How Much Interest Do You Have in Other Duck Sports?

[spartan2785]

I want to emphasize I am not criticizing anyone on here, I'm also not criticizing those that starts threads on the any number of topics that are out there, I'm only trying to gauge interest in other people's view of sports.  

 

I also understand that the amount of football threads is pretty consistent with a lot of boards, both Oregon and other universities.  

 

Still it's sort of interesting to me that we have a basketball team who is decent (not great but decent), and we seem to have very little interest from the people on this board, we have some who post on it, but most seem to be more interested in talking about UW football, the Chargers getting Harbaugh, transition to the B1G for football, or transfers.  I guess my question for those here is how much interest do you have in other Duck sports?  Do you try to catch most or all of the basketball games?  How much do you pay attention in the spring (baseball/softball).

 

I know that I don't get to watch as much baseball as I would hope since I coach baseball and I'm usually at practice or a game when they play.  Men's basketball I'm able to watch more of, I would say I catch about 80% of the games (either going to Matt Court or on TV).  I certainly used to watch/go to more women's basketball as well, but I totally admit that program has lost my interest since their decent into the bottom of the Pac-12.

 

Football will always be king, it gets the most clicks, it's why we have pay sites that cover things like recruiting I get all that, but it is interesting how little people seem to post about basketball.  It probably helps that spring football is a thing where so that it

 

I also want to acknowledge that I could probably stand to post more topics if I feel like there is something to talk about. 

[bbmichaels]

There was a time when I followed many Duck sports. As I got older and life got in the way that dwindled.

 

I loved watching the Sabrina teams...but basketball has become a hard sell for me in recent years. Some of that is due to the one-and-dones in hoops, which make it difficult to get to know the team. But it's also just due to me being a CPA and not being able to watch late-season and tourament games as I'm dealing with taxes during that season.

 

Football, besides being my favorite sport to watch anyway, simply times well for me and has fewer games, which makes for less committed time from me.

 

It is what it is...

 

 

[EastBayDuckDad]

Spartan2785, since you asked:

 

My personal scale of 1-10, 10 highest.

 

FB.            10

MBB.          8

MBaseB.    8

WBB.          7

WSoftB.     6

WVB.          5

T&Field      4

 

Interest in following details may go up or down based on the time of year and how the team is doing (WBB down some now, WVB was up given the season they had).

 

Football is always a ten. Media coverage also seems to echo the above hierarchy so commentary on OBDF mirrors that narrative. And for whatever reasons, the misfortunes of the Trojenz and Fusky always seem to tug at the old heartstrings and usually warrant a thread or two. Ditto the travails of former coaches that thought the grass would be greener elsewhere, when we know the grass is damn green in Eugene.

 

I for one am always interested in information or stimulating thought about the Ducks. Mr Fishduck has created a space where all things Quack are invited, so bring it on and let's talk it about it!

[2002duck]

Wake me up when the Ducks (Men's BB) are in the NCAA Tourney & the baseball team is in the World Series/Playoffs rounds. 

 

But seriously, I watch the Ducks pretty darn closely in basketball, but it is all in the hopes that we make the NCAA Tourney. In general, I care about the following:

 

1) CFB National Champion

 

2) Making the CFB Playoffs

 

3) Winning the NCCAA Men's Tourney

 

4) Making the Men's NCAA Tournament

 

5) CFB recruiting 

 

6) Men's BB recruiting

 

7) CFB Big 10 Champions (I guess this would also include a Playoff spot anyway, it's just that I don't necessarily care about conference titles too much)

 

8- Baseball National Champions

 

9) Men's BB Big 10 Champions

 

10) WBB National Champions

 

I guess the emphasis for me, and one Spartan2785 pointed out, is that recruiting in football and basketball is one of the things I pay attention to and am most interested in.

 

It's also why I do not like John Canzano's radio show. He never talks about Ducks recruiting even though that's one of the most important things there is to talk about. If there was a FM/AM radio show that only talked about Oregon recruiting I would listen to it every day.

[Charles Fischer]

Years back when FishDuck was publishing between two and seven articles a day....I would track the readership of the sports. And we had correspondents at games, (for example current FishDuck writer Jordan Ingram was our softball writer when he was a student at UO) and wrote extensively about Volleyball, Softball, Baseball and Track.  We even did a season reporting on Lacrosse and paid for photographers to be there!

 

This was my estimation of the relative readership of many of the sports, and I start with football as the benchmark to compare.

 

Football: 100%  I say this because of the volume of readership during the season, during big-news days, and frankly in the off-season we love to discuss all the happenings of college football.  As it is...this is probably a board that has 95% of the posts that are football related.

 

Mens Basketball: 35%  Yes, it is THAT big a drop.  Even with we had the final four team...I was surprised and disappointed with readership in Mens Basketball.

 

Womens Basketball 25% Even in the great years--we had articles, but not many about this sport.  And not many people would read them...

 

Baseball: 10%  If that...and while I am a HUGE fan, and it saddens me...the good news is that at least I will discuss it on occasion and hopefully attract the few other fans to take part.

 

Softball: 10%  Minor interest is there, and frankly...I like reading about the games, but do not watch much unless it is big games.

 

Volleyball: 2% Almost no interest, and yet we had another great team.

 

Track: 2%  This sport is an example that represents all the non-football sports, as I spent a ton of money on photographers, and time training writers for Track & Field articles.  Then another writer would create a bad football recruiting article, and it would generate three times the readership of an article about Track & Field, or Softball, or Baseball, or Volleyball....you get the idea.  Even a BADLY written article about football has vastly more interest than the other sport.

 

I was trying to be the "good-guy" and cover as many sports as possible, but the ol' 80-20 rule sure came into play; football got 80% of the readership and the others combined got 20%.  Guess which took the most work?  That is why we only do football FishDuck articles now.  I don't make the publishing rules...the marketplace does.  I just have to adjust to them.

 

But I love my Oregon Baseball!

 

 

[spartan2785]

Hey Charles, I hope you didn't take this topic as a criticism of this site, I really do like posting on here, I just wanted to see what people thought, and I guess I just wish people weren't soooooo focused on football, I definitely fall into the vast vast vassstttttt majority of people who's first interest is college football.  

 

I guess for myself it would be

 

Football 100%

 

Men's Basketball 90%

 

Women's Basketball 60%  (probably was 80% during the Sabrina years)

 

Baseball 60% (would be more if I had the time)

 

Softball 40% (again would be more if I had the time)

 

Volleyball 40% (again I just have too many things going on)

 

Other sports 10%. I will keep tabs and see scores, but I just have so many other teams and personal stuff going on that I don't watch pretty much anything else unless it gets to a championship level.

[JabbaNoBargain]

Football definitely first. I used to consider it a failure if I saw fewer than 9 games per season in person, but that went away for me about 15 years ago. (TV, children, and living on the other side of the country for a bit all contributed to this)

 

I used to be pretty fanatical about men’s hoops, but that has faded a lot, still watch most games, but don’t go crazy if I miss us playing Cal.

 

The rest I’m a complete fair weather fan, if a team is in the hunt, I’ll pay attention. Definitely was different when I lived in Eugene.

[Charles Fischer]

On 1/27/2024 at 7:47 PM, spartan2785 said:

Hey Charles, I hope you didn't take this topic as a criticism of this site,

I did not take it that way, because you are relatively new and would not know of all the experimentation I've done, and all I've learned.  The readership of non-football sports is not what I want, but you post all you want about Mens Basketball, and I will post about Baseball...and whoever takes part--we welcome them.  Posts about any non-football sports are fine, and frankly--we need them in the off-season.

 

Holy Crap!  This is someone I did not know about

and is joining this deep pitching staff?  Whew!

 

 

[David Marsh]

Football is the sport I try my very best to not miss a game. I missed a chunk of the pac-12 championship game this year because I foolishly scheduled something on that evening without thinking about it. 

 

Oddly enough that worked out for the best because I didn't spend the evening agonizing in front of the TV but went to zoo lights with my daughter. 

 

Other Oregon sports I follow loosely and rarely watch games. I don't really have the time or patience. 

 

Basketball I used to love but I find it just doesn't have the same exciting flow and suspense as a football game. Also not a whole lot of trickery can happen in. A basketball game. 

 

It's fine and I might tune in come the end of a season but not during the season. 

 

Baseball and softball... Just can't get into it. But I'll pay attention to websites saying the teams are doing well. Same goes for pretty much everything else..

[Jemangi]

I am interested in and watch most Football games; Mens and Women's basketball when they act like they care and don't suck. I go to a baseball game occasionally.  Would like to see some women's volleyball in the future.  Track is not my thing, but do enjoy knowing how we are doing.

I read most articles here on our site on any sport.

 

I hope everyone keeps posting and commenting on all our team sports, the kids deserve the attention!

[Wood Duck]

Football, Men's BB, Women's BB, Track and Field in that order.

[Grandpa Duck]

We used to have season tickets to FB, MBB, WBB and softball.  Now only WBBand softball.  I go with my wife sometimes,but I’ve become extremely uncomfortable being in crowds.  Always watch most every sport on TV, but only football draws me to this board.

[criticalduck]

Football, basketball, and track. The sports I participated in growing up.

[Duxster]

I follow football and men's basketball but only read posts here about football. 

[AnotherOD]

 

College basketball?

 

If I had to guess:

 

It just really isn't the game it used to be; and, I think a lot of those who remember the better product and used to be more hardcore fans, have gradually lost a lot of interest over time, bit by bit.

 

I think it started with the one-and-done guys and has gotten worse with the growth and acceptance of the G league as a viable (and paying) path to the NBA. With the transfer portal opening up things even wider, from what I can tell, it isn't just Oregon that seems to be turning over half its roster each year.

 

Mostly the last several seasons I'm happy if I catch an early game and can recognize 3 or 4 players from the previous year. The teams the Ducks play? Forget about it, I'm surprised to know any of their players, let alone who on their teams are supposed to be good and ones to watch.

 

Recruiting successes like Bol Bol, Kel'el Ware, and Louis King once were a real reason for excitement. In the not entirely distant past, possibly 2-3 seasons with an elite talent that might develop into a star.

 

What did Oregon get from Bol? 9 games and out? Louis King? Came on during the second half of his freshman year and ended up averaging 13.5 ppg, a real reason for excitement the next season, except he was out the door to be undrafted and I think entering season 5 in the G league (ok, to be fair, while being signed and waved by 3 NBA teams, he has played in 27 NBA games).

 

Kel'el Ware even more of a mystery (second highest rated Duck basketball recruit in the "recruiting ranking" period). I picked up a mock NBA draft before the season to see if I recognized anyone listed in the first round, and who do I see, listed around number 20? Former Duck and to be Indiana Hoosier Kel'el Ware. 

 

Now, I know how this works, he has interesting size and was highly rated in high school; but, did no one watch his what appeared to be often disinterested 15.8 minutes and 6.6 points per game at Oregon? I mean, if on paper he is one of the top prospects in the college game, where is the college game at? (And not really to bag on the kid too much, I guess he has been better this year at Indiana so far, around 14 ppg and 9 rpg).

 

With conference tournament automatic bids, I think the regular season continues to lose a bit of luster as the quality of play doesn't stand out, and fan can pick it up late in the season.

 

With seemingly fewer and fewer every season power programs and generally arguably more parity, a 15-13 regular season team can go on a run and win a bid over the weekend. As others have mentioned, pick it up towards the end of the season if your team has a shot, if they don't, not a lot was invested in what ends up being a not-so-interesting year (and get ready for a new batch of players next season).

 

 

Edited January 28 by AnotherOD

[Duckhart2]

Football is my fav. I do like to watch women's softball, both roundball teams & T&fricken.

[Duckhart2]

Track & Field.......

 

[DUCKED]

Favorite sports…..in order:

 

Football, Men’s Basketball, Volleyball, Softball, Baseball, Track, Women’s Basketball, Tennis and Golf (which, justifiably, rarely if ever appear here.)

 

Note: I love women’s basketball, just not the Ducks right now. The UConn-Notre Dame game was the one of the highlights of yesterday’s women’s slate, and the day before South Carolina’s win at LSU was an instant classic,

 

 

[OceaniaDuck]

Favorite sports are football and MBB. The others, it just depends if there is something that piques my interest, such as a freakishly good athlete - an example would be WBB, when Sabrina Ionescu was playing for OBD.

[DrJacksPlaidPants]

Duck football is king for me. Many years of living in Spokompton turned me into a Zags basketball fan (hey, Few is a Duck, so it’s close). The 2017 Final Four could’ve gotten awkward but the Tar Heels ruined everything.

 

 

[MicroBurst61]

Football is King.  Not only with OBD, but with the sports enthusiast in the Grand Ole USA, at large.  It is truly our "National Game" (sorry baseball, you had a nice run!), and thats not changing anytime soon.

 

So that being said.  I do enjoy Oregon Athletics and find myself fortunate to have the plethora of sporting events to attend/follow through our outstanding Athletic Department.  Definitely Not an afterthought at the University of Oregon.  

 

I am, and always will be primarily a football/basketball guy first but enjoy following and reading about the other successes by other sports at the UofO.  Unfortunately college football and college basketball seem to be going in opposite directions. 

 

Football is "creating" a second NFL-lite, while college basketball has become more of a minor league to the "G-league" and NBA.  Not only a problem for the overall quality of the college game but has been a problem for Coaches in college, with so much less continuity in teams that it's hard to create a "winner".  Maybe with NIL, that's beginning to swing back, but there are a LOT of financial forces that want to keep it swinging the way it has the past ten years, or so.

 

Main point is.  PLEASE keep posting all there is about OBD.  I know it will always be slanted towards football but I appreciate the other insights that are posted about the "secondary sports", and enjoy the forum readers observations and speculations on those topics.

 

Not to "task" our host "Mr FishDuck" anymore than he already has on his plate but maybe there is a way to set up the forum, to not only reflect posts as they currently are, but to have a "search" or "sport specific" feature that can group post also by sports subject?

 

Maybe then it would be easier for us casual reader/posters to follow up on information regarding the less followed sports at the UofO.  Just a few rambling thoughts.  Just happy to have a place to be able to discuss all things "Ducky"!

 

Let's Go Ducks!

 

 

[Steven A]

Yes, football is KING.

 

I usually DVR the games and start watching when I think I can get to the end without watching in real time.

 

I DVR BBall also but find myself the last couple of years peaking at the live score on ESPN.  If it is a win or a closely contested game, I will then watch it.  If we are blown out . . . life is too short for those games after 50+ years of watching that sort of thing.

 

I follow track as much as possible as I am from the Prefontaine years.

 

GoDucks.com is my source for the "other" sports.