Crawfacts is an assortment of info, unknown facts, suggestions and even an occasional gripe, so enjoy and feel free to comment about anything you wish.
DANNY MILES COURT---It is my understanding that the good folks in Klamath Falls, Oregon are getting closer to their goal of raising $150,000 for a new basketball court at Oregon Tech. The present floor is 46 years old, so a new court is long overdue. Of course the court is named after iconic Oregon Tech basketball coach Danny Miles, who will begin his 41st year this season heading up the Owls and one of the very few great basketball people in the country that is not in the basketball hall of fame, that should be. I learned in the last few months in writing this blog, that Klamath Falls and Oregon Tech, which is headed up by its classy president Chris Maples, are some of nicest people on the planet, so I really would have hoped instead of doing all this awesome fundraising, it would have been nice for Jeld-Wen, an international company with a huge presence in Klamath Falls would have not just stepped up and built Oregon Tech a new floor, after all Jeld-Wen is one of the largest window and door makers in the world and they did just do a naming rights deal for a new soccer stadium in Portland, Oregon. As is all politics are local, all charity should be local.
ANNOUNCERS---And speaking of classy people, you will not find two finer than Dan Belluomini and Rob Closs, who both have had a large presence as basketball analysts on the west coast. Belluomini as I have documented is the historian of west coast basketball, no one knows more about west coast basketball than Dan and has worked so many games over the years for ABC, CBS and Fox.
Closs has been the analyst for Oregon Ducks' basketball for years and knows his stuff and is always studying the game like crazy. I also give him big plaudits for not being afraid to criticize the Ducks when they have it coming to them and when your an Oregon alum and your doing their broadcasts, trust me, you will hear the wrath from many in Eugene and beyond for even the slightest peep of Duck criticism.
I bring these two fine people up because as we are a year away, I really hope that Fox, ESPN and the Pac-12 will take note of their historic work over the years and find a spot for both to continue on their stellar careers. As a matter of fact, big suggestion to the Pac-12, bring both of them on as studio hosts for your new TV network. Pac-12, you could not make a better move, not only from historical standpoint, but also from the fact, it would totally enhance your broadcasts.
NBA LOCKOUT----If you are not on twitter, shame on you. By the way you can follow myself if you are on twitter @wchoops. Twitter is fun for many reasons. It is educational at times, downright hilarious at times and for all you business people out there, it is a great way to promote your business or even a great way for some people who want too, to promote themselves, as many do, or at least try to do.
As sad as the NBA lockout is and please do not say you do not care, cause you should, as by conservative estimates it is going to affect around 50,000 jobs in this country either eliminating them or cutting way back on income and these jobs have nothing to do with players, owners or agents.
But back to twitter, there were a couple of hilarious comments yesterday about the lockout. One person claimed the players are such important people to the culture of sports and the game, that they are underpaid and they are some of the most important people in the world and he was serious. My one answer to that is, the average NBA players makes upward of 2 million per year, in comparison, the average space shuttle astronaut, when the program was running made $71,000 per year. Yau those NBA players are really important. Another great tweet, which made me laugh hard, it is no longer, "Occupy Wall Street", it is now, "Occupy NBA". So true.
MATCH UPS---Here are several reasons why my pointed columns about Portland State-University of Portland and Utah-Utah State not playing this year in men's basketball is a complete joke and should be a total embarrassment for whoever is at fault for the elimination of these rivalries.
1. New Mexico and New Mexico State, in different conferences, are playing each other twice in the pre-season. The state of New Mexico has great people and great basketball fans, both schools say their fans deserve this game, not once, but twice.
2. Despite the Washington Huskies having nothing to gain, they are once again playing cross city competitor Seattle Redhawks. Hats off Lorenzo Romar, for doing what is good for basketball and what is good for the city of Seattle.
3. San Diego State is going across town, to play the horrible basketball program, San Diego. Steve Fisher you are a credit to the game.
4. Despite Boise State leaving for the Mountain West and now not in the same conference as cross-state Idaho which competes in the WAC, the only two D-1 programs in the state will continue to play each other on neutral floor on New Year's Eve in Nampa Idaho. (Before someone corrects me, Idaho State is a D-3, program, who just happens to play in a D-1 league).
5. California will play San Jose State. Schools fairly close, once again, Cal has lots to lose here, but hats off to Mike Montgomery and along these lines, Arizona State will play Northern Arizona in pre-season. another good in-state battle, of which Northern Arizona has a chance to win, against a weak ASU team.
6. Lastly, why is it that the Portland State/U of Portland women are going to play each other this year and not the men?
Do I need to say anymore on this subject? No, I probably do not, but who knows, I might break my word and have even more to say once the season starts and then tons of people will miss these rivalry games and I will be even more hot under the collar, as are hundreds of other fans of the game.
MIZZOU---I have made strong suggestions to Missouri who seems to relish the fact that they continue to tease their huge fan base and alumni, as to where they will finally wind up, either staying in the Big 12 (or whatever it will be called) or bolting for the SEC. A better choice would be to join the Big Sky. They actually then might be able to be competitive in football for a change and also they would make a strong showing in basketball. Hey, why not. Doug Fullerton, get on the phone.
MATCH UPS---No I am not going back to my forever rant, so relax, but here is a great match-up for all basketball fans in the Pacific Northwest. On November 21st, BYU-Hawaii will play Western Washington in Bellingham. This has the makings of a classic D-2 game, which by the way, D-2 basketball on the west coast is awesome. BYU-Hawaii lost last year in the championship game of D-2 and will probably lead the entire nation this year in scoring and Western Washington not only has a great program each year, but they have one of the finest basketball coaches in all of basketball in Brad Jackson. He will be starting his 27th year for the Vikings. Quite frankly Jackson is such a good coach, he could make the Washington Generals, the worst team in all of basketball, a winner. My hats off to him for his work all these years in basketball, but more importantly developing so many fine young men who have gone on to be successful people. like Jackson has been for years.
emails are always welcome at crawscorner@gmail.com, or please follow on twitter @wchoops
Thank you for reading this blog and all the basketball columns, greatly appreciated.
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