A day in the life of a college football sportswriter
Photo by Marti Pyr»as
By JIM LUND
It s the morning after the big
game Less than 24 hours ear
lier you watched from the
stands as the University of
Oregon swamped rival Wa
shington by a score of 44-0
Now it's time for a cup of coffee
a piece of toast and the morn
ing paper
"Ducks Bite the Huskies'"
cries the headline of the sports
section You read on
"The University of Oregon
combined an explosive offense
with an unyielding defense to
roll to a convincing 44-0 victory
over the Washington Huskies
Saturday at Autzen Stadium
Hanging on every word you
continue You learn that Kevin
Lusk completed 19 of his 20
passes for 270 yards and three
touchdowns, while Reggie
Brown carried 15 times for 180
yards On the other side of the
ball Steve Brown had four in
terceptions and Mike Walter
made 12 unassisted tackles
This is how the story appears
when it hits the news stands
But what goes into the story that
reaches your breakfast table7
What is really involved in cover
ing a team like the Ducks7
One man qualified to answer
that question is Blame Newn
ham sports editor of the
Eugene Register-Guard Ac
cording to Newnham, who has
covered the Ducks since the
days of Dan Fouts and Bobby
Moore, reporting on a college
team like Oregon s can be quite
interesting
"It's the total involvement of
the community and the fresh
ness of new players each year."
Newnham said "In pro football,
you basically have the same
players I covered the Oakland
Raiders more than ten years
ago and Gene Upshaw and Art
Shell are still on the team It
(college football) is different it
changes all the time
Another appealing factor of
the college game is its un
predictability Fresno State's
season-opening upset of the
Ducks is an example
Tve thought a lot about the
game at Fresno State which is
kind of the essence of college
football Newnham explained
A team of players that really
nobody in the Pac-10 wanted
got together and because of the
emotion of the moment and
because of the support of the
community and because they
were unafraid to try a lot of dif
ferent things, they were able to
win
"I covered the Raiders for
three years and you don t find
that situation There isn't a
Fresno State beating an
Continued on Page 7B
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