Around Oregon Sports: Masoli Cleared, Previewing The Ducks, And The Portland Beavers Last Home Stand

Written by Nick Poust | 03 September 2010

The Oregon Ducks are heavily favored in their opener against the New Mexico Lobos, but starting quarterback Darron Thomas and head coach Chip Kelly aren’t overlooking their first opponent. They aren’t quite sure what the Lobos will throw at them. "You don't know (about matchups) until you kick off,” Kelly said. “There's a little bit of unknown going into this one.”

The Portland Beavers host their final series at PGE Park this weekend, facing the Las Vegas 51s for four games beginning Friday night. It will be an emotional farewell for a team that has been in existence since 1903. The team has a very rich history in Portland, and it’s sad to see them go. The city needs its baseball and has always had its baseball. But after this four-game set, the Beavers will be no more. Then the question becomes, when will the grand sport return and where will they play?

Switching to the OSU Beavers, Beyond the Beat's own Ben Bradea previews Saturday's game against TCU and breaks down if the Beavers will return from Dallas with a win in their first game of the season.

Former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was originally deemed ineligible to play for Ole Miss this season, but he won his appeal against the NCAA and has been cleared to play immediately.

"There is no question in my mind Jeremiah is in the right place," head coach Houston Nutt said when the appeal was filed.

The Oregon Public Health Division has found that “multiple factors” contributed to the outbreak of triceps compartment syndrome and rhabdomyolysis that struck a majority of the McMinnville High School varsity football team a month ago. The contributors included “intense, short-duration, repetitive burst(s) of resistance exercise that focused on a single muscle compartment … environmental stress from heat and unrecognized dehydration."

Twenty-two players began to suffer from the rare muscle disorder after an August 15th practice. During that practice, the team did push-ups and chair-dips in a non-air-conditioned room on a 90-degree day.

The Portland Timbers won their final game at PGE Park before it will be renamed and remodeled for the 2011 MLS season. Ryan Pore’s 83rd minute goal broke a scoreless tie to push his team past the Puerto Rico Islanders in front of a sellout crowd of 15,418.

“It’s one of the most memorable goals I have so far in my career,” Pore said. “It’s the last game at PGE Park as a USL franchise, and it meant a lot to me and to the fans and the team to leave with a win.”

The Oregon Ducks men’s and women’s cross-country teams enter their first meet of the season, the inaugural John Frank Invitational held in Corvallis, ranked third and fifth nationally in the pre-season polls. University of Oregon director of track and field and cross-country Vin Lananna believes a third-place ranking is accurate for the men, but added “our women will be better than fifth.”

photo: weareducks