Let’s show ’em some love
It’s time to get rowdy.
Hope you have digested all
of your holiday food and
nursed your voice back to full
strength after your wild New
Year’s celebration.
Because tonight, at 7:05 p.m.,
it’s time to really cut loose.
The Oregon men's basketball
team hosts its first Pacific-10
Conference game against Califor
nia and it will be needing you
out there to supply as much
craziness as you possibly can.
They don’t call this “The Pit”
for nothing folks.
The first home stand in the
Pac-10 season goes a long way to
dictating the rest of the year. A
year ago, the Ducks’ first four
home games were against USC
(L, 85-84), UCLA (L, 65-63), Ari
zona (L, 85-83) and Arizona State
(L, 64-60). Those four losses ru
ined any chance Oregon had of
reaching the NCAA Tournament.
Sure, Mac Court was going
playoff crazy in the two home
wins in the National Invitation
Tournament against Georgia
Tech and Wyoming.
But seriously, which tourna
ment are you going to brag about
to your friends who go to the oth
er Pac-10 schools?
Exactly.
And what is the one advantage
that the Oregon Ducks have over
the rest of its league competition?
Yup, you.
I’m talking about you, who is
trying to decipher these words
amidst the bumpiness of one of
Eugene's transit busses on your
way to school.
I’m talking about you, who has
just spilled ketchup on this paper
while eating a hamburger at the
freshman hangout, Grab ’N’ Go.
And I’m talking about you,
who happens to read this while
holding the paper above your
head in the form of an umbrella.
The great thing about Mac
Court is that you are involved. In
every way, shape and form.
Don’t think the players notice?
Just ask
them.
"There is
n’t nothing
like the Pit
when it’s
rocking,”
senior for
ward Alex
Scales said.
“We’re
all really
excited
about
Thursday,
and I can’t wait to see how loud
it’s going to get,” sophomore
guard Ben Lindquist said.
How loud it will get all de
pends on you, baby.
Oregon students cheered their
lungs out for most of the 20th cen
tury — the first game held at Mac
Court was on Jan. 14,1927, when
Oregon beat Willamette 38-10 —
and now that we are into the 21st
century, it’s your turn.
Players don’t forget the inten
sity and emotion that the fans
provide. They remember the
heart-pounding vibrations that
the four-story, ivy-covered build
ing can produce.
Current Minnesota Timber
wolves point guard Terrell Bran
don, who was the 1991 Pac-10
Player of the Year as a Duck, still re
calls fondly his college days at The
Pit.
“You’ll never find a place to
play like Mac Court anywhere,”
Brandon says in the Oregon me
dia guide. “The fans are behind
you 100 percent.”
Also in the media guide it says,
“Opponents cringe at the thought
of playing in Map Court, fans
speak of it with unmatched rev
erence and visitors liken the fa
bled West Coast facility to the
Boston Garden in the East.”
Sound like something you want
to experience? Tonight’s the night.
This season’s opening weekend
of games features California and
then the nation’s No. 3-ranked
team in Stanford on Saturday.
Two wins and the Ducks would
be in great shape. Two wins and a
top-25 ranking would surely hap
pen. Two wins and the Pac-10
race will be mighty interesting.
But without you, those two wins
would be much harder to acquire.
Tonight’s game is a perfect
chance for you to go crazy and
forget about the rain, the text
books and the papers.
The place will be packed, and if
you were late in getting your tick
ets I’m sorry because the student
tickets are sold out. But if you al
ready have them, get ready to rock.
The Oregon cheerleaders will be
there in their usual high-flying fash
ion. The OMB—that’s the Oregon
Marching Band for the band-illiter
ate —will be in full force blasting
out those pump-up tunes.
And of course, Alex, Freddie,
A.D. and the gang will be there,
and they’ll be eagerly awaiting the
arrival of one very special per
son...
You.
Jeff Smith is a sports reporter for the
Emerald. His views do not necessarily
represent those of the paper. He can be
reached via e-mail at
Smittside@aol.com
UO students
[80%] have
when they party
Data taken from
1998 UO Health Center Survey.
26 m
Office of Student Life
University of Oregon