It’s now been over a month since that infamous night at SAE, and only just now are we starting to get some clarity. And not in a good way.

Jeremiah Masoli and Garrett Embry have officially been charged with second degree burglary (a felony in Oregon) and are due to appear in court later today. Also, rumors have been swirling that Masoli’s locker has already been cleaned out – although later refuted by Canzano, saying Chip Kelly told him personally.

The Eugene Police Department and the athletic department did such a good job keeping things under raps in the past few weeks that I figured when Embry was booted off the team (apparently, for the second time) a couple weeks ago that that would be the end of it. There was no hard evidence that Masoli had stolen anything, while Embry at least admitted to having possession of the projector (although the thought of a frat kid chasing down a D1 wide receiving is still baffling).

In fact, the EPD even went so far as to say Masoli wasn’t even a suspect in the case. A little weird, but I went along with it.

Now today, we learned that police found the quarterback’s fingerprints on the “stolen property”.

This is what I found shocking.

When did they find this out? I can’t believe it was just this week. I would assume, the longer you wait, the harder it is to find fingerprints. Maybe they were waiting to disclose this until Masoli was officially charged, but then why would they be so adamant in saying he wasn’t even a suspect?

Factor in his previous legal troubles and the rumor that he might have lied to Chip Kelly about the incident, and things could get real ugly, real fast.

This whole case has been very weird. And has paid an emotional toll on Duck fans.

Oregon has been the butt of numerous jokes and criticisms all over the interwebs, including sites such as Deadspin, SportsbyBrooks (gag) and The Big Lead.

That said, commenter #21 (not an Oregon fan) from The Big Lead nailed the grieving process we’re going through perfectly.

wildcat1144 Says:

March 11th, 2010 at 3:19 pm

It’s been fascinating to listen to duck fans call into the Portland based sports shows. It’s like they’ve been going through the 5 stages of grief and loss over the past few months.

Denial – Whoa, like these guys were even involved. It’s just a rumor. The Oregonian and radio shows are just blowing this up. No big deal.

Anger – It’s the Frat’s fault for not letting Masoli in the party and for reporting it, she probably was attacking James and he was just defending himself, it’s Canzano’s fault because he hates the University of Oregon.

Bargaining – Hey if “we” want to win a Rose Bowl and play for a championship then we have to be willing to have guys with questionable character on the team. Hey these are just college kids and all college kids do stuff like this.

Depression – What happened to our Pac 10 championship team? Chip can’t watch all 90 guys on the team. This may hurt us in 2010 but we’ll still beat Oregon State.

Acceptance – Masoli was 1-dimensional anyways…Darron Thomas is going to be a star so we might as well play him now. James wouldn’t have broke out with Blunt getting suspended so I’m sure we’ll have another running back to replace James.

Obviously, his “Acceptance” paragraph is sarcasm, but unfortunately spot on. I too, have noticed that Oregon fans have been saying “oh, Darron Thomas is better than Masoli anyway”. Talk about talking yourself into something. That’s just flat out not true.

With Masoli and James, Oregon is a top 5 team (Vegas at one point gave Oregon the best odds at winning the 2011 title) and anything less than a Rose Bowl win would be a disappointment.

Masoli is a bona fide Heisman contender this season. Darron Thomas is merely the sexy backup who came in for him in the Boise State game and almost led the Ducks to a fantastic comeback (and also this awesome play), but still, big difference.

While clearly talented, Thomas doesn’t come close to replacing Masoli’s stone cold demeanor, confidence, leadership, experience, and feel for Chip’s complex offense. I don’t know how many guys treat a 4th and 5 the same way they treat a 1st and 10, but Masoli’s one of them (evidence, evidence, and more evidence).

Sure, Oregon returns 19 starters, but that’s meaningless without its star quarterback. Masoli makes this offense go.

If Masoli is found guilty, then of course he needs to pay the consequences, but for the love of Juju, I’m praying Masoli will be barking signals come September.

Hours of potentially lost sleep, rising blood pressures, and psychiatrists bills for thousands of Oregon fans are at stake.

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The always popular John Canzano wrote a column yesterday bidding farewell to Mac Court.

Don't worry, The Pit may be gone, but The Pit Crew will be back again in full force next season, just in an arena that has urinals where you don't have to be touching hips with the guy you're peeing next to.

As usual, it caused a bit of controversy. Minutes after it was posted to the interwebs, several of my friends gushed to me about what an idiot he was and how he had no respect for The Pit’s history.

No, Canzano didn’t reminisce about the famous “Tall Firs” and their run to the first ever NCAA tournament title in 1939 or Oregon’s upset over No. 1 UCLA in 2007, or any other memory that had been made there in the past 84 years.

Instead, Mr. BFT called Mac Court something no Oregon Duck fans wanted to hear: a dump. Even going as far as to say: “Mac Court is cramped. It’s outdated. It’s become a cumbersome place to watch a game, and I’m not sure many will really miss it.”

But you know what? He’s right. Well, at least for me.

Calm down, calm down. Let me explain myself.

I’m only a sophomore at the University of Oregon, and the first game I ever attended at Mac Court was against St. Mary’s last season. Fittingly, it was a loss.

During my entire tenure here in Eugene, the Ducks record is 23-38 overall and 9-27 in the Pac-10.

I’ve had nothing to be excited about. Honestly, my greatest memory from The Pit was when we beat Stanford for our first conference win (in late February, my apologies Robbie G) and stormed the court in pity celebration.

(The same kind of celebration like when a pitcher walks the bases loaded on 12 straight pitches and then receives a mocking cheer when he finally throws a strike. Not the good kind of celebration.)

I was never in The Pit to see Luke, Luke and Freddie or Aaron Brooks. I have no special connection to this stadium.

If I didn’t know any better, based on my two years of experience alone, I would have guessed Mac Court was just a tiny, cramped, usually empty arena, with a home team that usually loses, and which also curiously happens to be located across the street from a cemetery.

Now, l realize this is a selfish opinion, but that’s why I have a blog.

For Oregon to reach the next level in the national basketball landscape, the new stadium is a must. Players are tired of cramped showers, dilapidated locker rooms and vacant seats. Top recruits in 2010 don’t care about history; they care about state of the art, and cool.

Mac Court is not cool. Mac Court is historical. There’s a reason why most inner city kids don’t want the History Channel: it’s just not cool.

New memories will be made in Matthew Knight Arena. A new hope.

As Canzano says: “Hope that Oregon can become relevant. Hope that the new building will hold more great memories than the old one. Hope that there will be thrills, and memories, and that someday 100 years from now when Matthew Knight Arena is outdated and crumbling that someone will ask, “How could they tear down this wonderful place?!?”

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Most everyone knew Ernie Kent would be fired following this season. Unfortunately, it had to happen during the second half of the final Pac-10 game at historic Mac Court. At least they got the win though, right?

This was a move that had to happen. The program was basically stuck in neutral, waiting for its talented young players to blossom once they became seniors. Problem is, in college basketball these days, you can’t only win once every four years. (He only had four seasons where his teams finished conference play over .500).

With a brand new, state of the art $200 million stadium due to be unveiled at the start of 2011 Pac-10 season, Oregon needed a change. If Ernie couldn’t sell out the shoebox that is Mac Court, then, well, there would be a lot of empty seats at expansive (and expensive) Matt Court.

Although it certainly wasn’t a smooth ending, Kent should be greatly appreciated for his 13-years as the Ducks head coach, as the program has grown leaps and bounds under his leadership. (Although I could make the argument that the growth was almost completely connected to Nike’s sudden “interest” in the program).

According to KVAL’s initial report, athletic director Mike Bellotti fired Kent on Feb. 22, after home losses to Stanford and California. The TV station says the firing will take effect, when the Ducks wrap up the 2009-10 season, presumably after their “play-in” game to the Pac-10 tournament. KEZI reports Kent was fired earlier last week. KMTR says talks between Bellotti and Kent will continue through the Pac-10 tournament.

In addition, Kent’s entire staff will be replaced, with the possible exception of assistant Kenny Payne.

This is where it gets interesting, at least in regards to Kent’s replacement.

Payne has long been friends with ‘World Wide Wes’, who is often called the most powerful man in basketball because of his influence behind the scenes. Payne’s friendship helped create a recruiting pipeline in Detroit, bringing in Malik Hairston and Tajuan Porter.

Yesterday, SI’s Seth Davis wrote a story that William Wesley has agreed to be an agent, representing NBA and college coaches for Creative Artists Agency. Its client list includes Lebron James and John Calipari, among just about every others big name in sports.

Wesley has a special gift for befriending star players, including Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans. Both of those players coincidentally went on to play for his client.

I hope athletic director Mike Bellotti lets Payne stay on, and hire a client of CAA.

As for Oregon’s needs for its next basketball coach, the goal is clear: fill the seats. The Ducks couldn’t even fill The Pit tonight for its last conference game ever, and if you haven’t heard, the new stadium is a bit bigger.

Yes, the athletic department might be in the red right now, but the boosters won’t allow the basketball program to wallow in mediocrity. The Kent firing signifies this.

One donor in particularly might have an interest in Bellotti’s hiring process. (Here’s a hint who: he donated $100 million towards the new stadium).

If Phil Knight has already given that much, spending a few million more on a top coach is a must in order to make the most on his already weighty investment.

Although I don’t have a complete list of CAA coaching clients, I’m sure there are a few big names on there that could be attracted to Oregon for the right price.

Of course, filling the seats is not the only thing of interest. Winning is important as well, although it’d be nice to have a coach who can create interest in the program and sell tickets in and of himself.

My top quality: player development. That has been Kent’s biggest bugaboo. Kent would get talent, but very rarely would there be noticed improvement, thus, leading to his teams only being competitive when his star players were seniors (Luke, Luke and Fred; AB, Malik and Bryce).

Hopefully the new coach can teach Michael Dunigan what a “screen” is, and also run a half-court set that actually resembles a functional offense.

Is that too much to ask for?

(I will have another piece in the next day or two further discussing possible coaching replacements for Ernie Kent)

For now, here’s a quick list of possibilities: Mark Few, Steve Lavin (five sweet 16’s in 7 years at UCLA), Jeff Capel, Mark Turgeon, Tubby Smith, Terry Porter, Cameron Dollar and Randy Bennett.

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Here is a question I submitted to Bill Simmon’s mailbag, my first one ever, believe it or not.

If you are a staunch feminist, or just can’t take a joke, please don’t read any further. If you have a sense of humor, I would like your feedback.

—

In light of the Brittney Griner punch, I’ve noticed that womens sports only get national headlines when something bad happens. I bet you can’t tell me who won the 2008 WNBA title but you probably know which star got a DUI or which college soccer player got suspended for punching and pulling hair (this is a truly great video:  watch below). Let’s face it, the WNBA is never going to get popular for its monotonous lay-ups or boring set shots. So I say run with it. Bad publicity beats zero publicity.

My friend (@TheVermonster) I and were tweeting back and forth about “The Punch” and what it means for womens sports. He said they won’t be legitimized until they act feloniously like their male counterparts, emphasizing the WNBA’s need for gunplay. I jokingly countered, saying he shouldn’t leave out domestic violence, DUIs or multiple baby daddies in different states. He in turn said, are you trying to legitimize womens sports or them into Florida State grads?

This made me think, why can’t it be both? The WNBA should only allow players who attended FSU. Think about it, they would be hot, most likely alcoholic, and would provide plenty of headlines off the court. Who wouldn’t watch that?

But then I had a thought even the Sports Guy himself would be proud of: Why stop there, we could turn the WNBA into a reality show. How about The Real World: WNBA. Imagine the possibilities of this. Put six women in a house, five typical butch-ish women, and then one cute girl, just to all the other ones jealous, and let them fight it out for the alpha dog spot. Imagine the tension. Playing pick-up in the backyard, or at the bar when the cute one attracts all the attention. This could be as popular as Jersey Shore. I don’t know a single guy who watches the WNBA, but I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t watch this.

I’m going to hell for this post.

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Instead of having college students form teams to play in the annual Warsaw Classic, the student-organized tournament decided to become more community-focused, partnering with KIDSPORTS to benefit the youth of Eugene and Springfield.

“The Sports Business Clubs primary focus is providing undergraduate sports business students opportunities to gain experience in the field of sports , and now we have a great youth sports property to manage,” said Tournament Director and University of Oregon senior, Steven Strand.

“We are essentially playing the role now of an agency by handling all of the marketing, sponsorship, and operations of the event.”

The KIDSPORTS Invitational has the same model—64 teams and 320 total players – as before, and again will be hosted at the University of Oregon’s historic Mac Court. Quite the experience for these youngsters.

Despite the restructure, it will still be a one-day tournament on Sunday, February 28th at 9:00 a.m.

The Warsaw Sports Business Club wants to connect local children with the University at a young age and subsequently create a positive, memorable experience for participants and their families.

Money raised through sponsorship of this tournament will go towards the Stephen Dember Memorial Scholarship Fund as well as the Emerald Scholarship Fund, the fund established for KIDSPORTS participants.

Everyone is welcome to come: friends, parents and siblings, so be sure to come out and support the Warsaw Sports Business Club and cheer on the kids!

# # #

More information can be found at http://warsawcenter.com/3on3 and http://kidsports.org or by contacting Tournament Director, Steven Strand at sstrand@uoregon.edu.

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By now, you all should be well aware that junior wide receiver Jamere Holland has been dismissed from the team for a violation of team rules.

More specifically, Holland posted multiple Facebook statuses, one last night and another this morning, undermining Chip Kelly’s yet-to-be-made decision on sophomore Kiko Alonso. The second one, supposedly, was posted after talking with Chip Kelly.

Holland’s actions were irresponsible, ignorant, and most importantly, an easy mistake than can happen again.

With how powerful social media is today, what was meant to be an innocent plea to back up his teammate, was quickly noticed and spread throughout the interwebs in just a matter of minutes.

This isn’t the first time this has happened and it certainly won’t be the last.

Yes, social media – Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace (if anyone will admit they still use it) – is an incredibly powerful tool to communicate with friends, explore interests and spread information, but it also symbolizes something equally important: your social brand.

Holland obviously isn’t aware that everything he says represents himself, the football team, Chip Kelly and the entire University.

That’s a lot at stake.

Sure, you would think that he should know better than to write anything potentially damaging, but the truth is, some kids just don’t.

This is why the Oregon Athletic Department must invest in social media training for its athletes.

At the very least, it protects their investment. At best, it educates student-athletes on how social media impact them today, tomorrow and 10 years from now. Something essential, considering 99% of student-athletes “go pro in something other than sports”.

University of Mississippi has the right idea, as one of the first universities to jump on the social media training bandwagon.

“We certainly respect the social networking rights of our student-athletes but, at the same time, we also want them to be mindful of how they present and represent themselves,” Jamil Northcutt, Ole Miss’s assistant athletic director for Internal Operations told FanHouse.com.

Ole Miss hired Vermont-based UDilligence.com, to be a round-the-clock watchdog to scan the social networking profiles of Rebel athletes for any references to drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, racial slurs or profanity.

“It only costs pennies a day per athlete to protect the athlete’s reputations and the image of the school,” says Kevin Long, the founder of UDiligence.

“By the time a reporter calls asking about it, it’s too late. You’ve lost the advantage from a public relations perspective.”

As we’ve seen here in Holland’s case, his status updates quickly mushroomed into a full-blown public relations disaster.

Dave Williford and the Oregon Athletic Department need to learn from this before any other student-athlete decides to throw F-bombs around in a public forum.

Holland might have thought he was sharing something only between him and his 2,500+ friends (dangerous enough already), but without proper privacy settings, the entire world has the ability to see his post with the click of a button.

I spoke with Kelli Matthews, a public relations professional and professor at the University of Oregon, who has lengthy experience in crisis management, as well as in the online sphere.

She said, “Helping employees understand how social media has changed communication must be a vital part of every organization’s training.

“Every employee is an ambassador and has the opportunity to build or damage your brand with Twitter, FB and blog posts. Organizations must be proactive.”

Your move, Mr. Williford.

–

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Despite the abnormally Eugene-like weather in Southern California last night, the Oregon Ducks baseball season couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.

Horton brings out his wild side celebrating his 2004 national title with Cal State Fullerton. Let's hope he can do it again, but this time in an Oregon uniform.

Feeling right at home in the mid-50 degree temperature and buckets of rain that delayed the finish of the game until almost midnight, the Ducks marched right into Goodwin Field and stole a 7-3 victory from No. 4 Cal State Fullerton.

Even if you aren’t a diehard college baseball fan yet, you might recognize Fullerton as the former team that our manager, George Horton, skippered for 11 seasons – leading the Titans to six College World Series’, including the 2004 national title. (If you’re an A’s fan like me, you might recognize the names Kurt Suzuki and Jason Windsor from that team, among other current big leaguers.)

Oregon had a predictably rocky inaugural year, in which the Ducks lost 44 of their 56 games, but Horton made the most of his return home, grabbing a tough win and lifting his team’s expectations and confidence for another long season.

After winning both their home and road openers last season, including a thrilling extra-inning walk-off against defending champion Fresno State to christen PK Park, the first-year squad learned the hard way how long and demanding the college baseball season is.

Luckily, “veteran” sophomore second baseman, Danny Pulfer, has taken an early leadership role on the team. His first item of business: move on.

“Everyone has totally forgotten about last year,” Pulfer said to Jeff Smith of the Oregonian. “This isn’t the ’09 Ducks anymore. It’s a whole new year, a whole new decade.”

I couldn’t be more excited.

With football season only four months out of the school year and basketball more frustrating than entertaining, this is the perfect opportunity for the baseball team to captivate Duck fans.

Even if you’re like me and couldn’t name more than 10 players if someone had a gun to my head.

College baseball is a completely different animal from the pros, but even though it might not have recognizable names or 40,000 seat stadiums, the college game definitely has its advantages.

The players are inundated with youthful exuberance, always standing on the top step cheering each on. There are no steroids scandals to worry about (well maybe just for the light-hitting Ducks), and come on, you just have to love the ping of the metal bat.

Plus, when was the last time you heard a professional team collectively yell “back!” each time the opposing pitcher attempts a pick-off throw? Alex Rodriguez is too busy kissing himself in the mirror.

You can tell these guys are still in it solely for the love of the game.

And heck, if we’re going to go sit outside in the cold and rain to support them, I think we are too.

I’m ready to dive fully into baseball season, and I know our team is going to do everything they possibly can to keep up interested.

Plus, with Erin Andrews as the “sideline” reporter in the College World Series, these guys are plenty motivated already.

Go Ducks!

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From KMTR: Rumors about a Masoli arrest are FALSE. Both EPD & Lane Co Jail officials confirm Masoli is not in, has not been in Lane Jail.

For what I had posted earlier:

No matter what information I get and how much I believe it to be true, it is not my place to be posting this information. I am sorry for spreading this speculation  to everyone who read this and for everyone it affected. From now on I will leave serious matters to the professionals and solely focus on reacting to the facts instead of posting things I have heard.

This is what @SPORTSbyBROOKS has had to say about Masoli this past week:

With how “busy” the Oregon off-season has been the last few weeks, there has been little update on what happened at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house last month.

Furthermore, there has even been an eerily quiet amount of  chatter on the rumor machine we call Twitter.

SPORTSbyBROOKS.com has been keeping up with the situation fairly well, with an inside source saying four days ago that the “Masoli case is in front of a grand jury.”

The next day, he tweeted “Expect an update on Masoli situation very soon. Today.”

It has now been three days since then and there has been no movement whatsoever, with Brooks issuing his most recent update:

“For those of you asking, Masoli has not been arrested or charged with anything at this hour. #unfoundedrumors“

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I don't think we'll see LaMichael's name on that poster. (click for larger image)

Apparently LaMichael James didn’t know what week it is.

ActsOfKindness.org is holding its annual Random Acts of Kindness Week this week,  and with that said, it’s pretty clear that LMJ didn’t see the big poster about it posted in Dux Bistro of the Living-Learning Center dorm on campus.

Talk about irony – although this story was plenty random.

LMJ has been a model citizen, and a personal man crush that my girlfriend has been deservedly nervous about, ever since stepping foot on campus nearly two years, which makes this news even more disheartening.

After going through enough scandal already this off-season, resulting in three players leaving the team and more facing possibly legal action, this isn’t wasn’t the way Duck fans were looking to bounce back from their Rose Bowl disappointment.

I have heard way too many comparisons to the Jail Blazers and “The U” today, things that shouldn’t be synonymous with Oregon football.  Although at this point, I’d take Miami’s four championships.

The toughest part is that Chip Kelly really can’t do much about this. Sure, he can impose punishments and give stern speeches, but he can’t babysit his players at parties or be there to furiously yell “No!” when a player ponders a possible foray into Springfield.

The only thing that really sends a message is taking away scholarships. The only reason most of these players are here is to play football. But Chip needs these guys too. It’s a complicated ethical predicament.

He’s dismissed a few players this off-season, Garrett Embry, Matt Sims and Terrance Montgomery, and had Mike Bowlin “withdraw” and leave the University, but until he kicks a player off that actually is of importance, the star players have nothing to worry about.

Now I’m not advocating for Chip to dismiss LaMichael. But IF he is found guilty, I think intensive counseling, extensive community service and a three-game suspension would serve as fair punishment.

There is definitely a problem here in the athletic department that needs to be fixed. And as passionate Duck fans, I don’t know how much more of “star player x” is in trouble stories we can handle.

With our luck this offseason, I can only imagine the next headline: “Phil Knight gets caught running Ponzi scheme through the Duck Athletic Fund”. Knock on wood. I actually am looking forward to Matt Court.

Poll: IF guilty, what would you want Chip Kelly to do with LMJ? Link.

For further updates: follow me on Twitter.

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TP is 2-21 from beyond the arc in February. It's no coincidence his initials are "TP".

At this point, I’m just about out of words on how bad the basketball team is. The team is playing lazy, Ernie Kent needs to be replaced, blah blah blah.

And although you might disagree, Saturday was no different.

Sure, Oregon was up most of the first half and tied going into halftime, but that doesn’t mean they were playing any better. Arizona State looked awful. They looked like the Ducks, except they actually made a few more shots. Possibly ASU’s worst half of the season.

I was so confident Oregon would blow it that with the Ducks up three and just under five minutes left in the half, I offered my friend a five dollar bet Oregon would lose by 10. He said no. I offered 15. He tentatively agreed.

And then what happened?

Shockingly, the wheels came off, ASU stopped playing down to Oregon’s level, and ran away with it.

Seriously, when was the last time you sat through an entire game without wondering once when the typical Ernie Kent-collapse would happen? 2007?

It’s like clockwork. Early second half, every game. If that’s not on Ernie, I don’t know what is.

Unfortunately for me, the Ducks found a little pride when ASU got up 15, and then Drew Wiley (the same guy who brought a puppy to campus last week to pick up girls, seriously), led the standard attempted comeback that would undoubtedly fall short. And it did.

But I have a solution.

Forget Tajuan Porter and his 39% shooting (16% in February), forget Michael Dunigan and his pathetic excuse for a free throw and forget Ernie Kent’s .188 winning percentage (6-26) against Pac-10 teams since the 2007-08 Pac-10 tourney.

Instead, sign up the guys from Manther.

What’s Manther, you might ask?

Manther is a hip-hop group, a la Supwitchugirl, composed of three 20-something-year-old Oregon alums who can straight up ball.

If you haven’t seen this video, you’ve been missing out.

They can sing, drop beats, and most importantly, make Tajuan Porter’s range look less than Josh Crittle’s. Seriously.

Prepare to be amazed.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s another one:

While you’re at it, be sure to watch their other videos on YouTube and follow them on the Twitter machine as well.

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