When I was in college, I didn’t like football. Traumatized by love gone wrong with a left-handed quarterback, I decided football fandom wasn’t for me. Too much heart break. Besides, the Oregon football team had a long history of losing. I didn’t need sports heartbreak too.
Even though I wasn’t into sports when I was at Oregon, I still learned a lot about how to be a good Duck.
I learned that no matter what you do, you are going to get wet when you walk half a mile between buildings to get to your next class. Might as well wear cute shoes and learn to enjoy the feel of rain on your face. I am still convinced that I have fewer wrinkles than many people my age because I am a Duck.
I learned that sometimes, most of the time, the things that are the most fun are the most simple. Sitting on someone’s front steps having a beer. Speaking French to a dog. Spending the whole morning at Taylor’s drinking coffee, and then (what the hell) spending the evening there too. Translating “Once In A Lifetime” into Italian.
At Oregon, I learned that weird is good and conventional is dull. I learned that blending in is mostly bad for your soul, but that sometimes dressing alike can be fun.
The U of O taught me to love underdogs. Pretty much all Duck fans of a certain age share that. You have to because losses are part of life. Sometimes, a lot of losses. Sometimes very few. But there are always losses in life as well as football. It is part of being a Duck and a human.
Anyone who follows Oregon football knows the team lost this weekend. Lost big. Lost for the second time this season. For the first time in years, things look a little gloomy in our football world.
Being a Duck isn’t just about winning football games. It isn’t even mostly about that. Or any other sport.
It’s about all the stuff that goes with the game. It’s about Sunny Fall Saturdays with your friends and family. Or rainy ones.
It’s about hugs and high-fives.
It’s about the celebration when the team wins, and fighting hard to recover when they lose.
It’s stomping through mud puddles to the game with a grin instead of worrying about your shoes.
It’s about everyone having the same goal even if it’s just for a few hours.
Football?
It’s just an excuse for celebrating life. Shouldn’t everything be like that?
Yeah, my team got the shit kicked out of them on Saturday. They’ll be back again this Saturday, and I will be watching.
They are still Ducks.
So am I.
Quack.
