Good Luck Ducks, Week 3: The Other Spartans

Oregon has a final non-conference tune-up before the big prime time ABC game. 

As discussed last week, the Ducks non-conference schedule was less than stellar this year. On the other hand, it is probably ideal for this year's team, considering their coaching situation and need to show some significant improvement in order to get back to their status of perennial favorites that they enjoyed earlier in the decade. I'm heading down to Eugene in person to see Oregon play the San Jose State Spartans today, because tickets for these sorts of games are pretty affordable.

The (other) Spartans were shut out by fellow Pac-12 North school Washington State last week, which doesn't bode well for their chances here. The Ducks offense seems to be returning to juggernaut status under the guidance of suddenly top something NFL pick Justin Herbert, and there's been bright spots on D as well. I wouldn't expect a shutout again today (who actually expects a shutout in any football game?), but I do think Oregon will outpace the Cougars 31 from last week.

Things are nice now. The only real drama in Oregon football are the grumblings about backup quarterback Braxton Burmeister, who had limited action in the first two games despite the lopsided scores. Most fans are concerned that the team is a Herbert injury away from utter doom, because... well, last year? It's a concern. The hope is that the Ducks can put away San Jose State early, and (again) see what they may have in Burmeister. It definitely seems hard to throw a backup QB into the kind of situation where you don't really want to pass the ball, and actually be able to understand what they could do in a close game situation.

In other news, here are some links:

• A Reno newspaper/website isn't too thrilled about San Jose State continuing to be in the Mountain West. They were part of the big college conference migration earlier in the decade, moving over from the WAC.
• Ugo is the guy to watch for me, and also Ken Goe, one of our state newspaper/website's long tenured guys. Is there a better term for "newspaper/website" these days?
• He's only seventeeeeeeeen! [insert guitar riff]
• Know Your Opponent: "Emo Night brings rager to SJ" - sometimes the headline says it all.
• The Unis!: Not officially announced yet (as of "press time"), but this is a "Wear Black" game so I would expect black, since the unis matched the fan commandment the past two weeks. [Update: Yep, black.]

The Ducks smashed their last Mountain West opponent, last season, and were ranked in the Top 25 and then... things got dark. Let's hope for a better end result this season.

Game time is 2:00 PM PDT on the Pac-12 Network. Roxy Bernstein, Anthony Herron and Lewis Johnson probably have their own barstools at Rennie's by this point.

#DONE

Putting to bed a set I started collecting (in my head) ever since I was a child. 

With the help of a generous blogger and trading partner, Dennis of Too Many Verlanders/Manninghams, I finally am able to put down a set I've admired since I could barely grasp what baseball cards were. A lot of people find the 1985 Fleer baseball set to be ugly or boring, but to me it was one of the first idealistic looks at what baseball cards could be, outside of the venerable The Topps Company. With team color-coded borders, SuperStarSpecials and plenty o' stats on the back, I always wanted a complete set of this stuff. The various rookie cards made it a bit outside of my meager budget for much of my collecting youth, but not many of those rookies (Clemens aside, I guess?) held their value over the years. More than once, I could have snagged a more or less complete hand collated set at a card show for a bargain price, but I decided to put it all together the old fashioned way. I bought some packs (okay, not too many) and put a want list online, occasionally whittling away at it throughout the years. Now, it's done and all slapped away in a binder. I couldn't be happier about it.

Dennis likely was sweating out the MLB trade deadline today, which passed without a trade of his (current) blog namesake. He did find some time to send me a bunch of Cardinals cards that I needed. I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but I used to really like the Topps gold bordered parallel cards. They don't look so great anymore, though.

This may look like a simple base card from the 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings set, but the logo is shiny and reflective and the card itself is numbered to 100. This set is one of the best examples of what people complain about when they talk about modern sets having endless numbers of parallels that are barely distinguishable from each other. And while I agree that it's all pretty silly, I really like these cards. They sort of feel like vinyl.

Speaking of the best things from the '00s, Fleer Greats are... great! Yeah, that's pretty much all I've got. I received another half dozen or so cards of the Wizard for my collection. I've temporarily lost track of how many unique Ozzies I own thanks to the demise of Zistle, but I'm (slowly) working on replacing my online checklist outlet.

Speaking of endless parallels. What was Topps thinking with this Co-Signers stuff? It didn't last, of course.

I don't have many slabbed cards, but since I'm guessing the only way to get this Tyler Johnson silver parallel from 2003 was in uncirculated form, I'll leave this in its cardboard prison for now.

More Edmonds, because... why not?

It certainly wouldn't be a "Too Many" package without a great crop of Ducks cards, and Dennis certainly didn't disappoint on that end. I usually save most of these for the college football Saturdays, but there were so many great cards to be had that I couldn't hold everything back.

Prior to receiving this, my collection of baseball cards in Ducks uniforms was comprised entirely of anything I pulled in that Panini Oregon Ducks Collegiate blaster from awhile back. Cleavinger was a 3rd round pick a couple years ago and was just dealt from the Orioles to the Phillies before the trade deadline. He's been playing at the AA level this year.

They were never my favorite, but I was a defender of the Ducks tire tread or steel grating or whatever the hell uniform look from the late '00s. In recent years, the team has strayed further and further from their primary colors, which is why it was actually refreshing to hear new head coach Willie Taggart announce plans to scale it back and stick to a more basic look.

Yeah, it's uh... a signed card of a shirtless Ducks football legend. Those fringe draft picks/prospects card companies are super weird. I don't actually collect a lot of football cards, but when I do I'm continually surprised at how willing people are to buy cards of players doing everything but actually playing their sport.

Finally, I have to say that I was really happy to get a Max Unger card. Unger plays positions that are generally overlooked when the card companies are setting out to print up some cards. Even though he's been to the Pro Bowl, won a ring and has been a league mainstay since he entered the league, I would be willing to bet that he doesn't have many cards out there.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 14: War

Oh, the drama! Oh, the hyperbole! After enduring nearly an entire football season of hearing about things like "the best _______ in ________", "the greatest ___________ in the nation" and "the most amazing ___________ we've ever seen!", tonight's game is finally one that might deserve some of the hype. Granted, I still don't see a lot of national interest in this game due to the ever-present "east coast bias" (it doesn't help that the game starts at 9:00pm EST on a weeknight) and pretty much everyone directly to our state's south chowing down on sour grapes.

If you haven't heard by now, tonight is the 113th edition of The Civil War, hashed out on the football field between the University of Oregon Ducks and a cow college full of cows... er... the Oregon State Beavers. Apparently a Rose Bowl bid is on the line, which has happened a few times before. There's a twist, however! Both teams are eligible this time. Last year, the Ducks dropkicked an injury-riddled Beavers team on their home turf by a score of 65-38. Many t-shirts were made about that score.

I am loathe to make predictions here, so instead I'll just point out a few reasons why this game may not go the way it did last year and a few more why it just might:

• Oregon State not only returns 2008 Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year Jacquizz Rodgers, who did not play in last year's game, but their quarterback (Sean Canfield) did not play in last year's game because he had lost his job early on.
• Oregon counters at tailback with LaMichael James, who has been every bit as impressive as Jacquizz Rodgers at carrying the ball this year, and yet has carried far less of the workload for his team.
• Oregon State's defense has reportedly improved this season, making giving up another 65 or 70 (!) points unlikely this time out, even in enemy territory.
• Can the Beavers really stop the Ducks? No one has been able to stop the zone-read option this year and the Autzen home field advantage is undeniable.
  
  

This game could really be won in the trenches, as they say, and I figured there was no one better to show off than Max Unger. Solid offensive line play has taken the Ducks to where they are right now.

An interesting tidbit to consider for this series. Oregon is always seen as the flashy, privileged school that expects success and looks down upon its opponent. Oregon State always plays the underdog card - a blue-collar school from a smaller town and an everyman appeal. The notion, then, is that Oregon attracts the better recruits with their fancy locker rooms and practice facilities, while Oregon State coaches "regular kids" and gets the best out of them. One of our local weeklies did some research to determine how the Ducks recruits matched up to the Beavers and their "five-star" recruiting ratings came up pretty much even.

National TV on ESPN at 6:00 PDT. Winner takes on Ohio State!