Brooke Pregnant?

Brooke has been saying some pretty funny things lately. In fact, as I type this, she just approached me (climbing out of bed and coming downstairs when she's supposed to be sleeping) saying "Daddy, I cannot sleep with my eyes open." - and yes, that's a direct quote, she says the word Cannot." She has realized certain things get a lot of attention and special perks. Particularly saying she's sick. She tells me she's sick all the time now. Especially when she knows she may get in trouble for something, etc. But this was a good one. She has also noticed mommy gets perks for being pregnant. So what does she say to me when I tell her mommy gets a certain treat "because she's pregnant and has a baby in her tummy."? Brooke's response: "Daddy, I'm pregnant." Woa. Not hoping to hear that for at least a couple more decades. Yikes. Cracking me up. Now she's offering me a peanut butter cookie. I better get this one off to bed...again - for the third time tonight. How many times we gonna brush those teeth, sweetie?

BLAZERS: D-Miles on the return?

Interesting story on Darius Miles by the Oregonian's Joe Freeman today. Do we believe he can come back from potential career-ending knee surgery? Do we want him to? Tough call. Here's what he said: "I've got three more years left on my contract and it motivates me. Before those three years are up, I want to make the playoffs. I've never made the playoffs a day in my life in the NBA. That's something I want to do and I'm going to give the time and effort to do it."

There are a lot of haters out there for sure. I stand squarely in the middle. I believe if Miles shows the maturity and drive to come back, maybe he truly is a changed man. If he does so to the point that McMillan is willing to give him some PT, I'm down with it. Worth shaking up this roster to bring him back? No way. I believe the Miles ship has sailed P-Town. He's soft spoken and I really do believe he's misunderstood. If he comes back, I wish him well. But his knees are extremely questionable. Will he play this season? Probably 'some' - but I presume we won't see any meaningful contributions from Miles in the coming years. If we do, I believe it's just to build some possible trade value.

DUCKS: Heartbreaker

Cal 31, Oregon 24. Oregon beat Oregon. Cal will tell you differently, but neither team came out punching. Even once the butterflies were out and the game was flowing, it wasn't 'til the 2nd half that we saw the offense of either team come to play. (Note: This was the first sporting event in some time that I was so invested in that had literal knots in my stomach. I had to shake it off.) Unfortunately, Dennis Dixon had two crucial interceptions late in the game that cost Oregon the game. Cal capitalized. It's that simple. The Cameron Colvin end-zone fumble (pictured here) was an enigmatic play for this team. This could have tied the game and changed the course of this season. 16 seconds left and INCHES away from tying the game. AAAWWWW! But it was a great showdown. A great game to watch regardless. Now, we find out what this team is really made of. Toughest part: they don't play for 2 weeks now. I still believe they are still a 9 or 10 win team this year. Show me.

DUCKS: Cal Game Prediction

Big game at Autzen Stadium tomorrow. I'm all amped up for it. Oregon is currently ranked 11th in the country, Cal is ranked 6th. Lots of variables. Both teams want it. My prediction: Oregon 43, Cal 35.

DUCKS: Bullying the Bulldogs

Oregon had another solid showing this weekend. Fresno State, while not a BCS team, always plays Oregon tough. The 5 most recent games have all come down to the wire. Enter 2007. The Ducks put them away early and never allowed breathing room.

Oregon outgained Fresno State 307 to 60 on the ground, and Ducks running back Jonathan Stewart gained more yards on one play -- an 88-yard touchdown run -- than the Bulldogs had all game long. That run, the longest in Autzen Stadium history, came early in the second quarter and put the Ducks up 35-6. Saturday was the third time in the first three games that the Ducks have rushed for at least 300 yards. Center Max Unger, who admits to being a spectator on the play -- "I didn't even hit anybody" -- recalls Stewart's long touchdown run. "We had been running those sweeps for a while, then we kind of came back -- those guys were flowing pretty hard, and we just kind of cut it right up the back side," Unger said. "Oh, it was awesome -- untouched, it was great."

It was enough to move Oregon’s national ranking up to 13th in the AP polls.

BLAZERS: Knee-fights

Yikes. OK, so the sky descended a few feet with today’s news, but not a full-on plunge. A minor drop, really. Oden underwent exploratory surgery turned microfracture surgery this morning. Let me say that again: MICROFRACTURE surgery. (yup, that thud was the sound of my stomach dropping to the floor) This entire NBA season is out for the big fella. I reiterate my previous entry: the sky is not falling. I figure this sets his development back at least 2 years. If we’re blessed enough to have him out on the court again next year, it won’t be like it 'would' have been this year. Or should I say ‘should’ have been? I don’t know. As a fan, this is like getting the wind knocked out of me. But it really only took 30 minutes or so for me to get over the shock, commence cognition, gain perspective and move on. It is what it is. Unfortunately, it’s more frustrating for G.O. than anyone else. What a tough blow. Previous to today’s surgery, Oden blogged the following: “I would like for me to be playing and not seem like I’m a high maintenance player but things just keep popping up." He can bounce back, but it’s going to take tremendous will.

Durant v. Oden again? Given what we know now, I still take Oden. The actual outcome of all this is at least 5 years (and further) down the line. Then we can start making outrageous statements.

A strange twist to this is that, setting back his introduction 1 year, then another year to get him back to rookie form, he’ll be ‘actual’ NBA rookie age in my book. Don’t get me wrong, this is not good, just an observation. I got much love for Oden and simply hope this doesn’t kill his basketball drive. Like Irvin said at his HOF induction this summer: “Look up… Get up… but don’t ever Give up.” We got your back, Mister Oden. All this Bowie talk is garbage. Small brains only see the small picture. Sam Bowie still lives in Kentucky. We’re not witnessing his ghost or any form of offspring. Disappointing? Yes. Devastating? Temporarily. Recoverable? Absolutely. Adequate time to do so? It’s on our side, baby.

Let us not forget, this team still has a great core to work with this year. I believe they’ll still be over 35 wins. More? I hope so. I’ve already heard the “another lottery year, what can we get?” talk out there. We’ve had enough of that around here. 4 or 5 lottery years in a row? I’m good. Get that out of the mentality. Move on. Again, I believe the next two years are going to be LaMarcus’ rise to star-dom. My biggest question this year is whether Joel ‘the Thrilla’ will be able to bounce back from his dismal season last year. I think he will. That still gives us a question mark. Joel offers zero offense, but is an excellent 2nd line of defense. That’s no small asset. Overall, without any games under their belt together, I believe I still prefer Frye and Aldridge as the primary 4 & 5. Raef might even have something more to show us this year. My point: even without Oden, we are still able to be versatile. A fast, offensively minded squad when appropriate, and Joel is around when we’re playing a team that requires some banging in the middle.

Amazing, I look up and the sky is still there.

(PS: For those who don’t get it, that’s subliminal LDS humor in the subject line.)

BLAZERS: Oden surgery - the sky is not falling

Greg Oden will have surgery (exploratory arthroscopic) on his right knee this week. Apparently Oden complained of unusual knee pain last week and an MRI showed some cartilage irregularities (inconclusive). The local and national media have made many predictions about this. Plenty of disappointment and “the sky is falling” sentiments as well as lots of “wait and see”. Many take the Blazers’ silence on the issue as a bad sign. Bottom line is that we don’t know until the surgeon(s) get in there. There are a few points that I've concluded which I haven’t seen in any media coverage:

1) TIMING: Oden was participating in the voluntary team pick-up games and unofficial players-only practices. It’s unprecedented that the entire team is together and scrimmaging against each other so long before training camp. If Oden were not participating in this, we might not have learned about this until 3 weeks from now. As it stands, we get a 3 or 4 week jump on the problem. Surgeons say, if the exploratory procedure turns up nothing serious, it could be a 3-5 week recovery scenario. That puts us just past training camp and into the preseason. Bummer, no doubt, but descent timing. Without the team scrimmages, we may be way behind in getting this thing taken care of.

2) REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS: While ticket sales jumped significantly and TV scheduling have been significantly boosted by Oden’s coming to Portland (Note: we bought our tix before the draft lottery), this year is not expected to be a stellar W’s year. I think it’s stretching the limits of reason to believe we’d get to 40 W’s this year. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love that and hope for it, but too much development needs to take place before we’ll be taking that next step. If a season-threatening surgery were going to take place on GO, this would be an OK time for it to happen (never a good time, mind you).

3) LAMARCUS’ YEAR: I believe this year and next year, the star of this team will be LaMarcus. Brandon is the leader, LaMarcus is the star. As much as we’d like to have a dominant big man immediately, Oden has shown that he is a project this year. I’d love to be wrong, but reality is that he’s a project this year. 3 years down the line, when his rookie contract is up and it’s time for him to make a decision about his future, that’s when the rubber meets the road. When excellence and dominance is the outcome, I can be patient. Can you?

4) PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS: Oden has been so hyped up in the media, etc, I have a strong suspicion this is taking a major toll on him. Let us not forget how young this kid is. This is such a major step in his life – entering the NBA – a stalled start could be catastrophic to his confidence if not handled correctly and his perspective is not right. I recall the first phone call broadcast after his selection in the draft this year. Oden said he can’t wait to get out to Portland the next day and join the family. Mike Barrett and Kevin Pritchard were on the line and assured him he was already a part of the Portland family. Then he comes to town with a packed city square chanting his name. Warm and fuzzy, right? Well, now people are calling him “Mr. Bowie”. Nice, people. Real nice. Lay off the guy. The kid had a broken wrist last season and a tonsillectomy in July, for goodness sake. He hasn’t been able to show the world what he’s got. Now, his entrance onto the big stage and his knee gives him trouble. I got a feeling he’s the most torn up about this of anyone involved. He’s family, and I got his back.

Wait and see. The sky is not falling.

DUCKS: Oregon 39, Michigan 7

The Ducks had an inspiring win this week. Pre-season, Michigan was touted as a top program and dropped from being ranked 5th in the nation all the way to an unprecedented unranked last week due to a loss to a D-1-AA school. Now the Ducks enter Michigan Stadium (aka The Big House) and most of the country expects the Ducks to be unleashed upon by the top-tier talented Wolverines. What really happended: the Ducks took care of business.

Oregon not only whipped Michigan, 39-7, but Ducks quarterback Dennis Dixon combined for 368 yards of offense and a career-high four touchdowns Saturday. Dixon led the way with his arm and feet, throwing for 292 yards and tying a career high with three passing touchdowns -- to three receivers -- and running for 76 yards and a score. He connected perfectly on 85-, 61- and 46-yard touchdown passes. UO executed well, albeit easy to forget missed field goals, etc with a win like this. Forgive and forget, I say. Dixon played confident and in total control. He executed an offensive assault that rivaled some of the best college games of late. He even busted out two excellent ‘statue of liberty’ plays, just for good measure, I'm sure.

My favorite play? So many to choose from...tough call. The Jeremiah Johnson Stiffarm…no, wait, double (or possibly triple) Stiffarm – in one play. He said get outta my face. The image here gives an idea, but you have to see it in motion to appreciate the full magnitude of the disrespect. Fun to watch. Fun to watch.

Moriah is 5!

Moriah’s Birthday party last week was so much fun. Little kids squeeling and having a glorious time at a water party in our back yard. Wading pool, slip and slide, piñata, etc. Mom put together as many fun things as possible for the back yard party. Bless her heart. And they definitely had fun. The best part? Seeing that giant smile on my little girl's face. It was Moriah’s day. And she knew it. I’m so glad she could have so much fun. I can’t believe she’s 5. It’s a bit of a wake up call for me. Wow. Time is flying. My little ladies are growing up right before my eyes.