GOOD:
– The University of California at Berkeley and the Santa Clara Stadium Authority have partnered up to announce that next year’s game between California and Oregon will take place in the San Francisco 49ers’ soon-to-be-opened Levi’s Stadium. The game will take place on Friday, Oct. 24, 2014 and will be the first college football game to be played at the stadium. Levi’s Stadium is set to open in time for the 2014 NFL season as the home of the 49ers and will seat approximately 68,500 fans. The $1.2 billion facility is scheduled to be the site of the Super Bowl L in 2016.
– If you’re staying in Eugene over the Thanksgiving weekend, there will be plenty of Ducks action on Friday to cure your turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes hangover. Starting at noon, the Oregon men’s basketball team will host Pacific University at Matthew Knight Arena in the first game of the three-day Global Sports Hardwood Challenge. By 4 p.m. you can make your way over the Willamette River to Autzen Stadium to watch the Oregon football team play its final home game of the season against Oregon State in the season’s Civil War game. If you’re still longing for more Oregon sports, you can catch Liz Brenner and the Oregon women’s volleyball team take on the Beavers at senior night, starting at 8 p.m. at MKA.
– After Monday’s practice, quarterback Marcus Mariota indicated that he had passed the team’s concussion tests and that he would start on Friday against Oregon State. Mariota was hit in the back of the head by the knee of Arizona’s Shaquille Richardson during an interception return in the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s game against the Wildcats. Mariota has completed just over 64 percent of his passes this season, throwing for 27 touchdowns with two interceptions (both against Arizona).
BAD:
– For the first time since 2009, Oregon did not have any finalists for ESPN’s College Football Awards. Mariota was a semifinalist for the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards, which are handed out to the nation’s best offensive player and the best quarterback, respectively. Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel, Florida A&M’s Jameis Winston and Alabama’s A.J. McCarron were the finalists for both awards. Cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu was a semifinalist for the Bednarik and Thorpe awards, which denote the nation’s best defender and best defensive back, respectively. Bednarik finalists were UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr, Pittsburgh defensive tackle Aaron Donald and Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosely. The finalists for the Thorpe Award were Oklahoma State’s Justin Gilbert, Michigan State’s Darqueze Dennard and Florida State’s Lamarcus Joyner.
UGLY:
– Alex Rodriguez’s lawyers pulled out all the stops yesterday amidst the slugger’s current lawsuit against Major League Baseball and commissioner Bud Selig. In the case’s latest development, Rodriguez’s lawyers updated the pending lawsuit by entering this picture, courtesy of NESN, into evidence:
A-Rod today added this photo of Selig and a young baseball fan as evidence in his suit v MLB that Uncle Bud hates him pic.twitter.com/vVRKt8Blif
— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) November 26, 2013
Rodriguez was suspended 211 games by Major League Baseball on Aug. 5 for alleged violations of the drug agreement and labor contract and played during the union’s pending grievance to overturn the suspension. Rodriguez has accused Selig in previous complaints of conducting a “witch hunt” against him. The amended complaint read: “Sadly, this cowardly stance by Mr. Selig is consistent with his past and highly inappropriate conduct in posing, smilingly, with a young fan wearing a T-shirt with a derogatory message directed at Mr. Rodriguez.”
Follow Chris Mosch on Twitter @chris_mosch