GOOD:
– On Tuesday, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota announced that he would return for his redshirt junior year at Oregon. Wednesday, former head coach Chip Kelly backed the decision of his former quarterback. Kelly, now the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Take it from a guy who had a real tough time leaving there — I think it’s a good decision.” Kelly also called his former quarterback, “exactly what you want in a football player.”
– The Oregon men’s and women’s track and field teams are set up for a strong season, as each squad’s recruiting classes were ranked No. 1 by Track and Field News. The men’s class features five Track and Field News High School All-Americans: NCAA cross country champion Edward Cheserek (distance), Devon Allen (hurdles), Marcus Chambers (sprints), Cole Walsh (pole vault) and Cullen Prena (throws). The women added three high school All-Americans: Haley Crouser (javelin), MaryBeth Sant (sprints) and Sasha Wallace (hurdles). The Ducks earned top rankings for both the men and women in 2010 and became the first school to earn dual honors multiple times.
– On Monday, Oregon wide receiver Josh Huff was named the Pac-12 offensive player of the week following his 186-yard, 3 touchdown performance against Oregon State in last Friday’s Civil War. The 186 receiving yards and nine catches were both career-high single-game totals for Huff and his three touchdown catches tied a career-high. Teammates Marcus Mariota (week 6 and week 7) and De’Anthony Thomas (week 2) both won Pac-12 offensive player of the week awards earlier this season and Bralon Addison (week 5) won the Pac-12 special teams player of the week.
– Oregon native and Oregon State alum Jacoby Ellsbury cashed in on Tuesday, as the former Boston Red Sox outfielder agreed to a seven-year, $153 million deal with the New York Yankees. Ellsbury was considered one of the top free agents on the market this winter and had previously never made more than $9 million in a given season. Ellsbury played baseball, football and basketball for Oregon’s Madras High School and was the 2005 Pac-10 Co-Player of the Year.
BAD:
– Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was fined $100,000 by the NFL on Wednesday and the league announced that Pittsburgh could potentially lose a draft pick or have its draft order modified as a result of Tomlin’s interference during a Baltimore Ravens kick return last Thursday. On the play, Tomlin stood on the sidelines with a foot in the field of play during the return from Jacoby Jones’ and hopped out of the way as Jones approached. A final decision regarding a penalty during May’s draft will be made after the Super Bowl. This is the second-largest fine the NFL has dished out to a head coach. The largest penalty was handed out to Bill Belichick in 2007, when the New England head coach was fined $500,000 for the Spygate scandal.
UGLY:
– An Arizona State student decided to get wise with an elderly man during last weekend’s rivalry game against Arizona and he paid for it with a boot to the face. A short video surfaced on YouTube of the man and the student exchanging words before the older man kicked the student in the face. The man continued to throw haymakers with some of the student’s friends before the video cut off.
– Warriors fans would put this in the “GOOD” column. Raptors fans, not so much. Golden State stormed back against Toronto on Tuesday night at Oracle Arena, erasing a 27-point third quarter deficit and the Raptors’ 18-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Warriors outscored the Raptors 42-15 in the final quarter en route to their 112-103 victory. It was the seventh largest blown lead in NBA history.
Follow Chris Mosch on Twitter @chris_mosch