Wednesday, March 28, 2007

End of March Musings

Spring is in the air! Anyone else out enjoying the sun the last couple of weekends? I love that little break in the weather just as spring starts, which then turns into another month and a half of rain. Makes it really hard to prepare for my roto baseball draft, watch NCAA tournament hoops, or update the blog...

...I did get to watch some Beaver baseball last weekend. The wife and I went on the best day, Sunday, when the atmosphere towards the end of the game was like a big Pac-10 game. Great crowd participation! I'm loving the new scoreboard. Although, I kept looking up there for replays of all the great plays only to be disappointed with an OSU player still staring at me (they have big videos of each player as the go up to bat). Apparently instant replay is a year away. Oh, and could they have had any more emotional extremes by putting getting Mike Stutes and Mia Longfellow to do ads for upcoming softball/baseball series? Stutes looked like he just woke up. In the future, I say let Mia do them all because she's a firecracker.

...The new turf was nice. However, it seemed to really cut down on our ability to bunt for base hits. OSU didn't have any bunt singles last Saturday out of five tries or so. I left wondering if the other team was that good defensively or if we were going to have to cut that element out of our game (at home at least). That could seriously hurt us as our trademark in recent years has been pitching, defense, and speed.

...Spring football is coming up. I started out trying to list every new 2007 recruit and get some news, photos, and videos about them. I'll continue that as the spring/summer goes on, but other pursuits (work, house, march madness) sort of got in the way. However, I'm going to try to take a look at last year's class and see who we should be watching from that class to make an impact next fall. And I'll be attending a few practices so I'll have some pictures to post.

...Basketball is still one of my favorite sports (how could int not be growing up in the 80's?) so I pay attention to the tournament even in years when my team isn't in it (in other words, every year). This year was particularly interesting with WSU and Oregon being so good. It's actually hard for me to root for either of these teams because A) WSU is where OSU should be darn it, and B) Oregon is Oregon. But I did pull for them as they advanced because I realized that if they do well, it will be good for the Pac-10 and thus good for OSU. Great job Ducks, Cougs, Trojans, Wildcats, and Trees. And go Bruins.

...Anyone else watching the Ducks game about halfway through the 2nd half think that the Pac-10 could have THREE teams in the final four? USC was up on UNC by double digits, the Bruins were in the great eight, and the Ducks were beating up on Kansas. Then USC collapsed and the Ducks couldn't get over the hump against Florida. That would have been wild if it could have happened.

Spring football starts next week! Get out and check out the team at least once and whole you're here take a look at the new Reser Stadium construction. It's coming along pretty well!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Keith Robertson, Andres Reed Join the Football team

Here's some interesting news. Keith Robertson finally found his way to OSU. He's been almost here for years now. Hopefully he can add something to our D-Line. Both have 2 years of eligibility remaining.

Keith Robertson and Andres Reed Join Football Program - Official Site of Oregon State Athletics

Robertson is a 6-2, 245-pound defensive end from Lake Oswego, Ore. He attended Foothill Community College and played for the school during the 2004 and ’05 seasons. Robertson originally signed with OSU in 2003 and in 2006.

Reed is a 5-11 running back who played the 2004 and ’05 seasons at the College of Siskiyous in Yreka, Calif. He is a 2003 graduate of South Medford High School where he was a 4A first team all-state selection and two-time all-conference honoree.


At least there's some football news leading up to Spring practice.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

It's Tournament Time!

Its time to finalize those brackets. March Madness is almost upon us. How nice would it be if our team actually participated. One can only dream. It's probably a little late, but if you need some help filling out those brackets try this:

Pure LRMC Rankings

Now about the Pac-10.

I just saw the Oregon basketball team heading out of the Eugene airport as I was heading back from a conference. And that got me thinking about whether I could actually root for the Ducks this year. Hmm. How about the Pac-10 this year huh?

The Pac-10 has significantly raised its profile over the last year. Starting with UCLA's run last year and continuing with the surprise seasons of Oregon and WSU, people believe in the Pac-10 now. Sure, the media was jumping on the bandwagon mid-season, but the real proof is in the tournament selection committee. I don't remember a season with this many high seeds (or teams) in the NCAA tournament, ever.

#2 - UCLA
#3 - WSU
#3 - Oregon
#5 - USC
#8 - Arizona
#11 - Stanford

When OSU was making it to the NCAA tournament I don't remember us getting higher than a 5 or 6 seed. And that's when we placed second in the Pac-10! Now both Wazzu and Oregon get 3 seeds?! Add UCLA and USC and WOW. Back to the Ducks, anyone else having a hard time picking Oregon in their brackets? I mean as a 3 seed you have to at least pick them to win one game. But what about the sweet 16? Elite 8? Man, does that hurt. I've got them getting to the final 16, but no further.

Really, I do want the Pac-10 to do well because it will conitinue to raise the profile of the league and maybe we can get a #3 seed...someday.

Good luck everyone, happy March Madness!

Friday, March 09, 2007

Photos of the new baseball stadium

Oregon State beat Evansville last night 9-2, but that wasn't the story. The story was the new turf, scoreboard, and a homecoming for the Beaver National Champions.

Gazette-Times Gallery

Check out the photos from the GT. Love the new mural. I can't wait to attend a game.

Click on the picture above to see a Flickr gallery from ronin_beav. Lots of construction pics in there.

 
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