Tim Tebow has been laid up. Same with Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham. Dez Bryant just got a year long suspension. Rob Gronkowski? Out for the year. And on top of that, 50% of the Pac-10 (including Oregon) has dealt with some variety of quarterback injuries in 2009.

Point is, everybody’s dealing with it. In the final injury report prior to last week’s games, Oregon had the second fewest injury issues of any team in the conference. Oregon’s not unique and if they’re a championship caliber team, they’ll fight through it.

Sure, it feels a little star-crossed to see the Duck quarterback suffer an injury for the fourth time in five years, but it doesn’t have to make or break the season. They’ve picked up the pieces before. In fact, Oregon’s worst season in those five years was the one in which a quarterback didn’t get hurt.

Eventually, the injury bug can break you (see Dennis Dixon circa 2007). But remember that up to that point, the team had survived a rash of injuries including season-enders  to two of their top wide receivers as well as the second best running back and they still kept chugging along.

Now, five games into 2009, Oregon has reached that point where they are going to have to fight through some adversity and some young guys are going to have to grow up quickly (hey, who let Ernie Kent steal my sentence?).

Fortunately, they’re getting a helping hand from the schedule makers who somehow knew how to time everything juuuust right.

With a game at UCLA on one end of a bye and a trip to Washington at the other, it’s not like they’re facing a firing squad. Other than two players lost for the season, one could imagine an entirely healthy squad when they go to Seattle. Of course, that assumes we’re getting honest assessments of health, an assumption with the foundational support of quick sand.

I know as Duck fans we’re conditioned to expect the other giant shoe to drop, but it hasn’t happened yet. We can leave the worrying for another day.

I’m ornery and for good reason. Call me a curmudgeon. I don’t care. These things are annoying me.

• The idea of Andy Ludwig positively effecting the Cal Bears offense? Annoying. I hold him personally responsible for the 2002-04 era that was so wretched. I expect Cal to score maybe 4 points when they come to Eugene.
• This team. You already know why.
• Cal and Washington have better fanbases than Oregon? Ugh. May I counter? Ok, thanks. Here goes.  I went to the Oregon vs. Cal game last year. Sloppy day. It was probably the worst weather in the Bay Area in 10 years (like I’d know). The rain must have kept people away because that was a lackluster crowd. If you are the best fan base in your conference, you have a FULL STADIUM for every game! That’s it. End of story. Put them #2. I don’t care. If they can’t sell it out and keep the stadium full for every game, they aren’t the best fan base. I don’t even need to provide any more argument…but I will. They have been trying to remodel their stadium since, what, 1832? It took them half a decade just to cut down some trees. As for Washington, well, the argument could have been made before they went all “Duke football” on us, but that ship of best fan base has sailed. You can’t put them in the top two right now.
• Is the Pac-10 quarterbacking situation so bad that Jake Locker is second best? That can’t be right. His career stats read like this: 48.7% completion rate, 15 TDs and 15 INTs. Oh, he has 1,166 yards rushing. Hell of  a running back. Something tells me this same link will show up in the things that make me happy post.
• Shifting outside the Pac-10, why doesn’t the media realize that Tim Tebow is the actual second coming of Jesus? It’s happening right now in Gainesville, FL, people! If they played football on water, he’d be the only guy that doesn’t need a boat.

Things that are making me happy.