The "Civil War" game is played for a spot in the Pac-12 Championship, and emotions are at an all time high. Benny the Beaver pummels the duck in an epic take down at half time which makes the lead in to Sportscenter that night, and the Beavs shock the Ducks with a 30-28 road win in the closing seconds. Phil Knight is forced to go back and look at his business text books to see what "ROI" means, as he is no closer to buying a NCAA championship despite tens of Millions of dollars invested.
And how does this "benefactor" benefit you? Does someone you don't know and never will meet throwing money around make you a better person, or feel better about yourself? I just wonder how all this works, this buying of success, which is not too different in my mind of "trophies for everyone" who can afford to buy them, regardless of achievement. It speaks to the shallowness of American society. Most professional sports have done a lot of work on leveling the playing field so that there is honest competition and not just a spending spree to buy success. NASCAR is a good example with cars all having identical specs. I find it curious that "amateur sports" are so influenced by money and greed. Here is a good piece on the corrosiveness of Phil Knight's "generosity". https://inequality.org/research/phil-knight-billion-dollar-philanthropy/
Thanks for the article Brian. I read it and don’t see the word corrosiveness in it anywhere. Either I missed it or that’s your word. It’s completely normal for wealthy people to take full advantage of the US tax code. It’s not against the law. It’s smart. Defer paying taxes as long as you can is principle #1. Hopefully you or your tax preparer do the same. Do you contribute to a retirement fund? If so, you are avoiding paying taxes until a later date when hopefully your tax rate is lower. Are you corrosive? Judgmental certainly.
I don’t know Phil Knight but I do know that he donates lots of money to places other than just UO. Certainly also to Stanford. Also to the Knight Cancer Institute which does advanced cancer research. Also to St Vincent’s hospital, there is a Phil and Penny Knight Pavilion there. I haven’t donated millions anywhere but I am glad there are rich people who do. Do I think it’s smart for wealthy people to minimize their taxes so they can direct their funds where they want to instead of funding wars overseas or other government programs? You bet I do, i’d do the same.
The difference between the beavers and the ducks is that the ducks have one particularly wealthy donor so beavers fans like to criticize him, as if they wouldn’t welcome his donations. The Reser family foundation has donated money with the beavers in exchange for putting their name on the stadium. They did the same by donating money to create a performing arts center in downtown Beaverton. Are you beaver supporters going to refuse Reser money because you don’t like having a large benefactor? Of course not. Trophies for all? Popycock! I call it jealousy, envy or just sheer hypocrisy!
Matthew, I suppose you know better than Miriam Webster:
Jealousy vs. Envy -
Depending on who you ask, jealousy and envy are either exact synonyms, totally different words, or near-synonyms with some degree of semantic overlap and some differences. Both jealousy and envy are often used to indicate that a person is covetous of something that someone else has.
Ok, envy it is. My point is the same, whichever word you prefer.
You're right. Jealousy is wanting something you already have, envy is wanting something you don't have. The above OSU fan has a football team, but seems to want someone else's team. Jealousy. Thanks.
This Ducks fan is happy that Jonathan Smith (legend as a player and now as a coach) is turning your program around. It is fantastic to see (even if you do ignore the $$ that Uncle Phil has thrown into your programs in Corvallis... certainly not as much, but he still has given you cash, not to mention saving your baseball program a few years back).
I personally think that the game should be renamed the Battle of Brothers. It harkens back to the Civil War era; it exemplifies the different factions in the state; it would highlight (for now) the Uiagalelei boys, north and south; it rolls off the tongue and just sounds good.
Happy New Year, Beavs. I hope that you have a tremendous one (except when you play or impact the Ducks).
What is really "Ho-Ho" funny is that Duck fans think that Phil Knight has ever given the Beavers anything more than a few shirts and shoes. He has not. I have done a lot of research on this claim and there is no basis for it. Meanwhile, Knight tries to buy a FBS Championship for the Ducks and has spent over $1B on the U of O sports programs and propping up NILs, coaches and recruiters. Yes, I know that Phil can write all these "donations" off on his taxes, but aren't there better uses for personal wealth than dumping truckloads of it into your alma mater trying to buy a legacy for yourself?
Pat Casey remained the coach of OSU baseball because Phil Knight supplied the money.
And Phil Knight has "used his personal wealth" for amazing things: OHSU is one of the top cancer research institutions in the world. Why? Phil and Penny Knight. Multiple academic infrastructure donations to Oregon and Stanford.
And, yes, love of his alma maters who he affirms gave him everything is a fantastic use of his money. You Beavs try so hard to paint Oregon as some kind of monster because of the beneficence and support of Uncle Phil. We Ducks fans are proud and grateful to have an alum who loves his school and helps in phenomenal ways to augment academic and athletic excellence.
I would believe all that if PK trying to buy a championship were not at the middle of all of it. And for some reason, Ducks fans think the corruption of their school with products made in China with slave labor is worth it just for a school championship. How could you ever be proud of something just bought with blood money. Again, this speaks loudly to the shallowness of American society.
1 feeling or showing pleasure or contentment: Melissa came in looking happy and excited | [with clause] : we're just happy that he's still alive | [with infinitive] : they are happy to see me doing well.
• (happy about) having a sense of confidence in or satisfaction with (a person, arrangement, or situation): I was never very happy about the explanation | I can't say they looked too happy about it, but a deal's a deal.
• (happy with) satisfied with the quality or standard of: I'm happy with his performance.
• [with infinitive] willing to do something: we will be happy to advise you.
• [attributive] used in greetings: happy birthday.
2 [attributive] fortunate and convenient: he had the happy knack of making people like him.
3 [in combination] informal inclined to use a specified thing excessively or at random: our litigation-happy society.
HaHa....you do understand that every stadium in the country is now branded by some corporate sponsor who pays for the stadium costs by lending its name to promote its brand as opposed to putting those stadium costs on the taxpayer? There is zero relationship between that and Phil Knight running and paying for the Ducks' athletic program, usurping a public (taxpayer paid) institution for himself. If Phil wants to call Autzen Stadium, Nike Stadium, I would have no criticism
....and after losing to the OSU Beavers for the 2nd time in his school boy career , Lanning Is let go,
And UO hires Deon Sanders away from Colorado ! The “Prime” and UO “bling” are finally brought together to entertain everyone . Not to win, but to entertain !!!!
Phil Knight makes a multi hundred million dollar donation to Oregon State but the Beavers boosters insist the money is returned and say “we’d like to continue to maintain our holier than thou attitude over UO”
Later in the year the Reser family makes an even larger donation to OSU under the condition that the university change the team name and mascot to the OSU Burritos. The school agrees and issues a press release saying that “the school is not selling out! In fact burritos fit nicely into lunch pails and are consistent with the working class image of their teams.”
March 12th: After winning just 3 games all year, and posting the worst basketball season in Cal's entire history, Cal fires head coach Mark Fox and announces that its new basketball coach is Kevin Johnson.
In his first public comments he said, "I could not stand watching our once proud Bears become the laughingstock of the Pac-12 so I am accepting the challenge of rebuilding the Bears. Look, if I could spearhead keeping the sad sack Kings in Sac Town, and running the city, I can certainly bring back success to the Cal basketball program."
Question, John: Are you going to cover men's baseball and if so, will you make a prediction on Oregon State and their CWS prospects for 2023? Preseason polls have the Beavs at #27 and the Ducks at #19. That shows a complete lack of respect for the Beavers program and history. Ducks have done nothing in Baseball and the Beavs have won (3) national championships in the past 20 years and are in CWS contention every year over that time. Thoughts?
Berkeley, Stanford and UCLA have PhDs in AI work with the football teams. It doesn't matter for Cal and Stanford, but UCLA suddenly bolts to the top of the conference.
The Pac looks all Amazon with the media rights deal. $40M per team, but will people watch?
SD State says yes, but Gonzaga pleads for basketball only. Given that Cal is 1-100 this year, Gonzaga offers to take Cal's place. Cal agrees and takes all the money allocated to basketball to re-double its efforts in rugby.
Deion Sanders works with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, HBO, Starz and Peacock to offer NIL packages exceeding $20M. Some people are very upset about this. Boulder is not.
Some teammates talk to their stars about getting little bit of the NIL money. "Can you just buy me a dinner now and then? I'm really tired of top ramen and tater tots?" Full scale communism breaks out.
Deion Sanders convinces his football players to try to play for the baseball team. Half the team does. 5 players are actually excellent at baseball. They think about concussions and quit the football team.
Will make predictions after I stop laughing. Well done.
Have just one: If USC fails to make the playoffs, Lincoln Riley gets fed up with the harsh criticism and replaces the Jimbo Fisher at A & M, who has been missing since his abduction by angry fans.
Why will Riley have had enough? Check out what LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote today about USC's loss:
"Whatever happens within the program, tolerating a defense that began the day ranked 119th out of 131 FBS teams is unfair to Williams, unfair to USC fans and a dereliction of the responsibility that goes with that giant contract bestowed on Riley when he took the job last winter.
"He's supposed to coach the whole team, OK? Anything less and Riley isn't fulfilling the vow he made to turn the Trojans into championship contenders."
AND
"He has a quarterback who deserves a shot at a national championship He has a fan base that deserves a return to sustained greatness. He needs to stop waxing about the success of their one-year turnaround and realize that nobody is going to be happy unless he can finish the job.... Until he does, there is no difference between Riley and the passel of failed USC coaches that preceded him."
AND
"Just wondering, but how much of offensive genius Riley's estimated $10-million annual salary is being paid for him to coach the other side of the ball? Apparently, nothing, because that what his defense did for the umpteenth game in completing this team's startling tumble from the doorstep of the College Football Playoff semifinals to a pitiable pile of smoking wreckage."
Typical USC entitlement stuff but with a (deserved) mercenary edge: We paid enough to buy a winner, dammit? Where is our winner?
I hate to see UCLA leave the conference but if that's what it takes to get rid of the program that gave us OJ Simpson and Reggie Bush and has whined its way for 30 years mostly in the wilderness... it's worth it. I wish they were leaving now, not a year from.
Sure Chris, Knight donates a lot. What else is he going to do with billions? He is in his 80s and you can't take it with you. That is really not the point. The point is that this use of money for no good reason other than to deify yourself is kind of sick, don't you think? And we all know who is making the products that Nike sells for its fat margins. Maybe give that a bit of thought while you are cheering for the Ducks, with the best money can buy in college sports. It just seems there are a lot better use for donations than that. Maybe invest in helping free the Uyghurs from China.
The "Civil War" game is played for a spot in the Pac-12 Championship, and emotions are at an all time high. Benny the Beaver pummels the duck in an epic take down at half time which makes the lead in to Sportscenter that night, and the Beavs shock the Ducks with a 30-28 road win in the closing seconds. Phil Knight is forced to go back and look at his business text books to see what "ROI" means, as he is no closer to buying a NCAA championship despite tens of Millions of dollars invested.
Haha, I always expect to hear from the jealous Beavers. As if they wouldn’t welcome a huge benefactor.
And how does this "benefactor" benefit you? Does someone you don't know and never will meet throwing money around make you a better person, or feel better about yourself? I just wonder how all this works, this buying of success, which is not too different in my mind of "trophies for everyone" who can afford to buy them, regardless of achievement. It speaks to the shallowness of American society. Most professional sports have done a lot of work on leveling the playing field so that there is honest competition and not just a spending spree to buy success. NASCAR is a good example with cars all having identical specs. I find it curious that "amateur sports" are so influenced by money and greed. Here is a good piece on the corrosiveness of Phil Knight's "generosity". https://inequality.org/research/phil-knight-billion-dollar-philanthropy/
Thanks for the article Brian. I read it and don’t see the word corrosiveness in it anywhere. Either I missed it or that’s your word. It’s completely normal for wealthy people to take full advantage of the US tax code. It’s not against the law. It’s smart. Defer paying taxes as long as you can is principle #1. Hopefully you or your tax preparer do the same. Do you contribute to a retirement fund? If so, you are avoiding paying taxes until a later date when hopefully your tax rate is lower. Are you corrosive? Judgmental certainly.
I don’t know Phil Knight but I do know that he donates lots of money to places other than just UO. Certainly also to Stanford. Also to the Knight Cancer Institute which does advanced cancer research. Also to St Vincent’s hospital, there is a Phil and Penny Knight Pavilion there. I haven’t donated millions anywhere but I am glad there are rich people who do. Do I think it’s smart for wealthy people to minimize their taxes so they can direct their funds where they want to instead of funding wars overseas or other government programs? You bet I do, i’d do the same.
The difference between the beavers and the ducks is that the ducks have one particularly wealthy donor so beavers fans like to criticize him, as if they wouldn’t welcome his donations. The Reser family foundation has donated money with the beavers in exchange for putting their name on the stadium. They did the same by donating money to create a performing arts center in downtown Beaverton. Are you beaver supporters going to refuse Reser money because you don’t like having a large benefactor? Of course not. Trophies for all? Popycock! I call it jealousy, envy or just sheer hypocrisy!
That is envy, not jealousy, genius. Don't they teach anything anymore other than beer and football at the U of O?
Matthew, I suppose you know better than Miriam Webster:
Jealousy vs. Envy -
Depending on who you ask, jealousy and envy are either exact synonyms, totally different words, or near-synonyms with some degree of semantic overlap and some differences. Both jealousy and envy are often used to indicate that a person is covetous of something that someone else has.
Ok, envy it is. My point is the same, whichever word you prefer.
You're right. Jealousy is wanting something you already have, envy is wanting something you don't have. The above OSU fan has a football team, but seems to want someone else's team. Jealousy. Thanks.
Except at this point it's not much of a shock to beat the Ducks.
Hundreds of millions
Oh, you little Beavs are so funny. So jelly.
This Ducks fan is happy that Jonathan Smith (legend as a player and now as a coach) is turning your program around. It is fantastic to see (even if you do ignore the $$ that Uncle Phil has thrown into your programs in Corvallis... certainly not as much, but he still has given you cash, not to mention saving your baseball program a few years back).
I personally think that the game should be renamed the Battle of Brothers. It harkens back to the Civil War era; it exemplifies the different factions in the state; it would highlight (for now) the Uiagalelei boys, north and south; it rolls off the tongue and just sounds good.
Happy New Year, Beavs. I hope that you have a tremendous one (except when you play or impact the Ducks).
What is really "Ho-Ho" funny is that Duck fans think that Phil Knight has ever given the Beavers anything more than a few shirts and shoes. He has not. I have done a lot of research on this claim and there is no basis for it. Meanwhile, Knight tries to buy a FBS Championship for the Ducks and has spent over $1B on the U of O sports programs and propping up NILs, coaches and recruiters. Yes, I know that Phil can write all these "donations" off on his taxes, but aren't there better uses for personal wealth than dumping truckloads of it into your alma mater trying to buy a legacy for yourself?
Pat Casey remained the coach of OSU baseball because Phil Knight supplied the money.
And Phil Knight has "used his personal wealth" for amazing things: OHSU is one of the top cancer research institutions in the world. Why? Phil and Penny Knight. Multiple academic infrastructure donations to Oregon and Stanford.
And, yes, love of his alma maters who he affirms gave him everything is a fantastic use of his money. You Beavs try so hard to paint Oregon as some kind of monster because of the beneficence and support of Uncle Phil. We Ducks fans are proud and grateful to have an alum who loves his school and helps in phenomenal ways to augment academic and athletic excellence.
What a great legacy.
I would believe all that if PK trying to buy a championship were not at the middle of all of it. And for some reason, Ducks fans think the corruption of their school with products made in China with slave labor is worth it just for a school championship. How could you ever be proud of something just bought with blood money. Again, this speaks loudly to the shallowness of American society.
Happy New Year, man.
hap·py | ˈhapē |
adjective (happier, happiest)
1 feeling or showing pleasure or contentment: Melissa came in looking happy and excited | [with clause] : we're just happy that he's still alive | [with infinitive] : they are happy to see me doing well.
• (happy about) having a sense of confidence in or satisfaction with (a person, arrangement, or situation): I was never very happy about the explanation | I can't say they looked too happy about it, but a deal's a deal.
• (happy with) satisfied with the quality or standard of: I'm happy with his performance.
• [with infinitive] willing to do something: we will be happy to advise you.
• [attributive] used in greetings: happy birthday.
2 [attributive] fortunate and convenient: he had the happy knack of making people like him.
3 [in combination] informal inclined to use a specified thing excessively or at random: our litigation-happy society.
LOL, you do realize Reser stadium is named after a benefactor of OSU football, right?
HaHa....you do understand that every stadium in the country is now branded by some corporate sponsor who pays for the stadium costs by lending its name to promote its brand as opposed to putting those stadium costs on the taxpayer? There is zero relationship between that and Phil Knight running and paying for the Ducks' athletic program, usurping a public (taxpayer paid) institution for himself. If Phil wants to call Autzen Stadium, Nike Stadium, I would have no criticism
That's why I call it Salsa Stadium, which irritates TF out of my Beav friends. An added bonus!
Ducks PO record - 1-1.
Oregon State's PO record?
I say they play twice! Once at Autzen then in Vegas.
Good one, John. Thanks for all of your great work this year. I predict you will have continued success in this endeavor of yours.
Happy New Year!
....and after losing to the OSU Beavers for the 2nd time in his school boy career , Lanning Is let go,
And UO hires Deon Sanders away from Colorado ! The “Prime” and UO “bling” are finally brought together to entertain everyone . Not to win, but to entertain !!!!
That is perfectly hilarious!
GO DAWGS
Keep up the good work!! You're a joy to read. And, you're having fun. Hard combination to beat.
People do buy $50 (or higher) tickets to hear Stanford lectures. This is called tuition.
Wes beat me to my point. Sorry I didn't read the commnets before providing mine. Good catch Wes!
Love it! Great article….and I hate kale.
You COULD Quit your day job, John. The comedy circuit awaits you!
You had to resurface Larry Scott, but thanks for the prolonged chuckle by doing so. :)
Phil Knight makes a multi hundred million dollar donation to Oregon State but the Beavers boosters insist the money is returned and say “we’d like to continue to maintain our holier than thou attitude over UO”
Later in the year the Reser family makes an even larger donation to OSU under the condition that the university change the team name and mascot to the OSU Burritos. The school agrees and issues a press release saying that “the school is not selling out! In fact burritos fit nicely into lunch pails and are consistent with the working class image of their teams.”
If any of that were true it would be an interesting story. But its not. Just Duckish nonsense
March 12th: After winning just 3 games all year, and posting the worst basketball season in Cal's entire history, Cal fires head coach Mark Fox and announces that its new basketball coach is Kevin Johnson.
In his first public comments he said, "I could not stand watching our once proud Bears become the laughingstock of the Pac-12 so I am accepting the challenge of rebuilding the Bears. Look, if I could spearhead keeping the sad sack Kings in Sac Town, and running the city, I can certainly bring back success to the Cal basketball program."
Question, John: Are you going to cover men's baseball and if so, will you make a prediction on Oregon State and their CWS prospects for 2023? Preseason polls have the Beavs at #27 and the Ducks at #19. That shows a complete lack of respect for the Beavers program and history. Ducks have done nothing in Baseball and the Beavs have won (3) national championships in the past 20 years and are in CWS contention every year over that time. Thoughts?
🙄
John,
Make sure you put the UCLA and the USC losses in the BIG10 column and not under the PAC-12.
CB
Berkeley, Stanford and UCLA have PhDs in AI work with the football teams. It doesn't matter for Cal and Stanford, but UCLA suddenly bolts to the top of the conference.
The Pac looks all Amazon with the media rights deal. $40M per team, but will people watch?
SD State says yes, but Gonzaga pleads for basketball only. Given that Cal is 1-100 this year, Gonzaga offers to take Cal's place. Cal agrees and takes all the money allocated to basketball to re-double its efforts in rugby.
Deion Sanders works with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, HBO, Starz and Peacock to offer NIL packages exceeding $20M. Some people are very upset about this. Boulder is not.
Some teammates talk to their stars about getting little bit of the NIL money. "Can you just buy me a dinner now and then? I'm really tired of top ramen and tater tots?" Full scale communism breaks out.
Deion Sanders convinces his football players to try to play for the baseball team. Half the team does. 5 players are actually excellent at baseball. They think about concussions and quit the football team.
wtf are you smoking dieon wont win 4 games
Ducks find a defense! and find ways not to lose,. Huskies reminisce on what could have been....Beavs realize the Vegas bowl is their home.
Ducks win the softball championship.
Will make predictions after I stop laughing. Well done.
Have just one: If USC fails to make the playoffs, Lincoln Riley gets fed up with the harsh criticism and replaces the Jimbo Fisher at A & M, who has been missing since his abduction by angry fans.
Why will Riley have had enough? Check out what LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote today about USC's loss:
"Whatever happens within the program, tolerating a defense that began the day ranked 119th out of 131 FBS teams is unfair to Williams, unfair to USC fans and a dereliction of the responsibility that goes with that giant contract bestowed on Riley when he took the job last winter.
"He's supposed to coach the whole team, OK? Anything less and Riley isn't fulfilling the vow he made to turn the Trojans into championship contenders."
AND
"He has a quarterback who deserves a shot at a national championship He has a fan base that deserves a return to sustained greatness. He needs to stop waxing about the success of their one-year turnaround and realize that nobody is going to be happy unless he can finish the job.... Until he does, there is no difference between Riley and the passel of failed USC coaches that preceded him."
AND
"Just wondering, but how much of offensive genius Riley's estimated $10-million annual salary is being paid for him to coach the other side of the ball? Apparently, nothing, because that what his defense did for the umpteenth game in completing this team's startling tumble from the doorstep of the College Football Playoff semifinals to a pitiable pile of smoking wreckage."
Typical USC entitlement stuff but with a (deserved) mercenary edge: We paid enough to buy a winner, dammit? Where is our winner?
I hate to see UCLA leave the conference but if that's what it takes to get rid of the program that gave us OJ Simpson and Reggie Bush and has whined its way for 30 years mostly in the wilderness... it's worth it. I wish they were leaving now, not a year from.
Be gone, smoking wreckage.
Sure Chris, Knight donates a lot. What else is he going to do with billions? He is in his 80s and you can't take it with you. That is really not the point. The point is that this use of money for no good reason other than to deify yourself is kind of sick, don't you think? And we all know who is making the products that Nike sells for its fat margins. Maybe give that a bit of thought while you are cheering for the Ducks, with the best money can buy in college sports. It just seems there are a lot better use for donations than that. Maybe invest in helping free the Uyghurs from China.