Sports

Today started off on a high note for me, college football-wise. I was thrilled when, in the morning, I set my DirecTV VCR to record the 3:30 pm Oregon State vs. Idaho State game on The CW (channel 32) and the 4:30 pm Oregon vs. Idaho game on the Big Ten Network (channel 601).  While that may not sound like a big deal to football fans who don't use DirecTV -- we live in rural south Salem, Oregon, where there's no cable options -- those of us who suffered through many years of not getting the Pac-12 Networks due to…

It's a tradition for me. Since for many years I've been unable to watch the Pac-12 Networks due to their never-ending and hugely irritating pissing match with DirecTV, the only time I get to see the Oregon State baseball team play is if they either make it to the Pac-12 tournament championship game (didn't happen in 2024) or are selected to play in the NCAA tournament (which did happen in 2024). So I was able to get to know the OSU baseball team this past weekend when they hosted the Corvallis regional. Three wins in four days -- Sunday's game…

It was a slogan for a cigarette brand, Virginia Slims, way back in 1968, but it still seems an appropriate way to describe the state of women's basketball in 2024: You've come a long way, baby. (OK, calling a woman "baby" may not be appropriate to some. However, that's part of how far women have come, both off and on a basketball court.) Yesterday I watched the women's NCAA championship game between Iowa and South Carolina. It was the most watched basketball game, men or women, college or pro, since 2019. For good reason. South Carolina was undefeated. Iowa had…

Us Oregon fans needed today's 45-6 victory over outmatched Liberty University in the Fiesta Bowl after two narrow losses to Washington prevented the Ducks from winning the Pac-12 championship and having a chance to make the four-team national championship playoff. I was confident that Oregon would defeat Liberty, notwithstanding the fervent prayers that folks at this deeply conservative Christian school must have been directing at the Big Guy Upstairs to aid them in staging an upset victory over the team from dissolute Eugene. Didn't happen. The only religious mention I heard at the Fiesta Bowl was when Oregon quarterback Bo…

Santa Claus came early for the two remaining members of the Pac-12 conference, Oregon State and Washington State. For yesterday there was an announcement that $255 million will be under their metaphorical Christmas trees, courtesy of a settlement agreement with the ten departing members of the conference. Sports writer John Canzano described the agreement in his Bald Faced Truth substack column that I subscribe to. Jayathi Murthy called me at 6:30 a.m. PT on a Saturday in Week 2 of the college football season. The Oregon State president was ticked off about what happened to the Pac-12 and the attempts…

After Oregon lost to Washington by three points earlier in the football season, with Coach Lanning inexplicably choosing to not attempt several short field goals on fourth down, followed by a field goal miss in the closing seconds that would have tied the game, I was super excited when Oregon earned a rematch with Washington in the Pac-12 championship game. After all, Oregon had been winning by large margins since the Washington loss, while Washington looked beatable in most of its games, winning by just a few points while still remaining undefeated. Oregon was favored by about ten points. Plus,…

I had conflicting emotions this evening as I watched the Oregon football team defeat Oregon State 31-7 in what I've always thought of as the Civil War game, but now is the more politically correct Rivalry Game. The traditional name sounds more fitting to me, because I'm so used to it. But so does the longstanding tradition of the Pac-12 conference, which has been around in one form or another since 1915. That's 108 years of athletic history about to end, thanks to every school except Oregon State and Washington State departing for other conferences. Since I moved to Oregon…

Oregon State football fans, of whom I'm one, along with almost everybody who watched yesterday's OSU game against Arizona, are grappling with the astoundingly bad decision Jonathan Smith, the Oregon State coach, made at the end of the first half. Jonathan Smith This is how CBS Sports described the debacle. The game was a 27-24 victory by Arizona. While the game ultimately came down to that final drive, Oregon State's fate may have been decided much earlier when coach Jonathan Smith dialed up one of the most questionable calls of the year. The Beavers had the ball at Arizona's 16-yard…

Usually I like to root for the underdog in sports. It's just more satisfying to watch a team that's expected to lose defy the odds and beat the supposedly more powerful team. That's one reason I was hoping Oregon State and Washington State would score a legal victory against the eight members of the Pac-12 who have announced that they're leaving the conference for other leagues after a media rights negotiation gone bad left the Pac-12 with less TV money than the departing members wanted. USC and UCLA had already announced they were heading to the Big 10, which means…

I'm glad I don't have a heart problem, because even without one, I was feeling palpitations in my chest for most of today's Oregon - Texas Tech football game in hot Lubbock. It was a familiar feeling, given past occasions when Oregon unexpectedly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. I get excited about being able to watch the Ducks play, since we rely on DirecTV for television watching, and DirecTV still doesn't carry the Pac 12 Networks, which is where the Oregon - Portland State blowout game in favor of the Ducks was last week. (Of course, now that…

Today the University of Oregon and University of Washington announced that they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten conference, which now will have 18 teams.  With the departure of Oregon, Washington, USC, UCLA, Colorado, and apparently also Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah to either the Big Ten or Big 12 conferences, this leaves Oregon State, Washington State, California, and Stanford in a pitiful Pac-4 conference after the upcoming academic year. The Oregon State athletic director isn't happy. While UO leaders celebrated its move, Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes decried it. “The great history and tradition of this…

Once again, I've become an Oregon State baseball fan now that the NCAA playoffs have begun. I would have started my fandom earlier, but DirecTV still doesn't carry the Pac12 Networks, so I've got no way to watch most the games in the regular season. Well, I've also become an Oregon baseball fan, since they too are in the playoffs. And at the moment, faring better than Oregon State -- which lost to LSU today, so that means Oregon State has to beat Sam Houston tonight (score is 3-1 in OSU's favor at the moment), then beat LSU twice tomorrow…

Most seasons I watch one NFL game: the Super Bowl. That was the case this year also. I enjoy football a lot, but the college game always has appealed more to me, probably because then I get to root for Oregon teams, and Oregon doesn't have a NFL team. However, I do consider it my non-sacred duty to watch the Super Bowl. It's an American tradition. And because it's the most important NFL game of the year, I get excited watching it. Partly that's because even though I don't have any favorite team during the regular season, I read enough…

After Oregon lost to Oregon State in the last game of the regular season, dooming Oregon's chance to play USC for the Pac-12 championship and potentially earn a Rose Bowl berth, going to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego struck me as a crappy consolation prize. And for most of today's game against North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl, that assessment seemed right-on. I was totally prepared for Oregon to lose, end up 9-4 on the season, and look forward to better times next year, since this season would have ended in a disappointing fashion. Then the fourth quarter happened.…

It felt wonderful to watch Oregon State play Florida in today's Las Vegas Bowl and have the most worrisome part of the game be whether the Beavers would hold the Gators scoreless, thereby ending Florida's NCAA-record 435 game scoring streak. I was rooting for this to happen, but Florida kicked a 40 yard field goal with 37 seconds left. Oh, well, that was about the only thing that didn't go right in Oregon State's 30-3 victory. A missed extra point was no big deal. I've got to admit that early in this year's football season I was more of an…

In sports, as in other aspects of life, there are losses that sting more than others. When a team you want to have win loses, the pain of that loss depends on various factors. For me, it has much to do with the familiar adage, "They left everything on the field." Meaning, the team did all that it could to win. Maximum effort. Minimum mistakes. Playing hard. Playing smart. If both teams leave everything on the field, I view that as a great game, one that neither side deserved to lose, but one team had to (unless the game is…

My wife doesn't like watching sports. I've tried to explain to her that what makes a game especially interesting to me isn't what's happening on the field, but what's going on in the lives of certain key players. So a football game, say, isn't just a bunch of guys running around bashing each other. It can also be a drama of sorts if you follow the teams closely enough to understand the main characters. Yesterday's game between Oregon and Utah was a great example of this. Sure, I was pleased that Oregon pulled out a 20-17 victory. But it was…