Four Weeks Through

David R.

January 30, 2011 - 3:34 PM

At the beginning of last week I developed a really painful sore throat and I had a cough for a few days. I don't usually get sick and it made me think about my health and how I can keep myself in a clean, healthy environment. The upstairs in our house has been a mess ever since we moved in so I took it upon myself to clean up the upper half of the house, as well as my room.

 

I busted out the broom and swept around every corner in my room. I usually drag in junk from the hall way so it was nice to see my floor spotless. I took a rag from my closet and dusted over all of the belongings in my room. The top of my t.v. had a lot of dust settled on it, and the back of my desk was pretty dusty too. It was nice to get my room feeling clean, and it smelled great after I unloaded some febreeze all over the place. I feel way more organized when my room is spot less so I plan on keeping it this was as long as I can.

 

The super bowl is coming up next weekend, and I think the game will be a good one. Aaron Rodgers has certainly proven himself this season and he has been the spark the Packers needed after the departure of Brett Favre. The Steelers are always tough and their defense is one of the nastiest in the NFL. James Harrison is as scary as they come and is constant threat on the field. "Big Ben" continues to be solid and has the Steelers' offense running like a well-oiled machine, thanks to the quick legs of Mendenhall at half back. I think this super bowl could have a lot of scoring and I'm excited to see if Aaron Rodgers has what it takes to knock of Pittsburgh. The terrible towels will be abundant at the super bowl and the fans should provide an incredible atmosphere.

 

The NBA season continues to progress and the Nuggets have yet to find a deal for Camello Anthony. After watching the Cleveland Cavaliers get destroyed by Lebron's departure for free, we can't allow Melo to get away for nothing. Recent talks with the Nets have dwindled and the Nuggets need to act soon. Allowing ourselves to get "Lebron'd" would be the worst possible scenario. It's still frustrating however, because Carmello has even said that he feels this year's team is one of the best in a while. It doesn't make sense why he would say that while he's also saying he wants to leave.

 

You gotta love a good NBA shenanigan. In last night's game between the Celtics and the Suns, Kevin Garnett was ejected for punching Channing Frye's genital region during a shot. As Frye went up to launch a three-pointer, Garnett reached out and smacked Frye's mid-section. A pretty blatant cheap shot, and definitely deserving of an ejection. Pro sports can sometimes lack sportsmanship, but it really is quite entertaining from a fan stand point.

 

For now I'll be waiting for Carmello's departure, and I'm excited to see who we'll get in exchange for our game-changing super star.

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Winter Term Moving Along

David R.

January 29, 2011 - 7:32 PM

Week four came with a couple of midterms, but I handled the pressure like a pro and it's looking good so far. I got a solid A on the finance class test and I think I did pretty well on the media studies test so I should be in good shape. Midterm weeks can create stress but studying hard usually pays off.

 

Sports are starting to pick up at Oregon now that the spring sports are about to begin. Today we had a double header with women's basketball in the afternoon and tumbling and acrobatics at night. The women's team played California and showed many glimmers of hope, but the ladies fell to Cal in front of a good crowd at Matthew Knight Arena. The men's team is about to head home after being away for a few games. The state of Washington will make a visit this next week as the Cougars and the Huskies will come down to Eugene to get their first taste of rowdy new home for Oregon basketball. The men fell to Cal today in Berkeley but played well and kept the game competitive. The men's games in the new area are a great experience and the Ducks will come home to a packed house on Thursday.

 

Before the women's basketball game today, I was over at the market of choice holding a focus group for my journalism project. My team's client is CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Lane County and our goal is to increase the organization's awareness within the greater Eugene community. Our first task was to do some initial research to figure out how to best reach the potential volunteers in the community. We held a focus group of people who have volunteered at CASA to see how they first became involved with the organization and what they feel would be the best way for us to reach the potential volunteers in Eugene and inform them about CASA. CASA works on behalf of abused children in the Eugene/Springfield area that can't speak for themselves. CASA is an incredible organization and its volunteers have incredible impacts on the lives of the less fortunate children in the community. It has been fun to work for this organization and I look forward to creating a killer plan to get the organization's name floating around the community.

 

I'm finally getting over the BCS game loss, and it really has been a tough pill to swallow. It was hard to watch the continuous highlights on ESPN, and it's hard to think about how truly close we were. It was hard to see the season end that way and I'll never forget watching Auburn storm on to the field. All we can do is gear up for next season and see Darron and LaMichael yet again. Oregon has a solid recruiting class so far and we have received great publicity throughout the country, allowing us to spread our recruiting presence. The Ducks look on to next season, as the Pac-12 Championship may be decided by a critical game between Oregon and Stanford in Palo Alto.

 

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Waiting for a First

David R.

January 22, 2011 - 5:05 PM

Since the men's basketball team took on USC for the first game ever in Matthew Knight Arena, there has been a wild buzz around campus about the new home for Oregon basketball. However, the women's team has yet to get in on the action. Finally, tomorrow, after two men's games and an incredible opening ceremony the women will finally get their crack at the new stadium.

 

The women's team has done well this season as conference games have begun. Even though some think that the men's game is more entertaining, I personally think the women's games are a blast, and the first game in the new arena will be packed full. I was told that someone purchased a couple thousand tickets for the first game and distributed them around the community. The team should be full of energy for its MKA inaugural game, and I'm sure Coach Westhead has one heck of a game plan prepared.

 

I have been in the heat of basketball season, trying to get all of my work done in the office so that everything is prepared come game time. I've been so focused on all of my responsibilities that I forgot how many games have already passed. I feel like the basketball season just began, but there are only five men's home games left. It's crazy how fast the season passes, and I hope the Ducks can make a good run through the remainder of their PAC 10 games. Baseball season is right around the corner and I have already begun to work on some of the marketing elements for the baseball team. The other day while I was in the office I started working on the trading cards that we make for each team. The pictures are selected for us, but we are responsible for writing all of the little bios that go on the back of each card. The trading cards are fun to make and the responsibility grants a lot of creative freedom...which is nice.

 

Even though spring break doesn't come until the end of the term, it's never to early to start planning. As of now it looks like I might be heading back to Las Vegas(you can never go wrong with Sin City) with a few of my friends, one of which I work with and one I met in my FIG (freshman interest group) fall term of freshman year. This term is like no other, because for the first time in my collegiate career, I don't have any finals. All of my classes end during dead week, which is the 10th week of the term, so for me, winter term ends the Thursday before finals week. All of my other friends are done early into finals week, so we are planning to leave the Friday of finals week and come back on Monday, so we will still have almost all of the break week to do with as we wish.

 

Spring break is always a great time, and even though it is still seven weeks away, I can't wait!

 

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Breakin' In the House

David R.

January 21, 2011 - 1:47 PM

Last night marked our house's first official party of the winter term. My roommate Andy turned 22 last night, so of course, we celebrated in fashion with a nice little get together. When I came back from class around six, our house was in no condition for a party, so the two hours following my return home were nothing but a mad scramble to get the house cleaned up. You know, picking up the double cheeseburger wrappers, grabbing all the dirty socks off the floor and cleaning the bathroom for the first time in months.

 

By the time people began showing up the house was surprisingly spotless, allowing us all to finally relax and have good time. Like a true Coloradan I wore my Colorado Rockies hat and enjoyed a nice six pack of Silver Bullets, and yes, the mountains were blue.

 

Everyone knows that the worst part of having a party is the clean up process afterwards. Last year after a party we had for my birthday, we hired a maid to come in to tidy the place up. After she left we decided that we should never place that burden on a person ever again, so this year we decided to place the cleaning responsibilities on ourselves. The house wasn't too destroyed, there were just a lot of empty cups lying around, and luckily nothing was stolen, which tends to happen at parties. The night was an all around success and I'm already looking forward to my birthday in a couple weeks.

 

I don't have class today, but I have to go to work for a couple hours this afternoon. Classless Friday's are a nice change of pace, and it just gives me more time to take care of everything I need to to make myself feel organized. My classes are going well and I have my first wave of midterms starting next week. I have one on Monday and one on Tuesday, but I feel pretty confident about both and I plan to hit the books hard this weekend.

 

It's unfortunate that I have to spend a good portion of the weekend studying, because the NFL playoffs are down to four teams, and both of Sunday's games should be thrillers. In an epic showdown dating way back, the Packers and the Bears will face off at Soldier Field in Chicago while the Jets and Steelers pound each other in Blitzburg. As it has many times already this season, I hope Sunday night ends with a "Da Bears" text from my uncle that grew up just south of the Windy City. With the Ducks doing what they did this season it was hard to keep up with the NFL at times but there's nothing better than conference championship weekend.

 

The next big road trip will come in a few weeks when my fraternity makes its annual trip to the Sun River Resort in Bend, Ore. This weekend is always one of the highlights of the year and it's fun to make it up to the mountains. Until then, I'll be living the dream in the Eugene, enjoying my last winter term as a Duck.

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Mac to Matt, Dream to Reality.

David R.

January 16, 2011 - 11:00 AM

Even though the college football season is over and we will all have to wait until next fall so see Oregon football back in action, Oregon basketball has begun a new chapter in its book as both programs have transitioned into the new Matthew Knight Arena.

 

Since observing the ground breaking my freshman year, I finally get to enjoy the arena as a senior before I depart from the University of Oregon. In the latter half of my freshman year, I would be woken up early in the morning on the weekends from the sounds of the construction crews wreaking havoc on what used to be in place of the arena. From year to year, I would keep an eye on the arena's slow construction process, and return in the fall for each new school year astounded at the progress that had been made. Regardless, Matthew Knight Arena has been more of a dream for the past three years, until the Oregon men's team took USC there on Thursday night, allowing the dream to become a reality.

 

All of the big dogs including Phil Knight were in the house for the first game, and the opening ceremony was one of the best ever. After Uncle Phil gave speech about the new stadium, a video of all the old McArthur Court memories began to play, as did the pump up music that got everyone excited about the new beginning for Oregon basketball. The cheerleaders did their thing on the court and after they cleared, hundreds of fans from the student section rushed onto it to keep the sell out crowd excited about finally being able to witness the first game in the new, so highly praised arena that rivals any other in the nation. After the students cleared, the band and the cheerleaders took the court again, accompanied by fireworks and bursts of flame used to celebrate the occasion. I definitely wasn't expecting a fire show but the crowd loved it and the ceremony itself was perfect for the grand opening of the stadium that will be home for Oregon basketball for many decades.

The pesky Trojans were probably the favorite in this game and I'm sure they thought they would have no trouble with our Ducks. While I was down on the court before the ceremony began I heard one USC player mention that they were here to ruin the party. The Ducks were determined to take a victory in their first game in their new home as the Trojans never held a lead in the game. The crowd was rowdy the entire game and I don't think the Trojans were expecting the look they saw from Oregon. Even though the new arena seats significantly more people than McArthur Court did, the arena was packed full and the student section provided the noise factor that was in USC's ear the entire night.

 

The game got close at the end, but Oregon held on for a win in its first game in Matthew Knight Arena in front of the man(Phil Knight) that provided the cash behind it. The arena is truly amazing and it is everything that it was talked up to be. Oregon is known for being slightly outrageous at times, so the floor design is fitting. The design includes trees that wrap around the outside of the court, with the words "Deep In The Woods" painted on the floor. I personally think that design is catchy and creative, and hopefully visiting teams will feel deep in the Oregon woods when they visit rowdy Matthew Knight Arena. Despite a close loss to UCLA yesterday, the Ducks have played well in their new home thus far, and hopefully that trend will continue for the rest of the season.

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