stewart, thanks for coming out west. i was born and raised in so california. i drove through oregon once about 15 years ago. nice place. none the less, i've been a duck fan since i was a kid back in the 50's. they were in the rose bowl, beat whoever, and i fell in love. i love pac-10 football and the ducks. go ducks!!!

Welcome to Eugene.

GO DUCKS!!!!

Maybe those crazy Duck fans can show you where they store the annual late season collapse.

Welcome to the best part of the country. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't rain all the time. In fact, "it never rains at Autzen stadium"....

The University of Oregon is a storied place and no doubt you will be treated to one of the best college football experiences.

Thanks for checking us out, get the tailgaters early, and Go Ducks!

Stewart - enjoy your time in Eugene! Don't forget to have a "taylor made" cheeseburger at Rennie's Landing - you'll love it! Looking forward to your impressions of the Pac-10's finest venue.

Have a great time out here in beautiful Oregon, Stewart, but beware the wrath of the coach's wife. And for the love of all that's good and holy, don't bring up anything about child labor issues. You can be arrested for that on campus now, I believe.

Welcome, Stewart! Make sure you've got a good view of the pre-game opening video. And of the Duck cheerleaders. Bring a football, too, so you can join the thousands of kids on the field after the game.

Roseburg, Oregon supports the Ducks! GO DUCKS!!!! Watch for the new frosh WR...Pflu-Pglu! He has sticky hands. Please visit the Mo Center before the game or during halftime. That alone is a great experience! Our peeps will show you a college game day/night like you've never seen before...I guarantee it! When the after-game parties get busted, dont breathe in the pepperspray...it burns your lungs...LOL
Looking forward to your feedback.

Chuck, I owe you a beer. Go Beavs!

Make sure you: Visit Hayward Field ... and come back in July for the US Olympic Trials. Try a Tracktown Pizza. Walk to Autzen from campus, cross the footbridge over the Willamette...it'll be a spectacular Autumn day on Saturday. Be on the field (surely you have a field pass) for the Duck-on-Harley entrance so you can feel that big hog's pipes. Get into Mac Court, where sometimes they have to stop basketball games becasue the baskets are swaying from the crowd's frenzt & stomping. And don't oversleep! Game-Day starts at 7:00 AM, in the dark. Bring a good sign.

Stewart M.,

Glad you made it west. Pac-10 football is great.

Have you been to Memorial Stadium in Berkeley? Beautiful stadium. Backed up against the hills (on the East Coast, they call 'em mountains). View of the hills and the Golden Gate.

Oh yeah, visit the Oregon pioneer statue in the heart of campus. If you're a Simpson's fan, you've seen the statue before. And Pre's Rock .... got a running medal or race bib you can leave behind (No? Oh.).

Oregon sold their "late season collapse" to Cal, you need to go there to find it.

"He was one of the first to write in, and from what I ascertained by his e-mail as well as a “reference” e-mail sent by one of his friends and a perusal of his Facebook page..."

Dude, Mandel, picking friends based on their myspace pages?? Aren't you a little old for that? Surely you could use more grown-up criteria...you know...like what kind of cars they drive.

Seriously, though, enjoy the tailgating. The Ducks fans were great hosts when the Sooners were out West last year.

Stewart. Your ranking of the relative quality of teams that play in different conferences falls in the realm of pure speculation. You have no way of knowing what Ohio State's record would be, for example, if they played in the SEC or PAC-10. Could 6-3 Florida be 9-0 if they played in the Big-10? Neither you nor anyone else knows.
Would Kansas be 9-0 if they played in the SEC? Perhaps. Maybe they would be 7-2 or 6-3? The truth is that, with a few rare exceptions, there is insufficient information to rank teams that play in different conferences. Such rankings are not based on reason. They fall into the realm of speculation and have a lot more to do with the bias of the voters or people who programmed the computers that do rankings than they do about the relative quality of teams.

I saw Stew at Max's on saturday, I'm about to read the blog and am hoping to see some love for my watering hole.

Stewart, while I am definately happy with your experience in Eugene, I have a few problems with your analysis ( which is obvioulsy your opinion, and that of a lot of other parraquats !). First off, I think it is totally eroneous that the SEC is the best conference in college football. I also think the fact that the southeast of this United States should be 'tabbed' as the "Mecca of college football" is completely unfounded.
Note to reader: I reside in an unknow Pac-ten town

A few questions:

1) Why is it that every time an underdog in the SEC wins, it turns into a "win"? And by "win", I mean that it only increases the Power of the SEC.

2) Why is it that if any underdog in any other conference wins, it only concretes the conferences interiority ?

3) Why can a team ( to be unamed ) be scrutinized by only handling adversity with colossal wins?

4) What the F is wrong with todays media? ( rhetorical question to myself and all of the WEST COAST. ) We already know. They get sleepy and go to bed before any games that are worth notoriety on the West side of the United States of America.

Come on, just because the SEC beats up on each other doesn't mean they are supperior. It simply justifies my theory that they are "impotent" in college football.

Just do me a favor and step out of the "Buthole of this great country (SEC)" , and into anywhere North or West of Florida and step outside of the box. ( I learned that in my freshmean business class ). Just look at the big picture.

Come on, there are way more worthy teams than a L.S.U. a.k.a. " The Bayou Bengals " team to be number 2 in the BCS.

Perhaps a metaphor:

What would you prefer? A beach that actually has wave breaks, great food, and cool people that actually speak english or the tragic middle part of "Deliverance?" No brainer!

Wake up America, mostly the media east of the bread basket and do this college football world justice.

Let's give Mizzou some credit - they went in to Colorado and won by 45 points - better than Kansas' 5 point win and the Sooners lost there. Mizzou beat Nebraska by 35 points (and no TDs) vs. Kansas' 37, but Husker's did score 39 points!!! And Mizzou did lose AT Oklahoma - by only 10 pts, which is by far the closest competition that the Sooners have had at home!!

Stewart. Your ranking of the relative quality of teams that play in different conferences falls in the realm of pure speculation. You have no way of knowing what Ohio State's record would be, for example, if they played in the SEC or PAC-10. Could 6-3 Florida be 9-0 if they played in the Big-10? Neither you nor anyone else knows.
Would Kansas be 9-0 if they played in the SEC? Perhaps. Maybe they would be 7-2 or 5-4? The truth is that, with a few rare exceptions, there is insufficient information to rank teams that play in different conferences. Such rankings are not based on reason. Rather, they reflect the biases and anecdotal arguments made by those who vote in the polls or of those who establish criteria on which computer rankings are based. All of this has little to do with the relative quality of NCAA football teams. If you don't believe this, just look at the number of times that the #1 ranked team in the polls going into the NCAA basketball tournament has actually won. Not very often. Polls don't reflect reality.

This isn't an argument for a playoff system because it is likely not possible to include all of the worthy contenders who have a reasonable crack at winning. Rather, it's an argument for abandoning these beauty contests we know as Polls and admitting the truth that there is no NCAA football champion.

Yep Eugene is mellow. The following is an actual cheer that was popular in the 70's, when Ernie Kent was a player.

"Shake, uh- HUH
Our team is mell-ow
So shake that funky green
And shake that funky yell-ow"

I love and miss Eugene. You can guarantee a football game experience like no other! oh, and here's a cheer from the 21st century:

"Roll, Roll, Roll your joints,
Twist them at the Ends...
Take a puff.
That's Enough.
Pass 'em to a Friend"


GO BIG GREEN!!! SEE YOU IN NEW ORLEANS!!