It's a tough job, to be sure. You are trained for years to see things in a certain manner. Then, at a moment's notice, you are told that those rules are no longer valid, or are at least marginally different.

Keep in mind that you must keep a straight face and speak with a level tone, while you deal with this massive alteration, and you must do so during nationally televised sporting contests, knowing that any missteps will be massively scrutinized by the fans and the media.

Such is the life of the NFL's replacement officials.

I know, you think anyone could do their jobs. That even you could do it.

Well, hold on a minute.

The exchange between coach and team is prime ground for misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and mistakes.

You might call it a part of the game.

It starts early, and if you plan on a long coaching career you need to clarify your message.

What makes a good coach? Someone who knows the game, knows the players, and knows their place.

This weekend marks the end of the PGA Tour season as 30 players vie for the FedEx Title in Atlanta. The Tour Championship is played at Eastlake GC and while it is easy to pull for the standard stars in Rory McIroy, Tiger Woods or Phil Mickleson, now is a good time to show that Northwest pride in putting your hopes behind Robert Garrigus. Eastlake is always a great opportunity for anyone, but a Garrigus triumph would provide a pleasant topping to his year.

The 35-year-old Garrigus, who attended Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis and also won the 4A State Championship there, currently resides in 20th place in the chase for the FedEx Cup. Only those in the top five (McIlroy, Woods, Nick Watney, Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker) are assured the title with a win. Hence, if Garrigus should pull off the victory and being somewhat distant from the top to start the tournament, he would need some help to win the overall Cup points. If momentum counts for anything, his chances are better than most coinciding with a T-4 at the BMW Championship (last tournament played in the playoffs).  Although he finished T-71 at The Barclays and T-42 at The Deutsche Bank Championship (the other two playoff events), relatively average finishes, he did improve his position in the standings going from 31st to 20th .

On this episode of The Slant, host Brad Stein talks about the Oregon Ducks and why the replacement referees in the NFL need to go.

Download & Listen Here

It was a beautiful September Saturday afternoon, awash with possibilities for Portland sports fans in search of entertainment and drama. For reasons I can’t begin to explain, I had movies on my mind, even as I wore out my remote changing back and forth between the Timbers and Ducks games.

As I pondered the sporting news of the past week, it seemed like a rerun of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. A wiser and more cultured person would quite probably come up with something more original. I’m not one for overanalyzing these things, so let’s go with that, shall we?

There are reports that more than 30 million people play fantasy football every season. That is 30,000,000!!! It is growing every year and has even changed the NFL. Now in stadiums across the league, they are offering Wi-Fi to make it a more "fantasy team owner friendly".

The fantasy football craze sucked me in at a young age. I am one of the crazy managers that proposes trades and picks guys up off waivers weekly. I won my league two years in a row and am on my way to the 3rd (I hope). But even with all the success, this week I run into every fantasy football player's biggest dilemma. Do I cheer on my guys or my favorite NFL team?

As the preseason wraps up among collegiate conferences around the country, a breakdown of what to expect for the rest of the year, who is worthy of hype and who has already been a disappointment, is rampant among the sports world. While UO’s football team has garnered a majority of national attention for its ranking, another Duck team has worked its way into the top ten and dominated a preseason of their own. The women’s volleyball team has leaped to a No. 9 ranking and stormed through an undefeated preseason, making them worthy of as much praise.

While the volleyball team has jumped four places in the last eight games, it doesn’t mean their road to the top will be an easy one. In fact, the Oregon women find themselves in perhaps the pinnacle of volleyball competition. As preseason comes to a close, five of the ten teams ranked as the top in the country are from the Pac-12, including UCLA (2), USC (3), Washington (5), Stanford (7), and Oregon (9).

The world of sports is a world of what have you done for me lately. That’s never been more true than during the first two weeks of the college football season. After a season-opening loss to Texas State University, Houston offensive coordinator Mike Nesbitt was handed his walking papers.

After Oregon State’s defense throttled Wisconsin’s vaunted running game, Badgers offensive line coach Mike Markuson was shown the door.

After his defense surrendered 65 points through the Portland State Vikings’s first two games, defensive coordinator Eric Jackson was fired.

Because, naturally, all of these schools had better candidates hiding elsewhere on their staff.

Clearly two games – or one in the case of Nesbitt – is enough to base a career- and team-altering decision on.

Just because Houston managed a modest 13 points against Texas State in the Bobcats’ D-I debut doesn’t mean you kick a coach off the staff.

That’s rash and illogical thinking.

On today's episode of The Slant, host Brad Stein is joined by Oregon Sports News writer Casey Mabbott. They preview week two of the NFL season, plus discuss the impact Notre Dame will have on the ACC.

Download & Listen Here

As we golfing addicts start considering hibernation during the dog days of Winter, there are ways to cope. Some of us prefer to keep to ourselves and stay inside for football pleasures. The rest of us don’t want to give up our addiction, even though Oregon’s version of ’hurricane’ season makes life difficult. How do we survive and where do we go? Here are the following recommendations to continue your golfing passion during the upcoming winter months.