Undoubtedly, the greatest moment in any sport is when the fans storm a field after their home team emerges from a tight game victoriously.
That puts NIC in a predicament: Seeing as how our great “college” (rather, high school with ash trays, if you will…) is so small, it resembles more of a high school experience around this neck of the woods than a monumental moment in collegiate history.
Sure, watching the Cardinals beat CSI makes me happy. As it should every fan in Cd’A.
But witnessing the most controversial come-back in the past 15 years with 60,000 other fans may have transformed a former hater like me into the newest, biggest Duck fan Coeur d’Alene has to offer.
Now don’t get me wrong: There is no hatred on earth greater than the passion for which I detest the University of Oregon.
The Sporting News calls it the most intimidating place to play in college football, however, I have always considered Autzen Stadium the personification of everything I loathe. Though much to my detest, “The Autzen Zoo” is truly a beacon of the college football world – a true fan’s venue above all others.
Nonetheless, did you witness the football monstrosity that was last week’s Oklahoma-Oregon contest? The most shocking, epic, colossally catastrophic game of the year, indeed!
And I absorbed every minute of each quarter with a fervor reminiscent of a small child at Disneyland for the first time – from the raging, ear-splitting, wild (while at times violently awesome) mosh pit that is the University of Oregon student section.
(I must give thanks to my younger sister Abby for coughing up her ticket, and Ian for letting me use his ID to get in the game, as well…)
The smell of vodka, marijuana and stale nachos permeated the air, as would be expected at any collegiate sporting event, let alone the largest gathering of people in Hippyville, USA, history. There were more beer cans strewed about the aisles amid the “section that never sits” than at a Seahawk game – and they don’t even sell beer in college venues.
The Quack Attack was back, Jack.
With a higher nationally ranked opponent in the Sooners (Oklahoma was ranked at 15 while the Ducks flapped right behind at 18), the magic men in Vegas predicted the would-be upset by favoring the Ducks with roughly 4 points.
How sweet it would be if in the only rematch of a bowl game from last season, the mallards won Round 3 – at home.
Heading down to Eugene, I was in a dilemma: While my buddy, Ben, expected me to root against his mighty Ducks, I would surely be booted from the student section if I bore any red and white attire. Last year, I saw a girl get punched in the face for wearing gold shoes to the USC game!
Not to mention, his diehard roommates might even evict me from the couch and boot me on the street for four days.
Much to Ben’s chagrin – as well as all his UO roommates – however, I stumbled towards the stadium in a green and yellow shirt, a green foam finger, green and yellow wig and an old-school leather helmet.
A boisterous visual schmuck? In not so many words, you could say that.
Yet amid my many chants and Heisman poses with the inebriated masses among me, I was looking forward to this game of all games with an anticipation never reached during my blurry days at OSU.
This posed a problem. For I am a legitimate “Beaver Believer,” and if anyone sniffed that out during the game, I was a goner. Alas, I took a shot from Ben’s flask and entered the collegiate cathedral that is Autzen Stadium.
The next few hours are a greenish-yellow blur. I don’t remember the first half, so thank God for pictures; not to mention the fact that I got lost at halftime. But football euphoria was among us, and the smell of an upset was stagnant – until the end.
One thing students will never see in their days at NIC is the two-minute drill executed in perfection (well, almost perfect, thanks to the referees!).
With his team down by 13, less than two minutes left, Ducks QB Dennis Dixon marched up and down the field, taking the lead by one before coughing up the ball to OU with awesome field position and two seconds left.
It wasn’t going down like this. It just couldn’t.
Sure, half the stadium had already emptied anticipating a crushing defeat with still five minutes left, but now Oklahoma was preparing to demoralize Oregon’s comeback that even Hollywood couldn’t concoct with a flippin’ field goal!
Then, the outlandishly tall Asian we all called Alex proclaiming: “I better record the last two seconds of this game! I got a feeling we’re going to block this kick!”
We blocked it. We won. We stormed the field.
I reached football nirvana.
And now, I can officially say that I’ve jumped the bandwagon. My only dilemma now is this year’s Civil War, the annual grudge match between Oregon’s two football teams.
Talk about a predicament: My mom’s one of the biggest Beaver fans I know.
I may be painted orange and black for this November’s rivalry and I’ll probably even bet 10 bucks on my Beavers to cover the spread (like I do every year).
This time, however, I may hope to lose that bet.
Just don’t tell my mom.
