A word of warning: We’re going to let it rip on the University of Oregon in here. We’re going to be our meanest. Do we mean what we say? Yeah, but we’re leaving out all the good things we also think about Oregon, like how Dennis Dixon was really cool and we’re jealous of how close Eugene is to so much natural beauty. Why are we doing this? Well, this punk thought it’d be funny to make a joke about cheese curds, probably not even realizing that dairy is a big industry in Oregon.
Dana Altman had some things to say last night after his Ducks were eliminated from the NIT. Specifically, these things:
“You see the commitment that Wisconsin makes with the cheerleaders, the band. We make a commitment, don’t get me wrong. But you can just see how important it is to them. It’s important to me. We should have more people here. Alright. I mean, the guys played hard. 3,300 people…that’s not good enough. If it’s me, then get rid of me. If you need somebody else to be a promoter, to do something. But 3,300 people is embarrassing. I’m not in a very good mood, you can tell.
“If it’s me, then make the change. Make the change. Somebody will hire me somewhere. I’ll go coach junior college ball. I love junior college ball. Those guys are dogs. They want to be in the gym all the time. I love those guys. But 3,300 people? For Wisconsin? I’m disappointed. And I appreciate the people who came. The 3,300 people who did come, great. I sure appreciate them. The people who have stuck with us. Again, I’m not a promoter. I’m not out in public. I don’t have Twitter and all that stuff. My job is to coach.”
Dana Altman clearly loves Wisconsin, and who couldn’t after last night? They had a sendoff before the game with a pep band and Bucky in the team hotel. That’s how winners behave. That’s how schools behave who take competition seriously, and respect competition, and want to compete. Oregon, per Altman, is not that kind of place.
It’s not just the NIT crowd that has Altman pissed. That, we can assume. Oregon averaged below 50% attendance on home games for the entire season. And they had a good team! Coach one of the five best teams in a power conference in front of that many empty seats and any of us would be drooling at the thought of a trombonist wanting to fly four hours to support our guys. Oregon, to hear Altman tell it, isn’t that into sports right now. Is that the administration? Maybe to an extent—Altman, who doesn’t promote his team as much as a lot of coaches do, seemed to say so. But it seems broader than that, to hear Altman tell it. It seems like the fans just don’t care that much to watch sports.
A friend of mine went to see Oregon play football this fall against UCLA. It was an AP top-ten matchup, it was homecoming, and College Gameday was in town. My friend—a Midwesterner most of his life who graduated from high school in South Carolina—was not impressed with the environment. He had high expectations (who wouldn’t, heading into the Autzen Zoo), and they were not meant. This is just one anecdote, but now Altman adds a second, and a look at Oregon’s basketball attendance gets us into the data sphere. The most noteworthy thing Oregon fans accomplished this year was chasing off a recruit with a bigoted chant about Mormons.
There’s more, too. “I love junior college ball. Those guys are dogs. They want to be in the gym all the time.” Is this a shot at Oregon players?
Whether it is or isn’t, there’s a school of thought here in Texas that says athletes take on mindsets from the environment around them. It sounds a little woo woo, but we aren’t talking about McConaughey. We’re talking about how highly talented athletes sign on to play for Texas football and Texas men’s basketball and routinely underperform expectations. This has been going on for more than ten years, and it’s happening in the big money sports, and questions are often asked about focus. This year’s basketball team weakens the case, but at the same time, does it? Or are these veteran players, who developed somewhere else and then transferred to Austin, anomalies compared to what Longhorn fans are used to seeing? Either way, the possibility exists that Oregon has something like this going on: Big money athletes are distracted. The dog has turned into a fat cat. That cat would rather not spend all day in the gym.
This is all a lot of speculation, but that’s what bloggers do, and what we’re really doing is trying to take what information we have and assemble a possible conception of what Oregon is right now as a college sports entity. And why are we doing that? Because it’s fun, dammit. And because you read it.
Alright back to ripping on Oregon.
One of the funniest parts of Oregon not caring about sports is that Oregon is very publicly trying to join Wisconsin in the Big Ten, a place where—and Wisconsin just illustrated this quite well—people care about sports. The Big Ten doesn’t want Oregon, not yet, not right now, Oregon doesn’t bring enough to the table, or else Oregon would have already gotten the invite. Instead, Oregon is stuck in a boat of not really wanting to join the Big 12 (where people care about sports and the Ducks would also have to lose to the Oregon States of the Midwest), but seeing the writing on the wall with the Pac-12 drying up. Right now, they and the nine other schools are in a holding pattern, continuously missing expected timing on signing their media rights deal, with a growingly possible explanation being that Oregon and Washington are trying to wait out Kevin Warren leaving the Big Ten offices so they can take a crack with the new regime. In the midst of Oregon’s attempt to raise their status in the college sporting world, Oregon students and fans are loudly demonstrating that they do not care.
What a great strategy for building your prestige.
Good Goalkeeping Giveth, Good Goalkeeping Taketh Away
After Monday night’s Dylan Ferguson magic, it was the Sens’ turn to take a bunch of shots then lose. Linus Ullmark made 40 saves, and down went Ottawa in Boston.
Not the worst loss for the fellas, it was on the road against the Bruins, and the Panthers lost so the playoff gap’s still at six points. But, you know, time’s running out and all that. Got passed by the Capitals. Penguins play tonight in Colorado and could pass the Panthers with a win. The walls are closing in on the beloved hockey team we decided to follow semi-ironically and only watch four or five times a year. Thank goodness the Bulls, who we did not decide to follow semi-ironically or fully ironically, have a big one tonight against the Sixers. The Pat Bev Bulls, everybody. (Also, yes, NIT quarterfinals are always lit. Cannot wait for those. What a NITe, yet again.)
