There’s that T-shirt I love so much, the one that says “Univ. of California at Eugene.”
It’s true. I’m a Cali native myself, but I’m going, going back, back to Ore-gon every time I start a new school year.
I wasn’t exactly recruited out of high school (although I was rated as having the strongest typing fingers in the state by SuperPrep magazine), but a lot of the Californians on the Oregon football team were.
They hail from all over the Golden State. There are Ducks from Alta Loma (cornerback Aaron Gipson) to Woodland (defensive end Ed Wangler) and Ducks from everywhere in between. There are Ducks from the city of L.A. (five in all), none from the city of Watts (sorry Tupac), and Ducks from the city of Compton (defensive backs David Dixon and Justin Phinisee).
We keep it rockin’. We keep
it rockin’.
Rather, the California players rock the Ducks’ roster. There are 55 in all, dwarfing the number of players from Washington (six), Utah (two) and even Oregon.

There are 24 players from Oregon on the Oregon roster. If they could all clone themselves, they still wouldn’t have numbers on the Cali boys in a fight.
Wel-come to dee Hotel California. Mike Bellotti will now take your bags to your room.
There are players on the Oregon roster from all sorts of different, gloriously fun places around the world. Defensive tackle Matt Toeaina (that’s Toe-AAN-a) is from Pago Pago, American Samoa. Personally, I’m waiting for a confirmation from priceline.com on my Pago Pago vacation package as we speak.
Then there’s linebacker Tate Pittman from Mechanicsville, Va., where all good mechanics go to die. Or tight end Tim Day, who’s from a place where people never see the light of day: Las Vegas. Or Naraj “eh?” Bassi, who hails from Surrey, British Columbia. Eh? Who knew they had football players in Canada, eh? Eh?
But I wish they all could be Cal-ifornia… players. Because the Ducks are stocked with California talent from top to bottom. The Cali crew includes starting tailback Onterrio Smith (Sacramento), quarterback Jason Fife (Lake Elsinore), wide receivers Keenan Howry (Los Alamitos) and Samie Parker (Long Beach), tight end George Wrighster (Van Nuys) free safety Keith Lewis (Sacramento) and linebacker Kevin Mitchell (Orange).
Of the 22 players who started the game against Idaho on Sept. 14, seven weren’t from California. The only person who wasn’t from the West Coast was defensive end Darrell Wright. He’s from Florida. The California of the East.
Think it was stupid to put up a billboard featuring Californians Howry, Parker and fellow Californian Jason Willis two blocks from the USC campus? Consider that 86 USC players are from California. Seventy-seven players on the UCLA roster, 26 from the Stanford roster and 93 players from the California roster are Golden State natives. Meanwhile, 49 players on the Oregon State roster, 29 players on the Washington roster and 41 players on the Washington State roster are from California.
Obviously, the place to be is going, going back, back to Cali, Cali. Teams from all over the nation try to recruit California players. Pac-10 teams get them.
But the Ducks aren’t just recruiting with billboards. Oh, no.
Head coach Bellotti? Born in Sacramento, raised in Concord, went to the University of California-Davis, coached at Chico State. Defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti? Born in Walnut Creek. Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig? Coached at Fresno State.
Offensive line coach Neal Zoumboukos? Special teams coordinator Robin Ross? Wide receivers coach Dan Ferrigno? Linebackers coach Don Pellum? Strength and conditioning guru Jim Radcliffe, who is often considered the inspiration of the team? All born in California.
They might as well put a beach on the Oregon sideline, so everyone feels at home.
So, as Dr. Dre put it in Tupac’s classic ballad: “Dre puttin’ it down for Califor-ni-a.”
California love, indeed. You gotta have it to attend the University of California at Eugene.