Back in January, it was announced that our beloved Ducks and the hated Beavers would be taking the field at Autzen Stadium two weeks after the game was originally scheduled to be played. Producers at ABC felt the game would be important enough to show nationally, and well, so did everyone else at the time.
Eleven months later, Oregon State is 5-5 and Oregon, at 9-1, has already locked up a Fiesta Bowl bid, and is still in the running for the Rose Bowl. Doesn’t look like such a good decision for ABC anymore, does it?
You know what? Who cares?
Saturday will mark the 105th time the two teams will take the field together, making this the longest-running rivalry on the West Coast. Even though the Ducks and Beavers played more like high school squads, talent-wise, for much of that time, it would be hard to find a game with more bloodshed.
For those who are new to the game, new to the Oregon area, or just haven’t figured it out yet, there are some defining ways to tell a Duck fan from a Beaver fan. I’m from California and have only been here for little more than a year, but the signs are pretty obvious.
For example, if you’re a Beaver, those keggers you attend every Saturday night probably represent the cultural high point of your collegiate career. Oh, sorry, that wasn’t just the OSU players I was talking about.
Two days are left to tick away before the men in green and yellow take the field against the Halloween boys. I thought orange and black went out of style after Oct. 31.
OSU players are going to wish they were only wearing masks and makeup after our Ducks are done with them. Last year should be all the encouragement Oregon fans need after seeing the dead ducks lying on the Reser Stadium turf after the 23-13 debacle. Despicable is the only way to describe that scene, and to see it on television, well, that made it a lot worse.
Revenge is such sweet sorrow. Too bad most Oregon fans won’t be able to see it, because we’ll be laughing on the way to Tempe, Ariz. Oregon State made it there last season, but it was a fluke. Our Ducks haven’t had a losing season since 1993, and it doesn’t look like they’ll return to athletic purgatory for years to come.
Oh yeah, come to think about it, shouldn’t Sports Illustrated be a little embarrassed for picking the Beavers to win it all as well? At least they got it right by putting Joey Harrington on the cover with Oregon State’s mighty mite, Ken Simonton.
What has happened to Simonton? In my opinion, he probably realized what color uniform he was really wearing. He probably also realized the two running backs down in Eugene were better than him any day of the week, which would have been enough to give him a bout of depression. “Well, we might as well just give in now because all we have from last year is short-stuff, Jonathan Smith, who can barely see above our offensive line,” he’s probably been thinking.
But Simonton has done the Ducks a favor. By playing so poorly this year, the votes that would have gone to him from Oregon writers for the Heisman Trophy will now go to Harrington. Joey, a little suggestion: Send Kenny a Christmas card. He did you one heck of a favor.