I know it’s only the third week of school, but I feel the need to ramble.
* Kudos to the soccer team for battling back to beat Oregon State. Whether it’s soccer, football or competitive lawn mower racing, it feels good to stick it to the Beavers.
* Chicago fever has taken over the University. I’ve seen more students sporting Cubs gear in the last two weeks than I’ve seen in the past two years. I’m standing by my Spring Training prediction (it’s been the same for the last 14 years): The Cubbies are going to win the World Series.
* Pedro Martinez tossing 72-year-old Don Zimmer to the ground Saturday was unprofessional. I don’t care if Zimmer came at Martinez with a knife; he’s 72 and slow. Just get out of the way and go pick a fight with Karim Garcia or Jorge Posada.
* Good things are in store for the Oregon volleyball team. Carl Ferreira has the Ducks heading in the right direction and I sense the season’s first Pacific-10 Conference win is right around the corner.
* Racquetball is a great workout and a severely underrated sport.
* Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti must have used the old pregame locker room cliché — “leave it all out on the field” — when addressing the football team prior to playing Michigan. Whatever “it” was that got the Ducks past the Wolverines was left somewhere and it’s nowhere to be found.
* With so much emphasis placed on equality between male and female athletes, why are women forced to hide their emotions on the playing field? I think encouraging contact in women’s lacrosse and allowing volleyball players to intimidate their opponents would be a nice start toward true equality.
* Seattle guard Luke Ridnour (that still doesn’t sound right) will begin practicing with full-contact on Thursday after recovering from surgery on a severely pulled abdominal muscle. After three years of dazzling passes, acrobatic lay-ups and ridiculously deep three-pointers for the Ducks, Ridnour finally gets the chance to prove he has what it takes to play at the next level. Good luck Rid.
* Some of the old, rickety seats should be moved from McArthur Court into the new arena, like the old Boston Garden parquet floor was moved into the Fleet Center.
* Props to Lindsay Closs, Amanda Porter, Sydney Chute, Diana Blank and other ex-volleyball players for coming to McArthur Court and supporting the Ducks.
* With the Sports Illustrated cover jinx biting Oregon in late September, I was forced to listen to people tell me the Cubs were next after Kerry Wood appeared on this week’s cover. No way, not going to happen. The Cubs and their 95 years of misery are more powerful than the SI jinx. They won’t be fazed.
* Speaking of a cover jinx, with Michael Vick becoming the fourth consecutive player to suffer through an injury or a sub-par season after gracing the cover of John Madden’s video game, who in the world is EA Sports going to get for Madden 2005?
* How awesome would it be if Northern Illinois won the national championship? It won’t happen because the Huskies don’t have strength of schedule on their side, but it would be nice to see someone other than a perennial power come out on top.