The Final Fight In the Premier League

As the English soccer season draws to a close only three things have been decide for the 2013 season. The most important thing is the Championship. The trophy will stay in Manchester for a 3^rd straight season, however it will return to the red half of the city once again.

Manchester United won their 20^th Premier League title last weekend with a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa, which put them 15pts clear of the closest team, Manchester City.  Last season the title came down to the final day with Manchester City and Manchester United winning both of their final matches and being level on points but City had a better goal difference, therefore City was given the title. This season Sir Alex Ferguson said “He will never lose the title on goal difference again.” Ferguson also vowed to reclaim the title this season. They were able to do it with 3 games to go in the season.

Another thing that has already been decided are the 2 teams that will be relegated to the lower division. Both Reading and Queens Park Rangers (QPR) sit at the bottom of the table with 25pts with 3 matches left. However, the 3^rd team to join the lower division next year is yet to be determined. Only 8pts separate the 11^th from the 18^th position (which is the last relegation spot) with 9pts able in the remaining fixtures, so it looks like this fight will come down to the final day of the season.

The final thing to be decided would be the final 2 Champions League qualification spots. In England, 4 teams qualify for the European club tournament.  With 2 of the spots already clinched, 4 teams are fighting for the last 2 spots as only 6pts separate 3^rd from the 6^th positions in the standings, which is another battle that will come down to the final days.

The Premier League never disappoints as the matches dwindle to the end of the season and with 8 teams fighting for their Premier League survival and 4 teams fighting for 2 of the remaining top of the table spots, the final 3 weeks of the season should really keep you on the edge of your seat .

Story by Tim Koskey

UFA, Russia — The United States won the junior ice hockey championships on Saturday after Rocco Grimaldi scored twice and Vince Trocheck added an empty-net goal for a 3-1 win over Sweden in the final.

Filip Sandberg put defending champion Sweden ahead on power play early in the second period, but Grimaldi then scored twice in a three-minute span to swing the game in the Americans’ favor.

He powered from behind the net to score, and then redirected Jacob Trouba’s slap shot from the blue line midway through second period.

Sweden pulled its goalie for an extra player with 1:42 left but failed to capitalize. Instead, Trocheck rounded off the win with 16.7 seconds left.

John Gibson made 26 saves for the victory and was named the MVP of the tournament. Niklas Lundstrom had 31 saves for Sweden.

It was the third title for the Americans, who also won in 2004 and 2010.

Earlier, Valeri Nichushkin scored an overtime winner to give Russia a 6-5 victory over Canada in the bronze-medal match.

Canada trailed throughout the match, but Brett Ritchie scored an equalizer with 9 minutes left of the third period to force overtime. In the extra 10-minute period, Nichushkin broke down the right flank on a solo effort and skated in front of the goal to score into the left corner after just 1:35.

Russia goalkeeper Andrei Makarov made 40 saves for the victory. Malcolm Subban stopped 19 shots for Canada.

It was the first time since 1998 that 15-time champion Canada finished without a medal at the event.

Story courtesy of the Associated Press

By Sean Hoffmaster:

In 1939 the RCA (Radio Corporation of America) designed and built the first mobile television production units ever, two Telemobile trucks, in order to do “outside pick-ups” or broadcasting. Each unit was about the size and shape of a 25-passenger bus and weighed 10 tons. The TV “pick-up” signals were sent to the transmitter in the Empire State Building for the first televised NCAA game on September 30, 1939 in New York. The game was played by Waynesburg College vs. Fordham University. A month later of the same year the first NFL game was aired on T.V. in Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, The Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers.

When football became a media craze on T.V. the game had changed dramatically over the years. With more and more angles to look at the field the rules and regulations would also have to change accordingly. With now a day’s technology the game of football is changing even more. Many plays and roughhousing that used to pass as the players just having fun on the field are now illegal. The game became more competitive and had to change to suit its players and fans. The broadcasting of the games allowed the referees to have a whole new perspective on the field and many foals that might have gone unnoticed are now always monitored.

Today a stadium broadcast is like a giant play, having to set up an entire stage to film the games from multiple angles all working simultaneously in harmony. It takes entire crews to manage a system like this. With each new idea of how to make the broadcast more special the more technology and man power is needed. In more recent years more drastic measures have been taken to give the audience a new perspective of the game. With player helmet cams or attached to the referee’s cap and even GPS has been attempted to locate exact field position of each player. At the moment the newest and most used is the sky cam.

Integrated in the early 2000’s the Sky Cam for football stadiums has given the directors of the broadcast at whole range of new camera angles. This technology requires a three man crew to operate and can slow down for replays up to 1,000 frames per second. With such high definition cameras being able to capture every moment of a game so clearly many problems are starting to occur because of it.

Up until recently sideline cameras were used for referee purposes only when a call was challenged by the head coach. Most viewers would not be able to see this footage only the shots the networks were allowed to show. Now a new policy has been put into place that sideline footage will be available to the networks to broadcast to their viewers to see every angle of every call, good or bad. A lot of important and usually kept secret information is exchanges between players and staff on the sidelines. If some piece of information was leaked through one of the sideline cams it could put reputations at risk all across NFL organizations.

By Sam Tongue:

Last weekend may have been exhilarating without any Top 25 matchups, but I have to admit… having these top teams playing last weekend was excellent television. As most of you know, three of the top five teams in college football lost this past Saturday, causing one of the bigger shake-ups to the Top 10 you’ll ever see. Oregon looked the best they have all season, and Oregon State continued their perfect season. With everything that happened, here are my Weekend Takeaways:

No debate on who is #2

Oregon was as dominant as I’ve seen them in years last Saturday at Autzen. Normally, in a rivalry game, the opponent seems to be able to muster up something special – at least for a quarter or two. Instead, the Ducks shut up the Huskies within minutes, scorching the I-5 rival for 35 points in less than two quarters. The team was dominant both offensively and defensively. Yes, Marcus Mariota had a turnover on the first drive and yes, the team looked a little sloppy in the second half. The team isn’t completely perfect. The reason they let up, though, was because they had a four-touchdown lead at halftime.

If you’ve read this column even once over the last couple weeks, I’ve been slightly critical of the team not being able to put together an entire game on offense, defense and special teams. Watching this game against Washington gave me the reason why: they simply haven’t had to. Even against a Top 25 opponent, not to mention one that beat Stanford a couple weeks ago, Oregon put the game on cruise control in the first half. That’s impressive.

Really at this point, I don’t think there’s any question who is the second best team in the nation (folks, Alabama is in a different stratosphere). Oregon right now has the best offense in the country, some dynamic special teams players, and a defense that could be the most athletic outside of the SEC. The only flaw seems to be the kicking game. As it presently stands, Oregon not running the table would be a massive disappointment.

Oregon State is ranked too low

I’m completely serious when I make this statement. I actually posed the question of why Oregon State is ranked behind LSU to my friends on Facebook, receiving these answers:

1. “They play in the SEC not the PAC 12”

2. “You mean other than the fact that LSU is clearly the superior team?”

3. My personal favorite: “Typical Oregonian banter”

Indeed, this is typical ‘Oregonian banter,’ but rightly so. Oregon State sports wins over Wisconsin and UCLA (both ranked at the time), plus an Arizona team on the road that has been in the Top 25 this season. If it weren’t for their game against Nicholls State being postponed, assuming OSU can beats Colonels, the Beavers are 5-0.

Let’s look at a couple teams that are ahead in the rankings… the first one to come to mind is LSU. The Tigers play in the SEC (see point one), but don’t have that marquee win on the schedule quite yet. They did demolish Washington 41-3, but already have one loss to Florida, plus a couple tight victories over Auburn and Towson. Towson!! Once the Tigers play South Carolina this weekend, I think we’ll see why Oregon State deserves the bump.

Another team I’m not buying too highly is Ohio State. They do have victories over #20 Michigan State and #21 Nebraska, plus a win over Cal at home. On the flip side, though, the Beavers have wins over #13 Wisconsin and #19 UCLA (all these rankings were at the time of the win), plus a win over Arizona on the road. Forget the eyeball test (see point two) – how is Oregon State ranked behind these teams? Feel free to post in the comments on this one…

It’s tough being a Top 5 team

Boy was it brutal this weekend for Top 5 teams. Florida State, LSU and Georgia, third, fourth and fifth in the rankings last week, respectively, all fell to seemingly inferior opponents. I had started to buy into Florida State and Georgia a little bit, as both seemed to possess the athletic ability to hang with top-tiered opponents. Again, I haven’t been sold on LSU in recent weeks, but once they get a win that matters I’ll reevaluate. With a new Top 5, especially considering the SEC teams in that category, it’ll sure be an interesting next couple weeks. Which leads me to my next point…

The SEC will work itself out

Here on the West coast, we spend a lot of time watching more of a finesse game. Pac-12 teams love hurry-up offenses, big scores and occasional defense. In the SEC, it’s really the opposite. If you watched any of the LSU-Florida game on Saturday, you completely understand my point. Down south, it’s all about defense, defense, defense. Luckily, though, head-to-head matchups will help sort all of this out. Who is better, Florida or LSU? On the field, Florida. Who is better, South Carolina or Georgia? On the field, the Gamecocks. In the coming weeks, these top teams will get to play each other on the field to sort everything out. From my standpoint, once we reach December, the lone survivor will get to play the best team outside the SEC for a national championship.

To recap, it was big week for the Ducks and Beavers as the state of Oregon now improves to 10-0. Oregon gets a much-deserved week off, while Oregon State has quite a challenge at BYU next Saturday. As I mentioned before, I’d love your comments on Oregon State’s ranking and Oregon as #2 – don’t be shy! Next week, I’ll hope to be talking about a new 5-0 team here in the Northwest…

By Sam Tongue:

This weekend was, dare I say, the most entertaining weekend we’ve had in college football yet this year. The fireworks started with a massive upset of Stanford by Washington, and rolled along to include an eight-touchdown performance by a Heisman favorite and six Pac-12 schools in the Top 25. So, from one of the most entertaining weekends of the year, here were my takeaways from the past week:

You don’t need ‘big matchups’ to have a fun weekend

What was the biggest game coming into the weekend? Ohio State-Michigan State? Really? Yeah, and the fireworks flew more than ever. Quite frankly we probably learned more about some of the top teams than we previously knew all season. For example, even against the most porous defense I’ve seen from a Top 25 team, did you know West Virginia’s Geno Smith had eight TDs in him? Or that #4 Florida State needed a whole game to beat South Florida? Or that #14 Texas would go to the final 30 seconds to beat Oklahoma State? I didn’t anticipate any of that, but boy was it exciting.

Oregon is talented, but not ready yet

Let’s face it: the Ducks haven’t been tested. It’s the elephant in the room. Chip Kelly’s group has shown glimpses of why they’re the best team in the country, but haven’t put it together for 60 minutes. The win over Arizona was certainly impressive, but the Wildcats made it into the Red Zone six times. This past week, Washington State kept it close for the entire first half before the Ducks ran away with it. The third quarter clearly saw the Ducks flex their muscles, but the team still turned the ball over twice and had a couple person foul penalties, one of which negated an interception.

I’m obviously not Chip, but I’m sure he knows if his team shows a bit more discipline and starts flying to the ball like we know they can, this team should be #2 in the country. The big concern is how fast they can get it going again. Remember, Washington next week is no easy task, and the Sun Devils down at Arizona State have been as impressive as any team in the Pac-12 South.

Oregon State is the real deal

I think everyone – even a few Duck fans – was pulling for Oregon State to at least be decent this year. I also think people were cautiously optimistic about their start to the season. I know I was, but going on the road and beating Arizona was the last step for me in believing. Why? Because it was the offense that stepped up. Against Wisconsin and UCLA, the run defense was dynamite. Arizona featured the best offense the Beavers have seen yet, and even though they gave up 35 points, the offense was able to post 38. If OSU can keep that defense healthy and match an offense like they featured in Tucson with it, it’s going to be quite a Civil War.

Can we give Alabama the title already?

All I can say about the Crimson Tide after their early start is “Wow.” Nick Saban’s crew has been totally dominant through their first five games of the season, sporting a 5-0 record and giving up an eye-popping seven points per game. Alabama goes into the heart of SEC play starting in two weeks against Missouri. Seems like the only game they have to worry about is LSU on Nov. 3 – the same day Oregon plays USC.

But the above question isn’t just about Alabama’s supremacy… it’s also about the lack of other teams rising to the top. LSU barely skid by Auburn a couple weeks ago, then stumbled early against Towson this past weekend. Florida State seemed like a potential contender after their win against Clemson until it took a full four quarters to beat South Florida. Even Oregon hasn’t been all that impressive so far, as the Ducks are still looking for that dominant performance from start to finish. The teams to keep an eye on are Georgia, South Carolina and yes, USC, if there’s going to be that mid-season push toward Alabama. It just doesn’t seem realistic at this point, though.

Pac-12 reaching ‘select’ status?

Don’t look now, but the self-proclaimed ‘Conference of Champions’ now has six teams in the AP Poll (Oregon, USC, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington and UCLA). Looming on the outside is Arizona State as well, who was a couple minutes away from upsetting Mizzou and also holding a perfect record. Only the SEC has as many teams in the Top 25, though five of them are in the Top 10. It’s certainly going to make for an interesting conference schedule.

That’s it for this week! Big games are scheduled for next week, as there are five games between Top 25 opponents. As for the local favorites, Oregon travels to Washington in one of the biggest rivalries in the northwest, while Oregon State finally gets an easier game in hosting Washington State at home. Without a weekend including Alabama, we’ll finally get to see if a team can hold realistic national title hopes. Until then, have a great week everyone!

OSOS Episode 8

It was yet another week of exciting college football action, during the first full week of conference play. It was an absolutely perfect Saturday for the Oregon schools as well, as Oregon rolled Arizona to surge to #2 in the polls and Oregon State upset UCLA to make their way into the Top 25. So, let’s not wait any longer – here are my weekend takeaways:

Oregon’s defense is rock solid

The Ducks prided themselves on a ‘bend-don’t-break’ defense for years, with this season proving to be no different. In weeks past, the defensive unit took criticism for its undisciplined nature, coming to a head with a lackluster performance against Tennessee Tech. Luckily for Duck fans those headaches are now a thing of the past, as Oregon shutout Arizona on Saturday at Autzen 49-0.  The Wildcats made it to the red zone six times, but came up empty with five turnovers in the game. The team also produced a couple of interceptions returned for touchdowns. Defense wins championships, right?

Oregon State the story of the week?

Even after Oregon’s destruction of Arizona at home, Oregon State continued their dream start with a victory over UCLA on the road. What do you take away? Like with Oregon, the Beavers’ defense is the real story, more specifically playing against the run. After holding Wisconsin’s Heisman hopeful Montee Ball to 61 yards rushing in Week One, the Beavers held the nation’s leading rusher Johnathan Franklin to just 45 yards on the ground. The win pushes OSU to 2-0 and into the Top 25 (#18), cooling off that hot seat everyone put Mike Riley in before the year started.

Colt Lyerla is my new favorite running back

Many people didn’t know it before this weekend, but the Ducks’ Lyerla scored the majority of his 25 touchdowns at running back during his senior year at Hillsboro High School. Now a converted tight end/tailback, the 6-5, 250lb sophomore is a beast in the backfield. What’s even more surprising was his speed, as Lyerla bolted past defenders for a nine yards per carry average against Arizona. With Byron Marshall showing flashes of brilliance as well, the 1-2 punch behind Kenjon Barner may be stronger than we originally anticipated. And that’s not even mentioning De’Anthony Thomas.

Alabama plays in an alternate universe

The Crimson Tide have done nothing but Roll their opponents to start the season, showing off arguably the best defense in decades (yeah, I went there). I understand they haven’t entered SEC play in full, but ‘Bama has only allowed 21 points all year. That’s impressive, especially when you consider Michigan has one of the more dynamic offenses in the country. Another stat: Alabama had their shutout streak snapped after 12 quarters on Saturday, leaving their opponents without a point for nearly 200 minutes.

SEC vulnerability is real… and the Pac-12 is their biggest threat

First it was Arkansas. Then this past weekend it was nearly LSU. With four teams in the top six overall, the SEC is clearly the top conference in the country – but the gap is closing. Oregon, USC and Stanford now all sit inside the Top 15, making the Pac-12 a serious threat to the SEC. The Pac-12 also sports athletes that can seemingly hang with the SEC, especially defensively. Unfortunately, with the way Alabama is playing, I don’t see anyone getting in the way of a second straight Crimson Tide National Championship.

That’s it for this week! I know it was another UO, OSU and SEC heavy column, but until another team (Florida State, for example…) gets into that title mix, we’re keeping it local. Tune in next week for another weekend of national conference play!

OSOS Episode 7

By Tim Koskey:

With players returning to their clubs from World Cup Qualifier duty from their respective countries, players are beginning to settle in to the 2012-2013 season.

The Premier League’s week 4 closes with some teams taking charge as expected, a few surprise results, goal controversy and movement in the table.  Let’s start with the surprises of the weekend.

Liverpool is the biggest surprise of the season by far. Through 3 matches they have drawn once and lost once as they head to the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland, who have not started the season well.  Sunderland stood well and took the lead mid-way through in the first half.  However, Liverpool managed to equalize mid-way through the second half as the two teams shared a point in the match.  The point brought Liverpool out of the relegation zone but still not out of trouble.

Next we travel to Loftus Road Stadium were Queens Park Rangers (QPR) welcomed League leaders Chelsea.  This match was a very free flowing one with chances at both ends of the pitch. But today was not the day for quality finishing as the match ended in a goalless draw. Both Bobbie Zamora of QPR and Eden Hazard of Chelsea had the best chances to score but failed to find the net.

We now move to the teams that we would expect to take charge of matches and we were not disappointed.

Arsenal entered the weekend with 1 win and 2 draws to start the season and with the UEFA Champions League group stages starting this week, they needed some confidence and momentum to carry into the European competition and they got it.  Arsenal delivered a 6-1 thrashing of Southampton.  The Gunners took the lead only 10 minutes into the match and netted 3 more before the end of the half for a 4-1 lead.  With the match all but out of reach for Southampton, the Gunners add to more goals to finish off Southampton 6-1.

Another club looking for momentum going into the start of the Champions League is Manchester United.

In their previous 2 victories of the season, United barely walked away with wins. United needed confidence in a unusual area of the pitch, their defense, and they got it by keeping a clean sheet (not allowing a goal) against Wigan. Wigan has given United some trouble in past seasons, but that was not the case this weekend as Untied netted 4 goals, 2 of which were scored by players making their first team debut.

Finally, what weekend of soccer action would not be complete without a little controversy.  In the Everton vs Newcastle match, a late goal was not giving to Everton. The ball had clearly crossed the line and was kicked out of the goal but the linesman was not in the correct position to award the goal that would have won the match for Everton. Instead the match ended in a 2-2 draw.

I know it’s cliché, but let’s face it – what a weekend it was for college football. There were upsets all over the country, an obvious improvement for the Pac-12, a shift in the Heisman race, plus a load of storylines headed into next weekend.

To recap here in the Northwest, Oregon State didn’t play again (their game with Nichols State has been moved to Dec. 1), and Oregon posted a solid 63-14 win over Tennessee Tech, bumping them to third in the national rankings. But more on that later.

All that being said, here are my Weekend Takeaways from this week:

What did I say about preseason rankings again?

Someone wise once asked, “Does anyone really understand the point of these polls?” to which they promptly responded, “I suppose it gives us all something to talk about leading up to Week One, but everything is deemed irrelevant after kickoff.” Who was that smarty pants again?

Anyways, back to my rant… through three weeks of play, there have already been eight Top 25 teams upset by their opponent, including two Top 10 teams (I don’t count Michigan, as they were beat by then #2 Alabama). I beg you, NCAA, don’t start the rankings until after week three! To be honest, Oregon doesn’t even look like the #3 team in the country, and I tend to look at the Ducks though rose-colored glasses anyways. Just saying.

The race for the Heisman Trophy got a little bit more interesting

USC’s loss to Stanford was totally shocking. In my eyes, the only way SC would lose games this year would be because of injuries to key players. Instead, all it took was solid defense to beat the Trojans. With the loss, Matt Barkley opened the door up wide for others to step in.

There really seem to be a few frontrunners at this point, headlined by a couple Pac-12 performers:  UCLA’s Johnathan Franklin and Oregon’s De’Anthony Thomas. Franklin leads the country in rushing, including two 200-yard games already this season. For Thomas, it’s about the all purpose yards, as he’s already accumulated over 475 plus seven touchdowns (would have been eight had it not been for a fumble this past weekend). What’s even more impressive? Thomas has only played in the second half of games once so far this year. These two could very well be the Top 2 from the conference before it’s all said and done.

Alabama, LSU are cream of crop once again

We could very well be having another debate about whether LSU and Alabama should face off in the national title game in just a couple months. Through three games this year, LSU has outscored its opponents 145-31, including a 41-3 demolition of Washington last week. Alabama has been even more impressive, holding their first three opponents to a combined 14 points. ‘Bama’s wins include an impressive 41-14 route of Michigan in week one, then two straight shutouts over Western Kentucky and ex-Top Ten foe Arkansas on the road. If I were a betting man, I’d throw down some big bucks on Alabama-LSU facing off for the title once again this year.

Oregon State is a media darling?

Through one game – yes, ONE game – Oregon State is already receiving votes to be a Top 25 team. And when I say votes, I mean this week they were #26 in the Associated Press poll, just 12 votes behind the #25 team.

Oregon State does have quite the road ahead of them, though. Next week, after this week’s bye, the team travels to play UCLA, then spends the next Saturday in Tucson to play Arizona. By the end of the month, we’ll really know what kind of team the Beavers are.

Oregon can’t seem to put it all together

In week one, things seemed too easy, with doubts about the defense in the second half. Week two was a nightmare offensively, as the Ducks played sensationally in the first half but imploded in the second. Finally, in week three, the offense was clicking on all cylinders while the defense was picking up personal foul penalties left and right, not to mention some key special teams mishaps.

If put together, the pieces the Ducks have could very well be the best in the country. From their speed on offense to their speed and power on defense, plus the most explosive special teams game in the country, Oregon is loaded with weapons. The problem is the team showing up as a unit. Obviously against Arkansas State or Tennessee Tech the team could throw out their second unit and still dominate the game. However, a De’Anthony Thomas muffed punt here or a pass interference there could be devastating for the Ducks. Also, I guarantee you Pac-12 teams won’t drop nearly as many balls as opponents have these last few days. I’m cautiously optimistic with this team, but I certainly don’t think they’ve done enough to earn their #3 rating overall.

Well, that’s all for this week! Conference play starts for both Oregon and Oregon State, as the Ducks host Arizona and the Beavers head to the Rose Bowl for their game against UCLA. These will be two big tests for the Oregon schools, and could solidify their position amongst the nation’s elite. Until then, keep pushing to get those polls out of football!