Another installment of your carefully-crafted “Dear John” letters and my hasty replies...
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“This NCAA tournament has far exceeded expectations in level of play. For these guys from 68 teams to motivate themselves without an audience, living almost in solitary, on the road, and play to a generally high level deserves major kudos from sportswriters, the NCAA hierarchy, and fans. This whole thing could have been a slop fest. Instead we have had some of the most entertaining games in recent memory. Other than Kansas vs USC, I find it hard to pinpoint games where the guys showed up just to go through the motions.” -- Shawn
Reply: Agree. Gonzaga-UCLA was the pinnacle of competition but there were a lot of bright moments in this NCAA Tournament. Also, the women’s NCAA Tournament was just... plain... outstanding.
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“Thank you for the well written and positive column about our Beavers men’s basketball team and coach Wayne Tinkle. They all deserve praise for their work and pride.” -- Judith
Reply: A lot of fun to cover a team that plays with such verve.
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“It happens every year in the NCAA Tournament...an unheralded team gets hot at the right time and the coach gets elevated by the media to the ghost of John Wooden levels. Yes it is a great story for the OSU basketball team. Yes OSU proved many wrong about their preseason projected finish. Yes, Wayne Tinkle will probably get some type of contract extension...Yes Yes Yes....BUT have you taken a look at his record during his 7-years at OSU? This is the program he has built -- barely above a .500 overall record... Tinkle deserves many accolades but let’s keep one hot streak for a month at the right time in perspective when looking at what he has done(or not done) for 7-years.” -- Dave
Reply: Oregon State’s mens basketball program has two NCAA Tournament appearances in the the last 31 seasons -- both with Tinkle as the head coach. Also, he’s been at .500 or better three times in Pac-12 play. It wasn’t a hot streak. They were just plain good in the final month of the season.
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“The BEAVS truly have allowed all of Beaver Nation a chance to rid our minds of the debacle of our trustees and ex-president F. King Alexander brought to our wonderful school, and focus on something almost magical. All Beaver Nation should be extremely proud!” -- Scott
Reply: Sports is supposed to be a diversion... and in this case, it was.
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“In my opinion, everyone in this state should be very proud of how the Oregon State and Oregon teams did; both women and men. What a great run.” -- Jerry
Reply: You’re exactly right. Think about this: the Beavers’ men made the Elite Eight. The Oregon men/women programs both made the Sweet 16 and the OSU women made the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Total record: 8-4. That’s worth celebrating.
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“I wonder if you would look at doing a piece on sport fishing in Oregon. Particularly the challenge of it. But not the challenge you may think. There’s very few fish. I fished with a guide yesterday on the Willamette in Oregon City and prior to the trip he called letting us know it could be slow and that he was fine if we decided to cancel and look at a reschedule. This is his livelihood mind you. We decided to keep the trip and in six hours of fishing with several groups of private fisherman out there, maybe a couple of other guided groups, we saw one fish caught - thankfully in our boat. A 26-pound spring Chinook... Fish counts are down. The Applegate river, a gem of Southern Oregon has had 14 winter steelhead hit the dam this season as of a few days ago. The Rogue is having a terrible year as well. And it seems nobody is talking about this.” -- Ryan
Reply: We’re talking about it. Here. Now. Thanks to you.
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“You mentioned ‘Farewell to Arms’ in your column about the end of Oregon State’s NCAA Tournament run. It’s the best novel Ernest Hemingway wrote, which is saying a lot.” -- Michael
Reply: Could be the best, but it’s not my favorite. This English Literature major gravitates toward, “The Old Man and the Sea.” I think about old Santiago and that marlin often.
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Email: John@JohnCanzano.com
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Twitter: @JohnCanzanoBFT
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April 05, 2021 at 11:05PM
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Canzano: Monday Mailbag heavy on Oregon State’s NCAA Tournament run and ... fishing? - OregonLive
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