The USA is looking for it's first gold medal at the Olympics since the Miracle on Ice year in 1980. Even though Canada lost to the US earlier, they are the odds on favorites to prove that loss was a fluke and capture another gold medal. I know we have some Canadian readers but I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to say Go USA!

With all the turmoil of legal troubles, crappy basketball, and crappier sportswriters, we deserve a break from our troubles.  To facilitate that, and to celebrate our one millionth page view, here's arguably the greatest Media Wednesday in the history of Media Wednesdays.  Enjoy.

Just wanted to give a final reminder about the ATQ Basketball Game Meetup scheduled for today at 12:30pm. Even if you don't have tickets and just want to catch a bite before the game, come on down and hang out. Should be quite the crowd. For those that are interested and need help finding the place, send me an email at my address in my profile. I will be checking email frequently.

Here is the address for the meetup

McMenamin's - website
1485 E. 19th Ave.
Eugene, OR 97403
Map

Local Phone: (541) 342-4025

The Oregon Duck Ticket Office has a 20% promotion for 300-lvl seats. Check out details here. Go Ducks!

Yep.  This is going to happen.  We'll have the meetup for the Saturday, Jan. 30 home game against USC.  Details are as follows:

UO doesn't sell group tickets, and there is really no way for us to sit together.  Dom and I will post where we'll be sitting after we get our tickets, but the chances it'll be together are very slim.

The meetup itself will take place before the game.  Its a 3:00 tip off, we're meeting at the McMenamin's at 19th and Agate at 12:30.  Its a good place to get some lunch and a good brew, and we'll eat and shoot the breeze for a couple of hours.  If you will be attending, please leave a note in this thread, as I will be calling McMenamin's a few days in advance to let them know our group is coming in.

To those I met during football season, I look forward to seeing you again.  I look forward to meeting lots of new faces as well.

Also, please leave your 'Fire Ernie' signs in the car, or Dom will club you.

Who: Washington St. Cougars (1-3, 0-2 Pac-10) vs. Oregon Ducks (3-1, 1-0 Pac-10)
Time: 6:15pm PST
Location: Autzen Stadium, Eugene, OR
Media: Oregon Sports Network

Washington State comes in with a new quarterback at the helm and an inexperienced offensive line. That being said, Pete Carroll of USC recently stated that Wazzu is a "much much improved team". With all of the buzz around LeGarrette Blount's possible reinstatement, let's hope the distraction doesn't impact the team causing a letdown.

We're going to open the thread early to talk about a lot of interesting games out there today.

Autzen Stadium 10:45 a.m. -

If you're joining the festivities today, be sure to stop by the unofficial ATQ tent. dvieira and I are set up with on the first row on the left side of entrance #5, just outside the stadium's main entrance. Look for a green Oregon tent and some star-shaped balloons just one row back from the mostly empty handicap parking area.

We have food. We have cold adult beverages for the 21+ ATQ folks. We're also signing up any ATQers who show their face at the tent for a chance at a giveaway of the iPod Shuffle that we won at the LaCrosse game. Not an ATQ member? Sign up today and we'll include you in the giveaway drawing.

NO SWINE FLU AT THE ATQ TENT!

Seriously, we'd like to meet a few of you.

JShufelt - I have some Jdraft waiting in the cooler for you pal.

Note: I'm launching this open thread a little early as a reminder that we've got a party going on!

The spring game is here and we've got all kinds of things going on. ATQ members will be down at Autzen, hitting up some BBQ and enjoying the fan festivities being put on by the University of Oregon. We should have a laptop available from the tailgate to let people give some live thoughts and hopefully get some good pub for the blog. If you are out and about at the game, feel free to stop by the tailgate going on in the parking lot. We should have a location available in this thread once we get all set up, starting at around 9am PST. We "may" be giving away a prize or two for those that stop by. Also, if you want to join in on the BBQ, bring some protein to throw on the BBQ and we'll grill it up. We will most likely be sitting in section 32, about halfway up under the cover in case of rain. We'll try to have an ATQ sign but if you contact me through email beforehand, we can work out a way to make sure ATQ folks get hooked up.

Note, if you're planning on heading to the game, make sure you bring 3 cans of food and a $2 for donation to the Todd Doxey foundation (to get your parking pass).

The game will be on Comcast Sports Net and the Oregon Broadcasting Network (radio) starting at about 2pm. The baseball game will be happening before that, starting at 11am. We may not win the baseball game but I'm pretty sure we've got a shot at winning the football game.

--dvieira

The ATQ Spring Meetup 2009 is in the books. Not a bad turnout for ATQ members given it was 1) a Lacrosse game and 2) on Easter weekend. The idiot that came up with having an event on Easter weekend should be beaten with a stick behind the Mo-center. Overall, it was a lot of fun for all the parties involved. One lucky ATQ reader in SherrieC walked away with a free iPod Shuffle. I swear, it wasn't rigged. It just goes to show you though...anything can happen at an ATQ event. You wanted to get an iPod but didn't show up? Well, that will teach YOU for not showing up for the event. She has since informed me that she doesn't NEED an iPod so we might throw this in the pool for a future ATQ event.

Before I give my thoughts on the event, I wanted to give some thanks to some folks that helped make all of this happen. First and foremost, Aimee Schmidt and her counterparts at the University of Oregon. She was responsible for managing the somewhat odd request of sending local kids to the game and came through with flying colors. Through her contacts in the community, ATQ members and the University of Oregon were able to send 2 entire youth teams to the game for free before they were scheduled to have their own match later in the day. Special thanks also to the great number of ATQ readers that helped contribute to sending those kids to the games. Also, thanks to the members that came out to try something a little different and see a Lacrosse game. Onto some thoughts...

–Pape Field was at about 85% capacity and it felt like a big time game. It was senior day so I suspect the games aren't normally as crowded. It made for a great atmosphere.

–Joe Giansante was at the scoring table before the game started but I didn't see him much after the teams started going. There is a picture of him on the ATQ Facebook site. I'm betting he was hoping that more baseball games were being broadcast to the 4 people that actually get the Comcast Sports Network.

–Virginia Tech had some very fast players on their team and seemed to routinely outrun the Duck defense down the field.

–Anna Poponyak, goalkeeper for Oregon, was absolutely amazing to watch live. During the game, she recorded her 500th career save and she looked effortless doing it. Reaction time is off the charts.

–The Hokies ran out to a 4-1 lead early in the game but the Ducks stormed back and took a 2 goal lead at halftime.

–The game was very close going into the 4 and a half minute mark in the second half when the Ducks called a timeout, huddled up, then came out and scored 4 unanswered goals to win the game 15-10.

–This being my first Lacrosse game, I have to admit. I was pretty nervous about whether I was going to like it or not. Turns out, Lacrosse is my type of game. It has the strategy and feel of basketball on an open field. JConant and I commented to each other about Ernie taking some ideas from the plays the team was running. I will definitely be going back and encouraging others to check out the team next season.

JConant and I will be setting up something a little grander for the next ATQ get together, currently planned for the Football Spring Game on May 2nd at 2pm. Think BBQ foods, drinks, and the whole lot. We'll be making announcements about it as we get closer so plan on joining us to see the Chip Kelly Era begin in earnest with the spring game. Also, if you are on Facebook and planning on going to the game already, make sure you visit the event page to see all the goings on. Also check us out on Twitter if you haven't already.

Thanks again for making the ATQ Spring Meetup 2009 such a great success and I promise....no more scheduling events on Easter. For photos of the event, check out the ATQ Spring Meetup 2009 photo album.

–dvieira