Pshaw, Let him go. Uncle Phil will buy us a new one.

What's wrong with a guy pursuing a better
and more advanced career?

I doubt if Chip will be successful, but it is an opportunity.

Now days, if your successful, you are maligned, ridiculed and taxed for being better than the common crowd. The ordinary expects to be treated as the exceptional.

That isn't how life works. Life isn't fair.

Riley left OSU, failed, then returned to OSU. Maybe Chip and Chip2 too?

True dat what rthoward said.

The 47% are just that, the bottom 47%. Just as the bottom 98% are also. Life ain't fair. It's just life.

The ordinary wants to be treated as if they are special. Ordinary government workers demand extra-ordinary PERS benefits and get it. So more common people demand more free stuff. And get it. From whom?

He has had much success but is one of the creepier in a field with a goodly number of creeps. Philly fans will be a great match for him. If it doesn't pan out there is politics.

I always knew that in the end Oregon would give this guy the bird.

I call him Dollar Phil.

I hope Chip stays, but one thing is certain: Andy Reid is gone. It's time. There's also rumors of the Cowboys in play for both guys.
But rumors in sports are common. Last year it was Kelly and the Bucs. Sports rumors are always in play so I don't get too bummed out 'til it's official. Especially from some sources.

Remember, to hear Dwight Jaynes tell it the Blazers were about to be sold. That's why we were dumping contracts and holding off on getting a new GM - so the new owners could make those decisions themselves.

After a while you spot the patterns. Another one is the, "We've got to trade this guy before it's too late" story. That's always good for a few downer articles.

Dwight had a field day with the Nic Batum restricted agent stuff, reporting that Nic's offer from Minnesota would screw up our ability to get Indiana's center, even though the Godfather was all wrong about the facts, and got called out for it by other sports guys. No problem. You just move onto the next story.

LaMarcus Aldridge? Dump him now. The Blazers bench: Terrible.

Some of these writers become bitter merchants of misery projecting themselves onto sports and not realizing that for most of us, it's an escape. A form of entertainment.

So, of course, there were around 10 reasons why this Pac 12 championship game was the end of western civilization. Relax. It's the first one.

The key for me is what else would you be watching instead? In that sense the Stanford-UCLA Pac 12 Championship game was great because the alternatives for that particular night were bleak.
I divide sports into 3 categories: Must Watch, May Watch, and Can't Watch. Clearly the Blazers are not in "Must Watch" territory, and drift into "Can't Watch" every few games. But last night, I happened to watch and they were great.

I'm not looking to sports for a way to feel depressed - that's what the regular news is for. I like sports writers who can still capture the glory when something does go right. I liked Jim Murray of the LA Times. Where did those guys go?

Wouldn't it be great to wake up this morning and read a Jim Murray column about Nic Batum and his 2 game-winning shots last night? (One was taken back in a replay.) Murray would have been all over that. Meanwhile, our guys were too preoccupied waiting for something miserable to write about it.

That's right, Nic Batum, the guy our local sports guys have been questioning all along, hit a game-winning shot that Larry Bird would have been proud of. I enjoyed that. For a while anyway that makes the Blazers "May Watch" again, taking them out of the "Can't Watch" category they were in against Boston.

Oh, and the Blazers bench was much better. In fact, it was kind of fun seeing Barton and the British dude begin to play. Leonard is also developing in front of our eyes. It's fun to see. That's the word we're looking for here, right? Fun.

For me, the Ducks were fun this year. I thought they were a tremendous interpretation of the possibilities of playing football. In effect, they have reinvented what happens between the plays and that's major.

They were "Must Watch" at least until the blowouts.

Sadly the Eagles were "Can't Watch." Andy Reid, who used to be fun like the NFL version of Chris Farley, is now a different guy. He actually looks like a different person since his son died, and the joy is gone. This is part of a bigger decline. In a football sense, the Eagles have been lost on defense since Jim Johnson died in 2009.

Hey, there's the solution:

If I were the owner of the Eagles, I'd skip the flashy offenses for now, and go after a great all-around coach. Somebody who could be a leader of pros, not just college kids. I'd try and get the coach from Stanford.

I wouldn't blame Chip a bit for giving the NFL a try. Will he succeed? Doubt it if he sticks to his current game plan. If he has a better NFL style game in his hip pocket to pull out then yeah, he could make it.

Why do I say that? Simple really, big pro style defensive lines man handle the Ducks offense every time the run up against one. Lighter/faster offensive lines don't do well against heavier/stronger/almost as fast defensive lines. It's physics.

Chip's offense is an interesting development in college football. It is exciting to watch.

The problem with Chip is that personally, he's a complete a.h. He's in the entertainment industry, but he acts as though he can just be arrogant and rude to everyone without consequences. He's Leona Helmsley with a double chin and a visor. I can't wait to be rid of him. I wish it had been last year.

There is also the matter of cheating on the NCAA rules, but that's a cesspool everywhere, and so it's kind of a wash. It's the a.h.-icism that kills him in my book.

Then there's the takeover of the U of O by Nike, but that's not on Chip.

Once football is over, I think Portland is going to develop a good relationship with the current crop of Blazers. Not love, but a good relationship.

The Chipster is just another version of "Pete the Cheat" Carroll, and the Chipster will be out of town by February, a step ahead of the NCAA, just like Pete did a USC.

No way Chip is going to hang around to actually deal with the effects of his mis management will have on the Ducks for the next three years. There won' be any more 11 - 1 seasons, and Chip, who caused the problem, hasn't got he gus to hang around and have those coming losses on his career record. Ego won't le him

Personal responsibility isn't Chip's forte.

I don't see the Philadelphia fans warming to Chip, and the press back East wouldn't go for his personality.

He'd definitely need a new look. Right now he looks like the guy you'd see driving the zoo train.

If Andy Reid goes, I'd like to get Bill Cowher back on the sidelines.

Bill McD -

The former and extremely successful Steelers head coach in Philly?

That would be interesting.

Philly fan reaction would be "entertaining" a a minimum, though if Cowher can win there fan acceptance would come along.

Chip's legendary distaste for stupid media questions will probably keep him from going to an industry segment that loves "sideline reporters".

Thanks for the love. I can coach with the big boys but I don't know how to talk to the media. Given that, I'll need to stick with a college gig for now. Anyone know a good PR coach? I could use a few tips on how to pretend to be polite and interesting.

By all accounts his players love Chip. Chip does not love the media, the alums, the donors and all that jazz. He seems to suffer those as shortly as possible.