I have been connected to Oregon football as a fan and business professional for a long time. Not as long as others, but long enough to say that I attended the Poulan-Weed Eater Independence Bowl on December 31, 1992. I have been teaching sports business here at the University for the last seven years and, as many of my former and current students would attest, I have been known to be a bit of a Debbie Downer when it comes to the competitive prospects of the Oregon football program.
Some of this pessimism was, in part, to manage my own emotional expectations (I am a graduate of this fine institution.) and the students’ own emotional expectations, too. But mostly it has been because I know how fickle the world of college football is.
What is one Saturday’s winning moment can very easily become the exact thing that turns on you next week. The actual chances that an Oregon football team could go undefeated in a 12-game season and enter the BCS National Championship Game as a bona fide contender were, well, hard to imagine. There is too much that is unpredictable in a season where a group of very young men play a game under pressures that we on the sidelines cannot ever imagine.
And so here I am. Still wiping tears of joy, pride and disbelief from my eyes after the Ducks have in fact accomplished what I never thought they ever would. And it isn’t because I don’t love them. It is because what they did accomplish is just that difficult. I am welling with pride for these very young men. These young men, who under tremendous leadership, have worked, sacrificed, carried great burdens, studied, responded to adversity and represented us all? They did it.
It is my hope that the entire University community joins me in gratitude and pride. The words “University of Oregon” are about to be spoken on one of the grandest stages in our land, and it is an opportunity for us all, even those in the classroom, to show the world what we’re working with here in Eugene. And to welcome those from all corners to join us in our collective pursuit of athletic and academic excellence.
With unprecedented joy, I say, “Go Ducks!”
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