Story and Photos by Albert Jung
Ellen DeGeneres, a renowned stand-up comedian and television host, wrote a series of Twitter messages Thursday morning hinting that her show had a surprise for the University of Oregon community. By early afternoon, Ellen’s Twitter account had announced that the person with the best fiesta outfit would win two tickets to the BCS Championship Game.
The news spread quickly via Facebook, Twitter, and text messages. By 2:30 p.m., an enormous crowd of more than 1,000 students filled the Erb Memorial Union Amphitheater, expecting to see DeGeneres. Many of them were dressed in their best fiesta outfit, holding signs to attract DeGeneres’ attention, hoping to win the tickets.
However, students soon found out that DeGeneres was not coming to Eugene as DeGeneres’ team connected the crowd with her live studio in California. Despite initial murmurs of disappointment, many stayed and cheered as DeGeneres mentioned the Oregon Ducks football team and the upcoming BCS game on Monday.
Then live on her show, DeGeneres selected the top ten candidates with fiesta outfits and instructed the candidates to write lyrics explaining why the candidate deserved the Fiesta Bowl tickets. Each candidate than sang his or her lyrics to the tune of the University fight song. Many of the lyrics were about how much the candidate loves DeGeneres and will adore her forever if he or she won.
After listening to the songs, DeGeneres chose Connor Eggerman who wore a green superhero outfit as a winner. In addition, the TV star gave two other candidates the chance to attend her show in California.

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DeGeneres Proves Generous with Football Tickets