You’ve seen them.
At times they’re witty, at times they’re corny and sometimes they’re just a little bit confusing.
The one constant is that they show up each week on the marquee of the Phoenix Inn.
For six years, David Howell, maintenance worker at the Phoenix Inn, has used the hotel’s marquee on Franklin Boulevard to post a short lighthearted message about the Ducks’ football opponent that week.
Howell works from a set number of characters but makes photocopies of letters to accommodate any phrase. Once Howell filled the entire marquee with  “Go Ducks” repeated over and over again, requiring him to spend hours cutting out photocopied letters. Any punctuation you see on the board is printed from his computer. At first, Howell had to get each week’s sign approved, but he says he’s now just given a green light.
“They give me a lot of freedom,” he said. “Since I’ve kind of gotten to where they know I’m going to do something that’s not inappropriate, so I can just really have fun with it now.”
Often, the aphorism he comes up with centers upon some school tradition, or the other team’s mascot. The idea, Howell says, is to really make out-of-town guests notice the sign.
And it works.
But even when there are no visiting fans coming into town, Howell still spends a good deal of time researching for each week’s slogan. At this point, it’s hard for him to avoid repeating things (he’s begun taking a picture of the sign each week so it’s easier for him to keep track of what he’s already said).
“Some of them that are a little bit more obscure,” he says. “Which I kind of like the best. I’ll go online and Google the team and the mascot, look up any of their traditions and things about their campus that people might not just readily know.”
Howell says he routinely sees out-of-town fans laughing at the signs, even telling their friends about them and sending pictures back home.
“They just think it’s funny that we got them with something obscure,” Howell said.
Sometimes though a reference is a little bit too obscure, especially for people who aren’t alumni of the Ducks opponent. He says people will come in just to ask what on earth he’s talking about. And his answer is always the same.

Howell admits he isn’t a lifelong Duck fan. He got into the team when his son was in the marching band, and like so many others in the past few years, has become obsessed with the high-octane offense masterminded by Chip Kelly. Howell says he has high hopes for the season this year, but he’s not doing any scouting for sign ideas for teams the Ducks could play in the national championship. After all, this is Oregon football.
“I haven’t thought about it yet,” he says. “I’m just trying to think about the next game, and the next game and the next game.”