On the Trail Blazers’ lousy start, Hassan Whiteside and my former boss, Alabama’s long snapper, a Texas grad assistant and all those $$ tossed around in college football
Things on my mind as we kick off a new (and hopefully far better) year …
• A statistical analysis of the Trail Blazers’ disappointing seven-game start to the 2020-21 campaign portends that the local NBA quintet is fortunate to be 3-4.
The off-season emphasis by general manager Neil Olshey was help at the defensive end, something that was a near-constant during Terry Stotts’ first eight years as coach.
How I became a Heisman voter, How the process works, and how I decided on DeVonta Smith …
In the 85-year history of the Heisman Trophy, only five receivers have won the award as college football’s premier player. So Alabama’s DeVonta Smith — named Tuesday as the 2020 recipient — is in with some exclusive company.
I was one of many throughout the country who cast a vote for Smith, the spectacular senior who was never better than he was on Dec. 19 when he helped No. 1-ranked Alabama get by Florida 52-46 in the SEC Championship Game.
Belnap draws winning ticket, receives Schonely voice message
Troy Belnap is the winner of our drawing to have Bill Schonely record a message for the voicemail on his cell phone.
Belnap, 43, is a fitting recipient of this prize. He has been a fan of “The Schonz” since his childhood days in McMinnville.
Jim Ross loves wrestling, and wrestling loves him back — sort of
This was a birthday gift from my youngest son, Drew, a full-fledged pro wrestling fanatic. I was only marginally acquainted with the celebrity of Ross, the Hall of Fame broadcaster who for many years was Vince McMahon’s right-hand man with the WWE.
This isn’t Ross’ first book; his autobiography is entitled “Slobberknocker,” which evidently means a violent collision. That’s what Ross’ life was like inside and outside the ring (yes, he actually wrestled a number of times).
Beaver sports a way of life for auction winner Al Nyman
Al Nyman and Oregon State athletics go way back.
“My dad (Karl) was a coach who got a masters degree from Oregon State,” says Nyman, whose $250 bid earned him a copy of “Civil War Rivalry: Oregon vs. Oregon State” autographed by 20 former Beaver and Duck football greats. (One hundred percent of proceeds go to the Willamette Humane Society of Salem.) “My mom got her masters degree there, too. A lot of my family went to OSU.”
Al Nyman, 80, graduated from OSU in 1964.
Going from A to Z with Mitch Canham talking Beaver baseball …
Mitch Canham is upbeat as he prepares for Christmas with his wife, Marlis, and their children, eight-year-old Mack and six-year-old Mya. He’s a little bit healthier, too.
Oregon State’s second-year baseball coach had his left knee scoped two weeks ago.
Do we have the book for you …
Here’s an idea for a Christmas gift, or for New Year’s, or just to give to a friend who happens to be a sports fan: Selections from the collection of sports books Kerry Eggers has written. All books will be autographed, and upon request, personalized by the author. All costs include postage and handling. Provide a name and address and we will ship directly if the book is headed to the final recipient. If you order before Dec. 21 you should receive your order by Christmas Eve. Payments can be made via personal check or Venmo.
On Beaver and Duck football, reffing in the NBA this season, Keanon Lowe’s movie, Terry Baker and the Heisman and death of a champion …
Knocking it around on a variety of subjects on a drizzly Sunday in the Willamette Valley …
• I can’t imagine Jonathan Smith got much sleep Saturday night.
Oregon State’s 27-24 loss to Stanford couldn’t have been much more painful for the third-year Beaver coach.
Losses like that are daggers to the heart a coach trying to build a program.
A fruitcake? A Christmas sweater? How about this for your holiday list …
Need a special Christmas gift? We offer this: A copy of “Civil War Rivalry: Oregon vs. Oregon State,” the book detailing more than 120 years of the intrastate football rivalry.
On the Pac-12 bowl picture, the Heisman, the Eagles’ curious two-point call and more …
A few football thoughts, along with a closing note about golf …
• The lineup of Pac-12 bowl affiliates has been slimmed considerably with the shut-down of the Sun, Holiday, Redbox and Las Vegas Bowls for this year due to COVID-19 complications.
That leaves the Rose Bowl — a CFP semifinal game this year, meaning that the Pac-12 will almost certainly not be a participant — the Alamo Bowl, the L.A. Bowl and the Independence Bowl. The Pac-12 requires a team to be .500 or better to be bowl eligible, so if a team is able to get in its scheduled seven games, it must go 4-3.
The conference has yet to announce a plan for the final weekend of regular-season play (Dec. 18-19).
A game for the ages in the fog at Reser
Here is what’s on my mind after Friday’s epic 41-38 Oregon State victory over Oregon in the foggy, eerie solitude of Reser Stadium …
• The Beavers’ come-from-behind win over the ninth-ranked Ducks becomes an instant classic in this, the strangest of all football seasons in the most unsettling year of our lifetime.
The new guys look good as Beavers open 2020-21 slate with win over Bears
I liked a lot of what I saw Wednesday night in our first look at Oregon State in the post-Tres Tinkle era, a 71-63 non-conference win over California in a mostly empty Gill Coliseum.
A few observations …
• Coach Wayne Tinkle unveiled most of the recruiting class he has been so excited about, and the newcomers not only didn’t disappoint, they shined.
No games in 2020, but Rutschman is doing what he can do to prepare for a major-league career
Minor league baseball went dark last season due to the COVID-19 crisis, bad timing for those in the beginning stages of their professional careers.
Even so, Adley Rutschman made the most of his 2020 non-season.
The No. 1 pick in the 2019 major-league draft spent the summer on the Baltimore Orioles’ 60-man roster, though he trained with the minor-league group in Bowie, Md., about 30 miles south of the city.
There was baseball played even before the Red Stockings
(Second in a series of review of sports books)
“How Baseball Happened”
By Thomas Gilbert
Godine Publishing
On shoddy officiating, COVID’s impact and Pac-12 women’s hoops, along with a little Terry Stotts and Charles Barkley …
Reflections from ye old scribe on a few sporting subjects …
• I’m rarely one to criticize sports officials. I have friends who are referees and admire their integrity and intestinal fortitude. I umpired and refereed during my high school and college years. I believe those who work college and pro sports most often do a very credible job.
But what happened Saturday night in Seattle was nothing short of a travesty.
Something new: A weekly menu of sports book reviews
As a service to our readers — the ones who enjoy sports books — we’ll critique an offering a week from now until Christmas.
The first one is a book written by one of my favorite writers and a great guy familiar to sports fans in this area. Bud Withers worked for a long time for the Seattle Times and P-I, but before that was with the Register-Guard in Eugene, where he came across one of the most polarizing figures ever to hit the Northwest college basketball scene.
Beavers flop, Ducks hop In their season openers
A few observations on the Beavers and Ducks after debut Saturday of Pac-12 football …
Watch a replay of Trail Blazers Courtside
I’ll be a guest on Trail Blazers Courtside Monday night from 7:15-7:45 pm with Jordan Kent and Michael Holton on NBC Sports Northwest and simulcast on Rip City Radio 620.
The Mayor of Rip City Wants To Be Voiceover Guy For Your Voicemail
For our next contest, a twist. We’re going to award the lucky winner some interaction with the great Bill Schonely.
Wishing the best For two of the best In the SID business
The coronavirus pandemic has affected all of us, and in many ways.
At Oregon State, 23 positions in the athletic department were eliminated recently, including two of the five full-time members of the sports information staff.
These folks let go to help cut the department’s financial losses aren’t greenhorns. Steve Fenk had been a member of the SID staff since 1990, the head of the department since 2004. Jason Amberg, who had been on board as an assistant for 16 years, was Fenk’s first hire.