Category: Oregon Legends

The Greatest Oregon Duck of All Time Bracket: Sweet 16 and Elite 8

We’re rolling on in our ‘Greatest Duck of All Time’ bracket. Here are our picks for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8.

The past couple of days have been incredibly entertaining in Oregon Duck Twitter circles.

When we set out earlier this week to crown the Greatest Duck of All Time, we didn’t quite expect that it would catch on so much among the fan base. It’s a topic of conversation that spans generations and gives everyone a chance to weigh in on who they think is the best Duck to ever live.

While some focus has been spent on complaining about the players who didn’t make the cut to get into the 32-person bracket, for the most part, it has been an awesome experience to see everyone weigh in and vote on who they think should advance.

On Monday morning, we put out the first round of the bracket and had fans vote on Twitter to advance who they saw fit, with thousands of votes pouring in. That public bracket is down to an Elite 8 now. In order to catch up, I wanted to show how we advanced the bracket on the Sco-ing Long Podcast with JD Pluid and Shane Potter.

Here is what our bracket looks like after the first round (Note: Our bracket is different than the outcome of the voting on Twitter).

If you want to listen to the full podcast where we break down every matchup, you can do so here.

And now onto the Sweet 16, and the Elite 8 Here’s who we advanced through the next two rounds on the podcast. To find out who moves on from the Final 4 and is ultimately crowned the Greatest Duck of All Time, check back in on Friday at Ducks Wire.

Oregon men’s basketball all-time roster: Duck Legends

Some legendary players have come through Eugene over the years. We cobbled together our all-time roster of Ducks.

We are gearing up for one of the most electric and entertaining times of the year in the world of sports, with the annual NCAA Tournament just around the corner.

While the Oregon Ducks are unlikely to be in the mix this year after a disappointing 2023 season has left the team with a path to the NIT instead, Duck fans are familiar with March Madness after a handful of deep runs over the past couple of decades.

So what would an all-time Oregon Ducks roster look like? Here at Ducks Wire, we decided to find out, choosing one coach, two assistants, and 10 players to make up the all-time roster.

The Greatest Oregon Duck of All Time Bracket: Round One

Who is the greatest Oregon Duck of all time? Here is the 1st round of our 32-person bracket, working towards the crowning of a GOAT.

Who is the greatest Oregon Duck of all time?

It’s a loaded question and one that has a handful of different answers that are all respectable, and hold a lot of truth. It’s a question that spans the sporting landscape, not just touching on football players inside Autzen Stadium, but traverses over to the hardwood at Mac Court and Matthew Knight Arena, and finds a home at the track at Hayward Field as well.

It’s a question that has stirred up a debate for decades in Eugene, and likely will go on for years into the future as the Ducks continue to see massive success across all of the major sports.

It’s a question that we are trying to find an answer to here at Ducks Wire and on the Sco-ing Long Podcast. 

In honor of the start of March, I sat down with JD Pluid and Shane Potter, co-hosts of The Flock Pod, and we went through a 32-person bracket of who I deemed worthy of the title ‘Greatest Duck of All Time.” Cutting the bracket down to just 32 was incredibly tough, and it left a long list of honorable mentions. Seeding the bracket was even tougher, pitting some of the most beloved figures in Oregon sports up against one another in the first and second rounds.

Here is a look at the seeded bracket:

In the end, we boiled down the bracket of 32 to a single winner, crowning one Oregon legend as the Greatest Duck of All Time. To hear the entire conversation, you can listen to the Sco-ing Long Podcast.

If you’re more of a reading fan, here is the first round of the bracket:

Atlanta Falcons release former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota

The Atlanta Falcons released former Oregon Ducks superstar quarterback Marcus Mariota, making him a free agent.

The Atlanta Falcons released former Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota on Tuesday, ending his tenure with the squad after just one season.

Mariota signed with Atlanta last offseason, reuniting with former offensive coordinator Arthur Smith at Tennessee, who took the head coaching job with the Falcons.

The 29-year-old was starting for the first time since 2019 after spending a few years as a backup to Derek Carr in Las Vegas. He went 5-8 in 13 games before getting benched for rookie Desmond Ridder and finishing the year on the injured reserve with a knee injury.

All told, Mariota threw for 2,219 yards with 15 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a 61.3 % completion rate.

Mariota will now look to catch on with his fourth NFL team this offseason, and quite frankly a starting job may be hard for the former Oregon star to find.

His best bet may be to secure a backup job with a team that has an oft-injured quarterback, which could afford him the opportunity to step in as needed during the regular season.

Mariota won the Heisman Trophy in 2014 after throwing for 42 touchdowns and just four interceptions while leading the Ducks to a Rose Bowl victory over Florida State.

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Marcus Mariota subject of new Netflix documentary series detailing 2022 NFL season

Marcus Mariota is the subject of a new Netflix documentary series titled ‘Quarterback’ about the happenings of the 2022 NFL season.

It’s hard to find many people in the world who would tell you that they really know a lot about Oregon Ducks legend Marcus Mariota. He’s a quiet guy, and has never been one to go out searching for attention.

That’s how it was when he was in Eugene, bringing Oregon their first ever Heisman Trophy, and that’s how it’s been during his NFL career in Tennessee, Las Vegas, and Atlanta.

So it came as a bit of a surprise to see that Mariota, the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback, is the subject of a new Netflix documentary series titled ‘Quarterback,’ detailing the happenings of the 2022 NFL season through the eyes of Mariota, Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, and eventual Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, the QB of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The series is said to give unprecedented access into the lives of these players, who were mic’d up for every game, and it premieres this summer.

It was an interesting year for Mariota in particular, as he had a chance to get his NFL career back on the right track after serving as a backup for Derek Carr for several years with the Raiders. Mariota was named the starting QB for the Falcons before the year and played in 13 games, throwing for 15 TD and 9 INT.

Mariota was eventually benched for rookie QB Desmond Ridder, and he soon left the team once his wife gave birth to their first child.

It will be interesting to see the behind-the-scenes footage for this year in Mariota’s life, and you can guarantee that every Oregon fan will be tuned in.

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Sabrina Ionescu once again makes WNBA history with trading card sale

Sabrina is out here making history in the offseason, to nobody’s surprise.

If you’ve been along for the ride in the career of Oregon Ducks’ legend Sabrina Ionescu, then you’re pretty used to reading headlines line “Sabrina Ionescu makes history” or “Sabrina Ionescu sets new record.”

After her historic college career in Eugene and her impressive start to a WNBA career with the New York Liberty, no shortage of feats has been accomplished. This past week, Ionescu accomplished another feat, this time in the offseason, and off the basketball court.

According to TMZ Sports, a rookie trading card of Ionescu has officially become the most expensive WNBA trading card in history, selling for $10,800 on Sunday night.

The card — a 2020 Panini Prizm WNBA Black Gold rookie card — was the first of the WNBA variety to ever net five figures in a sale. TMZ reports that there are only 5 of these cards in existence.

“The table is set for one of the most exciting WNBA seasons to date and Ionescu is right at the forefront,” PWCC exec Jesse Craig said. “Collectors are anticipating that energy and excitement and looking to buy premier Ionescu cards. We’re entering an interesting phase here where supply for these high-end cards won’t be able to match the demand.”

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Which Oregon Duck legends should be added to the ‘Shout!’ video?

Does the ‘Shout!’ video need to include more Oregon legends? That’s up for debate. If you do want to include more, here’s who should be added.

One of the greatest current traditions in all of sports takes place inside Autzen Stadium during the intermission between 3rd and 4th quarters of football games.

Fans know it’s coming. Players know it’s coming. TV crews across the nation know it’s coming, readying their cameras for the exuberant explosion getting set to take place in Eugene.

The singing of “Shout!” has become one of the time-honored traditions in college football over the last decade or so. An ode to Otis Day and the Knights, the popular fictional band from National Lampoon’s Animal House — which was filmed on the University of Oregon campus — the crowd at Autzen always turns into a frenzy for a span of several minutes in between quarters, with a well-produced Nike video playing on the jumbotron.

The video — a remake of arguably the most popular scene in Animal House — features some of the most legendary athletes and figures to be associated with the Ducks over the years. Here are just a few featured in the video:

  • Marcus Mariota
  • Joey Harrington
  • Ahmad Rashad
  • LaMichael James
  • Kenjon Barner
  • Dennis Dixon
  • Kenny Wheaton
  • Dan Fouts
  • Ashton Eaton
  • Galen Rupp
  • Neil Everett
  • English Gardner

That’s a great list of Oregon legends, but it is undoubtedly missing some names. This past week on the Sco-ing Long podcast, I was lucky enough to talk to Joey Harrington, one of the prominent figures of that ‘Shout!’ video. Of course, I asked him whether or not he thought the video should be updated to include some of the newest Oregon legends. His answer may surprise you.

It’s hard to disagree with Harrington. While the list of great Oregon athletes will continue to grow, the competition for screen time will grow as well. It’s only so long of a song, and by adding a handful of Duck legends who were left out the first time, you would be taking away from those who made it.

However, in a perfect world, there’s no cap on who gets to be in the video, and “Shout!” becomes a defacto “fan version” of the Oregon Ducks Hall of Fame.

In this world, here are some names that I would like to see added to the video, in no particular order.

Note: It needs to be said that creating this list was much harder than I originally thought. My first draft had well over 50 names on it of players who I believed should make the cut. Even in a perfect world, that’s too many. So I forced myself to cut it down to 30 names. There are unlimited honorable mentions that I could go through. However, these are the most deserving in my mind. 

WATCH: First official trailer drops for ‘AIR,’ a movie about Phil Knight and Michael Jordan

The first trailer for ‘AIR,’ a movie about Phil Knight and Nike’s pursuit of Michael Jordan has officially dropped.

You can feel the buzz starting to grow where moviegoers and sports lovers overlap. When you take a subject that contains arguably the greatest basketball player to ever live — Michael Jordan — and the most famous sports apparel brand in the history of the world — Nike — you’ve got sports fans excited. Then you put actors like Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, and Viola Davis on the big screen to depict that subject matter?

Now you’ve got a movie.

The first official trailer for “AIR” came out on Thursday morning. It is a movie directed by Ben Affleck, depicting the journey that Nike co-founder and Oregon Ducks legend Phil Knight — played by Affleck — went through back in the 1980s when trying to get his company off the ground by creating a shoe-line around Michael Jordan.

The creation of the Air Jordan came about with the help of Sonny Vaccaro, who is played by Matt Damon.

For Oregon fans and sneakerheads who have read the book Shoe Dog, written by Knight, they know this story well. But soon a much larger group of people will be familiar with the improbable events that took place, creating the brand that is Nike, and helping build the legend that is Michael Jordan.

The movie is set to release on April 5, 2023.

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A dozen Oregon Ducks football records that are unlikely to be broken

What are the records that will never be touched at Oregon? There are actually quite a few.

In the wake of LeBron James making history on Tuesday night by becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, passing Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, we got to thinking here at Ducks Wire.

That feat by James was unimaginable for much of his career. With Abdul-Jabbar’s record standing for almost 39 years, it seemed outside the realm of possibility that anyone would score more than 38,388 points in a single career. Of course, then King James came around and made it all possible.

So, what are some records at the University of Oregon that might be unlikely to be broken in the future? Are there any feats that Duck football players have accomplished over the past century in Eugene that were so legendary that they will never be replicated?

This question intrigued me. I dove into Oregon’s history books and looked at some of the most notable performances. As it turns out, there are quite a few statistics that it would be hard to break going forward, whether it be due to the fact that players typically don’t stick around for four years in college anymore, or that the transfer portal sees to it that few guys are at a single school for their entire career.

I would certainly love to be wrong, but here are the records that I don’t think will be broken in Eugene for a long time coming.

‘I wouldn’t have missed it;’ Oregon legend Phil Knight shares historic moment with LeBron James

Phil Knight signed LeBron James to Nike 20 years ago. On Tuesday, he was with the King to celebrate history.

Unless you happen to be living under a rock or were not tuned into the world of sports on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, then you probably are aware that NBA legend LeBron James made history with the Los Angeles Lakers in the past 24 hours, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,390 career points.

James broke Abdul-Jabbar’s record on Tuesday night in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, scoring 38 points, when he needed 36 in order to pass the historical mark of 38.388, which had stood for nearly 39 years.

As you would expect, there was an outcrying of support for LeBron both in the arena and on social media throughout the night. One of the best photos of the night came from Andrew Bernstein, one of the most legendary sports photographers in NBA history. The photo showed the moment that LeBron released the record-breaking shot; in the background is a sea of fans, all with their phones out trying to record history. There was a lone fan sitting on the baseline, taking it all in with his own two eyes, though.

That man was Nike co-founder and Oregon Ducks legend Phil Knight.

This legendary photo will be circulated for decades to come, and it was cool to see Knight get some recognition on Tuesday night, though many commenters had no idea who he was just by appearance.

After the game, Knight and James met up and shared some kind words. Here’s a video of that interaction, along with some of the best reactions to Knight’s historic photo on Tuesday night: