A tradition has formed. Somehow I have been fortunate to go to the University of Oregon Ducks vs. the Oregon State Beavers civil war game the last several years. I am quite happy to keep this tradition going. I don't care if it is in Duck country or Beaver country, what I care about is being there and watching my Ducks win.
This year we were at Reser Stadium in Corvallis where the Beavers play. I got myself all "ducked out" (see what I did there? clever, huh?) and headed out on the Beaver Bus. This is an old airport shuttle bus that has been converted by my friend Duane who went to OSU and carried 19 Beaver fans and me down to Corvallis. Of course I got plenty of ribbing from most everyone one the bus: "Who let this guy in here?" "Are you on the right bus?" "Charge him extra!" I expect that and would be upset if it didn't happen.
When we arrived we began the preparations for a fantastic meal. We set up the tables and put out all the food and we feasted. Too much of course, but it was a day of celebration. 90 minutes before kickoff a few of us walked over to the stadium area and took in the pregame festivities. Duane batted for pride after a little girl almost hit a home run; we saw the band playing and cheerleaders cheering; I got to hang with the Duck who does pushups of the total amount of points we have every time we score; we saw some of the die-hard fans; and I got to high five the players as they came out.
These people know how to tailgate!
BFFs
The game was great! Well, in the beginning it was close, and it was great and then we dominated as expected. During that first quarter I heard plenty from the Beaver fans around me. I was in a season ticket holder section and I was "alone." Again, I expected a few comments here and there and for the classic drunk guy several rows back to yell. As it turns out there was a 60something year old behind me who liked to yell and didn't like that I was in his section.
Because it rained for much of the game I wore my raincoat. I don't have an Oregon Duck raincoat, but I do have a green and yellow raincoat that says "Ethiopia" across the back. When I would stand and cheer for my team, this guy shouts "That's not Ethiopia playing down there." Several times. Classy. I was thankful he let me know, as I was totally thinking they had replaced the Ducks with all Ethiopians (so well known for their football skills).
As the rain subsided I took down my hood. In the back of my mind I thought, "Maybe I should roll my hood and zip it up. I don't want some drunk bonehead to toss anything in there. Nah, no one would really do that, would they?" Sure enough, at one point I decided to just check and there were a bunch of jelly bellies in there. Classy. I emptied them out and dropped all but one on the ground. The other one I placed on the knee of the 16 year old kid behind me and told him I thought he might have dropped something. His dad tossed it at me and said, "Wrong target pal."
Jelly Belly boy behind me. Classy!
After some time I turned to my right and saw the 60something dude with a giant bag of jelly bellies. Classy! I couldn't believe this buffoon actually did this. Oh, I forgot to mention that he punched me in the back at one point and I totally let it go (Classy!)...then I discovered the jelly bellies. As he began to leave the stadium, well before the game was technically over (we know the game was over for a long time) I yelled to him, "I think you forgot something." He did not reply.
I turned back to the 16 year old and his dad and apologized and we actually had a really good conversation. The game was over and we headed back to the bus for round 2 of the goodies and headed home after. I was pretty silent in respect of the depression that had set over the Beaver Bus. All in all, it was a pretty great day! I ate well. Hung out with friends AND we won! I would totally do it again and again. Thanx D!
I love getting together with friends and family. I LOVE IT! It is one of my favorite things to do. My soul sings when I am with people. Tonight we gathered to celebrate. Celebrate a team who went undefeated. Celebrate a team who represents our state. Celebrate fun. Celebrate competition. And we did. We ate, we laughed, we cheered, we screamed, we moaned, we cried, we yelled. A range of emotions. It was really fun. Although we lost, we had a total blast. I love that.
These are people I love to hang with!
As far as the loss...I am not complaining that we lost, I am just frustrated about the way it was finished. I realize that what I am about to say is about a strategy, but it's not a strategy that I like. In baseball they do an intentional walk when they are afraid of the batter. I can't stand it. Ever. Even when my Red Sox do it I yell at the screen. In basketball, when they throw around the ball until the shot clock forces them to shoot it, I go nuts. It's so irritating. Tonight, the last 2 minutes was filled with that junk. The fear that if they went for it Oregon would come back and win it with another touchdown and 2 point conversion. A legitimate fear.
There. I said it. I'm done. Congrats Auburn. Thanx for a great year University of Oregon. It was a fun ride. See you this fall!
I am so pumped about our home team, University of Oregon, going to the BCS championships! I want to give you a little history. I haven't always been a Duck. I've only lived in Oregon since late 1996. Even after I came here I thought it was silly how many people were divided between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. I couldn't even keep the schools straight for years. I was invited to watch the Beavers play up in the Withnell's club seats and had an awesome time enjoying the food and the game from afar.
After that I had a bit of a dry spell until a few years later I was invited to go see a Duck game. I could not believe how LOUD it was. I had never been to a sporting event at any level that got even close to that volume! It was unbelievable. I have been to MANY sporting events in my life. At so many different levels. Mostly professional sports. Being a youth pastor in Atlanta I was often taken along or given tickets to take someone with me to see the Braves, the Falcons and the Hawks. I went to a LOT of games. NOTHING compares to going to Autzen stadium.
I have been invited to several games over the years, but it wasn't until my son Karston was 4 that I took him and we lasted almost an entire quarter that things stuck. You see, as much as he complained and was tired and didn't like the noise, as soon as we saw anyone wearing green and yellow after that day he would yell, "Look Pappa, a Duck fan!" He was hooked. The next year we went and made it almost a full half game! Karston was hooked...and so was I. Karston started asking for Duck gear. Now, he wears probably 85% Duck stuff out of all that he wears.
This season I have been fortunate to get to go to a whole bunch of the 12-0 games thanks to a friend of a friend. I have done some other posts about some of those experiences.
The other night Jimmy Fallon premiered his BCS Ducks power ballad video. This is amazing.
This year the show Sing-Off came back on the air again. It is an a Capella competition. The singers on this show are incredible. One group that was on this show was from the University of Oregon. They are amazing. They recorded this song and it's so fun! Check it out.
January 12 - Haiti Earthquake
This was absolutely heart breaking to watch. The stories and the tragedy. There were some great stories that came out of it. It was amazing to see how many people came to the aide of this country. The hearts of the world were turned toward giving and serving. Also, adoption came to the forefront of many news stories.
January 27 - iPad
I loved the Jimmy Fallon line, "Millions of people today finally found out why they were so excited about the iPad." or something like that. After the jokes settled down it turns out Apple has changed the face of technology again. I don't have one...yet. I did win one, but took the money instead so we could put it towards our adoption. Honestly, that was a tiny bit difficult.
February 12-28 - Olympics
I love the Olympics! We typically get people together to watch the opening ceremonies. There is so much to see. We got so into the spirit that last minute we took a drive to Vacnouver, B.C. and joined in the festivities as a family. We even met some Olympic athletes from Russia AND Norway! That was a great experience for us as a family! (Yes Matt, I claimed Norway, Germany and the U.S. as my countries in the medal count)
April 20 - BP Oil Spill
This was crazy to see. It was hard to watch the underwater cameras showing how much was constantly pouring out and then seeing how it has affected our waters and shores. It was also strange to see Kevin Costner come in and try to fix the problem. (then Stephen Baldwin sued Costner because he was part of the process and felt duped into selling his shares).
May 23 - Lost Finale
I loved this show. I stuck with it from the first episode to the last. It took so many twists and turns that it made me crazy at times. I have to say I really enjoyed the ending. It did not answer all the questions, but it "made me feel good." I watched it with my friend Scot. We snuck out of a conference we were in to watch it and then enjoyed drawing lots of scenes from the show while we were back at the conference.
June 7 - iPhone 4
After tons of information was leaked because someone "found" one at a bar and sold it there was so much hype we all went crazy. Yes, I stood in line to get mine. I sold my old iPhone was able to pay for the new one. No, my line wait was not super long comparatively. I pre-ordered mine and was able to get through the line in about 45 or so.
June 11 - July 11 - World Cup
Spain defeated the Netherlands 1-0 to take their first World Cup! It was great to catch a bunch of games and highlight throughout the month. I even snuck in a few highlights when I was at LIFE conference!
October 13 - Chilean Miners
Again, what a crazy story this was. To see the world's attention focused on this group of men who were stuck down in the mine. After nearly 70 days, 33 miners were freed. It was crazy to watch as it was live.
November 8 - Conan O'Brien
After a long battle with NBC and Jay Leno Conan returned. I am not so interested in the show, but I surely was interested in the whole battle and all the stuff going on. What a strange turn of events. Conan did some awesome stuff to promote his new show including a giant orange blimp and 24 live webcam right before the show started. I couldn't keep my eyes off of it.
December 5 - Oregon Ducks
They beat the Beavers in the Civil War and head to the BCS Championship with a 12-0 record! I was fortunate enough to go to several games this season and see some pretty amazing football. I am super excited for this final game and hoping we do as well or better than our average for the year! GO DUCKS!
December 24 - First Lady Tracks Santa
As kids called NORAD to find out where Santa was at over 1,200 volunteers answered the phones including Michelle Obama. It was fun to watch it online as they were able to track where he was at. Crazy how amazing our technology is these days. What a time we live in. He was spotted in "Newberb, OR" which is actually Newberg. Oops.
I love this year in review video! It's so stinkin' good.
I have been the beneficiary of many a gift over the years. I'm not going to lie. I have quite enjoyed it. Sometimes it has come as the result of being a youth pastor, sometimes it has come as the result of someone I know and sometimes it is just the result of being in the right place at the right time. You might call it luck. You might call it a gift. I just say thank you. Thank you very much!
Ducks season opener
A friend of a friend gave us 2 tickets to the game. They were amazing tickets. We sat on the 30 yard line about 40 rows up. It included a parking spot in the stadium parking lot. Right up against the stadium! Oh, and money for food and gas. It was so much fun. Being club level I discovered that club level was more than just great seats, it was about community. These people know each other. They ask each other about family stuff and history and old games. They like sitting where they sit for every game. Oh, record breaking is fun to watch too. With a final score of 72-0 everyone on the team got a lot of play time. Plus, there is free popcorn.
Oregon State Fair
A friend of mine was running a booth at the fair and she gave me several tickets for my family and some friends. So I reciprocated the favor of the day before and we all headed to the state fair. We had a blast there. Thankfully we didn't pay for admission because they gouged as soon as we crossed through the gates of encumbrance. Everywhere we turned we thought we finally had a moment of debt free bliss. Then they would stab us with another dollar sign. We did begrudgingly pay our $30 so the kids could each go on 3 rides lasting a total of 148 seconds.
That being said, we got to go fishing out of a tank, watch some Arabian horses trot around, pet a rabbit, see a ginormous cow, watch some piglets drinking from their mother, catch the dogs jumping in the air and landing in a pool, see a magician who was pretty funny, see some demolition derby cars racing around and enjoy each others company. We laughed. We watched in wonder. We dreamed. We got tired. We headed home. It was quite the day. We ended it with a viewing of the movie Babies, where we got to see some babies drinking like the piglets did. (more for another posting another time).
I am very thankful for the generosity of others. I am glad to be a recipient, but I also hope I am more generous to others. Rick Warren once tweeted something to the effect of "I always want to out serve others." Be generous. Give out of what you have been given. Check out this story.
When was the last time someone gave to you?
When was the last time you gave to someone else?
