What do you Think of Oregon's New Basketball Floor?

I have to say it's different.

This goes right with some of the wild athletic uniforms the Ducks have showcased over the years.  The court has an outline on all sides of a forest of fir trees, an homage to the school's picturesque Pacific Northwest setting and to Oregon's 1939 national title team nicknamed "The Tall Firs."

 In the center of the floor is the slogan "Deep in the Woods," i don't really know why.  Tinker Hatfield is the designer of the floor, Hatfield, a former Oregon track and field star and vice president of design and special projects for Nike, designed many of the shoes from the famed Air Jordan line.  

With Nike involved, I'm rather surprised the tree outline doesn't form some sort of a swoosh..

What do you think?

Week 9: NFL Play of the Week

How about a stout NFC South matchup? 

It's Tampa Bay and Atlanta today in the Georgia Dome.  Tampa has been one of the biggest surprises in the NFL as we hit the half-way point of the season.  Atlanta is tough at home.  Both teams are led by young quarterbacks and head coaches that demand a lot out of their players.  In some aspects I like Josn Freeman better than Matt Ryan.

Atlanta is favored by 8.5 or 9 depending on where you are.  I like the Bucs to stay within a touchdown.  I don't think Atlanta will take Tampa lightly, I think the Bucs are a very solid young team.  Should be a good game.  Take the Bucs and the points.

Also like the OVER in the Colts / Eagles game.  Go over the 47.

Black Friday Deals Start Early

It used to be shoppers had to wait until the week of Thanksgiving to see the deep discounts and "door busters" at retailers.

The month of November has just started and the biggest sale before Christmas Day in the US is about to start. Black Friday 2010 will be this coming November 26, 2010. Various retailers are expected to participate in this sale and as early as now, a lot of people are looking for Black Friday deals and ads that leaked on internet sites to plan their holiday shopping.

Most retailers usually announce their official Black Friday 2010 deals through the release of ad scans on November 22, 2010. However, some retail outlets are already offering great deals on their products in order to get started on the holiday shopping revenue.

Best Buy announced its early sales dubbed as “Shop Early, Save Big Event”. Although this might not be their official Black Friday 2010 deals, the sale will happen from Friday, November 5, 2010 at 10am to Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 10am on their Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania outlet. The sale would be more on electronics items such as laptops, camcorders, PSP go, among others.  This is great news for early shopping consumers.

Walmart too has not yet announced its official Black Friday 2010 deals. According to various reports, the company won’t release it until about a week before the actual Black Friday event. However, in preparation of the upcoming event, they have an electronic sale on November 6 to 7, 2010 from 8am where you can avail of huge discounts and great deals on gadgets such as LCD TVs, laptops, Sony PS3, and a whole lot more.

Sears is billing their sales leadin up to Thanksgiving as “Black Friday Now! These are two-day doorbusters from Friday to Saturday up to Christmas Day”, the sale goes on every week from Friday to Saturday until the Christmas Day.

Daylight Savings Time Ends

At 2 a.m. local time Nov. 7 – the wee hours of Sunday morning – Daylight Saving Time ends for much of the United States. That means turning clocks back one hour for an extra bit of shut-eye or an extra chapter or two in that novel before hitting the pillow.

The "Spring forward, Fall back" ritual was codified in the Uniform Time Act of 1966. States can opt out, of course. Hawaii and Arizona have said no thanks to the time changes that kick in on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November.

But the rest of the country, including the once temporally bifurcated Indiana, are now on board.

So before you venture off to sleep tonight, make the rounds and change the clocks. While you're at it, public safety officials nationwide add that it's a good time to put new batteries in smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors.

Savor the extra hour, if you get one. Come March, it's Daylight Saving Time again.

Volcanic Ash Cancels Jakarta Flights

Some International airlines canceled flights into and out of Jakarta on Saturday because of ash spewing from the Mount Merapi volcano.

Airport authorities said up to 10 percent of the 1,200 flights at the Indonesian capital's airport were canceled. But they suggested the 11 carriers' cancellations were premature because ash from the erupting volcano more than 200 miles to the east had not reached Jakarta.

The volcano continued to rumble and groan on Saturday, at times spitting ash up to two miles into the sky.  Merapi staged its most thunderous eruptions on Friday - blasts that volcano experts said were Merapi's biggest since the 1870s.

Various airlines canceled flights, including Singapore Airlines, Air Asia, Emirates, Malaysia Airlines, Japan Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, China AIrlines, Korean Air, Tiger Air and the local airline Mandala.  Closer to the volcano, the Yogyakarta international airport is closed.

U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Indonesia, where he lived part of his childhood, on Tuesday as part of his 10-day Asian trip.