it might be fun if you said why you're glad.

i stopped watching after half-time. i realized i just didn't care whether they won or loss. it didn't really mean anythingto . they weren't playing for anything important.

give me a playoff.

So who won?

aww, Jack....any hope I had for you just faded away...

;-) just kidding.

I didnt see the game, but I heard they threw an interception in the last 30 seconds or so.

Even with only one loss in the conference, they just didnt play all that well this season.

Maybe next year...

You guys SUCK. Although devastated is way too strong of a word, I was very disappointed that the Ducks lost. Now I visit this site and wammo, look what is staring me in the face. Now I'm bitter again. Let me grab my coffee and enjoy the rain.

I'm a casual Ducks fan. I wanted them to win, but they did deserve to lose with the way they played.

Too bad though...I always want Oregon teams to do well whenever they're in the national spotlight.

My dad is glad, too, even though his grandson is a duck. He is glad because he says they are arrogant and humorless, and that the sooners were underdogs.

it might be fun if you said why you're glad.

There are so many reasons to dislike the University of Nike athletic programs, particularly football. Where does one begin -- the lavish clubhouse, the private jet, the gangsta p.r. image (so ludicrous for a school in Eugene), the black pants, the Darth Vader helmets, the Untouchable Coach, the giant billboards, the utter pretension of it all? I'm sure Oklahoma is guilty of much of the same, but I don't have to admit I live there.

Oregon was lucky to get as close as they did. The offensive coordinator should be given his walking papers. Passing on third and one (twice) in the fourth quarter when you're trying to come from behind?

Speaking as someone who endured a ton of 2-9 seasons when Autzen Stadium was more than half-empty and you just hoped they could be competitive (meaning, not lose 45-0), I'm rather pleased at the upsurge in their fortunes during the last 10 or 15 years, Nike's involvement notwithstanding. It's fun to be in a packed, loud stadium with some of the nation's best teams in town and knowing little old Oregon has a shot at knocking them off.

I realize they were 10-1 going into the Holiday Bowl, but they never looked like a really good team this year and when Kellen Clemens went down, they were living on borrowed time. Oklahoma looked to me like a superior team.

Mike Bellotti is the most successful coach UO has ever had and, for those of us who have been Ducks forever, this has been a golden era for Oregon football and the Rich Brooks Era (for the life of me, I can't figure out why they stuck with him for so long) fades into distant memory, much as the "Rich Brooks Field" sign has been taken off the top of the luxury boxes and tucked away in an obscure corner at one end of the Autzen.

Like it or not, a successful football program brings a degree of excitement to the school as a whole. And Phil Knight's cash outlays have not been exclusive to athletics. There's a fairly new law school building and a new business building down there that were built with Nike money.

Folks can be happy they lost and disgusted with the program in particular and big-time college football generally. I don't take offense. I realize it's not everyone's cup of tea. But I enjoy going to the games. I've owned season tickets for the last 27 years, and have missed one game. It's fun to watch each season unfold, watch players develop, and each home game is an event unto itself.

By the way, if you don't like those uniforms, stick around -- the Ducks promise a whole new ensemble next season with three different helmets and more use of chrome.

I'm with rube. I've been to about two football games in my life, couldn't care less and am a Beaver to boot. But why bash Nike? It seems to do what the state doesn't, as rube lays a bit out.

The law school is beautiful (and far more people would bash lawyers than football). But besides, being down on Nike seemed to go out with some other tide. So they told me at the nice little Nike store next to 5th St. Public Market a month or two ago. Business is good.

My daughter lives in San Diego and went to that game -- my Duck dad sent her tickets. I will say I am glad she lives somewhere where there are jobs, lots of jobs.

It's not Nike per se. It's what the money's being spent on. It's o.k. to have a nice stadium and a well-equipped team, I suppose, but what these guys get is ridiculous.

Ridiculous? Perhaps. I would probably agree with you on that locker room door that they built special so the Ducks could come out four abreast or some such.

But at least the money is being spent on something a lot of people seem to want and enjoy. As opposed to, say, certain public expenditures (rim shot, cuz you know what i'm talking about).

Besides, it's Phil Knight's money. He can spend it as he sees fit. Granted, he's a Duck and I'm a Duck, but if he wanted to give it to the Huskies, I'd say the same thing.

If he wanted to give it to the Huskies, I'd throw up and throw fits. I fought the sports-get-too-much battles in college, and that was where I realized you just cannot win them. You cannot win them at all. And like rube says, people love it. And Phil Knight helps take care of my homestate. More than its legislature seems to manage vis-a-vis higher ed.

I seriously think Oregon should be very grateful to him and his company -- for everything they get and he gives.

Sure, so long as justice prevails, as it did last night. He he!

So, I guess other than the Tram (rimshot), there really IS nothing I can agree with you on Jack.

Regards,

Bob

And I don't even agree with Jack about the tram!

Jack-

To be fair to that Republican Phil Knight (shudder), he isn't a replacement for adaquate funding for education. He has donated millions for various improvements around the campus, including (ta-dah!) the Knight Library. Oregon would be in deep shit if it didn't have a (read: singular) super-rich benefactor, a luxury that may California and east-coast schools have in spades.

It seems like Phil Knight is a lot like the Lottery to many Oregonians... a crack addiction that legislators shouldn't depend on to fund education. I'm proud to be a native, but this state's recent shortsightedness is alarming. I wish I was old enough to miss Tom McCall.