Big Day

Things I saw today, more or less in order:

Stanford is done.  The team needs a pep-pill from Condi Rice.

WSU is awful, and PSU may contend in the Big Sky.  But not if EWU and Montana have a say in the matter.

UCLA frosh Josh Rosen is a budding superstar.  Best statue since Carson Palmer in the Southland.

Grambling State hasn't been any good since Eddie Robinson died. Cal's QB is great.

Cal could be a threat for second in the Pac-12 North because everybody but Oregon sucks bad.

Oregon's defense is ba-a-a-a-a-a-d, but the offense has speed to burn. Vernon Adams is okay.

The EWU v. Montana game this year will be the game of the year, and the winner will get North Dakota State.

Arizona State is overrated.

USC has enough talent to transcend the drunken antics of Cutty "Stevie" Sark.

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Bad Beavs

Halftime in Corn Valley and OSU is whupping the mighty Wildcats of Weber State of the Big Sky Conference 6-0.

The Beavs have a reasonably good defense, but it's hard to scope it thoroughly against their equally inept FCS opponent tonight.

The Beavs' offense is abysmal, with 33 yards passing.  I've always liked Mike Riley, but he got out of Corvallis in the nick of time, leaving a hot mess for new coach Gary Andersen--who quit Wisconsin for this?

Andersen is a right-winger from Utah who doesn't strike me as being very bright.

Somebody at OSU thought it would be a good idea to paint the Beavs' logo with an obnoxious U.S. flag motif as well.

That person can't be very bright either and should be fired, and OSU should leave the Pac-12 tomorrow.  They're awful.


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It's On

I got my football.  Utah hosting Michigan.

A couple of tough, fast defensive teams with inconsistent QBs who would be water boys at Oregon.

Good games all weekend, and I've battled the admen to a tenuous draw at First Row Sports.

Michigan is threatening to score a touchdown!  But...(Michigan has a player named Butt,)

Will settle for a field goal.

Tie game, 3-3 early in the second quarter.

Utah scores a TD after a nice drive!  It's on, my time of the year and a reasonable, welcomed escape.


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FWIW

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VA

I guess I don't mind his showboat dance moves too much now that he's a Duck.  Still, I hope Frost and Helfrich pull him aside and say, "a little less of that, please."  Wouldn't surprise me if they haven't already mentioned it.  That stuff can draw an unwanted, ill-timed penalty in the image-conscious Pac-12.


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Idiots

This one is for all of the idiots I have known.

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Radio Daze?

The Oregon countdown clock in my sidebar doesn't confront the story of my approaching dilemma.

The college games started yesterday with the FCS Montana vs. North Dakota State kickoff. I watched the end of that in a local watering hole, and man was it good.  Montana drove with a minute left for the winning score in front of a madhouse home crowd, and it reminded me of why I like this game so much.

But here's the ordeal.  FBS ball starts Thursday and the weekend is chock-full-O games I want to see before Oregon plays Saturday night against Eastern Washington. Now my usual streaming site, which has treated me well for the past five seasons, has a hella ad (a virus literally) attached to it that is unbeatable. If it pops up, you're unable to click it off like the other ads that cluster on the site like landmines in a war zone.

They're manageable.  This one is not.  I've had to shut down my computer the three times I've tried to trick it.

This one just destroys the fun and renders the site unusable.

(I'd kill the fuckers responsible for this if I could get my hands on them.  I'm serious.  They deserve to die.  By strangulation.)

So far it has infected the few NFL games I've tried to watch (namely the Titans and Mariota) and I've been forced to Tunein radio.

I'm not a radio guy, spoiled like I have been by television.

I'll give it a shot when the FBS schedule opens, shut down if I have to, figure something out.

But what a drag.  I'm a little concerned I may not get my FBS fix. And I don't have the budget to be a sports bar regular these days like I have in the past.

Might have to learn to love the radio again.  Ugh...


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Depth Charges

(GoDucks.com photo)

Oregon's idiot bandwagon fans and uninformed loudmouths are already bitching about the coaching decisions that have left their favorite players off the "two-deep" lineup for Saturday's game against Eastern Washington.

The only seeming consensus is that, based on his career in FCS football and Jeff Lockie's inexperience, all Oregon fans seem to think the choice of Vernon Adams as the starting QB is a good thing.

Oh, and everybody is convinced Royce Freeman is the "real deal." Heh...

That one wasn't too tough.

Whoop-dee-doo.

The two-deep roster, no matter your team, is essentially the coaches' determination of which 44 players can best help the team win a game on any given Saturday.  It is not chiseled in stone.  Year-long, it is always a fluid thing dependent on the health and performance of each member of the team. It is highly mutable, under flux, and beyond any set notions of the "way things ought to be" as voiced by halfwits.

We're a week out from the start of the Oregon season, and the stupidity of Oregon's loudest, most obnoxious fan base is already getting on my nerves.

What's new?

How will I survive the season, especially if the Ducks happen to lose a game that the "experts" on the fan sites I read deem "unacceptable" and begin to spew negativity about the coaches and team?

I suppose I shouldn't indulge myself.  I'll watch the games and try to tune out the hype, pro and con.


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Nader Gets it Wrong

There are examples of the wealthy contributing to longstanding progressive improvements in society. There were wealthy philanthropists who funded many activities focused on the abolition of slavery and obtaining universal suffrage for women. The Civil Rights Movement received substantial financial backing from a handful of very rich families. In addition, numerous environmental groups today are reaping the benefits of wealthy supporters.

Nah, take the money they stole from workers and put the oligarchs up against the wall.


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Whoosh!

(Oregonian photo)

Kids (young and old) really know how to have fun these days.  Check out these skateboarders attacking a road course on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge.

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Yeah, what she said...

“Senator Sanders, we are enthusiastic about your presidential campaign’s strong challenge to corporate power and oligarchy. We urge you to speak out about how they are intertwined with militarism and ongoing war. Martin Luther King Jr. denounced what he called ‘the madness of militarism,’ and you should do the same. As you said in your speech to the SCLC, ‘Now is not the time for thinking small.’ Unwillingness to challenge the madness of militarism is thinking small.”

The petition is headlined “Bernie Sanders, Speak Up: Militarism and Corporate Power Are Fueling Each Other.” In addition to signing the petition, about 5,000 of the 25,000 signers wrote individual comments that are posted online as part of the petition.

Smarter people than your friendly, angry wannabe blogging hero are tracking this stuff.  I defer to the 25K.

'Nuff said.


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Weather Report

Maybe I'll stay inside this weekend and clean my pad...finally.

Or maybe I'll take a walk in the rain instead.




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Note to an Industry Insider

I figure you probably expect something from me about the murderous dysfunction of the US television industry which has disgruntled former anchormen firing off rounds in the mall of the American mind and gunning down other beautiful people in the business...

Well...no I will not go there.  All I'll say is if you see someone you know suddenly appear in the studio who shouldn't be there...drop your light meter and run!

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Can't Get Over It

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No More Shit, Please

Bernie,

Dammit, I'm getting sick of your "plan to take on Wall Street." Where is the plan to shut down the MIC, cut militarism, save the environment, bring the U.S. back to reality and obliterate the hegemony that is responsible for half the world hating everything we stand for?

Where is your plan to legalize drugs, open the borders, cut back incarceration, rebuild our infrastructure and free the American worker from the influence of the mob/corporatism?

Bernie, shut up and tell Hillary and this group of religious clowns running the GOP to quit embarrassing Americans.

Oh, and tell Bibi to kiss off as well. (Fat chance, right?)

You're not getting a dime out of me until you say something that makes sense beyond your little Wall Street and anti-billionaire rap.

Love ya, Berns,
but you're pissing me off.

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