpark built with the first five years of the program.  With the arena going up at the old bakery, where will the ballpark be built?  At this point, its unknown.  Also unknown is how soon the Ducks will play a full conference schedule.  Kilkenny hopes to have a new coach hired by September, and at that point they will decide together whether getting drilled by the rest of the Pac-10 is what they want to do in the first year, or whether they want to play more of an independent schedule, then go Pac-10 in year two.  And hold no illusions, Duck fans, the first few years won't be pretty, from a record standpoint at least.

In any case, it'll be a blast being able to watch our beloved Ducks on the baseball diamond.  And those of us who aren't track fans will have something to do in the spring besides clamor for football season.

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave