That’s snow outside, right?
That white, powdery stuff forcing everybody to slip and slide and cars to careen back and forth before drivers regain control?
I think I know of it.
Guess it means winter is really here, huh? That’s January for ya. And because it’s January, I guess that means 2003 is over and 2004 is here.
Scary, eh? Well, here’s hoping this year is a little better than last and hopefully a little warmer than it has been in the first six days of the new year.
For the time being, here are some things to look forward to this year:
* Neil Parry and his incredible comeback: The San Jose State football player is taking his show on the road to San Francisco on Jan. 10 at the East-West Shrine Game. Here’s the catch: He’s got a prosthetic leg after suffering an injury a few years ago.
If you can’t get interested in that game for that very reason, you’ve got no heart. And if you can’t shed a tear for what he’s done, you’ve got no soul.
* Arizona comes back to the big house: The Wildcats and their top-10 ranking head back to the big house on Feb. 19. The Ducks own McArthur Court, having gone 30-2 the last two years in Eugene.
* And two days later: After the Ducks get finished with the likes of Salim Stoudamire and Andre Iguodola, Arizona State comes to McArthur. Along with the Sun Devils is Ike Diogu, the All-American forward. He scored 18 points in a losing effort to Arizona on Saturday. Diogu averaged more than 23 points per game in three contests against the Ducks last season.
Yikes.
* The return of Cathrine Kraayeveld to the Oregon lineup: OK, so maybe this is just a deep dream that women’s basketball fans have. It’s not going to happen, and her absence is going to lead to Oregon’s second-straight season without a postseason berth.
That includes the National Invitation Tournament, which, sorry, doesn’t take teams with just 11 or 12 wins.
That’s pretty likely this season.
* March, baby, March: It’ll be yet another time for the NCAA Tournament to show the Bowl Championship Series how to run a postseason. With the stakes as high as ever, 65 teams are going to enter and all but one are going to have their dreams dashed.
* With the first overall selection: The NFL isn’t going to choose anyone from Oregon in the top 15 and the likelihood of that happening in the first two rounds isn’t that great. But Samie Parker would be a great mid-round selection for an NFL team looking for some speed on the outside.
He was hurt for most of the season with Oregon, but when he finally got healthy, Minnesota paid the price. It was by far the most impressive game in recent memory for an Oregon football player and it’s too bad it went for naught.
* June 12: Just making sure all those
seniors out there were paying attention.
* A chance to make amends with the Big Ten Conference: Indiana … ha ha … comes to Autzen Stadium for Oregon’s season opener on Sept. 11.
* Fight on old orange and black: An oldie and a goodie … Oregon State, that is. The Ducks take to Corvallis for this one on Nov. 20, which will be the last matchup between the Beavers’ Derek Anderson and the Ducks’ Kellen Clemens.
* Hip, hip, hooray!: Here’s to Dec. 31, just so we can all do it again.
We can all boo the BCS, and Duck fans can recover from Oregon’s appearance in the Holiday Bowl. Maybe.