White House Press Secretary Wants To Dine On Duck

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary for the Obama administration, believes that God is like him: An Auburn fan.

Please. Excuse me while I openly reject that claim.

Of course, Gibbs was kidding around with reporters the other day and expressed his love for Auburn football. He's coming out to the Valley for the BCS national championship game between his Tigers and the Oregon Ducks. 

Quoth Mr. Secretary: "I've told my friends the only request I have is a nice Chinese restaurant for the night before the game... so that we can have some duck."

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In Oregon, the hot story is whether star running back LaMichael James, who finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting, will opt out of his final two seasons of college eligibility and declare for the NFL Draft.

James didn't exactly say he's planning to stick around Eugene for a little while longer.

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The Ducks and their fans are hoping some of that Heisman Trophy jinx follows Cam Newton to Glendale. The Oregonian's John Hunt has more on that, pointing out that seven of the past 10 Heisman winners have seen their teams falter in bowl games that same season. 

And then there is Mr. Keep Everything In-House, the lovably brief Chip Kelly, Oregon's head coach. He had the windows of the Ducks' indoor practice facility covered so no one could see what the Ducks were doing at practice Friday.  Whatever it takes....

In that story, Kelly made reference to an all-male acapella singing group from the U of O, called "On The Rocks."  Check 'em out:

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And last but not least, leave it to those Auburn Warrrrr Eagle-hating 'Bama fans to spice things up a little. The people that brought you "Rollllll Tide!" are selling Oregon T-shirts in the state, and some have taken that a step further. 

Oregon Ducks Get New Nike Uniforms For BCS Game, Of Course

The Oregon Ducks are sometimes considered "Nike University" thanks to the generous donations of the Nike founders who happen to be University of Oregon alumni. Those financial ties have certainly not hurt the Ducks when it comes to recruiting and hence on-field performance. Oregon will be coming to Arizona for this year's BCS Title Game and once again -- thanks to Nike -- they will be sporting new uniforms.

Sporting News reported that that the Ducks, along with Boise State and TCU and Florida, will be getting new Nike football uniforms in time for bowl season. Here's the picture that SN ran on their web site:

New uniforms, which can also be seen in this image tweeted by CNBC's Darren Rovell, are nothing new for the Oregon Ducks. They got a new set of colors just last year in 2009. Here's a description of the old-new uniforms from July 2009 via Nike Blog.

All in all, the new uniforms are 25% lighter and have a more "shrink-wrapped fit." The jerseys alone have been reduced from 7.46 ounces to 5.5. And of course, in keeping with past years, the Oregon Ducks players had a great deal of input on what would and would not go into the 2009's new Oregon Ducks football uniforms.

All in all, the players will have 80 different uniform combinations to choose from each Saturday.

What highly ranked recruit wouldn't want to go play there?

The new uniform appears to be similar to the old with the addition of more florescent yellow color included in the mix. We are thrilled to see the duck feathers are still present on the shoulders. Without feathers on the shoulders how could the Ducks be expected to fly free?

The Oregon Ducks will face Cam Newton and the Auburn Tigers in the BCS Title Game in Glendale, AZ on January 10, 2011. No word yet if the Tigers (or perhaps Cam Newton's dad) have been able to shake down their uniform sponsor for some new threads in time for the big game.