Oregon Daily Emerald Monday, October 3, 2005 “If you go to the supermarket, it’s a nightmare. Any where you want to go... you want to have dinner, you gotta nave a reservation. Even if you want to go to the toilet, you need a reservation. ” Formula 1 race-car driver Juan Pablo Montoya taking about what a madhouse Monaco turns into during race week. ■ In my opinion —" | m mmmmmmm SHAWN MILLER FULL-COURT PRESS Weekends are days for football — exclusively I need your honest opinion. Is it wrong for me to spend the weekend in front of the television watching football? My girlfriend thinks it is. Here’s the deal: I told her from the time that we became “we” that September through January is reserved for football. I have been up front with the fact that Satur days and Sundays in the fall are my days — time for me to relax and unwind. That doesn’t mean that I don’t care about her or want her to share in my love for the sport, but she cannot get mad when I tell her to stop talking because it’s third and long and my team needs to convert. Of course I always get the, “Well I should just leave since you don’t want to focus on me!” Damn skippy! Or maybe just shut your noisemaker for two consecutive minutes. Perhaps I am not the sensitive, cry-my-eyes out-while-watching “Terms of Endearment” type, but I know how to take care of a lady. I have no problem taking time out of my schedule on Monday through Friday, except for three hours for “Monday Night Football” and “ESPN College Football Primetime” on Thursday nights. But seriously, this is my life. College football is my job, my passion, my fu ture and my escape. The bottom line is that for the past three months I have been preaching that weekends will be spent either watching games in person or on the television. So now that it is three months later, why is it necessary to complain about it? For instance, last Sunday when I was watching football, it felt like I was being poked in the side saying, “When’s it over?” I seriously wondered what in the hell was go ing on; am I not dating a mature adult that has a license and a car? So I told her that I had been warning her for months and that this Sunday was no dif ferent than the rest. And that next Sunday would be similar. Honestly, she said some thing that made me want to laugh and scream at the same time. “Well you could have reminded me. ” I pulled a John McEnroe and shouted, “You cannot be serious! ” She was, but in the end I watched the foot ball that I wanted to. I did have to compro mise and let her watch television on my other set, but I dibbed sound first. The thing is that she is not the only person that acts like this. I have encountered it by countless women from the time I was young. First it was my mom, and since it has trans ferred from girlfriend to girlfriend. My goal is to get to the point where I can watch the games, do my thing and not be bothered with negative statements and com plaining. I don’t know if I will ever reach that, but I’m sure going to try. Advice for my fellow football brothers: be strong, stand up for football and put your woman in her place. Which if you are lucky, is right next to you on the couch. smiller@ daily emerald, com Sloppy UO overpowers Stanford Ducks are penalized 16 times for 170 yards in 44-20 win against struggling Cardinal BY SHAWN MILLER SPORTS EDITOR It wasn’t always pretty. In fact, it started out down right ugly, but Oregon (4-1 overall, 1-1 confer ence) overcame an early deficit to wrap up its first Pacific-10 Confer ence victory of the season — 44-20 over Stanford (1-2, 0-1) on Satur day. By the time the first quarter was over, the Ducks trailed 10-7. After the opening kickoff was a touchback, the Ducks’ first series began with Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens being sacked for a six-yard loss. Oregon then drove down the field to the Stanford 21 yard line, where they turned it over on downs. The Ducks had two plays for which they only needed to gain one yard but failed, and Stanford came away with the ball and holding the Ducks with out any points on the opening se ries. Stanford then punted on its first series and Clemens threw an inter ception on the first play of Ore gon’s second series. That was about as bad as it got. Clemens, who threw for 292 yards in the first half, had touch down passes on three consecutive possessions during a 12 minute 27 second stretch of the first and sec ond quarters. “We thought the great match-up for us was our receivers against their secondary,” Oregon head coach Mike Eellotti said. Stanford connected on a 31-yard field goal with six seconds remain ing in the first half to cut the half time score to 21-13. The Ducks began the second half by forcing Stanford into a three and out for negative 10 yards. That wasn’t the only good series for the Oregon defense as it allowed only 15 total yards in the second half. “I was really pleased with the way our defense came out to play that second half,” Bellotti said. “We overcame some of our own mistakes, our inability to contain in the first half. It really made the whole difference.” Keyed by the return of defensive end Devan Long, the Ducks pres sured the backfield and forced Stanford quarterback Trent Ed wards to scramble. “In the first half, they victimized him. He was one of the culprits in terms of not finishing plays,” Bel lotti said. “(In the second half) he just did some things with effort, which is what we have come to expect of Devan Long. ” Long had missed the past three games after suffering a leg injury in the season-opener against Houston on Sept. 1 and it showed early. “The first half I was blowing up, FOOTBALL, page 12 Marcus Larson | For the Emerald Oregon wide receiver Demetrius Williams came up clutch in the first quarter of a 44-20 victory over Stanford on Saturday. Williams caught four passes for 103 yards, including a 43-yard grab on the Ducks’ first scoring possession. Oregon deflates after strong start Nicole Barker | Senior photographer Outside hitter Mira Djuric powers up for a kill against the Stanford Cardinal on Friday. Though Oregon lost the match in three games, Djuric added to her Pac-10 lead in points per game, tallying 18 kills and two aces. Ducks show progress in their three-game loss to defending NCAA-Champion Cardinal BY LUKE ANDREWS SPORTS REPORTER For the second consecutive night, the Oregon volleyball team remained competitive with a ranked opponent, but No. 3 Stan ford withstood an early battle in game one to hand the Ducks their fourth straight Pacific-10 Confer ence loss Friday in front of a sea son-high 1,040 at McArthur Court. The much improved Ducks, despite losing in three games, 30-28, 30-15, 30-23; showed many positive signs against the Cardinal, the defend ing NCAA Champions and win ners of 14 matches in a row. Oregon captured an early 10-9 lead in the first game and traded points with Stanford until reach ing a 28-28 tie to set up a dramat ic finish. But as great teams do, Stanford found a way to win. A service er ror by Oregon was followed with a kill by All-American outside hit ter Kristen Richards to give the Cardinal a 30-28 win. Though Oregon did improve on its serving, it was the Ducks’ four service errors compared with Stanford’s one that proved to be the difference in the first game. Oregon committed only six to tal service errors against the Car dinal, a vast improvement con sidering Oregon committed 14 in four games against Stanford the previous night. The Ducks out-hit Stanford “If we play like we did in the last two games against Cal (on Thursday) and first game tonight, we’re frightening. ” Jim Moore | Oregon head coach 0.373 to 0.370 and had only four total errors in the first game. “If we play like we did in the last two games against Cal (on Thursday) and first game tonight, we’re frightening,” Ore gon first-year head coach Jim Moore said. “We can be very, very scary, and we have to play that way to be successful.” Outside hitter Mira Djuric led the Oregon attack and showed why she is one of the Pac-lO’s most highly regarded freshmen. The Serbian native, who entered the weekend ranked atop the Pac 10 in points per game with 5.48, finished with 10 kills and hit 0.769 for the initial game. “They have a really good VOLLEYBALL, page 12