Zone Read AM: Oregon gets shot at NCAA Football’s cover; Sacramento Kings could move to Seattle

Marcus Mariota celebrates with De'Anthony Thomas after the pair hooked up for a touchdown during Oregon's 35-17 victory over Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl January 3, 2013. Thomas finished with 195 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns. (Alex McDougall/Emerald)

Marcus Mariota celebrates with De'Anthony Thomas after the pair hooked up for a touchdown during Oregon's 35-17 victory over Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl January 3, 2013. Thomas finished with 195 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns. (Alex McDougall/Emerald)

Posted by Matt Walks on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 11:11 am.

Sophomore sensation De’Anthony Thomas has video-game speed. And if the votes keep up, he might just become video-game royalty, too.

Per an EA Sports press release:

The EA SPORTS NCAA Football Cover Vote had advanced to the second round as the field of 126 was cut down to 32 schools today. After over 630,000 fan votes were cast on the official EA SPORTS NCAA Football Facebook page, Oregon has continued its run to the next round.

From this point forward, the field will be continually halved until a champion is crowned. Vote totals reset after each round, so the only way fans can be sure their team continues to advance is to keep voting. Anything can happen now that the tallies are back at zero, so enthusiasts are encouraged to not only vote in the main Facebook poll, but also support their school in the secondary polls which appear daily.

Oregon captured the second-most votes overall in the first round, behind only Notre Dame. LSU, Ohio State and Texas A&M round out the top five.

 

If Oregon is still in the running to be featured on the cover in January, Thomas will likely be a potential athlete given all the love from the national media he has already received. Quarterback Marcus Mariota will also likely be considered.

 

Due to NCAA rules prohibiting current players from appearing on the cover, Oregon’s most likely cover boy would be senior running back Kenjon Barner.

It’s already EA Sports’ most successful cover vote ever, reaching more than 32 million fans.

Zombie Sonics resurrected? NBA fan blogs are buzzing with rumors that Joe and Gavin Maloof, primary owners of the Sacramento Kings, are ready to sell the team to Seattle investors.

Falk, the daughter of NBA agent David Falk, sent out a follow-up tweet saying she heard the news from someone “in the know.” Both tweets have since been deleted.
Seattle native Chris Hansen and hedge-fund founder, who purchased land to build a new arena in Seattle, told the city’s Sportsradio 950 AM that he “can’t comment on those things.”
But Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski has jumped all over the story since news first broke.

 

 

The news would be welcomed by Pacific Northwest basketball fans, who’ve had only the Portland Trail Blazers since the Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.



  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Patrick-Lavis/100000111768242 Mark Patrick Lavis

    For the potential Sacramento fans out there that will come down on Seattle and its fans all I have to say is this. We respect what you’re going through, we won’t intrude on the things guys like Chris Webber did in your city and call your records/retired jerseys/banners ours. Blame Clay Bennett and his group for causing all of this to happen. We’re sorry you’re losing your team but we’re a better, more deserving option than Virginia Beach and Anaheim you must say.