Oregon Football stories. Oregon @ Boise State 2009

my ducks first game was at Boise State.  #16 Oregon @ #14 Boise State

it was on the first thursday of september 2009

PREGAME

i left seattle early thursday morning, my dad drove so i slept in the back seat

when i woke up, we were in eastern oregon as the sun was rising, it was soooooooo beautiful! it was so beautiful in fact, i pulled out my phone and texted ‘good morning’ to my friend Austra White cause i just felt so good

its a new day, start of a new season so i’m super excited.  more excited than normal because my ducks are ranked and our first game is on the road against another ranked team!

when i got to boise, idaho around noon, it was really hot out!

with a few hours before i have to get ready, i jumped on a bed in my hotel room and took a nap, ahhh!  i knew it was gonna be a long day/night so i slept for like 3 hours

when i woke up 4 hours before kickoff, i took a shower and got my ducks gear on

then for the first time ever, i painted my face for an oregon game.  with my green and yellow warrior paint on, i was all ready to enter enemy territory!

right before i left for the stadium, i texted my friend Mia Young telling her she should watch the game because i was excited and it was a big game for my ducks.  i don’t know if she watched, but hopefully not because of how we played!

anyways i got to Bronco Stadium, i quickly got swallowed in a sea of blue orange and white

this was boise’s biggest home game in school history and i knew that and i could tell by how juiced their fans were

boise is like a smaller oregon, their fans are passionate to the level of SEC fans

anyways i found some oregon students and hung with them

when the oregon team buses came, i was all pumped!  the players all looked serious, so i figured they were focused and locked in for battle.  i was hoping some would atleast crack a smile at the boise fans just to show them who’s in town

after the team arrived, the oregon students and i walked over to the entrance to wait for the gates to the stadium to open

while waiting, the boise st cheerleaders walked by so all of us, including me, got down on our knees and asked them to marry us (mocking ian johnson).  they all said no to us, but each of them did give us a hug so that was pretty cool!  so if you’re reading this, i’ve gotten a hug from a boise state cheerleader!  to all the boys, are you jealous??

when the gates opened, the students and i went and sat in the north endzone bleachers cause thats where our seats were

finally the teams came out for warm-ups, oregon in their all white stormtrooper look.  i was excited to see my ducks again.  i only went to 2 games in 2008 so it had been 11 months since last being at a game so i was like super amped!! it didn’t hurt at all that the last game i was at was when boise beat my ducks in our house.

because we were ranked #16th, i knew 2009 was our best and only chance to dethrone USC and get into the BCS, so i was pumped like never before

before the game, this boise girl came up and talked to me a little bit, it was friendly.  she wished me good luck and i wished her good luck and yea!

the boise state crowd had alternating color sections, so one section wore all blue, and another wore all orange and another wore all white, it looked super cool! the section i was in was all orange except for the oregon students and i

after the national anthem was played, planes flew overhead that was cool!

when boise state came out, the place exploded like ape shit! the bleachers were shaking like crazy! when the ducks came out they booe’d like i can’t explain it!

THE GAME

oregon got the ball first.  when we had the ball, it was insanely loud! (remember boise’s stadium only fits 35,000)

when we had the ball, the bleachers were shaking and they have these pads on the fences seperating the crowd from the field and the boise fans were leaning over just POUNDING on the pads it was crazy!

the intensity of boise fans is only surpassed by oregon, otherwise they are second to none

in the first half, oregon only got like one first down, so because our offense was struggling their crowd kept getting louder and louder and crazier! boise is a nightmare to play at for visiting teams.

i gotta say, husky stadium may be louder than boise because its twice as big, but boise SOUNDS louder. and let me say this, i’ve been to husky stadium a few times now and its loud, but it doesn’t scare me as a fan.  boise is scarier more frightening to play at especially at night.  remember, i’m not on the field i was only a fan, and as a fan i was spooked by Bronco Stadium, thats saying something

boise state got up 19-0 in the 3rd quarter and i thought we were toast because of the crowd and our offense was shut down.  but then somehow we scored and got the two point conversion to make it 19-8, so i started thinking maybe we’re a team of fighters, and we’ll come back in this haunted place

for a moment, it seemed to surreal.  down 19-8, jeremiah masoli throws a deep ball to wide open jamere holland.  catch the pass and at the least its 19-14 boise and we’re in it to the end.  but nope he dropped it, and even if he caught it, it would’ve been neglected because they’re was a holding penalty on oregon.  just not meant to be for us

but then in the 4th quarter, oregon is driving again to make it a one score game.  near the 20 yard line, masoli hands the ball to Blount on 4th and 1.  he doesn’t get it and there goes our last hope of a comeback.  if masoli keeps that ball, he gets the first down easily and we stay alive.  but nope its not our night, not meant to be

when the game ended, boise won 19-8 and i was crushed.  they simply wanted that game more, it was their biggest game ever.

then across the field i saw Blount punch boise player Byron Hout and yea, i saw it live from my seat..  not much to say about that, i think everyone knows the story so yea

POST GAME

while walking out of the stadium, the same boise girl that i met before the game ran into me and we talked again and hung out a little bit.  before i went back to the hotel, she wished me luck and said that she hopes my ducks can end USC’s dynasty and get to the rose bowl.  i said ‘thanks’ and wished her luck and i told her that i hope her Broncos can get to the BCS Title game.  so yea, i made a friend in Boise 🙂

(for some reason, i was always shy around girls at high school, but at the same time i had no trouble talking to college girls.. i don’t know why that was but i always made friends easily with college girls)

when i got back to my hotel, the loss started settling in and it was crushing!

i thought there’s NO WAY in hell we’re gonna get to the Rose Bowl, not after how we just played.. i thought “there goes our only chance to dethrone USC”

the loss hurt so much that i texted Austra and she had to calm me down because i was just simply a basketcase

when i finally went to bed, i looked up to the stars outside and made a wish.  the wish i made was this, word for word this is how i said it:

“i hope Mia Young didn’t watch that game because i’d hate for her to watch Oregon because of me and see them play like shit while knowing i was there at the game”

the next day, i just stared out the window on the drive home.  my dad tried telling me jokes to make me laugh to get my mind off of the crushing loss, but it didn’t work

it was only when i thought of Eden Eernissee’s concert i saw a few weeks earlier that i was able to smile and refocus on life outside of oregon football

thats the entire story

it’ll always be in my memory that i traveled from my home in seattle all the way to boise, and saw the darkest moment in the history of oregon football from the 2nd row of the north endzone bleachers

what i didn’t know at that time was that this was just the start of a journey, a journey which started in hell and would end in heaven (pasadena)

it was the start of the greatest journey in my young life, the best 3 months of my life

here are highlights from the game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y76lmGmXqvs

Oregon Football stories. Purdue @ Oregon 2009

our 2nd game was at home against unraked Purdue Boilermakers the second saturday of september 2009

Purdue @ Oregon

PREGAME

the day before the game, i kept saying that i didn’t wanna go to the purdue game because of what happened in boise

my friend Danielle Bader and i were texting that day and she was able to get me to want to go to the purdue game

i don’t remember exactly what she said, but it was something along the lines of this:

“oregon football is your love, that is your passion.  when you love someone you’re always there for them even in the worst of times.  oregon is your passion, don’t give up on them.  if you love the ducks like i know you do, you’ll go to the game and cheer for them like you always have”

so i told my dad to drop me off at my moms house that night

on saturday morning, my mom and i left bellevue and drove to eugene

since my mom can’t drive at night, we always get a hotel if the game starts after 1pm.  the purdue game was a 7pm start

(my parents or older brothers always drive cause oregon football games is like a family thing, especially on my moms side.  i’m the big duck fan of course, but since all of us live seperately, going to duck games together is family bonding time, which i love! especially cause i get to sleep in the back seat on the drive down and back up haha!)

at the hotel i get my ducks stuff on, but no face paint this time because its bad luck

not feeling good about the game, i decide not to send Mia a text telling her what channel its on, although if she did know and did watch thats awesome cause we won!

anyways my mom dropped me off at Autzen Stadium and i walk up to my seat

my season ticket was between the student section and the marching band, so i don’t bother trying to sneak into the student section cause i actually like my seat

when the team came out for warm-ups, the students all chanted Blount’s name

i was happy to finally be back in Autzen after 11 months

GAME

the ball is kicked off and autzen comes to life, yeeee!!!  the sound of autzen roaring is music to my ears

for the first few drives, oregon’s offense still sucked so i was getting mad cause an 0-2 start destroy’s your season

oregon’s D gets a pick though and we get a field goal out of that so we go up 3-0 and i’m excited cause we actually have a lead!  naturally since Danielle got me to go to the game, i texted her the score and what happened

on our next offensive posession, jeremiah masoli throws a bubble pass to jamere holland and he sprints down the sideline for a big gain.  our offense is finally starting to come to life!

after a jeremiah masoli run, andre crenshaw punches it in for a TD so i’m estatic that our offense is alive! so of course i text Danielle that we’re up 10-7

but then purdue scores to go up 14-10

i’m starting to wonder if we have enough offense to keep up and win

then they get the ball back up 14-10, i’m thinking if they score our season is over

but hold on, oregon gets a pick six!!! we’re up 17-14 in a back and forth game with our season at stake.  i’m lost in the moment so i pull out my cell phone again and text Danielle the score

everytime there was a score by either team, i texted Danielle because she couldn’t watch the game

purdue scores 10 straight points to take a 24-17 lead halfway through the 3rd quarter, our offense is just no where to be seen or found and i’m getting nervous

with the ball again up 24-17, same though goes through my head.. this could be it

on 3rd and 3, purdue does a run play but fumbles it, oregon’s javes lewis picks it up and runs into the endzone for a TD!!!  WE’RE TIED!!!  the second he crossed the goal line i grab my phone and text Danielle in all caps that we’re tied

late in the 3rd quarter, after a few lamichael james runs (get familiar with that name for later duck tales) jeremiah masoli takes a keeper into the endzone, TOUCHDOWN DUCKS! 31-24 oregon!

i text Danielle that we’re leading again

then purdue scored to make it 31-30, and i’m thinking: if our offense can just get one more score..

oregon drives down the field in the 4th quarter, and Kenjon Barner has a long touchdown run that puts us up 38-30!  so i text Danielle again, this time i tell her the score and that the only way we can lose this game is if it goes into overtime.. so pretty much we can win right here and now

purdue marches down and scores a TD, they go for 2 to tie it but don’t get it

they do an onside kick because they have to but we recover it

we kneel the ball and we win

i text Danielle the second the clock expires that we won and i’m so happy that she talked me into going to the game

i’m so relieved!

POST GAME

i walk to the bus line and wait for an hour before finally its my turn to get on a bus back to the hotel

when i get back to the hotel, my mom has cinnamon pizza waiting for me (my favorite kind of pizza, call me weird if you want) and a bunch of gatorade cause she knows i never eat or drink during or before games because my adrenaline starts rushing about 4 hours before kickoff, and games last nearly 4 hours plus the bus ride so.. on gamedays i usually go about 9 hours without food or drinks, and during that time i walk a lot of miles and lose my voice

i eat all the pizza and drink all the gatorade within 20 minutes haha!

then i went to sleep relieved we won

next day we drove

after the purdue game, i didn’t text Danielle with score updates from games because the way the season went, i could handle everything on my own.  with #16 utah in town the next week, i was plenty fired up on my own, i didn’t need Danielle to help in the motivation category.  Danielle got me through the Purdue game.  after the Boise State game, i was ready to move on in life to other things but Danielle, she picked me up and made sure i didn’t give up on my passion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Coc0PIux1eA

Oregon Football stories. Utah @ Oregon 2009

our third game of the 2009 season was at home vs 18th ranked Utah

#18 Utah @ Oregon

PREGAME

the week in between purdue and utah was the first full week of school so i got to meet some new people and kind of get to know them a little bit

a few people i met that really stood out to me and i became friends with quickly were Robyn Nielsen, Maddi Tangney, Ian Brewer and Sophie Turnberg

in Mr. Karl’s class, i sat right next do Ian and Maddi so i talked a lot with them.  in marine bio class, i’d always be in the back talking with Robyn, Sophie and their guy friends often about my ducks and the rest of college football

in Mr. Karl’s class, i told Ian and Maddi how i’d been to oregon’s first two games and that i’m a season ticket holder, they found that pretty cool!  on friday i told them i was going to the utah game the next day and so Maddi told me to have fun, which i always do 🙂

so friday after school, my mom and i drove down to eugene

i was excited as usual, but a little bit more because we had the #18 team in the country in our house

when i woke up saturday morning in the hotel, it was raining outside

my mom asked if i wanted to wait till closer to kickoff to be dropped off

i told my mom “no, this is my team and i’ll sit in the rain for 2 hours watching warm-ups”

so i got on my ducks gear and she dropped me off at Autzen

i sat in the rain along with the student section watching warm-ups

the students always come super early because they’re always full of energy

by the time the game rolls around, i’m totally soaked

Don Essig, our PA anouncer comes on and says “for all the utah fans, we call this a sprinkle because IT NEVER RAINS IN AUTZEN STADIUM”

GAME

utah got the ball first, autzen was loud

utah goes 3 and out, punts the ball

oregon’s walter thurmond III returns the punt for a TD!! 7-0 ducks over #18 utah!

i’m thinking “alright we’re in business here”

then utah drives down field and scores to make it 7-7

then on our first offensive drive, jeremiah masoli completes a long pass to jeff maehl and lamichael james punches it in for a TD!! 14-7 ducks!

halfway through the 2nd quarter, utah has the ball on our side but we get them to 4th down

they go for it so autzen is super crazy loud! we get a sack, oregon ball still up 14-7!

next play, masoli bubble pass to jamere holland, he sprints into utah territory!

we’re up on #18 utah 14-7 and we have the ball looking to score again!

then after a masoli first down run, he fakes the handoff to LMJ and the defensive end crashes, so masoli keeps it and walks into the endzone from 20 yards out, TD ducks!!!!! 21-7 ducks!

after a utah field goal to make it 21-10, oregon has the ball early in the 3rd quarter

on 2nd and 2, LMJ (lamichael james) busts out for a big gain!

up by 11 versus #18 utah and looking to score again! i think we’re gonna win this game, yea!!

jeremiah masoli keeper again off the zone read, TD ducks!! 28-10 oregon!!!

(sometime during the game, one of the bleachers where the utah students were sitting came loose so they simply tore it off, it was funny! they passed the bleacher up row by row till it got to security and they took it somewhere to be fixed i suppose, i just laughed at how funny that was!)

anyways utah scored to make it 28-17

then with the ball, masoli fumbled it and utah picked it up and took it for a TD, 28-24 ducks

i was super mad because we had just pissed an 18 point lead down the drain in the blink of an eye

5 minutes left in the game, utah has the ball but they throw a pick and i’m going crazy!!

oregon gets a field goal to make it 31-24 ducks with 3 minutes left to go!

then Don Essig comes on and says that UW has beaten USC and there were duck fans that cheered which pissed me off so i just went off on a rant to my section mates! i turned around and yelled this at everyone in my section:

“why did you cheer for UW?!! thats the sin of all sins! we’re duck fans, we NEVER EVER cheer for the dawgs, even against USC! a true ducks fan wants UW to go 0-12 every single god damn fucking year!!! if you just cheered for the huskies, shame on you! that’s all i’ve got to say, i’m disappointed in you all”

i’m pretty sure that hit hard because the look on the faces of the people in my section after that speech was one of guilt, like everyone knew they had just done something horribly wrong

since then, autzen has never cheered when the UW score is anounced.  whenever its anounced that UW is winning, everyone erupts in boo’s.  when its anounced that UW is losing, everyone yells and cheers.

we HATE UW, they can lose ALL of their games every year as far as oregon is concerned

back to the game

with 2 minutes left, utah is driving to tie the game and all of a sudden, INTERCEPTION!!! 31-24 ducks we’re going to win!

we kneel the ball and the clock expires game over!! ducks win ducks win!!! oregon 31, #18 utah 24!

we’re now 2-1 on the season and i’m super happy!

Don Essig comes on and says “sorry for the weather folks, thank you for staying through the rain you all are tough souls” atleast something like that, whatever it was he said, it made me smile

POST GAME

after celebrating a bit, i took the bus back to the hotel where i gulped down a couple gatorades and ate that deeeeeeelicious cinnamon pizza!

on the drive home, my mom and i talked about our next game vs #6 California

she didn’t want to go to that game because oregon was undefeated with my mom’s side of the family being there and she didn’t want to lose that family pride of being undefeated

i told my mom that without her, we can’t beat #6 Cal

i said if we beat cal, we set up a showdown with usc

i told her “our only chance to get to the rose bowl is if we beat cal, and without you we can’t beat cal”

my mom asked me how in the world is oregon gonna beat the 6th ranked team in the country when when we only beat #18 by 7 and got our ass kicked by #14 boise state

i told her that we have a new offensive line and it takes an offensive line 5 games to jell, and with everything on the line on our 4th game, there’s a decent chance our Oline will jell one game earlier

i told her if our Oline can come together one game early, we can beat Cal

she finally gave in and said she’ll go instead of my dad, and i was happy of course!

(just so everyone knows, as of today, oregon is 13-0 when i go to games with my moms side of the family.  when i go with my dad’s side of the family, oregon is 12-5.. so that should tell you why i go to the BIG games with my moms side, atleast thats my first choice)

so yea, then we got home and my mom dropped me off at my dads house cause i had school the next day

i didn’t do any homework i just slept cause those oregon trips are EXHAUSTING!

when i slept, i thought of all the stories i could tell Maddi and Ian the next day

here are highlights from the game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v8zawRPrUI

Oregon Football stories. Cal @ Oregon 2009

our 4th game of the 2009 season was at home against the #6th ranked California Golden Bears on the 4th saturday of september 2009

#6 California @ Oregon

PREGAME

on monday, i told Ian and Maddi about the Utah game and our upcoming game against Cal

in marine bio class i talked about the game with Robyn, Sophie and their friends

since Sophie was a cheerleader for Roosvelt (high school we went to) i also talked about oregon’s hot cheerleaders

in math class i was talking about how hot oregon’s cheerleaders are to guys i was sitting near and Lindsey Hanson over heard me talking so she joined the conversation.  Lindsey was also a cheerleader for RHS so i guess the words ‘hot’ and ‘cheerleader’ together got her attention haha!  so yea i told her about the game and how the oregon color guard girls do this dance i really like every time oregon gets a first down and so she was smiling and laughing..  i’m always entertaining when i talk about girls i guess haha!

the whole week i heard from husky fans like Mourya Mamidala that UW is back after beating USC and that oregon’s run of success is over.  i just told people who’d listen that if we beat #6 Cal, the whole country will fall in love with us again and that we’ll be in prime position to end USC’s dynasty.

throughout the week i read that oregon was having good practices and that we were going to wear retro uniforms.  i knew something was up, i just knew that oregon was beginning to wake up.. what i didn’t know was that oregon was going to burst out with a fire, but i knew something was up so i told my friends in marine bio class that Cal is in trouble

thursday after school, i called my mom and told her that we were going to beat Cal! she said “are you sure?” and i said “i’ve never been more sure about anything in my life, we’re going to win! i can just feel it mom!”

on friday in my classes, i told Sophie, Maddi, Ian and Robyn how excited i was for the game because i knew we were going to win!  they all wished me luck and told me to have a blast

after school on friday, my mom and i drove down to eugene

on the radio they were saying that Cal is going to give oregon its worst home loss since arizona kicked our ass in 2006

they were saying that Cal would kick our ass because we couldn’t throw the ball

i just told my mom that they’re in for a surprise because we’re going to have a field day passing the ball which will open up the running lanes allowing us to light up the scoreboard

i just knew that we were going to win! sometimes you just have that feeling when you KNOW something is going to happen but you can’t explain it cause you don’t know why, but you just KNOW its going to happen! well i had that feeling for the Cal game

when we got to eugene, instead of going to the hotel i asked my mom to go to Mac Court (our old basketball/volleyball arena)

it just so happened that on that friday, the #6th ranked oregon volleyball team was at home facing the #1st ranked huskies, so i had my mom drop me off at Mac Court

i went in and asked the crowd security guard if it was okay if i could be in the Pit Crew (oregon student section at Mac Court aka THE PIT) he said yea so i jumped in

its always been a dream of mine to be in the Pit Crew so that was awesome!

i picked up on all the chants really fast and had a blast

you could tell in that moment that i was born to be at oregon, i was born to be a member of the Pit Crew

everything they did, i did too

i fit right in, i was a member of the Oregon Pit Crew for one night 🙂

we lost but it was soooooooooooo much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!

friday night i slept tight got a good nights rest in my hotel room

saturday morning i woke up at 7am, ate breakfast, took a shower and got my ducks gear on

my mom dropped me off at Autzen and it was sunny and 80 degrees out!  a good day for football, and a great day to get my last tan of the year!

when the team walked through the MO Center, i gave a lot of the players a high five

then i went up to my seat

during warm-ups, the band always practices their songs so i recorded their songs so on monday i could do the first down color guard dance for Lindsey

when the team came out for warm-ups in their retro uniforms, i was all excited!

also the students were back cause it was back to school weekend for them so the student section was full and they practiced all of their chants

after two hours of warm-ups, i was sun burnt/baked so i had my tan 🙂

GAME

oregon got the ball first, and on the kickoff the oregon cheerleaders were doing this thing where they shake their booty, its EXTREMELY HOTT AND SEXY, so i said outloud:

“there’s something i can tell Lindsey about, she’ll love hearing this”

on the kickoff, oregon fumbled it and Cal recovered so i said “Fuck!”

so Cal has the ball and Autzen is DEAFENING!

on first down Cal fumbles it but they recover.  we get them to go 3 and out so they settle for the field goal

Autzen is known for being super loud on field goals and this was no different, but cal made it to go up 3-0

then on our first drive, LMJ fumbles it and Cal picks it up and i say “come on oregon!” but then oregon tackles the guy who got the fumble and he fumbles it and we recover it!

what a crazy start to the game!

with the ball again, qb jeremiah masoli completes a couple of 3rd and 4th down passes and gets us into field goal range

oregon settles for the field goal and we’re tied at 3!

cal has the ball and Autzen is deafening, its crazy super loud! and we stuff cal’s offense!

after a LMJ run and masoli pass, we’re at Cal’s 25 yard line

masoli, who everyone says can’t throw, lobs a pass to the endzone for Ed Dickson aaaaaaaand…

TOUCHDOWN ED DICKSON!!!! autzen explodes!!!

all of the people around me give each other high fives!  it’s the third home game and we’re all season ticket holders so we now know each other a lot so we chest bump and stuff on big plays!

then instead of kicking the extra point, oregon rolls the dice and goes for two!

nate costa throws to kicker morgan flint aaaaaaaaand… its good! we get the two! early in the 2nd quarter we’re leading #6 Cal 11-3!!

we go back on defense and autzen is even louder!! i said outloud:

“i wish Ian and Maddi were here, they would love this!”  some guy next to me asked “who’s Ian and Maddi”  i said “friends back home in seattle”

cal marches down field but gets no points so we’re still up 11-3 and our hot offense has the ball again!

but LMJ fumbles it and cal recovers it on our 40 yard line.. crazy game so far!

very next play though, Cal fumbles it and we recover it!  could this game be any crazier?!

with all the craziness, i couldn’t help but laugh! i said outloud:

“this is why i love college football! man i’m gonna have stories to tell Maddi and the rest of my friends when i get back home!”

then with the ball again, after a masoli pass to Dickson and a big gain by Remene Alston, Remene punches it in for a TD!!

TOUCHDOWN DUCKS!!! place is going crazy i’m going crazy its an animal house!  we’re up 18-3 on the #6 team in the nation!!

cal drives into our territory but then is forced to punt, giving our hot offense the ball back with a 2 score lead

first play, LMJ busts free for a big gain into cal territory! we’re in business again!

then we’re forced to punt and our guy shanks it

game keeps getting crazier!

cal has another chance to get back into it

but we stuff them, they punt it and they shank it too!

i say outloud “god this game is too crazy!! atleast we’re up by 15, whew!”

after a masoli run and LMJ run, LMJ punches it in!

TOUCHDOWN DUCKS!!!!!!!

just like that we’re kicking Pussy Cal’s ass 25-3!! (on the oregon addicted to quack ATQ blogs, oregon fans call California “Pussy Cal”)

so we’re ahead 25-3 at halftime against the #6 team in the country and i say “i hope our offense stays hot because Cal could still come back”

at the start of the 2nd half, Cal has a big play and is threatening to score but then our defense shuts them down, they don’t score!

after a few passes and runs, we’re back in cal territory

masoli does a play action pass and throws it near the endzone to Ed Dickson aaaaaaand…

TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!  TOUCHDOWN ED DICKSON!!!!!!! 32-3 ducks!!!!!!!! we’ve got this game!!

with the ball, Cal of course marches into oregon territory again, but like always, they come away with no points!

witht the ball again, after a few passes and runs, we’re around the Cal 40 yard line

then masoli throws a jailbreak screen pass to Ed Dickson, he catches it and breaks free to the endzone!!

TOUCHDOWN!!!! TOUCHDOWN ED DICKSON!!!!!!!!!  39-3, this game is over! we got it!!!!

then in the 4th quarter, backup qb Nate Costa leads us down field and we get a field goal, 42-3 ducks!!

the clock expires after we sack Cal’s qb

final score: oregon 42, #6 Cal 3!!!

DUCKS WIN!!! DUCKS WIN!!!

we kicked Cal’s ass!!!!

PUSSY CAL!! PUSSY CAL!! PUSSY CAL!! PUSSY CAL!! PUSSY CAL!!

i yell outloud:

“that one was for you mom, you’re still undefeated!!!! HEY AMERICA, you’re team is baaaaaaaaack!!!!!”

(if you watch ESPN, they always say that oregon is america’s team because of our offense and how we’ve climbed from being a pushover for 90 years to being who we are now)

POST GAME

i went on the field afterwards, it wasn’t storming the field cause we didn’t storm the field, i just walked on after they opened the gates

anyways when i got to midfield, i looked up at the scoreboard, smiled and said:

“i wish you were here Maddi”

then i went and got on the bus to go back to the hotel

i drank my gatorade and ate my cinnamon pizza, my mom took care of my sun burn which stung like a bitch

i went on facebook and posted a status that read:

“HEY AMERICA, YOUR TEAM IS BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!”

my mom and i were both super happy and excited!

once i calmed down, i told myself:

“alright, now we’re the only team that can end USC’s dynasty.. are you up for the challenge oregon?”  i paused and said “yea, my ducks are up for it! hey USC, we’re coming for YOU!!!”

on sunday, i woke up and checked the rankings and saw my ducks jumped back in in the high teens

on the drive home my mom was so excited she asked me how oregon’s offense and why its so fun and why we’re america loves us so much

i told her everything i knew

on the drive home, i also was super eager to get back to school and tell Ian, Maddi, Sophie, Robyn and all their friends about the game!  i was especially excited for math class because i couldn’t wait to do the color guard first down dance for Lindsey!

we’re back, and the country has forgotten about UW now

it’s all about the Ducks!

we get home to seattle and i sleep for like 12 hours because the trips to oregon take everything out of me, not physically but mentally.  but they are so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh yea whoops one more thing…

ED DICKSON JUST SCORED ANOTHER TOUCHDOWN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z_YScRT_1Q

Oregon Football stories. Washington State @ Oregon 2009

oregon’s 5th game of the 2009 season was at home against unraked washington state (wazzu) on the 1st saturday of october

Wazzu @ #16 Oregon

PREGAME:

monday at school i told Maddi and Ian all about the Pussy Cal game (i love saying pussy cal).  i didn’t tell them that they should’ve been at the game because i don’t want people to be jealous of me

i also didn’t tell them that i thought of them during the game because everyone thinks that oregon is #1 to me in front of everything when in fact, friends are #1 to me.  without my friends, oregon games aren’t as special and fun as they are.

i ALWAYS think of my friends when i’m at games.  if i had a million dollars, i’d take ALL my friends to every game with me, thats not me being sweet thats how i really feel

anyways back to the story i guess i’ll call it?

i was super happy in marine bio with Robyn and her friends because with oregon ahead of UW again, i was the top guy, top dog in the class ya dig

in math class, i did the color guard first down dance for Lindsey, she laughed so she loved it.  Rhylie Wilson probably saw the dance too cause she was in my math class

the week went by and i didn’t talk too much cause i was finally relaxed and happy knowing my Ducks are flying high again

i just pretty much kicked it in mr. karl’s class with Maddi and Ian, having fun conversations everyday

even though i hated mr. karl’s class, it was my favorite class because i sat right next to Ian and more importantly Maddi!  i always got to talk to her and not once was i ever shy around her and i always looked at her eyes because i had never seen green eyes as pretty and beautiful as Maddi’s

back to the football stories haha!  (you notice how i go off track about my friends, its cause without them these football stories never happen)

my mom said that since she’s done 3 straight games, she was exhausted and couldn’t do another game for atleast 3 weeks

i told her that okay, my dad will do Wazzu because Wazzu sucks

friday, like always, Maddi told me to have fun at the game.  it was nice having a friend that didn’t always say “ducks suck” or “you know what rhymes with ducks? fucks” but rather would tell me to have fun cheering on my favorite team

since my twin brother Alex is a cougar fan, he was going to the game also

on saturday morning, we left for eugene

when we got to eugene, it was cloudy and COLD

after the team came through, alex and i headed up to our different seats

when i got to my seat, i looked up at alex sitting all alone near the top of the visitor’s section, but since there were like no wazzu fans there, he was surrounded by ducks

i felt bad so i walked up there and got him, brought him down and snuck him into my section

right before we entered my section though, our cousin Brittany sees us and so we talked for a few minutes.  i was sooooooooooo happy to see Brittany!!!  i only get to see her once or twice a year and i love her so much! i was just overwhelmingly happy to see her!

Brittany couldn’t sit with alex and i because she was with her friends so when she had to go over to the student section, i threw my arms around her and gave her a big warm hug!

then alex and i went down to my seat and watched warm-ups

during warm-ups, a few of my friends in my section started saying shit to my brother because he was wearing cougar gear.  duck fans are known for being the meanest in the pac 10 so i knew it could turn ugly fast so i stood up on the bleacher and told my section mates:

“HEY! this is my twin brother so CUT IT OUT or i’ll FUCK YOU UP!”

they listened and so from there on, there was only friendly trash talk between alex and them

THE GAME:

when the game kicked off, wazzu got the ball first

wazzu made some plays but then oregon got the ball

there isn’t much to say about the game other than we kicked wazzu’s ass 52-6

the game was over by halftime

it was so lobsided i stopped yelling on defense in the 3rd quarter

alex yelled in the 1st quarter when wazzu was on defense

he yelled until oregon was up by 21

my section mates actually applauded alex for screaming even while knowing his team had no chance

when wazzu made plays, my section mates actually gave alex high fives which made me smile because i got them to be good sports

i mean wazzu is so bad, there’s no reason for oregon fans to be anything but nice to them

in the 2nd half, because of the blowout, i stopped screaming so my adrenaline stopped flowing and because it was cold out, i got really cold fast

i had to put my gloves on to keep my hands warm

by the time the game ended, i was coming down with a cold

POST GAME:

as we were leaving the section, i asked my section mates if they’d be at the next home game on halloween against Mighty USC

they all said yes so i said “see you then” and we all gave each other man hugs

alex and i got back to dads car and we headed home

on the ride home, i tried to think of what to tell Maddi but my brain was dead because of oregon’s first 5 games of 2009, i had been to all 5 games! that i thought, was something to tell Maddi about monday at school

i could tell Maddi and Ian that i’ve just had the 5 wildest weeks of my life and now that oregon’s next game is at UCLA in pasadena, i could finally rest and recover

finally, these 5 weeks are over and i get to rest!

what a ride this has been so far!

UCLA up next, then a bye week before oregon comes to seattle to face UW, so i have 3 weeks to recover!

highlights of the game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB8meBCf-MQ

Oregon Football stories. Oregon @ UCLA 2009

my oregon ducks 6th game of the 2009 season was on the road at unranked UCLA on the 2nd saturday of october

this was the first time during the 2009 season i DIDN’T go to the game, being it was in pasadena

#13 Oregon @ UCLA

PREGAME:

on monday, following the wazzu game, i had enough brain energy to tell Maddi and Ian about the wazzu game (Maddi and Ian were my best friends during the first semester of the 2009-2010 school year, that’s why you read about them in all these stories)

after 5 straight games in 5 weeks, my vocal chords were beaten up pretty bad and Maddi and Ian could tell cause they told me my voice was hoarse (word to describe how having no voice sounds)

it didn’t help my voice that i had a cold

i was also lacking sleep because i only slept 5 hours a night during the week, and sleeping in a car on the weekends going to and from games is not what you’d call getting a “good nights sleep”

so in mr. karl’s class that whole week, whenever it was silent reading time, i’d open my book, look down as if i were reading and close my eyes.  that way if mr. karl looked at me, he’d think i was reading haha!

of course, since i sat next to Maddi, i secretly wanted to just lay my head on her shoulder cause that’d be more comfortable than sleeping with your head tilted forward haha (bad for your neck)

but we were in a classroom and if i did that, mr. karl would know i’m sleeping

and also, it’s the girl that lays her head on the guys shoulder and falls asleep, not the other way around

and plus, Maddi and i are just friends and only couples do that kind of thing so basically, i would’ve been breaking a whole lot of rules if i had put my head on her shoulder and fallen asleep haha

anyways, we only had like a 4 day week that week so i was thankful for the upcoming weekend to rest up

i didn’t talk much during the week in any my classes because i was tired, had a cold and had no voice

on thursday i told Maddi to have a good weekend and she told me the same

on friday, alex, my and i went up to Saltspring Island in British Columbia for our cousin Casey’s wedding on saturday

the wedding was at the same time as the oregon-ucla game, but i had a cell phone that had internet so my dad said i could have my phone out during the wedding, as long as i don’t go crazy on TD’s or yell profanities when oregon screws up on plays

on the 3 hour ferry ride to the island though, i got really sick and remember, i already had a bad cold

i told my dad though that i’d still go to the wedding

saturday morning at the hotel though, while everyone was asleep still, i got out of bed and walked into the bathroom, closed the door and threw up in the bath-tub.  i was really sick.

when alex and dad woke up to get ready for the wedding, i got up too hoping my dad wouldn’t notice the mess in the bath tub haha

he noticed though and told me it’s best if i stay at the hotel and get some rest because the wedding is outside in the cold

so my dad and alex leave for the wedding and i’m all alone

i grab a couple of blankets and bundle myself up even though the hotel room is at 70 degrees

i turn on the tv and watch oregon play UCLA

THE GAME:

i couldn’t yell because i had no voice and i couldn’t flair my arms in anger at bad plays because i had bundled myself up to stay warm cause i was sick

oregon’s offense didn’t do anything in the 1st half so we were down 3-0 at halftime and i was really scared we would lose (boise state flashbacks)

at halftime, even though i didn’t have a crush on Maddi, i kept wishing she was there with me on Saltspring Island because i was alone, sick, cold and scared and all i wanted was someone to wrap me up in their arms to keep me warm and Maddi was my best friend

of course she wasn’t there, i’m 200 miles north of seattle in canada, i had to just do the best i could

thinking of her though did make my heart a little warmer and made me not scared

the kickoff to start the 2nd half, Kenjon Barner returns the kick for a TD!

TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN DUCKS!

just like that we’re ahead 7-3, but i couldn’t jump off the bed so i just smiled

then on the very next offensive play of UCLA, 1st and 10, they throw an interception and oregon takes it in for a TD!

TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN DUCKS!

14-3 ducks just like that!

in just 25 seconds, oregon goes from being down 3-0 to up 14-3!

on UCLA’s next posession, they fumble on 2nd and 10 and oregon recovers!

after a few plays, Nate Costa throws a jailbreak screen pass to Jeff Maehl and he runs in for a TD!

TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN DUCKS!

THE MAEHLMAN DELIVERS!

when i need a package delivered, i don’t go to FedEx, i go to the MAEHLMAN!

suddenly oregon is up 21-3!

in less than 4 minutes, oregon goes from being down 3-0 to up 21-3 so i said outloud:  “thank you Maddi”

i’m the kind of person that goes out at night to look at the stars and make a wish and then pray for it to come true.  the fact that oregon exploded for 21 points in a 4 minute span after i made a wish for Maddi made me think the stars heard my wish and said:

“we can’t give you Maddi because she’s too far away right now, but we can give your Ducks 21 points to get you through the day”

(by the way, i still do that.  i still go out at night just to look up at the stars and make a wish.  none of the wishes ever come true but i still try)

oregon ended up winning 24-10 so i was happy

POST GAME:

my dad calls after the wedding and ask if i feel good enough to go to the reception, i said no i’m too sick

now that oregon game is over, i layed down and fell asleep

sunday morning we all left and took the ferry back to the mainland

on the drive home, i just slept to get some rest

here are highlights of the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtEC7sEW-4E

Oregon Football stories. Oregon @ UW 2009

oregon’s 7th game of the 2009 season was at Washington in husky stadium the saturday before halloween

it’d be the 6th game i’d go to during oregon’s first 7 games

#11 Oregon @ Washington

BYE WEEK:

oregon had a bye week in between UCLA and UW

the week after the UCLA game, i got healthy again and was able to get good sleep

WEEK BEFORE GAME:

since i was healthy again, i thought that since we play UW here in seattle, i’d ask Maddi if she’d like to go to the game with me.  i’d have no problem buying her a ticket

luck/karma wasn’t on my side though, because when the next week came around, i caught a cold again but this time it was from a friend at school

throughout the week i gradually got more sick but i had to go to school every day because my parents don’t let me go to games if i miss school.

since i kept getting more sick i decided thursday before school its best not to take Maddi to the game cause i’d most likely get her sick cause she’d be with me for over 6 hours.  so i never asked Maddi, although when i look back now i would’ve asked her cause being sick is no big deal really

i still talked about the upcoming game with her though in class

even though i was once again sick, the friday before the game, i went to see my friend Katie Romoser sing

i sat in the back and tried to time my coughs so i wouldn’t disrupt Katie and her friends’ show

when Katie sang it was a thing of beauty, she has such an amazing voice.  Katie is a really beautiful singer!

if i had to buy a $10 Justin Bieber CD or a $100 Katie Romoser CD, i’d pay the $90 more to hear Katie’s voice, that’s how amazing a singer she is

seeing Katie sing made me relaxed and not nervous which was nice because the day before games is when i’m always the most nervous

if you ever have a chance to see Katie Romoser sing, don’t miss it because she truly is gifted!

after seeing Katie sing, i went home and fell asleep and tried to get better, but that didn’t really happen haha

PREGAME:

on saturday morning, i woke up more sick than i was friday

my dad asked if i should really go to the game and i said:

“yea i’m fine, i’ll be fine i’m not that sick”    i wasn’t fine but i lied haha, nothing stops me from going to see my Ducks play

my dad drives us to Bill Resler’s house because we were going to the game with him and a few of his friends

we all got in a pickup truck, i sat in the trunk because there was no room and i was small enough to fit in the trunk

Bill asks about the RHS girls basketball team and i told him the season starts in just over a month and i hope we do well and that me and tex are taking our superfan-hood to the next level

they’re all talking about how the Huskies will win because they’re on the rise and have jake locker and how all the media is picking UW to upset my ducks

i’m just in the back relaxed knowing my ducks will open up a can of whoop ass on the puppies again and crush their hopes because we have LMJ and Jeremiah Masoli and most importantly, our offense’s bread and butter the “zone-read”

Bill’s friend drops us off and we walk to the North Entrance of Husky Stadium

since my dad and Bill’s friends are going to the tailgate, my dad tells me to wait at the gate after the game and he’ll pick me up, i say “okay”

i go into the stadium and even though my seat is for the balconies, i walk over to the west endzone where the oregon fans are and join my fellow duck fans.  i sat right next to the oregon marching band

i’m watching warm-ups for 2 hours as always just watching the clock tick down

(as weird as it may sound, i’m always excited for games but what gets me juice flowing is watching the clock tick down the minutes during warm-ups.  each minute that goes by, my heart beats faster and faster, it’s like a build-up.  by the time games kick off, my heart explodes and i become this crazy fan feeding off of adrenaline)

anyways an hour into warm-ups, this really cute blonde oregon girl walks down and sits behind me

i turn around and even though i’m sick, i start talking with her

and what do you know? she gets up and moves down and sits next to me

she knew i was sick and cold so she put her arms around me to keep me warm until the game started

THE GAME:

oregon’s offense didn’t do too much in the 1st quarter so we were down 3-0

i’m a bit worried because i know if oregon loses i lose bragging rights at school, plus i knew i had husky friends at the game and watching on tv so oregon HAD to blow their minds!

at the very least though, i know i got this really cute oregon girl keeping me warm 🙂

on 4th down early in the 2nd quarter, UW punts the ball

oregon blocks it and recovers the ball in the endzone!

TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN DUCKS! all of us are going crazy in the west endzone!

me and the girl (i forgot her name haha) are jumping and hugging and everyone claps to Mighty Oregon (our fight song)

oregon goes for 2 and gets it! 8-3 Ducks! me and the girl hug again and give everyone around us high fives

oregon goes back on defense and we’re all screaming.  i was sick so i had trouble screaming.  i had to breathe every 5 seconds

UW drives down field and gets to 4th and goal.  UW gets cute and goes for it on 4th down because they know we can kill them

locker throws to the back of the endzone and its..

INTERCEPTED! INTERCEPTED BY THE DUCKS! 8-3 Ducks still!  marching band, hit mighty oregon!

oregon at midfield, 3rd and 25, UW thinks they have us stopped haha! (when do they ever stop us?)

WRONG! first down pass by masoli to David Paulson!

oregon gets to 4th down and kicks the field goal…

wait we’re just playing games with the puppies as always, we ALWAYS fool them! Nate Costa the holder picks up the ball and runs for a first down!

everyone in the endzone is laughing and going crazy!

2nd and goal, masoli hands off to LMJ aaaaand… oh no, masoli kept it! masoli with the score!

TOUCHDOWN JEREMIAH MASOLI! TOUCHDOWN DUCKS!

15-3 ducks! 2 years after 2007, and UW is still chasing the wrong guy hahahhaahahaha!

me and the girl hug and all of us duck fans clap to mighty oregon

on some stupid penalties, UW was able to kick a field goal as time expired in the 1st half

its halftime and oregon leads 15-6!

at halftime, the UW band plays mighty oregon.  oregon fans love it but i still don’t get why every year at halftime, UW’s band plays our fight song

early 3rd quarter after we stopped UW, masoli hands off to LMJ.. i’m sorry, Masoli kept it and gets the 1st down! then masoli completes a pass to David Paulson near the goal line!

on 1st and goal, masoli hands off to LMJ and.. Masoli with the keeper, Masoli with the score!

TOUCHDOWN MASOLI! TOUCHDOWN DUCKS!

22-6 ducks! UW still chasing ghosts out there its soooooo funny!!!!!!!!!!!!! like actually, its really funny!

we’re all going crazy in the west endzone!! husky stadium is silent, they’re seeing 2007 all over again hahaha!

me and the girl hug again and i don’t feel sick because the oregon girl is keeping me really warm

back on defense, oregon sacks jake locker again! as the oregon students gladly point out, the best thing to ever happen to jake locker was getting a kiss on the lips from his mom.  they had pictures of the jake locker/mom kiss it was funny (holding up the pictures was funny, kissing your mom on the lips is not funny)

UW’s savior, UW’s God can’t beat oregon haha!

then locker completes a long pass over Cliff Harris for a big first down

UW crowd has some life

then locker decides it’d be a good idea to throw another long pass over Cliff Harris but Cliff tells jake locker:

“I’m Cliff Harris and i’m here to lock shit down”  lock shit down he does

locker’s pass is INTERCEPTED BY CLIFF HARRIS! it’s FEASTO FAMINE with #13 (cliff’s jersey number, although in 2009 he was #3)

marching band, hit mighty oregon again!

oregon marches down field quickly with its no huddle up tempo attack

at the UW 16, masoli hands off to LMJ.. no! he keeps it and throws it on a play action pass to the endzone for D.J Davis aaaaand…

TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN DUCKS!!

while UW is chasing ghosts still, oregon is busy scoring TD’s! 29-6 ducks!

marching band, hit my favorite tune, mighty oregon baby!  my favorite sound in husky stadium is the sound of our fight song!

the west endzone is a party man! this is so much fun! who said i’m sick? i’m not sick at all!!

UW has the ball back but on 2nd and 1, chris polk fumbles it! oregon fans erupt when oregon picks it up and returns it to the UW 31 yard line!

marching band, how about you play mighty oregon again! hit it band!

party in the west endzone baby!

masoli looks for a pass on 1st and 10 but sees a running lane and takes off running and gets to the 5 yard line!

1st and goal from the 5, masoli hands off to LMJ.. yes UW, LMJ actually has the ball this time, try and stop him haha!  oh you can’t stop him? that’s too bad, sike!

TOUCHDOWN LAMICHAEL JAMES!! TOUCHDOWN DUCKS!! 36-6 ducks!

everyone’s going crazy, me and the girl hug again and i don’t feel sick anymore!

oregon marching band, hit us up with some mighty oregon again baby!

it’s still the 3rd quarter, and we’ve opened up a can of whoop ass on the poor little puppies!

after a Kenjon Barner “fumble” on a punt return, UW scores a TD to make it 36-12 so their fans come alive to cheer on a good effort at a mini-comeback

UW’s like “let’s just not lose by 20 plus like the last 5 years”

but oregon says “oh no, you will lose by 20 plus, we’ll make sure of it”

UW’s like “oh yea, how so?”

oregon says “watch this”

at our own 44 yard line, masoli hands off to LMJ.. yes UW, LMJ has the ball this time, try and stop him!

i guess it doesn’t matter who has the ball, oregon is always in a hurry to get to the endzone

LMJ breaks free for a 56 yard TD run!!

TOUCHDOWN DUCKS! 43-12 oregon!

party in the west endzone again!

band, hit my favorite tune again!

UW scores a late TD, we win 43-19!

we whooped UW’s ass for the 6th straight year!!!!

POST GAME:

right as the game ends, i lean over and give the cute oregon girl who kept me warm a kiss on the cheek and she smiles

the team runs over and one of the players gets up on the band director step thing and conducts mighty oregon

the band plays a couple of more songs and we’re all just dancing and having a blast

after the band stops playing, everyone in the west endzone chants “USC! USC! USC! USC!” cause our next game is against USC at home in what is the biggest game in school history

it also just happens that we’re playing USC on halloween night with a chance to end their dynasty, so we finally get the chance we’ve always wanted! we have a chance to become the new kings of the PAC 10 conference

finally we all settle down and start leaving

before i left, i give the girl who made my day a big warm hug and a 2nd kiss

then i left the stadium and waited by the north entrance for my dad

i waited for an hour but he never came so i said:

“fuck this, i’m walking home”

so i walked all the way home to greenlake.  since my friend Alice Christenson’s home was in the direction i had to go, i stopped to see if she was home to see if she could give me a ride home, but nobody answered the door so i just walked another hour home while coughing and spitting out blood  (it took me two hours to walk home from husky stadium)

finally i got home after having spent the last 9 hours outside in the cold

i drink lots of water and then sit on my couch and watch college football the rest of the day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ah55Yqw6jU (highlights)

Oregon Football stories. USC @ Oregon 2009 (Halloween Fright Night)

my Ducks 8th game of the 2009 season was at home against the Mighty Trojans of USC!

our chance to end their dynasty once and for all!

(oh and Maddi, you HAVE to read this one, it’ll be your favorite one so far!)

the game is on halloween night of 2009 at 5pm in eugene, they city that calls everyday halloween, but now its actually halloween so eugene is like.. you know.. just in another world haha!

#4 USC @ #10 Oregon, october 31st, 2009

THE WEEK BEFORE GAME:

on sunday, since it was anounced that the crowd was doing a black-out for the game, i bought my black oregon shirt specially made for this one game

i missed monday and tuesday at school because i was really sick

my dad said i had to go to school on thursday and friday if i wanted to go to the game

even though i was still a little sick, i went to school on wednesday because i missed Maddi

in the student store class, i told my new friend Hannah Faught how excited i was for USC

i told Hannah if we win, you’ll see a totally happy and not shy adam on monday

on thursday, my black shirt for the game arrived! on the front it said “WELCOME TO AUTZEN” with the grim reeper and on the back it said “WHERE TEAMS GO TO DIE”

i wore my new shirt to my high school’s open mic on thursday

on friday, i couldn’t concentrate in any class haha!

also during that week, in marine bio class we were doing a project in the computer lab and i was sitting next to Robyn.  we were supposed to be working but i saw Robyn playing this really cool game so i asked her what it was and she said ‘Miami Shark’ so i went and found it, then Robyn showed me how to play and i started playing

when i got home i kept playing it because it’s fun and it kept my mind off of the USC game

even to this day i still play Miami Shark because honestly its my favorite game in the world, all because of Robyn Nielsen

its funny how such little things as a computer game can make you appreciate having a person in your life

(on a side note, even though most of the RHS graduating class of 2011, the class i graduated with, doesn’t think too fondly of Robyn and a lot of the 2010 kids, she is one of my favorite friends.  i’ve never had any beef with 2010 because of amazing people such as Robyn Nielsen, Maddi Tangney, Ian Brewer and others)

back to football!

normally i tell Maddi all about the next game, but for USC i was quite nervous and superstitous so i didn’t talk too much about it to Maddi, although i did tell her the time and channel of the game so she could watch, and i told her if oregon wins i’m going to rush the field

Maddi told me to just go have a blast, which i most certainly did have, and then some!

instead of my mom or dad going, my older bro Ryan took me and alex because ryan loves the big games and i let alex come along too because wazzu sucks and i wanted him to experience a once in a lifetime thing

even though the game was saturday night, we left friday night because ESPN’s college gameday crew was doing their show live from eugene saturday morning and i wanted to go to that

it’s halloween and gameday is in eugene!

halloween, and oregon gets the primetime game on ABC, oh man Autzen will be spooky!

in eugene, they say everyday is halloween so now that it’s actually halloween.. oh baby!

on the drive down, ryan just blasts this AC DC type music as loud as he could and somehow, i don’t know how, i fell asleep despite the music!

even while sleeping, my heart was still racing because it’s the biggest game in oregon history so i’m more pumped than ever before

odd timing, maybe cause i’m a Duck, but the moment we pull into eugene i wake up

we go to the hotel for a little bit

COLLEGE GAMEDAY SHOW!

at 6am, ryan drops me and alex off at the gameday show (gameday starts at 7am so we tried to get good spots but when we got there at 6, there was already 10,000 people)

so we get to gameday set up right outside of autzen

it’s 6am and there’s already thousands of people chanting stuff it’s crazy!

when gameday starts it’s a mob scene!  the cameras fly over us and everyone is holding up their ‘O’

there’s fans with ghosts masks on and hockey helmets and you can tell that it’s halloween in eugene

show starts and Chris Fowler asks the crowd if they’ve slept at all and everyone yells “NO!”

then fowler tells everyone watching on TV that these oregon fans have been standing here since 8pm friday night!  i’m just in shock at how awesome that is!  oregon fans have been standing here for 10 hours chanting and singing waiting fo the show to start!

during commercials, songs come on and we all sing to them, atleast try to haha!

when ESPN comes back from a commercial, there’s a guy walking by everyone with the Duck mascot head on

everyone thought it was just a student dressed up for halloween, even i thought it was a student

i’m close to the front so i see everything up close and personal

the guy gives everyone high fives as he walks by, then made an ‘O’ with his hands.. must be a student or just a crazy fan!

the guy slowly takes off the mascot head to reveal himself…

the head piece comes off and its..

HOLY SHIT THAT’S CHIP KELLY!!!!!!!!! BIG BALLS CHIP!!! the place explodes into an animal house!! (the movie animal house was filmed on the u of o campus)

FUCKIN CHIP KELLY BABY! head coach CHIP KELLY fuckin dressed up for halloween!!!! at that moment Chip Kelly becomes america’s favorite coach! no other coach in history of college football or NFL has done that! coaches are always so serious and never interact with fans, but fuckin Chip Kelly came out to college gameday all dressed up for halloween!!  he was one of us, he was a fan and nobody knew it!  that dude’s got big giant balls, and i’ll be honest, every oregon fan including me wants to rub his giant balls.. there’s a reason we call him “BIG BALLS CHIP”

the show goes on of course but that was some crazy ass shit!

at the end of the show, it comes time to reveal who the celebrity guest picker is

the door of the gameday bus opens and it’s… PHIL KNIGHT!!!! UNCLE PHIL BABY!!!

man this is already the best halloween ever and it’s still morning, we haven’t gone trick or treating on USC yet!

Phil picks the Ducks of course, as does Desmond Howard but hey, where’s Lee Corso?!

he’s off stage.. he picks up the duck mascot head and puts it on! the place goes APE SHIT!!

he walks over to the duck harley davidson and goes for a ride, it’s a mad house here at the gameday show in eugene!!

finally the show ends at 9am and everyone heads off

me and alex walk to a restaurant to eat breakfast before going back to the hotel

because of the gameday show i’ve already lost my voice so i drink lots of water to get it back for the game

i watch college football on TV for a few hours before we go get lunch

PREGAME:

at 2pm, we went and parked a mile from the stadium

since ryan and alex’s seats were not with me, i could go off on my own

before ryan let me go though, he told me:

“if the lead is bigger than 14 with 5 minutes left, meet me and alex under the scoreboard so we can leave early and beat traffic because i have a halloween party back home to get to at midnight”

he also said:  “if oregon wins, don’t rush the field so we can get out of here because you’ve rushed the field atleast 3 times before so you don’t need to do it again, you’ve had the experience”

so then i said: “rushing the field never gets old but fine, just don’t count on us leaving early because USC never loses by more than 10”

i totally lied of course haha! if oregon wins i’m rushing the field!! hell, i even told Maddi at school that i’d rush the field if we win!

it’s fuckin USC!!!

anyways ryan let me go and instead of walking to the stadium, i was soooooooo juiced that i SPRINTED to the stadium! my blood was flowing!

once at the stadium, i watched the team come through

then i went up to my seat to watch warm-ups

oregon had their green helmet, green jersey, black pants combo, same as we wore for oklahoma in 2006 and pussy Cal in 2007 (pussy cal! pussy cal! pussy cal!)

green-green-black is our big game uniform combo

the student section wore all black as did atleast half the stadium so autzen looked frightening

as the game got closer i got more and more amped i was just dying to explode!

during warm-ups the student section chanted “fuck the trojans” i chanted it too of course

the marching band had to play songs just to drown out the bad language we were all using

when the USC band walked in, everyone boo’d like crazy

when USC started playing their fight song, all the students including me, we all held up our middle finger

the teams go to the locker rooms and the oregon marching band takes the field

the stadium is electric and everyone has their costumes on!

people i saw at the game: the joker, darth vader, a stormtrooper, president obama, eminem, the grim reeper and bill clinton, thats just to name a few!

the band plays mighty oregon and everyone claps to it

then the band lines up outside the tunnel and Duckvision comes on and everyone explodes!

right as Duckvision starts i said outloud: “here we go Maddi!!!!”

Duckvision gets to ‘The Pick’ and it’s crazy in autzen! after ‘The Pick’ ends, the Duck drives out on the harley davidson with the team right behind! everyone’s going insane! i’m going insane! this place is rocking!!

then usc comes out and everyone erupts in booing like hella crazy!

then everyone on the north side yells “GOOOOO!” and the southside yells “DUUUUUCKS!” that goes on for a minute, there’s nothing like it in the world i swear!

PA anouncer Don Essig comes on and says “lets welcome brent musberger and kirk herbstreit with their ABC primetime audience to autzen stadium for tonights halloween matchup between the 4th ranked USC trojans and your 10th ranked University of Oregon Ducks!”  everyone goes crazy!! i cross my fingers and whisper: “hope you’re watching Maddi”

after a pause, Don Essig says the weather for the game and finishes off with: “and let’s remind the folks from USC that IT NEVER RAINS IN AUTZEN STADIUM!” the whole crowd including me says that with him!

THE GAME:

finally the teams lineup for kickoff and it’s deafening!!! all the students are jumping up and down, everyone is holding their ‘O’ high in the air!  (just for the record, i do everything the student’s do)

when thousands of people are holding an ‘O’ high in the air, it looks like the coolest thing ever!

oregon fans are yelling for atleast a minute before oregon actually kicks the ball off! it’s quite something to see!

finally oregon kicks it off and the biggest game in school history is under way!

usc runs their first play and nobody is sitting down and it’s deafening!

after the tackle is made, instead of waiting for usc to break their huddle, everyone starts yelling right after the tackle is made! it truly is ROCKING in autzen!!! nobody is sitting down!

usc marches down field before we stop them

usc kicks the field goal and is ahead 3-0 halfway through the 1st quarter, they took a lot of time off the clock on that drive

during commercial break i said “Damn it!” cause we’re losing

on usc’s kickoff, Kenjon Barner returns it and breaks a few tackles and i’m yelling at the top of my lungs “GO! GO! GO! STAY ON YOUR FEET! GO!” when barner gets tackled down in the red zone, i yell “YEA BABY! THAT A BOY BARNER!”

autzen is going crazy after his big return!!!

oregon’s offense doesn’t do anything and settles for the field goal so we’re tied at 3!

nobody has sat down yet!

usc back on offense and autzen is just rocking, it’s ear drum hearing loss loud! 120 decibels loud to be exact!

first and 10, usc is stuffed!

2nd and 10 stopped!

3rd down, shut down baby! autzen is a mad house!!!

usc punts and we have the ball

oregon picks up a first down before getting to 3rd and 3 near mid field

masoli turns, fakes it to LMJ, turns around and rolls out, shakes a defender, evades another one, pump fakes and lobs a 1st down completion to David Paulson! autzen goes crazy!

what a play by masoli, great footwork by #8! (sorry i just love quoting brent musberger haha!)

1st and 10 in usc territory, masoli throws a bubble pass to DJ Davis and he runs for the 1st down!

i do the color guard 1st down dance

the color guard girls all have on this spooky face paint for halloween by the way, awesome!

then masoli throws a TD pass but there’s a penalty on us so i yell “Fuck! come on Ducks clean it up!”

on 3rd and 8, masoli throws a flare to LMJ and he gets the 1st down! 1st and goal ducks!

i do the 1st down dance again and while i’m doing it i said outloud: “wish you were here dancing with me Maddi!”

then on a zone-read play, usc bites the dust and masoli keeps it and busts his way into the endzone!!!!!!!!!

TOUCHDOWN MASOLI!! MASOLI WITH THE SCORE!! 10-3 DUCKS!

autzen is a mad house and the foghorn blows! (autzen has a foghorn that blows 3 times every time we score, makes you feel like you’re at a stanley cup game!)

nobody has sat down yet!!

we’re ahead on usc as the sun sets!

usc is back on offense and it’s crazy deafening!!!

everyone is jumping up and down and it’s insane!!

autzen is hands down the loudest stadium in the world!

usc gets stuffed and is forced to punt again!!!

2ND QUARTER

early in the 2nd, masoli completes a pass to Jeff Maehl for the 1st down but he fumbles it and usc recovers and i said “FUCK!” because we had a chance to go up 2 scores on usc

usc has the ball again and autzen is going insanely crazy and is super crazy loud!!

usc marches down field though and scores to tie the game at 10

i yelled “god damn it oregon! that’s why you don’t turn the god damn fucking ball over you ass holes!”  yes, i am like that at games, simply because i love my ducks

tied at 10, this game is intense!!

with the ball back, masoli completes a pass to Lavasier Tuinei for a 1st down into usc territory (i think i spelled his name right!)

then masoli hands off to LMJ on a power play (not a zone-read) and for a moment it looked like usc had James stuffed but then he breaks free from the pile and autzen explodes in a deafening roar!

LMJ sprints into the red zone!! everyone is going super crazy!!

marching band plays their ‘stick it in’ song which honestly, is 1,000 times cooler than Roosevelt’s (my high school i just graduated from)

next play, masoli hands off to LMJ on the same exact power play!

an oregon lineman is blocking a usc guy and since LMJ is so short, he runs right in between them right under their arms and picks up another 1st down!!! LMJ is in beast mode right now!!

oregon’s band plays ‘stick it in’ again and ALL the 5,000 students do it!! unlike RHS where it’s just the girls mostly, at oregon the guys do it too!

1st and goal ducks!

2 plays later masoli hands off to Andre Crenshaw and…

TOUCHDOWN!!!! TOUCHDOWN!! OREGON’S BACK AHEAD 17-10!!!!

the foghorn blows and everyone is going super crazy!!!

(Maddi, you would’ve loved it, you really would!)

oregon’s back on defense again with the lead and nobody in the stadium has sat down yet! 59,000 people all on their feet! eveyone has been standing the entire game!

autzen is going super duper crazy loud and usc is piling up on the false start penalties!!

THEY CAN’T HEAR!!!

despite the mad house, matt barkley and usc march down field again and tie the game at 17

i want to be mad at oregon’s defense but i calm myself down because i know this is usc and their worst loss in the last 8 years was a 9 point loss so i know it’s going to be a classic just like i told ryan

oregon has the ball back in a tie game and it starts to rain

suddenly i start to worry because masoli struggles throwing the ball when it rains

on 1st and 10 though, masoli looks to throw the ball

even from my seat, i could see the right side of the line of scrimmage open up wide so i yell as loud as i can:

“RUN MASOLI!”

masoli sees the whole and takes off running!! as he’s running, i’m yelling and waving with my arms “Run masoli run!”

he runs about 35 yards before a usc guy is running him out of bounds so i see a hole going left and just as i yelled “CUT LEFT!” masoli cuts left and gets another 10 yards!

just like that, in one play, we’re back in scoring position!! autzen is going super crazy!!

then masoli keeps the ball again and runs for another 1st down, getting us into the red zone!

then from the 19 yard line, masoli fakes a hand off to Kenjon Barner i think it was and throws a play action pass to the back of the endzone for Jamere Holland aaand…

TOUCHDOOOOOOOOOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!! JAMERE WITH THE CATCH, AND THE SCORE!!!

oregon is back ahead baby!!!! 24-17 lead late in the 1st half!!!

it was on that touchdown play, the moment Jamere Holland caught it that autzen was measured at an ear shattering 127 decibels!!!

its simply a mad house when oregon goes back on defense!!

everyone’s standing and yelling their asses off with their ‘O’ held high in the air!!

oregon makes usc go 3 and out and the place is going totally insane!!

there’s enough time left for oregon to score again!

but oregon goes 3 and out and punts the ball to end the 1st half

HALFTIME

it’s halftime and after more than 2 hours of standing up, everyone finally sits down!

we’re up on #4 USC 24-17 at halftime, what a game so far!

halloween night and i’m thinking “man this game is living up to it’s hype!”

autzen is so electric USC had 6 false start penalties in the 1st half!

at halftime, being that it’s halloween, the marching band performs Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’

i finally get to rest for 20 minutes, whew!

at the end of halftime, it stopped raining so i was relieved!

3RD QUARTER

oregon gets the ball to start the 2nd half so we get another chance to build on our lead

everyone is back on their feet, nobody wants to sit down during the game! this is way too cool!

with a couple of masoli passes, oregon marches down field and i’m thinking we could go up by 14!

but the offense stalls and we settle for the field goal

it’s good! we’re up 27-17 and i said outloud

“that’s a double digit lead on mighty USC, i’ll take it baby!”

the autzen crowd, all rested up and fresh from filling up on alcohol at halftime, lets usc have it again! JUST SIMPLY DEAFENING!!

usc being usc though, marches down field despite the noise and kicks a field goal, so it’s back to a 7 point oregon lead, 27-20!

oregon gets the ball back and on this drive, oregon would let mighty usc know that their dynasty is going to end on this night in autzen stadium against oregon on halloween night in the city that calls everyday halloween

masoli on 1st and 10 looks to throw, pump fakes and takes off running left!

masoli gets close to midfield and everyone is going crazy!!

few plays later masoli hands to LMJ and he cuts up the usc defense!

a few plays later on 1st and 15, masoli hands to LMJ again and he SHAKE AND BAKES a usc defender and picks up the 1st down!! autzen is jumping around!

very next play on 1st and goal, masoli hands to LMJ on the same exact play and he darts into the endzone!!

TOUCHDOWN OREGON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

autzen is going balls to wall crazy!!! 34-20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we’re up by 2 touchdowns on mighty usc!!!!!!  YEA BABY YEA!!!!!

at that moment i yelled out “you better be watching this Maddi!!!!!!!!!!”

when usc is back on defense, autzen is louder than ever!!

it’s DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

usc can’t stop us and everyone in the stadium smells blood! we can sense it! everyone watching on TV could sense it! even the ABC commentators sensed it because when i watch youtube videos of the game (which i do a lot), at that moment brent musberger, who called the game, says “and folks, the usc dynasty is in trouble here”

smelling blood, oregon’s defense picks up their slack and sacks matt barkley on 2nd down!!

on 3rd down, autzen is REALLY ROCKING!!!!!!!!!

oregon stops usc on 3rd down and they have to punt!! we get the ball back up by 14!!!

this is the moment we’ve all been dying for, here it is! we can end the great mighty usc dynasty right here on this drive with one more TD!

on a power play, masoli gives the ball to LMJ and he breaks free for a gain of atleast 20 yards!!!

after a few more plays oregon is back in usc territory!

on a zone-read play, masoli does the mesh with LMJ and the defensive end crashes so masoli keeps it and runs for a first down!!

then masoli does a play action pass to Ed Dickson and now we’re inside the 5 yard line!!

there’s less than 20 seconds left in the 3rd quarter and Chip Kelly wants another play!

the offense hurries up and snaps it, masoli hands off to Kenjon Barner and he plunges into the endzone as time expires in the 3rd quarter!!!

TOUCHDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN KENJON BARNER!!!!!!!!!! (kenjon is pronounced ken-yon)

TOUCHDOWN DUCKS BABY!!!!!!!!!!

autzen explodes and it feels like a party!! the moment Barner crosses the goal line, the student section throws confetti into the air!! it looked so cool and was so much fun!!!

after 3 quarters, oregon is up 41-20!!!!!!!!!!!!!

during the commercial break between the 3rd and 4th quarters, i whispered to myself

“if i had even just $500, i would’ve taken you to this game Maddi, because this is just the most fun experience ever!”

4TH QUARTER

the 4th quarter starts and autzen is still rocking!! everyone’s jumping and yelling like insanely crazy!!

usc’s offense gets stuffed and the ball goes back to the unstoppable oregon offense!

after a few plays, masoli hands off to LMJ and he gets good yardage but fumbles it and usc picks it up and returns it for a TD

now back to a 2 score game and everyone in autzen and watching on TV has one thought on their mind: usc is about to stage an epic historic never to be forgotten comeback that will live forever in the lore of college football to keep its dynasty alive and remain the kings of college football

but right before they kick the extra point, the booth decides to review the play to see if perhaps LMJ was down before he fumbled it

after the review, the refs say that LMJ was down before the fumble so it’s oregon ball!

autzen explodes and we’re all relieved!!

in usc territory, masoli completes a pass to Tuinei for a 1st down!

then on 3rd and 15, masoli does a zone-read and the defensive end crashes so masoli keeps it and gets a 1st down inside the 5 yard line!! oregon settles for the field goal and its 44-20 oregon!!!!!!

nobody has left the stadium and nobody has sat down the entire game!!!!

usc has the ball again and it’s SUPER CRAZY in autzen!!!!!!

usc gets nowhere and punts back to oregon!

after an Andre Crenshaw run for a 1st down, masoli does another zone-read play and again, the usc defensive end crashes so masoli keeps it again, picking up a 20+ yard gain!!!

oregon settles for another field goal and we’re up 47-20!!!!!!!!!!!

there’s just under 5 minutes left in the game so i’m supposed to go meet my brother and alex under the scoreboard

but nope, this is too much fun!! plus, i told Maddi i would rush the field! i keep my promises haha!

so usc gets the ball back, and all of the students start lining up against the wall getting ready to jump it and rush the field

so naturally, i leave me seat and head down to the 1st row so i’m all set to jump the wall and rush the field

on the last play of the game, usc throws it and oregon intercepts it!!

GAME OVER!!

DUCKS BEAT #4 USC 47-20!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE MIGHTY USC DYNASTY IS OVER, ITS HISTORY!!

let it be duly noted that the great usc dynasty ended on halloween (october 31st) of 2009 in autzen stadium against the oregon ducks!

RUSHING THE FIELD

the moment oregon intercepted it, students started jumping and pouring over the wall!!!!!!!!

within 20 seconds of the pick, i jumped the wall and stormed the field!!!!!!!!!

it was just a sea of black coming over the wall, so awesome!!!!!!!

i ran right to the mosh pit where everyone was forming at!!!!!!!!

the ABC sky cam is looking right in at us as we’re all jumping and lifting people into the air and chanting “BCS! BCS! BCS! BCS!”

while celebrating, quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was looking for somebody i guess and accidently walked into the mosh pit so everyone including me, we’re all giving him pats on the back

then i heard students shouting to pick him up, because the hero/star player always gets lifted up on top of the crowd so i helped by grabbing his left leg and with a few other students, we all lifted masoli into the air!!!!

he got to crowd surf for close to a minute! he was scared as shit at first but then he soaked in the moment! to this day, i’m pretty damn sure that is the highlight of Masoli’s life, he had to feel like he was on top of the world that night

after a minute, he asked to be put back down so we all carefully lowered him back down

it was the funnest thing ever!!!!

then we all continued chanting “BCS! BCS! BCS! BCS!”  and “number one! number one! number one!”

after about 10-15 minutes, everyone started to exit the field because storming the field is like a 15 minute rush of pure adrenaline and thrill!!!

there is nothing as fun as being in a mosh pit with 5,000 college students!!!!

i really can’t describe how much fun rushing the field is, or rushing the court!

it’s just SUPER CRAZY OUT OF THIS WORLD PURE THRILL ADRENALINE RUSHING FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you have to be apart of a rushing the field to know what i’m talking about!

so 20 minutes after the game ended, i left the field and went back into the stands

i turned around and looked back at all the people on the field and said outloud

“Maddi, wait till you hear about this experience! you’re gonna love this so much, god i wish you could’ve been in that mosh pit with me, you were in my heart though!” and then i smiled

i went to the scoreboard and met up with ryan and alex

ryan slapped me really hard and said “what did i tell you!”

i didn’t fight though, i just laughed haha!

i didn’t care what punishment he gave me, i don’t regret anything one bit baby! i got to rush the field just like i told Maddi i would! and it was worth it, it was worth it by a mile!

i mean, i just had the most fun experience in my ENTIRE life, hell yea it was worth getting slapped!!!!!!!

on the walk back to ryan’s car, ryan said he let alex rush the field too because with 2 minutes left in the game, he saw all the students lined up ready to rush the field and he realized i’m not coming up to meet him because i’m down there somewhere, he knew i was rushing so he let alex go too

so its good that alex got to rush the field and be apart of that mosh pit cause you don’t get that at wazzu, only at oregon! i’m glad that alex got to enjoy the same experience, he’ll never forget it!  he tells me even though he’s a wazzu coug, he loves going to oregon’s big games because he just LOVES rushing the field! that’s why i always buy him a ticket to big games

POST GAME

once we got back to ryan’s car, i got in the back seat and fell asleep right away because i had just used every bit of energy i had and i had been feeding on adrenaline the ENTIRE day!!

we got to the car around 930pm and got to seattle around midnight

its daylight savings and it took ryan only 3 hours to get home, normally eugene to seattle and vice versa is a 4 and a half hour drive, but we made it home in 3 hours because ryan later told us that since it’s halloween, all the police were out patrolling neighborhoods because of halloween parties so there was no police on the freeway (I-5) so ryan drove 100mph the whole way home!

so yup, we got home and ryan was able to go to his halloween party on time so everyone won on halloween night of 2009, everyone except for USC that is ahahahahaha!

their dynasty ended that night!!!!!!!!!

for USC, halloween night of 2009 was FRIGHT NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

even to this day, halloween of 2009 is called FRIGHT NIGHT by USC fans and players!

halloween of 2009 was and still is the best holiday i’ve ever celebrated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMllSmi4QZc (part one of highlights)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN1zTOYJqRo&feature=related (part two of highlights)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJLVHxB7Eww&feature=related (rushing the field)

Oregon Football stories. Oregon @ Stanford 2009

my oregon ducks 9th game of the 2009 season was on the road at stanford on the 1st saturday of November

#7 Oregon @ Stanford

WEEK BEFORE THE GAME:

on monday at school, i was in the ASR room (the classroom when you’re not working in the student store. you’d spend two weeks in the store and than one week in the classroom. it was a three week cycle)

anyways i was in the classroom with my student store buddy Hannah Faught and i was telling her all about the USC game

our teacher walks in and hears me talking about the game

she tells me:

“has anyone ever told you how much your face lights up when you talk about oregon?”

i said “no, why do you ask?”

she says “because your face turns red when you talk about the Ducks, and i can see the excitement in your eyes and i can hear it in your voice”

she’s all smiling when she said that and Hannah was smiling too

i just simply blushed haha!

Hannah’s first impression of me was that i love the Ducks

it’s not the first impression i want to make on girls because its not a good first impression when you’re trying to impress girls… unless its an oregon girl you’re trying to impress! oregon girls love football!

Hannah didn’t mind my love for the Ducks though, she seemed to rather appreciate it because it kept me from being shy and the one thing Hannah hates about me is how shy i usually am. we became good friends 🙂

anyways while Hannah and i were working, my twin brother alex (who everyone calls Tex) who was at first lunch, runs into our class and starts jumping and chanting “BCS! BCS! BCS!”

of course, i jumped out of my seat and joined him in chanting “BCS!”

we were just so excited after beating USC, especially me!

we’re just there jumping chanting “BCS!” and Hannah is watching us just laughing it was funny!

she knew i was overly happy and couldn’t contain it even if i tried

in mr. karl’s class i told my best friend Maddi all about the game and how i rushed the field

on tuesday, during my class with Hannah, alex runs in again and we chant “BCS!” again!

then on wednesday, he ran into our class again but Hannah saw him before i did and told him in her always laughing sort of way “Tex get out of here”   i just laughed because it was funny because Hannah knows i’ll jump up and chant “BCS” cause i’m just soooo happy but i have work to do so Hannah had to keep my brother from distracting me

in short, Hannah had to bottle up my excitement, she had to keep me on track in class that whole week

on thursday, alex tries running in again but me and Hannah’s teacher sees him and says “adam is in class, how would you feel if adam ran into one of your classes and distracted you?”

on friday, i didn’t see my brother during school so yea

THE GAME:

on saturday, the oregon stanford game was on FSN

i went to FSN only to find the fucking UW husky game

i went to ESPN3.com to see if i could watch the game there but it doesn’t carry FSN games

i had to watch the game on espn gamecast, which means you just watch the boxscore and wait for updates

i wasn’t happy at all

stanford built a big lead and in the 3rd quarter they were up big

i wasn’t surprised because it was your normal letdown/trap game following a huge program changing win

i wasn’t happy though

at one point, we were down so big i walked away from the computer in frustration and went to take a shower

when i got out of the shower, i saw that oregon had cut the lead by 14 points so i started watching again

but then stanford scores again and oregon turns it over

i decide i’ve had enough and go back in the bathroom to take a shit

when i got done taking a shit, i went back to the computer (washed my hands of course) and see that stanford fumbled and oregon scored while i was on the toilet (not very long haha)

so i said outloud “if i just stay in the bathroom, oregon will come back” see i have superstitions haha

so i went back in the bathroom and shaved my facial hair/beard

i get done shaving and check the score, but only to see that stanford scored

i give up and watch the rest of the game

i watch oregon lose and stanford’s crowd rush the field

POST GAME:

seeing their fans rush the field actually made me happy because it meant that oregon has gotten to the point where we are so good that when other teams beat us, their fans rush the field to celebrate

i wasn’t too bummed about losing though, we just got knocked out of the national championship picture for good, but in all honesty, Boise State took care of that in our first game

we’re still one game ahead of everybody in the conference race so now it’s just turn our attention to chasing the dream, the fight to get to the Granddaddy of them all, THE ROSE BOWL

we’re still leading the conference so it’s good, losing to stanford didn’t really hurt us at all

the dream: win the pac 10, go to THE ROSE BOWL!

Oregon Football stories. Arizona State @ Oregon 2009

although this Duck Tale is still about my ducks 2009 season, it is a story which shows my true background, one which showed that supporting friends, in this case Alicia Gilman, is more important to me than my passion for the Oregon Ducks

the 10th game of my ducks 2009 season was at home against Arizona State on the 2nd saturday of november at 730pm

ASU @ #13 Oregon

WEEK BEFORE THE GAME:

normally i talk about oregon a lot, but this week was different

it wasn’t because i was nervous for the ASU game, because i wasn’t nervous at all.. i knew we’d handle them

i didn’t talk much because to be totally honest, i wasn’t thinking about the game

i was thinking of my friend Alicia Gilman

she had put together a run around Greenlake on saturday and all of her friends were invited, as was I

even though my ducks had a home game on the same day, doing this run was more important to me

(out of respect to Alicia and her family, i will keep from naming the cause that the run was for, but i will say that it was a really good cause and it was to support Alicia and her family)

since my mom was going to the ASU game with me, i had to tell her that saturday morning i was going to participate in a run for a friend

my mom went crazy on me and this is how the conversation between her and I went:

mom – “are you crazy, oregon has a game saturday!”

me – “i know mom, but i have to do this, i want to and have to support my friend”

mom – “would you miss the game to support your friend?”

me – “i would mom, this is far more important to me”

mom – “okay you can do the run, but i’m picking you up at your dad’s house at 11am and if you’re not in the car by 11, i’m leaving for eugene without you”

me – “that’s fine with me mom, i’m doing this for my friend no matter what”

so yea, during the week whenever people asked me about the ASU game, i didn’t say anything because i didn’t want people to think that i was going to miss Alicia’s run

on the inside, i was thankful oregon had a 730pm game because i could do the run to support Alicia and still make it to the game if traffic isn’t too bad

for the run, Alicia asked everyone to wear purple or pink, i didn’t have a pink shirt but my dad had a purple UW husky shirt

i knew that a duck fan wearing UW stuff is the crimes of all crimes, especially on the same day as a game in which you are going to

RUNNING FOR ALICIA:

when i woke up saturday morning though, i put aside my hate for UW and my love for the Ducks and put on a purple UW husky shirt to support my friend Alicia

i walked down to Greenlake and saw a lot of my friends there

Alicia thanked everyone for coming and broke into tears

i always bring $20 with me to every game in case i get hungry or thirsty, but when i saw Alicia in tears, i didn’t hesitate to give my $20 to her and her family’s cause

then all of us (atleast 50 people) ran/walked Greenlake

when everyone finished, instead of going home to shower and get ready to leave for eugene, i stayed at Greenlake not knowing what time it was and knowing my mom will leave without me

after 20 minutes or so talking with my friends, i went and gave Alicia a warm hug

after thanking me for coming and supporting her, i headed on home

PREGAME:

once at home, i took a super fast shower, packed my ducks gear and walked outside

i got in my mom’s car at 10:59, cut it close i did!

i was glad i did the run for Alicia

traffic was smooth down to Eugene

we get to eugene around 5pm and i put on my Ducks gear

my mom drops me off at autzen and i walk into the Mo Center

even though i said after the Boise State loss i’d never wear face paint again to a game, i brought face paint with me

when i got in the Mo Center, i walked to the bathroom with my face paint

even though Alicia is not a duck fan and never will be a duck fan most likely, i painted “Alicia” on one of my cheeks

when i went up to my seat, i put on my gloves because it was really really cold, cold enough for it to snow

THE GAME:

the game itself, i don’t remember much from it really

oregon jumped out to a 31-7 lead in the 1st half

with the help of an oregon turnover, ASU scored 14 straight to make it a game at 31-21 ducks

but then oregon got a TD and 2 field goals to win 44-21

otherwise, i don’t really remember all the plays from the game like i usually do because that day, what i remember most is what was more important to me and still more important to me, supporting my friends and on that day, it was Alicia Gilman which i was supporting

POST GAME:

i do remember that after the game when i got back to the hotel i always stay at in eugene, i was so cold that i ate all the cinnamon pizza within 10 minutes!

on sunday i got home to seattle and realized i didn’t have any game stories to tell Maddi Tangney but that was okay because oregon’s last two games of 2009, with the Dennis Dixon retribution game at Arizona and a possible Civil War for the Roses if things go right, i knew i would have a million stories to tell her!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MspcEEKgAM (highlights from the game)