Oregon’s 54-20 win at Arizona State on Saturday was an impressive performance mixed with a fair amount of good fortune.
Even the whole no-television debacle worked in Oregon’s favor, as I don’t think we needed the Ducks in that funky uniform combo broadcasted anywhere.
Sitting in the A&L Sports Bar in East Portland, watching the Ducks on television over a cold pint, I felt like my luck was taking an upswing right along with theirs.
I had been preparing with grim resolve to listen to the game and somehow form an opinion for my Monday column based on the radio play-by-play. As a total sports junkie, I’ve listened to plenty of games on the radio. As a reporter for a student paper, I have also written stories for both basketball and football based on broadcasts, as travel budgets are often tight or non-existent.
But the A&L has long been one of those magical places that never fails to come through. I don’t know how they do it, but they always do. About an hour before kick-off, after calling to confirm the bar had us covered for the telecast, we headed down to find a seat.
When we showed up, it was standing room only. There where crowds of green- and yellow-clad folks pouring into the place, no place to sit, and a huge line at the bar.
My friends and I were congregated around a pinball machine that was serving as our table and craning our necks around trying to figure out which of the screens would be easiest to see from the awkward position we were in.
Then luck broke my way big time as I was spotted by Oregon Daily Emerald alum and current Oregonian sports reporter Jeff Smith. He was there with a friend’s bachelor party and they had come down early and reserved a huge string of tables. They had a few extra seats at one end and offered them to us, right down in front of a huge wall projection of the game.
It was just what we needed at the perfect time: kickoff. So when the Ducks started getting all the breaks and making big plays all over the field I felt like I was right there with them.
Everything broke the Ducks’ way, and everything broke my way, too. Of course, my thirst for a cold pint and a telecast of the game was easily outmatched by the Ducks’ hunger for a big road win, but in the end we were all satisfied.
The atmosphere certainly wasn’t Autzen, but was electric just the same. Every Oregon score was punctuated with a rousing beer-soaked rendition of the fight song, every big play was an explosion of glee and the place was a seething sea of green and yellow from wall to wall.
Then there was the fun of watching a group of friends try to get a future groom as drunk as possible in celebration of the new chapter in his life.
You performed admirably, Brian. I would have surely wilted under such copious amounts of alcohol. Congratulations, and here’s to hoping your marriage is blessed with the same kind of good fortune that the Oregon football team and I were blessed with Saturday.
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Oregon’s prosperity spans far and wide
Daily Emerald
October 26, 2008
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