Random Thoughts (December 4, 2009)

Congratulations to Chip Kelly and the Oregon Ducks for winning the Pac-10 championship and earning their first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1995 with their 37-33 victory over Oregon State in the annual "Civil War." Kelly's season has been well documented in the last few days. In his first season as Oregon's head coach, following two years as their offensive coordinator, the former New Hampshire OC suffered a nightmare in his debut at Boise State. Immediately after the Ducks lost to the Broncos, Oregon's star running back LeGarrette Blount knocked out a Boise State player and threatened to take on the entire crowd. The next day Kelly suspended his star player for the remainder of the season ... and also started moving his team towards the Pac-10 title. Blount's suspension - which was lifted after a long process in which he proved he was sincerely apologetic - created an opening for freshman LaMichael James. James literally took his opportunity and ran with it, he rushed for 1476 yards and 14 touchdowns. Oregon won the Pac-10 by knocking off USC, California, Arizona, and Oregon State in impressive fashion. The Wildcats and Beavers gave Oregon a run for their money the last two weeks but the mental toughness that was built by Kelly following the embarrassing start helped the Ducks find a way to win. Blount is the ultimate redemption story. Although Kelly reinstated him to the team three weeks ago, he did not see any action in the Arizona State or Arizona games. Last night, three months after he threw a punch that Kelly refused to allow to define Blount - or his program - he rushed for 51 yards and the game winning touchdown. Oregon now faces a matchup with Ohio State on New Year's Day in Pasadena. Many people around the country will choose the tradition of the Buckeyes but one better think twice about choosing against Oregon and Chip Kelly's Ducks... Stop me if you have heard this before. The Red Sox have agreed to a contract with free agent shortstop Marco Scutaro, pending the former Blue Jay passes a physical. Scutaro is the latest shortstop - following Orlando Cabrera, Edgar Renteria, Alex Gonzalez (twice), Julio Lugo, Alex Cora, Jed Lowrie, Nick Green - to man the position following the trade of Nomar Garciaparra on July 31, 2004. The Sox have won two titles since that move but have seen more turnaround and spent more millions at shortstop than Notre Dame has on head football coaches in the same time span. Scutaro is coming off a career year at age 34. In 144 games, he hit .282 with an OBP of .379. He also is a solid defensive shortstop. Scutaro is keeping the position warm for 19-year-old Jose Iglesias, the Cuban phenom who will probably start his professional career with Double-A Portland this summer. Theo Epstein still has to find a left fielder (Jason Bay/Matt Holliday) and come up with a solution for Mike Lowell to finalize his infield. Here is my latest projection of the 2010 Red Sox opening day lineup: 1. Jacoby Ellsbury - CF 2. Dustin Pedroia - 2B 3. Adrian Gonzalez - 1B 4. Kevin Youkilis - 3B 5. Victor Martinez - C 6. Matt Holliday - LF 7. David Ortiz - DH 8. J.D. Drew - RF 9. Marco Scutaro - SS Gonzalez and Holliday? With Scutaro at shortstop, Epstein can add in Lowrie to the deal for Gonzalez. Lowrie will not be a major piece but new Padres general manager Jed Hoyer knows him well from his time with the Red Sox and in starting the rebuilding process in San Diego, he will value the versatility (and low cost) of the former Pac-10 Player of the Year... Maybe I was a tad premature to write off Kevin Garnett. In his last five games - all Boston wins - KG has averaged 18.2 points and 6.6 rebounds. Those are not eye-popping stats but at age 33, Garnett is coming off of the first major injury of his career and with nearly 1100 career games on his resume so we can not expect him to post numbers like he did in his prime. For the year, KG is averaging 14.5 points and 7.3 rebounds for the 15-4 Celtics. Statistics do not tell the entire story - I would still like to see some more explosiveness from him when he jumps - but Garnett does not have the carry the entire burden because of the talent that surrounds him... The news that Fred Taylor is back practicing with the Patriots is great news for their Super Bowl hopes. Without Taylor in the backfield, the Patriots offensive attack has become too reliant on the pass because opponents know that in crunch time, the Pats have to pass. A healthy Taylor will provide needed balance for the Patriots in January... Hopefully we won't enjoy Kevin Durant too much tonight...