A close friend and I share two vary different outlooks on Oregon sports.
This last weekend, we spoke about the athletic department as a whole and where we think it’s headed, and for his part, this friend has been a Ducks fan and University student for much longer than I have.
I believe his devotion and relentless belief that Oregon is becoming an iconic program in today’s vastly changing collegiate athletic landscape are beyond valid, and who am I to doubt?
I like — rather, I want — to believe Oregon has done things by the book, and up to this point, few things suggest otherwise. I’ve spent the better part of my three years here devoted almost entirely to Oregon athletics with the daily coverage I do my best to provide. I am without question a fan and supporter of any program on campus, since the more practices and training I’m witness to, the easier it is to understand how these young people earned their positions as athletes.
But more often than not, I have a responsibility to be skeptical, to find out what’s really going on behind so many closed doors. And generally, not a lot of answers surface.
I digress.
Tuesday morning Colin Cowherd, host of “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on ESPN Radio, stated that a top-tier football program would soon be exposed for various NCAA violations detrimental to a team expected to do well in 2011.
Has any evidence surfaced since Cowherd’s allegations? Not that I’m aware of.
Regardless, payments violating NCAA requirements were heavily emphasized, and Cowherd, who lived in Oregon for several years, seemed to be pointing the finger at our beloved Oregon Ducks. Message-board junkies across the web echoed Cowherd’s accusations.
Whether his statement was true, erroneous or somewhere in between is beside my point. He did his job as a radio personality and got the wheels spinning inside listener’s heads — mine included.
When I first got word, I truly thought of the Ducks. Thrown back into the conversation I was having on Saturday, I couldn’t help but think: Did these rumors really surface that quickly? I mean, it had been only three days since the subject first came up.
But in that moment, I realized just how little I believe in the hierarchy of college athletics. My support will forever belong to the product on the field, because that’s where I find the most enjoyment.
In reality, it’s not that simple.
It’s much, much bigger than that. The 60 minutes spent on the field is only a fraction of what’s invested in most athletes, and that’s where certain things come into question.
Recruiting phone calls (sorry, Connecticut), money for players, bribes and negotiations have become commonplace in college football. But when controversy hits closer to home, the highlights you see on SportsCenter each night sting more than they did when it was Tennessee or USC.
It probably didn’t happen for most of you on Tuesday, and that’s a good thing. A little blissful ignorance never hurt anybody.
But for me, it hit right at home.
I’ve often wondered what goes on in the closed rooms and offices of the Casanova Center. As tight-lipped as the Oregon athletic department is — that’s not an accusation; it’s a well-known fact — it’s worth asking: What exactly is being concealed?
As I’ve said earlier, I want to believe Oregon is legitimate. With every ounce of energy I’ve put into following its sports teams, I want to believe everything is on the up-and-up.
But the reality of it is — I don’t.
Frankly, I’ve dreaded the day when Oregon gets turned upside down. And hopefully, with some more of that blissful ignorance, Phil Knight’s money really is being distributed legitimately. A lot of cash flows through the athletic department’s hands, and we’ll hope none of it wound up in Lache Seastrunk’s pocket around this time a year ago.
Speculation? Without a doubt.
But I believe deep down, somewhere in time, Oregon will cross the increasingly vague line between a top-tier athletic institution and another scandal on the nightly news.
I hope for my friend’s sake, and all the die-hard Oregon fans reading this, that I’m the ignorant one.
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