Kind of like in 1984 how Winston came to love Big Brother.

“He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”

What a great revelation agreeing he’s the best we can do.

Yet more praise for Riley today from Moran. First we hear there was no real search conducted and Riley 3.0 (with Smith as a token figurehead) was a done deal from the get go, then we have to hear Riley on  more radio shows than Jonathan Smith, with the hosts raving about how great it is he’s back in town. Next, we see Riley in more photos with recruits than Smith.  Now we have the media trying to seal the deal with an appeal to authority: if two guys in the NFL, Seumalo and Peko, like Riley 3.0, then it must be a great thing. It’s also an appeal to emotion: the familiar Riley back in town where the old-guard can feel good and reminisce about a few lucky seasons ten years ago when the Pac-10 was bad.

This is just a really sad situation. I thought “Jonathan Riley” was a fair moniker for this two headed beast, but now my worst fears are coming to fruition and this looks more and more like “Mike Smith”.

This isn’t Smith’s team, and Chris Petersen is long out of sight and out of mind at this point. Riley is the guy in his ear, and worse, in all the media outlets and recruiting shots. By the start of the season our head coach might not be Jonathan Riley or Mike Smith, but simply Mike Riley…yet again. Beaver boosters simply cannot get out of their own way.