Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode #26

In this week's episode, Derek Weber comes on to talk college football, with the Ducks and the Beavers opening their season this coming weekend. They also talk some Timbers with their season winding down, and of course have usual segments, including "This Week in Oregon Sports History," "What Plucks My Duck," and "What Eagers My Beaver." You can check the podcast out at blogtalkradio.com/oregonsportsradio or in the nifty player on the right.

This Week in Oregon Sports History: 9/1/1838 and 9/5/2009

9/1/1838 - William Clark, world famous explorer and national hero, passed away at the age of 68 in Missouri. What does he have to do with Oregon sports? Without him, there may not be any Oregon as we know. Yes, I know I'm pushing it.

More importantly (for the purposes of this blog), going way back to September 5, 2009, poor Joey Harrington was cut from the eventual Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. The former Duck, who once had a billboard put up in Times Square to aid in his campaign for the Heisman, never quite had his career go as planned. After being drafted at #3 by the Detroit Lions in 2002, Harrington would go on to struggle on some terrible teams in the Motor City, sporting an 18-37 record as a starter. He was then traded to Miami to serve as a backup to Daunte Culpepper, before bouncing around the NFC South with Atlanta and New Orleans for a couple of years. As Derek Ward said on today's podcast, his career may not have gone according to plan, but it went about how you would expect by anyone drafted by the Lions.

This Week in Oregon Sports History: 7/23/1984

As it turns out, 1984 was not the dystopian catastrophe George Orwell predicted. Instead, the Russians were boycotting the Summer Olympics in LA, the greatest NBA draft class in history was about to settle in with their new teams, Vanessa Williams renounced her Miss America crown because of Penthouse, and crack began to take the LA underground by storm.

More importantly (for the purposes of this blog), on July 23 of that same year, Northwest native and 3-time NBA All-Star Brandon Roy was born in Seattle, Washington. Roy played his high school basketball at Garfield in Seattle. After declaring for the NBA draft before college, he withdrew his name from consideration and went on to have a very successful NCAA career at the University of Washington, where he would earn Pac-10 Player of the Year and All American Honors his senior year.

After graduating, Roy was selected 6th overall by the T-Wolves and acquired in a draft day trade by the Blazers in 2006. "The Natural" would go on to win Rookie of the Year award, and earn All-NBA second and third team honors in 2009 and 2010, respectively, despite dealing with several injuries. Along with his 3 All-Star selections, Roy is the face of the Portland Trailblazers and has the luxury of having a last name that could pass for a first name.