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BeaverBytes - July 14-20
Story URL: http://oregonstate.scout.com/2/548492.html

Dan Norz
BeaverFootball.com

Jul 21, 2006

Men's basketball releases schedule...Top 25 most influential people in Oregon sports...Houshmandzadeh gets some fantasy football love...Jackson aims at breakout season...Summer baseball news...Commentary on Casey staying at Oregon State

..| Beaver Football

Jackson takes aim at a breakout season
Steven Jackson's first season as the Rams' primary ballcarrier was generally forgettable.

He did reach the 1,000-yard plateau, finishing with 1,046. But 12 other running backs topped that total. And Jackson's average of 4.1 yards per carry was bettered by 16 other full-time backs ... more from the St. Louis Dispatch.

Pac-10 preview by Scout.com
The Scout.com PAC-10 publishers have come together to give you a quick glance at each team in the conference for the upcoming 2006 season ... more from Scout.com.

Bray signs with Dolphins
Former Oregon State linebacker Trent Bray signed a free agent contract with the Miami Dolphins.

Houshmandzadeh gets some fantasy love
With a name that would make any aspiring 12-year-old spelling bee contender sweat, Housh deserves more love. Second only to Chris Chambers in wide receiver red-zone targets last year, the fourth-year Bengals standout is the ideal complement to the boisterous Chad Johnson ... more from Yahoo! Sports.

Former Miller star Serna is one of the first to try out new fields at Lewis Sports Complex
Alexis Serna is used to playing football at some of the best college stadiums in the country.

Last Saturday, the outstanding kicker for Oregon State University had a chance to kick some footballs on a field comprised of NFL-caliber synthetic turf -- the newly-remodeled Ralph M. Lewis Sports Complex in Fontana ... more from the Fontana Herald.

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..| Beaver Baseball

Buck to undergo "Tommy John" surgery
D-Backs third-round draft choice Dallas Buck met with team medical officials Wednesday and still is mulling a decision to undergo “Tommy John” elbow ligament-replacement surgery.

Buck said he hopes to decide “within a week.’’ ... more from the East Valley Tribune.

O-State Ballaz rap
featuring Matt Canham ... more form ostateballaz.com.

Knight and Casey show true character
When it was all over last week and Oregon State had held its news conference with Pat Casey, announcing it had retained its baseball coach and, in fact, had signed him to a 10-year contract, a call came in to the Portland Tribune sports department.

It was someone in the sports information department at Notre Dame. The guy said he really wanted to set the record straight and had a problem with our story on www.localnewsdaily.com – the first one on the Internet with quotes from Casey about why he decided to stay at OSU. Notre Dame had interviewed a lot of people, the man said, and never said that it actually had offered the job to Casey. In fact, the school wasn’t even willing to state, on the record, that Casey had been in South Bend, Ind., interviewing for the job ... more from the Portland Tribune.

OSU pitcher recovering from an apparent hit-and-run
A pitcher for the Oregon State University baseball team is recovering from injuries suffered in what his family termed a hit-and-run accident on Southeast 16th Avenue and Hawthorne Street around midnight July 12 ... more from the Portland Tribune.

Casey wise to stay at OSU’s bat
We have seen what a great strategist Pat Casey was in orchestrating Oregon State University’s win in the baseball College World Series. Combining a never-say-die focus with scrupulous attention to fundamentals and near-flawless execution, Casey’s team managed to convert even baseball-indifferent viewers into admiring, cheering fans across the nation.

Now we’ve seen that he also is a shrewd strategist in orchestrating his own career. Casey could have accepted a job at Notre Dame, trading in OSU’s first national college championship win in 45 years for a fatter paycheck and a more prestigious association behind his name ... more from the Gazette Times.

Graham, Gillespie update
Great Falls native Tyler Graham made his professional debut last week for the San Francisco affiliate in Salem (Ore.) after helping the Oregon State Beavers to a national championship last month ... Outfielder Cole Gillespie, a third-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers last month, went 6-for-6 for Helena a couple of days ago. Gillespie followed that with a 3-for-5 effort, then slugged his first pro home run a few days after that.

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..| Beaver Basketball

OSU will face LSU in December
The Oregon State men's 2006-07 basketball schedule features 19 games at Gill Coliseum, including matchups against 2006 NCAA Final Four participants Louisiana State and UCLA, the school announced Monday.

LSU, which lost to UCLA in the national semifinals, will visit Corvallis for a nonconference game on Dec. 17, while the defending Pacific-10 Conference champion Bruins make their annual appearance at Gill on Jan. 4 ... more from the Oregonian.

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..| Miscellaneous Athletic Articles

Portland Alumni Gathering July 23
On July 23, 2006, the OSU Alumni Association will have two private suites reserved at the Smooth Jazz Summer Concert which will be held at PGE Park in Portland. Join us for all or part of the nine-hour concert showcasing jazz acts that rank among the nation’s best. Only 52 seats are available in the two private suites ... more from BeaverFootball.com.

List of the Top 25 most influential people in Oregon sports
11. Mike Riley (8): The Oregon State football coach, 53, saw his consecutive bowl-game streak snapped with a 5-6 record in 2005 ... more from the Oregonian.

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