sports fan

I completely agree with you guys that Oregon can't lose to lower class teams, especially on their home field. I will use our little brother to point out what can and did happen to them. After winning back-to-back baseball championships, their 2008 season came crashing back to Earth. They did not make the playoffs. They lost to Gonzaga 11-6 and 4-2 in Spokane, Utah Valley beat them 11-6 in Corvallis and a loss to Long Beach State 10-0 in Long Beach. Fast forward to 2015 where they did make the NCAA Baseball Playoffs. Losing twice to New Mexico 7-4 and 5-2 in Surprise, Arizona and losing in Corvallis twice to Cal Poly 8-1 and 7-2. They had a 39-18-1 record and you would think they would start the playoffs at home but they were sent packing to Dallas where they lost two of three games to be eliminated. Looking ahead to Rhode Island, I checked to see their record. There is no way Oregon should lose to these guys. They beat William and Mary 10-9, lost 5-4 (in 7 innings) and wait for it...won the rubber match 36-22 (in 7 innings)!!! I thought I was looking at a football score. In that game there were a combined 40 hits and 7 errors. Columbia doesn't start their season until Friday, February 21st. Bottom line...the Ducks have absolutely no excuse to lose any of these games or it will come back to bite them in the butt if they do.

I was curious how far the Ducks had to travel now that we are in the Big Ten conference. I compared it to the PAC-12 conference. Listed below are approximate air miles to the teams destination. Distance from EUGENE to... Seattle 235 miles Pullman 350 Bay Area 450 Salt Lake 615 Los Angeles 750 Phoenix 950 Boulder 955 Tucson 1060 Big Ten Lincoln, Nebraska Cornhuskers 1360 miles Minneapolis, MN Golden Gophers 1475 Iowa City, Iowa Hawkeyes 1600 Madison, Wisconsin Badgers 1710 Bloomington, IN Hoosiers 1760 Evanston, IL Wildcats 1785 Champaign, IL Fightin' Illini 1805 W. Lafayette, IN Boilermakers 1855 E. Lansing, MI Spartans 1925 Ann Arbor, MI Wolverines 2000 Columbus, OH Buckeyes 2075 State College, PA Nittany Lions 2300 College Park, MD Terrapins 2400 Piscataway, NJ Scarlet Knights 2480 This puts things in perspective when Oregon's closest opponent (Nebraska) is farther away then the Ducks farthest opponent (Tucson) when we were in the PAC-12. Then I checked into Oregon's football, baseball and basketball schedules. Football - The Ducks had road games against UCLA, Purdue, Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn St. (Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis), Ohio St. (Rose Bowl). Total mileage round trip was 17,950. Baseball - The Ducks have road games against USC, Ohio St., Maryland, Michigan St. and Iowa. Total miles: 17,660. Basketball - The Ducks have road games against Texas A&M, San Diego St. and Alabama in Las Vegas, USC, Stanford, Ohio St, Penn St., Minnesota, UCLA, Michigan, Michigan St., Iowa, Wisconsin and Washington. Total miles: 20,890!!! Note: the games against Ohio St. and Penn St., Michigan and Michigan St and Iowa and Wisconsin are based on one trip. THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE!

I was also wondering why Oregon is starting their baseball season at home. I checked the schedule's for the other Big Ten teams and all of them are playing games in warm, sunny weather in the south. Here's a look at where their at... Illinois first 9 games are on the road in Texas and Nevada Indiana first 4 road games are on the road, one at home, 3 on the road, one at home, 4 on the road. What a disaster! These games are played in Arizona, North Carolina and Florida. Iowa ten road games in Florida and Texas Maryland ten road games in North and South Carolina Michigan 16 road games in Puerto Rico, Texas and California Michigan State 15 road games in North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina Minnesota nine road games in Texas Nebraska ten road games in Texas, Arizona and Louisiana Northwestern 14 road games in California, North and South Carolina Ohio State nine road games in Arizona, Florida and Texas Penn State ten road games in Puerto Rico and Virginia Purdue 12 road games in Texas and North Carolina Rutgers ten road games in Georgia, Arizona and South Carolina UCLA 13 'road' games in California and Texas. Some of their 'road games' are at home USC 12 'road' games in California and Texas. Some of their 'road games' are at home Washington 12 road games in South Carolina, California and Nevada Another thing I noticed in the Big Ten schedule...Michigan and Illinois play their three game series March 7th, 8th and 9th in Florida. Two cold-weather schools playing in the south.