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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Medford airport seeding fog to help with airplane takeoffs, landings 10 things to know for Wednesday Get Up & Go: Jan. 7 Emergency services 10 things to know for Tuesday Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency services UPDATED: Medford police arrest man suspected in Purple Parrot robbery State police arrest two for meth, heroin trafficking after I-5 stop Muddy footprints lead police right to burglary suspect's door Talent men arraigned on attempted murder, assault charges Politics and Elections Councilman stirs online dust-up with anti-marijuana post State certifies recount showing failure of GMO-labeling measure Education Medford bulks up student support for math, reading Ashland schools to implement chickenpox precautions Traveling artist sets the stage for Ruch School amphitheater Ruch school class focuses on the natural environment Bethel Church helps families at McLoughlin Middle School Environment Monument expansion expected to increase tourism, protect resources Biologist resigns over LNG reporting failure Bird flu discovered in Winston backyard flock Jackson County holds back on enforcing GMO ban for now No fish, no funding for problem dams State News Oregon may see hemp crop this spring under new rules Forest Service scraps $10 million PR campaign Eugene's federally funded car charging stations underused Court says Oregon's water withdrawal permits endangered Clackamas River salmon Seabird die-off puzzles scientists Nation - World Obama makes Maduro’s ‘insolent Yankees’ line harder to sell Obituaries Edgar Frutchey III Shirley M. 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Sports Latest Stories North falters in SWC opener No. 1 Kentucky escapes upset bid Sharapova breezes in opener; Serena loses Pistons rally in final seconds to beat Spurs Ducks gear up for title game Varsity 541 College Sports No. 1 Kentucky escapes upset bid Ducks gear up for title game Buckeyes appear loose as they practice Playoff families to be reimbursed for travel Wiese leads No. 11 Beavers past USC Pro Sports Sharapova breezes in opener; Serena loses Pistons rally in final seconds to beat Spurs Golf begins with four events to follow Baseball welcomes four into Hall Lillard to the rescue Community Sports Business Latest Stories After seven decades in Medford, Larson's will be emptied Saturday Patchwork of talents Irrigation system upgrade gets a forum Ride & Drive: 2015 Honda Crosstour Positive Steps Real Estate News Dear Monty: Best start for 1st-time homebuyers Rental owners group reports 2.48 percent vacancy rate People In Business Transportation Falling gas prices help spur travel at Medford airport Agriculture Rising prices bear fruit for local pear growers Opinion Latest Granlund cartoon: Deep freeze USA Matthew T. Mangino: Mario Cuomo’s life was a blessing Our View: Falls has work to do to restore trust Letters to the Editor, Jan. 7 Kathleen Parker: Stirring the pot: our bias, ourselves Editorials Our View: Falls has work to do to restore trust Our View: WISE project offers many benefits Our View: Waiting a little longer for the bus Other Views: Oregon's GMO battle is far from over Our View: Meeting in the middle keeps a mill open Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor, Jan. 7 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 6 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 5 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 4 Letters to the Editor. Jan. 2 Guest Opinions Guest Opinion: East is east and west is west Guest Opinion: Get the best deal on pipeline Guest Opinion: Say yes to clean energy jobs, no to the LNG project Guest Opinion: Loved one chose death with dignity in Oregon Guest Opinion: Forest thinning means water for the future Lifestyle Latest stories 5 Things to Do This Weekend (Jan. 9-11) Lost in Suburbia: The bug stops here 11 reasons why we love wrought iron fencing Dave Ramsey: Sharing and planning as one Dear Monty: Eight great tips to ponder before investing in real estate Food Community blog: Scanty spuds stretch winter greens into salad Entertaining with a gift of treasure Food for Thought: Save time on weeknight meal prep Community blog: Farm share boosts resolve to eat more veggies Community blog: Ring in new flavors with year's last appetizers Home and Garden 11 reasons why we love wrought iron fencing Dear Monty: Eight great tips to ponder before investing in real estate Home Help: Timeless or trendy? Achieve both in your home decor this year Dear Monty: Best start for 1st-time homebuyers Dear Monty: Can a rookie real estate agent be a good choice? Health Community blog: Tale of the Tape Community blog: We Don't Have To Conspire Against Good Health HealthStyle: New year, new you Health Watch: Build up your glutes in the off-season Dr. Jeff Hersh: What's a monoclonal antibody? Hiking Biking Faith Churches start new year with messages of hope (No heading) Churches, synagogs host seasonal events Bethel Church helps families at McLoughlin Middle School Milestones and Achievements Mt. Ashland Ski Area shut down again by lack of snow Little Yaretzi is county's first baby of 2015 Local landowners see no public good in proposed pipeline Pear Blossom queen has open heart surgery Hundreds enjoy Christmas dinner, gifts at St. Vincent de Paul Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories Blues jam tonight at Little Brown Jug Songwriters Pete Herzog and Dennis Walker release 'Waiting for the Rain' Next Stage presents a tribute to an iconic folk artist Live Music in Local Clubs Generation Jones plays Paddy Brannan's Theater Next Stage presents a tribute to an iconic folk artist Camelot's 'Fiddler' is a charmer ACT presents reading of 'The Quality of Life' Meet the real Jacob Marley This Nutcracker ballet will have a superhero twist Music Blues jam tonight at Little Brown Jug Songwriters Pete Herzog and Dennis Walker release 'Waiting for the Rain' Live Music in Local Clubs Generation Jones plays Paddy Brannan's Pete Herzog and Dennis Walker play 2Hawk Winery Community Events New Schneider Museum exhibits highlight First Friday Celebrate winter solstice with the Bad Film Society Tomaseen Foley's "A Celtic Christmas" returns to the Craterian Theater Stefan Baumann and Eugene Bennett highlight Third Fridays Dancing People Company celebrates the solstice Dining Entertaining with a gift of treasure Jackson Creek Pizza Co. is a good downtown haunt Dobra Tea menu offers hundreds of brews Food for Thought: Wintertime wining and dining Coffee shops roll out holiday-inspired drinks Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Magazines & Special Sections NEWS NOW Medford airport seeding fog to help with airplane takeoffs, landings ... Our View: Falls has work to do to restore trust ... After seven decades in Medford, Larson's will be emptied Saturday ... Medford airport seeding fog to help with airplane takeoffs, landings ... Our View: Falls has work to do to restore trust ... After seven decades in Medford, Larson's will be emptied Saturday ... Facebook responses suggest Ducks win Comment By Tim Trower Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tim Trower Mail Tribune Posted Dec. 31, 2014 @ 3:25 pm By Tim Trower Mail Tribune Posted Dec. 31, 2014 @ 3:25 pm » Social News When we elected to do a Rose Bowl wrap for today’s paper, it seemed appropriate that someone write a column on the semifinal game between Oregon and Florida State. I volunteered, not because I’m an expert by any stretch. There are lots of people among our readership who have the Duck football page as their home screen, who drive vehicles with green and yellow flags flapping brazenly, who named their first born Chip or Dat or Marcus. They don’t need my viewpoint. That’s not to say I’m a complete dolt on the matter. I know Oregon is fast and plays more physically this year than many give it credit. I know Marcus Mariota won the Heisman. I know the offensive line will have Hroniss Grasu back and should be stronger than it has been in recent games. Thomas Tyner returns to the backfield, too. For Florida State, there’s another Heisman winner at quarterback, Jameis Winston. They have a gifted receiver, Rashad Greene, who will operate against the Duck secondary minus All-American corner Ifo Ekpre-Olomu. The Seminoles’ line has kept Winston upright the past four games and opened gaping holes for freshman running back Dalvin Cook. Oregon’s defense has been impressive, for the most part, since its loss to Arizona. FSU has big and fast players on that side of the ball, seven of whom were all-Atlantic Coast Conference. OK, so we got that stuff out of the way. What about the game. I thought a good approach would be to seek opinions on Facebook. Granted, it’s about as a scientific as a chem set for kids, and it’s skewed because, well, there are a few more Duck fans around here than Seminole backers. At first, I asked people to tell why either side would win. Responses were sparse, but the prevailing notion was Oregon has to start fast because FSU usually doesn’t. Put the hammer down immediately and don’t let the architect of so many comebacks this season back in it. One wrote that the Ducks will have home-field advantage on the West Coast. Responded another: “Ducks defensive line is what matters! If they come to play?? Ducks WIN!!!!! (I omitted about a hundred exclamation points.) That was the tenor of this crowd. I tried another approach: Predict the score and let’s see who’s closest. The allegiances didn’t change much. Of the nearly 40 responses, 34 picked the Ducks to win by an average of 42.2 to 28.9. For those wondering, Oregon would cover the 9-point spread. Three FBers picked FSU to prevail by an average margin of 32 to 27.7. One of the three was promptly and unceremoniously unfriended by one of the 34. I had to throw out a few other scores. One had FSU winning 100-0. Then the Beaver fan amended it to 100 to minus-10 because, well, he doesn’t think Oregon has operated entirely above board. I also tossed out the 11-0 UO win. Three field goals and a safety. Out, too, was the prognostication of the exact score before the game. Yep, 0-0. There was insightful material provided by the most rabid, and only, Seminole fan I know. He gave me an FSU hat a number of years ago. When I wore it and the ‘Noles lost, he politely asked me to burn it. J-Diddy directed me to tomahawknation.com, where there is a very detailed explanation of how much stronger FSU’s schedule was than Oregon’s. This was scientific, mind you. Boxplots, efficiency values, interquartile ranges. I thought I’d been redirected to Einstein’s Wikipedia page. I skipped to the summations because they weren’t over my head: The Pac-12 is not better than the ACC; Oregon hasn’t faced drastically better offenses than FSU; and five Duck foes — Oregon State, Cal, Washington State, Colorado and Wyoming — had worse defenses than Oklahoma State, the worst ‘D’ the ‘Noles faced. With all that, J-Diddy picked his ‘Noles to win only by a field goal, and only after another rally. One of the more involved breakdowns came from my wife, who was raised in Eugene and speaks fluent Quack. She’s generally a shrinking violet reluctant to express her opinion, but she couldn’t hold back. I asked her for a score. “31-24,” she said. “FSU?” I goaded. She thought that to possibly be the dumbest question I’d ever asked. But it got her going. Oregon has to start fast because FSU usually doesn’t, she said, not bothering to look up from the newspaper. The Ducks don’t always do so either, she noted. Winston can be vulnerable for interceptions and the Oregon defense has been playing better. Mariota wants to put an exclamation point on his career with a big win. But a caveat: FSU doesn’t even know Oregon exists and isn’t the least bit intimidated. She had a couple thoughts on Winston and FSU, too. They were salty. She also speaks Sailor. Her take seemed valid, especially the caveat. The Seminoles have been the hunted for eons. They’ve won 29 straight, including last year’s national championship game and a couple conference title games. Yet this is the first time in 50 games they’ve been underdogs. They aren’t favored because most of their 13 wins have been unimpressive, while the Ducks’ have been the opposite. FSU won’t lack for motivation, and I see it riding that wave and controlling the first half. The Ducks sputter. Extra TV timeouts for the bowl game prevent them from getting their pace-oriented offense in sync. Mariota isn’t sharp but doesn’t let it get out of hand. With a chance to adjust and acclimate at halftime, the Ducks come out and play as they have for most of the second half of the season, fast and with confidence. They rally for a 42-38 victory. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 541-776-4479, or email [email protected] By Tim Trower Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Tim Trower Mail Tribune Posted Dec. 31, 2014 @ 3:25 pm » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. fantasy football Panthers vs. Seahawks: Latest Odds and Stat Predictions for Top Fantasy Stars Jan. 7, 2015 at 8:00 am Colts vs. Broncos: Latest Odds and Stat Predictions for Top Fantasy Stars Jan. 7, 2015 at 8:00 am Ravens vs. Patriots: Latest Odds and Stat Predictions for Top Fantasy Stars Jan. 7, 2015 at 8:00 am FanDuel, DraftKings Optimal Divisional Lineups Jan. 6, 2015 at 7:00 am Fantasy Football Daily League Guide to Wild Card Sunday Jan. 3, 2015 at 7:15 am Potseason Superlatives for Fantasy Season Jan. 2, 2015 at 11:07 am calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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