Not being in Oregon, I have no idea if John Canzano's rants against Ernie Kent represent a one-man campaign against the Ducks coach, or is an accurate reflection of how many Oregon fans feel
Today Canzano says Kent should be fired and replaced with Mark Few, because Kent is a terrible "in-game" coach--evidence being that Oregon lost in the first round of the tourney because Kent didn't make any "adjustments."
Well what about Few? He let Stephen Curry drop 41 points on him...doesn't that also represent a failure to make adjustments?
Oregon's made the Elite Eight twice under Kent--Gonzaga hasn't made it a single time under Few. Three out of the last five years, the Zags have fallen to lower-seeded opponents. Sure, the Zags have more NCAA berths, but they also play in a much easier conference.
Gonzaga is a special situation--it's this unity of an urban center combined with small school community. Mark Few is no more likely to be able to replicate it at Oregon than Dan Monson was able to at Minnesota.
As a Pac-10 fan, I want Oregon to remain a strong program, and the best thing they could do towards that is to retain Ernie Kent. Then again, as a Husky fan, I wouldn't mind a return to the domination of the 1980s, when the Dawgs were 17-5 against the Ducks.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Inexplicable Ernie Kent Hatred Continues
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8 comments:
Canzano's shtick is a to simply provide fodder for fightin'. That's what he gets (sadly) paid for. He is no more a sports writer than I am but he sure is a better "rile up the crowd" writer than I'll ever be. Because he's sold his writer's soul for getting paid to write cheap shots I don't bother to read him anymore. If people would simply ignore him he would eventually go away and (maybe / hopefully) grow up.
agree with bike. All Canzano wants to do is anger people. Somehow, this keeps him employed. He's actually just as likely to defend Kent next week to get the anti-Kent crowd fired up.
I don't read him, whether the column is pro-ducks or con (and I'm a huge duck fan) and I urge others to ignore him as well. It's the only way we'll ever get a real sports columnist in Portland.
Like all columnists, Canzano has his opinions. However, Canzano has that tabloid characteristic, the kind trait that one would expect to see only employed by a second rate newspaper. The Oregonian isn't my home newspaper, that would be the Los Angeles Times, but it's a fairly good paper for a city as large as Portland, but it's his clear agenda that bothers me and other Duck fans who read their articles online. Like most of us who are alumni living in areas dominated by other teams, I read articles about my sports teams through their local papers. What angers me about Canzano is his clear agenda, whether it is his hate towards Kent or the petty nature of his articles about Bellotti's wife in the press box during a huge Duck victory. His tone, nature, and timing have always concerned me and I no longer read that hack.
Canzano has admitted he is not a fan of any of the state of Oregon's top tier athletic programs. Not eve n a little (Outside of Beaver's Baseball)
Any praise of these programs would be a huge stretch for John Canzano. He consistently bashes the Ducks, their coaches and the University as a whole both covertly and overtly.
Notice how he has so few columns about the Blazers these days? They have given him nothing to write about because his sole purpose is to appeal to controversy and drama queens.
It's funny to hear women in my office try pitch in an opinion on a sports discussion when their opinion is so transparent and based on a Canzano article. It happened this morning actually. I was talking to a co worker about the Duck game Friday and she pitched in "they should fire Kent, he's a terrible in game coach." All I could do is laugh.
Based on recruiting alone Ernie deserves his job. Oregon has not been a great basketball program historically (1939 excluded) but, much like with Bellotti and the football program, Ernie has recruited well enough and been competitive enough lately to put us on the map as a premier west coast program. I hate losing as much as the next Duck fan but shooting 2-20 from 3 (stop shooting 3's once you've missed 10!) in the second half is why we lost, not Ernie...
Few is awful as an in-game coach. I've sat behind their bench on several occasions and will never do so again. Watching, and unfortunately having to hear him bully, threaten, and intimidate his players is as ugly as it gets. Way over the top.
Look at his record against good coaches. It's awful. Next time you see Gonzaga play, just watch as the well-coached team make adjustments at the half, and beat Gonzaga every time.
Oregon would do well to stay far from Mark Few.
Canzano sucks as a writer he is unethical,and I cant wait till he works for TMZ or some other checkstand magazine.Ban the Oregonian untill they fire this classless idiot.
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