I had a full day in Eugene (driving down to ESPN's GameDay when it was still dark, and heading back after the sun had set in the evening), and while the outcome of the football game against the California Golden Bears might've been better, it was still a fun day out for being with friend and for the banter between the fans of the two closely related teams.
Yes, I headed down when it was still very dark outside, though I wasn't in such a hurry as to get there early enough to snag a front row. By the time I had made it to Eugene, the sun was rising and the crowd was roaring, I could hear them by EWEB as I made my way from my parking spot in downtown.
Found myself a decent spot in the middle of the very large crowd, estimates were about 6,000 from what I'd heard, right near the gentlemen waving an Ohio State Buckeye flag and the black Duck skull and crossbones. I guess the other sign in front of me was the one of Borat in his lime green thong, though I was only able to see that one once when it was turned around. Props to those who brought flags from L.S.U., Washington State, and U.S.C. I also noticed a homemade sign from an Arkansas Razorback sign imploring "Fire Nutt" as well as a note to Alabama fans from Texas A & M land. My two personal favorite signs were "O.J. Stole My Sign" and one of Bears quarterback Nate Longshore drinking Zima, with a pic of him and a thought balloon that said "God.........I'm soft!"
There was a LOT of drinking going on, predictably by the students, who then felt it was open season on anybody not showing support for the Ducks. Worst of those near me were the giggling pack of three frat boys who decided to vent on a couple of Cal fans. First they started in on the size of the their sign that they were waving ("You know what a small sign means, don't ya???"), to which I thought, "No, I think you're referring to drunks who have to shout down others to feel better about their own shortcomings". Then they started in on their looks, and the apparent conclusion drawn from them that these Cal guys were male cheerleaders (this was all happening in the second hour, before the main segments on the Duck/Bears game were aired to the crowd). Finally, one guy closer to the frat idiots told them to save their anger for the game, which drew various positive reactions from those unfortunate enough to be close to these boys. This idea seemed to have sunk into their thick heads a bit, or maybe it was the fact that ESPN ran the segment on Jonathan Stewart, but at least we didn't have to hear them blather on and on. Predictably, after each "witty" remark to the Cal fans, the boys would look at each other conspiratorially and giggle, which told me all that I needed to know about 'em (they wouldn't have done this crap if they were alone, and the fact that they were fueled on freakin' Bud Light!).
The game has been rehashed elsewhere, and while everybody in our section had absolute complete faith that we were going to come back and win, even after the kick off fumble and the two Dennis Dixon interceptions. Of course, Cameron Colvin's fumble was quite a shock (as was the ruling; technically a dumb rule, but it did happen just like that on the field, so they've gotta call it like that), but hats off to California for capitalizing on those mistakes, that's what good teams do.
I thought the defense played well, you can only keep players like DeSean Jackson and Justin Forsett contained for so long. Special teams were a mixed bag, punter Josh Syria had his worst kick of the season (29 yards I think) set up a Cal touchdown, though he has been absolutely great in all of his other kicks this season. I'm not sure the squib kickoffs to Cal achieved anything other than good field position for most of the game, but that's the way the coaches saw fit to play it.
It was still an exciting game of two evenly matched teams with connections between the programs, it was good to see that the rain held off until after the game was over. Relaxing for dinner at a joint that didn't have the Beaver game on, I had heard on the radio once I got back to my car after the Duck game that Oregon State had a 14-0 lead early on; imagine my surprise to hear that they wound up losing 40-14, leading me to call my mother who was working at Reser to find out exactly what in the world had happened. She relayed the sad information to me, and noting that it was now dark outside, the time had come for me to call it a day.
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