Wednesday, February 28, 2007

South Medford Panthers Win!!!!


Tonight South Medford High boys basketball team beat Aloha 85 to 46 here in Medford in the first round of the Oregon 6A state playoffs. They will host Oregon City on Saturday night. If they win that game the will go to the State Tournament in Eugene at the University of Oregon's MacArthur Court.Every one in Medford is hoping for a rematch of last years State Championship game between South Medford and Lake Oswego. Go Panthers!!!

Ron Bellamy Column on "Zoomer" (Neil Zoumboukos)



Ron Bellamy the Sports columnist for the Eugene Register Guard has a great column today on the departure of Neil Zoumboukos from the football coaching staff of the University of Oregon Ducks. Click on the title above for a link. He says a lot of the things I have been thinking the last 24 hours. A few quotes from the column:

"What a strange, bittersweet day it was at the Casanova Center. Because you figured that ageless Neal Zoumboukos would somehow always be an Oregon football coach, and that hell would freeze before Tom Osborne coached at Oregon again, as in never. Yet there they were Tuesday, ships passing, Zoumboukos announcing that he's leaving coaching to become a special assistant to the Oregon athletics director, and Osborne being introduced as his replacement.

A simple notice in transactions won't begin to tell this story.

The Oregon football program lost an icon Tuesday - a coach and mentor and leader and conscience for 27 years - and regained one of the best special teams coordinators in the country, who presided over some of the best special teams ever seen here.

And none of this could have been easy, really.

Zoumboukos and Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, old friends, go back to UC Davis, where Zoumboukos, as the freshman coach, gave the recent UCD graduate his first job in coaching.

Bellotti and Osborne go back to Osborne's not-all-sweet departure from the Oregon coaching staff in 2000 for Arizona State.....

Suffice to say Zoumboukos was adamant Tuesday that he did "NOT" want to be responsible for special teams - and he pretty much said it in capital letters - and that "we needed a special teams coordinator."

That the Ducks have been without a coach in that role the last two seasons seems, in part, to be a reflection of how much Bellotti cares about his friend; Zoumboukos, as the tight ends coach, was the logical and traditional choice, but Zoumboukos didn't want the responsibility.

Of all the grenades Zoumer has launched himself upon at Oregon, of all the tasks performed by this ultimate company man, he wouldn't do that. He lacks, he explained, the suitable tolerance for kickers, and the confidence in his expertise for that particular job......

So, Zoumboukos, 60, is leaving coaching for now - I'm not convinced this is forever - to serve as a special assistant to new AD Pat Kilkenny, full-time through the end of June, and then on a part-time basis. He'll be an advocate for athletes, and for assistant coaches. He'll be the link to the days when the Ducks had the Pac-10's worst facilities, and some of its lowest expectations.

He'll be a conscience for Kilkenny, and a devil's advocate, and a friend, as he was for Bellotti and for Rich Brooks.

Because Zoumboukos was there when Oregon had no choice but to be humble, and the underdog; he was there, too, when UO reached the Rose Bowl, and won the Fiesta Bowl...

Tuesday, Zoumboukos became emotional, as he talked about his "best friends" on the Oregon coaching staff. He thanked Bellotti, and Brooks, who hired him at Oregon, and who gave him more and more duties, ultimately naming him associate head coach. He'd made his announcement to the Oregon players on Monday.

It's the end of an era, really. The stepping away of one of the last Old School guys...Zoumboukos, his bald head roughly at lower-chest level with an offensive lineman (the position he coached most in his Oregon years), giving the wayward kid what-for; and those same linemen, at their final banquet as Oregon seniors, hugging Zoumboukos and wondering where the time went....

"But by and large, you ask any player who has ever played under him, and they have tremendous respect for him. Because he truly does take young kids and turn them into men by the time they walk out of that program."

Gary Zimmerman, nominated several times for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, played four years for Zoumboukos at the beginning of the coach's tenure at Oregon and credits Zoumboukos for instilling the intensity, and teaching the techniques, that helped him achieve a 12-year career in the NFL.....

"There was no one more intense than Zoumer was, back in the old days," Zimmerman said. "He was really intense, and almost anal, I guess. The stuff he did was hilarious. He used to hide in the bushes to try to catch people after curfew. He used to take a hammer out to practice, and if you lifted your head up he'd hit you with a hammer. He shot people in the rear with a starter's gun because they were too slow.

"Just stuff like that, that coaches would get sued for today. ... "

....For Zoumboukos, some of those memories, and the long relationships at Oregon, came spilling back Tuesday; he stopped once, in his news conference, overcome with emotion. "I'm blessed to have been here as long as I have," he said. "I'm blessed to have been doing something that I love doing, and I'm going to love doing this administration thing, too."

Well, I'm not sure he sounded truly convincing about the last part, but he was about the rest of it. Blessed was Oregon, too, that he's worked here."


Sniff...Sniff... good by Mr Chips.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Zoomer Leaving! (Updated)


There have been reports over on the Oregon Football Forum on Oregon Live that University of Oregon assistant football coach Neal Zoumboukos( Zoomer) will be leaving the team.(Update, reports are true) It's a darn shame. Zoomer has been a coach at Oregon since 1980 or for 26 seasons. He has coached the O line,and has for two year been the Tight Ends coach. He is also the Assistant Head Coach. He has an "Old School" approach to coaching that the Ducks need more of and not less! He believes in a tough work ethic for his players and likes "blue collar" players who play beyond their abilities rather than "blue chip" players who under perform. He is a great recruiter. I have talked with one of his players from the Rose Bowl year and he has nothing but admiration for Zoomer. I have also met Zoomer and he is the kind of coach who I would like to coach my son. I have observed him preparing himself mentally on game day and have seen his own personal work ethic. If I was in an alley fight I would want him covering my back. If he leaves it will be Oregon's Loss. At the Official Oregon web site it states:
The 60-year-old Zoumboukos has instilled a work ethic that has benefited his pupils long after their football careers have ended. He possesses a passion that has prompted many of his former players to follow in their mentor’s footsteps into the coaching profession.


UPDATED

At a press conference it was announced that Tom Osborne was coming back to the Ducks as Tight Ends Coach and Special Teams Coordinator. He had since he left the Ducks been at Arizona State University. Zoomer will move to a part time "liaison" to new Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny. Zoumboukos at the press conference said he looked forward to being an advocate for student-athletes and administrative staff, including assistant coaches, from all UO sports. It was said Zoomer was moved off the football staff due to his unwillingness to take over the duties of Special Teams Coordinator. He will be available as a coaching consultant and advisor on recruiting. While I have no problem with Coach Osborne, it is a darn shame that Zoomer will not be on the field coaching the team! At least he is still working for the Ducks. Go Ducks!

UPDATE #2

The University of Oregon has now released a formal press release on the changes to the football staff. Click on the title above for a link. Some interesting quotes from the press release:

Zoumboukos, who has accumulated 27 years as an Oregon assistant coach -- the longest continuous tenure of any assistant coach in the Pacific-10 Conference -- will assume the title of special assistant to the director of athletics.

In his new role, Zoumboukos will continue to serve in an administrative role to Bellotti and the football program as well as a liason between incoming director of athletics Pat Kilkenny and the university campus community.

“Neal Zoumboukos has played an integral role in the success of Oregon’s football program for more than two decades and is regarded very highly among numerous university circles as well,” Kilkenny said. “His value to me will be immeasurable, not only within the athletics department but in helping me become familiar with the different constituents on campus. I am extremely pleased and fortunate that Neal has agreed to fill this role.”


“I want to personally thank Neal Zoumboukos for his outstanding service to this university, the athletics department and our football program,” Bellotti said. “He has been an outstanding teacher, coach and mentor to the student-athletes he has been associated with. He also has been a friend, confidant and co-worker to me whom I have trusted and leaned on my entire time as a football coach.

“He will be missed on the football field but I am pleased he will continue his association with this athletics department and help our new athletics director with his efforts to move this athletics department forward.”


Go Ducks!

Sunday, February 25, 2007

George Washington


George Washington's birthday was February 22. I believe George Washington does not get enough credit for what he did for this country.In the winter of 1776 he kept the American Revolution alive. Gen. Washington had a long and painful summer and autumn of defeat in 1776. His American Army had been defeated across New York -- in Brooklyn, Manhattan and White Plains -- and then driven across New Jersey and forced to flee across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.

Washington's forces had dwindled until he had only about 4,000 effective soldiers left. There were another 6,000 men present, but they were so sick they were unable to go into battle.

Yet he conducted himself with honor. James Monroe, a future Precedent, described Washington during the retreat as follows:

"I saw him... at the head of a small band, or rather in its rear, for he was always near the enemy and his countenance and manner made an impression on me which I can never efface. A deportment so firm, so signified,, but yet so modest and composed, I have never seen in any other person"


Washington knew the end could be near. A majority of the citizens of the 13 former colonies were either pro British or felt the war for Independence was lost. The British were a mere 60 miles from Philadelphia. The Congress that had declared Independence only a few months before were ill or exhausted or absent. Jefferson had gone home to Virginia, John Adams was back home in Massachusetts and Ben Franklin had departed to France. At times there were not enough delegates for a quorum. Philadelphia was in a panic due to the advancing British. People in Philadelphia ware getting and taking all of the possession they could carry.

Thomas Paine who had volunteered to serve as a civilian aide to one of Washington's Generals wrote during the long retreat by the light of a campfire on a drum head:

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

Faced with declining morale, rising desertions, the collapse of political will in the country at large and a sense of despair, Washington decided to gamble everything on a surprise attack. It would require a night crossing of an icy river against a formidable professional opponent.

But the most telling sign of Washington's mood as he embarked on the mission was his choice of a password. His men said "victory or death" to identify themselves.

What if there had been a Baker-Hamilton Commission advising Gen. Washington?

That night crossing, immortalized in the painting above of Washington's standing in the boat as Marblehead Fishermen rowed him across the ice-strewn river, led to an amazing victory on Christmas Day. That victory led to a surge in American morale and a doubling in the size of the American forces under Washington within two weeks. And that gave Washington the strength to win a second surprise victory at Princeton.

In two weeks, Washington had gone from defeated, hopeless bungler to victorious American hero and personification of the American Cause. Happy Birthday George. You deserve more than "Presidents Day" sales!

Much of the above information is from David McCullough's book "1776". I recommend it highly.

Oregon Ducks Win!!


The University of Oregon Ducks men's basketball team swept both Washington State (Ranked 9th in the nation) and the Washington Huskies this weekend at Mac Court ("The Pit")in Eugene. The game against the Huskies was a particularly hard fought game because of two factors. First, the Ducks and Huskies don't like each other as I have pointed out a number of times on this blog. Second, is because of an event that took place last year at the Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angles. Ryan Appleby the Washington guard took a shot at Aaron Brooks and cut his lip. Brooks soon thereafter put a forearm to Appleby's face causing his nose to bleed and requiring some stitches to his face. Brooks was ejected from the game and in the dressing room wrote a letter of apology to Appleby and his coach. Brooks was suspended for two games including the game in Seattle against the Huskies earlier this year that the Huskies won. Brooks made a big mistake and paid for it. Last night the two players met on the basketball court for the first time since the incident last year. At the beginning of the game Aaron Brooks approached Ryan Appleby to shake hand and Appleby refused. Again after the game Brooks attempted to shake Appleby's hand and he refused. He said after the game that Brooks should have received more punishment than he had received. The refusal to shake the hand of Brooks inflamed the Oregon student section "The Pit Crew" and they were on Appleby the entire game. In the end Brooks and the Ducks got the last laugh when Oregon led by Brooks beat the Huskies ruining any chance Washington had of going to the NCAA tournament. At the end of the game the "Pit Crew" was chanting N I T... N I T ( Washington may go to the NIT Tournament since they won't go to the NCAA Tournament. It's know as a losers tournament. In the past I have not been a big fan of Brooks due to his immaturity and he was wrong to have hit Appleby; but, he has grown since the incident a year ago. Appleby on the other hand is a bitter person and has no class!

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Movie Review:"Breach" *****


My wife and I went to see "Breach" at Tinseltown this rainy Saturday afternoon.This is an excellent movie based upon the true story of Robert Hansson a high FBI official who was a Russian spy. Hansson played by Chris Cooper was arrested in 2001 after working in counter intelligence for the FBI for 25 years. He basically was in charge of preventing the Russians from spying on the United States and was in fact a spy for them. The movie covers the two month leading up to his arrest. Chris Cooper gives a wonderful performance and makes you almost like him. Hansson was a person full of contradictions. He was a very strict Catholic and a family man who sold out his country to the Russians and secretly taped his sexual relationship with his wife. The movie focuses on the the relationship between Hansson and a young clerk who the FBI used to spy on Hansson up until his arrest. Much of the movie was filmed in Washington DC and having spent some time in DC it was fun watching places I have been. If you want car chases don't go to this movie this is a thinking person spy movie. I give it 5 *****. To read more on the movie click on the title above for link to the Internet Movie Data base(IMDB) page for the movie.

Malt Shop Memories


Last night about 3 am I could not sleep so I turned on the TV and there was an infomercial for the Time/Life music CD set of 'Malt Shop Memories." This 10 CD set of 150 songs is a trip back to the 1950's and early 1960's Rock n Roll music before the British Invasion. Even though I received the set as a Christmas present last Christmas and have seen the infomercial several time I still enjoy watching it again even at 3 am. I highly recommend the CD set. It is very good. Each song is a hit and as the say in the infomercial there are "no fillers" The infomercial is set in a fake malt shop with aging rocker Bobby Rydell and a younger female co host. Sitting around the "malt shop" are other folks in their 50's and 60's who talk about how great the set is and how it takes them back to when they were young. These interviews are interspersed with film of the real artist singing the songs on the CD's. As they say in the infomercial it would be difficult to collect all of these songs on CD . I have purchased other Time/Life compilations and they are generally very well done. I have "The Folk Years" and "Singer and Songwriters 1970 t0 1978"
Click on the title above for a link to the Time/Life site. Where else are you going to get Elvis Presley, Jay & the Americans, The Shrelles, The Beach boys, Jan & Dean, The Del-Vikings, Dee Clark, Ricky Nelson, Chubby Checker,Little Peggy March,and Connie Francis all in one place.The only other CD that is close to this is the "American Graffiti" sound track. It's great music to work around the house with. I used to make fun of my folks record compilations of the "Big Band Sound." and their Lawrence Welk music. No More.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Rachel Bachman's Snotty Article

Today Rachel Bachman a sports reporter for the Portland Oregonian wrote a sports news story on the fact that Pat Kilkenny, the new Athletic Director at Oregon did not get his college degree. The sub headline states "UO's athletic director must encourage athletes to graduate, even though he did not do so himself" I am not posting a link to the story as it is not worth your time to read. However the end of the story she quotes some one as saying: "If a student-athlete comes up and says, 'I want to get out of college,'and he says, 'No, you really should stay, and they say, 'Well you didn't finish,' he should have a good answer,"

I propose this as an answer for Pat Kilkenny:

Since leaving the University of Oregon I founded a multimillion dollar insurance company and have earned millions of dollars.

I have given good jobs to hundreds of people with college degrees.

I have donated generously to my University.

My name is attached to University athletic facilities.

I have been asked to serve on many prestigious boards at more than one University.

At the request of the President of my University I have agreed to serve for two years without pay in a job for which he drafted me.

In spite of all of the above a sports reporter for a state wide newspaper saw fit to write an entire story on the fact I did not get my college degree.

So stay in school and get your degree as there is more than one kind of prejudice in this world.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

VP Cheney takes on Pelosi and Murtha



"I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we will do is validate the al-Qaida strategy," the vice president told ABC News. "The al-Qaida strategy is to break the will of the American people ... try to persuade us to throw in the towel and come home, and then they win because we quit." Tell it like it is Dick! There is no substitute for victory!

Leland Report Update

The Eugene Register-Guard Newspaper today has a front page story under the headline "UO didn't get it in writing: $17,000 athletics review"updating the oral "Leland Report" about the state of the University of Oregon Athletic Department. This report was requested by U of O President Dave Frohnmayer before the announced departure of Athletic Director Bill Moos. Ted Leland, the former AD at Stanford conducted an investigation of the department and gave an oral report to President Dave Frohnmayer. The Register-Guard requested a copy of the report under Oregon's public records law and was told there was no written report. However in response to questions from the Register-Guard Frohnmayer agreed to request a written report and turn it over to the newspaper. No written report has yet to be produced. Some quotes from today's news story:

"It's the report that doesn't exist but won't go away - $17,250 worth of research that was delivered orally to the UO but doesn't exist on paper for the public to see....

It's a potentially important review because it offers a snapshot of the department at a key juncture and is part of a series of events that includes last week's surprise appointment of UO booster Pat Kilkenny as the new UO athletic director.

That could make Leland's assessment of the department and the performance of Bill Moos, then athletic director, a valuable commodity. That Moos announced his resignation shortly after Leland delivered the report and that Moos was given a $2 million golden parachute financed largely by Kilkenny only ups the interest factor....

Frohnmayer says Leland delivered his findings orally to himself and Moos. And Frohnmayer wasn't planning on having Leland put the findings in writing until The Register-Guard pressed him for details and he agreed to have Leland create a written version.

But more than a month later, that version has yet to arrive.

Even when it does, the situation raises several issues. One is whether it would have been appropriate for a public university to spend $17,250 for a report and then have no way to show whether it got what it paid for. Another is that without a written report, the UO would have no formal way of sharing the findings with other staff members, including the athletic department's new and inexperienced director.

Also, the absence of a written report has left the university open to speculation that there was something in the analysis that it didn't want the public to see - an issue that might not go away with the release of a belatedly written version. The fact that Leland's contract specifically called for a written report - plus the series of events that came later - only adds weight to that idea.....

Frohnmayer defends the decision, saying he saw the review as a management checkup meant to tell him and Moos whether the department was on course and what it needs to do to succeed over the next five to 10 years.

When asked by The Register-Guard if he was trying to avoid having a record that would have to be disclosed under Oregon's public records law, he answered that he had assumed from the beginning that Leland would deliver only an oral report and did not know the contract called for a written one.

Frohnmayer said he called Leland in January and asked him to prepare written findings in response to a request from The Register-Guard. Frohnmayer has apologized publicly and privately for the long delay in producing the written report, which he said is due to Leland's workload and an illness.....

But a question that may not be answered is whether Moos' rocky relationship with Phil Knight, the Nike co-founder and the expected lead donor for a new basketball arena, was seen as an impediment in the arena project.

Frohnmayer has said the review was not connected to Moos' resignation. The conducting of the review was never announced outside the athletic department and only became known to the public after its existence was leaked to a Register-Guard reporter after Moos made his resignation public....

Frohnmayer said the Leland report was not meant to provide ammunition for a possible dismissal or a settlement package for Moos.

The UO later agreed to pay Moos almost $2 million over 10 years to buy out the remaining 18 months of his contract. The buyout money was provided by a small group of private donors led by Kilkenny. Frohnmayer has said that at that time no one had even imagined Kilkenny as a replacement for Moos.

Not asking for a written report would have run contrary to standard practice in the consulting industry....."


To read the entire news article click on the title above for a link. You may need to register to be able to get the on-line story. The Register-Guard takes an unusually aggressive approach to their story. It almost reads like an editorial. I believe this aggressive approach is based upon their belief they weren't told the entire truth when Frohnmayer and Moos had their joint press conference to announce the Moos resignation and did not mention the almost 2 million dollar "golden parachute" to be paid to Bill Moos. This was really dumb because it had to come out and it is better to get this information out on your terms than to let someone leak it to the newspaper and then have to respond to the report. Ever since that November press conference the Register Guard has been very aggressive on the story. Prior to that time some people felt the Register Guard was sort of a "lap dog" to the Athletic Department. If that was ever true it is no longer the case.

Snow Day in Medford, Oregon

3 to 4 inches of snow fell in Medford Wednesday night. All local schools took a "snow day" and electricity was out in much of East Medford. Luckily we have electricity at home and the office.Lots of broken branches in our yard.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Pat Kilkenny- Good Choice for Oregon Athletic Director



Of course, last week the big new was that big time Oregon donor, Pat Kilkenny, was named by University of Oregon President, Dave Frohnmayer, to replace Bill Moos as Oregon's Athletic Director. I think this is an excellent choice and to be frank a big surprise. Dave Frohnmayer, my old Torts professor in law school, is a very cautious person and the naming of Kilkenny is an "outside the box" choice. The conventional choice would have been an assistant athletic director or an AD at another university .In picking Kilkenny, Frohnmayer picked some one who bleeds green and yellow and has no agenda other than to help the Ducks. He will not use this job as a "stepping stone" for another job as AD at a more prestigious university. As the former chief executive of a large San Diego insurance company, which he build, he has the organizational skills to lead the Oregon Athletic Department. He is good friends with fellow major donor Phil Knight and if any one can get a new basketball arena build it is Pat Kilkenny. He has already spent $1,500,000.00 of his own money to come up with the building plans for the arena. In addition he was the primary donor of an almost $2 million dollar gift to Bill Moos to get him to go away so that Phil Knight would be more likely to donate to the basketball arena project which can not be built without his help. Knight and Moos did not like each other and it has been reported that Knight of Nike would not donate as long as Moos was AD. Now that road block has been removed at a cost of almost 2 million dollars.

Some have criticised the naming of Kilkenny because of that fact he is a donor and has no athletic administrative experience. However athletic administration is not rocket science and he can hire good people to help him. Hopefully he will get rid of some of the "dead wood" in the Athletic Department. While there are some good people at the Cas Center, there are also a number who are arrogant and feel they don't need to cultivate new fans and donors because they can raise all the money they need from donation requirements for football tickets. I am sure this arrogance flowed down from Bill Moos. I am glad to see him go... just wish it hadn't cost so much to see him go.A good hire for Kilkenny would be to get Jim Bartko to come back from Cal in some capacity. I understand they are close .

Kilkenny who build a multi million dollar insurance company that generates over a billion dollars in premiums has, in is mid 50's age wise, become a self made man. He is now retired from his insurance business and has new mountains to climb. He can devote his remaining productive years to a new quest. That quest, is to build a new basketball arena and to leave a lasting legacy to the University he loves. He now has his "dream Job" and the University of Oregon is lucky there are people like Pat Kilkenny and Phil Knight. Good Luck and Go Ducks!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The Long Weekend



This last holiday weekend we went to a wedding up in Husky Country also know as the State of Washington. Our daughter was one of the bridesmaids. The bride was a friend of our daughters from grade school and middle school here in Medford. At that age they were "best friends" and agreed that when they grew up and got married they would be in each others weddings. The bride's family moved from Medford just as the two girls were starting high school; but, they kept in touch and a few month's ago our daughter got a call from her friend who said she was getting married up in Lacey Washington (near Olympia) and had not forgotten their pledge from grade school. Our daughter who now lives in Washington D.C. flew out for the wedding and we drove up from Medford, Oregon to go to the wedding and to see our daughter. Since she lives on the East Coast we don't get to see her that often. On Thursday we drove through a Northwest rain storm to Lacey and checked into a nice motel. Our daughter's flight out of D.C. was delayed because of weather back there and so she had to spend the night in Minneapolis. On Friday we took a tour of the Washington State Capitol building in Olympia and met my wife's sister, who works in Olympia, for lunch. We met up with our daughter after lunch and said hello before she was off for her duties as a brides maid. We all met for dinner at a pizza restaurant for the rehearsal dinner.We had a nice conversation with the bride's parents who we were friends with when they lived in Medford. It was fun catching up with each others lives. Saturday was the wedding and from there we went to the reception.It was very sweet to see the bride and her father do a dance together at the reception. That night we went with our daughter to a movie ("Music and Lyrics" with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore). On Sunday we all drove to Seattle and the three of us played tourist for a day. We went to Pikes Market Place and walked down the water front to where the Seattle Sea Hawks play football. After checking into a downtown hotel we took a ride on the monorail to the Seattle Center were the 1962 Worlds Fair was located (I was there in 1962!) and had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant. We did some shopping and I found two John Wayne movie posters for Fort Apache and Rio Grande. I also found the DVD to the TV series from 1963, "Hootenanny". On Monday, Presidents Day, we said good by to our daughter who was flying back to D.C. and drove down I-5 back to Medford. We just got word that our daughter got home safely to her home in Washington DC. Her airplane did get stuck in the snow when it landed in Washington DC. They had to get a tractor to pull it out of the snow on the runway access area when the pilot took a wrong turn.It was very good to see our daughter again.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Pat Kilkenny New Oregon Duck Athletic Director


Jason Vondersmith of the Portland Tribune has a news story about the hiring of Pat Kilkenny. Click on the title for a link. Some interesting quotes from the news story:


In a move that appears to be done explicitly to get the university’s basketball arena built, Oregon hired longtime booster Pat Kilkenny as athletic director on Wednesday.

Kilkenny, who sold his highly successful, San Diego-based Arrowhead General Insurance Agency last summer, agreed to a two-year contract. He says “I wouldn’t count it out” when asked whether he would stay longer, but UO President Dave Frohnmayer would not apply the “interim” tag to Kilkenny’s title,....

Kilkenny, a Heppner native who attended the U of O from 1970 to ’74 but did not get a degree,...

Kilkenny also donated $2 million to Bill Moos’ resignation fund, begging the question: Did he have eyes on the AD job when he helped ease Moos out the door?

“I know Pat Kilkenny was not thinking, ‘Pat Kilkenny, Athletic Director,’ and I know Dave Frohnmayer wasn’t,” Frohnmayer says.....

Frohnmayer says a “long-term member” of the athletic department suggested Kilkenny as the next athletic director. The university set up a search committee and considered several dozen candidates – no current athletic directors at other universities, Frohnmayer says.

“He was drafted. He did not apply,” Frohnmayer says....

An obvious question at the press conference was not pursued beyond peripheral mention: Can the chief administrator of the department still donate to athletic projects? Apparently, yes.

“I assume the university will still cash my checks,” says Kilkenny, who acknowledges that he wants the arena project to have broken ground by the end of his two-year contract.The university has purchased land for a new basketball arena, but donation promises have been slow to come in. It’s expected that Nike founder Phil Knight, a generous UO booster, will donate a large portion of the cost of building the arena.

Kilkenny will make a salary and voluntarily donate it to the athletic department, Frohnmayer says. Outgoing AD Moos will help facilitate the transition, but he won’t stay beyond his departure date of March 31.

It’s a different move, to hire a booster as an athletic director. But Frohnmayers points to the same type of hirings at Michigan and Purdue. Kilkenny says taking on the AD responsibility represents how the UO has used “incredible innovation” in building it athletic empire....


He has a wife, Stephanie, and no children. Kilkenny says the couple will look to move to Eugene and buy a home.....
. His insurance company did $1 billion in business at the time of its sale.

Day 80 ( and last) in the Search for an Athletic Director at the University of Oregon


On the eDucks forums they are reporting that Pat Kilkenny will be announced at the New AD for the the University of Oregon. Pat Kilkenny is the owner and chief executive of an insurance company in San Diego. He is a major donor probably second only to Phil Knight. It was Kilkenny who donated the almost 2 million for the Moos buy out and donated a million for the new basketball arena architectural plans. This is a BIG surprise. The University has a press Conference set for 11 am. Will post updates throughout the day. Developing....

UPDATE # 1

This is what I posted on this blog on December 1st 2006:
One Duck who has always been there for The University of Oregon Athletic Department and the Ducks is Pat Kilkenny. It's easy to become cynical about today's world of high finance in college sports but Pat Kilkenny has always been there when the Ducks have needed him and he deserves our thanks. The Oregonian today summarizes the help he has given the Ducks. Kilkenny paid $1.5 million in planning costs for the proposed basketball arena to replace McArthur Court. He did this knowing it could be just a lot of fancy drawings if the arena was never built. He basically did it to help "jump start" the process after the old plan of building an arena next to "The Pit" died. Now the San Diego Insurance executive has put up much of the funding for the nearly $2 million settlement agreement with Athletic Director Bill Moos to as he said facilitate "a fitting ending for a person who served the university well."
Kilkenny said he was not involved in negotiations over the settlement agreement with Moos. He was approached only recently about whether he could help financially.... and as we know he answered the call.(see post below) Kilkenny said "I'm not sure the last two years have been what anybody wanted including Bill" While there is no direct link between Moos resignation and the arena project Kilkenny said "I don't view this as anything other than constructive......I don't see how anybody else could view it as anything other than constructive." Some have said that Nike's Phil Knight would not contribute to the new basketball arena till Bill Moos was gone as AD because of their past disagreements.

The Oregonian sports story by Ken Goe and Rachel Bachman point out the settlement agreement with Moos calls for him to receive nearly twice what he would have been paid had he stayed at Oregon for the remainder of his contract which runs through June 2008.

Regardless, we Ducks all owe a big thanks to Pat Kilkenny and if the new basketball arena is built he will have been a big part of getting it done.


UPDATE # 2

From the Eugene Register Guard Updated: 09:59 am — The University of Oregon scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. Wednesday, when it is expected to announce that prominent donor Pat Kilkenny, who forged success in the business world through Arrowhead, a San Diego-based insurance company, will be its new director of athletics.

UPDATE #3

Short bio on Pat Kilkenny:

Pat Kilkenny is Arrowhead General Insurance Agency’s, Inc. Chairman Emeritus. He previously was Chairman of the Board and majority shareholder of Arrowhead from 1984 to August 2006.

Kilkenny also currently serves as a board member for the following organizations: Directors Board of San Diego State University, San Diego International Sports Council and the University of California San Diego Athletic Advisory Board. He has also served on the board of St. Vincent de Paul and the University of Oregon Foundation. Pat has also founded the AGIA Foundation, which will raise money for various charities such as the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund Inc. and St. Vincent de Paul Villages in San Diego.


UPDATE # 4
According to the press conference he will be a short term or "Bridge" AD for about two years. In the past there has been speculation to get an interim AD to allow Vin Lauanna the track coach to get past the 2008 Olympic trials in Eugene or allow Mike Bellotti to finish out his coaching carer and then become AD.

UPDATE #5

Click on the title above for a link to the news story in the Portland Oregonian Nespaper.

UPDATE # 6

Kilkenny, is the former chairman and chief executive officer of the San Diego-based Arrowhead General Insurance Agency. He sold the company last year.

"The Pick"



I read today on a Duck fan forum that a University of Oregon fan of longstanding had died. His friend is going to his funeral on Saturday and will play a recording of "The Pick." The recording is of Jerry Allen the radio voice of the University of Oregon Ducks football team broadcasting that play on the radio in 1994. Oregon Duck fans never grow tired of that recoding and can remember where they were when they heard it for the first time. The following is a reworked post I posted on this blog last fall. "The Pick"

On October 22, 1994, Oregon football changed. The 1994 season didn't start out that way. Oregon lost to Hawaii, Utah and Washington State. There were only 25,000 fans at Autzen for Utah. At that game I looked around the parking lot and wondered "where is everybody?." The Ducks had beaten U$C in LA but we though it was a fluke. Then came the Washington game in Eugene on October 22. I didn't want to drive three hours from Medford to Eugene to watch another Washington "blow out" of the Ducks. I had been there too many times before. In those days with two teenage children at home my kids took turns going to the games with me as we had two season tickets. It was my daughter's turn and so we drove to Eugene. I always like to park on the campus side of the Willamette River and take the footbridge over to Autzen. On a nice day it's a wonderful walk over the river and through the woods to Autzen. I parked on Franklin Blvd. and walked by the New Oregon Motel. It was full of Husky fans. We had also stopped by the book-store on campus and it was full of Husky fans. We got to the game and took our seats and the game started. At the game about 1/3 of the stadium was dressed in Husky Purple. Oh, I hate that color. Washington was ranked the # 9 team in the nation. Oregon kept it close. Oregon was leading by four points when Washington scored to go ahead 20 - 17 with 7:44 minutes to play. The game seemed to unfold as it had so often. "nice try"..." a moral victory" ... "close but no cigar". NOT THIS TIME. Danny O'Neil Oregon's QB led the Ducks on a 98 yard drive to regain the lead. It will forever be known as "the Drive." The Ducks now led 24-17 with 2:40 to go in the game. Washington then started their own drive and advanced to the Duck 8 yard line with 1:09 to play. With each yard the Huskies made every Duck fan knew that Washington would score and win the game as they had so many times before. " So close, but no cigar." Then there was a play that will live forever in every Duck heart. Washington had plenty of time to give the ball to heralded tail back Napolean Kaufman. Instead, QB Damon Huard threw the ball in the flat toward Dave Janoski. Kenny Wheaton the Oregon CB timed the throw perfectly and stepped in front of the Washington receiver and intercepted the ball and ran it all the way back for another Duck touchdown to win the game 31-20. I was standing watching the play with my daughter. We both began to jump up and down!!! We then hugged as we both jumped up and down!!!. It was redemption! My daughter and I will always have that moment in time. On my dying day I will remember it. The play became known as "THE PICK". It is shown on the big screen at every Oregon game just as the team comes on the field. Jerry Allen the radio broadcaster's call of the play has become a favorite of Duck fans "KENNY WHEATON'S GOING TO SCORE....KENNY WHEATON'S GOING TO SCORE" The excitement in his voice sends shivers down my spine. I have a framed print of the play hanging in my office. After the game the many Husky fans looked crushed. The three hour trip back to Medford was like floating on air. Oregon went on to win the Pac 10 Championship that year and the entire family went to the Rose Bowl. It was the Ducks first time since 1958.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Oregon Duck Sports Card Collecting



This last Sunday I returned to a hobby I have neglected the last few years. I collect sports cards of Football and Basketball players from the University of Oregon Ducks who have gone off to the the NFL, NBA and the Canadian Football League.I have thousands of cards in 15 2" three ring binders organized in chronological order from when they played at the University of Oregon. My first card is from the 1930's of "Iron Mike" Mikulak who played football at Oregon from 1931 to 1933. He was in one of the first football sports card sets ever made. To name a few I have cards of Norm Van Brocklin, George Shaw, Jack Morris, Dick James,Mel Renfro Bobby Moore, Dan Fouts, Gary Zimmerman, Chris Miller, Bill Musgrave, and Joey Harrington. My favorites are a complete set of Norm Van Brocklin cards from when he played for the LA Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1950's. I probably have at least one card for 120 different players. In any case, since most of the Sports Card Stores have closed down in Southern Oregon I had not collected many cards since 2002. I had bought a few on the Internet but part of the fun in collecting was the hunt and the Internet took all of the fun out of it. There are two ways to collect card. Buy unopened packs or buy cards from packs other people have opened. The first would be very expensive if you were only collecting Oregon players like I do. You could easy spend $100.00 looking for one card of an Oregon player. Therefore, I look for cards that have already come from open packs. Most card stores have large boxes with thousands of cards put in their randomly. I love to go through those boxes looking for the Oregon players. It's like looking for a needle in a hay stack.
Well, a few weeks ago a new sports card store opened in Medford. Since football is over I spend 3+ hours there on Sunday and looked through 12 or so boxes and found about 50 cards of Oregon players for a mere $5.00. These were newer cards which helped to bring my collection up to date. Who said the football season is over. Go Ducks!

Day 78 in the Search for an Athletic Director at the University of Oregon

Bill Moos only has about a month and a half till his contract runs out on March 31, 2007 as Athletic Director under the almost 2 million dollar buyout paid for by Oregon Fans. There is an option to continue his active service after that date if necessary.

Greg Byrne one of the possible candidates to replace Bill Moos is also being looked at to replace the Athletic Director at Mississippi State who received a one year extension of his contract so that the school could look for a replacement. Greg is now head of the fundraising effort for the Mississippi State Athletic Department. Over on the Mississippi State fan forum Dawgs'Bite.com Greg is discussed as a possible replacement. Some Mississippi State fans see the same qualities in him I observed when he worked for the Ducks here in Oregon.I hope the Ducks get him first. For the record, I have NO information that Greg is interested in either job but as I said before in my post below the Ducks should be interested in him.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

February 12, is Abraham Lincoln's Birthday

Since today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday I thought I would post the address he gave when he was inaugurated as President for his second term on March 4, 1865. Weeks of wet weather preceding Lincoln's second inauguration and had caused Pennsylvania Avenue to become a sea of mud and standing water. Thousands of spectators stood in thick mud at the Capitol grounds to hear the President. As he stood on the East Portico to take the executive oath, the completed Capitol dome over the President's head was a physical reminder of the resolve of his Administration throughout the years of civil war. Chief Justice Salmon Chase administered the oath of office. In little more than a month, the President would be assassinated.

In my younger years I thought Lincoln's Gettysburg address to be his greatest speech. But one day I changed my mind, as I stood in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington Dc. and read on the side of the wall the words of his Second Inaugural Address carved in stone. The Civil War still raged and Lincoln was attempting to find some reason for the terrible Civil War and the death of so many Americans. Let his words speak for themselves:

AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Day 76 in the search for a New Athletic Director at the University of Oregon

It's quiet... too quiet! There have been no new news reports of candidates . University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer appointed his search committee lead by Allen Price over 30 days ago. My hunch is that candidates have been identified and some interviewed. I think I could make some good guesses who some of them are. Maybe we are waiting as the University does it's "due diligence." I just hope whoever is chosen gets along with Phil Knight who was court side Thursday night in Mac Court as Oregon beat ASU in basketball. As we wait the cost of replacing Mac Court goes up every day....."tick...tick...tick..."

Friday, February 09, 2007

Coach Bellotti vs John Canzano

John Canzano the sports columnist for the Portland Oregonian Newspaper has a blog and today discuss Oregon's new Offensive Coordinator in football from New Hampshire (Chip Kelly) and the tough questions asked Head Coach Mike Bellotti in Portland at the Recruiting Dinner this week by donors about the loss to BYU and the collapse of the Duck football team at the end of last years football season. Click on the title above for a link to Canzano's Blog

Favorite Bumper Sticker

"Except for Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism & Communism, War Has Never Solved Anything"

Movie "Amazing Grace"

While I was at the movies to see "Letters from Iwo Jima" (see review below) I saw a preview for a new movie that will be released on February 23,2007 called "Amazing Grace" In the preview the movie looked very good.The movie is an inspiring story based on a legendary historical British Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce. During the late 18th century and early 19th century, a very young Wilberforce is elected to the English Parliament and over the course of several decades leads the fight to ban slavery in the English Empire.The Movie gets it's title from the fact John Newton, the composer of the famous hymn 'Amazing Grace', (played powerfully by Albert Finney), was a contemporary and friend of William Wilberforce. John Newton was also a reformed ex-slave trader. I love Amistad and hope this movie lives up to the preview I saw. For a link to the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) page for this movie click on the title above.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

My Sisters New Dog ..... "Obie"


Good Dog!

Spring Game...... April 28


The University of Oregon always ends spring football practice with the "Spring Game" this year on Saturday April 28th.It's actually a scrimmage between the team with the coaches dividing the team up into two groups . Usually 5 to 10 thousand football hungry fans show up to watch and see how the team is doing. I drive the three hours up I-5 from Medford to Eugene to watch the game at Autzen Stadium. Where else are you going to find a football game in April? As I have said before the season never ends. Go Ducks!

The Man who turned the Huskies down........

In 2004 the University of Washington wanted him. Chris Hill was offered a job as athletic director for the Huskies. He would have been in a more prestigious conference at a school where having its football team play in the Rose Bowl is a distinct possibility nearly every year. It certainly would have meant more money.

In the end, however, it wasn't enough.

Hill, 54, announced then that he would continue in his position as the athletic director at the University of Utah.

"It really came down to what I wanted to do. It came down to my emotions," said the man who has been and is in charge of athletics at Utah since 1987.

Hill then would neither confirm nor deny that a job offer was tendered by Washington.

"I have a lot of respect for the search process and a lot of respect for different institutions, and I don't think it would be fair to spend time talking about Washington," he said.

You got to like a man who would turn the Huskies down.

Good Day for the Ducks!


Today is Football Letter of Intent Day and the University of Oregon had the best recruiting day in it's history. It had going in 29 non binding verbal commitments from recruits. Today it got binding written commitments from all 29. According to Scout.com nationwide Oregon Ranked #9 in recruiting this year and second in the Pac- 10 to U$C which was # 3 nationwide. Oregon picked up 11 **** and 11 *** athletes. normally they only get 4 or 5 of each. To get more details click on the title above for a link to a report of Coach Mike Belotti's press conference today which also has a link to a list and description of each athlete. It also looks like Belotti will soon be announcing his new offensive coordinator.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Letters from Iwo Jima **


Last night I went to see the Clint Eastwood directed movie "Letters from Iwo Jima". It is the second of his two movies on the World War II battle. I saw the first, "Flags of Our Fathers" a few weeks ago and liked it very much. I can't say the same about this movie. It does have good production values except for the music which was very odd. The Story is supposed to be from the Japanese point of view. However, Eastwood has made a movie that is from the Japanese point of view as viewed by Western revisionist historians with a liberal to left point of view. The point made in the movie is both American and Japanese soldiers of World war II were more or less the same. Some were good and some were bad. They both loved their mothers, wrote letters home, got dysentery, and sometimes killed their prisoners. It's the idea that there is a moral equivalency and there are no black and whites only shades of gray. This point of view ruins this movie and also makes it difficult for us to fight evil in today's world. Eastwood focused the movie on three character with whom the American viewer can identify. The commanding officer of the Japanese forces who had been to the United States. The Japanese Officer who had won a medal in the Olympics in horse ridding and knows American movie stars. The Japanese private who had been a baker in civilian life before the war and is now what we would call in the military a "shirker". It's the old World War II movie cliche of the Japanese soldier who went to UCLA. Rather than focusing in on these three soldier who were the exception Eastwood should focus in on the fact the majority of Japanese troops were willing to die for the Emperor. Why and how did they become that way. This is the Japanese army that literally raped China and committed many, atrocities that were official policy. They conducted scientific experiments on humans from captured territory. The Bataan Death March is only one examples of official Japanese atrocities.. A few officers from "UCLA" or a "shirker" soldier does not tell the story of Iwo Jima or the war. I am sure there were some good people in Japan and in their army during WWII, but that does not tell us how or why they almost subjugated the Eastern half of the world to their fascism. Clint you sold out to be the toast of Hollywood fashion!

UPDATE: I JUST FOUND A GREAT REVIW OF THE MOVIE
Letters From Iwo Jima (5/10)

by Tony Medley

Imperial Japan’s militaristic society of the 1930s-40s was the most bestial on the planet. They were responsible for so many infamous brutalities that the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, the Comfort Women (when they made sexual slaves of more than a half million innocent women), the enslavement of POWs to construct the Burmese railroad (made famous by the film “The Bridge On the River Kwai” 1957), the attack on Pearl Harbor while they were negotiating “peace” in Washington, and the Kamikazes, barely scratch the surface. I’ve seen photographs of what they did in one forgotten village at around the time of the Rape of Nanking and they will forever be etched in my mind. One photograph was of a peasant being beheaded in the town square; another was of a woman having her breasts cut off, also in the town square. They were brutes, and it was spread throughout the entire society, not just a few. There were too many atrocities to just set it down to a few bad eggs. These were people united in a way of thinking, that they were primary and everyone else was expendable. It's not just random that 56% of American POWs of the Japanese died in captivity vs. 1% in Europe during World War II. They viewed everyone else as less than human. Their zealotry was unmatched anywhere on the planet.

Even the left-leaning Los Angeles Times is critical, saying in an editorial on December 20, 2006 that Japan is “tainted by the stance of Japanese conservatives and the nation’s unwillingness to atone as fully as Germany has for its World War II behavior. Many in Japan downplay or deny imperial atrocities in Asia. Victims richly deserving of reparations have been turned away by Japanese courts, while the insistence of national leaders to bow before war criminals at the infamous Yasukuni Shrine justifiably infuriates Chinese and Koreans.”

So Clint Eastwood makes two movies trying to make a moral equivalence between imperial Japan, responsible for all the atrocities, and America, fighting to end the horrible atrocities, one right after the other, “Flags of Our Fathers,” about the three surviving Americans who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi during the battle for Iwo Jima, and, now, “Letters From Iwo Jima,” about the battle from the Japanese point of view.

In the former, Clint went out of his way to paint the American military in a bad light. He showed, for just one example, that the reason why the second flag was raised was because a selfish Colonel wanted the first flag for a “souvenir.” The true story is that the first flag was too small to be seen and a General ordered it replaced with a second, much larger flag. But that wouldn’t have made the U.S. military look bad, so Clint invented something that would.

Now in “Letters From Iwo Jima,” Clint creates moral equivalency between the heroic Americans invading Iwo Jima and the zealots who were defending it. What is really offensive is that with all the atrocities Imperial Japan’s military committed in those years, the only atrocity that Clint could bring himself to show in his film is committed by an American, a marine murdering in cold blood two Japanese soldiers who had voluntarily surrendered. There is no evidence that this is based on a real event. It certainly could be nothing in the alleged letters that could reveal this because none of the Japanese in the caves could have known of such an occurrence. But, regardless, even if one American GI might have executed two prisoners of war, considering that 7,000 marines died heroically in taking Iwo Jima, it tells you something about Clint that he went out of his way to show the Americans as unfeeling brutes.

Of course Clint pictures all of Imperial Japan’s soldiers as fine fellows. Why, when one American is captured, instead of torturing him, this one was given the last morphine the Japanese had to ease his pain, instead of giving it to their wounded, and he is gently “interrogated” by a Japanese officer who trades stories of horses with him. Thousands of marines are swarming all over the place to kill them, and this officer spends his time with a rare POW talking of horses! What wonderful chaps these Eastwoodian-enemy soldiers are!

Eastwood seems to have made a judgment that because the soldiers of Imperial Japan loved their wives and children, they were just ordinary people like the GI's who were forced to defend the world against them. But bad people can love their wives and children and still be bad people, still force more than a half million innocent women into sexual slavery. Loving your wife and children doesn't excuse, the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, and the other atrocities the Japanese military committed during the first half of the 20th century. Eastwood's conclusion resulted in this movie, which will influence the millions of people who see it, and that's a shame because it makes the Imperial Japanese soldiers seem better, more humane, people than the Americans, which is an abdication of truth. Why would he make a movie seeking moral equivalency between Americans and the soldiers of Imperial Japan? Clint should ask one of the 600,000 Comfort Women whose lives were utterly destroyed what they think of his depiction of the Imperial Japanese (Japan has never apologized or taken any responsibility for what happened to these poor women).

While technically this is a well made, entertaining movie, Imperial Japan’s military society in the ‘30s and ‘40s was barbaric, reminiscent of the worst of Genghis Khan; its brutality was pervasive. Clint Eastwood’s revisionism painting America in a bad light and turning these zealots into boon chaps won’t change the facts, but it will influence the ignorant and uninformed, and that's the main reason I condemn it.

December 13, 2006

Letter Of Intent Day Wednesday


The future of University of Oregon, Duck Football starts tomorrow, Wednesday February 7, 2007, with Letter of Intent Day. Tomorrow Star athletes in their Senior year of High School and Junior College Transfers will sign Letters of intent to play football for the Oregon Ducks. I will post the results tomorrow as they happen or you can click on the title above for a link to the Official Duck web site where the result will be posted ....just like election returns on election night. As the signed letters of intent are faxed to the Oregon "boiler room" , at the Cas Center, the results will be posted . Oregon should get approximately 30 letters of intent

Diane Sawyer to Media Hall of Shame


Diane Sawyer's interview in Syria of Dictator Bashar Assad broadcast on Good Morning America puts her in the same company of Barbra Walters kissing up to Fidel Castro and Dan Rather sucking up to Saddam Hussein. The Dictator is responsible for sending foreign fighters into Iraq to kill American soldiers and is responsible for many deaths in Lebanon and Israel. He in fact has been assassinating Lebanese political figures he disagrees with. Sawyer threw soft ball questions at the Syrian Dictator and put on a puff piece on his wife. When asked about a statement from the White House, Sawyer with disdain in her voice and look said that is nothing new. So while American boys are dying in the field Sawyer is asking the dictator what his favorite movie is and what is on his ipod. Walt Disney the founder of the company that owns ABC and Good Morning America is tuning over in his grave.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Good News Troops, Reinforcments are on the way to Iraq!

A bipartisan resolution repudiating President George W. Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq failed to advance in the U.S. Senate on Monday, dealing a serious setback to critics of the war.
The resolution needed 60 votes before the 100-member Senate could begin debate, but it got 49, with 47 voting against. Although it would not have been binding on the president, the measure was the first serious effort in Congress to confront Bush over the Iraq war.

Saturday Night Live DVD, Season One (1975-1976)

On the way to a Super Bowl party I stopped at Costco and bought the DVD of Saturday Night Live's first season 1975-1976. After the Super Bowl, when I got home, I watch the first two shows, which were by them selves worth the cost of the DVD. Back in those days SNL still had good musical guests. The first show had Janis Ian singing "At Seventeen" and the Second show in October of 1975 had a reunion of Simon and Garfunkel. They sang the "Boxer", "Scarborough Fair" and "My Little Town" together and Paul sang several songs solo and Art sang one solo. Together they took up most of the show. There was a funny bit with Paul Simon playing one on one basketball with an NBA player. It was great seeing the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" when they were young and fresh. Their first season was my second year out of law school living in Medford. After having spent my college years in Eugene, Oregon it was to a certain extent a cultural shock living in "white bread" Medford. A great place to raise a family but not very "hip" and watching Saturday Night Live" late at night on a Saturday was way to escape. I looked around Medford and Costco has the best price on the DVD. It sure takes me back!

Empty Nest Super Bowl

We have been watching the Super Bowl with the same family for the last 20 + years at our home. Yesterday we were trying to figure out how long and to best we could remember was that our 20 something children were crawling at the time of our first Super Bowl party. Now our children have all grown up and moved away from home and it was just the parents watching the game. Yesterday was a departure in another way too. We watched the game at our friends home. She has just recently gotten a new home and has a new big screen TV. So we had our "party" at her place and had a very pleasant time. I am still recovering from all the chip and dip. She is a big Green Bay Packer fan being from Wisconsin and I even tried a "brat" at half time. On another note why would the NFL hire Prince as their half time performer. What a flake! I received an email from someone about my age suggesting that the Kingston Trio would have been perfect! In any case it was a fun relaxing day. We called our kids before we left for the game and they both had their Super Bowl plans. I think the idea of making the day after the Super Bowl a holiday is a good one. Now we have a winter without football :(

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Day 69 in the University of Oregon Search for a new Atletic Director

Ron Bellamy has a column in the Eugene Register Guard newspaper about U$C's new basketball arena, the Galen Center. The Ducks will play U$C there today in men's basketball. Bellamy states:
When Oregon recruited Bryce Taylor, the Ducks told him that by now, his junior year, he'd be playing in the new basketball arena that would replace the beloved but antiquated McArthur Court.

When the Ducks redshirted forward Adam Zahn, now a senior, they consoled him with the reasoning that he'd get to play two years in a new arena, instead of only one


Of course Oregon will not be able to build a new basketball arena until a new Athletic Director is chosen who gets along with Phil Knight. The reason Bill Moos was cut lose from his contract with an almost 2 million dollar going away gift was he did not get along with Phil Knight and as a result the new basketball area was put on hold indefinitely. Bellemy in his column goes on to say:

The Ducks walked into the Galen Center for shooting practice Friday morning and were duly wowed. Coach Ernie Kent, who'd toured the building last summer, wished that Nike co-founder Phil Knight - hoped by Oregon to be the cornerstone donor for the UO's long-proposed new arena to replace the 80-year-old Mac Court - would see the place today.

Alas, Knight, who attended Oregon's loss at UCLA on Thursday, will miss today's sold-out contest between the Ducks and Trojans..... Jim Bartko, the former UO associate athletic director who was deeply involved in planning for Oregon's proposed arena and now holds a similar post at Cal, said the Galen Center "is very similar to what Oregon is going to be doing" in terms of trying to capture an intimate, collegiate atmosphere in a new arena.The Ducks have envisioned a 12,500-seat arena, in the $160 million range - well, as of last year - on the former site of Williams' Bakery, but the project is in limbo, at least until the university selects a new athletic director.

Oregon's arena would have less than half of the luxury suites of the Galen Center, but it would contain a single balcony, with the bowl sloped as steeply as code will allow to replicate the feel of Mac Court.

When it happens, that is.

While Oregon fiddles, the Trojans are burning with enthusiasm for the new arena, and what it means...... Around the league, other programs that Oregon is expected to compete with and defeat on the basketball court have invested millions upon millions in improvements to their arenas within the past decade....."If you're talking about the recruiting aspects of keeping up with everybody, we're falling behind," Kent said, inside the Galen Center on Friday. "As you can see, we're definitely falling behind. ... "

....As they play today, the Ducks and Trojans are tied for second in the Pac-10 standings. And yet, as you look around the Galen Center, you get the sense that, in the bigger picture, Oregon just fell behind.


Alas it is day 69 in the search for a new Athletic Director at Oregon. Yes, "While Oregon Fiddles"! To read all of Bellamy's column click on the title above for a link.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Happy Birthday Ayn Rand


Ayn Rand was born on February 2, 1905 and died March 6, 1982. A Russian-born American novelist and philosopher, best known for developing Objectivism and for writing the novels , The Fountainhead, We the Living, Atlas Shrugged, and the novella Anthem. She was a broadly influential figure in post-WWII America, her work attracting both enthusiastic admiration and scathing denunciations. I notice that the folks at Google did not note her birthday on their home page. I am sure it just slipped their notice. To read more about her click on to the title above for a link to her page in Wikipedia the Internet encyclopedia. As my Objectivist friends used to say "need is not a claim" She once told William F Buckley that "he was too intelligent to believe in God." She believed in the right of the individual to his property and the fruits of his labor and was against the collectivist state.My friend, Gains Smith, who is also now gone, was a disciple of Rand. I can still see Gaines running around the University of Oregon campus in the late 1960's wearing that $ (dollar) sign lapel button that Rand liked to wear and ticking off the left wing hippies.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Day 67 in the Search for an Athletic Director at the University of Oregon

I have a hunch that a new candidate is emerging for Athletic Director at Oregon. I will not reveal my hunch for now as sometimes too much publicity can hurt the delicate negotiations with a candidate especially if the candidate is an AD at another college our university. If my hunch is correct this could be nothing but good for Oregon. Developing