“The Oregon Ducks-themed Air Jordan 3′s pop up once more. Yesterday we got a first-look at an ‘Oregon’ Air Jordan 3 White/Cement, and today we get a second look at the Air Jordan 3 – Black Oregon Ducks, which popped up a few weeks back. Like the white pair, there’s no reason to expect that these will ever release publicly, but of course we’ll let you know if anything changes. Via @thisisdaners” – NikeBlog

By: Kelly McGillivray

Coming up a wrist and a field goal short of raising the BCS National Championship trophy last season, the 2011 Oregon Ducks have reloaded and have a return trip to a BCS bowl on their mind.  Despite a clouded offseason that saw Ducks making headlines for off the field incidents, on the field the 2011 Ducks have solidified themselves as one of the elite programs in college football.  Replacing the seniors who led the 2010 squad to the first ever 12-0 record in school history and the only team in Pac-10 history to go 9-0 in conference play will is a task that cannot be completed in one year, but the newcomers to Eugene look to be the most “field ready” group in recent years.

At the head of that group is Los Angeles native De’anthony Thomas, who has drawn comparisons to Reggie Bush with his exceptional elusiveness and speed at running back.  Another freshman who should contribute on offense is receiver Devon Blackmon from Fontana, CA.  A quarterback in high school, Blackmon is a speedy wideout who should fit well into Oregon’s high-powered, hyperfast offensive attack.

The Oregon offense looks the same as it did in 2010, with a backfield that got bigger and stronger.  Doak Walker Award winner and Heisman finalist LaMichael James will once again be receiving handoffs from Darron Thomas.  Kenjon Barner, the other feature back, has added significant muscle to his frame and gives the Ducks two legitimate #1 options at running back.  Josh Huff, who was held out of a majority of fall camp due to an undisclosed injury, Lavasier Tuinei and Justin Hoffman will be the main passing targets for Thomas.  David Paulson returns for his senior season at tight end, and next to him the Ducks have filled the three holes in the offensive line left by Bo Thran, Jordan Holmes, and CE Kaiser.

On defense, Terrence Mitchell is expected to fill in for Cliff Harris in the season opener as Harris is expected to be suspended following his much-publicized driving ticket for speeding 118 MPH, and line up opposite senior Anthony Gildon at the cornerback position.  John Boyett and Eddie Pleasant round out the secondary, and Josh Kaddu, Michael Clay and Dewitt Stuckey will start the season at linebacker.  Terrell Turner and Dion Jordan will line up at end, with Jordan playing the hybrid end position that Kenny Rowe gave opposing offensive coordinators nightmares.  Taylor Hart and Ricky Heimuli are the likely the interior lineman on defense, but with the rotation the Ducks defense has used in recent years expect to see Brandon Hanna, Issac Remington, Wade Keliikipi, Boseko Lokombo, and a wide variety of other secondary personnel.

Looking at the schedule, it doesn’t get tougher than a showcase game like the Cowboys Classic against LSU.  Playing in a game that LSU turned down a home game for, 37,000 tickets were made available for LSU, making this season opener in Dallas, Texas a must win if the Ducks hope to be in contention for a return trip to the BCS National Championship Game.  Home games against Cal, Arizona State, Washington State, USC, and Oregon State make this year’s home schedule certainly a favorable one if the Ducks hope to make the first ever Pac-12 Championship Game on December 2 a home affair.  An early conference road challenge begins the season for the Ducks, who open Pac-12 play at Arizona, after two other non-conference matchups at Autzen with Nevada and Missouri State.  Other road games include Colorado, the final game at Husky Stadium before its much needed renovation, followed by what should decide the Pac-12 North crown and home field for the Championship Game, in addition to a potential Natty contender elimination game, on November 12 on the farm against Heisman runner-up Andrew Luck and Stanford.  (Two years ago the Jeremiah Masoli-led Ducks went into Stanford sky high after beating USC on Halloween a week earlier and found out just how hard playing on the Farm can be as Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck ripped through the Duck defense en route to a 51-42 Cardinal victory.)

With Chip Kelly at the helm, expect another season of Fast, Hard, Finish on both sides of the ball.  The offense is full of speed and playmakers.  The defense has added size to its speed and uses a rotation that allows them to go full speed every play.  In addition, traditionally Chip has had a few tricks on special teams as well.    Duck fans should expect a third straight trip to the BCS, the only question is…which one?

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Released 8/25/11 – Nike unveiled the new Oregon Pro Combat football uniforms today. They will be worn against LSU in the Cowboys Classic in Arlington, Texas. The game will be played in Dallas Cowboys stadium (JerryWorld) on Sept. 3, 2011 and will be shown on prime time ESPN. College GameDay will be on hand for the first week of college football as well. Below are some pictures of the new uniforms, which are similar to what Oregon wore in the BCS National Championship game. The uniforms are again really light helping keep players cool, and they also feature Kevlar, the same material used in bullet proof vests. Again the “BLUR” yellow makes appearances on the helmet, gloves, jersey and shoes, which are all new. The undershirts are Nike dry-fit and sport the players numbers on the sleeves.

UPDATE 12/15/10 – Nike recently released new Nike Pro Combat football uniforms for Oregon to wear in the BCS National Championship game in Glendale, Arizona on January 10th, 2010. The new uniforms are similar to the ones that the Ducks have been wearing this season, with a few notable differences. The uniforms were unveiled at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, with NFL players as models. Here is a picture of what they will be wearing:

*EDIT* To see the exact uniforms that were worn in the BCS National Championship game, scroll down to the bottom of this post.

Close up of the gloves

These new uniforms are similar to the all whites worn against USC this year, with the carbon fiber helmets that were worn during the Portland St. game (yellow O’s on the sides). The numbers are also outlined with the bright yellow that matches the socks and the back of the shoes. The material of the uniform is the newest and best material which is way lighter than the previous uniforms.

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June 2009

Nike has kept these new uniforms a big secret around town, but finally released Oregon’s new football uniforms for the upcoming season. They are similar to the “winged” all black uniforms that Oregon broke out for the Arizona game last season. A few thing to note about the new uniforms.

*All new material – 25% lighter than previous uniforms

*No longer any yellow pants or yellow helmets.

*A new “silver” color is added to the uniform combinations, along with a “carbon fiber” helmet. (down the middle of the helmet it says ‘go hard. go oregon. go ducks’)

I am interested into hearing what others thinking about the new uniforms?

Attached first is a picture of last seasons jerseys, followed by a few pictures of the new ones, along with a link to a slide-show of the new jerseys.

Last seasons uniforms:

NEW 2009-2010 Oregon Football Uniforms:

(Players pictured: 2- Ward, T.J., 39- Tukuafu, Will, 6- Thurmond III, Walter, 7- Costa, Nate, 83- Dickson, Ed)

Click on the link below to view more pictures in a slide-show format on the University of Oregon’s athletic website.

Photo Gallery: New Football Uniforms – GoDucks.com The University of Oregon Official Athletics Web Site

*All photos courtesy of goducks.com*

Here is a look at what Oregon wore in each of their games during the 2009-2010 season. What combination is your favorite?

2009-2010 Season Uniforms:

*Oregon At Boise St. 09-03-2009 (White, White, White) – Jeremiah Masoli

*Oregon Vs. Purdue 09-12-2009 (Green, Green, Green) – Kenjon Barner

*Oregon Vs. Utah 09-19-2009 (White, Green, Grey) – Walter Thurmond III

*Oregon Vs. California 09-26-2009 (*RETRO* Yellow, Green, Yellow) – Ed Dickson

*Oregon Vs Washington St. 10-03-2009 (Black, Yellow, Black) – LaMichael James

*Oregon At UCLA 10-10-2009 (Green, White, Green) – Nate Costa

*Oregon At Washington 10-24-2009 (Black, White, Black) – LaMichael James

*Oregon Vs. USC 10-31-2009 *Halloween “Fright Night”* (Green, Green, Black) – Offensive Unit

*Oregon At Stanford 11-07-2009 (Green, White, White) – Jeff Maehl

*Oregon Vs. Arizona St. 11-14-2009 (Black, Black, Black) – LaMichael James

*Oregon At Arizona 11-21-2009 (Green, White, Black) – Ed Dickson

*Oregon Vs. Oregon St. 12-03-2009 (*RETRO W/NEW “O” Yellow, Green, White) – LaMichael James

*Oregon Vs. Ohio St. 01-01-2010 ROSE BOWL (White, Green, White) – Kenjon Barner

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2010-2011 Season Uniforms:

*Oregon Vs. New Mexico 09-04-2010 (Black, Black, Gray) – Kenjon Barner

*Oregon At Tennessee 09-11-2010 (Green, White W/Green, White) – Cliff Harris

*Oregon Vs. Portland St. 09-18-2010 (Carbon Fiber W/ Yellow O, Green, Gray) – Darron Thomas

*Oregon At Arizona St. 09-25-2010 (Green, White W/Silver, Green) – Kenny Rowe

*Oregon Vs. Stanford 10-02-2010 (Green, Green, Green) – Eddie Pleasant

*Oregon At Washington St. 10-09-2010 (Black, White W/Green, Black) – LaMichael James

*Oregon Vs. UCLA 10-21-2010 (Black, Yellow, Black) – Darron Thomas

*Oregon At USC 10-30-2010(White, White W/Green, White) – Jeff Maehl

*Oregon Vs. Washington 11-06-2010 (Black, Black, Black) – Brandon Bair

*Oregon At California 11-13-2010 (White, White W/Green, Green) – Cliff Harris

*Oregon Vs. Arizona 11-26-2010 (Green, Green, Gray) – Kickoff Team

*Oregon At Oregon St. 12-04-2010 (Carbon Fiber W/ White O, White W/Silver, Gray) – Josh Huff

BCS National Championship Game

*Oregon Vs. Auburn 01-10-2011 (Carbon Fiber W/”Blur” Yellow, White W/Silver and “Blur”, Gray) – LaMichael James

The Portland Timbers are new to the MLS this year, but that doesn’t mean their fans don’t know the game. With a sluggish record in their first year, The Timber Army still shows up STRONG. Especially when they beat the LA Galaxy 3-0 to ruin the Galaxy’s 14-game winning streak. Watch as the Timber Army reacts to Jorge Perlaza’s goal. Amazing.

]]> http://1ac1sports.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/portland-timbers-army-is-for-real/feed/ 0 AC http://1ac1sports.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/we-are-all-witnesses-to-lebron-2-0/ http://1ac1sports.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/we-are-all-witnesses-to-lebron-2-0/#comments Fri, 13 May 2011 05:38:22 +0000 AC http://1ac1sports.wordpress.com/?p=128 Continue reading →]]> www.enliten.me

By Kelly B. McGillivray

When LeBron James decided to take his talents to South Beach, the whole nation responded. It became instant news, full of images of torched jerseys, billboards in heaps on the sidewalk, and even the now famous all caps rant in Comic Sans by Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert, complete with a personal guarantee that the Cleveland Cavaliers would win an NBA Championship “before the self-titled former King wins one.”

But what people didn’t care to think about was how this would change LeBron.  He later fired back, via twitter, that he was “taking mental notes of everyone taking shots at him” this past summer. And now the NBA is starting to understand what LeBron meant.

Welcome to LeBron James 2.0: (which is what I’m going to refer to LeBron as) a more aggressive, intense, and scariest of all, better LeBron James.  On top of that, at least to me, it seems that 2.0 looks bigger and stronger than his Cleveland days, which doesn’t bode well for opponents. In teaming up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who decides to show up every once in a while and prove he’s worth the $110 million Miami has to pay him, (like he did in Game 4 against Boston with the late tip-in) 2.0 had his ups and downs during the regular season, doing so under a constant microscope.  There was a bump with head coach Eric Spoelstra early in the season that made the media rounds and was critiqued from every angle, his inability to hit shots in the final seconds of games, and a regular season that did not go as Miami had hoped.  But in these playoffs, 2.0 has seemed to embrace the Us against the World mentality, which so far has taken the Heat to the Eastern Conference Finals.

He closed out the Boston Celtics in a ruthless, almost revenge-like manner.  He matched Ray Allen shot for shot in Game 4, hitting two huge 3 pointers late, including one directly in front of a Boston bench that was doing their best to distract him.  In Game 5, he fed off the momentum started by James Jones’ 3 pointer with 3:43 left, a shot he assisted on, turning that into two 3 pointers, a steal and uncontested dunk, and an icing-on-the-cake bank shot that sent the defending Eastern Conference Champions home.

So the real question is: why now?

Teamed up with a legit #2, or 1A, however you see it, LeBron seems to have more confidence in his game knowing there’s D Wade right with him to match his intensity.  At the same time, LeBron knows that not everything has to be done by him, a feeling he never felt in Cleveland.  Their collective talent and energy have pushed 2.0 to a level that have the Heat in a position to do something they intended to do, in the words of LeBron himself “not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven” times.  The Heat are eight wins away from getting to the first one.

The target is on their back, in that fiery shade of Heat red.  And what better color to have than red, when staring straight back at them is a team of Bulls, led by the youngest MVP in the history of the NBA in Derrick Rose?  The Philadelphia 76ers were breakfast, which must make the Boston Celtics lunch.  Dinner is being served, and the Heat are hungrier than ever.  LeBron’s stomach is empty, and so is his ring finger.  Come late June he hopes to have finished dessert, and wear a ring that shines brighter than a South Beach summer sun, for the first of what LeBron, D Wade and company hope will be the first of not five, not six, not seven…

Kelly B. McGillivray can be found on Twitter @kellybmcg

Nike recently released new Nike Pro Combat football uniforms for Oregon to wear in the BCS National Championship game in Glendale, Arizona on January 10th, 2010. The new uniforms are similar to the ones that the Ducks have been wearing this season, with a few notable differences. The uniforms were unveiled at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, with NFL players as models. Here is a picture of what they will be wearing:

Close up of the gloves

These new uniforms are similar to the all whites worn against USC this year, with the carbon fiber helmets that were worn during the Portland St. game (yellow O’s on the sides). The numbers are also outlined with the bright yellow that matches the socks and the back of the shoes. The material of the uniform is the newest and best material which is way lighter than the previous uniforms.

This article was brought to you by our friends at SwishScout.com

1 Tyler Honeycutt, UCLA (Sophmore SF,  6’8”, 185 lb.s)- A versatile, ‘do it all’ player’ who knows how to get involved and leave an impact in a game without scoring.  Smart player with great passing and play making ability, but his hallmark is on defense.  Biggest knock is his unselfishness, but if he becomes more assertive and a consistent shot maker, Honeycutt could easily play his way into becoming a lottery pick this year.

Projected Draft Stock: Mid-1st Round

2 Derrick Williams, Arizona (Sophomore PF, 6’8”, 240 lb.s)-Physical banger in the paint who plays aggressive and with a great motor.  Williams is an athletic forward with good footwork and post moves, but limited by his size at 6’8”.  Although undersized for his natural position, he will be able to overcome it to contribute for an NBA team in the paint.  He’s teetering between draft rounds, but expect him to put up big numbers to contend for Conference Player of the Year and raise his stock in 2010-11.

Projected Draft Stock: Mid-Late 1st Round

3 Klay Thompson, Washington State (Junior SG/SF, 6’6”. 200 lb.s)- The best shooter and pure scorer in the conference.  He has a textbook shooting stroke and is deadeye from 3.  He has proven he can lead a team and be a primary scorer, but without elite athleticism, can he do it in the NBA?  Conventional wisdom says no, and he is likely a role player or ‘spark off the bench scorer,’ and a good one at that.  His stock is in questionable, but a solid Junior campaign should show NBA scouts his true worth.

Projected Draft Stock: Late 1st Round

4 Malcolm Lee, UCLA (Junior PG/SG, 6’4”, 195 lb.s)- Lee is a solid scoring point guard who excels at attacking off the dribble. He’s not a traditional backcourt leader, but he gets the job done on defense and with his playmaking.  An indefinite ‘shoot first’ point, but is limited by his perimeter shooting inconsistency.  He has a solid build and size for his position in NBA terms, but his athleticism isn’t outstanding.  I don’t buy him as a legit NBA starter, but could be effective as a back up in the NBA.

Projected Draft Stock: Mid-Late 1st Round

5 Josh Smith, UCLA (Freshman PF/C, 6’10”, 305 lb.s)- The hefty big man has yet to prove what he can do in college, but his size and skill set makes him a legit prospect.  Smith is a landmark in the paint who is physical and talented.  He rebounds, D’s up, has great hands and has solid touch around the basket.  Despite his talents, his perimeter shooting and fundamentals are abysmal.  He is a raw post player who hasn’t proven he has moves or post game to compete, but has the potential.  Conditioning is in question as well, but he may opt for another year instead of becoming a ‘One and Done.’

Projected Draft Stock: Late 1st-Early 2nd Round

6 Abdul Gaddy, Washington (Sophomore PG, 6’3”, 190 lb.s)- Before his college days, Gaddy was a supremely talented and highly touted prospect.  At UW, he disappeared as a freshman and was underutilized.  With his true point guard play and court vision, he is a legit floor general who will emerge in his 2nd season.  His dribbling ability and passing skills are superb.  However, shooting the ball was not his strength as a freshman, nor was using his left hand.  Good PG build and raw talent, but must raise his draft stock with on-court performance.  Love his upside and overall game, but don’t expect him to leave this year unless has an extraordinary season, in which case his stock should greatly rise.

Projected Draft Stock: 2nd Round

7 Isaiah Thomas, Washington (Junior SG, 5’8”, 185 lb.s)- Quintessential college star who dominates play with his shooting and scoring talents.  Maybe no better indicator of his potential NBA success than his predecessor at Washington, Nate Robinson.  Conversely, being very undersized and not a true point greatly inhibit his NBA stock.  Thomas is a nice shooter with explosive quickness and ball handling, but can become too enthralled with the 3-ball.  Another player unlikely to leave after this season, but in the case he does, some NBA team should be willing to take a chance on him to make a spark off the bench.

Projected Draft Stock: 2nd Round or Undrafted