Q+A with Addicted To Quack About Cal-Oregon Football Game
by TwistNHook on Oct 4, 2011 3:00 AM PDT
in California Golden Bears Football
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We have a big game Thursday night against Oregon. Last year, we had a hard fought loss against those Webfeet in Memorial. However, the year before was a much crueler affair as Cal lost 42-3 in Autzen. Does Cal have a shot? Will Oregon fans boo more injured Cal players this year? Who knows what the future holds?
Well, AddictedToQuack naturally! Our Quacker friends to the north are the Persons Most Knowledgeable about the Oregon Ducks. So, we contacted them and valued reader Takimoto returned some answers to us. After the jump, you can find out his thoughts on unheralded Oregon players, DeAnthony Thomas, and whether Cal can repeat stifling Oregon's O. Many thanks to Takimoto and all the guys over at AddictedToQuack for their awesomeness in answering these questions. GO BEARS! BEAT THE DUCKS!
1) Cal 'solved' Chip Kelly's offense. Is there any kernal of truth to that statement?
1. It's not as though Chip Kelly's offense is some cipher that leads Tom Hanks and that French chick around the world only to find that the pirate ship with the lost treasure that saves the seaside town of Astoria was actually Keyser Soze. So "solved" seems like a silly word to use. Did Cal have a game plan that neutralized the zone read, and did they execute it about as flawlessly as they could? Yes. Did they benefit from an off-night from Darron Thomas? A little bit. Am I glad that Chris Conte isn't on the team any more? Absolutely.
2) Oregon's defense has been just the wee bit iffy. How concerned are Ducks fans?
2. I think I am less concerned than many other Duck fans. LSU scored 40 points, Nevada put up 500 yards of offense, and Nick Foles completed 34 passes for almost 400 yards. Those sound like scary numbers if that's as far as you look into it. I prefer to look at it this way: LSU had exactly one scoring drive that started on their side of the 50; Nevada had the ball for almost 39 minutes with a dangerous and effective offensive system (a fact Cal fans know all too well), and still only scored 20 points; and Arizona averaged 2.3 yards per carry running the ball, and put up the bulk of those passing yards after going down 35-9 in the first half. The defense is not as good as last year, but that doesn't make me concerned.
3) The Ducks lost a number of excellent players from last year's team. Who are some of the biggest losses and how well has Oregon done replacing their production so far?
>3. The biggest losses are in the defensive front seven; losing five starters, including three current NFL players, was a major setback, and MLB Kiko Alonso's suspension disrupted the continuity of the unit in fall camp. However, growth was shown last week in Tucson, with the defense recording six sacks, including 2.5 by DE Dion Jordan. Losing Jeff Maehl and DJ Davis as wide receiver has hurt as well, and we saw that against LSU. But super-frosh RB De'Anthony Thomas has emerged as a receiving threat in the same mold of junior Kenjon Barner, and JC transfer Rahsaan Vaughn is quickly establishing himself as the clear-cut #2 receiver behind Lavasier Tuinei. At tight end, freshman Colt Lyerla has caught three passes this year, all of them for touchdowns.
4. Do the Ducks have any weaknesses this year?
4. Weaknesses are relative, because I do believe the Ducks are the best team in the Pac-12, but Oregon's weaknesses lie do lie on the defensive side of the ball. The pass rush was severely lacking until the Arizona game, and those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt considering how many times the Wildcats threw the ball. And the defensive backfield, considered by many Duck fans to be the strong point of the defense before the season started, has been somewhat underwhelming. CB Cliff Harris still hasn't played his way back into an every-down role, and hasn't shown the explosive playmaking ability that he displayed in 2010. Senior Anthony Gildon has been solid, but redshirt freshmen Terrence Mitchell and Troy Hill have been
inconsistent thus far in their careers.
5. Where have the Ducks improved over last year?
5. As hard as it may be to believe, the addition of De'Anthony Thomas to the offensive backfield has made the Ducks offense more dangerous. He played well when thrown into the fire against LSU, despite his two fumbles. And he has shown more playmaking ability as a runner, receiver, and returner than any true freshman in Oregon history, more even than Jonathan Stewart. I think his ceiling as a player is somewhere around Reggie Bush's USC career. Seriously.
6. How confident are you in Thomas' ability to lead the team to victory through the air when the running game has been shut down?
6. I am supremely confident in Darron Thomas. He had the tall order of facing the best secondary in college football to open the season, with a subpar receiving corps, no less. And in the last three games, the running game has been so effective that he hasn't needed to throw the ball. But he can, and will, air it out if the opportunity is there, and I expect him to take shots downfield against Cal's secondary.
7. Do you mind not throwing the ball this year?
7. If we aren't throwing the ball, it's because the running game is destroying the opposition. So no, I don't mind at all.
8. Who is a less publicized player who is going give Cal fans ulcers on Thursday?
8. I'll give you two: WR Rahsaan Vaughn, and MLB DeWitt Stuckey. Vaughn has command of the offense, and is emerging as Oregon's number one deep threat at wide receiver, averaging nearly 20 yards/catch. Stuckey was a question mark entering the season, an undersized middle linebacker trying to replace both Casey Matthews and the suspended Kiko Alonso. He has performed admirably, leading the Ducks in tackleswith 24, and delivering the defensive play of the game last week against Arizona, a delayed blitz that led to a bone-crunching sack of Nick Foles.
9. What uniforms?
9. A night game on national TV? I'd be shocked if we weren't in all black.
ADDENDUM: As an addendum to question 9, rumors began swirling today about 1994 throwbacks. Rumors are not swirling that Ed Dickson will be wearing one of those throwbacks.
10. Who do you want to punch in the face?
10. Tosh Lupoi, only because I'm pretty sure if I make him bleed, I gain ownership to his magical recruiting powers.
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Good to see hubris is at an all-time low…can you get this confident as a non-USC Pac-12 team? This has reached Jon Wilner / SEC levels!
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
I’m with you on this. Dude sounds cocky. Imagine if the Ducks had actually won an important post-season game in the last few years, or if they had beaten a highly ranked opponent to start this season?
The Ducks have a good team with average players (for the most part) in a great college scheme. His remarks reflect the myopic view of Eugene, which is saddled with a university that is the bottom of the academic barrel (lowest paid profs in Pac12) and so rallies fully around the Knight sports program.
And I must say, this sort of distortion in American society really bothers me. An underfunded education system that places little value on academic/scientific/legal success, and yet lavishes sports with all the money and prestige possible. I’ve said this before, but the reason I can be so passionate about Cal sports is that as an institution we embrace scholar/athleticism. I’m not faulting Oregon students, per se, but I do critique the culture of the school, and the state, that consistently short changes academics in favor of athletics.
When I yell Go Bears! I mean the whole university, including all the brainy people that could not care less about football.
I love the sense of humor which has arisen from CGB the last several years and perhaps this is more. Or, maybe not.
“…the reason I can be so passionate about Cal sports is that as an institution we embrace scholar/athleticism.”
I too, am passionate about those two same principles, “scholar/athleticism.”
“But how can that be,” you might ask, “you’re from Oregon.” The reason that that can be is simple and you addressed it in your semi-polite critique of our state and our university(s); we don’t necessarily measure scholarly brilliance in the same way in which you do.
Let me explain; My uncle used to query upon occasion, “If you’re so smart, why aren’t YOU rich?”
I ask you and YOUR university that, Calbear91 (I got my MS in ‘91, guess where?)
Our donors did not just come to us and start forking over money; we went to them and made proposals. Our proposals were well thought out with intelligence, compassion and understanding, you know, scholarly kinds of strategical approaches.
I come to you similarly, without arrogance but with suggestion and understanding. You apparently don’t want the Ivy League and you do like the PAC12 football. Build on those two structures. We are. One has grown faster than the other; my garden works the same way and I can’t predict which tomato plant will offer the first fruit.
Criticism both inhibits growth and fosters disease or Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’ was a waste of time. Not. If your university needs money, figure out how to get help and don’t waste your time and energy criticizing us, OK.
Good fortune Thursday night (note: I didn’t say ‘Luck’)
"What you are entrusted to do as a coach is to create an environment where your players have a chance to be successful." CHIP KELLY
by Famous Duck on Oct 5, 2011 2:22 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Hey now...
UO is an AAU member, and just came in at 101 in the USNews most recent rankings, which is 7th place in the Pac-12 (thanks for tanking, ‘Zona). So, more fairly put, we’re at the top of the bottom of the academic barrel.
I deleted my longer treatise, but… I agree with the shameful state of affairs that is education funding in the state of Oregon (at every level). Yes, the tax base is comparatively small, but the state also has a long history of failing to support education, which has historically held UO back, in boom times as well as busts. A shockingly small percentage of UO’s funding comes from state or public coffers, and it’s been that way just about forever. The state demands results, production and control from the school, but then refuses to pay to support it.
I do disagree, somewhat, in the characterization of the school’s priorities. For all the spending, flash, commercialism, the U of O actually has one of the most self-sufficient D-1 athletic departments in the nation, which is, yes, thanks largely to particularly generous private donors. For true out-of-whack priorities, aren’t the worst offenders schools who shift general resources, money that has been allocated for general use and could or should be used for academic purposes, and spend those funds on sports entertainment? Schools all over the country are hiking tuition at a record pace, while demanding that students and taxpayers subsidize industrial-sized ADs to the tune of millions of dollars a year. UO, thanks mostly to admittedly unfair luck, does some of the least burden-shifting of any school in the athletic-industrial complex. What’s to gain from turning aside that private support for athletics, especially at the risk of alienating a booster who has also made tremendous contributions to the university’s academic mission?
Long story short, I think you’re somewhat off-base in criticizing the culture of the school and state – the state, rather than shortchanging in favor of athletics, simply shortchanges higher ed entirely, period (which is probably worse…). And while sports culture is big at the school, it comes at far less cost to academics than you will find at most major sports universities.
by omb on Oct 4, 2011 6:33 PM PDT up reply actions
omb, I appreciate your comments and agree with most of your sentiments. I think that despite athletics being funded by private donors for the most part, my critique of the government, and therefore population, of Oregon, still stands. I do not think I am off base with that thought. Don’t get me wrong, it is not like CA or WA are funding education very well right now either, but like you point out, Oregon has a dark history of not prioritizing education at any level. Washingtonians are very proud, overly proud, of UW, and Californians have the finest public university system in the world and so are proud. It is not cultural to Oregon for people to be proud of the academics of their public schools, as the best and brightest (generally) leave the state or go to Reed or Willamette. (I have many friends who went to UO and OSU for grad school, and have many friends with kids in Oregon who with any choice would never have their kids go to undergrad there).
I think I can say that we are coming from the same place with our concerns, and in that regard, we speak with one voice on wishing education was truly a higher priority nationally. Your highlighting of athletics at UO being privately funded is well taken, but does not blunt my criticism that the universities are still underfunded relative to the need and relative to other Western states.
Thanks for the reply,
And I wholeheartedly agree. A point that I ended up not including, and that you touched on, is that completely aside from the larger populations and tax bases that bolster the UC system and UW (Washington isn’t THAT much bigger), there is just an ethos of valuing quality higher education that has been very significant to the development of UW and the UCs, but has been largely lacking in Oregon for whatever reason. As an Oregon native (with parents who moved there for grad school), it’s quite frustrating to see.
[I might also mention that UO’s standing suffers from being split early on – in the early 1900s the engineering school was split off and given to OAC, while the Med school was spun out into the stand-alone OHSU, whereas schools like UW kept all their eggs in one basket]
As to the quality of education, I went there so I probably should say a word or two in defense. I enjoyed my time at UO. I had some tremendous instructors, and some of the more selective programs, like the journalism school (which I was in), architecture, music, honors college, can be quite good. I also completed an English major that was a lot less challenging. I’m in law school now (not UO) and doing quite well but it can feel from time to time as if it’s in spite of my prior academic preparation. In the end, it is what you make of it. You can get a great education there if you seek it out and push yourself, but you can also slide through without being truly pushed or challenged if you are so inclined, sometimes without even realizing that that is what’s happening. And of course there are people who are successful after sliding through academically. If I had college-aged children, I wouldn’t warn them off of going to UO, and I’d support them if they wanted to go there. But I would of course want them to first look perhaps farther afield (which I didn’t do), and truly scout their options.
by omb on Oct 4, 2011 9:28 PM PDT up reply actions
I just wish Cal were also rolling in the donor dough. I wish I had the massive donor dough to enable my dear alma mater to roll in it.
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
by atomsareenough on Oct 4, 2011 10:37 PM PDT up reply actions
You can’t make massive money if you graduate from Cal?
I’m glad I made the right choice!
It's spelled "S-H-U-F-E-L-T-W-O-O-Z-Y".
"YOU ARE THE KING OF THE AWESOME GUYS, JSHUFELT!!!" - daisyduck
Apparently they don’t teach either logic or basic English reading comprehension over in Oregon, because I did not say anything of the sort :)
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
by atomsareenough on Oct 5, 2011 3:35 PM PDT up reply actions
While I understand where you're coming from....
…you have to realize that the only money provided by the school to the football team is for academic support, and that is by rule. Other than that, it’s completely self-sustaining. I find it interesting that Cal spent megabucks on its stadium overhaul and is trying to complete and yet you didn’t direct any of that ire inward. Yes, we have PK. Yes, he spends a LOT on UO athletics. Yes, he runs a gigantic sportswear and equipment corporation and sees his outlay to the UO in part (possibly in LARGE part) as advertising. So be it. He also spends millions on academics, and not just at UO. I won’t mention the school that has benefited second-most on the academic side from his largesse. Hint: He got his MBA there. Hint2: It’s Stanford.
Ducks GOOOOD. Fuskies BAAAAAD.
by BigGreenWreckingMachine on Oct 4, 2011 9:48 PM PDT up reply actions
Is the formatting off on this page for anyone else?
I checked both Chrome and IE and both don’t look right
It is also happening for me, too. I’ll email support.
The internet's most successful troll!
CaliforniaGoldenBlogs: Read It | Follow It | Like It | Wear It
Looks likethey fixed it.
The internet's most successful troll!
CaliforniaGoldenBlogs: Read It | Follow It | Like It | Wear It
oregun fans and arrogance
I’ve been hearing for a long time about how obnoxious and repulsive oregun fans are. Pretty much without fail, every other Pac-10 fanbase would rate oregun fans as the worst, right below their rivals, and in some cases even above their rivals. I never really believed that until last year, when the supreme annoyance of the oregunners became clear.
But as irritating as they are, they’ve earned it. They’re now kind of like SC fans, in that they are completely self-absorbed pricks, but the success of their program at least gives them some cause to preen about. Unlike Uclol fans, who despite their ineptitude and impotence still seem to have this bizarre sense of entitlement and believe others should worship the “four letters” because of a now 40-year old basketball dynasty.
So, even though oregun fans are jerks, they are jerks for some reason. Oh, that doesn’t make them tolerable, because for the most part they really aren’t. Of course, that isn’t to say that all oregunners are arrogant bastards who are thoroughly unlikable. But there are enough of them around (like SC fans) to where if I see someone sporting duck gear, or see a car with a giant neon “O”, in spite of myself, I automatically just think “asshole.” Which, of course, isn’t fair. So I try to be reasonable and not pre-judge. But man, the number of oregun jerks out there makes it very hard to not leap to a conclusion.
Still, I’m sure they think pretty much the same about us.
Being an Old Blue means never accepting success.
But there are enough of them around (like SC fans) to where if I see someone sporting duck gear, or see a car with a giant neon "O", in spite of myself, I automatically just think "asshole."
Hahaahaha this. I didn’t realize it until just now, but so true.
"Remember the Maine! TO HELL WITH STANFORD!"
Arrogant?
Or simply confident? Look, we worry ourselves into panic about every game, but that doesn’t mean there is no reason to be confident, especially at Autzen (last loss: Boise ‘09) and more so given the team hasn’t lost a conference game since ’09 (Tree).
We remember some of the ass-kickings we’ve taken from the Bears. We remember last year, quite clearly. But can’t it be said that your team is in transition on both sides of the ball? And there’s no Aaron Rodgers, no goddamn DeSean Jackson, no name-the-superstar-running-back established yet. No Cameron Jordan.
Ducks GOOOOD. Fuskies BAAAAAD.
by BigGreenWreckingMachine on Oct 4, 2011 9:59 PM PDT up reply actions
Boise ’08.
It's spelled "S-H-U-F-E-L-T-W-O-O-Z-Y".
"YOU ARE THE KING OF THE AWESOME GUYS, JSHUFELT!!!" - daisyduck
“Forget it, he’s rolling.”
¡Me gustan las tortugas!
And Cliff Harris was like, "VRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
by DuckUntilDeath on Oct 5, 2011 12:44 PM PDT up reply actions
Go Bears!!! Another Nobel Prize!!!!
Just after typing my post above about the sad state of Oregon academics and my pride in supporting Cal, I see that just today a Berkeley professor has earned the Nobel Prize! Now let’s share a shout of Go Bears!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/04/BAU61LD6UC.DTL&tsp=1
Ucla may have a slogan that says “Champions made here” but I think we can safely say for UC Berkeley “Nobel Laureates made here”
Go Bears.
Being an Old Blue means never accepting success.
by SoCal Oski on Oct 4, 2011 8:57 AM PDT up reply actions 6 recs
Wish we were playing Oregon at home Memorial this year so that we could honor him like we did in 06.
In other words, Go Bears!
by royrules22 on Oct 4, 2011 10:09 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
i understand and all, but this is why opposing fans whose teams play at roughly the same level think of us as “snobs”, and why fans of big time college football programs (like some of my bastard SEC coworkers) rightfully think of us as a 2nd tier football program. hopefully our investment into facilities will pay off one day… but consider this, if our academic standards and budget were uniform across the boards for all students, including athletes, and all athletic programs, how good would we be at football right now? so where do you draw the line? basically, college football and academics and strict old fashioned ethics are completely unrelated in the world we live in. let’s get with the program.. or dont. the ivy league schools seem content in their world, but i dont think cal footbal fans would want to be there.
by WilderThanGene on Oct 4, 2011 10:46 AM PDT up reply actions
You make good points, though I may not entirely understand them all, but it is true that our model is not ivy league. This topic is a gray area, agreed. And it can be a beauty that is in the eye of the beholder. I guess my fundamental point is that education is a necessary light to avoid darkness, and that education should be a clear priority for citizens, states and universities. Push comes to shove, I go with that over athletics. But fortunately, that’s a false dichotomy. Turns out that body size and type is (mostly) unrelated to intelligence and academic focus. Great athletes can have great brains! Alex Mack, for example.
Your point about snobbery is well taken, and hazardous for sure. But being snobby about brains has a troubled history in this world, and dark associations in this country. Anti-academic sentiment is rife in this country, and among many political parties, as it is in most totalitarian states. So I don’t like a snob anymore than anyone else, but I sure as hell prefer a culture of snobbery about brains to a culture of snobbery about sports that neglects the role of academia in a civilized society. And I am alarmed by people who toss around anti-intellectual sentiment at the same time they threaten violence. These often go hand in hand.
Back to football: Cal is a great academic institution and has great college athletics. That is my ideal. A public school built by the people and for the people, of California, the US and the world. A place that helps individuals, and society, be better. Go Bears!
I hate to have to be “that guy” but I guess I gotta. Especially since you seem to believe that our athletes are somehow nincompoops or otherwise not-academically deserving of admission to UC Berkeley.
So, since our alma mater won’t serve as an example, and despite the horrible taste it will leave in my mouth, the furd kind of shows that academics and athletics don’t need to be mutually exclusive.
Your argument that we either settle for academics or athletics is kind of silly. True, most of our football players will not go on to be Nobel laureates or Guggenheim fellows, but that doesn’t mean that they necessarily lower the academic standards of the university.
Or did I read your comment incorrectly?
Being an Old Blue means never accepting success.
i wrote kind of hastily, and i’m not really sure myself what my point was.. i guess what i’m saying is
1. it’s not fair to lambaste a rival school for disproportionately budgeting athletics, because that’s the way college football works, and you’re either in or out. and we’re trending that way. (let’s compare tedford’s paycheck to that of our newly prized laureate).
and 2. i’ve notice that a lot of us cal fans fal back on our school’s athletic prowess when our football team is down. so, unless it coincides college week on Jeopardy, there’s no need to gloat about academics when facing a superior football team. that kind of “having it both ways” is the essence of the “snobbery” we get accused of.
all things considered, CBG is a great medium for playing devil’s advocate and pissing people off. go bears!!!
by WilderThanGene on Oct 4, 2011 12:22 PM PDT up reply actions
(academic) prowess.. among other typos. ironic?
by WilderThanGene on Oct 4, 2011 12:26 PM PDT up reply actions
Live webcast of the press conference from the UC berkeley front web page
Birgeneau, in introducing and describing now Nobel Prize winner Saul Perlmutter, “We at Berkeley take great pride in having a colleague which can not be bought by rich private universities!” (followed by laughs from the press) haha!
this another comment that I found hilarious, I am not sure if it was being said about Professor Perlmutter of he said it about someone else, “he discovered that 75% of the entire universe is made of dark energy. It is the biggest single discovery in the history of science, because it leaves only about 25% for the rest of us!” hahaha!
Ursus arctos californicus – California golden bear
by berkeleyboy510 on Oct 4, 2011 10:47 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs
I don't have an issue with anything Takimoto said
except
Did they benefit from an off-night from Darron Thomas? A little bit.
I just can’t comprehend why Oregon fans keep saying, aside from denial of their offense being shut down for a good chunk of the game by very good defensive play, Thomas had an off night. He was 15/29 passing in that game which is 51.7%. If he completed 3 more passes, he’s at a shade over 62%. Newsflash Duck fans: Thomas was a 61.5% passer last year. He’s at 61.1% so far this year. I seem to recall a few Oregon drops as well last year. If you look solely at stats and not what happened during the plays, Thomas was NOT that far from hitting his career completion %.
Cal got some calls, they got lucky on some plays, but overall, Cal played pretty good D against the Duck offense that night.
Cal's D played really good last year
Some of that was due to Thomas having a not so good night (he had his lowest rating, lowest yds/att and one of his lowest completion % of the year). But it was also about the man defense and Cal deciding to go 1:1 across the field and being successful.
Oregon wasn’t able to capitalize on this strategy as James, Thomas and the WR couldn’t get separation from their man, but none of this should take away from the fact that Cal’s players were incredibly disciplined and played a great game.
"the putz from that UO blog, Matt Daddy" - Steve Tannen
The Daily Faberian
Cal got some calls, they got lucky on some plays, but overall, Cal played pretty good D against the Duck offense that night.
Didn’t Tako say that?
by omb on Oct 4, 2011 6:35 PM PDT up reply actions
Cal got some calls, they got lucky on some plays
No, Takimoto did not say that.
Cal played pretty good D against the Duck offense that night. – Cali49a
Did Cal have a game plan that neutralized the zone read, and did they execute it about as flawlessly as they could? Yes. – Takimoto
If you want to get into semantics, you may have a point but No, Takimoto did not say what I said.
To interject for a moment...
In response to a few of the suggestions that Oregon fans are obnoxious, arrogant, etc, and in regards to academic prowess:
First, let me say I’m proud to be in a conference with academic superpowers such as Cal and Stanford. They are both top-notch schools, and if my girls get an opportunity to attend either, I would be very excited for them. Academics comes first (see LaMichael James Pac-10 All Academic), and both institutions are exceptional.
I think it’s easy to say, especially during game week, that the fans from an opposing team bother us in any significant way. Such is the nature of rivalries. I am positive that every team in our conference (‘cause I’m not going anywhere NEAR discussing the SEC!) has fans that are arrogant, and believe that their team is better than your team for a plethora of reasons. This is only magnified when the opposing team has been playing with a high level of consistency and success, and even moreso when the prior years game wasn’t completely one-sided.
In all honesty, I as a fan and daily reader of most Pac-12 blogs, enjoy the banter and attitude of the majority of the fans from all but one of the Pac-12 team blogs. I like TwistnHook’s humor and attitude, just as I enjoy Tako’s perspective on all things football (and surviving bear attacks!). The ONLY team whose fans seem to be predominately overbearing A-holes are fusky fans. Even at the bottom of the barrel during their illustrious 0-12 season, they STILL think you owe them money and a new car.
It’s easy to hate a team that’s winning. It’s easy to be slightly arrogant about your team when they keep winning. But lets be honest here…We all have a lot of mutual respect for each other and the programs we root for, except for Uw. Let them rot in the hell they created for themselves.
by LittleduckBigduck on Oct 4, 2011 1:55 PM PDT reply actions
hahaha! I was actually going along with you until that very last part about “except for Uw,” your plea for mutual respect self destructed after that. It was has hillarious though, I have to admit I have a chip on my shoulder after what the mutts did to us two years in a row now.
Ursus arctos californicus – California golden bear
by berkeleyboy510 on Oct 4, 2011 2:07 PM PDT up reply actions
There you go injecting reasonableness into a diatribal blog
This is all too reasonable, and though even on reason I still disagree a bit, you speak from a good place. I’ve lived in every West Coast state, and a few others, from San Diego to LA to Berkeley to Portland to Seattle and many others. I truly love the West Coast and the Pac 8-10 and less so 12. Having said that, I have never lived anywhere where the fans, and community, were as single minded as those in Oregon. I love Oregon as a piece of geography, and even the down home feel of the place, but there is just not a lot else going on in the Willamette Valley as far as big scale entertainment than the universities. Game day in the valley is a sight to behold, with all the cars and flags and such. There is nothing comparable in WA or CA.
This is a good thing in some ways, but does lead to the extremism that is referenced here.
I’ll end with a story: I’ve attended Cal away games in almost every stadium in the conference. I had the misfortune of attending Cal at Oregon two years ago when we got blown out. It is the only time when I felt unsafe and was verbally harassed repeatedly during the game and after. Now, as a former Oregonian I know there isn’t a nicer group of people around than those in Oregon. Truly. But when it comes to Duck football, people go out of their minds. And thus the reputation.
Agree.
When I lived in Portland it was the sports fanatics that I couldn’t stand (Blazers, Ducks, Beavs). Every win was celebrated like it was the greatest victory in franchise/university history. And rivalries? Forget it. A Blazer win over the Lakers or UO win over UW, I wouldn’t go anywhere near a sports bar. Hell, I wouldn’t go out to any bar where there was a remote chance of running into a Blazer/Duck/Beaver fan. I guess when that’s all you have it becomes a bit more cherished than those of us living in bigger market areas where we have a glut of pro and college teams. And it’s also why I hate OSU so friggin much because of my brother-in-law. He exemplifies the attitude/smugness of your typical (state of) Oregon sports fan.
an abundant supply
of delicious potato salad? nom nom nom
by LittleduckBigduck on Oct 4, 2011 4:57 PM PDT up reply actions
Never been in Philly after an Iggles win, have you?
It’s not just a small-market thing, I assure you. California is just different. Too much outside-y goodness. Too many beautiful women. Well, Laker fans are amongst the most smug and arrogant on the face of the planet so there’s an exception to every rule, of course. And Isn’t the default reaction of ‘furd and CGB fans arrogant as well? It seems like when you win, it’s all smugness in that way, but when you lose it’s all “retarded hicks underfunded bad academics blah blah fishcakes.” Interesting, that.
Ducks GOOOOD. Fuskies BAAAAAD.
by BigGreenWreckingMachine on Oct 4, 2011 10:06 PM PDT up reply actions
No, when we win its all “THIS WASNT GOOD ENOUGH FOR MY SKY HIGH EXPECTATIONS AND I HOPE THAT SOMETHING CHANGES WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”
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Nothing is too good for ol' Twisty.
We accept that.
Ducks GOOOOD. Fuskies BAAAAAD.
by BigGreenWreckingMachine on Oct 4, 2011 10:52 PM PDT up reply actions
I have high standards
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Yet you slum it with us (as well as the Cougs) on a regular basis.
Keepin’ it real?
Ducks GOOOOD. Fuskies BAAAAAD.
by BigGreenWreckingMachine on Oct 5, 2011 12:03 AM PDT up reply actions
There aren't too many Iggles wins anymore...
GOD FUCKING DAMMIT, VICK, YOU SUNUVABITCH, THROW THE BALL! RECEIVERS, CATCH THE BALL! STOP DERPING ALL OVER THE FIELD! ARRGLHKSGLKH
/lifelongeaglesfan
15-yard penalty for my avatar. /Pereira'd
And Isn’t the default reaction of ‘furd… fans arrogant as well?
Wait, they have fans?
by FromCtoShining(Blue)C on Oct 5, 2011 11:43 PM PDT up reply actions
State of Oregon team asports are not “watered down” by pro franchises and major colleges on every corner. State of Oregon fans, especially outside of Portland, have two main places to park their sports attention: Ducks and Beavers. There are very few platypuses in the state, thus we are very polar for “our” teams.
Speed Endurance Talent is how Track Town USA plays football. Win The Day
Anecdotal evidence
Doesn’t support a hypothesis and you should know this.
I have to take you to task. I have attended every Oregon v. Cal game at Memorial since ‘01 and, I don’t remember the year, maybe ’04, we got blown out at Memorial 42-28 or something. Upon leaving I walked by the fraternities and I was afraid, the drunk frat guys were taunting and trying to pick fights with every person in duck gear. I was doing my best to put my head down and just walk and protect my wife and was still being berated.
Every fan base has horrible fans, and as you gain success you gain fringe fans that don’t want to do anything but cause trouble. In ‘09 in Arizona after the over time win, our cheerleaders were hit with flying glass bottles, this wasn’t students but neanderthals trying to cause trouble.
Very much agree...
Winning attracts the band wagoners, who, by their very nature, tend to be poor fans and do not really represent the school very well.
I’ve traveled to every stadium in the Pac-10 (hopefully soon to all in the Pac-12) and can say that MOST fans everywhere are decent and welcoming, but there are always assholes in attendance at every game.
I also note that UW fans used to be the most “smug” in the conference, outside of U$C fans, but their losing ways has eliminated much of that.
To be fair, I’ve had an excellent time at all of the road games in the Bay Area, with few run-ins with jerks.
"It’s great with these group of guys. There is no panic in them." --Chip Kelly, Clearly NOT talking about members of ATQ.
@jblair26
Dread
I am dreading this game.
Kierkegaard: “One may liken dread to dizziness. He whose eye chances to look down into the yawning abyss becomes dizzy. But the reason for it is just as much his eye as it is the precipice. For suppose he had not looked down.”
Heidegger: "In that in the face of which one has dread, the "It is nothing and nowhere’ becomes manifest. The obstinacy of the “nothing and nowhere within-the-world” means as a phenomenon that the world as such is that in the face of which one has dread."
Not really a comment, or question, just some existential phenomenology that happens to accord with my state of being regarding Thursday night. Reading philosophy is no escape from the terrors of the read option.
The only thing I want from this game is for our team to play with confidence. To KNOW that we can play with Oregon, even at Autzen. To play like we did on the road at Colorado and UW (in retrospect, really glad we had those two games before this one). To keep the game close and give ZM and KA a chance at the end of the game to make a play. I think Tedford is going to pull a lot of things out his playbook that we may not have seen in a while, or at all, and for that very reason I’m excited. I think the D will play well, but I am worried about our secondary. I believe in Cattouse, and McClure, who will (I hope) be playing more in this game. But more than anything, I want to show non-diehards that Cal IS a good team this year, and will be even better next year (like, Rose Bowl/NCG good), b/c every time I hear a casual fan (I know many) say “oh, Cal sucks this year”, I’m just waiting to tell them to stfu and look at our wins vs Oregon and USC. Ok, done. And go bears baby.
Good luck!
Just dropping by to say good luck to Cal! Thanks to the folks who came over and answered questions on ATQ.
And, because it’s the Internet and I can not help myself, I think two bad things happens when a team starts to win.
1. Folks who love the team and haven’t seen them win in a long time (cough 1918 cough) get excited and maybe go a little further in declaring their team the best team ever to play football in the history of sport. That’s all well and good until they get so excited they start to tell other folks too. It’s natural and, I hope, understandable, but that doesn’t mean it’s ideal.
2. Bandwagon ahoy! I don’t want to get into a discussion of what makes a fan but when a team does well then more people like it and some of those people are jerks. Then those jerks post six hundred times in a row on and the valley shook about how Oregon is going to kill LSU and the SEC is full of cheaters and ugh…
For what it’s worth (about $1.25 at today’s rates) I have met lots of nice folks who like Cal and lots of nice folks who like Oregon and I hope it’s a great game on Thursday night. Of course I also hope the ducks win, but I don’t love the idea of Oregon’s game resting on the WRs getting deep. Anyway, good luck.
by builds character on Oct 5, 2011 2:50 PM PDT reply actions
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Golden Bears Football Schedule
| Fresno St. | Sat 09/03 | W 36 - 21 |
@
Colorado
|
Sat 09/10 | W 36 - 33 |
| Presbyterian | Sat 09/17 | W 63 - 12 |
|
@
Washington
|
Sat 09/24 | L 23 - 31 |
|
@
Oregon
|
Thu 10/06 | L 15 - 43 |
|
USC
|
Thu 10/13 | L 9 - 30 |
|
Utah
|
Sat 10/22 | W 34 - 10 |
|
@
UCLA
|
Sat 10/29 | L 14 - 31 |
|
Washington St.
|
Sat 11/05 | W 30 - 7 |
|
Oregon St.
|
Sat 11/12 | W 23 - 6 |
|
@
Stanford
|
Sat 11/19 | L 28 - 31 |
|
@
Arizona St.
|
Fri 11/25 | W 47 - 38 |
|
@
Texas
|
Wed 12/28 | L 10 - 21 |
