Duckpop22

I don't like beer. The Hot Wife likes beer, but does not like IPA's. We hope you still like us.

I'll start. Maybe, I'm entitled. Perhaps I'm a bandwagoner (though my history of attending Duck games began in 1977. "No, Jack! Not a long out just before halftime against UCLA!"). Whatever names you want for me, I will try on for size. But, I am NOT satisfied with a 7-5 season, because it is a winning one, and no amount of "Gee, I remember when we were happy with..." is going to make me so. Me, Phil and the rest of us, have spent tens of thousands of dollars on full stadiums, more gear than I will admit to buying, and facilities that make a high-school 5-star weep with joy. We were the envy of college football fans everywhere when we brought fast-break football to the Pac-12. We filled not only our own stadium, but other stadiums, as well, because fans everywhere wanted to see the high-flying Ducks. Chip bent the rules a little too hard, and went to the NFL. I get that, but to this day I believe he was the greatest Head Coach the Ducks ever had. He brought winning, and a culture of winning. He brought an expectation of winning that started the flow of great players to the shores of the Willamette. I can only imagine what he could do with five-stars given what he did with 2*-3*. Now, we have Coach Cristobal. I find myself hoping he doesn't get in the way of our 5* roster to win. Someone said they don't mind watching 3* players score a lot of points and lose. I don't care if we win every game 2-0, as long as we win every game. But what we saw two weeks ago and tonight in Vegas boggles the mind. In Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher said, "Oh Tom, how could you be so noble." There was a moment tonight when I thought, "Oh, Oregon, how could you be so dreadful?"

We are out-attended by at least 70/30 in every neutral site game. We have plenty of excuses, but here is the truth. We don't travel well as a fan base.

One game does not a career make. The internet often says, "Move on," and "Get over it." I don't say either very often. But, I do think it is time to get over that game against BSU.

Utah 27-13. one turnover, 2 sacks, and 199 yards I tried all day to imagine us being enough better in two weeks to make up the gap from last time. I couldn't.

Or enhanced Ukrainian brides. They are my favorite!

Why will I do this? Do I have a special rooting connection for either team? No. I do like to place the occasional wager. Is that why I will watch this contest? No. I will watch Iowa/Nebraska and root with most of my heart for Iowa. I do this because I chase Scott Frost all over the country, rooting against him. He refused to work with some of our young quarterbacks and claimed that it is difficult to recruit to Oregon. In fact, it was difficult for him to recruit to Oregon, because he is a .... Go, Hawkeyes! Run it up! I may be a very sick man! I don't care.

Fortunately, and unfortunately, this is exactly how I am picturing it playing out. Wuld you have taken this at the beginning of the year? I would have. I just need something to get the bad taste out of my mouth. Perhaps some Beaver Stew will help.

"my second favorite team is the Beavers..." Who ARE you?

I have a few good divorce attorneys on my friends' list.

Reggie Ogburn was a great dual-threat quarterback...until it started to rain.

Hasn't the last month done wonders for Nick Rolovich's chances for another Head Coach gig?

It is time for Mario's Big Uglies to play to their star levels.

First was the touchdown, second was the interception. But my third favorite moment of the first half may have been the review of a 17-yard run on first and ten to see if it was a first down.

Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday. Actually better, because I don't remember yesterday all that well. In 1989 I was a rising young professional five years out of college and with a thriving career selling property/casualty insurance. Buttoned-down with a short haircut and all that. I went to the Duck/Husky game with five friends, and we all believed that the Ducks had a real shot at upsetting the homestanding Huskies this year. After all, the Ducks were on a two-game winning streak in the series, partly because of a schedule anomaly that caused us to host the game in '87, and '88. We had Bill Musgrave under center, and he was a coach on the field, always making the best decisions. Derek Loville and Latin Berry shared the rushing load. Loville was lightning and Berry was thunder, but Berry averaged a yard more per carry than did Derek Loville. Terry Obee and Tony Hargain led a receiving corps that also included sure-handed Joe Reitzug. We called Reitzug "Human Stickum." This was a solid team, and my carload was very confident. It was a crisp October day in Seattle and over 70,000 fans filled The Stadium My Wife Won't Look At To This Day As We Drive Through Seattle. Heeerrreee we go. Did I mention that Bill Musgrave made wise decisions. Apparently his big brain stayed home as he was intercepted four times. On top of that, the Ducks lost three fumbles for a total of seven turnovers on the afternoon. It was so agonizingly close to a win, if we hadn't stepped on our Duck feet so many times. But, down we went 20-14. But what makes this a Husky memory isn't for the game. On the way out of the stadium we were greeted by some Washington frat boys who wanted to heckle people in Duck attire. They stepped one way to block my party's path. Then another way to slow us down again. Finally, one of them shouted at me, "Long drive back to Eugene, you f'n loser!" I snapped. I don't know why. I had heard that, and worse, from other frats in other years. But something about his stupid face, and the stupid faces of his frat boys behind him popped something in me. *At this point you need to know that I'm about 5'8" and had the physique of someone who sells insurance in an office all day. Not fat enough for "doughy", but too many maple bars for "in shape." I went after them. All of them. All of my pent-up frustration about the game and what I thought it meant for our season went into my rush toward them. My built-up frustration from Husky fans of that era half-filling Autzen. All of it. I waded into four or five large fraternity brothers, looking to settle a score that was mostly in my own mind. But, suddenly ten hands grabbed me all at once. It was my friends not wanting the loss to culminate in my getting killed. Killed may be an over.... no, it isn't. Killed. They half-dragged and half-carried me to the car, while I shouted for them to put me down! I remember one thing more about my rush into mortal danger. For just a moment, there was a flash of something in the eyes of the main antagonist. The one with the mouth. For just a moment he wasn't prepared for a vicious Duck fan with a fist cocked, and the look on his face was fear. Somewhere, I'll bet he remembers it too. Oh, he won't admit it. But, it was there. Go Ducks! Or, my outer facade of normalcy might crack until the rage inside is on display for all to see. Go Ducks! Or else...

Ducks 37-13 2, 4, 210.

On this day I am reminded of one of the best forum handles in the history of typing Owen Twelve

30Duck took mine.

I'm afraid I have to turn in my man card. I actually shrieked a little (when I looked back at the moment) when I saw us in the #4 slot! What an opportunity to smell the rarefied air one more time. The Stanford loss is forgiven as the committee understood our difficulties without a offensive coordinator in the building. That said, it is Husky Week and we must remain focused on the mange. After my squeaky moment I refuse to think about the CFP until next week. LET'S GO DUCKS! (cfp over rose bowl all day.)

Ty did some good things. Unfortunately, a Top Ten team needs to see results and not some good things.

Whether he wants to admit it to us or not, he coached this game with an eye to Tuesday. We had to put up a pretty score or we won't be asked to the Prom at the end of the year. Everyone from 4-10 had to do the same thing and will have to do the same thing next weekend. More importantly, it is now Husky Week and I greet it with the same gnawing in my stomach I do every year. Losing to U-Dub is not acceptable.

Actually, I came up with two words. One of them at the beginning of the fourth quarter. But, it was extremely naughty and would have put me in FishDuck Sing Sing until my fingers wither and fall off. So, we will leave that word alone, and instead will share the word for which I have searched since Opening Day. Dynamism. Even in victory, our Ducks lack the dynamism that teams with our level of talent should have. For the most part our touchdown drives (few as they are) strike this fan as slogs through the mud pots of Yellowstone Park. Our fans, in the stadium and at home, are forever leaning forward in an effort to help this team get out of its own way. Heck, I feel it in my shoulders as we bog down and attempt a 45-yard-field goal. I know that many of us have longed for MC to give the reins of offense to Joe Moorhead. "That's where the dynamism is found" I say to myself. But maybe Moorhead has lost his own dynamism. Or doesn't trust the lineup on the field to perform dynamically. I don't know where it is, and maybe Joe and Mario don't know either. I do not know Sunday morning at 12:23 am, whether we will be favored against UCLA or how we will perform against them. We can beat them with our Bataan Death March offense because we appear to be stronger at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. But, the Bruins will be dynamic. I only wonder why.

I think I once asked her out. Same gesture.

Great GIF, Oregon Reigns. Yes, a safe place in an online sea rife with barracuda. I will endeavor to keep my teeth un-bared. I used to work for The Big Fish and he made me wash his Escalades on Sundays if I got out of line.

I'm about to do something I don't like to do which is find fault with one idea, without offering up anything better. But gauging intent, in other words reading the mind of the player, is hard as heck to actually do. The targeting rule is a work in progress, and may be one for a long time, because there are so many variables in play. Strides have been made since the beginning where defensive players were making the Walk of Shame several times a game and being tossed for the first half of the next game! I hope improvements in the equipment will go a long way toward solving the problem, because I don't know if on-field legislation is even possible. Choices are being made in less than a split second, because this collision sport is being played by ever-faster, ever-bigger players who have as much courage as any generation of players before them. The officials are already at the edge of their abilities, but now we want them to read minds when they may not have been in position to see the hit in the first place. I guess I don't know if "you can usually tell" about malicious intent. I watch a lot of games, and malicious intent just seems to be a coin flip. Hence, my dilemma. It is a good, and necessary, conversation, though.