Oregon Makes Horrible PR Decision, Muddles Duck Fans' Blackout Plans

(Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

I don't know Kim Johannsen, and that's probably a good thing.

For weeks, Oregon fans have been planning a "blackout" at Autzen Stadium for the game against USC.

What could possibly be more fitting than a packed house of screaming fans, clad in black, rooting on the Ducks in the biggest game of the year on Halloween night? It's almost too perfect.

So perfect, in fact, that countless numbers of black shirts have been sold in preparation for the game. There has even been a Facebook page dedicated strictly to rallying fans in support of the effort.  

And yet, early this week, athletic department spokeswoman Kim Johannsen made one of the worst PR mistakes I have ever witnessed, when she declared that the blackout is a rumor and that Oregon is now encouraging fans to wear yellow.

The reason? Because it will "show up better in the stands during the night game."

Let's count the reasons why this makes absolutely no sense.

1. Yellow is one of USC's colors.

2. It's Halloween.

3. Black is awesome.

4. Fans "showing up in the stands" is of no importance at all whatsoever when compared to the importance of fan unity.

And let's see...

5. Oregon fans have been planning the blackout for almost a month.

What was Johannsen thinking? Now Autzen will be filled with conglomeration of confused fans in both black and yellow. It's going to look like an Iowa game. At this point, fans may as well just wear whatever color they'd like.

My advice? Listen to the fans and students, Kim—and above all, please don't try to swim upstream five days before the game.

I'll be wearing black, and I can only hope that everybody else will too. But thanks to a terrible last minute decision, it appears as though the blackout has been ruined.

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