High Times in Boulder

First let me say this to all Pac-12 college football fans. If you want to go to an away game where you know you can have a good time, not be hassled and get the full classic and fun college football experience, go to CU.

Colorado is beautiful. The people are very nice. Boulder is every bit the college town with lots of eateries and drinkeries in and out of the city to choose from.

D.H. is one example of
the enjoyable Coloradoans we met.
Sober too. Not throwing up on my
shoes like a Wildcat or Cougar fan.

And speaking of shoes,
Nike has got NOTHING on those boots!!!

We went to "Ralphie's Corral", the official tailgating venue for Colorado across the street from Folsom Field. We discovered two things:

Colorado's pride and joy: Ralphie

1) It really was Ralphie's Corral. The buffalo was there in a corral with very pleasant and kind handlers to answer all of your buffalo questions (Betcha didn't know Ralphie was actually a girl buffalo from Montana!).

2) Duck fans were welcome and treated as guests. The green on our shirts didn't matter. The green in our wallets did. A barbecued sausage slice on a hoagie roll with pasta salad and potato chips was $10. Wash it down with a silver bullet of Colorado Champaign (Coors) for $6. Who's complaining? We were having fun.

Line to see Ralphie: Hundreds.

Line for beer at one of their many beverage stations: Four.
Is this a great place or what?!?!?!

It was nice to see that thousands of Duck fans took advantage of the nice atmosphere

These three neon clad characters were busy getting
asked for pics by Ducks, Buffs, and the media.

and perfect weather. Oregon really represented well to the surprise of many Colorado fans. And when I commented to CU fans how nice we were being treated, they acknowledged that our not being from Colorado State, Nebraska or Oklahoma had something to do with it.

Fair enough. I wouldn't let a Husky or Beaver fan within 10 yards of my corralled duck.  Plus I'd charge 'em 20 bucks for a Ninkasi.

THE GAME
Colorado did everything they had to do to win. Starting the game with an onside kick was brilliant. It didn't work, but that's irrelevant. Throwing long on their first offensive play, and often times after, put the Ducks on their heels in the first half. They gave Oregon plenty of game film to look at afterwards.

But the inevitable was coming. Everyone in the stadium knew it. Once Oregon got rolling, the Buff crowd resigned and settled into a more philosophical comfort zone. What gets me is the reputation that is proceeding Oregon these days.

In a story from Denver TV station Fox31 about the fans' reaction to being back for the first home game since the flooding, one student said,
“It’s great that we can regroup so well,” said CU student Paige Leuschner. ”It’s like life’s back to normal after such a crazy event.”
On this day it was the crowd that went crazy, thanks to a fast start from the team.
“We’ve scored. We’ve scored against Oregon,” Leuschner said, as the Buffs took an early 10-8 lead. ”That’s fantastic.”
Yes, apparently it is FANTASTIC these days to score on Oregon. It's enough to make you forget all your troubles. 

Mariota getting EXCELLENT protection.

Center Hroniss Grasu and the rest of
the offensive line don't get enough credit.

I sensed other widespread acknowledgement that what the Ducks were doing was real. We Oregon fans can talk amongst ourselves and shake our heads up and down like rear window doggies (Kids under 30, ask your parents what I'm referring to.). But to have it noticed by people who had experienced there own championship caliber team in the 80's and 90's, it confirmed for me that Oregon is on a real path and not just a hot streak.

Buffs couldn't pull down #1.

AN OUT-OF-THE-URINARY CONVERSATION
One example was at halftime. Above the West side and connected to the stadium was an older covered indoor track building that had one set of bathrooms. Only one was needed for the men because it had a bunch of those old, long, heavy curved porcelain, multi-user pee troughs that get snake holders in and out in a jiffy.

I sided up next to one CU fan (Caution: The remainder of this story contains graphic language about men peeing.). He was looking up, reading something on the wall. They had interesting football trivia up there like the history of the "red shirt" and other stuff like that.

Anyway he was looking up and reading. I looked down and noticed a cigarette pack in the trough between us.  I said, "Oh THAT'S where I left my cigarettes."

He looked down after a couple of seconds, saw the pack and laughed. "Nice," he replied.

We stood there continuing our business side-by-side. My prostate had decided to stretch it's legs that day, so I was taking my time.

Then suddenly he turns, looks straight at me, and says, "Promise me, please, that you'll beat the sh!t out of Alabama."

I looked at him. His eyes were filled with pain. All the SEC BS. All that Crimson Tide noise. Nick Saban anointing himself the Pope of Football. It was all there, welled up. 

We held the stare for a couple more seconds until I smiled, nodded my head and said, "Ya . . . . Ya . . . . You got it."

Then we both looked back down; and without any cue, we crossed streams. It was a beautiful inter-Pac-12 moment. A brotherhood.

As we walked out I was hoping to find a Tide fan right there to hold down and let my new friend kick the bastard in the ribs.

MARIOTA FOR HEISMAN? DON'T ASK MARIOTA.
The second half went as all second halves have this season. Once the blowout was on, Mariota sat down in the third quarter after finishing 16 of 27 for 355 yards, five touchdowns passing, two touchdowns rushing, and zero interceptions. The focus to win the Natty is so great, he won't finish a game to ring up ungodly numbers if he doesn't have to. The rule is to save him for the next game and let the Heisman go to somebody else.

The Denver Post's Terry Frei did well to capture Mariota's humility as well as Coach Helfrich's priorities in this article: "Mariota could strike the pose".

A TIME OF HATE?
You know what Ducks call this week, don't you? This is "Hate Week". The days leading up to the game against the Washington Huskies.

But after beating Washington nine consecutive times, must we still hate them? Given this time of bewildering violence in our world, must we still direct enmity to our fellow lovers of college football? Our Northwest brethren? 

Perhaps it's time to just appreciate them as a worthy opponent, as kindred sports spirits. They do, after all, have a couple of former Ducks on their coaching staff. Perhaps it's time to be the bigger team and say to Washington that respect and appreciation will be the mantra this Saturday.

Let us dispense with the shallow pettiness and open a new era of decency, sportsmanship and mutual admiration with Washington. Let us take the hands of our enemy and declare them our friend. . . . .


\/

\/

\/

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. HUCK THE FUSKIES!!!!!!
This season they find themselves with updated bathrooms, new carpeting, and an OK team; and suddenly they act like they're already world champions. The annoying. The incessant. The loud, slobbery, bad breathy BARKING echoing off the Northern Cascades. It's so painful to hear.

I've said it 100 times before, and I'll say it as many times as necessary this week:
The only way to shut up barking Dawgs is to BEAT 'EM!!!


More later,
KB