Annie

Thanks for posting! When our mascot is a "speaker" at Daisy Ducks meetings, he talks only when he is not in the costume. He says that his official name is The Duck and that Puddles was the name of his predecessor, the actual waterfowl. I still have a sweatshirt with The Duck in the fists-raised pose, and I've seen T-shirts at The Duck Store with that same picture. But as mentioned in the video, anything with that image can be sold only in Oregon. I am, of course, biased, but I think Oregon has the best college mascot ever!

I do clap when the opposing team runs onto the field, though the heartiness of my applause is in inverse proportion to how good the other team is (or is expected to be). For example, I will clap warmly for Portland State and Hawaii, but my applause for USC will be tepid at best. For a couple of long-time arch-enemy teams (you, and they, know who they are) I keep my hands folded in my lap. I rarely boo, except the refs--and even Miss Manners says booing the refs is part of the game experience. How about you, when it comes to clapping and/or booing?

I will probably watch a few minutes of the games, just to get that football feeling rolling, but otherwise it's a good day to read and work on a jigsaw puzzle.

Fun! Thanks for posting!

Hope it doesn't come to this, but it's possible. College Football’s Sad Last Dance NYMAG.COM Enjoy one final season before everything turns upside down.

I always enjoyed Costa when he was onTalkin' Ducks and various other Duck talk shows. But I especially enjoy Remembering how Oregon’s 2009 Rose Bowl trip was saved by Nate Costa, aka ‘Extra-point Gosh’ THEATHLETIC.COM If not for a heady play by Costa, then the holder on kicks and now a Ducks staffer, that ’09 Rose Bowl trip likely wouldn't have happened.

I thought he made the interception, but no one paid me to ref.

Fun to see the cousins!

On another board a usc fan posted the original Bo picture in NYC, bashing Bo, the Ducks, the billboard. Another poster (I forget what school, but not a trojan) joined in, saying no one would ever see it because it's on Park Avenue and no one on Park Avenue was interested in football. I then commented that, while I didn't know about people who lived and/or worked on Park Avenue, that the tourists would see it, they would care because they are interested in football. Then I mentioned that actually it was all over the internet, including on that post on that site. There has been no response to my comment.

Well, I figure it never hurts to have another QB, especially if one decides to walk on. I still remember the time that UO had 5 (or was it 6?) QBs go down to injury during the season. Welcome, TC Manumaleuna.

Another factor in the Ducks success, IMHO, is that Oregon kept Brooks as the head coach for 18 years, allowing him to build the team, while the Beavs fired and hired several coaches during that same time period. Yes, there were ups and downs during the Brooks era, but there was consistency of staff (though maybe the days of position coaches staying put for a long time is over) and support from the athletic department.

No, the UO is not a private school, but it receives less than 10 % of its funding from the state, and it's been that way for a long time.

Presumably on last season's D....

Yes, it was 10% (or less) a long time ago, and as far as I know has not increased since that time.

Oh, no! RIP, Herman. As I remember, when he joined the Ducks he was only 16 years old.

I don't know if perhaps you meant to say "annals of world history", but intentional or not, "anals of world history" works remarkably well in this situation.

That Fiesta Bowl was so sweet. As soon as ND found out that Oregon State was going to be their opponent in the game, they started complaining that ND deserved a more "worthy" adversary. It was really quite satisfying to watch the Beavs beat them 41-9.

And if being conference champ continues to be a guarantee into the 12-team playoff, it would be a much easier road for the teams in a PAC with only 6 teams... And that could be a lure to getting teams to join a new PAC 6, or PAC 8.

Exactly!

Yes, much faster! Yay!

Exactly. If anyone killed the conference, it's USC and UCLA. By the time the Ducks decided to leave for the Big10, CO had also left, and ASU, AZ, and Utah were getting ready to leave. I hope OSU and WSU can find a way to join/merge with another conference to keep them competitive.

Yes, Ducks and Utes have had an interesting rivalry going. Sad to see the teams heading to different conferences.

This!