Wednesday, November 08, 2006

All the Ducks ever drafted into the NFL

I just saw that the Blazers beat the Lakers. Without R-O-Y. And Zach is unbelievable. He is phenomonal. I love this team.

I found this chart online and decided to just use it instead of making my own, because it is really thorough.

YearRoundPickPlayerNameTeamPosition
200611212Haloti NgataRavensDT

21749Kellen ClemensJetsQB

414111Demetrius WilliamsRavensWR

727235Justin PhiniseeBuccaneersDB
200533094Adam Snyder49ers G

79223Marcus Maxwell49ersWR
20042335Igor OlshanskyChargersDT

2436Junior SiaviiChiefsDT

49105Samie ParkerChiefsWR

633198Keith Lewis49ersDB
200347104George WrighsterJaguarsTE

48105Onterrio SmithVikingsRB

77221Keenan HowryVikingsWR
2002133Joey HarringtonLionsQB

22254Maurice MorrisSeahawksRB

31479Rashad BaumanRedskinsDB

45103Justin PeelleChargersTE

616188Wesley MallardGiantsDB

736247Steve SmithJaguarsDB
2001524155A.J. FeeleyEaglesQB
200031981Reuben DroughnsLionsRB

434128Peter SirmonTitansLB
1999133Akili SmithBengalsQB

438133Josh BidwellPackers P

72208Jed WeaverEaglesTE
199821242Patrick JohnsonRavensWR

523146Blake SpenceJetsTE
199732282Paul WigginsSteelers T

33494Kenny WheatonCowboysDB

73204Tony GrazianiFalconsQB
199611111Alex MoldenSaintsDB

48103Ricky WhittleSaintsRB

76215Jeremy AsherRedskinsLB
1995624195Dino PhilyawPatriotsRB

71209Chad CotaPanthersDB

712220Herman O'BerryRamsDB
199431075Romeo BandisonBrownsDT

335100Ernest JonesRamsLB
1993621161Eric CastleChargersDB
1992925249Muhammad OliverBroncosDB

1219327Matt LaBounty49ersDE
1991423106Bill MuscraveCowboysQB
199032578Latin BerryRamsRB

424105Chris OldhamLionsDB

824217Curt DykesEagles T

1110286Daryl ReedSeahawksDB
1989s800Brett YoungBillsDB
198922250Scott KozakOilersLB

3258Matt BrockPackersDE

69148Thom KaumeyerRamsDB
19882835Anthony NewmanRamsDB

4688Rollin PutzierPackersDT

823216J.J. BirdenBrownsWR
198711313Chris MillerFalconsQB

31874Clifford HicksRamsDB
1986528138Lew BarnesBearsWR

919240Tony Cherry49ersRB

1121298Drew SmetanaChargers T
1984u133Gary ZimmermanGiants G
198431975Steve BaackLionsDE

623163Dan RalphFalconsDT
198322250Mike WalterCowboysLB

32783Steve BrownOilersDB
198241295Reggie BrownFalconsRB

612151Vince Williams49ersRB

1121300Stuart YatskoBroncos G
1981618156Bryan HinkleSteelersLB

1221325Kevin McGillBrowns T
198041497Terry DionSeahawksDE

84197Don ColemanBroncosWR
19791018266Bruce BeekleyFalconsLB
197879175Fred Quillan49ers C

93225Reggie GrantJetsDB
197611818Mario ClarkBillsDB

823232Ron HuntBengals T

123322Ron LeeChargersDB

1717476Chuck WillsRedskinsDB

1727486Stan WoodfillCowboys K
197511616Russ FrancisPatriotsTE

112262George MartinGiantsDE
1974518122Tim GuyBills T

1610400Jack Conners49ersDB
197322652Chuck BradleyDolphins C

3860Tim StokesRams T

31264Dan FoutsChargersQB
1972144Ahmad Rashad (Bobby Moore)CardinalsWR

12222Tom DrougasColts T

424102Tom GrahamBroncosLB

88190Leland GlassPackersWR

1223309Mike WilliamsChiefsDT

1720436John McKeanRams C
1971716172Bob NewlandSaintsWR

1015249Jack StambaughBengals G

1218304Tom BlanchardGiants K

1420358Lionel ColemanRamsDB
197031264Andy MaurerFalcons G

41290Jim EvensonSteelersRB

1113273Alan PitcaithleyGiantsRB
1969922230Claxton WelchCowboysRB
196811212Jim (Yazoo) SmithRedskinsDB
19671515382 Steve BunkerRamsTE

169402Bill SmithSteelers C
19661512227Jim KollmanBears G

173248Mike BrundageSteelersQB
1965104130Dave TobeySteelers C
19642317Mel RenroCowboysDB

3129Dave Wilcox49ersDE

112142Bob BerryEaglesQB

194256H.D. MurphyCowboys B
19632620Steve BarnettBears T

3735Ron SnidowRedskins T
1961810108Neill Plumley49ers T

113143Riley MattsonRedskins T
19604137Willie WestCardinalsHB

127139Dave GroszEaglesQB

157175John WilcoxEagles T
19598488Jim LendenLions T

304352Ron StoverLions E
1958123136Jack CrabtreeEagles B

212243Jerry KershnerPackers T
195671184Jack MorrisRams B

8994Dick JamesRedskins B
1955111George ShawColtsQB

4744Jack PateraColts G

7578Hal ReeveSteelers T

188213Ron Pheister49ers C

306355Bill TooleGiants B
1954182207Emery BarnesPackers E
1953241278Monte BrethauerColts E

289334Tom Novikoff49ers B
1952309358Dick Patrick49ers C
19511810217Dick DaughertyRams G

219252Earl StelleRams B

272317Ray Lung49ers G
195031340Bob SandersEagles B

810102Sam NevillsBears T

811103Woodley LewisRams B

1512195Ted MelandBrowns G

1913248Darrell RobinsonEagles E

252315Steve DoturBulldogs G
19494637Norm Van BrocklinRamsQB
1948151126Dan GarzaGiants E

169144Don StantonEagles T

251226Dick WilkinsGiants E
19477954Chris (Duke) IversenGiants B

206181Brad (Whitey) EcklundPackers C

228203Chuck ElliottRams T
194610989Jake LeichtRedskins B

272252John KauffmanYanks G
19453117Cecil GrayDodgers C

5638Georege BujanRedskins C

9783Bill MaytherBears C

215213Leroy EricksonRams B

295301Bill DavisRams B
194410693Bob KochPackers B

281286Bob DavisCardinals G
19433116Dick AshcomLions T

5636Val CulwellGiants G

11595Tom RobinRams B

154134Floyd RheaDodgers G

235215Ed MoshofskyRams T

255235Jim ShephardRams E
19423722Curt MechanDodgers B

192172Bill RegnerRams E
19415434Chet HaliskaRams B

51040Jim StuartRedskins T

11191Marshall StenstromEagles B

195175Len IsbergLions B
19405232Frank EmmonsEagles B

6141Vic ReginatoCardinals E

1410130Bob SmithGiants B

164144Dennis DonovanDodgers B

188168Jay GraybealRedskins B

1910180Cecil WaldenGiants G
1939179159John YerbyPackers E
19376858Del BjorkBears T
19365541Stan RiordanCardinals E

8669Ross CarterCardinals G


Of those, here are the ones still in the NFL, along with their current teams.


Next up, the NBA Ducks.

More self -congratulating, and a big new post on the way...

The Sports Guy is now making me feel good about what I've said. I love it. Check out these quotes:

FIVE GUYS WHO LOOK LIKE THEY'RE BACK WITH A VENGEANCE

...

3. Zach Randolph

Playing with renewed vigor and it doesn't look like he ate Kenan Thompson anymore. I can't emphasize this emphatically enough: He DESTROYED Elton Brand at the Staples Center on Monday night. Is there a more unstoppable low-post player? Who can guard Zach Randolph when he's trying?

(Note: The preceding paragraph was not paid for by Paul Allen. Even if it seemed like it.)

SIX GUYS WHO ARE SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN THEY WERE LAST YEAR

...

6. Jarrett Jack
Now we know why the Trail Blazers didn't want to trade him last summer. Also, he gets bonus points for becoming the first visiting player during the 2006-07 Clippers season to earn "he seems nice" kudos from the Sports Gal.


I know I've suggested that Jack has problems, but hopefully I've also said how much I like him until Rodriguez learns the NBA game...or beyond that, maybe. That one's for my friend J-Lew, who loved Jack at Georgia Tech.

Of course, Simmons couldn't say only nice things.

15 GUYS WHO BELONG ON THE D-MILES MEMORIAL ALL-STAR TEAM

Note: You know how there are young players every year that everyone PROJECTS to be better than they actually are? And when we discuss them, it's always in the context of their potential rather than their production, even though they've never done anything or they always keep getting hurt? Well, I just described the logic that led to Darius Miles' getting traded straight up for Andre Miller and landing a $48 million deal from Portland. So here's the D-Miles Memorial All-Stars. If we made this an expansion team, everyone would pick it to win between 50-55 games and it would end up going 28-54.


Now for the important news...

I was thinking about something my friend Ek said to me about the new name of my blog. In reference to following Duncan and the Spurs, he reminded me of this:
the Spurs thing is mitigated because the SG makes an exception for once-in-a-generation-calibur college players who go pro for other teams. Although I think it should actually be an Oregon player in your case, and I don't think you'd want to be following Joey Harrington around the NFL...
Great point. So I was trying to think of once-in-a-generation-caliber players from Oregon that I could follow. None that came to mind. BUT, there is one who went to a different college. And if not for the Super Bowl last year, I probably would have ended up following him. That's right, Troy Polomalu is from Winston, Oregon. I had to drive through Winston to work at the Plywood mill, and I subbed at his high school a bit last year. He graduated the year before me, and he was one of the most dominant running backs Oregon has seen. He played defense too. And he was a great baseball player. But like I said, as much as I will always cheer for him, the Super Bowl ruined the possibility of me ever being a Steelers fan.

That led me to think about the Oregon players who have gone on to various pro-leagues. In the next few posts I'm going to try to do several things:
  1. List all the current Ducks in the NFL and NBA, since Oregon doesn't have NCAA baseball or hockey teams.
  2. List all the Ducks ever in those two leagues.
  3. Figure out the NFL winning percentage of former Oregon quarterbacks.
  4. Figure out the NFL winning percentage of quarterbacks coached by former Oregon coordinator Jeff Tedford
  5. Maybe include some other stats in there, including a look at Oregon running backs.
Big things ahead, I know. Hopefully it's not too ambitious. Add to those things the prospect of watching a Blazer game and writing about it, and this should be a busy writing weekend. Did I mention I have homework?

Bonus points if you know who the Oregon QB in the picture is.

Patting myself on the back again

Remember when I said the Blazers would be NBA champions in 2009? Well, it looks like someone agrees that they'll be pretty good by then. He may not say "NBA champs," but I still like showing that others think this team will be good in the not-too-distant future.

16. Portland (12)

The good news: the Trailblazers are on the right track. You won't see many arguments to the contrary these days.

The bad news: they're making very slow progress.

The last couple years in Portland were essentially toilet flush years. In other words, they got rid of a lot of waste that they didn't need, but did they really improve themselves in terms of being able to field a winning team? I would argue not. They simply made the moves that were necessary to begin improving. This year we'll start the see some improvement for the first time, but that doesn't mean we'll see over 30 wins.

Now, finally, a young core is in place. Brandon Roy looks capable of being a leader and an All Star sooner rather than later. He and Carmelo Anthony will be the best players in the division in 2009. Despite a gimpy start, LaMarcus Aldridge will be an excellent pro. Jarrett Jack is showing great things as the starting point guard, and Zach Randolph is playing to prove that he belongs on the new and improving Blazers. There are a lot of positives in Portland, but patience will be key. My rankings have them contending for a division title in the weak Northwest in 2009, which would represent enormous progress. So why have they moved down four spots? Because the five teams that passed Portland in these rankings from a year ago are on a faster track for success. It's going to take awhile in Portland.


So says Archer Berryman, Lead Editor for Basketball News Services, at Hoopsworld. I was going to come up with some more of my own thoughts today, but I need to get to school. My weekend basically starts tonight, which is good because I have a lot of paperwork and homework to get done for my program. But, I'm hoping I can also watch a game this weekend while I'm at the coast and finally write my own impressions from the Blazers team this year. Also, there may be a Seahawks post coming down the pike soon. Keep watching, since this site is worth watching now that I'm writing about sports consistently. As is my new trend, I'll include one picture for this post. Here's a picture of the best tight end in college footbal, Joe Newton. He started over me when he was a sophomore and I was a senior in high school. Great guy, great tight end.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

It goes deeper...

Back when the Oregon football team had to play Colorado (and kill them) instead of Miami, or when we got left out of other bowl games, or when the men's basketball team got a bad seed in the tournament, I thought we were getting screwed. But now I'm convinced that there is a conspiracy against the Ducks. The women's soccer team finished second in the Pac-10. They upset UCLA, the top Pac-10 team and number 3 in the country. They crushed USC. The drew against Cal. And they held their own in a loss to Stanford. The second place Pac-10 team has never missed the tournament. All four of those teams I just mentioned made the team. Stanford is the third place team in the conference. USC is the fifth place team. And Cal is the sixth place team. I am really angry that Oregon got passed over for the tournament, and that all four of those teams made it in. So angry. Here's the story about it, albeit from the Oregon sports website.

To make me feel better, I'm going to post the rosters from my three fantasy NBA teams...because I want to. In the order of the drafts...

Lawn Wranglers (10 team rotisserie league)
Steve Nash PG
Sam Cassell PG
Rajon Rondo PG, SG
Kevin Martin SG
Josh Smith SG, SF
Gerald Wallace SG, SF
Mike Miller SG, SF
Peja Stojakovic SF
Shareef Abdur-Rahim SF, PF
Mehmet Okur PF, C
Tim Duncan PF, C
Darko Milicic PF, C
Emeka Okafor PF, C


Black Tambourines
(8 team head-to-head league) (this was an autodraft and I'm defending champ in this league)
Sam Cassell PG
Andre Miller PG
Dwayne Wade PG, SG
Brandon R-O-Y PG, SG
Jason Richardson SG
Kevin Martin SG
Morris Peterson SG, SF
Tayshaun Prince SF
Zach Randolph PF
Jermain O'Neal PF, C
Carlos Boozer PF, C
Mehmet Okur PF, C
Tim Duncan PF, C


Baby Sabas (8 team head-to-head league)
Baron Davis PG
Sam Cassell PG
Dwayne Wade PG, SG
Kevin Martin SG
Luol Deng SG, SF
Morris Peterson SG, SF
Mike Miller SG, SF
Josh Smith SG, SF
Antawn Jamison SF, PF
Lamar Odom SF, PF
Drew Gooden PF
Mehmet Okur PF, C
Tim Duncan PF, C

Monday, November 06, 2006

Some notes from the weekend

I didn't talk about this, but it makes me happy: the Blazers beat the T-Wolves, bringing their record to 2-1 and getting Portland fans excited about basketball again. Oh man, and Travis Outlaw played out of his mind. Hopefully he makes a consistent habit of that. 19 points and 15 rebounds against KG while mainly playing PF. That's big-time. I still want Greg Oden, but I just can't help but be excited about this Blazers team. Here's the best reason I have for my excitement, from Jason Fleming, the editor of SWISH Magazine and Basketball News Service:

"Before you write this Portland Trail Blazers team off as a rebuilding team, perhaps now is a good time to consider the fact maybe they aren't rebuilding at all.

Maybe they have already been re-built...and this season could be their coming out party."



And that's why I'm excited. I am SO excited.
.........................................................................................

In non-sports news, I realized yesterday that I am now much more consistent in my pro-life stance, even if it has taken a while. In high school I argued for the death penalty. In college I came to believe that the death penalty was wrong, or at least should never be applied because humans are fallible and redemption is never out of the question. But when I was a little sad yesterday at the news that Saddam would be hanged, I realized that I am now truly opposed to the death penalty. What Saddam did while in power was TERRIBLE, and he deserves punishment. I can not stress how much revulsion I have towards the acts he committed in Iraq. But I am also very steadfast in my belief that he should not die for them. He is not beyond hope. That's a hard thing for me to keep in perspective, even with my emotional response to his sentencing. So there's that. It's too bad we're so messed up as people. It's too bad we can't institute the kingdom on our own. It's too bad we end up fighting the institution of the kingdom of God so much in the name of God. It's too bad no one has it all figured out, and we have ridiculous elections and a general malaise and people continue to suffer because of sin--individual and systemic.

Whew, that was the most I've said not related to sports in a long time on here. I'll get back to the sports for sure as the day goes, because I'm almost done with tonight's homework already. Off to school now.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Go Ducks

I just watched the Oregon victory over Washington. That was a nice homecoming game. 34-14 was the final score. Both Washington touchdowns came off of Oregon turnovers. Oregon had over 300 yards rushing. Jonathan Stewart looks incredible. He is for real. The announcers were comparing him to Emmitt Smith, and that seems like a fair comparison to me. We also have the top receiver in the Pac-10. And he's one of three receivers starting over two of the top three receivers from last year, when the offense wasn't too shabby. That's an offense with 5 big-time receivers, 2 big-time running backs, a tight end who fits the spread offense perfectly, and a quarterback who can move the ball with his arm or with his feet. Next week going down to USC should be interesting. Hopefully theyre looking ahead to the Cal and Notre Dame games, and hopefully our defense shows up like it did today.











.....................................................................................

I didn't get to watch the Portland game last night. I saw a little of the post-game show and have read about it. Sounds like the style of play favored us early, but then we gave in to the Don Nelson small-ball that Golden State wanted to play. Once that happened it went downhill. Randolph and Roy were both good again, but as others have said, we need someone to consisttently step up and be that third option. If only Martell's back could be perfectly healthy.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Hoping to watch the game tonight

Portland plays at Golden State tonight. Hopefully I'll end up at a bar somewhere watching, because I want to see these guys play. Word is that LaFrentz is hurt again, and that the team isn't sure how much Webster will play. I'm all for being cautious with Webster, because I don't want his back to ruin his career. And I really don't care about LaFrentz. At all. We'll see how Roy does against a couple good guards, even if they're only good on the offensive side. Also, I want to see Zach crush the Warriors down low. Could it be two straight on the road? I don't even remember what that's like. I've already moved into the pipe-dreams-of-the-playoffs stage of my season, and it only took one win. I'll pass the kool-aid, if anybody's thirsty.















Portland celebrating the Trail Blazers championship in 1977.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

The new name

I want to give a quick explanation for the new name of this blog.

The Sports Guy talks about sports bigamists as someone who cheers for two teams in the same sport. He also makes it clear that a true fan is someone who likes a team because they grew up with them, either geographically or by some family connection. By his definitions I would be a sports bigamist for several reasons:

  1. I like the Braves, even though all of my other teams are from the pacific northwest. I understand how bad this looks, and admit that TBS brainwashed me when I was a kid. But I think Simmons would still say that I should be a Mariners fan. And I'm not. It doesn't help my cause that they were the most consistent team during the '90s. I did become a Braves fan between '87 and '89, and was just thinking last night about how sad I was when they lost to the Twins in '91. I was already that invested in the team. But this still holds as the first reason.
  2. During the early '90s, when my Seahawks were terrible, I cheered for the Bills. I considered them my "second favorite" team. I knew that they could never meet the Seahawks in the Super Bowl, because the two teams were both in the AFC. Now they could meet, since we moved, but I don't have any loyalty to Buffalo any more. Still, that's classic sports bigamy by the Sports Guy's definition.
  3. I have also loved the Spurs since David Robinson was dominating much of the west in the early '90s, and then even more when they drafted my favorite college player in 1997, Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest. So that's two sports with a legitimate "second favorite."
  4. Lastly, I cheer for Oregon State in every game except the ones against the Ducks. There's your last sports bigamy straw.
So that's where the name came from. The two pictures are from last night's Blazers game. One is just Roy being awesome, but the other is the picture of our two most important players celebrating together. I know they're not really related to this post, but I had to put them up here. Can you tell I'm really excited?

A quick note on the Blazers opening day win

Usually the first game of the season goes a long way to quell the hope I had built during the offseason. But this year a funny thing happened. The hope I built during the offseason was to be bad enough that David Stern couldn't help but give us the first pick next year, and the Greg Oden era would begin. Last night's win has changed my hope for this year.

Check out the box score:

I know that it's not terribly pretty, and that the Sonics aren't very good, but it still gives me so much hope. Randolph showed what I've been insisting, that he's one of the most dominant power forwards in the game, and that he may have the best recovery from micro-fracture surgery in recorded history. Roy did most of that while playing point guard in the second half. I know that my man Ridnour--a duck--isn't the best defender, but when a 6-6 rookie shooting guard does most of his damage running the offense, and it's his first game as a pro, I think that's special. And Udoka. There's too much to say about him. The game story from the Oregonian is great. And this post from Blazersedge talks about Udoka.

I was sort of joking about Roy being Drexler, Udoka being Kersey, and Randolph being Barkley. Apparently, I was closer to the truth than I thought. Of course, it's just one game. But those are really the things that those three guys consistently did. A lot was said in several articles about Randolph diving for the ball and setting two great picks to free guys up for shots. I just got giddy writing that last paragraph.

Now for the reality check: as much as I was thinking about winning every game while reading the various accounts of the game, there's no way we'll even win more than 35 games this year. So that's what I want, along with some payback from the bouncing balls for us getting the fourth pick last year. Then we can still draft Oden and build on what happens this year.

Here's the starting line-up for the 2009 NBA Champions, in picture form.





PG
Sergio Rodriguez
SG
Brandon Roy
SF Martell Webster
PF Zach Randolph
C Greg Oden

Some good stuff from the Onion