Wisky_and_Coke

Bellotti is leaving Eugene to become a college football analyst at ESPN, despite holding his athletic director job for less than two years. He swears he's not running away from the numerous paperwork headaches caused by his delinquent football team—and the basketball coach he had to fire—but there does seem to be a pattern. LaGarrette Blount, Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James were all recruited to play for the Ducks by Bellotti and all joined the team in 2008. After one year with them on the sidelines, Bellotti quit football to become the athletic director. Now he's quitting again "to get back into football" and not because those guys (and several others) are still driving him crazy.

Nope, not running away from anything at all. Just a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity to not be around Oregon football for awhile. But if the NCAA calls, you can totally give them his new email address.

Oregon's Mike Bellotti resigns as AD; will join ESPN [ESPN]
"George Schroeder: AD never wanted the gig" [The Register-Guard]
Bellotti's Resignation Not Necessarily a Sign of Anything [Conquest Chronicles]
Ducking Out: Mike Bellotti Leaving Oregon for ESPN [Sporting Blog]

Just to clear something up here, the announcers and therefore some of the people following the New Mexico State-Michigan State game were wrong about the "conspriacy theory" call at the end. The lane violation was not called on Wendell McKines for stepping in too early and it wasn't called on Troy Gillenwater for being "barely" over the line. Gillenwater stepped sideways, out of his little lane box and into the one occupied by Delvon Roe. That was the violation and he was pretty obvious about.

Is it ticky-tack penalty that would get ignored 99 times out of 100? Maybe. But a correct call in a bad situation is still a correct call. Did Michigan State get an absolute gift after an atrocious second half of a game they did not deserve to win? Definitely. The way the Spartans shot free throws, New Mexico State probably should have won by 10. Do I, as a Michigan State fan, give a crap? Absolutely not.

Two words: Kenny Anderson. Deserve's got nothin' to do with it.

* * * * *

Ok, we have two things to do today. Watch a crapload of basketball and get ready for my fantasy baseball draft on Sunday. (Tom Glavine is still playing, right? I always try to grab him early!) Oh, and I guess I'll do some writing here. Thankfully, the weather is gorgeous outside so that should help. (Grumble.) Eat hearty and come back soon.

Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. More open threads for the games tonight, and Dash is here for you tomorrow.

TylerDurdensCutman

The two planes were supposed to complete their National Anthem flyover at 1,000 feet, but a deceptively simple mistake brought them over downtown Atlanta much, much lower. They adjusted their altimeters to operate via sea level rather than ground level, but failed to set their warning systems to match.

Or, for a simpler explanation, both pilots were Georgia Tech grads.

Either way, the result was a spate of awesome YouTube videos:

The officers have been shifted to other specialties, ones that don't involve flying. Which is good, I suppose, considering the egregious safety violations. But still: America, fuck yeah!

Oceana F/A-18 pilots grounded after low flyover [Virginian-Pilot]

•"Samer Ocho Cinco" points us to video of Ashley Judd dancing. A grateful nation thanks him.

•"Fighter-of-the-Nightman" knows that even though he may have made nicey-nice with Simmons, Rick Reilly still has enemies at CNN.

•"DirkToberFest" finds John Hollinger's mortal enemy.

•"scoop.and.slam" would apparently rather Deadspin move to a subscriber model:

why does Deadspin keep changing colors? This confuses me.

•"InSinSeer" shows concern for our intern.

•"Theodore Donald" helpfully creates the #stabbedinthedick tag.

•"crazyjoedavola" has had just about enough of the NHL's nebulous injury reports.

•"JanetRenoManchild" sees dongs where none exist.

The ball isn't the only thing that's tipped; have your one shining moment and contribute to #tips.

UPDATE: Wisconsin's up three with 7:55 left.