With the Oregon Ducks relegated to the CBI (hey, I’m not complaining, I’m shocked they’re still playing in March) it’s time to pick a team to root for in the NCAA tournament. I generally root for utter chaos, and you should too. Don’t be the dick that’s mad Kansas lost in the second round solely because it destroys your bracket. Much like bad poker beats, no one but you cares about your bracket.

But I digress. It’s always nice to have a team to genuinely pull for in March. Here then, is my process for picking the bandwagon I’m jumping on.

First of all, I’m not going to waste my time pulling for a team that has little to no chance of even surviving the opening weekend. I want a shot at riding this train all the way to Houston and the Final Four. So say goodbye to everyone seeded 13 through 16. UTSA, Alabama State, Princeton, Indiana State, Long Island, Hampton, Oakland, Bucknell, Northern Colorado, Boston U, Morehead State, St. Peter’s, Akron, UNC-Asheville, UALR, Belmont, Wofford and UC Santa Barbara – I hope a few of you pull off a shocking upset and that you enjoy your “one shining moment.”

I’m also eliminating any team playing Tuesday or Wednesday. You definitely don’t want your new favorite team to be going home before the big dance actually starts. That knocks out UAB, Clemson, USC and VCU. I do hope UAB makes it to the Sweet 16, just because apparently Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale and everyone else at ESPN think they’re Satan in baggy shorts.

That leaves us with 48 teams. Break out the machete, it’s time to start chopping. no comments

The Snozberries Taste Like Snozberries: Prepare yourselves: I’m about to go Bill Simmons on you and break down the current flap involving the Oregon football program by comparing it to an old movie. In this case, we’re using the 1971 classic Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Why the ’71 version and not the 2005 iteration? Because the newer movie stinks, that’s why. Anyway, our cast:

Oregon football is Charlie Bucket, USC is Augustus Gloop, Auburn is Violet Beauregarde, Ohio State is Veruca Salt and Lane Kiffin is Mike Teevee. Willy Wonka is the NCAA, while the Oompa Loompas are the NCAA investigators. The golden ticket is your admission to college football’s elite.

So, we’ve got our golden ticket and we’re inside the factory. Getting into the factory is a big deal. Heck, our Grandpa Joe was so excited about this tour that he got out of bed and danced! And he’d been bed-ridden for ages. As the tour goes along weird things keep happening. USC got greedy and fell in the chocolate river. Auburn is a human sized blueberry just waiting to be squeezed. Ohio State is, in fact, a bad egg. Lane Kiffin was so obsessed with being on TV that he’s now a shrunken version of himself.

Meanwhile, Oregon marched on. The tour is over and we’re clean. We did everything Willy asked of us and now we’ve got our hands out, waiting for the big prize he promised us.

But hold on. We sampled Fizzy Lifting Drink. But that’s not so bad, right? I mean for god’s sake, look what those other guys did! And trying Fizzy Lifting Drink is kind of a gray area. After all, we were eating giant candy mushrooms and licking flavored wallpaper, and now we find out that taking a couple of sips of Fizzy Lifting Drink might be a no-no? Seems kind of petty, but it’s Willy’s factory and Willy’s rules, and Willy is kind of crazy so who knows what might happen.

See, that’s the thing. It doesn’t matter what any holier-than-thou journalist says. It’s all about the wild and wacky NCAA. This looks kind of bad for the Ducks, but it’s not like Lache Seastrunk’s mom asked for 180 large. Paying for videos of high school players isn’t wrong unless the guy you’re paying is steering kids to your school. And $25,000 seems like a lot of money. Then again, Oregon did pay two other services $17,000 and $18,000 respectively a couple of years ago, so maybe this guy did a lot of video work for the Ducks.

Or maybe we’re not as wholesome as we’d like to be. Maybe, like USC and Ohio State and Auburn and Lane Kiffin, we’re dirty, too. Not drowning-in-a-chocolate-river dirty, but still. no comments

Love and Basketball: As a fan, you always like your team. No matter what, you’ll always root for them, but the time you want to spend with them has its ebbs and flows. For example, I’m a Cincinnati Bengals fan, and right now I don’t want to waste ten seconds thinking about that putrid team. But if they were playing tomorrow, I’d watch the game, probably with one eye on my laptop.

On the other hand, I loved the 2010 Oregon football team. They were transcendent, a group of great guys who played an entertaining brand of football at an extremely high level. Easy to love.

But I also loved the 1999 team, a group that lost three times. At one point they were 3-3, but they reeled off six straight wins – four by five points or less -- and won the Sun Bowl. They were a team that for two months simply refused to lose. It was exhilarating.

Which brings me to this year’s Oregon hoops squad. On paper, they’re really not very good. They have no size, no NBA talent and in early December I was pretty sure me and four buddies could beat their best five. But here we are in early February, and I think I’m in love.

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Letting Go and Moving On: During the 35 days leading up to the BCS Championship Game, I was entertaining the possibility that it was all a dream, and Oregon was actually playing in the Sun Bowl. It was only when I walked into the stadium in Glendale and saw the field that it hit me: “Holy sh*t! The Ducks are playing for the national title. It is real.”

But now I’ve spent the last two weeks secretly hoping January 10 was just a nightmare, and when I wake up the Oregon defense will get another chance at the last two minutes of the game.  I tweeted a couple of days after the game that getting over a crushing loss in a big game is like getting over a girl who dumped you. Every reaction is valid because who’s going to argue with someone who just had their heart broken?

I ate a lot of bad food. $12 worth of Del Taco at 11:30 p.m. seemed like a good idea at the time. I guess after a figurative stomach punch I wanted to feel like I was literally punched in the gut.

I bought tickets for two basketball games at Matt Court. Being back in Eugene will be like that first night out with your buddies as a single guy. I’ll make a good effort to “get back on the horse” but something will remind me of her and I’ll end up sobbing in the men’s room.

The thing is, you never really get over it. It will always hurt. As a Red Sox fan, seeing Aaron Boone still makes me want to throw my TV out the window, even after two World Series titles. But all that pain in 2003 just made 2004 that much sweeter.

So here’s to the promise of 2011. It’s time to leave the pain of 2010 behind. no comments

Win the day. WTD (or #WTD if you’re on Twitter). It’s the ultimate Tao of Chip, a coaching philosophy and lifestyle all in one. The concept is simple: no matter what you’re doing – practice, lifting weights, going to class, game day – go out and win it. Be better than you were yesterday. It’s a mantra that has guided the 2010 Oregon Ducks to the brink of a national championship.

They won the day in the rain and humidity in Knoxville and in the heat in Tempe.

Days won in Pullman, Los Angeles, Berkeley and Corvallis.

Six times they won the day in Eugene.

And now, Glendale. The ultimate day. For the players and coaches on this team, it’s the culmination of a season of days won. But standing behind them, unseen, are countless fans, as well as former players and coaches who over the course of 100-plus years of Oregon football laid a foundation for this team, these players.

Win the day for all of them. no comments

Let’s be honest: as Oregon fans, there’s only one bowl we care about this season – the Natty. But as long as we’re being honest, we might as well admit that we’re going to get sucked into watching a vast majority of the other 34 bowl games. We’re football fans, it’s what we do. But with so many of these games involving teams you’ve never heard of (Troy?) from places that don’t appear on any map (East Carolina?) played in cities where visiting seems more punishment than reward (Detroit and El Paso), it’s going to be difficult to enjoy the bowl season if you don’t know who to root for. Here then, the Oregon fan’s guide to picking a team to cheer for in all 35 bowl games.

New Mexico Bowl, Albuquerque
BYU vs. UTEP
Who to root for: UTEP, because four years later, 38-8 still burns.

Humanitarian Bowl, Boise
Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State
Who to root for: Fresno State, because when in doubt, support the West Coast. Also because the Bulldogs deserve a win since their “reward” for going 8-4 is a trip to the same field where they lost 51-0 less than a month ago. Which is like rewarding your kid for being brave during their root canal by taking them to the doctor for shots. no comments

That Just Happened: Fellow Oregon fans, we are living in an Inception-style world. Dreams within dreams within dreams.

The dream of a Heisman Trophy candidate. The dream of a Pac-10 championship. The dream of three straight Civil War victories, each loss more crushing than the last for Oregon State. And now, the dream of playing for a BCS Championship.

The Ducks won their twelfth game like they won most of the previous eleven. An early turnover, a first quarter deficit, an offense that alternated between sputtering and spectacular. And in the second half, a punishing rushing attack that wore down the Oregon State defense, coupled with a deep, athletic defense that repeatedly stiffened when the Beavers crossed the 50 yard line.

The process hasn’t always been pretty, but the end result has been perfection.

So, What’s Next: The Natty. Cam Newton, Cecil Newton, the SEC vs. the Pac-10, offensive genius Chip Kelly vs. offensive genius Gus Malzahn. Heck, even red state vs. blue state. We’ve got 35 days to beat every storyline into the ground.

Big Man on Campus: Kenjon Barner. He’s baaaaack. Fifteen carries for 133 yards, and two touchdowns (one rushing and one receiving). A healthy Barner means no rest for the defense when LaMichael James goes to the sideline. no comments

If this doesn't give you goosebumps, then you aren't human. What an amazing season. I couldn't have picked a better time to go to school at the University of Oregon.

I Love My Ducks!

 

Big props to KVAL for putting this together.

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Oregon State is 5-6. Oregon is 11-0, ranked No. 1 in the AP and Coaches polls, and No. 2 in the BCS. Statistically speaking, games like this almost always end in a blowout. According to Chris Fallica of ESPN.com, since 1980 in games where the AP No. 1 is playing against a team with a losing record in November or December, the top ranked team is 36-0 with an average score of 44.3 to 9.9. Only five of those games have been decided by seven points or less. Of those five, only one was a rivalry game, with Oklahoma fending off Oklahoma State 12-7 in 2000. The rest were classic trap and/or look-ahead games.

Oregon will most certainly not be looking ahead on Saturday. They have been incredibly, remarkably focused week after week. Oregon State, on the other hand, has been up and down more times than a malfunctioning roller coaster. A typical Mike Riley-coached team is better in November than it was in September, but in a lot of ways, this team is worse. Since winning at then-No. 9 Arizona on October 9, the Beavers have dropped four of six, including losses to Washington, UCLA and Washington State, the latter in Corvallis.

However, aside from the Washington State game, the Beavers have been tough at home, beating Cal and USC by a combined score of 71-14. They’ll be motivated, not just by a desire to destroy Oregon’s dream season, but by a hunger to extend their season. That’s why I don’t buy the line that OSU has nothing to lose; a loss means the 2010 season was an utter failure. Seriously, what good can they take away from this season if they lose this game? Win, and this team goes down as one of the greats in Beaver history (more so for killing Oregon’s season than for their own success. What’s that called again? Oh yeah: Little Brother Syndrome). Sure, Oregon has more to lose, but there’s pressure on OSU as well. no comments

Quarterbacks:

Oregon quarterbacks finally returned to form, throwing passes to nephews and cousins at family Thanksgiving banquets. Hey, a game’s a game.

Running Backs:

Jonathan Stewart (Carolina) – Stewart had 12 carries for 98 yards and the Claussen-led Panthers showed some toughness against the Browns, but ultimately have their sights on the No. 1 overall pick. A comment from last weeks post also notified me that J-Stew is reunited with Jeremiah Johnson.

LeGarrette Blount (Tampa Bay) – Blount shouldered the load for the Bucs with 13 carries for 55 yards against the stout Ravens defense. The Bucs couldn’t put enough points on the board and lost 17-10.

Maurice Morris (Detroit) – Morris showed up on Turkey day with nine carries 55 yards and two touchdowns. He also led the team in receptions with five for 20 yards. The Lions, however, were unable to stop Tom Brady and the Patriots offense. Side note: Tom Brady likes UGGs.

Receivers & Tight Ends:

Dante Rosario (Carolina) – Rosario had three receptions for 33 yards and the Panthers actually managed 23 points.

Justin Peelle (Atlanta) – Peelle had one reception for 14 yards for the Falcons aerial attack.

Ed Dickson (Baltimore) – Didn’t get on the stat sheet for the Ravens passing game.

Demetrius Williams (Cleveland) – The Ducks do have people catching passes other than a tight end or running back. Unfortunately, Williams is only catching passes for the scout team in Cleveland. no comments