The most prominent names associated with the University of Oregon gathered for an evening full of high emotion on Saturday, capped off with host Phil Knight’s announcement that he and wife Penny has pledged a $100 million gift to create the Oregon Athletics Legacy Fund; it is the largest gift ever given to the University. 

UPDATE: The Ol’ Dirty finally got their story posted. Took ya long enough!

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So, baseball’s the new thing at the UO, in case you hadn’t noticed, which means the Athletic Department is going to have to build a brand new baseball stadium. These are some big plans for a brand new AD who was brought in to essentially ensure the building of a new basketball arena. So, new basketball arena, new baseball stadium, a new learning center for athletes… no wonder professors have been harping about Athletics expenditures all year. The baseball announcement has created a new window for criticism, and much of it makes a good deal of sense. Biology prof Nathan Tublitz’ piece in the Register Guard today sticks it to Kilkenny on a number of fronts, including financing and space rental…

How will erecting an arena “continue to pump money back into the university’s budget”? No funds currently flow on a regular or irregular basis from athletics to academics, and there are no plans for such flows to occur. Moreover, if the arena fails to generate sufficient income to make the loan payments, funds will be diverted from academics to athletics.

I’ve been against plans for a new arena from the get go… McArthur rules, and with a little work it could be even better. Also, why can’t we let baseball be the Beavers thing? We already have basketball and football, right? Isn’t it kind of pathetic for us to jump into a new sport just because the Beavs are doing well at it? Then again, maybe Kilkenny’s just trying to stick it to the Em’s. Either way, it all seems a little “color changing helmet“-ish to me.

I found this story on ESPN.com. Basically a rugby player in Australia went to the doctor’s complaining about headaches and the eye infection he had developed. After running a couple of tests, the doctor found the tooth of another player had been embedded in his head. The story ends with this quote:

“I can laugh about it now, but the doctor told me it could have been serious, with teeth carrying germs…I’ve got the tooth at home, sitting on the bedside table. If he wants it back he can have it. I’m keeping it at the moment as proof that it actually happened.”

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to eat a disgusting amount of hot dogs in a short space of time, America will always be the best. Joey Chestnut claimed victory (as well as a world record) today at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest by eating a stunning 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. The former champion, Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, fell short of Chestnut’s mark by three franks.

This is perhaps the biggest symbolic victory for the U.S. since Rocky beat that big, Russian guy in Rocky IV - doubly so since it happened on Independence Day. Now we can forever remember the 4th of July for two reasons: the day we proclaimed independence and the day we took our rightful crown as hot dog eating champions of the world.

instead of Durant. Personally, I think they made the right decision, though Portland has been known to make some egregious draft choices.

Our friendly redneck frat boys up in Corvallis are making a run to be defend their College World Series Championship. The Oregon State baseball team finished the Michigan Wolverines off yesterday with an impressive 8-2 win, after beating the Wolverines 1-0 on Sunday. It will be the third straight appearence in Omaha for the Beavs, and this one is the most surprising. They lost almost all their starters from a year ago and finished sixth in the Pac-10, but played some gutsy ball down the stretch and have a heap of momentum going into saturdays game against Cal State Fullerton, 4 p.m.

On to Rip City, the front feature on espn.com today is on the Trail Blazers miraculous 1976-77 NBA Championship, calling it a “miracle, born, like Gaia, spontaneously, from nowhere, from utter chaos.” The Rip City Revival is in the midst, so brush up on your Blazer trivia so you avoid being labeled as a bandwagoneer as the Blazers set their eyes on a championship within a few years. The youthful Blazers will hopefully have the same blitzing offense as the 77 team. “We cut folks up, backdoored ‘em, ran ‘em, fundamentaled ‘em to death,” said Johnny Davis. You have to respect some good ol’ backdooring.

That’s right bitches, we got the number one pick in the NBA draft! So who are we going to pick? Is Oden the perfect compliment to LaMarcus Aldridge? Will Durant become the next Chosen One, making Oden the next Sam Bowie? Does an Oden pick mean Z-Bo has to go? Will the Blazers stun everyone with their idiocy and trade away the pick? So much speculation, so little time.

Discuss here, here, here, or here.

Ah, the best sporting event of the year has arrived. Here are the teams in the OC pick ‘em league:

• Ernie Kent’s Mexican Villa (Oregon in Sweet 16, Florida to win it all)
• Welcome to Drinkin’ Island (Oregon to win it all)
• Ted’s bracket of correctness (Oregon in Elite 8, No pick to win it all?)
• Cromulent Juxtaposition (Oregon in Championship game, Vandy to win it all)
• Hoosier Looser (Oregon to win it all)
• Mothering Huts (Oregon in Elite 8, Kansas to win it all)
• Ozzy Hoya (Oregon in Final Four, Georgetown to win it all)
• Hoop Nightmares (Oregon in Elite 8, Georgetown to win it all)

..according to the Oregonian’s Bob Rickert. Here’s a link to the full tournament brackets, and here’s the matchups in the Midwest regional:

1: Florida
16: Jackson State

8: Arizona
9: Purdue

5: Butler
12: Old Dominion

4: Maryland
13: Davidson

6: Notre Dame
11: Winthrop

3: Oregon
14: Miami (OH)

7: UNLV
10: Georgia Tech

2: Wisconsin
15: TAMCC

Wisconsin and Florida are both very, very good teams. Georgia Tech and Notre Dame are quite dangerous as well. But if — and this is a mighty big if — the Ducks continue to play as they have in the past week, the Gators are the only team that could stop Oregon from advancing. The Ducks should play on Friday the 16th, and according to the NCAA website tickets in Spokane are already sold out.

The Ducks are red hot right now, after destroying USC 81-57 to win the Pac-10 tournament with emphasis. The high-flying Ducks were bouncing all over the floor, hitting threes at will and getting 5 players in double figures. The team as a whole was clicking, but the standout was Bryce Taylor who had what amounted to a perfect game. Taylor scored 32 points on 11-11 shooting, and was 7-7 from 3. The Ducks played fast-paced, dynamic offense, but didn’t skimp at the defensive end either. USC was beat before the end of the first half, and looked lost the entire second half as Oregon bombarded them with threes. The Ducks were up by about 40 before Ernie Kent emptied the bench, and let the reserves hold on to a 24 point finish. Exactly the kind of performance you want to see in the last game before the big dance. Sweet Sassy Molassy!

So, can someone tell me who thought it would be a good idea to schedule the Oregon/Arizona game for 12:20 in the afternoon on a day most people have school or work? The game could’ve easily been scheduled for yesterday evening, but instead those of us with, you know, jobs and other responsibilities miss out. Thanks Pac-10!

Those of you unable to watch today’s game but able to use the Internet can see live scoring updates here.

God bless the Smoking Gun.

Today’s Register Guard reports that the Eugene City Council took steps yesterday toward regulating drinking at tailgate parties on privately owned parking lots near Autzen Stadium. Currently, the consumption of alcohol is allowed on the massive parking lot next to Autzen on the days of home games. Drinking is technically illegal, but is tolerated in the private lots along MLK Jr. Blvd. This may all change soon as city councilors are considering putting limits on drinking in private lots, but they are putting off making a decision until they know how the University will respond.

Councilor George Poling, who represents the area that includes Autzen, favors expanding the allowance of alcohol to private lots if the University decides not to support any limits on drinking. Of course, the Eugene Police Department and Mothers Against Drunk Driving are against any sort of expansion. EPD stated that the number of brawls and alcohol-related brawls is on the rise, while MADD espoused its typical neo-prohibitionist message.

At least one private organization that provides parking is against any sort of regulation or permits. The Eugene Masonic Lodge manages a 10-acre lot across from Autzen and allows alcohol consumption and just encourages drinkers to dispose of their bottles before crossing the street to Autzen.

(Photo: pete4ducks)

Former Oregon basketball great Fred Jones was today traded by the Toronto Raptors to the 24-32 Blazers. Jones is, of course, one of the best players ever to attend the UO, and while his NBA career hasn’t been as decorated as his college one he will nevertheless be a solid addition to the young Portland team: he’s a good defender and is excellent at dribble penetration. Plus, the Blazers have spent the past few years worrying about their image and, if nothing else, Jones will be a fan favorite thanks to his PDX roots, friendly demeanor, and ridiculous dunking ability.

The only real questions remaining are if his mediocre shooting percentage will go up and if he’ll gel with Coach Nate McMillen and the rest of the Blazers team. I’m guessing that the answer to both will be “yes”– but hey, when one of your favorite players is now on your favorite team it’s hard to not be a bit optimistic.

More on the trade here, at the Oregonian’s Blazers Blog.

Well, it’s 4 am, I can’t sleep, and apparently Ty Schwoeffermann is writing again… just what I needed.

Having disappeared from the Emerald after his now-infamous “Watch out for Jungle Fever” column, Ty is back with a guest commentary entitled “Athletics should offer more to higher education.” Whereas “Jungle Fever” was unrelentingly, overbearingly, crushingly stupid, the latest opus is more mildly confused with just a dash of the famous Schwoeffermann crazy.

The piece begins:

The majority of students are grateful for the opportunity to attend such a high-caliber school, and if your family is wealthy (the average University of Oregon student’s family income is $100,000 per year), then a quality education is implied.

The rest is of about the same quality, except for this little nugget:

Financial assistance along with many other supplements can change the racial and class disparities at this school. The Athletic Department is not causing racism and economic inequality, but it is not advocating against it. By not actively working to fix these problems, the department is only facilitating the inequality by putting student athletes to work on the plantation fields.

So let’s recap: Schwoefferman railing against interracial dating is not racist, but the Athletic Department’s lack of advocacy is. C’mon Ty, don’t athletes get academic support and residence options that aren’t available to the average student? Do you really think anyone takes charges of racism seriously from someone who thinks interracial dating “isn’t right”? Don’t you think it’s a little bit insulting to the memory of the survivors of slavery to compare their ordeal to collegiate athletes in the 21st Century? And I thought the Commentator was desperate for content…