Where Does Responsibility End?

So, I was listening to Sports Center tonight and heard two baseball "talking heads" address the Ryan Braun statement regarding his use of performance enhancing drugs during the 2011 season.

Mark Mulder, a former major league pitcher who pitched for my childhood favorite Oakland A's and Tim Kurkjian both talked about the statement and Braun's responsibility.

And, well, I have to say, that to hear people act as self-righteous as these two sometimes sends me over the edge when watching.

Newsflash: Ryan Braun does not owe anyone anything more than what he said. He has publicly apologized to his family, friends, team mates and fans for his denial and his actions. He has apologized to the man he slandered.

Beyond those apologies, he has no responsibility to be specific about what drugs he used, where he got them or how they were recommended. Kurkjian and Mulder are simply as wrong as they can be in this case.

Braun is serving a 65 game suspension. Braun has apologized to those that matter. Does it truly matter what he used or where he got it? I mean; really? It sounds to me like Mulder and Kurkjian are a little miffed because they feel they have some right to know every minute detail of a player's life. The reality is that they do not matter; and their knowledge is irrelevant.

Ready, set... wait?

Okay, just got my computer hooked up again. Despiute how organized we are sometimes a move completely discombobulates everything we thought we knew about ourselves.

Took until Monday late in the day to get our internet up and running right and then, the power cord for my computer was a no-show... finally got to it last night and we are up and running again...

More to come later...

Worked on the First Look for Arizona. They will have a tough time replacing Matt Scott, but Kadeem Carey and Austin Hill should help Rich Rod and the Wildcats to ease the pain of Matt Scott's graduation.

I am not sure it will be enough to upset the Ducks, but they get Oregon at the right time; after a physical Stanford game.

Birds of a feather

Just quick commentary about the Eagles and their seeming love of all former Duck players.

While I think that Maehl might be the one who sticks, keep in mind that Chip Kelly is trying to install a complicated offense in a place where what they are doing is completely foreign to the existing players.

Yes, I realize that, on some levels, the offense is not really complicated, but the tempo can be complicated as players try to read plays from the field.

In order to better facilitate the adoption of such a plan, it is imperative that the coach have players around who already know how everything in Chip Kelly's offense works. This is the reason he has guys like Will Murphy around.

Murphy showed a lot of heart as a walk-on and he is a tremendous locker room guy, and he may turn out to be a great pro receiver. Reality says, though, that many of the signings of former Ducks was about implementing a system.

There aren't 100 guys, about 30 of them "expendable," on an NFL roster. With the limited roster size, it becomes even more critical that there are some guys during training camp that can be like additional assistant coaches.

It is worth mentioning here that it is highly unlikely that the Eagles keep four quarterbacks on the 53 man roster. Unless the Eagles trade Nick Foles or Matt Barkley, that means that Dennis Dixon's tiem as an Eagle is probably limited as well.

Remember, the NFL is a business. Decisions are no longer about "feel good" stories; they are about business.

Beyond First Look: UCLA

This week, tomorrow to be specific, we continue with our First Look series with an early look at what the Bruins lost from last season and what is expected of the returners.

UCLA is picked to win the South Division of the Pac-12 and there won't be any argument from me as I have also thought that they are probably the team to take that tight division race.

I still consider Arizona State a dark-horse because I like a lot of what they return, but they are going to run into some depth issues and maybe some consistency issues again this season. I think USC faces the same problem, though they have better front line talent than either UCLA or ASU.

Beyond that, though, I am intrigued to watch how Eddie Vanderdoes develops at UCLA.

Already it seems like some serious expectations are being heaped upon his shoulders. While he has the massive shoulders to bear such a burden, it makes me curious just how much he can take on to those shoulders.

Vanderdoes switched from Notre Dame to UCLA ostensibly due to a change in family circumstances. The early rumors that a member of his family became ill seem plausible based on the NCAA's decision to grant Vanderdoes immediate eligibility.

Vanderdoes is a young man. Despite his enormous physical gifts, he is still very young. How much can one young man take on mentally and still be effective? We might find out this season; or we might not.

Early reports out of Fall camp for the Bruins have Vanderdoes missing some practices due to a back ailment. Coach Mora has commented how important this time is to his development and his ability to contribute early and make an impact.

Combining his many demands, expectations and now being slowed by injury and you can only help but wonder if Vanderdoes might have had too much put on his plate at a fragile point in his maturation.

For the sake of  young man whose future is very bright, let's hope that his injury is minimal and his focus is strong heading into the season. There can be nothing worse to a young man with so much hope to have expectations unfulfilled. The pressure of that weight can be greater than the original expectations.

Fock Talk: Out of the dark ages

This week, for the first, and possibly last time, the University of Oregon provided a guided tour of the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex as it is formally dubbed. Many simply refer to it as the football operations center. The tour took a little over two hours with Jeff Hawkins, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Football Administration and Operations, leading the tour.

Along the way Hawkins touched on the many influences behind not only the original concept but each individual detail. There is not a single detail that was not heavily considered prior to its inclusion. From the glass facade designed to help reduce the energy use of the building, to the murals in the parking garage and everything in between, this Taj Mahal of football facilities was thought out in immaculate detail.

Some of those details, though, have drawn the ire of outsiders and even insiders, with what they describe as opulence. Yes, there is Italian carera tile in the showers. Yes, the floors of the 25,000 square foot weight room are made of a special Brazilian hardwood. There are plenty of other fine details that are more expensive than the simpler materials might cost. But is that really the point? Is the only argument available to people that it cost too much? If so, there is a lot missing from the argument.

This week, Duck Sports Authority takes a special look at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex from the perspective of why it was needed and where the inspirations originated. Next week, we will conclude our two part series with a look of a bigger, more important purpose behind the building.

First, though, let us take a look at the building and its origins.

This was not a haphazardly constructed concept, nor was it arbitrarily designed. There was a purpose behind each portion of the building and every detail was thought out in advance. The design was not simply some architect with an unlimited budget creating a vision and then instructing a contractor to build his vision. This was what Hawkins referred to as a "design build" concept. In other words, the design was fluid and had input from several important people.

More importantly, nothing inside our outside of this building was done in haste. The complex has been researched for nearly seven years leading up to its construction. Facilities personnel, coaches, administrators and donors toured facilities nationwide to get a feel for the best and the worst pieces of each design.

"After each one, we asked what would we do different to make it better," Hawkins said.

This rolling tour included every major hall of fame, football facilities at places like Texas A&M, LSU, Cowboys Stadium. The tour was not, however, restricted to football facilities as the group also looked at places like Oracle, Google and, of course, Nike for more inspiration as to what constitutes the best-of-the best in the world of personnel development and care.

Why the need? This is the question we see from people outside the program. Many people look at the facilities that Oregon already has and wonders why the need for more. They see an "arms race" and nothing more.

The Casanova Center, former home to the football staff and players, was completed in 1991 and opened that summer. That is over 22 years ago. In the time since its opening, the university had nearly tripled the number of staff that occupy the building while also adding several sports to the athletic department. Simply put, the Casanova Center was not designed to house the number of people who were now occupying the space.

"We were double and sometimes triple purposing rooms," Hawkins continued.

That is a lot of tight quarters.

Prior to media day interviews, some media members were taken to the old football team meeting room in the Casanova Center for a NCAA compliance seminar. While the seminar was educational, so too was sitting in the cramped space that used to serve over 100 players plus up to 30 coaches and staff members. The space was tight for the 30 or so media members who were in attendance, it is difficult to fathom how tight it was for a Pac-12 football team.

While Oregon received plenty of attention for their facilities; an upgrade to Autzen Stadium; the Moshofsky Center; the Jacqua Student Development Center; little attention was paid to the woefully inadequate facilities that housed the rest of what the football program did off the field. A nice locker room is great, but you cannot have meetings and football education in the locker room; that requires space.

Oregon's old team meeting room

As the media left the compliance seminar, already signs of how the new football operations building was positively impacting other sports were evident. Coaches from other sports were moving into new offices. With smiles plastered on their faces, their enthusiasm could be felt throughout the building.

Look at the picture and you can see that the prior facilities were not just cramped, but outdated.

One fact that struck close to home revolved around the new dining hall. Attached to the hall, which serves all student-athletes, not just football players, is a high end, fine restaurant caliber kitchen. While this seems pretty mundane, it must be pointed out that prior to this, when players were served in the Casanova Center, the food had to be shipped from the kitchen across campus.

Craig Pintens, Senior Associate Athletic Director in charge of Marketing & Public Relations, was also on hand to provide important details. "Transporting the food cost as much as making the food," he said.

That is a powerful thought.

Certainly all of the design aspects were not created simply due to space. The magnetic "dry erase" type walls throughout the fourth floor, which houses the coaches offices along with the locker room, were used out of creativity. Often times, our inspirations come while passing one another, even in a hall. Thoughts that are fluid and constructive can immediately, at any point inside, be shared. It's a small detail, but important.

Another detail is the mechanisms inside the locker room. The locker doors slide inside like pocket doors; the benches for the players are integrated so as to create better cohesion and team unity. And, where Chip Kelly's influence is felt, it also keeps the room de-cluttered.

While there was a lot of expense put into each detail, the need was critical. Space was a problem and the gracious generosity of Phil and Penny Knight solved a pervasive problem that would not go away anytime soon.

Frank Loyd Wright once said that "space is the breath of art." Those words could not be truer either literally or figuratively in the case of the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex. The space itself, that is art. But art is deeper, not just the aesthetics of the building. Art is minds at work creating a better product. The reason innovative companies keep moving forward is that their space generates creativity. With this building the Oregon athletic department and football team have built something guaranteed to continue their creativity and make an even better community.

From the Outside

A quick pointer to those fans from other teams who might happen to run across some of my ramblings... and that's what this blog is... my personal ramblings as they relate to Oregon Ducks athletics as well as some thoughts that originate from my formal writing for Duck Sports Authority.

If there is something you see that seems factually inaccurate, I have no problem with corrections. But that would pertain to facts, like statistics, or names.

Opinions, on the other hand, by their very nature, cannot be inaccurate. IF there is something that your team looks like from the outside, take that as a learning point.

As an example, I am well aware that other programs have a bad view of Oregon fans. I get it, I have seen some of the boorish behavior that they consider representative of all Oregon fans. For that reason, I have taken it upon myself to ensure that I am the opposite.

As I was leaving the media room after the Stanford game last season, I stopped and talked to a couple of parents of Stanford players and some boosters. It is most difficult to have class in that situation, and I feel that being gracious in that situation can help change what others think of our fans.

By that same nature, I am also cognizant of the fact that a very few fans are the ones who have given Oregon the bad reputation, so the majority of us that are not boorish have to work extra hard to overcome that stigma.

So, if you happen to be a fan of another team, and on this blog I say things that seem harsh, keep in mind, that is how your team might be viewed from the outside.

If you wish to take offense with those opinions, I actually have no problem with discussing the topic; but don't come to my personal blog and think you are going to make your point by getting into a childish pissing match. The great thing about a personal blog... I can delete anything I want and do not have to explain my actions to anyone.

Having already completed my look at the softer part of the 2013 schedule, it is unlikely that I am going to have to face too many issues with this as the rest of the games I have yet to look at are for teams that have a lot of solid foundation and success in their recent backgrounds.