It's Civil War Week In Oregon

So I spent part of my lunch hour crafting the following entry for posting about the Civil War. After putting it to paper, I found some more information out, but decided to post the entry anyway, so enjoy, but please read the notes at the end:

I’ve hesitated to write about it, even though I don’t consider myself a
superstitious person. But it’s gotten to the point that it can’t be ignored anymore, as Oregon State sits one win away from a Rose Bowl berth, something they haven’t achieved since 1965. After the team started 0 and 2, I don’t think anyone but hardcore Beaver fans would have expected this kind of run, but after losing to Utah and knowing they needed to win out to get there, they sit one game away from that very situation. And the team they get to face this weekend is their arch rival, Oregon.

The Civil War is a uniquely interesting rivalry to say the least. Since I didn’t attend either school, I don’t have any specific allegiance to either side except that as a bandwagon fan, I pay enough attention to wish them well and hope they do our state proud. Since I have a large number of relatives from Colorado, I got to enjoy watching Oregon destroy Colorado back in 2002 and give a few of my cousins a hard time afterwards. I felt the Ducks should have been playing in the championship game that year, but the BCS felt otherwise and got a rather anti-climactic final game that year. The problem occurred the preceding year when the Beavers lit up Notre Dame, and at that point, were the best collegiate team on the field but the polls didn’t rank them higher and the BCS passed them by. But I don’t think anyone except hard core Beaver fans figured that team would destroy the Fighting Irish. But that’s why you play the games.

I haven’t talked about the Beavers much simply because they aren’t in my wheelhouse of teams that I religiously follow. I like them well enough, but I don’t have a specific leaning one way or another, which really makes this week of all weeks interesting. For 51 weeks of the year, Duck and Beaver fans politely co-exist happily in Oregon without too much issue. But then Civil War week comes around, and the fans come out of the woodwork to abuse each other with taunts, barbs, and other assorted trash talk. I seriously think that Oregon – Oregon State is the most friendly nasty rivalry around, as I find it common to hear people say, “I’m a Duck but I like seeing the Beavers do well.” If you look around at most other rivalries, I can’t imagine opposing fans wishing good luck to their rival at any point, but that’s how things are around here.

It was weird going to school in Spokane listening to Huskies and Cougars trash each other during the Apple Cup week, and the battle of Montana produced some rather odd moments (I recall seeing a drinking contest between fans before one game that I went to using everclear. No, not the band, but the alcohol, working brain cells not included), but those rivalries never seemed to go away during the offseason. And for my family, the battles between Nebraska and Colorado, well, that was one of those topics you didn’t discuss around the holiday dinner table, lumped in with religion and politics, because you were just as likely to get a smile as you would a fork in the head. So moving here in 1989, I found the Civil War to not only match up to the name by how fans interacted with each other, but the general tone of pre-game talk and antics. Granted, if I had attended either of those fine schools, I might feel differently. I know following the Timbers, I do have people confuse my support for them for the Ducks because both teams wear green, and I tend to wear a lot of green. But that’s mostly relating to Timbers, although in saying that to people, most people are surprised we have a soccer team, much less one that wears green.

But, I’ve attended the same number of football games at each school (two), I’ve actually attended online courses for each school for graduate credit (three), and I have friends that support both schools rather passionately, so I’ve really avoided picking one school over another. It’s come down to who is doing well at that point, and I follow them as much at time warrants. This does go against most of my sport leanings, because I tend to pick a team and follow them closely and I try not to waver when picking teams to support, but right now, I have as many reasons to pick being a Duck versus being a Beaver.

But for 51 weeks of the year, it doesn’t seem to matter that much. I’ve only ran across one person in my near 20 years of being here that dissed on a Duck, and it was on the golf course. My friend Obi and I got paired with two older gentlemen for a round at Killarney in Hillsboro, who were really good guys to play a round with. After the round, Obi mentioned he took some course management advice that he’d seen on TV from Peter Jacobson, a long time Portland area golf pro. One of our playing partners was a long time Beaver fan, who politely said he wouldn’t take any golf advice from Peter Jacobson because he was a &%&$%# duck. And seriously, if that’s the most vicious thing I’ve heard in almost 20 years of Civil Wars, well, it’s tame in comparison to most. The passion is certainly there, but the fans are still extremely cordial to each other even in their trash talking. Which really makes this one of my favorite rivalries, because even in totally trash talking the other side, fans are still incredibly nice to each other. I hear stories of oddness, but I think for the most part, it’s the friendliest, fiercest rivalry around.

But I know this weekend, the stakes are pretty high. Oregon would love nothing more than to get into the Holiday Bowl with a win, and keep the Beavers from getting into the Rose Bowl, something the Ducks haven’t done in a while. Oregon State would love to show the country how good of a team they are, and beat the Ducks for the third time in a row. And the game falls on one of the last weekends of the college football season, which means it will get some pretty good attention during a Saturday afternoon. I’m sure this will be a well played, competitive game, but really I’m having trouble picking a side to support.

So for this week, if I’m asked which side I support, Ducks or Beavers, I’m saying Platypus! The idea actually came from girl, who in teaching at various schools always gets asked by her students what side does she support. And so she says Platypus, and really, this combination half-duck, half-beaver creature, really it’s the poster child for those of us Oregonians who really just want our teams to play well but haven’t really chosen a side yet. In my case, I probably won’t choose one side or another, simply because it’s nice to be able to appreciate both teams without feeling too guilty. Whether it’s my college days of going to a school that didn’t have a football team, or it’s the fact I have teams I follow more closely, I think for me this week, it’s a simple theme “Have a good game and may the best team win!”

Notes: So I wrote this and sent it to myself for posting, and then I get home, and of course I wrote this before reading John Canzano's blog about 112 reasons to care about the Civil War, and I learned a lot about the rivalry. While it won't cause me to choose a side in this affair, it does give me a greater appreciation for the history of this game, and what it means to others. So really, root for your side this weekend, and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday!!

Lessons in Sports Are Everywhere

It was late in the game on Sunday afternoon, our team clinging to a one goal lead and I had just wandered in for my third shift on defense. The game itself had been a crazy mix of weather alternating between drizzle, showers, sun breaks and a bit of wind, but it started on time despite the conditions. Our opponents only fielded 7 guys at kickoff, and we were at a list of 20 guys ready to go, so we had the number stacked in our favor. But our opponents, whom we'd played before and lost to 7 to 1, had some skill and had played together for years, so even being short players, they were able to break us down and our offense wasn't as organized as it has been. But here it was, us with a late lead and we were hoping to escape with points.

But our opponents had another breakaway on the left side opposite me, as I was playing on the right as a 3 person defense. Our middle defender, Pete, and left defender, Eric, went for the ball on the breakaway and I tracked back on the right. Up until this point, I'd been marking guys well, knocked out a couple of passes out of bounds, and generally played a strong game. One of the opposing strikers got a little past Pete and fired the ball in towards our keeper, who committed to block the shot, and the ball sailed to the right and glanced off the right post and it shot out toward the field. I immediately ran over to knock it out of bounds, but suddenly the other striker had pounced on the ball and knocked it in for the tying goal. I was absolutely devastated, as a guy that I should have marked I lost track of and he notched a goal. The game ended a few minutes later after a couple of furious runs for us towards goal, but in the end, it was a draw. Mind you, our team is win less and had been beaten pretty handily in the first three weeks, so a draw is a bit of a victory in that respect.

But I can't help but think about what might have happened if I'd have marked my man when the shot was taken. Granted, I could have knocked the ball away and it would have gotten rid of that threat, but there could have been more coming. I could have also knocked the guy down and given up a penalty to the other side, which I didn't do. It was a matter of a lesson learned, that marking guys is vital and I know that better for next time. My footy experience has mostly been on the pick up games in college and during P.E. back in school, but I've watched enough games to understand basic rules and strategy. It's putting it into practice that is important.
And it's also important to get back out and play and keep trying hard.

What I want to avoid is an effort like the Oregon Ducks this weekend, who folded up in the second quarter versus USC and gave them the win without too much effort, as USC took it to Oregon and they never responded. This team showed a lot of grit in beating Purdue on the road in two overtimes, but yet thought they could beat a Boise State team on talent alone, and BSU took them to the house. Oregon got the early lead, but when USC started pouring it on, Oregon made mistakes and the rest is a blowout. Plenty of Oregon players even said they felt they were the better team, despite the score, but the score is what people remember regardless. That might not be fair, but it's part of the game and part of why they keep score. You have to show up each week, ready to play, and if you make mistakes, that's part of the game. And it's OK to be confident of your talents, but you also need to be humble in victory and respectful in defeat. It's a matter of learning from the lessons, and my hope is that Oregon learns from the mistakes on Saturday and gets the ship righted.

If anything, they should take heart from the Oregon State Beavers, who played a very good game versus Utah to only see the Utes clip them with a late field goal. The Beavers had the game won, but they struggled late with some defense and came out on the short end of a pass interference call on the first two point conversion try Utah attempted to tie the score. The Beavers had upset USC the previous week, and had been basking in the glory of knocking off the number 1 ranked Trojans, and now were in a dogfight with the Utes in Salt Lake. The Utes have a lot of talent, and made some plays despite what the Beavers tried to do. It ended up a loss, but shouldn't be the end of their season. The Beavers show up to play hard every week, even outclassed like in Penn State earlier this year, but their coaches get them fired up to play each and every week, and let the chips fall where they make. Because as we've often seen, sometimes the chips fall in the right way to cause special things to happen.

You are only as good as your last week's performance. That's not meant to be overly critical, but what it shows is that it matters what you do now on the field at the point in time. Wins are great, but losses are part of the game as well, and you can't get too high from one or down on the other and expect to be able to snap back each week. It's human nature to glorify good performances, but sports has a humbling quality that pops up now and again, and it can put you in your place from time to time.

And it's also important to be there to support your friends and family when they are out there playing. It really helped me a lot to see girl on the sidelines, getting wet from the rain, but there providing support and distraction as needed. I spent a lot of time playing sports in high school, and I would have loved seeing my family there to cheer me on, win or lose. But there were other things to do, supposedly, and the one meet they did watch me, I came in dead last and heard about it all the way home. Moral victories and effort may not show up in the scoreboard, but it's important to acknowledge getting out there and trying, even in the sense of teamwork. It's a fine line here, though, as I don't advocate things like "trophy day for everyone" in sports, because I think it's important to learn the lesson that sports, like life, isn't fair. But if you work hard, try your best every week, learn from your mistakes, and don't beat yourself up or slap your back too much, sports can be a rewarding experience just the same.

So for me, it's time to get back to practice this week, and we have another game next Sunday. And I'm looking forward to it, because I've learned some valuable lessons. Hopefully Mother Nature won't make the whole experience happen under water...