Sometimes we can become so football centric we ignore or forget what is actually happening to Oregon Sports. I've always felt we have a built in inferiority complex that simply refuses to accept our football ascendency and commit it to failure before the fact for reasons that are sometimes more emotional than factually compelling.
While we were contemplating the demise of a new Head Coach who has merely kept winning despite a crippling defense and poor quarterback development, we've lost track of what is very clearly a calculated plan for Oregon athletics as a whole. Let's review:
1. Two National Championship appearance in 10 years; multiple PAC 12 championships and major bowl appeances;
2. A basketball program on the rise and leading the PAC 12;
3. A Track and Field juggernaut, in both men's and women's programs;
4. A Baseball team competitive with anyone;
5. A Women's Volleyball program that's competed for the NC;
6. A Women's Baseball program consistently among college's best;
7. A Women's Basketball program on the rise.
I've probably missed some other area of excellence or rising prominence, but I believe the point is clear.
Oregon athletics as a whole have few peers in the national conversation.
My point in bringing all this up is to suppress any notion that Oregon Football, or any other Duck sport , for that matter is about to fade for lack of support. Quite the opposite. The fact that such excellence exists in our corner of the world suggests a specific intent to communicate athletic excellence along a broad range of effort. There are too many millions invested in these programs to view any of them, much less football as being threatened by a creeping decline.
I hate it when we we whine about geography and oh poor me why the SEC, USC and others poach our targets when we've succeeded in spite of this....for years, now. We need to get over that we are a backwater of grateful ducks whose luck is about to run out when, in actuality, the facts show we've only begun.
We are the beneficiaries of very generous, very monied benefactors who have a commercial and emotional investment in the Oregon brand and I don't see them abandoning that purpose any time soon. Football just happens to be the marquee sport that headlines, to me, a trove of athletic excellence that is intended to define the U of O...hopefully in concert with an academic resurgence.
Maybe I'm just tired of excuses that make us sound likes hicks from the timber who can't hold their liquor throwing down shooters with the pros. We need to grow up and recognize that while we were grousing about losses in a winning season, we can't or couldn't see a winning future that is already passing us by while living in a negative funk.
While we were contemplating the demise of a new Head Coach who has merely kept winning despite a crippling defense and poor quarterback development, we've lost track of what is very clearly a calculated plan for Oregon athletics as a whole. Let's review:
1. Two National Championship appearance in 10 years; multiple PAC 12 championships and major bowl appeances;
2. A basketball program on the rise and leading the PAC 12;
3. A Track and Field juggernaut, in both men's and women's programs;
4. A Baseball team competitive with anyone;
5. A Women's Volleyball program that's competed for the NC;
6. A Women's Baseball program consistently among college's best;
7. A Women's Basketball program on the rise.
I've probably missed some other area of excellence or rising prominence, but I believe the point is clear.
Oregon athletics as a whole have few peers in the national conversation.
My point in bringing all this up is to suppress any notion that Oregon Football, or any other Duck sport , for that matter is about to fade for lack of support. Quite the opposite. The fact that such excellence exists in our corner of the world suggests a specific intent to communicate athletic excellence along a broad range of effort. There are too many millions invested in these programs to view any of them, much less football as being threatened by a creeping decline.
I hate it when we we whine about geography and oh poor me why the SEC, USC and others poach our targets when we've succeeded in spite of this....for years, now. We need to get over that we are a backwater of grateful ducks whose luck is about to run out when, in actuality, the facts show we've only begun.
We are the beneficiaries of very generous, very monied benefactors who have a commercial and emotional investment in the Oregon brand and I don't see them abandoning that purpose any time soon. Football just happens to be the marquee sport that headlines, to me, a trove of athletic excellence that is intended to define the U of O...hopefully in concert with an academic resurgence.
Maybe I'm just tired of excuses that make us sound likes hicks from the timber who can't hold their liquor throwing down shooters with the pros. We need to grow up and recognize that while we were grousing about losses in a winning season, we can't or couldn't see a winning future that is already passing us by while living in a negative funk.
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