Sound Off.Byline: The Register-Guard Poor sports As a youth soccer coach who has personally experienced ugly and inappropriate behavior from the sidelines during youth soccer games, I was shocked and dismayed by the booing of the victorious Gonzaga Bulldogs The Gonzaga Bulldogs (also known as the Zags) are the athletic teams at Gonzaga University; the term applies to any of the school's varsity teams. Gonzaga University is a member of the West Coast Conference, which participates in the NCAA Division I. at last Friday's Lady Ducks soccer match. I would hate to think that visiting soccer teams and their supporters who travel to Eugene should come to think of us as some third-rate cowtown whose soccer audience is populated by a bunch of loudmouth ignoramuses incapable of perceiving the subtleties of the sport they are viewing. What I saw in the second half was an on-fire and determined-to-win Gonzaga team playing an out-of-form Duck team that was incapable of performing a simple switch at midfield to a left-side attack (I'm sure the Ducks will be covering this in this week's practices). In any case, the Bulldogs won because they were better prepared and they wanted it more. Those who can't understand this would do well to consider spending their leisure time at other sporting events like roller derby For the skate brand of the same name, see . Roller derby is an American-invented contact sport—and historically, a form of sports entertainment—based on formation roller skating around a track. or professional wrestling Noun 1. professional wrestling - wrestling for money sport - the occupation of athletes who compete for pay rassling, wrestling, grappling - the sport of hand-to-hand struggle between unarmed contestants who try to throw each other down . STEVEN R. JOHNSTON Eugene No walkover For 10 years now I have read the opinions of Mr. George Beres in The Register-Guard. I have disagreed with his opinions on almost every subject from local politics to his solutions for the Middle East, the presidency, and environmental solutions. It's a free country and I bit my tongue and refrained from answering. Now Mr. Beres expounds on his lack of understanding of the game of football. He feels that coach Bellotti schedules meaningless games for the Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks refers to the mascot and sports teams of the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The Oregon Ducks are part of the Pacific 10 (Pac-10) conference. Donald Duck is the mascot of the University of Oregon under an agreement with Disney. . As a graduate of Fresno State University and an avid fan of theirs as well as the Ducks, I find it amusing that Fresno State almost handed coach Bellotti a plate of "Duck Butt." Mr. Beres should choose his adjectives a bit more carefully. Adjectives such as meaningless, sacrificial, walkovers, gridiron midgets and yawners are what I have come to expect from an athletic authority like Mr. Beres. Maybe he should continue to display his minimal expertise in his usual haunts and leave coaching to the experts. DR. HAROLD H. BAXTER Florence Good experience A big round of applause is due your city from our group that attended last Saturday's football game. Though disappointed by our team's loss, our entire group (11 people) had a wonderful time in Eugene. From the time we landed until our departure on Sunday everyone was helpful, friendly and while enthusiastic about "The Ducks" never rude or demeaning de·mean 1 tr.v. de·meaned, de·mean·ing, de·means To conduct or behave (oneself) in a particular manner: demeaned themselves well in class. towards us or our team. Many cities do not have the passion for the team as you do, Eugene, but at the same time many cities (fans) do not have class that was shown us in Eugene. We hope that you have a fun and successful season and we look forward to returning to Autzen Stadium The stadium is tucked between the Willamette River and Coburg Hills. The uniquely shaped bowl blends in with the wooded Eugene landscape. The shape also allows for unique acoustics, making it one of the loudest stadiums in NCAA Football for its capacity. if the opportunity presents itself in the future. Finally, take the nets down behind the goal posts. Your fans deserve better. JEFF Jeff boob who usually bungles Mutt’s schemes. [Comics: Berger, 48] See : Dimwittedness DICKEY Fresno, Calif. Classic Harrington Last Saturday (Sept. 7) I was among a group of Oregon alums and friends who were watching the nationally televised Oregon-Fresno State football game at a sports bar in Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale (lô`dərdāl), residential, commercial, and resort city (1990 pop. 149,377), seat of Broward co., SE Fla., on the Atlantic coast; settled around a fort built (c.1837) in the Seminole War, inc. 1911. , Fla., when Fox Sports Network suddenly switched to a Florida Marlins The Florida Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From to the present, the Marlins have played in Dolphin Stadium. baseball game Noun 1. baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; "there was a baseball game on every empty lot"; "there was a desire for National League . There were less than four minutes remaining in the game at the time. Our anger over loss of the telecast was soon replaced with delight when none other than Joey Harrington John Joseph "Joey" Harrington Jr (born October 21, 1978 in Portland, Oregon) is an American football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. He was originally signed to be a backup to Michael Vick following the trade of Matt Schaub, however, he entered the season as starting came to the rescue. Harrington, who was in town for Sunday's Detroit Lions-Miami Dolphins game, had been quietly watching the UO-Fresno State telecast at a nearby table with a friend. But when Fox pulled the switch on the game, he went into action. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a friend in Arizona where the game was still being televised. During the remaining minutes of the game, he provided a play-by-play account of the game's final minutes, as dictated to him by his friend. It was a classic Harrington performance. With the cell phone to his ear, Joey calmly called out the yardage yard·age 1 n. 1. An amount or length measured in yards. 2. Cloth sold by the yard. Noun 1. , the plays, the time remaining and finally, the touchdown that clinched the victory for the Ducks. Shortly afterwards, Harrington departed but not before signing several autographs for a grateful group of diehard Duck fans. Thanks again Joey! MIKE RICHMOND
Mike Richmond (born 18 January, 1978) is a musician who has worked both in the live forum with traditional instruments and electronically. Jupiter, Fla. Poor defense Regarding the University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. football team's lack of respect as evidenced by the final results of the 2001 season and this year's polls - one needs to look at the pitiful Oregon defensive statistics over the past three years. The pass coverage, in particular, is no better than a bunch of kids playing street football. The opponent just throws passes with ease for completions and TDs. Oregon's defenders, when infrequently in the area of a receiver, stand and watch the completion or touchdown. Repeatedly, teams passed at will against Oregon's man-to-man coverage, and no lead that Harrington and the offense accumulated was safe. Witness the UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX and Washington State tapes from the 2001 season. National writers and coaches have never given full respect to a team without a defense, regardless of its won-loss records. Oregon badly needs to hire a pass coverage consultant and mix up its schemes. The way they cover receivers - they'd be better off with all 11 players on the line of scrimmage line of scrimmage n. pl. lines of scrimmage Football Either of two imaginary lines extending across the field parallel to the goal line at the ends of the ball as it rests prior to being snapped and at which each team lines up for . Double-digit losses may be coming sooner than we'd like to believe. GILBERT KAPLAN Gilbert Edmund Kaplan (born March 3 1941, New York City, U.S.) is an American businessman, former journalist and amateur conductor. Irvine, Calif. Reel in football What do you think of Thursday college football? Apparently it's here to stay. Oregon State played its second Thursday game of the new season. It was nationally televised, which explains the oddball scheduling. Gone are the days when college football was primarily a Saturday afternoon sport. Television stepped in with its lucrative program demands and scheduled games from Thursday to Monday. If this trend continues, I'm afraid TV will give us football seven days a week from July through December. While in a complaining mood, I'd like to say more about oddball scheduling, such as Oregon playing a 12-game season, eight at home and four away. San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. State is playing 13 games, nine away and four at home. Ohio State and Nebraska are among those schools playing 13 games. Which school will be their first to make it 14, then 15, etc.? I, for one, would like to see college football held to a 10- or 11-game season, to be played mostly on Saturday. If television continues to influence the scheduling of college football games, I am certain they will kill the game with boredom and overexposure overexposure too long an exposure time or too high a milliamperage causing too black a picture, loss of detail and some anomalies of translucency. . MONTE GUARDINO Eugene Calls help UO win Back several decades ago, when I attended and graduated from (then) Fresno State College, neither the FSC FSC See: Foreign Sales Corporation Bulldogs or our Oregon Ducks were making much of a ripple on the scene of big-time college football. When I eventually moved to Eugene, it was literally a "piece of cake" to find a pair of tickets and pretty good seating at Autzen Stadium. Those days seem to be pretty much in the past, mostly the result of the phenomenal success of coach Mike Bellotti Robert Michael Bellotti (b. December 21, 1950 in Sacramento, California) has been the head coach of the University of Oregon football team since 1995. His accomplishments at Oregon include an 11-1 season and #2 national ranking in 2001. Education M.S. being able to continue what began under coach Rich Brooks. I had to be content to follow the Ducks vs. Bulldogs game on the local Fox TV network. The game could easily have gone either way despite the 16-point margin predicted for the Ducks. I'll take exception to Chris Hansen's analysis that "poor execution led to failed opportunities which led to a 28-24 loss for Fresno State." Even with key players sidelined with injuries, the game likely would have had a different result except for several curious calls by the game officials. The alleged roughing of the Ducks' punter, Jose Arroyo, in the third quarter never really happened, as several TV replays clearly indicated. That missed call enabled Oregon to resume a stalled drive, which resulted in a touchdown to provide the eventual Ducks margin of victory. ROGER N. PAGE Eugene The Register-Guard Sports department welcomes letters on all sporting topics. The length limit is 250 words. Writers are limited to one letter per calendar month. Letters must be signed with the writer's full name. An address and daytime telephone number are needed for verification purposes; this information will not be published or released. Mail letters to Sound Off, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188 Fax: 687-6674 |
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