So much quack. Where to begin?
- It's hard to say which was more unlikely, Jeremiah Masoli's rise from depth chart no-name to potential heisman candidate, or his rapid descent to washed up failure. In case you didn't get all the details yesterday, here's the latest front-page update from the R-G.
- George Schroeder's follow-up piece takes a somewhat sentimental look at Masoli's monumental flame out.
- You can read John Canzano's take on Masoli's career as a Duck. I didn't.
- Well, isn't this juicy. Check out this video with ESPN's Bruce Feldman discussing the ass-whippin' that apparently is going to be handed down to USC from the NCAA. Undoubtedly the discussion of the day...what does this mean for current Pac-10 members, the members of the possibly forthcoming Pac-Big-16, and recruiting.
- The NCAA track and field championships got underway in Eugene yesterday. The Ducks women got off to a good start with Nicole Blood's third place finish in the 10,000 meters. Texas A&M - the women's primary opponent - were not so fortunate, losing a key star to an injury. Check out yesterday's recap, and a look at Andrew Wheating's rivalry in the 800 meters with superstar freshman Robby Andrews of Virginia.
- Curtis Anderson of the R-G has an on-going blog with updated track and field results.
- Say bye-bye to baseball's top recruit. It's being reported that pitcher Jesse Biddle will sign a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies upon his high school graduation Friday. No big deal...we're going to see this happen just about every year. Two other Duck signees were also drafted: catcher Aaron Jones (38th round, Boston) and right-hander Brandon Brennan (40th round, Colorado).
[edit] Props to ATQ member Bradderup for providing the complete list of Duck signees who were drafted. My apologies for not getting the whole group in the post above - jc.
Biddle LHP 1st SD
Sanchez RHP 1st comp. TOR
Rowland RHP 3rd ARI
Kingham RHP 4th PIT
Kuresa 1B 11th MIN
Hofmann CF 16th SD
Sabol C/OF 17th ATL
Tessar RHP/2B 25th TOR
Jones C 37th BOS
Brennan RHP 40th COL
- The NCAA reports that Oregon's Academic Progress Report (APR) is going in the right direction - up. All Oregon sports were above the mandated 925 mark, though football still ranks eighth among Pac-10 teams. Bottom line: no penalties forthcoming. That's a good thing.
- More on Expandageddon: Chris Mottram on SB Nation reports that officials from Texas and Texas A&M may trying to keep the Big XII together.
- Bay Area columnist Jon Wilner is still talking about Utah as part of Pac-10 expansion. I thought they were out of the picture. He is also predicting we'll see a Colorado acceptance speech today...and behold the Pac-11.
It's going to be a busy weekend with all this quack going down. Try to get outside and breath some fresh air every so often. And if you see CGB's TwistNHook, be sure to trip him from behind then run away screaming 42-3! 42-3! 42-3!