Rose Bowl 2012: Oregon Ducks Football Victory and the Power of the Rose Bowl

As Oregon fans saw the players hoist their first BCS trophy in the Chip Kelly era, I watched as streamers flew down on the celebrating team.

Being a sportswriter is an interesting thing for a sports fan. As a professional, you’re trained in the art of objectivity: news is taught to be indisputable and unbiased. Sports, however, are inherently exactly  the opposite. From the very nature of the seating arrangements of a bowl game the fans are encouraged to pick a side. Oregon fans are delegated to sit on one half of the field, Wisconsin fans on the other. From there, seating is organized once again by wardrobe color: yellow for Oregon, red for Wisconsin. If you are the odd man out, everyone within thirty feet of you will be sure to make sure that everyone else notices too.

By simply going to the game, it becomes more interesting to pick a side in a sporting event. In horseracing, you root for a horse. In a football game, you root for a team. Finding the balance of knowing you’re a sportswriter, while also remembering the fact that you’re an Oregon fan as well, can be challenging.

The blatant bias of segregation harnesses an environment in which fans of one program are infinitely more likely to engage in public conversation (or after an important score, an embrace) to the fans of the school they affiliate themselves with, and act entirely more outwardly hostile to the opposition.

The entire experience can actually feel very tribal.

Yet that environment itself is what contributes to half of the fun. On Monday afternoon, the Rose Bowl featured over 91,000 fans watching college kids throw a ball and tackle each other. Everyone in attendance picked a side. That’s the nature of sports.

That same game generates approximately $50 million in annual revenue, and the last time that Oregon played in the Rose Bowl (two seasons ago), the Ducks grew a 13.8 television rating.

On Facebook, the football game is the event that everyone talks about. On campus, students will be celebrating the victory for months via conversations or championship attire.

It is, after all, a very big deal.

This was the first victory in the Rose Bowl for the Oregon Ducks – a team once accustomed to bottom feeding in their conference and instead known for their legendary track and field program—since their 1916 Rose Bowl victory.

Today’s victory was also the first bowl victory for Head Coach Chip Kelly, the innovative offensive guru that applied many of the same tactics that made the track and field program so successful at Oregon, since he began coaching with the program.

Rose Bowl games are an experience in and of itself. For a writer, half of the experience is trying to think of the right angle or words that can eventually explain what is happening around you. A writer lives in two worlds, constantly with one eye closed to reality and the other in check with the art.

“How in hell,” I caught myself wondering multiple times, “am I going to write about the pure magic of, as a freshman, seeing my school win their first Rose Bowl in nearly a hundred years?”

If you want to know how the Oregon Ducks won, read a box score. Tuinei had eight receptions for 158 yards and two scores. Kiki Alonso picked off Russell Wilson (only his fourth interception of the year). Wisconsin had atrocious clock management to close out the game.

One thing I’ve noticed about sportswriting, however, is that anyone can tell read you a box score and then write about what happened.

What I find to be more interesting is what the experience felt like. Fans go to the game to see the winner, yes, but all too often sportswriters forget to put a focus on what the environment truly was for those in attendance.

For me, an intense sports fan addicted to the games, that has always interested me far more than who wins or loses.

I’m known to tell people that my favorite thing about American culture is baseball. I can close my eyes and imagine the smell of it, the flow of the game, the sound of the bat hitting the ball. To me, nothing is comparable.

Since I began at the University of Oregon, however, I’ve taken a distinct liking to college football.

How could I not? I’m blessed with one of the most entertaining programs in the world, known for an explosive offense and up-tempo excitement, coupled with stunning jerseys and a gorgeous stadium perched on the Willamette River.

I remember my reaction when Oregon lost to USC—and at a potential shot at a rematch against LSU in the National Championship. I quickly realized that, so long as we won our conference, we’d be headed to the Rose Bowl. That meant that I could be in attendance. I could see how the field looked—trim, green, and pristine. I could smell the garlic fries and listen to the student section roar.

After the loss to USC however, I had no idea that I was in store for one of the best weeks of my life as a sports fan.

This Rose Bowl was among the most incredible and exciting events in the history of the game. As an Oregon Ducks fan, I had the privilege to be a part of the magic and nothing in the world can ever change that.

For me, the entire ordeal began to feel after I worked a shift at Bleacher Report. I got off work around seven at night, and made my way over to meet a family friend at the Century Plaza Hotel (where the Oregon team was staying). He was able to show us around the facilities, and gift us with some very cool Rose Bowl memorabilia—the coolest being a leather football with both teams logos and the Rose Bowl insignia stitched into it.

He showed us the player’s lounge, where the athletes had a private space to escape from the madness of the week in Los Angeles. The facility was loaded with video game consoles, Oregon gear, and a comfortable environment for the players.

Our family friend also talked to us about the Beef Bowl – the annual steak dinner for Rose Bowl players at Lawry’s Steakhouse – where a Wisconsin player actually finished seven whole steaks.

After looking around the hotel for a little longer, we were on the way to our car when we ran into De’Anthony Thomas.

Earlier that day, I had completed a piece with a very favorable write up focus on Thomas. A few hours later, I found myself standing right next to him talking about the upcoming game.

Thomas, 18, comes from Los Angeles. While his skills have skyrocketed him to celebrity status, he sat in the hotel lobby with me as humble as could be. Thomas is my age, but his maturity far exceeds that of most college students across the country.

After sitting in the lobby for a little while longer, Kenjon Barner also walked by. Barner seemed as interested in talking to us as we were in talking to him. He welcomed me to the University of Oregon, shared a conversation about the school, and told me about some of his favorite experiences.

Barner, who studies Criminology, discussed his interest in pursuing law enforcement after a potential NFL career. Barner is an Oregon veteran at this point in his career, and seemed poised and confident as the game was only a few days away.

At this point, my father and I agreed that, with the luck that we were having, we would run into LaMichael James.

No more than five minutes later, the Oregon superstar and I were posing for a picture together. The entire thing hardly felt real; James was as nice as could be and did not seem bothered to take his time with us.

Soon after was the Oregon pep rally, in which all of my Eugene friends were able to see the gorgeous weather in the city where I’m from. In front of an estimated 10,000 fans on an 80-degree day in Santa Monica, SportsCenter anchor and Oregon alumni Neil Everett hosted the event. Also in attendance was Oregon legend Joey Harrington.

“Don’t ever forget how far this program has come,” said Harrington. Harrington was the quarterback for the 2001 Oregon football team, where he went on to win the Fiesta Bowl. That victory, until yesterday, was the only victory that the Oregon Ducks had ever had in BCS play.

When I had decided to go to the University of Oregon, I never would have expected the kind of excitement that came with the first football season.

More so, I never could have imagined the kind of day that the game would have brought. The 2012 Rose Bowl came with excitement impossible to script. Oregon freshman De’Anthony Thomas became the record holder for the longest run in Rose Bowl history (92-yards) after averaging 77.5 yards per carry on two carries (both for touchdowns). It was a record setting day for the Ducks, and after the two teams scored 56 points in the first half, fans quickly realized the slugfest that this game would become.

“It’s a big statement for the Oregon program,” said quarterback Darron Thomas. Thomas, who had led his team to 621-yards for the Oregon Ducks, was a leader for this special football team. The 83-points scored in this game was the most in Rose Bowl history, which is only fitting for a game featuring the high-profile Oregon Ducks offense.

After my first game at Autzen Stadium, I wrote about what it was like to be a part of something bigger than myself.

At the Rose Bowl, those feelings came swarming back. I represented my university with pride, slowly realizing that I was witnessing a piece of school history. The shared experience of that, coupled with the impressive athleticism of the players involved, helped make the Rose Bowl one of the best days of my life.

Sports are something that has found its way into American culture as a staple and a spotlighted feature. Much of the consumption is found on television. The experience of being a part of the game, however, cannot be replicated in a virtual world.

The vibrations of the stadium can still be felt rushing up my legs, as I felt my heart beating with the nervousness that the uncertainty of the final call of the game brought. As the refs announced that, “after further review, there was no more time remaining on the clock,” and the Oregon Ducks had won the game, the embrace that I had shared with anyone and everyone around me contained more joy than I knew I was humanly possible.

I write with as many words as I can because I want the mood to be shared. News trains us to be objective, but when I saw the emotions on the faces of my football team, my partiality to my institution skyrocketed.

I can still hear the horns in “Mighty Oregon” after each score, and my throat can still feel the muscle memory of thunderous “Let’s Go Ducks!” chants. I still get goosebumps thinking about when we intercepted Russell Wilson, and I still feel like I can jump as high as Chip Kelly did after the fumble recovery when I remember that my school just won the Rose Bowl.

In my freshman year, the University of Oregon won their first Rose Bowl since 1916. The more I think about that, the more magnificent it all feels. Freshman year has been nothing but good to me so far, and I can’t wait to continue the next three years of my life as a student, and the rest of my life as a Duck.