Under the Umbrella

The Uninvited Moral Compass!

Oregonian Columnist John Canzano has spent his entire time in Oregon alienating himself from true sports fans and preaching to a choir of his elitist friends and the soccer moms of the kids he coaches. Canzano feels the need to act as the moral compass for our society, forgetting that his job is to write about sports.  

 

Canzano often speaks about the impact that professional and collegiate sports have on the youth of our nation, but shows a prepotency for hypocrisy.

 

He has a right to be concerned about the impact of headlines on the decisions our children make in their lives. After all he has a young daughter who is the unquestioned love of his life, an admirable trait by any ones standard. But he fails to see that the headlines he writes are just as damaging.

 

I would love to ask him if he intended on raising his daughter to be as self righteous and narrow minded as he is?

 

One day his daughter will have to ask him for forgiveness, all children do, and will she be able to look into her fathers eyes and trust that he will be able to look at the person she is rather than the act she had done?

 

On ESPN John Canzano was finally called out for being what many people have assumed for a very long time when he spoke out against giving a second chance to disgraced RB LeGarrette Blount.

 

 

He was called a racist.

 

I’m not so inclined to say that he is a racist as I don’t think it is a race thing. His bouts with Coach Jerry Tarkanian were white on white crimes.

 

But he is an elitist, which is just as bad and winning the AP’s sports writer of the year award only made him worst.

 

I spoke with a representative from the University of Oregon regarding his relationship with Coach Chip Kelly, and she told me that Kelly was heartbroken at the stabs that Canzano was taking at his character and his program.

 

Kelly has bent over backwards to accommodate Canzano’s schedule and even granted him exclusive rights that other writers do not receive.

 

I feel bad for Canzano in some senses. I would hate to cover a team let alone state that I have no appreciation for. That would possibly make me as cynical as he is.

 

After the Oregon dismantling of WSU, Canzano asked several WSU players if the Oregon team they faced was better than the USC team they faced the week before. Eventually he found a young man, one that likely regrets his words to say, “Oregon is trickier but USC is better”.

 

First off if Canzano truly is an advocate for sportsmanship why would he, a responsible journalist, dig to find someone who is willing to be very unsportsmanlike? Ever head the saying about throwing rocks in a glass house?

 

Canzano, also in the after glow of victory, was able to research that the last time that Oregon defeated UCLA, Washington, USC and Stanford in the same season was 1958, irresponsibly ignoring that fact that only since the 2006 season has the PAC10 played a round robin schedule.

 

Canzano has burned so many bridges at the University of Oregon, with AD Mike Bellotti, Mens Basketball Coach Ernie Kent and now Coach Kelly, its no wonder that he pines for the Ducks to fail. He needs them to lose so the university hires new coaches.

 

Everyone who shows remorse and reform deserves a second chance, even Canzano, he just better make my drive home less about his over hyped morality and more about sports!

 

-Kurt Valentine

Baffled over Blount? Join the crew.

 A press conference was held today at the University of Oregon by head Coach Chip Kelly.

 

Kelly, after rumors started to circulate about the possible reinstatement of RB LeGarrette Blount, announced today that he has reached a written contract with Blount that could potentially allow for a November 7^th reinstatement.

 

"After speaking with a number of nationally renowned professionals in the field, which included Dr. Harry Edwards and Tony Dungy, I came to the conclusion that leaving the door open for LeGarrette's potential return as an active player was the best solution," Kelly said.

 

From the beginning, the suspension was marred with controversy. Many people, including myself, felt that the season long suspension was over kill and a knee jerk reaction.

 

The reinstatement date is now what has people confused.

 

Why bring your best RB back the week after USC comes to town?

 

This decision makes very little sense and I fear that the decision to reinstate after the USC game is to avoid media scrutiny. It would be easy to say the team made the decision to bring him back before the USC game because Oregon desperately wants to win the PAC10 and Kelly would be looked at much in the same light as the Philadelphia Eagles. A team that is willing to look the other way for wins.

 

Kelly would have done better in my eyes to reinstate Blount sooner rather than later. I believe that a PAC10 title is in Oregon’s sights and should be sought after. Blount in the backfield alongside LaMichael James would go along way to do that.

 

After a decisive victory over Cal without Blount, reinstatement would have looked less like posturing for face as well as saving a season, and more like a reward for both the player and the team.

 

It cannot be disregarded as coincidence that Oregon’s defense was able to completely shut down Cal RB Javhid Best after facing Blount on the scout team for the previous three weeks. Practicing against a player of his caliber has improved the unit.

 

I wholly expected to see that Blount would be reinstated either today or after the UCLA game headed into the bye week.

 

In hindsight, initially indicating that it was a “season long” suspension was the right thing to do. If you had placed a timeline on the suspension you might not have made the impact on Blount’s character that you did. For perhaps the first time in Blount’s life, he realized that decisions made can have genuine consequences.

"On a personal note, I probably will never be able to erase the memories of the post-game events of that day. Given this, I do not expect to be given a second chance to be a positive and responsible member of the football program and of this community," Blount said in a Letter to the Editor of the Daily Emerald. "Going forward, what I hope for is the opportunity to show that I am able to earn a second chance as a University student. And if I am so fortunate, I believe that I also will demonstrate that I am a better man and a better human being for having lived through this unfortunate experience."

It’s great to hear that Blount has reacted so responsibly. He has practiced with the team, he has stayed in school and he has shown remorse. All of which are indicative that the punishment really sank in. So why wait Coach?

 

It’s good to see that Blount will get a shot at a second chance, but this entire situation has left me very confused as to exactly what type of man Chip Kelly is.

 

- Kurt Valentine

In Camp and Out of Shape

On Tuesday Andre Miller started his first Portland Trail Blazer training camp and his first training camp with Nate McMillan.

At training camp McMillan holds a conditioning test for all players attending. The conditioning test is five full court down and backs or ten lines. Dependent on your position you are required to finish in a certain amount of time, guards having the least amount of time to finish where centers have the most.

Out of all signed Trail Blazers, Andre Miller was the only one not to finish in the time given. He was allowed 61 seconds and finished at 69 seconds.

What does all this mean? Well first, Miller will be required to spend the next seven days with strength and conditioning coach Bobby Medina for 30 minutes a day. Second, it doesn't help that the ma

n competing with him for starting PG, Steve Blake, set a Blazers record finishing a blistering 37 seconds! Third, Miller is getting paid 7 million dollars a year for his time spent in Portland. Getting paid this much one would expect a work ethic and devotion to being the best you can.

Lets hope Andre Miller will realize that this team is serious and ready to win. Lets hope he wakes up and puts this behind him.

Other then Stevie Blake dominating everyone there were some great times posted. G.O. and L.A. tied for second with a time of 47 seconds. Another great sign that Oden is ready and willing!

Also notable, Webster who previously held the record, finished with 14 seconds to spare. A great sign considering he has been dealing with a foot injury for over a year.

Oregon vs Washington State: The Locker Room Speech!

Another Thursday is upon us, so once again I get to pretend its Saturday and I’m Chip Kelly tasked with giving a riveting pre game speech to fire up the Oregon Ducks as they prepare for the game against the Washington State Cougars.

 

“Washington State is hungry, hell WSU is starving. A starving animal is a dangerous animal. They will do things you never imagined an animal could do. It’s a matter of survival.

They are looking to use you guys as the launching pad for their resurgence into prominence.

A win over you guys, would make their entire season.

 

A loss to them would ruin ours. We have worked to hard to recover from Boise to let a lesser team come into our house and benefit from our misfortune.

 

You think you can just show up and win this game? Think again.

 

They have athletes that sacrifice everything and they have something to prove. They don’t want to be a laughing stock of the PAC10. So they practice, they lift, the run and they study just as hard as you boys do.

 

To win this game we need to hit them harder than they have ever been hit before, beat them to the spot, and push them off the ball.  

 

Defense, make Jeff Tuel panic and I promise that one of you will score today and he will never want to face the Ducks again.  

 

This game is going to be about focus. No mistakes. Take them lightly gentlemen and last week means nothing!

 

We’ve come too far to stop here.

 

No mistakes, means no regrets.

 

Be Proud!

 

Be Great!

 

Be Ducks!”

 

- Kurt Valentine