]\
It was a sunny October day in 1994. Perfect football weather in Eugene. I don't remember where I got my two tickets to the game. They were hard to come by because Washington fans usually bought up most of them.
THE WAY IT WAS . . . AND COULD BE AGAIN.
The 80's and 90's were the Dark Days of the Purple Haze when Huskies would come down to Eugene and fill no less than 51% of Autzen Stadium. The Dawgs had won their mythical national championship just a few years before this game. At the end of that year, they were #1 in one poll while the Miami Hurricanes topped another. The Huskies thought it was good enough, so they crowned themselves king and made themselves a National Championship flag to fly over their stadium.
THE WAY IT WAS . . . AND COULD BE AGAIN.
The 80's and 90's were the Dark Days of the Purple Haze when Huskies would come down to Eugene and fill no less than 51% of Autzen Stadium. The Dawgs had won their mythical national championship just a few years before this game. At the end of that year, they were #1 in one poll while the Miami Hurricanes topped another. The Huskies thought it was good enough, so they crowned themselves king and made themselves a National Championship flag to fly over their stadium.
During that time, they were beating everybody, especially the Ducks. Sure we had nipped back at them a few times over the years, but they were the dominant force in the football galaxy and they lorded over us like we were their peasants. Whenever their fans trekked down to Eugene in their massive army of travel trailers, you often saw a popular sticker on their bumpers:
"WE'RE NOT ARROGANT. WE'RE JUST BETTER THAN YOU."
Their collective superior attitude swelled. In all my years, I could never have a conversation with a Husky fan without him or her scoffing, bragging, belittling, or sometimes just swearing in my face.
The morning of this game was no different. I believed that my tickets could have been in a particularly Husky-held part of the stadium. As I and my wife walked around the tailgate area, I came across several Huskies talking loud, complaining about their seats in particular and the puniness of Autzen in general. I walked up to one particularly loud meathead in a purple lettermen's jacket and offered to trade.
I said, "I think these will be better seats for you."
HIs reply, "They better be or I'll come back and find you and kick your ass."
I wasn't at all shocked by his reply. In those days, that was a typical conversation with a Dawg fan. This was life under the dominance of the Washington Huskies. It was like the Romans over the Jews. African Americans in the Deep South. The Germans over the Jews. The New Worlders over the Indians. Everybody over the Jews.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not comparing Oregon and Washington's football rivalry to the catastrophic dehumanizing plight of the Jewish or Native or African American peoples. I mean granted, there were no fire hoses and German Shepherds; and they didn't make us build pyramids or smash our glass storefronts and haul us by train to our tortured deaths. But a few years before, the Husky marching band stood in the middle of Autzen and played Oregon's fight song in a waltz. I mean . . . . who does that? Have they no shred of decency?
Now let me just make one other side note here before I continue with my story: The day that we EVER let the Dawgs win again -- just one game -- we will see that attitude come right back as if they had never lost. Mark my words.
FRONT AND CENTER TO A MIRACLE
That ticket trade proved very fateful, as they put us right in the corner and just a few rows up from where the miracle would happen. The Pick. Or as I had always called it after seeing it with my own eyes -- The Immaculate Interception.
But this trade for my new seats did nothing to get us away from Husky fans. We were surrounded -- literally surrounded -- by purple in our own stadium. Being a nice guy, I tried to strike up conversations. But I was always met with condescending and critical feedback about what Oregon's problem is, what we did wrong, why Washington is better.
"WE'RE NOT ARROGANT. WE'RE JUST BETTER THAN YOU."
Their collective superior attitude swelled. In all my years, I could never have a conversation with a Husky fan without him or her scoffing, bragging, belittling, or sometimes just swearing in my face.
The morning of this game was no different. I believed that my tickets could have been in a particularly Husky-held part of the stadium. As I and my wife walked around the tailgate area, I came across several Huskies talking loud, complaining about their seats in particular and the puniness of Autzen in general. I walked up to one particularly loud meathead in a purple lettermen's jacket and offered to trade.
I said, "I think these will be better seats for you."
HIs reply, "They better be or I'll come back and find you and kick your ass."
I wasn't at all shocked by his reply. In those days, that was a typical conversation with a Dawg fan. This was life under the dominance of the Washington Huskies. It was like the Romans over the Jews. African Americans in the Deep South. The Germans over the Jews. The New Worlders over the Indians. Everybody over the Jews.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not comparing Oregon and Washington's football rivalry to the catastrophic dehumanizing plight of the Jewish or Native or African American peoples. I mean granted, there were no fire hoses and German Shepherds; and they didn't make us build pyramids or smash our glass storefronts and haul us by train to our tortured deaths. But a few years before, the Husky marching band stood in the middle of Autzen and played Oregon's fight song in a waltz. I mean . . . . who does that? Have they no shred of decency?
Now let me just make one other side note here before I continue with my story: The day that we EVER let the Dawgs win again -- just one game -- we will see that attitude come right back as if they had never lost. Mark my words.
 |
| Get your commemorative jersey now at The Duck Store. |
FRONT AND CENTER TO A MIRACLE
That ticket trade proved very fateful, as they put us right in the corner and just a few rows up from where the miracle would happen. The Pick. Or as I had always called it after seeing it with my own eyes -- The Immaculate Interception.
But this trade for my new seats did nothing to get us away from Husky fans. We were surrounded -- literally surrounded -- by purple in our own stadium. Being a nice guy, I tried to strike up conversations. But I was always met with condescending and critical feedback about what Oregon's problem is, what we did wrong, why Washington is better.
At one point in the fourth quarter I was able to get in a good jab in the tight back-and-forth contest when Washington was FINALLY called for holding. I said to one Dawg fan who had decided early he would give me no measure of respect for the Ducks, "Best not hold a Duck or you might get something nasty in your lap."
I know. Corny. But it was all I had at the time. Made him and the other purple people laugh though.
AND THEN, EVERYTHING CHANGED
The following is the first of three nice videos compiled by 'keeerrrttt' of approximately the final 5:20 minutes of the game. In it, Washington had just scored to take the lead. But Oregon engineered a drive and a heroic performance by Danny "Boy" O'neal, Patrick Johnson, Dino Philyaw, Ricky Whittle, Dameron Ricketts, and a little used fullback named Dwayne Jones. It started out terrible when Johnson fielded the kickoff at the two and slipped on one knee to be called down right there. Deep in Husky territory, Coach Rich Brooks made a very gutsy unBrooks-like call when he said to his young offensive coordinator Mike Bellotti: "Come out throwing."
This is "The Drive".
But Washington wasn't finished. And they were Washington. They were used to winning. They expected to win -- especially against Oregon. They had all the time in the world. Their objective was to score while letting all the air out of the clock, leaving the Ducks to suffocate in yet one more defeat in their bizzaro world where the Dawg was the Master. At the end of this video, Washington is 1st and goal to take the lead with just over a minute to go. Oregon calls timeout to take a breath.
Patient, planned, successful. Washinton's drive had all the feel of "The Empire Strikes Back". During that timeout, I saw something I would never forget. I was watching the Husky man in front of me to whom I had made the "Holding a Duck" joke. He made a strange motion I had seen in only one other place a hundred times. During this timeout, he clapped his hands together and rubbed them in gleeful anticipation.
Where had I seen that before? It was where we all had seen it before.
\/
\/
\/
\/
\/
\/
\/
\/
\/
\/
Remember? The ending of every Flintstones episode where Fred orders one family-sized serving of Brontosaurus Ribs. Then he rubs his hands together in anticipation. I watched this Husky guy do just that as the teams came out of the timeout.
I saw the Huskies line up. I watched Damon Huard drop back and look to his left. He threw. I looked over at his target. And in slow motion, I watched Kenny see that ball leave Huard's hand and run to it like it was his all along. He said afterward that he had seen that play on film and watched it all day. He was willing to bet the receiver wasn't going to hook and go. He knew if the ball came his way, he would at least be able to knock it down. He was just waiting for it. . . .
After Kenny Wheaton scored, I remember something happening to me that I had later heard other men in the stands had experienced. I remember my wife wiping tears out of my eyes. You see, that play wasn't just a last-minute game changer. It was a decades long chain breaker.
Kenny could've just knocked it down. He could've picked it and run out of bounds to let Oregon run out the clock. But his run back, his direction shift, his blowing past Washington's great QB to score the out-of-reach touchdown -- all of that was the haymaker punch to our tormentors that served as an announcement that the Duck/Husky relationship had hereby changed. Kenny didn't know it at the time. None of us did. But looking back at it now, that WAS the moment when the Dark Days of the Purple Haze had ended.
Kenny could've just knocked it down. He could've picked it and run out of bounds to let Oregon run out the clock. But his run back, his direction shift, his blowing past Washington's great QB to score the out-of-reach touchdown -- all of that was the haymaker punch to our tormentors that served as an announcement that the Duck/Husky relationship had hereby changed. Kenny didn't know it at the time. None of us did. But looking back at it now, that WAS the moment when the Dark Days of the Purple Haze had ended.
And as for Fred Flintstone Husky? This time he did something totally different with his hand. He reached out to me, shook mine and said, "Good game." And he quietly left.
One other thing, when the Oregon players piled on Kenny in that endzone and the refs announced the penalty against them for excessive celebrating, I stood up and shouted for all the purple people around me to hear. . . .
"WE WILL TAKE THAT PENALTY WITH PLEASURE."
"WE WILL TAKE THAT PENALTY WITH PLEASURE."
Here we are 20 years later. Throw the flag, ref. We're still celebrating.
BUT WAIT, WHAT ABOUT . . . . .
Now I know what you're thinking, and you're right. "Nice videos KB; but it's just not the same without Jerry Allen shouting the play".
Now I know what you're thinking, and you're right. "Nice videos KB; but it's just not the same without Jerry Allen shouting the play".
Well luckily I found this gem on Youtube. It is exactly how I had always imagined it.
11, because it's one better than 10
So today, Oregon marches on to keep this a Husky-free Northwest. It these last 20 years, Oregon had beaten the Dawgs an incredible 15 times. As for this present win streak, we beat Washinton's longest win streaks over Oregon at seven. At eight, we reached the mark where two whole generations of 4-year Husky students had never seen their team beat the Ducks. Last year, we reached an even 'Duckade' at 10. To win an even dozen next year would mean we would blank three whole generations of Husky students.
So what is the significance of 11? Let me offer you the one person who is an expert on 11. That's right. I give you Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap:
Go Ducks. Crank it to 11.
-KB
11, because it's one better than 10
So today, Oregon marches on to keep this a Husky-free Northwest. It these last 20 years, Oregon had beaten the Dawgs an incredible 15 times. As for this present win streak, we beat Washinton's longest win streaks over Oregon at seven. At eight, we reached the mark where two whole generations of 4-year Husky students had never seen their team beat the Ducks. Last year, we reached an even 'Duckade' at 10. To win an even dozen next year would mean we would blank three whole generations of Husky students.
So what is the significance of 11? Let me offer you the one person who is an expert on 11. That's right. I give you Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap:
Go Ducks. Crank it to 11.
-KB
No comments:
Post a Comment