Because my family is rooted in Green Bay, Wis., booster support for the hometown team is not only familiar, it’s genetic. As an immigrant Eugenean, I love the real affection folks here feel for the Duck football players and their wonderful coaching staff.
That’s why I’m puzzled by the “Ducks Football” billboard at 7th Avenue and Washington Street that says “LETHAL” beside two Oregon players. Aside from the slang use of the term, we all know this word means “sufficient to cause death: harmful or destructive.” Does the billboard somehow suggest that violence at games is taken lightly?
Does it mean, in case of legal action by someone permanently injured during a game, that a jury might award compensation for damages because the billboard gives tacit permission for “lethal” attacks? What kind of sense does this billboard make in a county famous for its gun-toting teens?
Just wondering.
Patricia Burkart
Community Education Student