Jay, here.

Pablo Picasso is attributed (actually, there is no attribution I could find) with saying, “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.”

In terms of writing, that’s a little tricky. It’s called plagiarism.

But what if you’re blogging and only stealing links?

Does a good, or great, blog entry that doth make?

Well, it did over at The Wizard of Odds. So, right out of the chute, I’m going to tell you that I totally stole these links from the Wiz. And the reason I stole these links is to put a little DSN spin on them.

Sometimes I think Oregon fans are lulled into a certain sense of apathy because of Phil Knight’s support.

“What difference will my donation make? We’ve got Uncle Phil.”

I know I’ve thought along those lines before.

I also think along another line, a rather crooked one at times. Maybe I’ve shared it before. I can’t remember. But I contend that the State of Oregon receives a far greater amount of media attention than it deserves, for a number of reasons (I just wish someone would slap this hypothesis up side the head with the scientific method and tell me I’m right or to shut up.).

As of late, Oregon has received a little bit of local (The Register-Guard, KEZI), regional (The Oregonian), and national (ESPN) attention examining Phil Knight’s influence at the University of Oregon. And that kind of attention will always take you down the Yellow Brick Road to the City of the Emeralds, home of the athletics-academics debate.

Citizens of the City of Emeralds, right now, we are not the only ones in the Pac-10 engaged in this rather vigorous debate.

Let me introduce you to our Bay Area brothers and sisters, the University of California at Berkeley.

And, folks, they are not apathetic. They’ve got 450,000 alumni worldwide about to be mobilized in the athletics arms race.

All of this at an institution with a better academic, and athletic, reputation than the University of Oregon.

For now we see into a mirror, darkly. (And I stole that one, too. From a big one. The Bible.)

Over the weekend, the Bay Area News Group did a series on Cal EsCalade-ing their athletics program.

Here are the stories:

“Cal shoots for the stars in athletics”

“Cal now believes bigger is better”

“Judge’s ruling could alter Cal’s grand athletic plan”

Duck fans, any of this sound familiar?

Let me leave you with this quote from former University of California at Berkeley Chancellor Ira Michael Heyman:

“”When we act according to the values not of higher education but of show business, we hurt our institutions and our students.”

That was from a speech delivered to the National Collegiate Athletic Association in Dallas.

In 1987.

Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

And that can be attributed. Alphonse Karr. 1849.

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