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| SJS College Football Extravaganza |
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 The College Football Paradise?I've been drifting now out of college football mayhem. I spent 8 years in Gainesville, FL, and my last year there saw the Florida Gators win a National Championship. As I started this web page, then, I was surround by college football mania. My next job took me to Baltimore, MD. I was now at a "basketball school" in a "basketball conference", and although Maryland put together some decent seasons in the late 90s, there was a clear drop off in college football fandom. The airwaves in Crofton, where I lived, was filled with the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Redskins, and if a coach at Maryland was interviewed then it was much more likely Gary Williams of the basketball team than Ron Vanderlinden of the football squad. But it wasn't a total wasteland: the Terps did get some coverage along with the Cavaliers and the Hokies, and one of the main events of the Maryland sports year is one of college football's greatest traditions: the Army-Navy game. Which brings us to Fall, 2001. I have moved to Portland, Oregon, and taken a position at Reed College. The big sport here is club rugby, club basketball, and club ultimate frisbee. There is no intercollegiate athletics here at Reed, and if there were a team, my own 5'7", 150 lb frame might very well land me on the defensive line. And there's not much in the broader area either. I don't think the University of Portland has a team, and Lewis and Clark probably doesn't either. Pacific University dropped its football program a few years ago and has no plans to bring it back. The Portland State Vikings, however, are a fairly decent Division I-AA team, and raise about as much fanfare as you can get from a I-AA club.
But there are unexpected bright spots. Eugene and Corvallis are in the Wilamette Valley south of Portland, and most Portlandites associate themselves with one school or the other. For most of college football's history, this would little change the tone of this commentary, but this year is a different story. Oregon has a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Joey Harrington, has one of the best coaches in America in Mark Belotti, and has had consecutive seasons of 7, 8, 9, and last year 10 wins. Most pubs have them winning the Pac Ten, and, if not them, then the choice is usually Oregon State. The Beavers, a perennial NCAA doormat, have their own Heisman candidate in running back Ken Simonton, their own lauded coach in Dennis Erickson, and were tabbed as the preseason number one by Sports Illustrated. And then there's the time zone effect. The picture to the left of my daughter Kathryn and I watching the Nebraska game was taken at 10:15 in the morning! No more waiting around until one o'clock staring blindly at Teen NBC programming and wishing I had someone to toss the football around with. And I know what you are thinking: how did I get up so early and still see the end of Fox's preseason NFL game the night before? Because the preseason NFL game ended by 8:30! And there's more! On the East Coast there is usually only time to watch two football games, but here, with games starting at 10 am, I anticipate some late West Coast games airing here while the rest of you pathetic easterners are going to bed. Addendum I can't resist pointing out that Kathryn viewed the first touchdown of the college football year in the Nebraska-TCU game. She must be at the age where color and movement become attractive, because she stared with rapt interest at the TV for the first quarter. I can't resist pointing out that if you look at the picture you'll notice that while I am posing for the camera, she is twisting in my arms to crane her neck back at the television to keep an eye on the action. She is her father's daughter. |
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