It is NOT all right for Oregon fans to cheer for Oregon State at anything.
If Oregon State does well in gymnastics, baseball or sheep “wrangling” – events Oregon doesn’t have – I still say, “Damn it.”
The only case when it is acceptable to wish success on Oregon State is when it directly helps Oregon at the end of a season. Hoping the Beavers will knock off a team ahead of the Ducks late in the conference schedule to send Oregon to the Bowl Championship Series is acceptable. Oregon fans cheering for Oregon State to win at any other time is a disgrace.
You cannot go both ways; green and brown don’t mix unless you’ve just eaten Mexican food. And in that case they only meet in the toilet, the exact place anyone who has clapped when an Oregon State victory is announced at Autzen Stadium should stick his or her head.
I am not at all pleased that Oregon State won a baseball national championship late last month. At no point during last season, let alone the College World Series, did I ever root for the Beavers and that is the way it should be coming from a Duck.
Just because I can’t root for Oregon doesn’t mean that I despise Oregon State any less.
I have argued with countless people, including several Emerald employees, about whether it is okay to want good things to happen to Oregon State athletics. I say, “Hell no.” There isn’t an argument that can be made that would create a scenario when I would cheer for Oregon State. In the rare chance that an Oregon State win would help clinch a better bowl for Oregon football, I won’t watch the game and I won’t cheer. I will simply check out the box score once the game has concluded and let out a small grin if the Beavers helped the Ducks.
Two weeks ago I was embarrassed to see the change of heart many Duck fans had when they started cheering for Oregon State
baseball. How does it benefit the state if the Beavers do well and if it really does, what sports fan actually buys into that? Anyone who used that as an excuse is trying to cover up the shame that he or she should feel for being a traitor.
Just because Oregon doesn’t have baseball doesn’t make it any better to cheer for Oregon State. While sitting at home because their lackluster team can’t win more than half its games, do Beaver fans hope the Ducks win their bowl game each year? How many Oregon State supporters root for Oregon track?
The simple fact is that the only Beaver I can respect is the one that hates me as much as I hate him or her. I don’t want Oregon State fans wishing Oregon the best or clapping when the Ducks win. It is a rivalry for a reason. I’d have gladly given up a win to see a Beaver caught stealing a “gay” sheep.
Luckily, I didn’t have to.
I understand that many people, who drive around town with a Duck flag swaying out the driver’s side window and a Beaver flag flopping in the wind out the passenger’s, won’t agree with me and that is fine because they really aren’t immersed in athletics like true fans are.
For those “Duck” fans that conversely think it is all right to root for Oregon State: The cops are on their way to free the sheep. Poor animals, they didn’t ask for this trouble.
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