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.

For all of your Duck Sport News in just ‘One Click’, check out DuckSportsNews.com.

Jay, here.

Admittedly, I’m a bit sheepish about posting this entry. But it’s just too funny.

However, I have to give credit where credit is due. This blog entry came from a discussion on one of the eDuck forums.

First, let’s start with the good news.

But let me preface this by saying that Oregon State University is a fine academic institution. I have two sisters-in-law who graduated from OSU. There’s a third sister-in-law who is planning on attending OSU in the Fall. And one of the members of the Duck Sports News team is married to an OSU grad.

Yesterday, USA Today named OSU student Tari Tan as a Second Team All-USA College All-Star. Here’s what USA Today had to say about Tari’s academic achievement:

Tari Tan, Oregon State University; home, Salem, Ore.; major, biochemistry/biophysics; research on role of prolactin in rams’ sexual preference.

Congratulations, Tari. That’s a very fine achievement. (I would just like to point out that the University of Oregon did not have a student receive such an honor.)

So, what’s the ba-a-a-d news?

Out of all of the institutions of higher education in the United States of America, Tari had to be honored for studying rams’ sexual preference at an institution known for an incident involving a member of the football team abducting a sheep used in the study of homosexuality in sheep.

I remember listening to The Jim Rome Show several years ago and hearing about this incident. It struck me as so funny at the time, I nearly wrecked my car trying call a friend to see if he had heard about this episode. Unfortunately for OSU, this story came on the tar heels of several other OSU football players also being legally-challenged.

Tari, well done on your academic achievement at OSU…not that there is anything wrong with that.

[Update 2/21/08: You can take a look at footage of the the Oregon plane being painted here, the Oregon State plane being painted and in use here, and the Washington plane being painted here.]

What does a PR move by Horizon have to do with sports? Let’s put it this way: Horizon did not decide to decorate their planes with these four school’s decals because of their Microbiology Departments (and Oregon has a very good Microbiology department).

As cool as they look, I have to confess that it will be difficult for me to fly on an OSU, UW, or WSU plane.

Would you be able to will yourself into flying on a Beaver, Husky, or Cougar plane?

JJ

Press Release
12/14/2007 6:01 am (PT)

SEATTLE – Horizon Air today unveiled plans to honor four of the largest public universities in Oregon and Washington by painting four 70-seat CRJ-700 jets in university colors and marks. The special themed planes will be created for Oregon State University, University of Oregon, University of Washington and Washington State University – at no cost to the universities.

The aircraft will be painted one at a time starting in late December in the following sequence: WSU, Oregon, OSU and Washington, reflecting the order in which agreements were reached for Horizon to use their trademarked logos and symbols. The painting will take about 10 days per aircraft. The date each freshly painted aircraft will be entered into service will be announced later, as soon as it’s determined.

The four jets were already scheduled to be repainted. They recently returned to Horizon’s fleet after flying under contract for nearly four years as Frontier JetExpress. Because of the timing, the new looks will involve no additional painting cost to Horizon.

Horizon has regularly accommodated passengers associated with the four universities. Seattle (home to Washington), Pullman (WSU) and Eugene (Oregon) were among the first seven cities Horizon served upon its founding in 1981. OSU is the only school of the four that isn’t located in a Horizon destination, but Corvallis is just a short drive from both Portland and Eugene.

“Like Horizon, these four state universities are deeply rooted in the Great Northwest. When we explored the possibility of creating special liveries that reflect our Northwest heritage, these venerable institutions easily rose to the top of the list,” said Dan Russo, Horizon’s director of marketing and communications. “By flying their colors – and the colors of their rivals – we’re aiming to add fun to the flying experience. We expect this will thrill fans of the school teams, and put a smile on the faces of graduates, current students and university staff.”

The aircraft will operate on routes normally designated for jet service in Horizon’s regular schedule. Those routes include service from Portland to Northern and Southern California, and from Seattle to Santa Barbara, Fresno, and Reno. Horizon uses all of its aircraft in its regular flight schedule (including backup aircraft), so the airline expects to have extremely limited opportunities to use these university-themed planes for charters or other special assignments.

Named 2007 Regional Airline of the Year by Air Transport World magazine, Horizon today serves 48 cities throughout California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and British Columbia and Alberta. Together, Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines serve 92 cities and are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK).

Artist renderings of the planned aircraft liveries are available in high-resolution format by visiting the Horizon Air Newsroom’s Image Gallery.