Building The Dam: FanPosts

SB Nation Survey + Chance to donate $500 to a charity of this community's choice

2010-03-20T00:47:53Z

>> Take SB Nation Survey

Hello sports fans! We're always striving to provide you with the best experience possible and it's been quite some time since we checked in with you.

So we're rolling out this survey to learn more about you and your sports world. It should only take about 10 minutes to complete.

We really appreciate your time and this is also going to help make a donation to a good cause.

By next Thursday (3/25) at 11:59pm PST the site that has the highest percentage of their community filling out the attached survey about their sports interests and consumption will win $500 to donate to a charity of their choice. We will leave it up to the discretion of the community manager(s) of the winning blog to decide how to choose the particular charity.

You can take the survey HERE

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WYR2WQT

Thanks for your support!

SB Nation's Pac-10 Tournament Preview

2010-03-10T20:40:41Z

In case you're interested, I wanted to pass this along to you guys. I've written the SB Nation Pac-10 Tournament preview for the SBNation.com mothership, and I'm hoping many of your will take a few moments to check it out -- for a couple of reasons.

First off, you might learn something. But since I'm aware that you might not, since a lot of you are pretty darn smart and knowledgeable, you should go over there anyway just to see the cool stuff we're doing as a network.

If you've never been over there, the preview is actually the lead story for what's called a "StoryStream." I'll be continuously updating the stream with posts as the tournament advances, meaning that link above will be your one-stop shop for everything related to the conference tournament, including tidbits, game recaps, video, etc.

Updates are shown chronologically, with the most recent ones at the top. (You can also toggle it to show the oldest posts first, because hey, we're like Burger King -- have it your way.) Additionally, you can help me out by clicking the "submit your post" button on the stream to pass tips my way if you find things that you think could be included on the stream.

The best feature, I think, is this: If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to the stream here. The feed will deliver each update I post directly to your reader over the next four days. Pretty cool.

And if you dig it, take a look around the SBNation.com site -- I think you'll especially appreciate the college basketball page.

LaMichael James, Jeremiah Masoli Court Appearrances Friday

2010-03-10T20:39:52Z

Oregon Ducks running back LaMichael James reportedly will appear in court in Lane County Friday morning, for a hearing where a change of plea will be entered, and sentencing may follow.

James initially pleaded not guilty to five misdemeanor charges resulting from a Feb. 17 incident, including suspicion of strangulation, fourth degree assault, and menacing, in what was described as a domestic dispute.

Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and receiver Garrett Embry have also now been charged in connection with a fraternity house theft incident in January, and will appear in the same Lane County Circuit Court Friday afternoon, on charges of second degree burglary.

Derek Anderson Released By Browns

2010-03-09T20:54:18Z

With a roster bonus imminent, and Cleveland (and Mike Holmgren, formerly with the Seattle Seahawks), having just traded with the Seahawks for QB Seneca Wallace, the Browns have today released former Oregon St. quarterback Derek Anderson.

Breaking news: OSU-Washington Game Time Moved

2010-03-09T20:23:20Z

The Oregon St.-Washington game Thursday at the Pac-10 tournament reportedly has been moved back from the originally scheduled 6:00 time slot to the 8:30 time slot.

The game will still be televised on Fox Sports Northwest, as will all the Pac-10 tournament games except the championship game, which will be on CBS.

The Arizona St.-Stanford game has been moved up to the 6:00 slot. This provides Arizona St., who is the second seed in the tournament, and pressed for the change, should they win, a slightly longer window of preparation for the semi-final game, a benefit of having earned the higher seed.

When Does It Hurt The Brand?

2010-03-08T04:36:43Z

That's the main question left when digesting continuing events in Eugene. While marveling at how certain powers that be appear to have fired the Ducks' winingest basketball coach ever, the research was interrupted by the latest arrest of a football player.

Linebacker Josh Kaddu, 19, was cited Saturday for being a minor in possession of alcohol, according to a Eugene police report. An officer observed Kaddu trying to pry open a car door shortly after midnight, and when questioned, the sophomore appeared to be intoxicated, and was unresponsive, police spokeswoman Melinda Kletzok said.

Kaddu was cited and released. At least he wasn't driving, though maybe that would have only been a matter of time.

When will the general public make a change in a buying decision in response to Nike's association with the University of Oregon? Will they ever?

Will a major Eugene area corporate sponsor/advertiser ever hear from their customers that association with the never-ending series of problems has prompted some of them to distance themselves from the situation?

When, or if, this happens, watch how quickly changes are made. Until then, one can only wonder, do Mike Bellotti and Chip Kelly honestly think that the UofO brand and image are un-damageable?

Ticket and advertising sales, and contributions, will tell the tale. Or lead to a new deal for the rights to be the "Official Beer of the University of Oregon."

VOTE on SB Nation's Pac-10 all-conference awards!

2010-03-06T03:49:43Z

Last year, we CougCenter.com authors put together our inaugural Pac-10 all-conference awards. As we were working on this year's edition, a thought hit us.

What if we did a fan vote across all the SB Nation Pac-10 sites?

Here's your chance to get your voice heard. After the text is a link to a form you can fill out to submit your votes. It's pretty lengthy, but you have to fill the whole thing out for your vote to be counted.

Just a few points of clarification.

We're asking for your home blog because it might be interesting to see how certain fan bases vote.
We're asking for your SB Nation user name because it will hopefully help keep us from getting spammed. Don't worry, we won't share how you voted, unless ...
If you leave a comment and we use it on the results post, we'll attribute it to your user name. If you don't want that to happen, don't leave any comments.
Base your selections on performance in conference, not the whole year.
This is an all-conference team, therefore, you are asked to select players who would actually comprise a basketball team. None of this wishy-washy, best five or 10 players regardless of position crap the actual conference does.

That's about it. We'll post the results on our site next week.

VOTE HERE NOW.

Tarver Brothers' Last Home Games

2010-03-04T20:34:20Z

Well maybe, depending on various hoops gods, and the CBI. For sure, it is the last week of Pac-10 games at Gill for Josh and Seth Tarver, from Jesuit High in Portland.

The Oregonian's Paul Buker followed up his great piece on one of the new guys, Joe Burton, with this feature on Josh and Seth.

After nearly a decade of watching these guys, it's going to be strange to not have them around. There may be brighter stars on and off the floor coming to fill their sneakers, but I'm thinking there will be more that find it hard to measure up than those that surpass them.

Joe Burton Feature

2010-03-03T06:18:48Z

Paul Buker of the Oregonian has an excellent feature story on Joe Burton, Oregon St's. freshman post player, and the first member of his tribe, the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, to get a full Division I athletic scholarship. Burton is also the first and only Native American to play for a Pac-10 team.

Ex-Duck Gets Community Service

2010-03-03T00:25:55Z

Matt Simms, the former Oregon walk-on kicker who was arrested for allegedly retaliating against a man he believed was part of a brawl in which Oregon kicker Rob Beard was knocked unconscious and suffered serious facial injuries, was sentenced on Tuesday to perform 40 hours of community service after his misdemeanor assault charge was reduced to a charge of harassment.

Oregon head football coach Chip Kelly has already kicked Simms off the team, for an undisclosed team rules violations back on Feb. 3.

The misdemeanor assault charges against Beard are still pending.

Jake Wins Sherwood High's "Mr. Bowmen" Pageant

2010-03-02T03:24:19Z

I don't usually delve into my personal life here, but I thought this was FanPost worthy.

I'll say it up front-- I'm a busy guy, by choice. And when I'm in over my head, it's usually Building the Dam that gets the littlest of my attention.

As was the case during the past few months, as I've been trying to juggle my three college-level courses, our high school basketball schedule, everything else in my life, and preparing for our "Mr. Bowmen" Pageant.

Mr. Bowmen is my high school's biggest fundraising event of each year, where contestants comepete by raising money for Doernbecher Children's Hospital, among other things. We were also judged on a talent, a personal endorsement video, an impromptu question, as well as our "personality and poise".

Anyhow, the pageant was last Friday, and I won.

Between myself and the eleven other contestants, we were able to rase upwards of $13,000 for Doernbecher Children's Hospital on the campus of OHSU in Portland. As part of being involved in the pageant, we were able to go on a tour of the facility (as well as ride the aerial tram)... it was very neat.

Here are some photos for you to look through.

And, if you never had realized that I am still a high school student, now you know.

Thanks to Andy, Connor, RVM, VD, Arby, and everyone else who is active on BtD for picking up the slack for me. Hopefully I can put more time into the site as baseball season gears up.

--Jake | (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)

Greg Peavey Gets Honors

2010-03-02T02:02:44Z

Oregon State junior pitcher Greg Peavey was named the Pac-10 Conference's Pitcher of the Week, and the USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Spotlight Player of the Week after throwing a complete game shutout win Sunday. Peavey's nine strikeout three hitter led the Beavers to a 1-0 victory over Tennessee at Goss Stadium Sunday.

(OSU Photo)

March Madness Weekly Open Thread

2010-03-02T00:13:49Z

Well, today it begins. The best 31 Days of the year begin today. Use this Open Thread to talk about everything College Basketball, and more. We'll be highlighting the Bubble Watch, who will be going where in the Postseason Tournaments, Games of the Day, and the Conference Tourneys. This thread will be for everthing from March 1st-March 7th.

Below are the Games of the Day. Go Beavers!

Sunday, March 7th

Florida @ Kentucky, 9:00 AM, CBS

Wisconsin @ Illinois, 11:00 AM, ESPN

Saturday, March 6th

West Virginia @ Villanova, 9:00 AM, CBS

Texas @ Baylor, 1:00 PM, ESPN

Friday, March 5th

Eastern Illinois vs Murray State, Ohio Valley Semifinals, 4:00 PM, ESPNU

Tennessee Tech vs Morehead State, Ohio Valley Semifinals, 6:00 PM, ESPNU

Thursday, March 4th

Winthrop vs Radford, Big South Semifinals, 3:00 PM, ESPNU

UNC-Asheville vs Coast Carolina, Big South Semifinals, 5:00 PM, ESPNU

Providence @ Pittsburgh, 6:00 PM, ESPN

Wednesday, March 3rd

Duke @ Maryland, 6:00 PM, ESPN

Oklahoma State @ Texas A&M, 6:00 PM, ESPN2

Tuesday, March 2nd

Villanova @ Cincinnati, 4:00 PM, ESPN2

Vanderbilt @ Florida, 4:00 PM, ESPN

Illinois @ Ohio State, 6:00 PM, ESPN

Monday, March 1st

Georgetown @ West Virginia, 4:00 PM, ESPN

Oklahoma @ Texas, 6:00 PM, ESPN

Time set for regular season finale against Washington

2010-02-23T23:58:04Z

The TBD has been determined for the last regular season game of the year for the mens' basketball team. Oregon St. will host Washington Saturday, March 6, and the game will be at 5 PM in Gill Coliseum.

The game will be televised by Fox Sports Northwest.

The game Thursday, March 4, against Washington St., is still TBD.

Bill Moos Hired At WSU

2010-02-23T20:24:21Z

Bill Moos, the Athletic Director at the University of Oregon from 1995 to 2007, a couple of tenures ago, has been hired to the same position at Washington St.

Terms have not been disclosed, but the price tag, estimated at over a half-million a year, is enough for Moos to forfeit the remaining amounts the University of Oregon is paying him (reported to be $200,000 per year for another 7 years) in exchange for his not taking an AD or similar job west of the Mississippi.

Moos is an alumni of Washington St., and was pursued by the Cougars with the hope that he can repeat the progress in programs and facilities that Moos accomplished early in this decade in Eugene, will assume his post May 1, replacing Jim Sterk, who took the same position at San Diego St. last week.

Ducks suspend Kiko Alonso for a Year

2010-02-22T22:00:41Z

Kiko Alonso, the University of Oregon linebacker cited early Saturday morning for DUII, a couple of driving infractions, and driving without insurance, as well as being a minor in possession of alcohol, in has been suspended for the 2010 season, effective immediately, according to Oregon coach Chip Kelly.

Kelly made the announcement Monday, but said details are still being worked out as far as Alonso's involvement with the program during the suspension. He did say that the suspension "would definitely" keep Alonso from playing at all in the 2010 season, so expect some program of academics, community activity, and work with the scout team, somewhat similar to what LaGarrett Blount had.

The key difference is Blount was in his last season, whereas Alonso, a redshirt sophomore to be, will have future years of eligibility available, and it appears won't see an accelerated timeline, and a late season return.

Daily Dingbat Duck Debacles

2010-02-22T04:36:56Z

A day doesn't go by since the last drunk Duck debacle and another one has happened. This one apparently won't take weeks to play out, though.

WR Jamere Holland, who transferred to Oregon from USC, but had to sit out the Rose Bowl after finding himself academically ineligible, it seems decided to criticize a decision to dismiss Kiko Alonso, the Duck LB that was just arrested for an array of drinking and driving infractions, on his Facebook page, and to do it profanely. A decision that hasn't actually been made, at least yet.

For his efforts, Holland has been dismissed from the team for violating team rules.

Another Duck In Trouble With The Law

2010-02-21T07:56:17Z

Oregon linebacker Kiko Alonso, 19, was observed to be driving erratically with two passengers in the car by Eugene police today on 7th. st., and was arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII), failure to maintain a lane, improper turn, driving uninsured, and minor in possession.

He will have a court date is on March 4 at 8 a.m.

This the next day after coach Chip Kelly's public statement to and about the team, and the need to adhere to team rules, and (presumably) the law.

University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere termed the current pattern of behavior by Duck football players as "simply unacceptable" in a statement released this evening.

The University of Oregon has clear expectations of how its student athletes are to behave both on and off the field of play. Lately, several of our athletes have fallen far short of these standards. This is simply unacceptable.

The University of Oregon does not tolerate inappropriate conduct from any of its students. I know Athletics Director Mike Bellotti and Head Coach Chip Kelly share my concern about recent events involving UO players and are working hard to address these incidents. I have every confidence that they will restore the UO athletic program's long and proud tradition of sportsmanship and integrity. Our loyal fans and alumni expect no less and neither do I.

First Off-Season Injury May Sideline Pankey

2010-02-11T00:14:18Z

Oregon St. senior linebacker Keith Pankey ruptured his right Achilles tendon during a running drill this week, and the injury might force him to miss the 2010 season. Fortunately, Pankey has a redshirt year available. He has started 13 games in his career, and split time with Dwight Roberson this past year. He was seventh in tackles for the Beavers with 44, including 4.5 for a loss.

With Keaton Kristick graduating, initial projections were for Pankey and Roberson to be the starting outside linebackers in 2010.

Pac-10 Moving Up In The Hoops World? Maybe...

2010-02-09T03:56:03Z

ESPN 360 has announced their schedule for the week, which includes 79 games. For the first time since the start of the league season, the week's list includes a Pac-10 game, Thursday's Washington at Cal game.

So the Pac-10 has finally climbed to the level such basketball power conferences as the Atlantic Sun and the Summit League. Still some work to do to get to where the conference's pull and exposure can match the American East and the Metro Atlantic.

And while the Oregon St.-Arizona St. game is still a radio only game, at least Saturday's game at Arizona has been picked up by Fox College Sports Pacific channel, though many satellite and cable systems do not include this channel.

The desperate need for either a Pac-10 network, of a significantly improved TV deal, continues to be a glaring need; imagine where we would be without Fox Sports's regional channels.

There may be some hope though. The Pac-10 has just announced the hiring of former Big 12 commissioner and Big Ten executive Kevin Weiberg. His title is Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer. So he has the position to make a difference.

The release states:

Weiberg, who will start April 12, is currently chief executive officer of iHoops, a joint venture between the NCAA and NBA, formed to develop a structure and programs to improve the quality of youth basketball in America.

While with the Big 10, Weiberg was vice president of university planning and development for the Big Ten Network, responsible for expanding the range and scope of network programming, during the early stages of its development. In addition, he served as deputy commissioner of the Big Ten Conference under Jim Delany, from 1989 to 1998, and was instrumental in the integration of Penn State into the conference.

Weiberg served as commissioner of the Big 12 Conference from 1998 to 2007, overseeing its transformation into one of the most competitive and financially successful conferences in the country. Revenues doubled during his tenure.

Clearly, Weiberg knows the ins and outs of conference expansion, is familiar with Colorado, one of the leading candidates for expansion, and knows how to set up a TV network.

This will be another move by Larry Scott and the conference that bears watching closely as an indicator of what we will be able to watch down the road.

And there's already lots of speculation all over the west, and especially on the other SB Nation Pac-10 blogs, plus on the Utah and Colorado sites, the primary obvious candidates to join a Pac-12.