Good Luck Ducks, Week 4: California Bound

The Ducks open conference play in LA.

After being left for dead just two weeks into the season (ha!), Oregon took out their frustrations on a Portland State team in disarray, scoring more points (84) than they had in over a century. I suspect that the coaches were more pleased with the shutout than anything else, and that the squad was able to escape any additional serious injuries must have been the icing on top.

USC is up next on the docket as the Ducks enter the real part of their season schedule. Oregon comes in to the old Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as an underdog, a rare thing in the Dan Lanning era. (I should note here that I stay far far away from sports betting, and while I've seen reports both saying that Oregon was favored and that the "line" has since shifted to USC, I'm going with the fact that USC is ranked higher AND are playing at home. Let's also just not get into the whole thing about how rankings are worthless now...) While USC still hasn't been totally relevant since the days of Reggie Bush and Vince Young, they do look like they might have some things going for them in 2026. 

The Trojans are kind of a grifter's team, not only in the sense that they were a big name way back in the day (uhhh O.J. Simpson? I guess?) but also that they had a head coach "on the rise" who used a storied program like Oklahoma as a stepping stone to go to LA to a mediocre school to rest on a pile of cash or something. Also, something something Caleb Williams. While not all of that worked out as planned, I'm sure, they are in a good position as of today with a 4-0 record and their sights set on breaking a streak against an Oregon team chock full of a lot of question marks. As usual in September, I have no idea what will happen, but I'm hoping things stay the course.

Notes:

• It's the first prime time game of the year. With (generally speaking) a week to prepare for these games, I don't think start times are as big of a deal to the participants as they are to the watchers like you and me, but I feel like in some respects the Ducks are going to be a little more comfortable playing in an early evening game on their coast than some of those pesky early starts.
• Opponent fun fact: With condom jokes, terrible human mascots, O.J. and Reggie Bush... it's hard to come up with anything else "fun" here. I mean, it's not like the Trojans won the war.
• Opponent history: Here's where USC prevails so far. They are 38-24-2 versus Oregon all-time, although the Ducks have won the last 4.
• Game time is 4:30 PM PDT on NBC in Los Angeles. Go Ducks!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 3: Bringing the NW to Northwestern

The Fighting Ducks hit Lake Michigan for an early first road test.

Oregon hits the road for the first conference game of the year, after completely obliterating their first FBS opponent last week. Oklahoma State seems to be facing some dark times, but it was a bit of a surprise just how dark things got last Saturday, even though the Cowboys were coming off of a 3-9 season with a freshman backup QB at the helm. It's hard for me to feel completely sorry for a (*checks notes*) Big-12 school, especially from the part of the country that eats and breathes and does other unsavory things to the sport of football, but I was feeling bad for Oklahoma State late in that game, especially their overmatched quarterback.

The Ducks are up against Northwestern today with the Wildcats in a temporary home, in a very small venue with Lake Michigan right in the background. Unfortunately, since this isn't baseball, it doesn't seem likely that any balls will end up in the drink, but I suppose you never know. They once again start the day off as favorites by around four touchdowns, but playing outside of Eugene can always throw a wrench into those expectations. With FOX's "Big Noon Saturday" crew in full effect, it won't be treated like any other game, and certainly the small crowd at full tilt will provide an experience that most Ducks players aren't quite accustomed to. SMU transfer Preston Stone (what a name!) has already racked up seven touchdowns on the young season for Northwestern, so it's fair to expect a lot of balls in the air today.

Oregon's incredibly deep looking roster should be up for the challenge, but it will be interesting to see how all the playing time shakes out as you would figure that touches will be more proportionately distributed among top performers and the season moves along. The Ducks had 10 non-QB players carry the ball last week and 10 different players caught passes (9 in the first half alone if I'm not mistaken), but that kind of distribution isn't expected nor necessarily sustainable. Still, it was fun to watch, and the hope is that the fun can continue on today as Oregon inches closer and closer to the massive game against Penn State later this month.

Notes and miscellany:

• Northwestern, of course, is in the midwestern United States, and I've never in my life mistaken their geography for being located somewhere closer to my territory in the Pacific Northwest. However, outside of vaguely knowing they were a school located in the Midwest and probably not far from one of the Great Lakes, I couldn't have spotted them on a map. Such are the things you need to learn when joining another big conference. I doubt many Big Ten diehards could have pinned the tail on the Eugene donkey at most times in their lives.
• Opponent fun fact: As alluded to, Northwestern is in the process of renovating Ryan Field, their home in Evanston for nearly a century. It honestly looks pretty cool from the project renderings, and they purport to be doing it without taxpayer money.
• Opponent history: Their last meeting was in 1974, before I was born, with the Wildcats taking down the Ducks 14-10 in a season where both schools combined to win a total of 5 games. Yikes.
• Game time is 9:00 AM PDT on FOX in Evanston. Go Ducks!

A Holiday Weekend PWE Round-Up

 

Fun things come in small envelopes.

 

It's time for another round of small trade envelopes and things of that nature. This bunch is pretty baseball (and Cardinals) heavy, which is just about perfect for this time of year.

First up is the first of two envelopes from gcrl (cards as i see them). This one has been sitting on my shelf since February according to the postmark. A pair of obscure Cardinals pandemic relievers still look good in red, even with the blue background design that accompanies the red bordered parallel card from 2021 Topps Heritage.

Panini's Donruss product sprang forth this strange little die-cut card with a giant Rated Rookie logo on it in 2016. The nostalgia for the Rated Rookie logo supersedes what little Panini actually does with its Donruss brand, which is typically underwhelming if not just outright boring.

I think at this point I have more Tim Cooney signed cards than the total number of times I can recall seeing him actually pitch, but that's fairly typical for certain players who get featured in Bowman. I didn't have this blue parallel, of course!

This Career Year insert is apparently from the 2022 Topps flagship set. I don't really remember it at all, and I bought a decent amount of this Topps stuff that year. Pujols certainly looks much younger here in his 2009 state than he did during his memorable 2022 Cardinals comeback.

Ah, who doesn't love a good Stadium Club photo? When do we get Stadium Club this year? This month? September? December? Never?

Until they also lost the Players Association license, Panini continued their tradition of numbering all of their inserts to 999 copies, like this one. You could still find unnumbered parallels in their various retail configurations, though.

I kind of miss the dumb fake relic cards that they put in Topps blasters for many years. I believe this year (2023) was the last year that they did something like this. The rubbery hockey puck-shaped thing in the middle of the card is certainly memorable. It almost totally obscures the player.

Further cementing gcrl's status as Hamm King were this pair of inserts from the 2015 Topps set. I now own 17 of these by my count, and others will have their work cut out for them if they want to catch the leader.

Next up is a very coveted card from noted author and Brewers fan (and the two do intersect) Matthew Prigge. I did not know that a Jim Edmonds Brewers card existed until recently, which made me highly interested in obtaining a copy. After Edmonds was traded to San Diego (for future World Series hero David Freese), he went on a whirlwind tour though the NL Central, playing for every team in the division aside from Pittsburgh before winding up his career. Cubs and Reds Edmonds cards are readily available in some major sets, but the existence of a Brewers card was news to me.

I had to scan the back because I'm highly interested in police/team issued cards and wanted to check this out. I believe there are actually a bunch of different versions of this set, at least according to TCDB. I'm assuming that the main different is the presenting sponsor on the back.

Matthew also included a few shiny bonus cards that I had been hesitant to write about for some time now. I believe he was the first person that I knew of to discover this weird bootleggy looking set/box thing that was briefly available on Amazon. I was hoping someone else would discover more info about this set and maybe even put a checklist together for TCDB, but as far as I know no one has bothered to undertake this.

Here's a couple more. I have a whole stack of these that I also purchased from Amazon a year or two ago, but I don't know if what I ended up with was a complete set. I ended up throwing a few of these into envelopes for others myself, so I wouldn't even be able to attempt a checklist anymore. I'll probably toss the rest of these up on the blog as a giveaway at some point this summer because they've been sitting on my desk far too long. The set is full of weird errors and has a strange checklist, but the Cardinals were more than fairly represented.

Here's what all of the card backs look like. Ah yes, it's the Patriotic Baseball Eagle. The cards are are extremely thin and sharped like playing cards/TCG cards, except that they're all shiny gold... and probably very toxic. Don't eat these. I believe they're Korean in origin, from what little research could be done from when they were available for sale.

The third envelope comes from gcrl once again, who comes out swinging with this amazing autograph of one of my all-time favorite college football players. LaMichael James' Press Pass autograph card is numbered to just 99 copies, and I don't even mind that he's been cut off at the shoulders here.

From Duck to Duck, this is a pro rookie card of another Oregon running back who had a pretty solid run with the Seahawks in the '00s. I've never been one to root a ton for the NFL team up north of here in Seattle, but Mo Morris gave me a reason to check in on them from time to time.

The bulk of the envelope was comprised of a bunch of 2025 Topps Heritage needs. I'm pretty close to being done with the (non-SP, non-insert) set now, but there's a few stragglers as usual.

Last up is this single card from Damon Holtz, a great Bluesky follow who gives away cards on his feed there pretty frequently. This is one of the "silver pack" box topper insert cards from the recently released Series 2 set and also shows Pujols in his original run with the Cardinals. This is actually the second card I've snagged from the very generous Damon, but I think I ended up only posting on Bluesky about the other one. I'm not going to try to convince anyone of the merits of Bluesky (or any social media in general), but if you're over there, feel free to give me a follow!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 12: Underdogs!

The third ranked team in the country is an underdog as they go on the road against the Pac-12 South leaders. 

 

The Utah Utes have picked up a lot of steam over recent weeks, which has put them in the surprising position of being a home favorite over the #3 team in the country. With Utah now ranked at #23, they loom as the biggest remaining threat the Pac-12 has to offer. A lot is at stake for both teams, and yet both teams know they will almost certainly face each other again in two weeks for the conference championship.

All of the pressure is on the Ducks today, as it usually is with a potential playoff bid at stake. Oregon has looked better as the conference schedule has progressed, riding a punishing rushing attack with just enough throws from Anthony Brown Jr. to keep the defense off balance. The Ducks will need to survive the usual attrition of injuries plus another in-season transfer which saw their wide receiver and primary punt returner Mycah Pittman bail on the team at one of the season's biggest moments. Honestly, unless there was some sort of mental health issue or other off-field extraneous circumstances, this is a pretty lousy move.

Utah is led by quarterback Cam Rising (great name there) and a three-pronged rushing attack. I would expect to see a lot of points put on the board today. However, Oregon's defense has been stingy at times, and the always dangerous Kayvon Thibodeaux has continued to wreak havoc in the backfield. If the Ducks play up to the level of their competition on the road like they did against other quality teams, it should be a good outcome for the team in white and green. If not, the stakes of the conference championship game become significantly lower.

Series History: Oregon is 23-10 all-time versus the Utes, with most games dating back to their time in the WAC and Mountain West.

Opponent Talk: They're doing advanced math to compare scores of games with common opponents to show that Utah should come out on top with this one. I'm not sure that ever works.

In their last meeting, the Ducks took down Utah in the Pac-12 Championship en route to their Rose Bowl win.

Game time is 4:30 PST on ABC. Go Ducks!

Birds of a Feather

They flock together. Just ask @forgotaboutblay -

Mega Michigan fan (and Detroit Tigers, don't forget!) Dennis of Too Many Manninghams/Verlanders may have outdone himself this time. In this latest (let's just pretend it's recent) package was a nearly constant parade of autographed cards, something I'm still trying to adjust to now that it's been a couple of months. There were quite a few Ducks alums in the batch, and these usually get held over for a future "Good Luck Ducks" post. Since we're getting closer to year-end, I thought I'd do a blowout on these and show off all the scans that I made so I can start fresh next season. (I did hold out one card from this stellar package for the Rose Bowl.)

Josh Huff was a great all-purpose player (i.e. he was really fast) in his time with the Ducks, and it was cool to see him suit up for my pro team of choice. He got into some legal trouble in recent years, but is still playing professionally... just not in the NFL any longer.

Jeremiah Johnson is always going to remind me of the late '00s college football video game franchises that sadly no longer exist. He played second fiddle to Jonathan Stewart for quite awhile, but he was really good in his way. Since people are actually seriously talking about opening up compensation for college athletes now, I suppose we could eventually see licensed college sports video games become a thing again... maybe?

LaMichael James! I just wish the 49ers didn't instinctively make me feel like throwing up my dinner.

I don't remember James wearing #17 at any point, especially considering that it's more of a wide receiver number. Is this some other guy?

This is a very intricately designed card. It's actually hollow in the middle, apparently. I should probably have more of these, even if (non-college) football isn't really my thing.

I don't really want to talk about what's happened with Mariota and his pro team at this point, so let's check out this really cool die cut insert that features him as a Duck. I was never a huge fan of the feathers on the helmet (uniforms are one of the only places where I turn into a traditionalist), but this card makes them look good. This is a sneaky candidate for my favorite card of the package, despite the fact that it's one of the few that isn't numbered, signed or embedded with some piece of a thing.

Rolls Royce! I wish there was an NFL Red Zone type channel that catered specifically to players from my college of choice, because I just don't care that much about the actual games. (I say this, and yet I'll probably watch my share of playoff games anyway.)

And with this Jack Clark Starting Lineup card, we are officially done with football (for this post, anyway.) Is everyone okay with that? Do you even think this is a baseball card blog anymore?

Here's one for the more-bang-for-the-buck Panini Leather & Lumber set. They sold blasters of this stuff which only contained something like 10 cards for the normal $19.99 price. For this reason, I am going to covet the base cards I need, like this one of Matt Carpenter.

I hadn't seen any gold minis from the 2016 Gypsy Queen set before, but there's always a first time for anything. With Marcell Ozuna's imminent departure, the Cards could certainly use a guy like Piscotty again.

Shiny Waino?! Is it really Christmas? (No, it --was-- October.) This is great, though.

Finally, we swing back to that same Panini Leather & Lumber set, with what Panini came up with as a suitable replacement for those old Upper Deck Sweet Swatch autographs that always used to fade into oblivion. Hopefully Panini got these guys to sign these chunks of baseballs with better pens... or maybe these aren't really baseball chunks at all. In any case, these look really cool (despite the lack of licensing and tiny photo) and I hope to track down more like this soon.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 2: Home Opener

The Ducks try to get last week's bitter taste out of their collective mouths as they face Nevada. 

This is the part where I usually talk about last week's game, but I'd rather not remember it at all. Oregon, in recent years anyway, it starting to build a reputation for completely flopping in the second half (see last year's Stanford game, something something repressed memories) and generally failing to look like the same football team that started the game. Wait, I wasn't going to talk about it, was I?

This is the part where I start talking about this week's game and say something about, I don't know, Justin Herbert? Justin Herbert is fine. He'll probably be fine? He knocked knees with some dude on the other team at one point, I think? But last week is just a fading memory.

And here is the part where I say something about whoever the Ducks are playing today. They are the, uh, Wolf Pack? They went 8-5 last season, including a tight Arizona Bowl victory over dreaded Arkansas State. See, I'm prepared.

• The Last Game: We went over this, kind of. Oregon looked like they had a special season going for a couple of quarters, at least. Please wipe my memory.
• Know Your Opponent: Nevada wants to start well in order to pull off the upset this week. Good starts... hmm... maybe not always the key to victory?
• The Unis!: All green. I love this the most. Well, unless they bust out a throwback this season.
• Mario Cristobal's "Crystal Ball" prediction: Mario is "looking forward to the opportunity to get back to Autzen Stadium." As I see it, yes.

• Luke Skyywalker's Crystal Balls say: Nevada is home to the most of the legalized gambling in the western states. Luke and the Crew have probably done their fair share of deeds in the Sagebrush State. If it's an adult show you have to be 18

Game time is 4:30 PM PDT on the Pac-12 Network. Roxy Bernstein, Anthony Herron and Jill Savage are on the call. Go Ducks!

The Rest of the Stash

Not just a hockey blog! 

Last week, we took a look at a few cards of the newly crowned champs after capturing their very first Stanley Cup. This time around, let's check out a selection of some of the great non-Blues cards I received from buckstorecards. All in all, this was quite a great lot, and I need to figure out how to get this things squared and still somehow avoid the high cost of international shipping.

I love that new Clyde Drexler cards are still being produced. This is an especially good looking inserts from this past season's Prizm set. The Glide is looking especially cool here doing some sort of midair move while some silly Lakers look on the in the background, dumbfounded.

Festus?! Yes, the dude that never played a minute, practice or otherwise for the Blazers, still gets cards in a Portland uni. I guess it's cool that he showed up for team photo day or something. Injuries suck.

Here's an Immaculate Dame. Rarely do cards from such a treasured line come into this household, so this was a nice surprise.

This past year's Court Kings set had several different tiers of rookie cards. Here's Anfernee Simons in Pissed Off Tier 1 and Super Happy Tier 2.

Along with Blazers cards, there was a flock of Ducks and Ducks alums. DAT's card from 2014 Bowman Platinum feature two pieces of player worn memorabilia. It would be funny if the players wore every single jersey they need to put on during the Rookie Photoshoot at the same time, and just peeled them off in layers. That's probably not how it works, is it?

Here's a couple of cool cards of the recently retired J-Stew.

Big super intense football close-up shot!

Here's another patch from a photo shoot. LaMichael is looking like he doesn't quite know what to do with the ball here. Are the balls differently shaped in the pros?

Doug was cool enough to send some Eagles cards my way as well, including this sticker auto of the team's on again, off again wide receiver Jordan Matthews.

Finally, let's end it on a good note, with a Cardinals cards. That's right, this is a baseball blog! This is a 1st Year card of the Cardinals uber-prospect Nolan Gorman. It looks like people are going to more or less hoard his cards for awhile, so any chance to get one of these is good for me.