Well, Oregon fans, it’s finally time. A little more than 72 hours from now, at somewhere in the neighborhood of 5:30 p.m. PST on Monday, the long-awaited, much-discussed National Championship Game will finally begin.
Start soaking it in.
Because no matter what happens on the field, this is a remarkable time for Oregon fans and the Eugene community.
At times, I, and other students, lament the lack of things to do in town. Sure, we have our movie theaters, bars and malls, but with all due respect to the Eugene Generals Hockey Team, there aren’t exactly a lot of enticing sports entertainment options outside of University athletics, especially during the school year.
I bring this up because, growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, we had enough pro sports teams to entertain a modest-sized European nation. Within an hour of my house, I could go to a 49ers, Raiders, Giants, A’s, Warriors or Sharks game. The local Arena Football League Team, the San Jose SaberCats, were also a good draw, and Minor League Baseball presented a cheap alternative during the summer.
In many ways, growing up in a such a pro sports centric part of the country was great — I had a team to root for during all months of the year, and I got to watch the nation’s best athletes up close and personal.
But there was one drawback that has become more apparent since I started school here. By and large, college sports were a secondary consideration in the Bay Area.
Compare that to Eugene — the Oregon “O” is everywhere, on stores, cars, signs — the local community is engrossed with school spirit. It doesn’t seem to matter if a local resident actually went to the University or not — they’re Duck fans.
In the Bay Area, and I would assume other areas heavily populated by pro sports teams and other entertainment options, that’s far from the case.
Take Stanford, which developed into my favorite local college team, for instance. This season, despite winning the most games in program history (12) with the hottest head coaching prospect in America (Jim Harbaugh) and Andrew Luck, arguably the best quarterback in America (inarguably the best quarterback whose college choice didn’t coincide with major renovations to his father’s church), Stanford sold out only one game and registered only a blip on the local media landscape.
Heck, during the weeks leading up to its Orange Bowl victory, there were only a handful of Stanford-related interviews on the main sports talk radio station, KNBR, compared with dozens concerning the 49ers and other local teams.
While there are several legitimate explanations for the poor attendance and moderate local interest (small local alumni base, etc.), the point remains — even with a winning team, college football wasn’t truly embraced in the Bay Area. Although Cal has better attendance, it also plays second fiddle to the pro sports leagues.
The same theme applies across the nation. The University of Miami, despite having one of the richest football histories around, can barely fill half of its stadium with the Miami Dolphins in the background. USC and UCLA didn’t come close to filling their stadiums for most games this year contending with Los Angeles entertainment options. The list goes on.
Even when they’re really good, many schools will never dominate the local sports landscape the way Oregon football does in good times and bad. And as a college football fan, there’s nothing better than being part of a community where everyone loves and is 100 percent behind a team. It’s just a different, better type of fan experience.
So realize that while the next few months might not be the most entertaining, or produce the most in the Oregon sports landscape (unless Magic and Kareem want to arrange a reunion tour with Paul Westhead), the next few days are something that fans of other college sports teams dream of.
Oregon’s in the national title game, against a juggernaut from the big, bad SEC, with a city and community firmly behind it. Pretty cool, eh?
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Drukarev: Small-town atmosphere makes season even more special
Daily Emerald
January 6, 2011
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