Mickey Mantle's Liver

What the F$%^!!!!! Beavers Football Still Gets No Respect.....

Does anyone else remember the score of the Civil War game?  Correct me if I am wrong, but the Beavers won 38 to 31 over the webfoots.

Well, someone ought to remind the voters of the friggin' AP POLL because those morons released their final rankings and U of Zero is ranked ahead of Oregon State.  Hell, the USA Today Poll doesn't even have the Beavers ranked at all!  No wonder why they have to give away USA Today at McDonalds and Oil Can Henry's, it is such a crappy paper no one will read it.

Kudos, by the way, to Mike Riley and the Beaver for finishing in the Top 25 for yet another year.

Apparently the fact that the Beavers beat the U of Zero, in OddSen, when the ducklings were ranked 17th in the nation, without:

1. Our #1 Quarterback
2. Our All Pac-10 runningback
3. Our All American Wide Receiver
4. Out best offensive linman
5. Our starting Right Tackle

wasn't enough to convince the voters that the Beavers are a better football team than the webfoots.  I know the U of Zero fans whine about all the injuries they had.  That is all we heard about during Civil War Week.  Did you hear a peep out of Oregon State regarding all of THEIR injuries?  Nope.

But they still had Jonathan Stewart, a very, very good offensive line, a fast defense, and the OddSen crowd.....AND WE STILL BEAT THEM!

Sometimes I just don't understand sports writers.....

Cry-a-Lotti to UCLA! Who is going to coach the Ducks? Herm Edwards or Bill Cowher...

It looks like the mastermind behind the annual "Duck Fade" (you know, Ducks play well in September and part of October, then proceed to suck the rest of the year) is about to leave Spew-gene for the F-UCLA job.  We will have to change the name from the "Duck Fade" to the "Bruin Fade".  It looks like Cry-a-lotti is going to Los Angeles, to compete with the likes of USC and .......well, USC for recruits.  Good luck with that one Mikey.

Although nothing is for certain yet, all signs point to Mikey leaving the southern Willamette Valley for southern California.  So the next question is: who should replace Cry-a-lotti.

I got two names:  Herm Edwards and Bill Cowher.

Both of these guys are available.  And both Edwards and Cowher have said they would be interested in returning to college football in some capacity.  The problem is there are few schools that have the kind of resources it would take to lure one of these guys to Blew-gene.

But Uncle Phil has those resources.  So does AD Brian Kilkenny.

The only real question is: does the next head coach of the webfoots have to have the porn 'stache?  If so, then Bill Cowher is the obvious choice:

I think Bill Cowher has the inside track anyway.  He won a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Stoolers and he has the porn 'stache.

Edwards would be a great pick as well.  It would be tough for me to root against the quacklings if they hired Edwards because he is such a cool guy and is very well respected in the football coaching community.  Edwards is a stud who would turn 18 year-old boys into responsible young men.  What parent wouldn't want Edwards in their son's life.

Ahhh...but Edwards has no porn 'stache.

The key is that Cry-a-lotti is apparently leaving and the hunt for the next porn 'stache wearer is set to begin.

A Civil War Poem

Twas the night before the Civil War,

Beaver and Duck fans were preparing

For tailgating and a football game,

And worrying about how their teams were fairing.

The Ducks had lost two in a row,

with injuries to most of their team,

A fifth string quarterback taking the snap

Made winning impossible, it would seem.

The Beavers had won five out of six,

with a defense as stout as a wall,

Unfortunately with Yvenson hurt,

The Beaver offense cannot move the ball.

With Duck fans whining about what could have been,

And Beaver fans hoping for what may,

The Civil War game in 2007,

Has become an important game to play.

Will Lyle the Smile throw interceptions,

Or will the Duck quarterbacks fill that role?

My bet is that Cody or Roper will,

Have you seem them, they’re built like poles?

Jonathon Stewart is a man among men,

a terrific back in that regard,

But OSU has a good one too,

his name is Yvenson Bernard.

With so much in doubt with each team’s offense,

It’s a wonder if anyone will score at all,

Another zero to zero game?

No, there will be no Toilet Bowl this fall.

Because when it comes to scoring, OSU has the Best,

A kicker with the last name Serna,

He doesn’t miss from anywhere,

Which is why he is a finalist for the Groza.

The only thing that can save the Ducks

Is a little help from Mother Nature,

Not even Uncle Phil Can help

I know he will try, you betcha.

So Duck fans are praying

for snow to fall from the sky

Which makes no sense in the least

Because when snow starts to fall

From the clouds up above,

Ducks fly south, not east.

It’s all stacked against them,

The Duck fans all know

The injuries, the teams and the snow.

If we lose yet another game

To which lousy bowl game will we go?

And the Beavers have their problems too,

injuries, Autzen and snow,

Regardless of how the game turns out,

We still get to be Beavers, you know.

So onto the field, the teams will charge out

looking to win just one more game

No matter the result of tomorrow’s tilt,

We all hate the Huskies just the same!

GO BEAVERS!!!!!!

Will we have the key to the Civil War?

I firmly believe that the key to the Civil War this weekend is whether or not Yvenson Bernard is available.  Pretty much everyone who thinks they know anything about college football thinks the Civil War is going to be a low scoring affair.

That may be the case, given the depleted offenses both schools will put on the field on Saturday.

Which is why Yvenson Bernard is even more important.  As long as the Beavers hold on to the football, the Beavers will win the game.  And there is no one Beaver Nation would rather have carrying the football than Number 26.  We can ride his back to OSU's first victory in Autzen since 1993.

Ahhhh, but will he be available?  Mike Riley just told Isaac and Big Suke that Yvenson's knee is not responding as they initially thought the knee would be responding.  However, Riley said, Yvenson's knee has made great strides since yesterday.  The fact remains, though, that Yvenson's knee is still a serious concern.

When asked whether Yvenson was going to play on Saturday, Mike Riley took a page from the Mike Bellotti playbook and said that they [Oregon State] would do what is best for Yvenson and the Beavers.  Hmmm.......

So, there are possibly two things going on here.  First, Yvenson's knee injury is worse than originally reported.  If this is true, it may be that Yvenson is not going to be available for our bowl game, let alone the Civil War.

The other possibility (the one I think is more likely) is that Yvenson is doing just fine, there were no complications after the arthroscopic surgery, and Yvenson will play on Saturday.  Riley is just trying to game Bellotti and the Ducks --  Keep them guessing until the very last moment.....

For the time being, all we know is what Paul Buker has been reporting, that Yvenson is on the field, but he is wearing number ??? instead of his usual Number 26.

Well, we will find out Friday if Yvenson is going to suit up.

Some initial thoughts on the 111th Civil War....

Ok, the stage is set for a Civil War that has all the makings of the 0-0 stinker played 24 years ago.  The Beavers' chances are riding on the strong-armed (but horribly inaccurately-armed) shoulders of Lyle "the Smile" Moevao.  The Ducks offense looks like it will be led by Cody Kempt who had a hard time figuring out how to throw the football on Saturday.  Couple that with the fact that Jonathon Stewart is gimpy and Jaison Williams just plain sucks, and the Ducks are left to relying on their defense.

You know the Ducks' defense?  The "bend but don't break" defense built by Nick Allioti that tends to break more than it bends.  Saturday's game was the exception, not the rule.  Mike Bellotti said the Ducks' defensive performance was the best he had ever seen.  Doubtful.  I think he was just trying to give his team, and Duck fans, so glimmer of hope for the civil war.  I saw the game, the Ducks defense didn't play well, the UCLA offense was really bad.

The question for the Beavers is whether Yvenson Bernard is going to play.  He is our playmaker, and our entire offense is predicated on our ability to run the ball.  Clinton Polk has shown the ability to run on occasion, but the only consistent running back we have is Bernard.  Based on the information I have, I predict YB will play on Saturday.

Remember, too, the pressure is on the Ducks to hold serve.  For the last ten years the home team has won the Civil War.  The Ducks are supposed to win, the Beavers aren't.

The year's Civil War is anything but a sure thing for either team.  Stay tuned for further developments......

GO DUCKS!!!!

These are two words you will only read on the Liver once a year....the week before the Ducks play the Huskies.  I hate the Huskies more than the Ducks and the Dodgers COMBINED!  And trust me, that is a LOT.

So, anyway, the Ducks hung 53 on the Cougars last week.  Hopefully the Ducks score twice that much this week in Seattle.  I will make a deal with Duck fans and the football team.  I will do one push-up for every point the Ducks score against the Huskies this weekend.

And I will do that many push-ups every day for a week.

I am hoping that I have to do about 150 push-ups each day.

So Duck fans, I have laid down the gauntlet - I want the Ducks to run up the score!

Go Beavs.....and....Go Ducks!

Christmas Potpourri

First, let me apologize for using a French word on my Blog.  But given the season - the CHRISTMAS SEASON (I hate it when people say "Happy Holidays") - I was willing to make an exception to my "no French" rule here on Mickey Mantle's Liver.

I know I have been a little lax with my posts of late.  But you have to remember, Mickey Mantle's Liver did not ALWAYS work, it just worked some of the time.  So, given that fact, you could say that my intermittent posting is consistent with Mickey's intermittently operating liver....

Several things to talk about since the last article from all corners of the sports world.  So, without further ado....

The "Fight"

If that is what you call what happened at Madison Square Garden last Saturday night between the Nuggets and the Knickerbockers.  A lot of people are questioning whether the suspensions handed out by David Stern were strong enough, or, in the alternative, whether the suspensions were too strong.

Some people want to point the finger at Carmelo Anthony's "cheap shot" as the reason  the fracas escalated.

Let me tell you what has me bothered the most about the fracas.  When asked, Isaiah Thomas said that it wasn't right for the Nuggets to have their starters in the game when the Nuggets were up by 20 with a minute-and-a-half left in the game.  Isaiah Thomas was quoted as saying that his Knicks had "surrendered" the game, and there was no need for the Nuggets to keep trying to score.  Thomas apparently thought George Karl (Nuggets head coach) was running up the score.

Thomas' justification for the hard foul committed by Hardy Collins is unreal.  Collins' foul was the cheapest shot of the entire night.  If you don't want the Nuggets running up the score, then play some friggin' defense!  Don't tell your players to hunt down any Nugget who dares try to score on the mighty Knickerbockers.

And where is it written that the Nuggets' starters shouldn't have been in the game?  I don't care who was in the game, ordering a hit on another player (something that could have ended J.R. Smith's season, or worse, his career).  If you don't want the Nuggets dropping 100 or 110 on you, PLAY SOME DEFENSE!

And lastly, what coach in the world ever - I MEAN EVER - surrenders?  Surrender?  Surrender? (imagine me saying that in my best Allen Iverson impersonation).  A team never NEVER EVER NEVER NEVER EVER surrenders!  The fact that Thomas "surrendered" is the biggest issue of the entire game.  If I were a Knick fan (or the owner of the Knicks), I would demand that Thomas be fired immediately.

Speaking of AI

The trade of Allen Iverson to the Nuggets is great, in my mind, for both teams.  For the Nuggets, they now have the #1 and #2 scorers in the Association.  Plus, the Nuggets acquired one of the hardest working, hardest playing athletes in team sports these days.  I don't care what anyone says about AI's off-the-court "issues", when he gets on the court, you are getting a player who would cut off his left leg for a win.

And for the Sixers, they get a very very good point guard in Andre Miller.  Coming out of college from the University of Utah, I thought Miller was a player who would fly under the radar and turn out to be a good NBA player.  He is the kind of player who is going to be at the point in Philly for many years.

The acquisition of Joe Smith will eventually free up cap space for the Sixers.  But most importantly, the acquisition of two 2007 first-round draft picks -- in a draft that many think will be the deepest draft in years -- sets the Sixers up for many years to come.

The Nuggets got a present all-star.  The Sixers got the opportunity to draft future all-stars.

Speaking of All-Stars.....Rory Fitzpatrick - The People's All-Star

Have you heard of the campaign to get Rory Fitzpatrick on the NHL Western Conference All-Star team?  There is a website dedicated to getting votes for Rory Fitzpatrick and see to it that Rory makes it to the all-star game.

Who is Rory Fitzpatrick?  That is what makes this so great.  Rory Fitzpatrick is the very definition of a journeyman.  He is a well-traveled defenseman who currently plays for the Vancouver Canucks.  He has 9 career points - POINTS! - and no points this year.

But he is currently second in the NHL voting for Western Conference Defensemen.  The voting ends on January 2nd, 2007.  Click here to cast your vote for Rory Fitzpatrick, "The People's All-Star".  Keep in mind that Rory is a write in for the Western Conference, so you will have to fill in Rory's name at the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page.

The Flamers....er....uh...I mean the Oregon Ducks

Did you see the Las Vegas Bowl last night?  The mormons killed the Ducks.  A lot of people were surprised by the outcome of the game.  I wasn't.  After all, what were the  mormons going to do in Las Vegas?  All they could do is study, practice and sleep.  I am sure the mormons got lots of practice in.  And it certainly showed last night.

But what was even more amazing were the helmets the Ducks debuted.  I liked the color, but the ghost flames are a little much.  You heard it here first.  Pretty soon the Ducks will be known as the "Flamers".  Who wants to play for a bunch of Flamers?  Just think about it.

And last but not least......Mark McSteroid

Ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame were recently sent out, and McSteroid is on the ballot for the first time.  God I hope he doesn't get elected into the Hall.  Not on the first ballot, not on any ballot, until he comes clean on his steroid use.

From what I can tell, most of the Hall of Fame voters seem to feel the same way I do, and it looks like McSteroid won't be getting into the Hall on the first ballot.  Which is a good thing.  This year Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn will be elected, and they deserve to be in the Hall.  They didn't cheat.  I would really demean their induction to be included with McSteroid.

Point counter point

Okay Ross - you are a Beaver and a Sooner.  Pick one.  I had high regard for Sooner fans until now.  Have some cheese with your whine.  Yes, Oklahoma got screwed with their pants on.  Let's go back and take away Colorado's national championship (the year when they got 5 downs to win), let's take away Ohio State's lucky phantom pass interference call against Miami - and gave them four more downs to win the national championship - any host of plays I can remember from Autzen.  See below:

The best argument to date

OU reaction transitions from indignation to insanity

By Pat Forde
ESPN.com
Archive

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football ("Onside Kick Rules For Dummies" books sold separately -- discounted rates available for Pac-10 refs [1]): Presidentially Preposterous The Dash understands why Sooner Nation (2) lost its collective mind after the officiating fiasco at the end of the Oregon game, which was won by the Ducks 34-33. The non-call on the onside kick stunk. The inept review of the call was worse. The Pac-10's one-game suspension of the offending officials was completely justified. But the Oklahoma reaction has become an overreaction. In fact, it has transitioned from righteous indignation to outright insanity. AP Photo Oklahoma president David Boren called for the OU-Oregon game to be eliminated from the record books. The actions of school president David Boren (3) make you wonder whether he isn't actually the booster club president instead of the guy running an institution of higher learning. The former governor and U.S. senator pushed out his pouty lip and dashed off a petulant letter to Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg (4) that is embarrassing on multiple levels. "… The Big 12 should request that the game should not go into the record books as a win or a loss by either team in light of the level of officiating mistakes," Boren's letter said. And strike the Kansas City Royals' 1985 World Series title from the record books because of that terrible call at first base by Don Denkinger, too! "It is truly sad and deeply disappointing that members of our football team should be deprived of the outcome of the game that they deserved because of an inexcusable breakdown in officiating," Boren concluded. What's truly sad and deeply disappointing to The Dash is the fact that Boren should have such an inexcusable breakdown in perspective. Is there really nothing better for the president to do at the University of Oklahoma ? Like, maybe check in on the college of arts and sciences? Or, if he's that terribly concerned about the football program, perhaps he could lend a hand to the compliance office and help monitor players' jobs at local car dealerships. Y'know, make sure they actually show up and do some work. If the president can put down his pompon for a minute, he'll realize a couple of things: AP Photo/Don Ryan The officals' decisions surrounding an onside kick in the OU-Oregon riled up Sooner Nation. 1. Bad calls happen. In every game. A few times a year, they can play a critical role in a game's outcome. Are we going to set a precedent of presidential hissy fits after each critical blown call? 2. The game did not end on this bad call. Oklahoma still had the lead, still had a chance to win. It didn't get the job done. But instead of absorbing this as an object lesson -- life is not fair, but you have to deal with it -- the school president is setting the sore-loser tone. Coach Bob Stoops (5) went off shortly after Boren, all but declaring the officials and the Pac-10 unforgiven for the damage done to Oklahoma 's season. (Bob: You can still win the Big 12 title and go to a BCS bowl. And you weren't going to win anybody's national championship anyway. You might have sustained the illusion for another few weeks by winning this game, but it wasn't going to happen.) When asked about Boren's letter, Stoops thanked the prez for taking time away from reviewing game film to join in the bitchfest. "We have a great administration," Stoops said. "President Boren is the absolute best president a head coach can have." Clearly. The question is whether he's the best president a math professor can have. Then again, maybe Boren is simply following presidential precedent at Oklahoma . It was OU prez George Cross who once explained to the state legislature a need for more funding because, "I would like to build a university which the football team can be proud of." In closing, The Dash will take the obnoxious step of quoting itself, just to help the honorable president Boren. This was from an August column enumerating 23 new rules of conduct for college football fans: If the scoreboard says you lost, you lost. That's not going to change. Take an hour to vent postgame, then try to regain your sanity. Do not diminish your quality of life -- and the quality of life of those around you -- by spewing for days about the refs who cheated your team, the flagrant league bias against your team or the complete lack of class displayed by the team that beat your team. Your team l-o-s-t. Try to deal.

OU vs. U of O - What happened....

The controversy over Saturday's game in Eugene doesn't seem to want to go away.  The reason is because it is so hard to believe that the officials could miss such an obvious call.  Especially with a replay official who had been an on-field official for 28 years, how could he miss the call?

Well, I have a source familiar with what happened on Friday - in fact he was in the replay booth when the replay official reviewed both the onside kick and the pass interference calls.

The PAC-10 requires all stadiums use the same replay equipment.  Apparently the equipment is really old, and very "pixel-ized".  What that means is the resolution on the replay screens is very bad, and impossible to determine minute details such as who touched a ball in an onside kick -- or whether someone touched a pass.  However, apparently this technology is exceptional at telling whether someone's foot is inbounds or whether a ball hits the ground.

In any event, apparently because of the resolution of the equipment, it was impossible to tell one way or the other what happened on the field.  In other words, there was no evidence to overturn the call because the replay available to the replay official was indecipherable!

According to my source, the resolution on the average television screen is better than the resolution on the PAC-10's mandatory replay equipment.  Also, the equipment does not allow the replay official to "tap into" the network's broadcast.  In other words, there was no way the replay official could have seen the network's replays - which probably would have given him the visual evidence to overturn the call(s) on the field.

Why does the PAC-10 use such antiquated equipment?  Well, today on the Dan PAtrick Show on ESPN Radio, Keith Olbermann hit the nail on the head.  Right now a replay official in the PAC-10 makes 400 bucks a game.  Apparently the replay technician makes 250 bucks a game.  If the PAC-10 switches to more technologically advanced equipment, it means the technicians who are running the equipment (and the replay officials using the equipment) have to have more training, etc.

Which means the PAC-10 would have to pay these guys more than 400 and 250 bucks respectively.  And the PAC-10 does not want to do that.......

Apparently what happened on Saturday was this:

1. The PAC-10 requires the use of replay equipment at all PAC-10 stadiums that does not have a high resolution
2. The play(s) under review were exactly the types of plays that the PAC-10's equipment WERE NOT intended to be used for
3. The plays under review were critical to the outcome of the game
4. The game was a nationally televised game, and the longer the replay official took to make a call, the more money ABC was losing.  Apparently, from the get-go, according to my source, ABC was pressuring the replay official to "hurry up and make a call!"
5. The replay official simply had no visual evidence available to him to allow him to reverse the call on the field.  I think he made the only call he could.

And now you knowthe rest of the story.......

Uh Eugene, we have a problem

My duck feathered friends in Eugene, I think you have a problem.  Take a look at these pictures from a Sooner Fan's blog:

Pretty tough to argue this one.  How does the saying go?  Conclusive video evidence?  Well, I do not know how much more conclusive you can get than these pics.  Plus, on KGW 8 there is a video showing exactly what happened.  I am beginning to think that the Sooners got jobbed on this one.

And here is the thing, we need to fix this, otherwise the whole PAC-10 is screwed.  Now I know Ducks fans only care about themselves, but if the PAC-10 gets a reputation around the country as a conference where the officiating is "homer-ish", we aren't going to get anyone to play us.  And then, the rest of the PAC-10 is screwed.....this has to be fixed.

I know, I know Duck fan....you don't think it should be fixed.  Blah Blah Blah.  Of course you don't.  You won the game fair and...er..uh...well, the refs (the same ones who blew the calls) said you won the game and that is all that matters. 

But if the tables were turned, well, you would certainly be crying for justice.  There is no possible way anyone can argue that the call was wrong -- 100% wrong -- and that the wrong call cost the Sooners the game.