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Washington State @ Gill & The Coca-Cola Classic

By
angry
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11

Basketball| I expect the Beavers to win this game for two reasons:

1.  The Beavs have done a great job of neutralizing the best player on the court (this player is always on the opposition; the Beavers never have the best player). It’s a smart tactic that they do well, and this bodes poorly for Klay Thompson.

2. The chance to finish .500. With a win tonight the Beavs will be playing Saturday for a chance to qualify for the NIT and finish even on the year.

As you can see, the Beavers have both the motivation and strategy needed to win this game, and those two things win college basketball games. The only way they lose this game is if they go outside the moment and look ahead to Saturday. The home crowd should help them maintain focus. Beavs by 6. Also, how is this game not on television? Washington State and Oregon State need to figure out a way to get their matchups on TV. Got snubbed in football, now this. It’s 2010, guys.

Baseball| The Beavs, currently ranked #10 in the nation, begin the Coca Cola Classic versus UC Riverside.  In that game they hold a 10-3 advantage right now, but Kevin Rhoderick is in the game, so hold your breath. The opening game is an appetizer, with the main course served tomorrow versus #2 Arizona State. After that, a dud of a team in Utah State and then the ever-feisty Cal Poly. OSU should take 3 games in this tournament. Anything less is a disappointment. My feeling is that, while the Beavers have nice pitching, it’s still not elite. Arizona State will rack up somewhere in the 7 run area versus these guys and tantalize Beav hitters enough to come out with a win. Think something like 7-3, Sun Devils.

Note: It’s interesting that Pat Casey put KRhod in this game with a huge lead; he’ll be forced to use a different closer tomorrow in what he clearly views as a more important game. Smart move, and don’t think for a second it’s not calculated. Rhoderick, as is his wont, dominated the no-pressure-7-run-lead situation and padded his stats. This makes it difficult when apologists like myself want to wax criticism–we have to contend with his great numbers. I don’t like this player, as you can probably see, so I’ll be following the guy closely and exposing him for the fraud that he is.

OSU @ Galen and Tennesse @ Goss

By
angry
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48

First of all, the basketball team…Jack, a key point you missed is the importance of this game in the overall progress of the program. I think a realistic goal for this season is the NIT. Technically a team doesn’t need a .500 record to qualify, but no sub .500 team has ever qualified since the rule change, so for all intents and purposes the Beavers need to win out.

That means tonight’s game is enormous. In the national picture it’s a blip on the radar, but for this program and the progress they are trying to make, it’s a stepping stone for both next season and respectability. Huge.

We know how poorly the football team performs in these “take the next step” type of games. How will the basketball team fair? I’m not sure. We’re two years into his “presidency”, and I still don’t know enough about Craig Robinson to say if he’ll have the team focused for this type of game. From what I’ve seen, I think he will, but the fact that the game is at the Galen Center makes me nervous. The Trojans, despite having nothing to play for (i.e. for those unaware, the Trojans inflicted self-imposed sanctions and will be barred from post-season play), will not be pushovers. What fascinates me about USC, and makes me respect them greatly, is how hard they have played when they could have packed it in months ago. It’s remarkable, really. They have a better conference record than the Beavers, a 16-11 overall record, and have knocked off some tough teams (e.g. Cal, UCLA) in the past few weeks while annihilating Washington by 25 just over a month ago. Like most teams, the Trojans perform better at home, and the Beavs have been poor on the road. This bodes poorly for the Beavs. And don’t assume the Trojans are just showing up because the game is on their schedule–they want to play tonight, they want to win, and this particular writer thinks they will.

As far as the baseball team, I just want to say that that was an impressive dismantling of Tennessee yesterday. 17-1. Wow. I’ve been watching baseball (mostly MLB) for over 20 years, and one thing I’ve concluded, mostly through empirical observation, is that it’s a sport of averages. It seems like every time I see team x dismantle team y, team x scores no runs the next day. Look for the Beavers to drop this game and score little in the process. Something like 5-1, Vols.

And speaking of the baseball team, what is the deal with Kevin Rhoderick? This is yet another 20 year old machismo knucklehead who thinks he can overpower hitters with his straight as the Marlboro Man fastball. How many guys have to fail with this approach before they have an epiphany, or before coaches teach them the art of movement, location, and change of speeds? Does anyone feel confident with “KRhod” closing games? This guy is the Armando Benitez of college closers.

Bob De Carolis Responds

By
angry
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13

Bob De Carolis responds to my concern over a $40 minimum donation:

Angry, sorry for the tardy response. Was out of town and delegated this to staff but we dropped the ball, our bad.  Here is what I found out.

While the online process is very convenient for the donor it comes with a significant price per transaction to the athletic department because it is contracted out to a third party. So at some level below $40 we would actually lose money, therefore the minimum. To correct this in the short term we will be adding some type of info on the site for those that choose to donate below the minimum to either send a check directly to BASF or better yet call us toll free with credit card handy and we can process the donation internally over the phone. That piece should be up by next week some time. Long term we will be searching for a new less expensive third party. Hope this all helps. Thanks for bringing this to our attention and thanks for your support of the Beavers. If you have any additional questions let me know.

Bob De Carolis

Director of Athletics

Oregon State University

541-737-7373

Go Beavs!

Fair enough, Bob, but it makes me wonder why donations are being processed through a third party when there is so much cheap labor available on campus, and why the third party is so expensive (i.e. is there a bidding process, accountability, etc?), and why there isn’t information about small donations via check or credit card on the site.

Also, “thanks for your support of the Beavers” cracked me up, and it would crack you up as well, if you saw what I wrote in the body of my email. Though, I might actually send a few bucks now that I have received an explanation.

In the end, I am happy with Bob’s response, especially the fact that he is now aware of the problem and seems ready and willing to improve it. I’m just disappointed that the leadership didn’t see the flaws in this system on their own.

Beavers AD Report: "We Want Your Money; No We Don't"

By
angry
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32

Feb. 17, 2010

We’re a few weeks into the annual fund drive that raises resources to support our student-athletes, and I’m encouraged with the results so far. Launched February 1, this year’s Beaver Athletic Student Fund (BASF) campaign is serving as our springboard to double our donor base by 2012.

You’ve heard it from me before. We’ve begun an all-out effort to grow our donor base from roughly 6,000-where it’s hovered for the last several years-to 12,000. Our “Expanding Beaver Nation—12,000 Strong by 2012” campaign is officially under way with volunteers making calls for renewals and new donors.

Although it’s still early in this two-month effort, I can see that many in Beaver Nation are hearing the message and responding. Momentum is on the rise. Last year at this time, we had 2,100 donors. This year our numbers already tally 2,300 at the same point. Additionally, our stats show that we have gained 170 new donors in the early stages of this year’s fund-raising drive.

http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/021710aab.html

So there I stood on the brink of becoming the latest BASF donator, one of the “12,000 needed by 2012” when…Bobby D’s greedy palm stood in my path and bitch slapped me across the nose. Apparently my $10, $20, $30, $35, or $39 donation is not enough. No, the “minimum accepted online donation is $40”!  So get this, gentlemen, an AD who has cried and begged for money the past two seasons, is not willing to accept my donation of $39.99. Halt! He needs that extra penny or the transaction is not worth his time.

First of all, if I am running a fundraiser, and I truly need money, I am accepting any donation above breaking even, and I believe it costs 2% to process a credit card transaction. In the case of my 10 dollars, that would be $0.20, leaving the BASF folks with a net profit of $9.80 or 4900% markup and a 98% gross margin. I think any business in America would be thrilled with those numbers in a time of prosperity, yet Bob Decarolis and the OSU athletic department find those numbers offensive, even in this time of recession.

So what if I open my wallets and donate $39.99? That’s a $0.80 processing fee, leaving $39.19 to the athletic department. My cursory knowledge of high finance should be enough to figure out this calculation as well. Yes! That is a 4,900% markup and a 98% gross margin.

And what about the $40 donation that Bob insists on? Well, as you can imagine, that is $40-.80=$39.20 or a 4,900.00% markup and 98% gross margin.

That is right folks, since 2% is a ratio (2/100), there is actually equal markup on the higher donation and the same exact gross margin. Which in short suggests that the Beavers AD is more interested in gouging your wallet than getting your donation for all important facilities, scholarships, and upgrades.

What is likely going on here is probably not so calculated. Bob D probably thinks that someone who can definitely afford $10 or $39 is in the same economic class as someone who can afford $40, and he is right, but what he’s failed to understand (yet again) is that we’re in a recession and $40 is someone’s cable bill, gas, or groceries, where as $10 is much easier to part with. Why not just open the donation process to everyone? Is two people donating $20 not the same as one person donating $40?

I’m a huge supporter of Bobby D when it comes to the hiring process, but I view this latest campaign as yet another marketing nightmare, missed opportunity, and bottom line a turn-off for this particular Beaver. Bob could have had my $10, $20, or even $25, but he’s not getting my $40.

David Pa’aluhi to Leave Program?

By
angry
-
42

Back to discussing football. Last week we learned we’d be losing Keith Pankey for the season. This week it appears David Pa’aluhi is leaving the program to move back to Hawaii and pursue a career in the military.

While not a finalized decision, if Pa’aluhi does leave, the depth chart takes a serious blow. There is more depth on the outside than in the middle. My guess is that Tony Wilson would get the nod in the middle since he was set to be 2nd team last year before going down. Robinson might get a (brief) look, but he had better bulk up quite a bit–last season he was completely over matched.  He’ll likely be 2nd string, though, and that is scary. Not sure Akuna is ready, physically, for the middle. Doctor, Welch, Unga–they all seem better suited for the outside rather than stopping runs between the tackles.

Clearly the best case scenario is that Pa’aluhi has a change of heart and remains with the team, as he was a very nice player last year. But the fact that he’s considering this new and completely different life leads me to believe he’s disenchanted on a level beyond repair. Even if he does return, physically, how much effort will he give on the field?

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