EUGENE, OR – The Warsaw Sports Business Club is hosting their 13th 3-on-3 basketball tournament this Sunday at McArthur Court.
Instead of having college students form teams to play in the annual Warsaw Classic, the student-organized tournament decided to become more community-focused, partnering with KIDSPORTS to benefit the youth of Eugene and Springfield.
“The Sports Business Clubs primary focus is providing undergraduate sports business students opportunities to gain experience in the field of sports , and now we have a great youth sports property to manage,” said Tournament Director and University of Oregon senior, Steven Strand.
“We are essentially playing the role now of an agency by handling all of the marketing, sponsorship, and operations of the event.”
The KIDSPORTS Invitational has the same model—64 teams and 320 total players – as before, and again will be hosted at the University of Oregon’s historic Mac Court. Quite the experience for these youngsters.
Despite the restructure, it will still be a one-day tournament on Sunday, February 28th at 9:00 a.m.
The Warsaw Sports Business Club wants to connect local children with the University at a young age and subsequently create a positive, memorable experience for participants and their families.
Money raised through sponsorship of this tournament will go towards the Stephen Dember Memorial Scholarship Fund as well as the Emerald Scholarship Fund, the fund established for KIDSPORTS participants.
Everyone is welcome to come: friends, parents and siblings, so be sure to come out and support the Warsaw Sports Business Club and cheer on the kids!
By now, you all should be well aware that junior wide receiver Jamere Holland has been dismissed from the team for a violation of team rules.
More specifically, Holland posted multiple Facebook statuses, one last night and another this morning, undermining Chip Kelly’s yet-to-be-made decision on sophomore Kiko Alonso. The second one, supposedly, was posted after talking with Chip Kelly.
Holland’s actions were irresponsible, ignorant, and most importantly, an easy mistake than can happen again.
With how powerful social media is today, what was meant to be an innocent plea to back up his teammate, was quickly noticed and spread throughout the interwebs in just a matter of minutes.
This isn’t the first time this has happened and it certainly won’t be the last.
Yes, social media – Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace (if anyone will admit they still use it) – is an incredibly powerful tool to communicate with friends, explore interests and spread information, but it also symbolizes something equally important: your social brand.
Holland obviously isn’t aware that everything he says represents himself, the football team, Chip Kelly and the entire University.
That’s a lot at stake.
Sure, you would think that he should know better than to write anything potentially damaging, but the truth is, some kids just don’t.
This is why the Oregon Athletic Department must invest in social media training for its athletes.
At the very least, it protects their investment. At best, it educates student-athletes on how social media impact them today, tomorrow and 10 years from now. Something essential, considering 99% of student-athletes “go pro in something other than sports”.
University of Mississippi has the right idea, as one of the first universities to jump on the social media training bandwagon.
“We certainly respect the social networking rights of our student-athletes but, at the same time, we also want them to be mindful of how they present and represent themselves,” Jamil Northcutt, Ole Miss’s assistant athletic director for Internal Operations told FanHouse.com.
Ole Miss hired Vermont-based UDilligence.com, to be a round-the-clock watchdog to scan the social networking profiles of Rebel athletes for any references to drugs, alcohol, sex, violence, racial slurs or profanity.
“It only costs pennies a day per athlete to protect the athlete’s reputations and the image of the school,” says Kevin Long, the founder of UDiligence.
“By the time a reporter calls asking about it, it’s too late. You’ve lost the advantage from a public relations perspective.”
As we’ve seen here in Holland’s case, his status updates quickly mushroomed into a full-blown public relationsdisaster.
Dave Williford and the Oregon Athletic Department need to learn from this before any other student-athlete decides to throw F-bombs around in a public forum.
Holland might have thought he was sharing something only between him and his 2,500+ friends (dangerous enough already), but without proper privacy settings, the entire world has the ability to see his post with the click of a button.
I spoke with Kelli Matthews, a public relations professional and professor at the University of Oregon, who has lengthy experience in crisis management, as well as in the online sphere.
She said, “Helping employees understand how social media has changed communication must be a vital part of every organization’s training.
“Every employee is an ambassador and has the opportunity to build or damage your brand with Twitter, FB and blog posts. Organizations must be proactive.”
Despite the abnormally Eugene-like weather in Southern California last night, the Oregon Ducks baseball season couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
Horton brings out his wild side celebrating his 2004 national title with Cal State Fullerton. Let's hope he can do it again, but this time in an Oregon uniform.
Feeling right at home in the mid-50 degree temperature and buckets of rain that delayed the finish of the game until almost midnight, the Ducks marched right into Goodwin Field and stole a 7-3 victory from No. 4 Cal State Fullerton.
Even if you aren’t a diehard college baseball fan yet, you might recognize Fullerton as the former team that our manager, George Horton, skippered for 11 seasons – leading the Titans to six College World Series’, including the 2004 national title. (If you’re an A’s fan like me, you might recognize the names Kurt Suzuki and Jason Windsor from that team, among other current big leaguers.)
Oregon had a predictably rocky inaugural year, in which the Ducks lost 44 of their 56 games, but Horton made the most of his return home, grabbing a tough win and lifting his team’s expectations and confidence for another long season.
After winning both their home and road openers last season, including a thrilling extra-inning walk-off against defending champion Fresno State to christen PK Park, the first-year squad learned the hard way how long and demanding the college baseball season is.
Luckily, “veteran” sophomore second baseman, Danny Pulfer, has taken an early leadership role on the team. His first item of business: move on.
“Everyone has totally forgotten about last year,” Pulfer said to Jeff Smith of the Oregonian. “This isn’t the ’09 Ducks anymore. It’s a whole new year, a whole new decade.”
I couldn’t be more excited.
With football season only four months out of the school year and basketball more frustrating than entertaining, this is the perfect opportunity for the baseball team to captivate Duck fans.
Even if you’re like me and couldn’t name more than 10 players if someone had a gun to my head.
College baseball is a completely different animal from the pros, but even though it might not have recognizable names or 40,000 seat stadiums, the college game definitely has its advantages.
The players are inundated with youthful exuberance, always standing on the top step cheering each on. There are no steroids scandals to worry about (well maybe just for the light-hitting Ducks), and come on, you just have to love the ping of the metal bat.
Plus, when was the last time you heard a professional team collectively yell “back!” each time the opposing pitcher attempts a pick-off throw? Alex Rodriguez is too busy kissing himself in the mirror.
You can tell these guys are still in it solely for the love of the game.
And heck, if we’re going to go sit outside in the cold and rain to support them, I think we are too.
I’m ready to dive fully into baseball season, and I know our team is going to do everything they possibly can to keep up interested.
PS: Take a look at the latest Nike baseball bats and equipment available. Baseball enthusiasts are choosing Nike gear over brands for their light weight and durability.
From KMTR: Rumors about a Masoli arrest are FALSE. Both EPD & Lane Co Jail officials confirm Masoli is not in, has not been in Lane Jail.
For what I had posted earlier:
No matter what information I get and how much I believe it to be true, it is not my place to be posting this information. I am sorry for spreading this speculation to everyone who read this and for everyone it affected. From now on I will leave serious matters to the professionals and solely focus on reacting to the facts instead of posting things I have heard.
This is what @SPORTSbyBROOKS has had to say about Masoli this past week:
With how “busy” the Oregon off-season has been the last few weeks, there has been little update on what happened at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house last month.
Furthermore, there has even been an eerily quiet amount of chatter on the rumor machine we call Twitter.
ActsOfKindness.org is holding its annual Random Acts of Kindness Week this week, and with that said, it’s pretty clear that LMJ didn’t see the big poster about it posted in Dux Bistro of the Living-Learning Center dorm on campus.
Talk about irony – although this story was plenty random.
LMJ has been a model citizen, and a personal man crush that my girlfriend has been deservedly nervous about, ever since stepping foot on campus nearly two years, which makes this news even more disheartening.
After going through enough scandal already this off-season, resulting in three players leaving the team and more facing possibly legal action, this isn’t wasn’t the way Duck fans were looking to bounce back from their Rose Bowl disappointment.
I have heard way too many comparisons to the Jail Blazers and “The U” today, things that shouldn’t be synonymous with Oregon football. Although at this point, I’d take Miami’s four championships.
The toughest part is that Chip Kelly really can’t do much about this. Sure, he can impose punishments and give stern speeches, but he can’t babysit his players at parties or be there to furiously yell “No!” when a player ponders a possible foray into Springfield.
The only thing that really sends a message is taking away scholarships. The only reason most of these players are here is to play football. But Chip needs these guys too. It’s a complicated ethical predicament.
He’s dismissed a few players this off-season, Garrett Embry, Matt Sims and Terrance Montgomery, and had Mike Bowlin “withdraw” and leave the University, but until he kicks a player off that actually is of importance, the star players have nothing to worry about.
Now I’m not advocating for Chip to dismiss LaMichael. But IF he is found guilty, I think intensive counseling, extensive community service and a three-game suspension would serve as fair punishment.
There is definitely a problem here in the athletic department that needs to be fixed. And as passionate Duck fans, I don’t know how much more of “star player x” is in trouble stories we can handle.
With our luck this offseason, I can only imagine the next headline: “Phil Knight gets caught running Ponzi scheme through the Duck Athletic Fund”. Knock on wood. I actually am looking forward to Matt Court.
Poll: IF guilty, what would you want Chip Kelly to do with LMJ? Link.
TP is 2-21 from beyond the arc in February. It's no coincidence his initials are "TP".
At this point, I’m just about out of words on how bad the basketball team is. The team is playing lazy, Ernie Kent needs to be replaced, blah blah blah.
And although you might disagree, Saturday was no different.
Sure, Oregon was up most of the first half and tied going into halftime, but that doesn’t mean they were playing any better. Arizona State looked awful. They looked like the Ducks, except they actually made a few more shots. Possibly ASU’s worst half of the season.
I was so confident Oregon would blow it that with the Ducks up three and just under five minutes left in the half, I offered my friend a five dollar bet Oregon would lose by 10. He said no. I offered 15. He tentatively agreed.
And then what happened?
Shockingly, the wheels came off, ASU stopped playing down to Oregon’s level, and ran away with it.
Seriously, when was the last time you sat through an entire game without wondering once when the typical Ernie Kent-collapse would happen? 2007?
It’s like clockwork. Early second half, every game. If that’s not on Ernie, I don’t know what is.
Unfortunately for me, the Ducks found a little pride when ASU got up 15, and then Drew Wiley (the same guy who brought a puppy to campus last week to pick up girls, seriously), led the standard attempted comeback that would undoubtedly fall short. And it did.
But I have a solution.
Forget Tajuan Porter and his 39% shooting (16% in February), forget Michael Dunigan and his pathetic excuse for a free throw and forget Ernie Kent’s .188 winning percentage (6-26) against Pac-10 teams since the 2007-08 Pac-10 tourney.
Instead, sign up the guys from Manther.
What’s Manther, you might ask?
Manther is a hip-hop group, a la Supwitchugirl, composed of three 20-something-year-old Oregon alums who can straight up ball.
If you haven’t seen this video, you’ve been missing out.
They can sing, drop beats, and most importantly, make Tajuan Porter’s range look less than Josh Crittle’s. Seriously.
Prepare to be amazed.
And if that wasn’t enough, there’s another one:
While you’re at it, be sure to watch their other videos on YouTube and follow them on the Twitter machine as well.
Like AddictedtoQuack mentioned in their pre-game thread, the key to the game is The Three H’s: head, hustle and heart.
We all saw how lethargic Oregon looked against Oregon State on Saturday in what seemed to be a “must-win” game. So now the question is, how will the Ducks respond?
If Ernie Kent has taught us anything this year, it’s this: don’t count on it.
Not when Oregon’s opponent, the Arizona Wildcats, have something that the Ducks haven’t had since Aaron Brooks (notice I said brooks, not EK?) led us on an Elite Eight run back in 2007: two players than can take over the game at any moment.
Nic Wise and Derrick Williams are difference makers.
Williams, a freshman, averages 17 and 7 on 57% shooting from the field, while Wise might be the quickest player and best 3-point shooter in the Pac-10.
Don’t fool yourselves, Tajuan Porter and Michael Dunigan don’t even come close.
Without great coaching, the difference is players who can create for themselves. Oregon has none. Arizona, meanwhile, has a great coach, two stars and several solid role players.
If you don’t believe me, just watch these Nic Wise highlights. Can Garrett Sim create like that? Didn’t think so.
With wins almost meaningless at this point, I’m forced to hope for another blow out so we can move on from the Ernie Kent era.
Among the countless Twitter rumblings I came across today, these two tweets from Matt Prehm of DuckTerritory.com (@Prehmmr) stuck out like a sore thumb:
·2011 Top 5 BB recruit Toney Wroten JR has informed me UO dropped in his list because of job stability w/Ernie Kent and concerns of firing.
·Wroten had Oregon as his favorite, but dropped them down. This was before the UCLA and USC games. Wroten is very impressed with Kent.
First of all, I’m not exactly sure which characteristic of Kent’s has impressed him, but putting that aside, is this news something Athletic Director Mike Bellotti should add this to his list of things to consider when deciding Kent’s fate this off-season?
Wroten is ranked the No. 2 point guard and No. 9 player overall in the country, per Rivals.com, describing the prep star as “an electric athlete with great size for his position, Wroten has the ability to take a game over at any moment.
“Slashing to the basket is his forte, but he can also heat up from the outside. A physical point guard, he has excellent court vision and provides a formidable presence on both ends of the court.”
Impressive.
Trust me, I want Wroten just as much as the next guy, but is having him for one year – he is almost surely a one and done type player – worth delaying the end of the Kent era at Oregon by at least two seasons?
I don’t think so, and especially not when we’re adding him to a team that isn’t exactly “one player away”.
Sure, there’s the possibility his commitment would bring more top players with him, but until Kent proves he can consistently get his team to the tournament (and not just the Pac-10 one), I don’t think John Calipari will have to lose sleep worrying about losing any of his recruits.
With this weekend’s sweep of the Los Angeles schools and the Wroten news, Kent’s status is curiously looking up.
Is a top-5 recruit worth an extension to the Ernie Kent era?
Wroten is a standout from Garfield High School in Seattle.
Among the countless Twitter rumblings I came across today, these two tweets from Matt Prehm of DuckTerritory.com (@Prehmmr) stuck out like a sore thumb:
2011 Top 5 BB recruit Toney Wroten JR has informed me UO dropped in his list because of job stability w/Ernie Kent and concerns of firing.
Wroten had Oregon as his favorite, but dropped them down. This was before the UCLA and USC games. Wroten is very impressed with Kent.
First of all, I’m not exactly sure which characteristic of Kent’s has impressed him, but putting that aside, is this news something Athletic Director Mike Bellotti should consider when deciding Kent’s fate this off-season?
Wroten, who’s listed at 6-4 and 180 pounds, is ranked the No. 2 point guard and No. 9 player overall in the country, per Rivals.com, describing the prep star as “an electric athlete with great size for his position, Wroten has the ability to take a game over at any moment.
“Slashing to the basket is his forte, but he can also heat up from the outside. A physical point guard, he has excellent court vision and provides a formidable presence on both ends of the court.”
Impressive.
Trust me, I want Wroten just as much as the next guy, but is having him for one year – he is almost surely a one and done type player – worth delaying the end of the Kent era at Oregon by at least two seasons?
I don’t think so, and especially not when we’re adding him to a team that isn’t exactly “one player away”.
Sure, there’s the possibility his commitment would bring more top players with him, but until Kent proves he can consistently get his team to the tournament (and not just the Pac-10 one), I don’t think John Calipari will have to lose sleep worrying about losing any of his recruits.
With this weekend’s sweep of the Los Angeles schools and the Wroten news, Kent’s status is curiously looking up.
Is a top-5 recruit worth an extension to the Ernie Kent era?
Here is part two of what will be a three-part interview series with the three Oregon players who participated in the Senior Bowl (Blount, Canfield and Ed Dickson).
You may be curious how I was in Mobile, Alabama, and Eugene at the same time on last week. As good as I like to think I am, I’m not that good.
My friend and former colleague, Jason Roberts, of PRISM Press Group was at Media Night Monday evening at Battleship Memorial Park and was treated to a special interview with Oregon State University’s Sean Canfield. Here, Canfield discusses how he feels after the opening day of practice for the 2010 Senior Bowl, his experiences heading into this week’s events following a successful senior year in Cor valis, and what he believes will draw the attention of NFL scouts during the remainder of this week.
How are you feeling to get out there on the field?
Canfield has a fantastic senior year, winning first-team Pac-10 honors, but had a somewhat tenuous Saturday at the Senior Bowl.
It’s good. It’s been a while and some of my other teammates on the North squad it’s been even – like guys from Notre Dame who didn’t play in a bowl game — it’s been longer for them so I’m thankful for that, that we were in a bowl game. Yeah, it was good to get the pads back on, get the helmet on and start throwing some routes to some very obvious talented receivers and tight ends and backs and skill players and then on the defensive side guys are flying around in our team periods. I thought the intensity was good and the speed was great. That’s some thing Coach Swartz stresses to the North team. I thought over all the first day was very smooth.
Do you feel it’s difficult making a name for yourself with such quality competition and being in SEC country?
Not at all. Competition is something that I’m used to. I think I learned a lot of good lessons about competition and belief in yourself battling against Lyle with my career at Oregon State and obviously my injury, I learned a lot with that too. It’s great to be amongst the best and that’s where you’d want to be. Showcasing my skills against Tony and Dan and then the scouts go and watch the South – watch Tebow and Zac and Jared – that’s great. We’re all at the top of our games and that’s fun.
What was it like going into the season with a clear shot at being a starter?
Well, it started really in ’08 when a very unfortunate situation for Lyle, when he got hurt and kind of the roles reversed as far as our sophomore year when I got hurt. Him and I are close. He ended up get ting surgery going into the 2009 season, which was obviously a set back for him individually. At that time I was working my ass off and running on my own, lifting and fitness is a big part of what I did in the off season and lost about 15 pounds and I just dedicated myself to be the best that I can be and it turned out to be a great season and here I am at the Senior Bowl. So every week in the year it was just kind of week-by-week it just became more and more reality that I’d get the opportunity to play at the next level. That’s always been a goal of mine ever since I was nine or 10 years old.
What did it mean to you to prove the doubters wrong in your senior season?
It meant a lot. I think early on the doubters kind of discouraged me. I didn’t have the right mentality as a sophomore and then like I said – injury, tough competition with Lyle – it just taught me a lot of good lessons like I said, about belief in your self and having that confidence and inner belief. Some of the scouts have been saying the knock on me is my last year – where were you the first two years and why now – and I’d say better late than never. It was great. I didn’t think about it too much. I said to myself, hey I was injured, was ready to go at any time my junior year backing up Lyle and sure enough he went down and I kind of seized the moment there, at the end of my red shirt junior season. So it was huge for me just to have that opportunity, just to kind of take the reigns there in 2009 and that’s what I did. We were a very, very potent offense I thought – one of the better in the Pac 10.
Not just the Pac 10, though one of the bet ter in the nation actually.
Yeah, we were. We were very efficient. Quiz – Jacquizz Rogers, our running back – he was leading the conference in catches the first eight games or some thing, maybe more than that. Like I said, being efficient was our #1 thing. We were also able to take shots downfield. We weren’t scared to throw it deep with James and Damola Adaniji, who not a lot of people are talking about, but he’s a good can didate for the next level too I think. He’s a tall guy with great hands and better speed than people think. So we had a lot of weapons and everything kind of fit together for me in my senior year.
What role is tight end Joe Halahuni playing in the offense as such a young, good performer?
He’s awesome and halfway through the year I didn’t even know he was a sophomore and I asked them, he’s a junior right? A junior / senior? And they said, no he’s a sophomore and he came on in the SC game. Joe is one of those guys who battled through injury and I know from experience that you learn a lot and I’m sure he did too. But you’re right. There was Tim Ewess and Jonas Newton who were kind of marquis players for us at that tight end position and Coach Riley really utilized the tight end back then and for a couple years we kind of didn’t have that identity so much and then Joe stepped up and every one talks about Joe’s high school high light tape, how crazy it is, he was a receiver. He’s one of those guys who was a receiver and put on some weight, so there’s the athleticism. He’s really a receiver that just got bigger. Like I said, got his opportunity, started, made some great plays against USC – I think he caught five plus balls, ran over Taylor Mays – don’t tell him I said that. He remembers. He was just a weapon for us and we started to run a lot of empty stuff, putting him on isolation routes against line backers. That started with SC, like I said. He just took off with it; he’s a great talent.
How has Mike Riley prepared you for where you are now?
Yeah. He’s done every thing. He’s a great coach; I wouldn’t want to play for anyone else. Just a down to earth guy, a real guy and obviously one of the things that made me come to Oregon State was a pro-style system that he ran with the Chargers. That’s kind of been my development and he’s been very patient with me having my ups and downs early on and then being able to go out on top my senior year and he was there the whole way. A great teacher, obviously knows his X’s and O’s, that goes without saying. Him and my position coach Danny Langsdorf – awesome. They were both there for me. Coach Langsdorf and I came in the same time – spring 2005. They were just great mentors for me, even off the field too. That’s some thing about Riley that he kind of implements in the community with the coaching staff is he’s just a person who cares about people and he cares about his players. It was just a great experience at Oregon State, even considering the lows and the injury.
With the coaching changes at USC does Mike Riley now become the pinnacle head coach of the Pac 10?
Yeah. I think every year there’s two or three coaches that could make their case for it. With what Chip Kelly did in his first year as a head coach – that’s awesome – and he’s calling plays for them and has been but I think the transition for him was probably hard and he did awesome with it, went to the Rose Bowl. Coach Riley’s got our team in the past four years to have winning records, win some good bowl games. Unfortunately, we didn’t beat Oregon and we didn’t beat BYU this last year, but like I said I think Coach Riley – you look over the past 10 years, he’s up there, he’s one or two.
What is it like to have the dynamic pair of the Rodgers brothers on the team? Is there any better pair to have on a team?
Yeah, maybe if they were a little taller. Don’t tell them when they’re here next year – well James might be. I’ve never had the luxury of throwing with a tall receiver; even in high school my receivers were short. The only tall receiver I’ve had – I mean 6’3”, 6’4” – was Damola. But I mean, James – one of those guys who – him and Quiz – very strong, very instinctive, smart football players. You get a lot of athletic guys but they don’t have it up here, but not those guys. They’ve got it all – minus the height. Quiz – they’re just work horses. I mean they stay after practice every day it seems and put in the time. They’re just great guys to be around, not about themselves, always for the benefit of the team. James is just an amazing receiver obviously, gets over 1,000 yards, 1st team All Pac 10. Same with Quiz; like I said, Quiz was leading the conference in catches for eight games. Two players I think kind of give credit to Coach Riley and how he’s able to recruit play ers. A lot of big schools – they were out of Texas – maybe kind of over look. Coach Riley kind of finds that quiet talent and I’d consider myself one of those guys too. I wasn’t very heavily recruited, but it’s just been fun working with James and Quiz and I heard they’ve got a younger brother that’s com ing up in the ranks. Rodgers neighborhood.
artnering with KIDSPORTS to benefit the youth of Eugene and Springfield.
The UO Sports Dude 
