Jay, here.

This past Thursday, Sports Illustrated opened the vault on all of their content.

Explore the 54 years of Sports Illustrated history including over 150000 stories, 2800 covers, 500000 photographs, a Wiki sports encyclopedia and links to …

Covers. Articles. Ads. Everything.

That got me to thinking: how many times has the University of Oregon been represented on the cover of Sports Illustrated? The answer? Four. (Unfortunately, I can’t count Eugene resident Brian Lanker’s 1985 Swimsuit Issue cover photograph of Paulina Porizkova.)

Then I was curious as to how that stack up against the rest of the Pac-10. Pretty well. But, as you will see, USC and UCLA are in a league of their own.

This is not an exhaustive list (because of USC and UCLA). And the cover count only represents the instances where a school is the primary focus on the cover. For example, USC’s Todd Marinovich made the cover throwing against Stanford. But Stanford really isn’t the focus (Actually, they’re kind of oblique and out of focus.). So, that doesn’t count. And SI.com’s search feature is OK, but sometimes returns inconsistent results.

Here are the Pac-10 covers of Sports Illustrated.

Sports Illustrated Covers: OREGON - 4

Cover Dates: 06.15.70, 02.25.74, 08.13.01, 09.29.03

The Ducks kind of have one more cover. Well, a lot of schools have at least one cover, sort of, with this year’s NCAA Tournament Preview edition. Kind of like “Where’s Waldo?”, where’s Malik Hairston?

Did you find him? Look right next to the “I” in “Illustrated. And, I think, that’s Malik.

UPDATE: In the comments section, Chris pointed out that Aaron Brooks was on the cover of the 2007 NCAA Tournament Preview edition (03.19.07). I kind of put this cover in the category with the above cover: it’s nice, but doesn’t count as Oregon having a cover. That’s Aaron on the basketball.

Sports Illustrated Covers: OREGON STATE - 5

Cover Dates: 10.16.61, 01.07.63, 03.05.90, 03.23.81, 09.29.03

Sports Illustrated Covers: WASHINGTON - 3

Cover Dates: 10.03.60, 10.04.71

Thanks to Alex, there is one more from 11.24.06 that did not come up in SI’s search feature.

Sports Illustrated Covers: WASHINGTON STATE - 0

Washington State joins Arizona State as the only Pac-10 schools not to have a Sports Illustrated cover. Although, I think there is a WSU player (Cowgill?) on the cover of the 2008 NCAATournament Preview edition.

Sports Illustrated Covers: CAL - 2

Cover Dates: 11.24.75, 03.29.93

Sports Illustrated Covers: STANFORD - 5

Cover Dates: 11.08.02, 03.17.97, 11.23.98, 10.07.02, 03.29.04

Sports Illustrated Covers: ARIZONA - 4

Cover Dates: 08.29.94, 04.07.97, 04.02.01, 11.25.02

Sports Illustrated Covers: ARIZONA STATE - 0

Like Washington State, Arizona State does not have a Sports Illustrated cover to its name. Unlike Washington State, though, I don’t even think they have a player on the cover of the 2008 NCAATournament Preview edition.

Sports Illustrated Covers: USC - 31

Cover Dates: Too many. First: 11.26.56 Most Recent: 11.19.07

Sports Illustrated Covers: UCLA - 35

Cover Dates: Too many. First: 01.05.59 Most Recent: 03.18.08

For more, visit the Sports Illustrated Vault.

For more on the Ducks, visit DuckSportsNews.com.

DSN Contributor Don Smalley (Don Smalley News - DSN) emailed DuckSportsNews a commentary (”Duck Fans, Chill Out”) regarding the state of the Oregon men’s basketball intended for online publication Friday.

We refused to post it.

Well, we didn’t exactly refuse. That might be a bit too dramatic.

DSN had a couple of questions about what Don wrote, questions that most Duck fans probably have right now. So, we just put them where they belonged.

Don didn’t like that. So, we gave him a chance to respond.

Here’s Don’s post, along with our questions, remixed.

“Duck Fans, Chill Out”
By Don Smalley
DSN Contributor

From what I’ve seen and read, people are really worried about the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team. And there are some good reasons for that.

DSN: Why shouldn’t people be worried? This was an Elite Eight team last year, with four returning starters.

I think there is cause for alarm, but the conference season just started. They haven’t played up to their potential for the last month. Although the loss to the Sun Devils was disappointing, it isn’t quite time to call out for the Red Alert. Oregon has weapons … a lot of weapons.

DSN: What makes you think they are going to live up to their potential over the next month? What weapons do they have? Do they have a Top 5 or Top 10 player in the Pac-10?

Talent-wise, Malik Hairston, Bryce Taylor, and Tajuan Porter are all Top 10 players in this league. But basketball involves more than just pure talent. They have to work for shots in the half-court game. In the ASU contest, they got shots that were not there in previous games. Those shots just didn’t go down. Oregon is not going to go 2-for-17 from the three-point arc very often. They are just too talented for that.

DSN: They might be talented, but that’s how teams are going to beat the Ducks. Shut down the threes. If the Ducks can’t hit their threes, what are they going to do?

Teams have tried to use that philosophy against the Ducks for many years. Oregon has always been a perimeter-type team, or at least as long as Ernie Kent has been here. For some reason, the defense has been lacking this season. But they played a good defensive game in Tempe. They only allowed 62 points for the night. In 90 percent of their games, the Ducks would definitely win if they hold their opponent in the low 60’s.

DSN: Don, they didn’t “allow” 62 points. ASU could only score 62 points. There are quite a few teams in the Pac-10 that are able of scoring many more than 62 points.

I don’t know. Arizona State has been able to put up big numbers this season, just not on a consistent basis. That’s what happens when you start two freshman, two sophomores and a junior. Oregon, on the other hand, hasn’t been consistent either. It’s all mental right now for the Ducks. For some reason when it comes down to the waning minutes and the game is still in doubt, Oregon is lost. I wouldn’t have thought that after the big Kansas State game.

DSN: It might be mental. But worse than that, it could be heart.

I have a hard time believing that Aaron Brooks took all the heart from this team when he graduated. The things that were hurting Oregon didn’t show their ugly heads last night. The Ducks didn’t start slow. The Ducks were playing defense and the Ducks were even hitting some free throws. It could be turning around for Oregon.

DSN: Don’t confuse an opponent’s lack of offense for a team’s defensive presence.

We’ll find that out Saturday when Oregon play the Wildcats. If Oregon can hold Arizona down some, we’ll know Oreogn is playing some good defense. Offensively, the Ducks just were not knocking down the long shot. If those shots present themselves at Arizona (which I suspect they will), Oregon will mostly likely make them. Arizona doesn’t like to hustle on defense and if the Ducks move on offense, they will score.

DSN: This is going to be true all season. They are going to go the way of the three-pointer.

It’s been that way for 10 years. The Arizona game is not a must win, but 0-2 in this conference isn’t good. That 0-2 could turn into 0-4 really fast. There are no gimmies in this league. Even Oregon State gave Arizona problems.

DSN: It is a must win…because there are no gimmies.

I suspect Oregon might surprise a few people in Tucson and right the ship for a while.

DSN: Don, it’s very possible that the Ducks will surprise a few people. But is it going to be a good surprise? I don’t think so.

Call me at 1 pm and we’ll see.

Ducks fans, you know how you’re feeling right now.  But do you know how the rest of the Pac 10 feels about your team?  Do they feel your pain?  Not exactly.

Here’s a sampling from around the Pac 10 blogosphere.  Mind you, this is only a compilation, a very sour sampler.  This is not a compendium of forum and message board comments.  If want to get a glimpse into a fan’s online soul, go the message boards and forums to take a look at your own risk.

Arizona - Not available.

Arizona State - “Tucson, AZ: Where BCS Dreams Go To Die”

Cal - Not available.

OSU -”Oregon Ducks Suck Against Arizona”

Stanford - Not available.

UCLA -”No Dixon”

USC - “Dixon out with a Torn ACL”

Washington - “Wow….34-24 Arizona Over Oregon”

And we saved the worst for last…

Washington State - “WHAAAAAAA! WHAAA!”