Happy Thursday. And dare I say welcome to another edition of Happy I Hate Washington Day. It's hoops game day in the Pac-10, which more often than not isn't much fun for us Duck fans. Ernie's kids have won their last two. Will they go streaking? Crazier stuff has happened.
- Ducks and Huskies tonight at Mac Court, 7 p.m., no TV. Here's the official release from GoDucks.com.
- The legendary Dick Harter will be back in The Pit as Oregon's honorary captain tonight. Bob Clark of the R-G suggests the game might not live up to Harter's return (probably a fair assumption). The real question, is Harter looking for work? John Hunt of The Oregonian also looks back at Harter's days at Oregon.
- Trail Blazers star Brandon Roy will be the honorary captain for Washington tonight. That prompted Mike Tokito to wonder, "would Oregon fans boo Brandon Roy?"
- George Schroeder gets some "ink" over at SI.com, and writes that high expectations and Oregon's new arena probably spell the end of Ernie Kent's run as the Ducks coach.
- It was a wet, ugly day at P.K. Park yesterday and the Ducks just couldn't generate enough offense to make it two straight over the Huskies. The Dawgs took it 5-3, evening Oregon's season record at 5-5. Adam Jude has the recap for the R-G.
- A year ago we were reading about Oregon's athletic department keeping the budget in the black. Not so this year. The Ducks sports programs were in the hole $642,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 (typical government, always running 9 months behind the rest of us). The Beavs were in the red to the tune of $5.9 million...yikes! Bill Graves of The Oregonian has all the tedious details.
- A few other notes: Former Oregon star Matt Toeaina might be in line for some more work with the Chicago Bears. Aaron Fentress with a quick note about Toeaina over at OregonLive. Jack Moran at the R-G writes that former Duck Garrett Embry has hired a Eugene attorney as police continue to follow up on the frat house theft allegations.
- Finally, Greg Bolt of the R-G has today's big news... The UO and Walt Disney Co. have agreed the Duck mascot is no longer a Disney trademark. That has all sorts of interesting implications, though Bolt notes, "...don’t expect to see the Duck pounding beers at Taylor’s."
Lots of Quack today. I assume Jared's assigned police blotter duty to someone? If you find something good, please share.