Pick 'em Week 4

You can view the current standings on the left. Many had a rough week last week, mainly due to the Beavs not showing up on Saturday. Lets hope for the UCLA miracle next week, that would still allow the Beavs to get to the Rose Bowl. Although, I am not excited about getting killed by Penn State again.

Questions for week 4, due wednesday at 5pm MST.

1. (Yes/No) Stephon Marbury will still be a Knick next monday Dec. 8? (Worth $10)
2. Blazers play on the road at NY, Wash., Boston, and Toronto this week. List the teams they will beat. (Each game worth $5)
3. Mizzou will upset Texas/Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game. (Worth $20 if Mizzou wins, worth $5 if TX/OK win). Who will win?
4. UCLA will upset USC. (Worth $20 if UCLA wins, worth $5 if USC wins). Who will win?
5. (Yes/No) Isaac will score 14 or more points vs Tigard on friday? (Worth $10)

Bonus: They Blazers big 3 will out score teh Celtics big 3 on Friday? (Roy, Aldridge, GO vs Garnett, Pierce, Allen)

Good luck.

Civil War Showdown

That's right ladies and gentlemen, the day is just around the corner and I'm here to give you my two cents worth. I have attended one Civil War game as a student at Oregon and it was quite the experience. It was a one-sided whoopin' down at Autzen; 56-14 to be exact in the Fog Bowl. You would think that I would say the same for this week but I'm actually expecting something different and maybe even quietly rooting the other way.

What we have is one of the best rivalries in the nation and that's saying something considering that most of the time, the game has no or little national significance. This year though, their is a lot on the line. The Beavers control their fate. They'll be smelling the roses if the beat the Ducks and they haven't been to Pasadena since 1965 for the Roses. If the Ducks win, they'll go Holiday Bowling and if they lose, they'll be making another trip to the Las Vegas Bowl because of the Sun Bowl's no-repeat rule. I wasn't here for the last Vegas appearance but I heard enough about the game from both sides and I bet that the Ducks don't want to go back.(BYU-38 Oregon-8)

I'm predicting this to be a really good game. The games tend to be close even when one team is unquestionably better but this is the first year in a while where both teams are evenly matched. There are a few things to look at. First, the home team has a huge advantage. Besides last year, the home team has won the last 10 games or something. However, the Beavers might be without the Quizz which would be a big lost to the Beavers not having the leading rusher in the Pac-10. I don't think the quarterback issue will be too much of a problem. Now for the Duck's problems.... The Ducks are hot and their cold, their good and their bad. No one really know which team will show up in Corvallis. Will it be the team from the Boise St. game? The team against Arizona St? or the team against Arizona that jumps out to a huge lead and almost gives it all back?

No matter the case, I'm expecting a high scoring, close game. With the Ducks having a bye week and an high scoring offense and crappy secondary, I wouldn't be surprised if both teams get into the 40's.

I am a true Duck fan (the picture should prove that)but I believe in bi-partisanship and reaching across the aisle.

That is why I will be rooting for the Beavers to win on the last play of the game. They just have too much at stake to want the Ducks to spoil the Beaver's Rose Bowl performance so the Ducks can move up to a 2nd tier bowl.

My prediction is Oregon State 41 Oregon 38.

Civil War Notes

You have likely heard that Quiz is doubtful for the game saturday. Sure this is a big problem losing the top rushing freshman in the nation. Not only will we miss is 5 yards/carry average, but we will also miss his ability to make plays after the catch on his screen plays.

But as good as Quiz is, this should NOT affect the outcome of the game. The Ducks are the worst team in the Pac-10 regarding their passing defense, and the Beavs are the best team in the conference for passing offense. I know that may be hard to believe if you have followed Beaver football for sometime, usually we do our damage on the ground. This year we have been so effective in the passing game.

Players like Shane Morales have really stepped up this year. Plus our yards after the catch really help. Stroughter and James Rodgers are play makers, as long as at least those two are healthy, and we can get them the ball in space, I like our chances.

Weekend of 11/23/2008 Update

Though we are all thinking about Pasedena and smelling the ROSES, we will have a tough test vs the Pac-10's number offense next Saturday.The Beavs showed heart on saturday in Arizona. Two hours before kick-off Canfield (back up QB) realized he would be playing in place of injured Moevao (shoulder). Then early in the first quarter, the best freshman running back in the nation, "Quiz" also goes down because of a shoulder injury.

I will save you details, Canfield played okay. James Rodgers and Sammy Stoughter stepped up, which we needed badly. And our defense played very well. The previous week Arizona scored 45 points at Autzen Stadium. And our defense held the Wildcats to 17 points, AT HOME.

Kahut (kicker), went from the goat, to the hero in just a couple of minutes. If we would have had him, when we played Utah and Stanford both of those games would have been victories. Maybe people forget we played the first 3-4 games with no kicking game.

I like our chances vs the Ducks, especially at home. I am hoping and praying Quiz will be back for the game, but we can win without Moevao.
One more shout out: Coach Riley, who is the man. He can plug any of these wash up back ups we have, and help them play at their highest potential. He does a great job of getting everything out of even his 2nd string players.
Civil War prediction:
*Subject to change depending on injuries
#17 Beavs 31 over #23 Ducks 24


Portland Trail BlazersI am disappointed a bit that we are not in first place in the division right now. We had a tough loss vs Pheonix last night, but we finally get some home games this week. Of the 14 games we have played, ten have been on the road. I am most interested in our game vs the Hornets this week. I have a feeling we could be seeing them in the first round, and a win this week against them would be big for our young guys and their confidence. Roy of course has been playing very well, Oden is starting to come alive, and Steve Blake is shooting lights out lately! We are still in a great spot, we need to win the games we are supposed to, and keep the under-dog games close.


Cougs
I didn't see the scuffle at the begining of the game, though I would have liked to. I really thought the Cougs had it when they were down 24-27, who would have ever thought the final score would have been 48-24, and Max Hall threw for 5 interceptions.

I am interested to see what happens in terms of BCS for Utah and Boise St.


Pick em, whit's great week, and next week.Some of you really struggled this week. I must give credit to Whit, she has only missed one questions out of ten (over the past 2 weeks). She is more then doubling everyone. Way to go Whit, you must have a very informative husband! Way to go Frau Whit.

A few of you were too focused on other things like the Holy war to submit your picks this week. I added a new rule, you are penalized -$20 if you miss a week.

This week's questions: (Week 3)
1. (Worth $20) Of course the Civil War. The Beavs will beat the Ducks. (Yes/No)
2. (Worth $10) The cival war game will be decided by LESS THAN 3 points? (Yes/No)
3. (Worth $10) Greg Oden will score at least 40 points in three home games this week. (Yes/No)
4. (Worth $10) Jazz will lose more than one game against the four horrible teams they play this week? (All at home: Bulls, Grizzlies, Kings, & the Nets) (Yes/No)
5. (Worth $10) Mizzou basketball will beat Cal this week? (Yes/No)

Bonus: Whit will win Week 3 of the pick 'em contest? (Yes/No)

Please email me your answers by wednesday 5pm MST.

Big week in college football

There is a lot that impact this week:

-The apple cup, The state of Washington battles to see who really is the worst team in football this year. Hey Locker, just don't get a penalty that loses your team the game this time.-Mich St at Penn St, Penn St can seal up a Big 10 title and a trip to the Rose Bowl with a win. Could the Beavs get a rematch vs the Lyons in Pasadena. How can you not love Joa-Pa- Boise St at Nevada, can the wolf pack pull off a huge upset to let someone else squeak into the BCS. Does anyone else think the WAC is horrible? We don't even know how good Boise St is, the only team they played was Oregon who was playing their 4th or 5th string QB.-Texas Tech at Oklahoma, I heard this morning on ESPN if Missouri can beat the winner of the Big 12 south in the Big championship game the Big 12 could have 3 teams in BCS game, which I believe they would deserve. Though I don't see the Tigers pulling that upset off.
-BYU at Utah (The Holy War), to me the Cougs really have a good shot at winning this game, I don't feel that very many people are giving them a very good chance. To me the Cougs clearly have a better offense, which talent at all positions. And Utah has not looked good at all the past few weeks (TCU & New Mexico). One stat I found interesting is that they both 36.5 points/game. It seems when these two teams have met in recent years, offense goes out the window, my prediction Cougs 24 - Utes 23.-Beavs at Arizona, to me this is the most frustrating game. We have been beating up the Pac-10 including the ever praised, "currently best team in the nation with Florida" USC Trojans. The thing I do not understand is how we are the under-dogs in this game. I guess I should not be surprised, we never get the benefit of the doubt. Arizona is tough at home, but the Beavs will win by at least a touchdown.

Blazers show no Bull, in the BEAT DOWN

Not sure if you tuned in the Blazer BEAT down tonight. Not too much I need to say about it, other than we won by 42 points.

Maybe you were too busy watching the Jazz struggle with the Bucks on FSN.

Roy lead the way with 20 points, Pryzbilla had 14 and I am pretty sure they were all dunks, then all of the following had between 9-12 points: Blake, Oden, Aldridge, Batum, Outlaw, Oden, and Frye.

Some of you may be wondering why Rudy is not on that list. He was not feeling 100% so only saw limited minutes. And that 1st round draft pick from Chicago that is so good, Derick Rose. Well he finished with one basket, and 1/8 from the field, 3 turnovers, and one assist.

We won the rebounding war 66 - 50. We did very well on the offensive glass as well. Did anyone see GO's first possession ever in the Rose Garden? Well if not, lets just say he threw it down with authority. Similar to how I used to in dunk ball on the 8' hoop.

Noah and his grily hair, Vinny, the number one draft pick, Gooden and his ugly chops/beard, and everything else ugly from Chicago were just not nearly enough to compete with the Blazers tonight.

Click here to see the top ten blazer highlights from last week!

Evan's Pick 'em contest 2008-09

For Week Two 11/16/2008 here are the big five questions, and don't forget the bonus like some of you did last week.
1. (Worth $10) Blazers will be #1 in the NW division after this week, Sat 11/22/2008. (Yes/No)
2. (Worth $5) Saturday Terry Porter will host his former team, the Blazers. Will Terry Porter win this first match up? (Yes/No)
3. (Worth $20) BYU beats Utah Saturday. (Yes/No)
4. (Worth $10) Rookie Rudy Fernandez will have more points than #1 overall pick Derick Rose Wednesday when they go head to head. (Yes/No)
5. (Worth $15) Evan's #1 seeded intramural b-ball team wins semi-final, and final game to be crowned champions, even though I am fighting like seven injuries right now. (Yes/No)

Bonus: James Rodgers has more TD's than his brother Quiz Saturday vs Arizona. (Yes/No)Here is the standings after week ONE:

1. Brandon "I bleed Cougar blue" with $50
2. Whitney "Greg Oden isn't retired?" with $40
Evan "Beaver/Blazer die hard" with $40
4. Greg "Houston Rockets for life" with $30
5. Aaron "I am taller than my older bro" with $30
6. Stu "Yes I own two horses" with $20
7. Isaac "Oregon H.S. baller of the year" with $15
8. Mere "Hiesman BYU womans F.F." with $10
Les "I beat my bro until he was 6'2" with $10
10. Tyler "Boise St Bronco die hard" with $-5
11. Adam "The legendary blogger" with $-10
Ryan "I forgot most of my picks" with $-10
12. Triz "Give me my money now" with $-15
13. Hales "The only east coaster" with $-20

Those who failed to ever email:
Brad, Driod, Richard, Ryan, Bjork, Josh

A few notes:
Isaac was the only one who picked Beaver Basketball losing to Howard, nicely done. To quote him, "Beavs win a b-ball game? Never."
Adam is a Blazer/Beaver hater and he paid the price, just like the Jazz have the last two games vs the Bobcats and Cavs.
B-Winter jumps out to the early lead and seemed very confident in his picks, only perfect score this week.
Many of you missed B-Roy who scored 22 points, not 24, sorry (including me).
Watch out for Hales, he has a deadly deep jumer and can come back in a hurry.

OSU/Cal Preview

Cal (6-3) losses: at Maryland 9/13, at Arizona 10/18, at USC 11/8

The finally ranked 23rd Beavs will look to extend their win streak to 6 games today. After we dropped our first game to Stanford I thought we had shot ourselves in the foot. Who would have thought we would be sitting pretty to go to the Rose Bowl with only 3 games remaining.The last time the Beavs had a conference win streak of 6 games, they were co-conference champs with the Huskies. Many of you may remember that year we killed Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl 41-9, with the likes of Chad Johnson, TJ Housh, Ken Simonton, Jonathan Smith, and many others currently in the NFL.

Last Saturday though, back up QB Sean Canfield may have cursed us by saying, (while we were in LA) "It would be a dream to come back here in January." (Refering to the rose bowl). It is still questionable as to who will start today at home vs the dangerous Golden Bears. Canfield has been very solid the last two weeks, completing 35 of 50 passes for 440 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Cal also is having issues at QB, last week both Riley struggled and was pulled at half time for the inactive Nate Longshore. I can't talk too bad about Nate though, since we are pretty tight with his family. A little history, Riley was solely responsible for the Cal loss last year vs the Beavs when they were ranked #2 in the country, I am betting he will be fired up for the game.I believe after we win today, easily covering the 3.5 point spread, it will give us more serious national attention. Making the following week at Arizona a must win big game, then finishing at home hosting the hippies in yellow green, a huge game.

Both teams average very close to 33 points, but the home field will ultimately give us the win. Plus our defense has been improving every week, giving up only 6 points last week. Cal will have their hands full again this week against an Oregon State defense which has held opponents to averages of 14.3 points and 260.3 yards over the last four games while forcing 10 turnovers. And do I really even need to mention Quiz, Sammy, and Shane Morales.

Evan's Prediction:

Oregon State 31 - California 24

Rudy Currently Ranked #1 Rookie in NBA

Here are the stats to prove it...

45.5 % from the field

46.2% from down town

91% from the charity strike

1.1 steals/game

2 assists/game

3 boards/game

15.4 points/game

and all that in an efficient 28 minutes of P.T.

(that just over one half for you math wiz kids out there)

But most importantly he brings ENERGY. The rose garden loves him, and he even plays well on the road as he showed yesterday dropping 16 points in Orlando. He has great court vision. We all know he has range from deep but he can also create a shot. He is a DIFFERENCE-MAKER. ANyone who saw his one legged jumper, or his dunk on Dwight Howard in the olympics knows exactly what I am talking about.

Well we are off on a long road trip but until next time; RUDY! RUDY! RUDY! RUDY!....

ps- watch out for Nicolas Batum creeping up that list as well, currently at #16

Read the full article from David Thorpe at ESPN

Roy Refuses to Lose

Though we lost a game we gave away in Utah two nights ago (thanks Adam for rubbing it in) revenge was ours vs Clyde's current place of residence, Houston.

If you didn't stay up until mid-night to watch the end of overtime you missed an instant classic. The Rockets are really quite the team I will give it to them (yes Greg Rose that shout out was for you). Of course they have T-Mac the only player who is hurt more than Yao. Artest was a great pick up for them, Aaron Brooks and skip-to-my-lou are tough in the back court. Then you have Battier and Barry who are automatic from deep. This could be the year they get out of the first round. And of course the second my winning coach in Blazer history, Rick Adelman.

The game: Basically the Blazers had a 3 point lead throughout the entire game. Then in the 4th quarter we got it up to a 10 point lead. Then we stunk it up from everywhere and turned the ball over. You could say our youth showed a bit.

"Call it divine intervention. On a night the Blazers honored the late Kevin Duckworth, Brandon Roy's prayer of a shot with 0.8 seconds remaining handed Portland a 101-99 overtime win that capped off one of the best finishes you'll ever see.

"Big Duck was looking down on us," said Blazers coach Nate McMillan. "He didn't want us to lose on his night."

"I was so disappointed that I fouled [Yao] on the last play," said Roy. "I told the group whatever you do, give me the ball and I'm gonna try to make the shot. We always talk in practice that with 0.8 you can catch and shoot. You still can get a shot."

The game-winner was perhaps even more impressive. Roy caught the ball out high near the left sideline, with his back to the basket and sprinting away from the goal. He stopped all his momentum with a jump stop, rose straight up vertically, and cleanly launched the victorious shot; somehow, a mix-up between Artest and Tracy McGrady had left him open without the benefit of a screen.

"It was just a hell of a shot." said McGrady about Roy's GW.

The Blazers can't breathe easy quite yet -- not with six of their next eight games on the road -- but they're feeling a lot better about their situation now than they were with 0.8 seconds left.

Only 16 points is unacceptable in the 4th quarter, especially considering we scored over 30 in every other quarter and almost 16 in overtime!

Go Rip City!

Kevin Johnson New Mayor of Sacramento

Many of you may remember KJ and his ability to posterize the big boys. I must also mention I have his autograph. Just thought this was interesting.

Former NBA star Kevin Johnson was elected mayor of Sacramento, California, on a day when more than a dozen U.S. sports figures ran for political office.

Johnson, a former All-Star point guard for the Phoenix Suns, is the first black mayor of Sacramento. The 42-year-old Democrat defeated two-term incumbent Heather Fargo in a run-off election. He compared himself to Barack Obama, who was elected America's first black president on Tuesday night.

"Sacramento also made history today in electing its first black mayor," Johnson said. "Both Obama and myself, we ran on a promise and the theme of change. No more business as usual."

Johnson had the backing of basketball greats Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley. He wants to raise the profile of his hometown and bemoans his city's image beside that of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Read full article from the AP here.

Riley proving he is the best coach in the state

Once again, as has happened the last 4-5 years, the Ducks start out hot then fall apart and the Beavs have awaken from the early season slumber and are currently on 3 a game win streak.

There was just some conference stats that I just couldn't ignore.

#3 QB in the conference (L. Moevao) with a 140 rating (day to day with his shoulder injury)
#1 Rusher in conference (Quiz Rodgers) is just under 1000 yards on the season already after only 8 games. He is the only freshman RB to ever lead the Pac-10 in rush yards.
#2 Receiver (Sammy Stroughter) with just under 600 yards
#5 Receiver (Shane Morales) with 529 yards
#3 QB yards with 1,822
#5 in scoring, just a fraction away from number 3
#1 in passing yards/game with 260
#2 in first downs/game at 23

Lastly, did I mention the Beavs control their own destiny and are in first place in the Pac-10.

B-E-A-V-E-R-S!!!