The reboot

This post marks the start of a new, concerted effort to actually start posting on a regular basis. Between Facebook, tweeting, watching insane dunks on Youtube—and actually doing my job once in awhile—I'll be posting bits from my overflowing notebooks and weighing in on Oregon sports happenings.

So...what's going on? Despite the fact that football season is well underway and I've watched several thousand hours of high school volleyball in the past few weeks, the thing I'm most excited about right now is the beginning of the NBA preseason. Specifically, I'm thrilled that Andre Miller looks like he just might be the perfect fit for a young Trail Blazers team that needs someone to take pressure off of Brandon Roy in the back court.

Miller went 5-for-6 from the floor in last night's 98-86 win over the Sacramento Kings and finished with 16 points and four assists. From The Oregonian's Jason Quick: "Miller barked out plays and directed teammates with hand motions and head nods, establishing order to what was otherwise a rusty and sloppy Blazers performance. When Miller left in the second quarter, the team scored five points in the half's final 5:49."

Greg Oden also looked good, scoring 18 points and grabbing nine boards. It's all very encouraging, but in the end, it's all very meaningless, too. The Blazers faithful tend to exhibit just a tad of homerism (understandable, considering Portland is a one-team town...okay, one legitimate team town) so let's not get ahead of ourselves here. It was the first preseason game, and the team still remembers its ungraceful exit from the playoffs in the first round last year. The Sidelines is still in "wait and see" mode, but things definitely looked encouraging.

Locally, I'll be interested to see how Pendleton handles it's homecoming football game tomorrow night. The Bucks take on undefeated The Dalles-Wahtonka and you'd have to be one of the kids' parents to pick Pendleton to win, but that doesn't mean that some good won't come from the game. This is a character test. I'm not expecting a win, but I'll be disappointed if the Bucks don't come out with some pride and lay their hats on some Eagle-Indians. If Mountain View beat them 48-0 and Crook County embarrassed them 34-19, I'm going with a generous 37-14 final.

As for Hermiston's away match at Crook County, well, there is absolutely no reason the Bulldogs should lose that game. The Dawgs should be in a surly mood after barely losing to TDW last week. Let's say 42-21, which would give Hermiston its first blowout of the year.